Cruelty is a matter of choice, not transparent blouses
By Hizami Iskandar
This article in The Star today got me thinking.
Enough has already been said about the travesty of calling school uniforms ‘sexy’. But I would like to move beyond that, and reiterate my two cents on the wider view, held by some, that provocative clothing does ‘invite’ rape, as well as the notion that sexual assault can somehow be ‘invited’.
I’ve long been an opponent of the ‘clothes-invite-assault’ thesis. Clothing is an aspect of your relationship with God; a personal choice about how you want to present yourself; even an element in how you want to interact with society. People wear different clothes for different reasons – but clothes are never an ‘invitation’ to assault.
Mahathir Goes
So Dr. Mahathir has decided to leave Umno, the party (I’m not going to quibble about how old the organization that bears that name actually is), which he led for 22 years. It is interesting that some blogs and their mainstream media counterparts are talking about Mahathir’s ‘political journey’, while others are running chronologies of his career as if he has passed away. The varying reactions indicate the sort of perceptions Malaysians have developed of the man who arguably shaped the nation during his time of power.
Islam bukan jalan mudah!
Ed: Background – on the 8th of May, 2008, the Penang Syariah High Court allowed Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah to renounce Islam and return to Buddhism.
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Saya kurang bersetuju dengan pendekatan yang diambil sesetengah pihak yang
If you can’t fix it, work around it
By Hizami Iskandar
If the system’s broken, and no one’s likely to fix it, what do you do? Yes, you do your best to fix things, and when enough people get together to fix it, it’ll get done. And everyone goes home happy. But that takes a long, long time. And in the meantime, bleating about how useless everyone else is isn’t the way to go. If it’s broke, and you can’t fix it straight-away, you try to work around it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I learnt from Projek Amanat Negara 2008.
My Piece of Mind
When Zaid Ibrahim was appointed as Minister in charge for judiciary reform, the Bar Council sighed in relief, glad that at last, there is some light at the end of the tunnel for our judicial system. Well, that’s good news to Bar Council members, judges and the people, but not so good news for Zaid Ibrahim. As an introductory note from him, Zaid had suggested that the BN government issue a public apology to Salleh Abbas and other judges whose contracts were terminated not so long ago - to be exact, when UMNO was in turmoil 20 years ago. Mahathir quickly replied with a very strong statement, as would be expected of him, saying that what he did was according to the constitution and was legal. And Abdullah Badawi said that the government had nothing to apologise for.
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A Challenge to Malay Students
By Wan Saiful Wan Jan
The UKEC is organising one of the major events this weekend (PAN08), themed ‘Empowering Students, Exploring Perspectives’. That reminds me of the the panel discussion in Dublin in October 2007, on the issue of “Student movement: the way forward” organised by the Persatuan Pelajar Islam Malaysia Ireland (PPIMI). I was one of the panel speakers.
During my own student years I have held various positions in several different student organisations including in Liverpool University Islamic Society (President), FOSIS (area rep), Malay Speaking Circle Liverpool (Secretary), Komuniti Melayu Dundee (founding committee member), and HIZBI (President and then Mursyid), as well as Forum Malaysia United Kingdom & Eire (founding committee member) and Gabungan Pelajar Islam Malaysia se-Dunia (Secretary). So, I think it is safe to say, that I have had my fair share of student activism.
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You Just Don’t Care
By Aston Paiva
Over the duration of my three-year stay in the UK, I see so many hopeful and idealistic young individuals suggesting everything from ‘political transparency’ to ‘a better education system’. I hear various other recommendations such as ‘human rights legislation’ and ‘freedom of the press’. Let’s not forget ‘freedom of religion’ and ‘an impartial judiciary’. We all seem to want a better Malaysia.
In fact, we also want an increase in our Gross Domestic Product, heightened international trade, lessened environmental pollution, a decreased inflation rate, and raised employability. All in all, we want ‘world peace’. We want the people in the Middle East to stop blowing themselves up, America to end their war in Iraq, Burma to become democratic, Sudan to be the next African tourist hot spot and Zimbabwe to embrace libertarianism.
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What Datuk Zaid Ibrahim can do for the Rule of Law?
By Ivanpal Singh
Every politician, when elected, will be asked what her priority is. For Tony Blair, it was ‘education, education, education’; for David Cameron it was and still is the NHS; for Barack Obama it is most probably change, and for Hilary Clinton, almost certainly: ‘I am President, I rule!’. I apologise for the last one, but I cannot help myself.
For Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, he has said that it will be the rule of law and judicial reform. In a system like ours, one may ask, where do we start? For some, it would be the perceived corruption; for others, it could be judicial promotions; and it could also be access to justice or simply the dispensing of justice. Either way, the rule of law in
UKEC-Graduan Careers Fair and Projek Amanat Negara V
CEKU hopes that its readers enjoyed the coverage of the historic 12th General Elections. We thank you for all your comments and feedback thus far.
We would also like to wish our student readers in the UK the best of luck for the upcoming final examinations.
The United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students is organising two of its flagship UK events during two consecutive weekends.
1) UKEC-GRADUAN CAREERS FAIR 2008
The event will be held in partnership with Graduan on 30 March 2008. In addition to potential on-the-spot job interviews, there are also internship opportunities with major firms in Malaysia, including Pricewaterhouse Coopers, CIMB Bank, Khazanah Nasional, Shell Malaysia, Zaid Ibrahim and Co. and United Engineers Malaysia.
Details are as follows:
Time: 9.00 am - 4.00 pm
Location: University College London,
Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
Please note that there will be a special forum where the Chairman of PwC Malaysia Dato’ Johan Raslan and the CEO of CIMB Group Dato’ Nazir Razak will be on hand to discuss ‘The impact of the 12th General Election results on Corporate Malaysia’.
Those interested should submit their CVs to cv@ukeconline.com as soon as possible! For more detailed information, please visit http://www.UKEConline.com.
2) PROJEK AMANAT NEGARA V 2008
The fifth edition of this annual student conference will take place on 5 & 6 April 2008. Details are as follows:
Time: 8.30 am - 6.30 pm
Date: 5th - 6th April 2008 (Sat & Sun)
Venue: Malaysia Hall, 30-34 Queensborough Terrace, W2 3ST London (click for map)
Theme: ‘Empowering Students, Exploring Perspectives’
Confirmed speakers include:
Dato’ Johan Raslan, Chairman, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, CEO, Tune Money
Jacqueline Ann Surin, Former Assistant News Editor, theSun; co-founder of MalaysiaVotes.com
Premesh Chandran, CEO and co-founder of Malaysiakini.com
Dr. Farish A. Noor, Prominent academician and writer at www.othermalaysia.org
Prof. Dato’ Dr. Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Director, Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation; Professor, UKM
For more detailed information, please visit http://panv2008.wordpress.com
We hope to see you during both events!
Newcastle Msia Nite ‘08: Kota Baru, Here We Come!
By Hizami Iskandar
Cute yet amazing – such would be my verdict on the recently staged Newcastle Malaysia Night a.k.a. Departures: The Musical.
First off, the music. It was phenomenal. Awesome. Brilliant. Fantabulous. I could go on like this, but you get the picture. And the fact that it was all strictly home-grown talent – all songs written and composed by
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