A different kind of spirit and intoxication
These days, the right words used to describe me would be, zombie-fied and kelam-kabut. In the last month, I have been completely engrossed in a project which has inevitably d

Differentiating Indifferences
Zohra was 18 when she started to work as an administrative officer with the United Nations. She was bright, innocent, hopeful and idealistic. Her country, unfortunately wasn’t. She could maintain her feeling of hope and sense of idealism because she spent nine waking hours of her life with foreigners who told her that human rights is for everyone, even if she’s a woman. One day, she received a fully-funded scholarship to study in the United States. I remember her smiling shyly as she approached me humbly to look at her scholarship application a few months ago. I thought to myself, how proud and confident she must be, now

Constitutional amnesia?
“You’ve been selected to work as a Civic Education Officer,” a woman with Filipino accent told me on the phone. “Oh, great! Thank you.” I replied happily. It wasn’t until I received my job description later that I realised civic education had nothing to do with teaching children on how to become courteous, kind and responsible citizens. I was the first batch of students who experimented with the new education curriculum when Pendidikan Sivik was changed to Pendidikan Moral. In Moral classes, amongst other things, we learned that if we saw a banana peel lying haphazardly on the floor, we we

The World March for Peace and Non-Violence, Kuala Lumpur – 10 October 2009
The quiet and posh residential area in Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar, was hit by a tidal wave of loud music, vibrant live performances, piercing whistle blowing and screams by throngs of peop

Losing my virginities
If I can describe Timor Leste in one word, it would be, “Virginal.” This small island saw very little development despite being a former Portuguese colony during the 16th century and became part of an occupied territory of Indonesia until 2002. It was almost as if its coloniser and occupier had deliberately wanted it to remain as a child with learning disabilities. This was not congenital by nature but one that had been created and shaped as such through a long process of involuntary subjugation by the Indonesian government. However, like many children who are unexposed to external elements, Timor