The Malaysian Insider

NOV 6 — Some years ago, I unintentionally offended someone by referring to her property as a “flat.” She snapped at me with “It’s a CON-DO!” as if living in a “flat” was a form of social degradation.

For the wider world, a flat refers to a self-contained unit located among many others in a residential building. This term, however, takes on a different connotation in Singaporean lingo. To them, it refers specifically to the HDBs (Housing Development Board flats).

OCT 13 — “Makan habis lah, Ah Gong…” T pleaded with my grandfather in broken Malay. “Orang-orang di Philippines sudah tak ada makanan,” she continued. This meal-time plea from T made my heart skip a beat. It lent a voice to all the horrific images of devastation emerging from the Philippines since Typhoon Ketsana struck on the 3rd of October.

Her farming community located near Pangasinan province had been badly affected by the incessant rains brought by typhoons Ketsana and Parma.

A situation made worse recently by the release of water from the nearby dams.

SEPT 29 — To date, some 250,000 viewers (on Youtube and stomp.com.sg) have watched a clip of a Singaporean woman repeatedly assaulting a man’s privates with the heels of her shoes. With the car pulled up against the grassy verge of a residential compound, the woman leans against the Lexus for support while hitting the man.

Unsatisfied with merely assaulting him on the groin with her shoes and hands, she also whacks him on the head with her shoes. The man, meanwhile, does little to retaliate. At times he even obediently allows her to hit him.

SEPT 15 – During my years in university, I had two other good friends. We lived, worked and played together. Together, we were the notorious trio. As long as the three of us were together, no outsider could interrupt the rapid fire of personal jabs, jokes and stories. Those who did not know us often wondered how a European, an Oriental and a Southeast Asian girl could get on like a house on fire.

As graduation drew near, we realised that we were destined to travel our own individual paths. In the true fashion of a trio, we collaborated on a plan to reunite every few years over a holiday. Today, we are about to embark on reunion number four, to Hungary.

SEPT 1 – On a balmy Sunday afternoon recently, I had the pleasure of watching the world go by at a public park. There were extended families enjoying barbeques together, siblings flying kites and young parents bonding with their children.

As I gazed upon one Kodak moment after another, it dawned upon me that reality was far starker.

Marriages are the bedrock of society. The dissolution of a marital union brings about the disintegration of the family unit.