The Malaysian Insider

NOV 4 — In the triple jump, a jumper has to accelerate, hop, step and jump.

The step must not exceed the jump line, otherwise the jump will be invalid. So the athlete needs to prepare himself, time himself well before executing this hop, step and jump sequence.

You cannot just hop and then jump without the step...

OCT 22 — It is that time of the year again.

No, I am not referring to the durian season, nor to the festivities like Deepavali, Hari Raya or the Mid-Autumn Festival.

I am referring to the time when laymen like you and me feel angry and frustrated towards certain “wrongs”, but are powerless to do anything.

Every year, since time immemorial, it has evoked the same feeling; but every year, we just sigh, comment with our “coffee kakis” in kopitiams and shake our heads. People like me with a computer will probably write something to let off steam; the more important people, like those elected YBs from the other side of the divide, will probably pose some embarrassing questions in the Dewan Rakyat.

SEPT 29 — From reliable sources, the Umno candidate for the coming by-election in Negeri Sembilan will most likely to be the former mentri besar, who was once suspended from the party because of money politics.

While the chances of winning for Umno is greatly enhanced by this person, since the area is his base and stronghold, the selection of this person as a candidate will have great repercussions.

SEPT 18 — Two days ago, 92 “lucky” people became Malaysian citizens, many of them after a wait of many years. Many of these are more Malaysian than some Malaysians, but because of red tape and other undisclosed reasons, their applications were either put on hold, or rejected time and again.

I remember when I was studying in high school, one of my classmates was a stateless person despite being born in Malaysia before independence, simply because his father had died early and his mother did not apply for citizenship during the period preceding and immediately after Merdeka. When he was in his teens, it was too late already and both he and his mother were given red ICs.

AUG 10 — I don't eat beef because many generations ago my ancestors were farmers, and they needed their cows to help them plough the fields in order to plant crops. So they treated their cows well, since no one in their right mind would harm anything that would help sustain their livelihood.

So it became a sort of family culture and for many generations until mine, even though we are no more farmers, we do not eat beef.