The Malaysian Insider

SEPT 24 — I spent a few useless hours this week listening to old television theme songs on Youtube. And listening to the old tunes — from “Rockford Files”, “Magnum PI”, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Mash” to “Macgyver”, “St Elsewhere”, “Cheers” and “Taxi” — was like listening to the theme music of my life as I grew up.

It would have been so easy for me to say television was better when I was growing up than what it is now. It would also have been so easy to say that music was better then — to be one of those guys I know who go on and on about how music used to be better.

JUNE 27 – One of my fondest memories as a young college student is sitting on the cement stoop outside my friend Fairuz’s father’s house in SS2 in Petaling Jaya, sharing smokes, talking about girls, movies, music and, occasionally, even politics.

A highlight of the evening would be when Fairuz – the funniest guy I know – would do his send up of the Otis Redding classic “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay”.

The song’s refrain of “wastin’ time” could not have been a better theme for what generations of young kids do with their evenings.

MAY 31 – Is the current government worse than the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad administration in its response to dissent?

Consider the use, or rather abuse, of the police force to serve and protect the reputation of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Take into account how the police have used vague and controversial laws like sedition to arrest and charge nearly anyone who is unhappy, dissatisfied or critical of Najib.

Dec 13 — As the debate rages over the existence of vernacular schools, the effect of such institutions on national unity and the countless arguments over their so-called superiority, I cannot help but think that the one element that appears to be missing from the discussion is how our attitudes and culture shape us.

I am the product of a Chinese education and if I am to be honest with myself I hated it. It is not because there was anything inherently wrong with the system. I attended Sam Tet in Ipoh. It was, and still is, one of the top Chinese schools in the country with one of the best academic records around.

We spoke English and Cantonese at home. My parents were not Chinese-educated. I found it difficult to cope with Mandarin.

AUG 15 — Inside a restaurant amid the leafy suburb of Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur, the former president of the MCA, Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, frequently meets old friends.

Some of these friends include potential candidates in the party’s upcoming polls, including his two sons Hee Leong and Hee Keat.

But with the number of party members present at some of these meetings, they have lately taken on an appearance of strategy sessions for the MCA elections.