KJ

The word ‘perspective’ must be one of the most complex words in human living. It defines meaning. It also defines difference between arrogance and humility. When George W Bush declared his War on Terror, the American president said, “You are either with me or against me!” When Ayatollah Khomeini, the then-leader of Iran, declared “War […]

The Latin root word ‘polis’ is the same etymological foundation for the concept of our modern version of the Athenian democracy. The roots of the concept start with the Greek democratic city state, then called a ‘polis.’ But, the same word is today used to describe the modern city or a metropolis, like in the […]

On Nov 3, 2012, OHMSI or the Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute, collaborating with the Islamic Renaissance Front or IRF, will organise a public dialogue on the above topic.   In my estimate, Christians form about 10 percent of the Malaysian population and have a voting power of about 800,000 at the coming general […]

I watched the second US Presidential Debate in the town hall format yesterday. What was truly impressive is that the Americans have devised a system for getting their US presidential candidates to debate and highlight the differences in their positions on alternative policies being promised to the American people as future policies, and therefore politics. […]

Marina Mahathir wrote in a recent column that for any candidate seeking to be voted in this general election, the following are good and civil traits: 1. Be nice, be gracious, be polite – rudeness makes you look ugly. 2. If you disagree with someone, fine. But disagree courteously and intelligently, and do not just […]

The New Straits Times ( NST ) headline editorial last Sunday screamed, “Collective Integrity” as a response to the Auditor-General’s Report tabled in Parliament. They also carried a full and exclusive interview with the auditor-general of Malaysia focused on this issue of “our collective failure to stand up to the test of our national integrity being audited”. I have […]

Did the prime minister fully understand what he was dealing with, when he invited P Waythamoorthy, the leader of Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia, to join the cabinet? Or, was it simply a ploy, to co-opt the movement’s leader for the thirteenth general election and then to ignore the man and his issues and concerns, when it […]

In communication theory, ‘noise’ is defined as anything that causes disturbance to a message sent out from a messenger to a targeted listener. I want to reflect on this rhetorical question about when the azan is no more the Muslim call to prayer, but instead may be considered ‘noise’. Three years ago, in the Federal […]

My last column asked the rhetorical question as to what is ‘noise’ as defined within communication theory. Noise is any interruption or interference that distorts the message intended from the message owner to the intended message recipient. I then went on to reflect on various noises in our lived environment; including some related to governance […]

Malaysia appears naked today under the spotlight of global attention but what is the real problem and what are the real factors contributing to this criticism of Malaysian “information dissemination and communication by different individuals” and the apparent disconnect between the information disseminated and the reality of what was really known? I call it an […]