kj john article-featured-image

Why a forum for a book launch?

My two good friends, AB Sulaiman and Commander (Rtd) S Thayaparan, asked to meet up and whether I would consider helping them to organise a forum for Thayaparan’s book launch.  I thought, why not? After all, we have a think-tank that focused on going beyond talk to action. It used to be linked to a […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Lies, lies, and more lies

First there was the assertion that there exists an attempt by Christians to make Penang a Christian state; simply because the chief minister is reputed to be a Christian. No evidence was ever found or elicited for these unfounded rumours. The perpetrators of the crime were not charged. I believe they were Umno-linked bloggers.   […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Bon voyage, Isaak

We have five children; and two others by marriage of our older two. Nine of us had a holiday together in Penang recently, after Christmas. It was the beginning of a blessed time in our lives, as we prepared for the last in our family home to leave home. To begin his journey and with […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Too much politicking, no real change

\’Wayang kulit’ politics in Malaysia creates a lot of noise about the wrong issues but delivers very little change, in real terms. Let me give some good examples. Take the kangkong issue. Lots of noise and even some bigoted statements about Malays being ridiculed, but at the end of the day, price of food and […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

My question to ex-CJ Hamid

The International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) invited Abdul Hamid Mohamad to give a public lecture on Hudud Law, but using the Brunei Model of Hudud implementation as the basis and foundation for the lecture. Abdul Hamid was the former Chief Justice of Malaysia and a man I have come to respect having read […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

We, the Seventh Estate

COMMENT I am not a journalist, although some early feedback I received about my writing style was from the chairperson of my doctoral committee who said, “You write like a journalist.” When I asked, is there anything wrong with that, he replied in the negative. I suppose I use a storytelling form of writing, and I […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Does the head of state know?

Who is head of state? This column is a Citizen Ranger report and not part of my series on 1Bangsa Malaysia. A good friend from Singapore was upset that PM Najib Abdul Razak did not attend the state funeral for the late Singapore leader, Lee Kuan Yew. I then did some research and found out […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Institutional integrity 

Can Malaysia, as a nation-state, both have integrity and lose integrity, at one and the same time? And does that simply mean losing only our credibility and reputation as a stable and fair multi-ethnic nation-state, or does it mean much more than that? My research would suggest that while the brand, ‘Malaysia,’ can have reputation […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Whither rule of law in Selangor?

Reverting to my 1Bangsa Malaysia series, I have recently been challenged by my book editor that I should try writing a consistent and integrated thesis but which is not necessarily a grand theory.  But for those interested in my grand theory notion, please read the preface to my book. The 1Bangsa of Malaysians is only […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Religious diktats?

I am one of the G40 ; and no apologies either. I signed to communicate to the nation that the Eminent 25 speak for all moderate Malaysians. What then is this creeping backdoor Islamization which we all warn against? Who are these ‘idiocratic religious zealots’ who force us to “live by the rule of religious diktats, where […]

Read more