kj john article-featured-image

What is truthfulness?

When newly appointed and party-approved Menteri Besar Azmin Ali tweeted, within one month of his appointment, that “the Bibles belong to the Christians”, it told me that he can and will deal with truth matters and set new directions for state governance. I therefore pasted his promise in all my public media postings and was […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Intentionality

As little boys, we were all naughty; in one way or other. Often, after one throws a stone that breaks glass, what is the point of saying we had no intention to break the glass. We did; regardless of purity of intentions. Therefore, I find the attorney-general’s (AG) statement that there was no intentionality for […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Bigotry, lying and cheating in NY

With the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) report having been released publicly, and with the non-indictment in the Michael Brown case in Missouri, and now in the Eric Garner case in New York; my respect for the American justice system and most public inquiries has taken a serious and severe nose-dive. More importantly, what can […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Is deception also Islamic?

I refer to the letter published in The Star of Dec 8, as proposed and promoted by 25 well-accomplished Malays of various backgrounds and cultures. They speak for the rest of Malaysians and have set an excellent example of leadership by example. When anyone puts their name to a subject matter, and states a common public position […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Why I can’t agree with state-enacted hudud

Malaysia: A federation of three states After Persekutuan Tanah Melayu gained independence from colonial Britain on Aug 31, 1957; it became a federation of 11 states; nine of whom were federated and un-federated states; with another two being former Straits Settlements. This meaning of ‘merdeka’ or independence therefore remains only with/for the Malayans of the […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

A 4G Christmas celebration

In the last 30 years, we have celebrated with a Christmas event in our home about once every ten years or so. The first was when we moved in and invited all neighbours to join our celebration. The second was after we returned from the US after my PhD. The third was after I took […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

No need to wait for local elections

Before 1969, we used to have local government elections. In fact, the first ever local elections may have been held in the early 1950s. My dad stood for the elections in Sungai Petani and won a seat against a Malayan Union candidate. Therefore and correspondingly, from about five years of age, I used to hear […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

Demand for better local governance

My last column argued – premised upon the Athi Nahappan Royal Commission Report – that increased and improved accountability at the local government level, through the election of mayors, is one sure and clear way to move towards better governance at the city level – and later towards all municipal council levels. Although Petaling Jaya has been […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

The spiritual crisis of modern man

‘Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man’ by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University, is very telling about the nature of the modern human problem. One summary about this book reads as follows: It is a sign of the present state of humanity that only such blatant acts […]

Read more
kj john article-featured-image

I am a moderate, middle Malaysian

n statistics, we teach about the normal distribution curve. Basically, any normal distribution of content can be divided into six classifications or parts; all of which are statistically significant. All six are reflected in the model below. The four important parts which I learned about in change management theories are defined the Early Majority and […]

Read more