Malaysia’s 1MDB Admiral

Arul Kanda’s measured and detailed explication of the 1MDB conundrum. Calm, collected,eloquent… Canggih my  brother! But can you and yours withstand the sustained grind of the old man’s meme!!

PS. Nampaknya ini kisah Koboi Balik Kampung juga!

Antonioni’s Blow-Up

blow_up51

The protagonist in Michangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up starts making blowups of his photos, pushing the film to it’s grain, examining the blow-ups with a magnifying glass looking for something that may or may not be there.

Malaysia’s 1st Rear Admiral

admiral

In a era before ketuanan, this Indian, K. Thanabalasingham served under Tunku, Tun Razak and Hussein Onn (through The Confrontation with Indonesia and May 13th) as the helmsman of the Malaysian Navy. He came out recently with other non-malay ex-servicemen to challenge the notion that non-malays (kaum Pendatang!) were somehow less loyal to the nation.

Matthew 6:24

China will assume a significant financial market role by purchasing Malaysian treasury bonds and China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN Group) will purchase shares worth RM9.83 billion in 1MDB power assets. Will Malaysia take Chinese patronage and sign the USA’s TPPA as well?! Maybe it’s more like Two Lovers or even Sophie’s Choice.

 

Bunga Mas

bunga mas

Wahai warga Kuning dan warga Merah,
mohon bersabar dan berhati-hati.

Ini bukan halnya kebersihan,
ataupun suatu isu perkauman.

Seri Mahawangsa memberi Bunga,
kini Raja menyusun juga.

Ampun Tuanku beribu-ribu-ribu,
kerana kuasa… hakikatnya begitu.

A Scroll of Acronyms 1998

KPB, Medium and Dimensions Variable, 1998, Niranjan Rajah

During the height of the financial and political crises of 1998, artist and curator Wong Hoy Cheong organized a show of protest and criticism titled “Siapa? Apa? Kenapa?”, Artis Pro Activ. I sent in a long faxed scroll piece with the above text. This speculative communication art work indexed the major bones of contention, the conspiracy theories and the possible linkages between the local and global political imperatives and instruments of the day.

 

Names and Things Re-post

And He taught Adam the names of all things;
[Sūrah al-Baqarah 2:31]

In the sacred paradigm the Creator gave man all things. He gave man their names.  He also gave man their proper uses.

People of the Place of Kelp

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lax U’u’la or Lelu Island is within the ancestral territory of the Gitwilgyoots tribe (people of the place of kelp) of the coastal Tsm’syen people. They are lead by Sm’oygyet (hereditary chief) Yahaan and Likagyigyet (house leader) Gwis Hawaal (of the laxgibuu/wolf house), who claim inherited title over this region. They assert that these island properties, and rights to use and defend them have accompanied the Sm’alygyax names Yahaan and Gwis Hawaal for many generations, and will continue to do so when the names are passed on.