While reading Michelle Obama's autobiography, 'Becoming', our columnist recalls how reading books has helped him look beyond his own life and see things from other perspectives.

IN the final days leading up to the new year, I was asked, along with several other professors, to interview 24 candidates to be chosen for an award and also to be named valedictorian.

THE rude and insensitive rantings of Kedah Mentri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor may be seen as the incompetent and unprofessional conduct of one person, or an example of the future of Malaysia under Perikatan Nasional and the so-called ‘Islamic’ party, PAS.

LAST week, a social activist who is a close friend of mine asked me to accompany him for a visit to the PPR (People’s Housing Project) flats owned by City Hall Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) in Sri Pantai. He wanted to show me the condition of the flats and how the B40 tenants there live.

What narratives of the past do we carry with us that will shape our lives in the present and into the future?

IN today’s column I will attempt to argue that one way we can support nationhood is to reposition the arts as what they truly are: an endeavour of self-discovery, experience and cultural sharing, and a road towards intuitive creation.

I WAS exchanging WhatsApp messages in the middle of the night with my pastor friend, conversing about the political, economic and health challenges Malaysia is facing.

FRANKLY speaking, I am worried. I have been watching the goings on in this country intently and I have come to two worrying conclusions.

ON the eve of the historic date marking the formation of Malaysia, I want to share the story of a man who, to me, was a quintessential example of that generation of Malaysians who grew up before Sept 16,1963.

MALAYSIA, with her 39 ethnic groups, is a fragmented society. We live as strangers among ourselves, with the Semenanjung people not knowing and generally not caring to know our brethren in Sabah and Sarawak and vice versa.

It hurts when you’re made to feel like a stranger in your own country.

PANIC disorder is a debilitating mental health condition that you would not wish on your worst enemy.