One of the many tributes to the late John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the 35th President of the US, who was killed in a plane crash last month reads as follows: “He got his father’s looks, grace, social ease, droll humour and a casual attitude toward risk.” Such eulogy appears to denote that…
The fourth Langkawi International Dialogue or LID ’99 with the theme “Managing Economic Recovery For Shared Prosperity: The Smart Partnership Approach” drew to a close earlier this week. Undoubtedly, the meeting that managed to gather some 350 participants from 38 countries including nine of the most respected leaders of the developing countries ended on a…
A very pertinent health issue is on the minds of Malaysians nowadays. Is the splendid public health care services of the country going to be corporatised? Many are worried of such implication, especially on the future cost of health services in government hospitals and clinics. The furore is justified. In fact, it adds credence to…
A recent Lat’s cartoon depicts a picture of a mamak’s news-stand filled to the brim with magazines, periodicals, tabloids and whatnots featuring detestable, yet much sought after stories. Honestly speaking, accusations and counter-accusations like these are not limited to the political arena alone. In science too, accusations of lies, cheats and frauds are constantly hurled…
The political events of the previous week have again brought the university student s or the mahasiswa, albeit a very small and insignificant number of them, to the centre stage. They seemed to be unselfconsciously drawn into some sort of a reform movement, supposedly based on Islam. A couple of months ago, an observation highlighted…
What a schizophrenic week it was for Malaysia! On the one hand, majority of its people had a memorable experience following the XVI Commonwealth Games either via the television or first hand from the various venues. Many also worked extremely hard to ensure the success of the Games. They included the organisers, volunteers, police, school…
Public concern about student’s misbehaviour in schools is again taking centre stage. These problems may manifest themselves as physical or verbal abuse, yet sometimes they present themselves as disruptive behaviour. Many will remember with great horror the spate of killing committed by schoolchildren in the United States early this year. At home too, we are…
IKIM’s library recently received a number of big books on the subject of ‘mosque’, both from local and foreign publishers. One of the books is titled “The Contemporary Mosque – Architects, Clients and Designs since 1950s” and authored by Renata Holod and Hasan-Uddin Khan. Hasan-Uddin Khan used to work for His Highness the Aga Khan…
In addition to many other labels, the 21st. century has been also been referred to as the Biotech Century. This is in view of the increasing role of biotechnology in modem society. Biotechnology can be defined as any technology using microorganisms or biological material for technological purposes. Brewing or fermentation is actually a form of…
Yesterday was dedicated World Environment Day. Therefore, it is perhaps a good time for each and everyone of us to ponder upon our personal report-cards on how we have treated Mother Nature, at the very least in the past year. Let’s do this together. All of us are constantly interacting with the environment. In the…
