I’m kinda sad that my favourite hotel in KL is closed “permanently”. I will miss staying at Classic Inn (52, Lorong 1/77a, Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur). I will especially miss Baboo who went out of his way to help me in so many ways. Sometimes I had to ask him (beg him) to stop carrying…
Author: ilagardien
Picture Gallery: Along the river in Malaka
Review: “Face of the Enemy” The American War as explained by the Vietnamese
I highly recommend this documentary, “Face of the Enemy” to anyone who has watched (ad nauseum) Hollywood productions about the “Vietnam War”. The following passages were taken from YouTube: Over four million Vietnamese died in what one side calls the American War and the other side calls the Vietnam War. A war so brutal, that…
In Defence of Helen Zille (Or, The Trolls Ask Questions but Don’t Hang Around for the Answers)
During this age of social media where almost everyone has access to a computer and an opinion the worst thing you can do as a writer is take seriously every nasty troll in the comments section. I have made it part of my job to respond to comments – those worthy of replying to and…
My Malay heritage denied because being coloured during apartheid was better – or something like that
The casual study of my Malay family heritage has been running up against the romantic-idealistic wall of “non-racialism,” one of those post-apartheid gods that failed. Gabieba Baderoen, a lecturer at Penn State in the USA, seems to be somewhere near the forefront of this. It makes me wonder whether Baderoen would dare tell an African-American…
Terrorist and Hero
Amid a raging pandemic, economics imperialism gives no inch
“Those so keen on keeping the economy open are not keen on carrying the cost of the health calamity either“ I have a doctored picture on my computer somewhere of a man in a space suit standing on the moon. Almost 384,400km away (depending on timing) the earth is being obliterated by an enormous meteor….
Julius Malema and what we can learn from power of euphemisms in politics and language
A scan through the statements and speeches of Julius Malema over four or five years is quite a marvellous lesson in the force of rhetoric, and when read intertextually (read what he says at any one time alongside what he has said elsewhere), his language and the reportage on his statements reflect a veritable lexical…
Conflict in Palestine
I was invited by Tussen Ons, an Afrikaans television programme, to speak on the conflict in Palestine. If I can fine a video clip, I will place it online. Here, in the meantime, is a picture. Follow this link (if you have DSTV) for a replay of the show. https://now.dstv.com/catchup/video/IS20_100330057/play Let me know what you…
On Football Greats
This post is going to get me into a lot of trouble…. I realise and accept that Pele and Diego Maradona are or were the greatest players of their time. But other than a few clips on YouTube, I have never seen their greatness. The famous clip of Maradona probably sums up the totality of…