| 'Meaner' locals might mean better Chinese When I first arrived in Taiwan I clearly remember predicting after six months of intense language practice, I would be triumphantly returning home to the U.S., flexing my fluent Chinese tongue to the... | |
| Social woes of Dickens' work holds currency in Philippines Dickens' works were called social novels, scathing commentaries on poverty in Victorian England. His novels should be made required reading for English classes, made more relevant for Filipino... |
| Germany in two minds over taking Europe leadership role The eurozone crisis appears to have swept this post-war caution aside. Two years into the debt disaster, Germany looks increasingly confident in the role of economic superpower, pushing its model of... |
| Still a long road ahead for China The country's rise as an economic power has been one of the hottest topics in the world. Catching the trend The Economist published a special section on China in its Jan. 28 issue, the first... |
| Eye on the future While Banerjee kept the political pot boiling throughout the cold winter, Kumar chose to spoil the spring for the BJP, which had a golden past but is now faced with a bleak future in UP. Apparently,... |
| Beauty and the bordello Relief comes in the form of Karma, a rambunctious and irreverent old man. Called an avatar of the divine madman, Drupka Kunley, Karma embarrasses Anand and Tara by singing a provocative Drupka song... |
| Chase a crooked shadow shadow and so displeased with his own footsteps that he determined to get rid of both. The method he hit upon was to run away from them, so he got up and ran, but every time he put his foot down,... |
| Put the fence behind bars, too The cops are beefing up and increasing their numbers. But the thieves are increasing in numbers, too. While these are the bad guys, the bigger enemy are those who would egg them on by buying the... |
| Timing a burning question It is being asked at every gathering. This fixation on the date of the elections has totally and completely eclipsed policy arguments. THE final long weekend of the beginning of the year will have... |
| Unfair to treat mentally ill as a nuisance MINDA Malaysia (an umbrella body representing family support groups of people with mental illness in the country) and the Malaysian Mental Health Association (MMHA) read with... |
| Malayan tapir’s days numbered if no action taken I REFER to the report on the capture of the 200kg male tapir which somehow strayed into Kg Tun Abdul Razak, Bukit Katil in Malacca recently (The Star, Feb 2). The tapir is also the animal on the logo... |
| Waiting for Indonesian maids IT is difficult to rationalise why Malaysian households have to wait indefinitely for the recruitment of Indonesian maids when there are other options to employ maids from countries like Thailand and... |
| No enforcement leads to abuse IN a free enterprise market, a glass of water may be priced at 50sen to RM1.50, depending on what type of water you drink and where you go. You consume it if you want it. You... |
| Such a run of luck cannot be allowed to fail China has had a long run of luck in recent decades. Few countries can match China's momentum of development. Holding such good cards, if China should falter, several Chinese generations would... |
| ‘Today, if you get the budget right, your film finds an audience’ Filmfare awards - for his movies. The German embassy in Delhi recently showcased Akhtar's film Don - The King Is Back, about to be screened at the ongoing... |
| Has Europe forged its own chains? While celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, the best way to honour him is to examine yet again his relevance for the world today. His relevance for the subcontinent to which... |
| Russia's UN veto on Syria aims to crush West's democratic crusade UNITED NATIONS -- Russia's veto of a Security Council resolution on Syria goes far beyond mere protection for a close ally and arms buyer -- it showed Moscow's determination to crush what... |
| China's traditionally hard-line politics clash with soft power BEIJING -- China's hard-line political stance, as shown by its veto of a U.N. resolution on Syria at the weekend, is increasingly clashing with the Asian powerhouse's efforts to improve its... |
| Israel plays politics with Iran strike talk JERUSALEM -- Israel is pursuing a studied ambiguity on whether it will attack Iran, keeping its options open on how to rein in Tehran's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions, Israeli experts... |
| Facebook may not be right for China SHANGHAI -- When it comes to China, Facebook should consider itself forewarned. Cracking the world's biggest Internet population might seem an obvious ambition for the social networking giant as... |
| Wisma Putra adrift in foreign affairs Malaysia appears to be too preoccupied by domestic challenges to give foreign policy the kind of serious attention it... |
| No strings attached, please Granting autonomy to a few of our public universities looks wonderful. But it will be an exercise in futility if each faculty or department is not free to determine its path. A FEW public... |
| Malaysia is not paved with gold Many Cambodians, who work two jobs in their homeland to make ends meet, see Malaysia as a country where life is good and where one can earn a lot of money. MY guide Sey, an affable but quiet... |
| Dust off 1993 report on teaching of Science THE disinterest in science among students has been a long-standing issue since well into the 1990s. The Education Ministry had identified the problems then. Among the reasons cited in the report... |
| Highway that’s been taking ages to finish MY romance with the East Coast roads of West Malaysia began as early as the mid-70s when, as a student, my friends and I drove all the way up to Kota Baru. It was both fun and challenging to... |
| It’s hard to be a super-mum THE demands on working mothers are punishing. Every morning, we kiss our children goodbye, thrust our children into the capable (or not-so-capable) hands of our maids/nannies/mothers, plunging into... |
