OPINION: Escaping gritty past only to face grim future
Unaccompanied child refugees flee their home country to seek refuge here only to face a new set of challenges, writes YONG HUEY JIUN

EDITORIAL: Grafting integrity into perception
AMID the hullabaloo over political shenanigans, the release of the inaugural National Integrity Perception Index Report 2007 on July 2 went almost unnoticed. Published by the Institute of Integrity Malaysia, the report showed a score of 6.97 out of 10. Not bad.

JOAN LAU: Fashion comes and goes but the real you remains
THE first time I tried to make a fashion statement, it didn't turn out so well. I was about 15 or 16 and the one look that was all the rage back then was the midi.

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: Joint exercise sending wrong message
LET me begin this Sunday morning with a confession. I have an instinctive, and some say pathological, disdain for politicians, though not politics as a science.

TAN SRI ABDUL AZIZ ABDUL RAHMAN: Article 153 intended for long term
EVERY citizen should be familiar with the Federal Constitution. Both Malays and non-Malays should understand the intent and the letter of the provisions in the Constitution regarding the "special position" of the Malays as embodied in Article 153.

DEVA RIDZAM: Fix flaws in charter, Asean
AS Asean celebrated its 40th anniversary in Singapore last year, its leaders approved the text of an Asean Charter. Their hope was that its adoption in Bangkok in December this year would give the organisation and the region a new dynamism and purpose.

DAVID LAVOIE: Malaysia, thanks for sun, smiles and friends
IT's time for me to say hasta la vista, auf wiedersehen, au revoir, ciao, see you again, jumpa lagi... at least for a while.

DAVID LAVOIE: Lightning does strike twice
THIS is the true story of Larry and Kyle's excellent misadventure. One of them, Larry, is a personal friend of mine and both men are Malaysians.

ROGER TAN: Anti-hopping law vital for stability
LAST Wednesday, the president of the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, said his party had lost its confidence in the leadership of the prime minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Yong also revealed that its two members of parliament would either table or support a motion of no confidence against the prime minister tomorrow.

EDITORIAL: Packing health into canteen food
IF Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai has his way, school canteens will only serve healthy food. He would like students to not only have a balanced diet but also learn how to choose what's right for them to eat. That would mean we may not taste sweet or fried oily foodstuff in school canteens, including perhaps carbonated drinks and ice cream. Some might complain, of course, that Liow would be depriving them of their inalienable gustatory rights. But, given the expanding side profiles of our schoolchildren, it will be timely nourishment.

OPINION: In a sea of colleges, mergers are lifejackets
The Higher Education Ministry wants to bring together smaller private colleges to make them more efficient, writes CHOK SUAT LING

Roger Tan: Why let a child suffer sins of adults?
"I didn't marry you because you were perfect. I didn't even marry you because I loved you. I married you because you gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults. And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married and it was the promise that made the marriage. And when our children were growing up, it wasn't a house that protected them; and it wasn't our love that protected them - it was that promise." Thornton Niven Wilder (1897-1975) American playwright and novelist

Zaini Mohd Said: Mum and her lessons on frugality
THE good thing now is that there are more people driving their cars slower on the highways.

Past present: Knowledge is the best eraser in the world for disharmony, distrust, despair, and the endless physical deficiencies of man
THE nerve of these trans-vestites, I thought. Of all places, they had to hold a beauty pageant in Kelantan.

Letter from Australia: Get a wholesome education
TWO generations separate Hijjas Kasturi and Sarah Quek -- two lifetimes converging on the more than 50 years of an educational relationship that links Malaysia and Australia.

EDITORIAL: Respite from politics
STEP aside Permatang Pauh. Tonight, interest in the by-election takes a back seat as every Ah Chong, Ali and Ramasamy from both sides of the political divide will be glued to their seats to watch the Beijing Olympics men's singles badminton final on television. Lee Chong Wei has the glint of gold in his eyes as he takes on top-seeded Lin Dan of China. Indeed, Lee is the best bet for the gold that has eluded the nation since it took part in its first Olympics, the Melbourne Games, in 1956. And the badminton arena is where Malaysia's Olympic medals have come from, with the Sidek brothers, Razif and Jailani, winning bronze in the doubles at the 1992 Barcelona Games when badminton became a medal sport; Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock coming closer at the 1996 Atlanta Games, winning silver; while another Sidek, Rashid, won the singles bronze in Atlanta.

OPINION: And the moral of the story for leaders is ...
Should leaders caught in sex scandals or who have had brushes with the aw be judged on standards of morality or their ability to deliver? CHOK SUAT LING writes

ANIZA DAMIS: Despite the protests, democracy wins the day
OVER the past week, many illustrious people and journalists have condemned the demonstrations against the Bar Council forum on Aug 9.

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: When common sense should prevail
OF all the professions, the legal fraternity (despite having in its ranks some truly unsavoury types, and which body of men and women is free of them?) is generally held in high regard in Malaysian society.

JOAN LAU: Weaning ourselves from the things that hold us
ARE you a neat freak? The kind of person who has everything in order; notes in your wallet organised according to denomination, clothes sorted by colour and desk clean of all clutter?

A. KATHIRASEN: Supporters set tone for bitter contest
THE campaign for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat is set to be a boisterous affair, going by the raucous atmosphere at the nomination centre yesterday.

PADDY BOWIE: Much revered father figures
RECENTLY, we celebrated Fathers Day. This month, we honour Merdeka and Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman.

HASSAN ZAHARI: How his wings changed his world
I WAS born on Aug 31, 1959 in the small village of Pongsu Seribu, Kepala Batas, in what was formerly known as Province Wellesley.

DZULKIFLI ABDUL RAZAK: Dealing with the prejudices towards Islam
WHILE the media is awash with statements relating to the naively titled Bar Council public forum, another forum held at about the same time is fast falling into oblivion.

Opinion: Tour agencies hope for clear skies again
The recent fuel price hike will have an impact on tourism but the industry is confident that it will only be for the short term, writes CHOK SUAT LING.

Gavin Yap: The problem is, a lot of us love the work we do...
A COUPLE of nights ago, I was up late at home and found myself in the middle of a minor freak out. My heart starting beating really fast and for a brief moment, it almost felt like I had forgotten how to breathe. It was terrifying.

Editorial: Fuelling the fuel that fuels us
WHEN we talk about fuel, our thoughts revolve around energy sources for engines, power plants, or reactors. In everyday parlance, fuel is equated with petrol. We forget the greatest fuel of all: food. Even when we think of food as fuel, it is in a most cursory manner. Yet, fuel it is. And the importance of that fuel has come to haunt us now that the price of the other fuel has shot through the barrel, causing a ripple effect.

Deva Ridzam: Free trade agreement won't affect Malaysia's sovereignty
WITH a high risk of failure of the Doha Round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations and the bilateral Malaysia-US Free Trade Agreement (MUSFTA) talks with the US in a cul-de-sac, where does this leave Malaysia's trade policy?

BUSINESS/YAP MING HUI: Danger of excessive spending
THE founder of one of the largest investment fund in the world, Sir John M. Templeton, once said: “Those who are thrifty will grow wealthy, and those who are spendthrifts will become poor. During my first 15 years after college, I made a game of adhering to a budget that included saving 50 cents out of every earnings.”

DZULKIFLI ABDUL RAZAK: Let parliament be one of reconciliation
DEMOCRACY in this country is very much alive and kicking.

PAST PRESENT: 'O! beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it
THE green-eyed monster. That's the popular and, dare I say it, lamentable description of jealousy. For, some say, the phrase was coined by The Bard himself.

DZULKIFLI ABDUL RAZAK: Varsities must be drivers of innovation and progress
THE 13th International Association of Universities ( IAU) General Conference marks the 60th year of the only worldwide general association of universities.

PAST-PRESENT: Training for the protectors
POLICEMEN who have disciplinary problems, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said yesterday, would be sent for counselling.

DZULKIFLI ABDUL RAZAK: No more Bosnia-Herzegovinas
THE Students Parliament of the University of Sarajevo hosted the International Humans Right Conference last week and there were more than 150 Malaysians among the participants.

LETTER FROM AUSTRALIA: Economics with social conscience
ECONOMICS is the dismal science, as the 19th century Victorian historian Thomas Carlyle put it.

CORRADO G.M. LETTA: Having faith in the value of diversity
THE effective formulation and implementation of any new initiative demands the actual creation of a culture of excellence to assure its success.

OPINION: New media spurring the winds of change
Perception management is here to stay, politicians from both the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat tell SANTHA OORJITHAM. The response, they claim, should not be more control but more freedom of speech

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: Meeting the fuel challenge firmly
IT could not have been an easy decision to make, but Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, whose leadership has often been called into question, has proved that he is made of sterner stuff.

DAVID LAVOIE: Men and the toys they simply must have
I SOMETIMES chuckle when I remember a bumper sticker I saw in North America years ago. It read: "Whoever dies with the most toys, wins."

LILEI CHOW: Net boost for consumers
FED up with years of navigating impossible customer service hierarchies, waiting patiently on hold while being told by a scripted robot that "your call is important to us" and being shuffled from one department to the next, consumers are striking back. And they are finding new ways to vent their frustrations.

EDITORIAL: Mystery of the missing trees
PENINSULAR Malaysia, according to official gazettes, lost 1,700ha of its permanent reserved forests over a five-year period from 2001. But hold on a second. That might not be true. Not only does the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia vehemently deny it, the protector of trees asserts that the peninsula has gained 6,800ha of forest reserves over the same period.

GAVIN YAP: Gadfly, what do you think, eh?
I HAVE long feared that the world as we know it, is coming to an end.

ANDREW KHOO CHIN HOCK: Making Malaysia's Parliament top class
THERE has been much mention recently of the desire to make the Malaysian Parliament a "world-class Parliament". What would this entail?

EDITORIAL: Kick-starting local football
MALAYSIAN football has scored. It shot to the 166th spot in the latest international football association rankings. Fifa had placed it at 169th position the previous month.

ZAINI MOHD SAID: Floored by Iban hospitality
THE tapai pulut (sweet fermented glutinous rice) I had last week was just heavenly.

JOAN LAU: Enough bad news, let's spread some good news
MY brother forwarded me an article from the New York Times yesterday. It wasn't a piece of scintillating writing that Leslie thought I would enjoy or some earth-shattering bit of news. No, it was something that made me a little happier than I was before I started reading it.

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: Liars hiding behind the cyber curtain
FOLLOWING the electoral winds of change in March, a great wave of cynicism is sweeping the land.

OPINION: Cut the highways, look into buses, LRT
The Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan did not sufficiently address urgent concerns about public transport, experts tell CHOK SUAT LING.

Tunku Abdul Aziz: Waking up from the lost ethical years
IN our country today, if it is not one thing, it is another.

DZULKIFLI ABDUL RAZAK: Irony of Blair's rule of law
HOW is it that some people can go around the world and talk on how to rule the world even though they have blood on their hands?

Letter from Australia: Getting a sound education
NI HAO. For all the pontificating on human rights, the China bashing, and the loaded observation of Beijing smog, suggestive of industrial exploitation oblivious to environmental degradation, there has been an exponential increase in Chinese speakers Down Under. Even if all that most people can muster are two words -- ni hao (how are you?).

PAST PRESENT: 'The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake.’
THE haze is getting rather worrisome.

ROGER TAN: Perhaps, finally, Blair has come of age
ON Aug 1, when delivering the 22nd Sultan Azlan Shah Lecture, former British prime minister Tony Blair said the rule of law was more relevant than ever in today's era of globalisation.

GAVIN YAP: Censorship saves our immortal souls
CENSORSHIP is good. Censorshipexists to protect us from what we do not have the mental power to understand.

ZAINI MOHD SAID: No running away from change
WHEN the US military went into Iraq in March 2003, I had predicted that it would encounter the utmost of difficulties and that it would fail.

JOAN LAU: Little rituals that help us get out of work mode
I HAVE this ritual. When I come home from work, I shed my office/work self. The minute I walk through the door and set down my bag (usually on the nearest chair), I must take off my watch. Next come the ear-rings and whatever accessories I happen to have on that day. Then and only then -- newly unburdened, as it were -- do I feel myself finally begin to relax.

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: When the foeman bares his steel
THE Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan, has the most unenviable job in the country at the moment.

EDITORIAL: Harmony in formation
GIVEN the advances in communications technology, including satellite television and the Internet, most of us are groaning under an information overload. Too much information can be an irritant as it entails sifting through a morass of material to find what one wants. In some areas, however, it is advantageous to have more information.

ZUBAIDAH ABU BAKAR: Pas concerns leave Pakatan unity in doubt
ALL'S not well in Pakatan Rakyat in Penang, and this could affect the outcome of the Aug 26 by-election.

OPINION: At the crossroads, bracing for a change
The MCA elections in October will be closely watched as the outcome will likely chart the way forward for the party, writes CHOK SUAT LING

TENGKU ZAFRUL AZIZ: Dogged grit is what counts finally
LIFE was circumscribed by an endless round of meetings, with me dropping off at three in the morning to wake up at six and start all over again. My stress levels were climbing and it wasn't pretty. Having shareholders with high expectations didn't help.

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: Umno's demise highly exaggerated
THE news doing the rounds of the demise of the United Malays National Organisation is greatly exaggerated and premature.

GAVIN YAP: Aah, the days that time forgot but not the heart
SOME of you are probably looking at this and wondering where I've been the last few weeks. Or maybe I'm wrong, perhaps you're not wondering at all.

ZAINI MOHD SAID: Let's not lose any more territory
WE lost Batu Puteh. On May 23 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled and granted the island, now called Pedra Branca, irrefutably to Singapore.

BRIAN STELTER: An embarrassing chapter in American journalism
IN his new memoir, What Happened, Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, said the national news media neglected its watchdog role in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, calling reporters "complicit enablers" of the Bush administration's push for war.

OPINION: It's tough when it doesn't start with ABC
A Royal Commission on Education needs to be established to review the national education curriculum, experts tell CHOK SUAT LING

EDITORIAL: Aye for Socso improvements
IF a bus driver loses an eye in an accident at work, he is unlikely to receive the Social Security Organisation invalidity pension. This is because, according to Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, Socso doctors recommend a pension only if the disability is considered 60 per cent and above. The one-eyed driver would be told to return to work and the management advised to give him some other job. But the fact remains that he will be denied a pension under the Socso Act.

PAST PRESENT: I think of discipline as the continual everyday process of helping a child learn self-discipline'
YET another case of student violence has occurred. A Form Two student at a Chinese school in Johor was hammered, literally, by an older student on July 18.

LETTER FROM AUSTRALIA: Going green at grassroots
TIME flies. It seemed like yesterday that I looked out the aircraft window to the summer brown below close on 20 years ago.

PAST PRESENT: Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream.
A wave of nostalgia streamed through me as I sat on the root of the 98-year old rain tree (Samanea saman).

Keeping a tight leash on education
HIGHER education in Malaysia is certainly growing. This is evident with the establishment of more than 500 private institutions in the country. They offer a wide variety of programmes leading to diplomas and degrees.

RAJA AZIZ ADDRUSE AND HELEN TING: Understanding 'special position' of Malays
THE electoral results in March have stirred up great hope among many that it signals the birth of a "new politics", whereby race-based rhetoric seems to have faltered as the magic formula for a big win by the Barisan Nasional.

PADDY BOWIE: Listen to the prophecies of the 'sacred birds'
WE celebrated another festival this month, the Gawai Dayak, when the Ibans of Sarawak "balik longhouse".

LILEI CHOW: Moving away from 'catch and lock up' approach
I STILL remember vividly the shock we felt upon seeing my cousin four years ago during the annual family reunion dinner.

W. SCOTT THOMPSON: Armies won't win war on criminals
HOW to end terrorism? Well, a new study by a think tank in Santa Monica, which gets most of its contracts from the United States government, says do just about everything opposite from the way Washington is doing it now.

JOAN LAU: When a fountain pen marked 'coming of age'
WHEN I was growing up, there were certain things a child was given which were seen as coming-of-age symbols. They were like the pencil marks on the wall behind the door which marked how tall you had grown each year.

SUFLAN SHAMSUDDIN: Towards a full inclusive democracy
MOST Malaysians still vote for the political choice that best serves their narrow communal interests.

OPINION: Do the math, keep it in English
The Education Ministry is seeking feedback on whether Science and Mathematics should continue to be taught in English. Experts say the policy should be allowed to go on but with some adjustments, writes CHOK SUAT LING

EDITORIAL: Righting wrongs of human rights
THE Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has been given a year to state why its status should not be downgraded from A to B by the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (ICC). The ICC feels Suhakam is not fully compliant with the Paris Principles, which relate to the functioning of national human rights institutions.

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: The truth about bloggers
AS I settled down to start on my Sunday column, this time in the invigorating cold of the Melbourne winter, I wondered what I should touch on.

ZAINI MOHD SAID: Training was hard, but it united us
IT is interesting to reflect on how quickly the military could grab hold of you and shape you into the type of person that it wants you to be.

GAVIN YAP: Waking up to a whole new world of reality
I WOKE up the other morning, staggered out of bed as I usually do and made my routine walk to the toilet. Strange as this may sound, unless it's just too dirty and grosses me out, I almost always sit on the toilet seat, regardless of what kind of call it is.

OPINION: Logging issue lays bare Pakatan's Achilles heel
The fallout between the DAP and Pas over the logging of the Ulu Muda forest reserve is symptomatic of the lack of coherent policies in the Pakatan-ruled states, writes DAVID YEOW

EDITORIAL: Powering up the nuclear option
IN 1973, the National Electricity Board (the predecessor of Tenaga Nasional Berhad), realising that oil prices would continue rising, established a nuclear division to work towards harnessing nuclear energy for power generation. It was closed down after seven years, as the cabinet felt nuclear energy should be the "last" option. The price of oil was US$1.80 per barrel when the NEB's nuclear division was established. With oil prices soaring -- it passed US$140 per barrel on Friday -- nuclear energy is becoming an attractive option again.

MOHAMED JAWHAR HASSAN: Global oil price: A crisis waiting to become a disaster
ACROSS the world, protests and demonstrations have erupted against governments for the surge in fuel pump prices, which is also sparking general inflation in the price of food and other commodities. Protests and demonstrations have taken place in countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: A Malaysia without racial borders
MANY years ago, I found myself in an antiquarian bookshop in London which had all the hallmarks of undisguised, unapologetic English eccentricity.

JOAN LAU: In the summertime, when the weather is fine...
IT'S the time of year when magazines come out with their summer issues and their pages are filled with cool summer fashions, make-up for warmer weather and, of course, great holiday or beach reading.

ANIZA DAMIS: Rules don’t make us First World
ON a large wooden board in the Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders) headquarters in Paris are photos of journalists from around the world who have gone missing or been killed while doing their job.

KHOO KAY KIM: Human rights and our Western value system
IN Malaysia, between the two terms, it was "integrity" that was given constant attention for the longest time. Although the term itself was seldom used in the past, the two words which convey the same meaning -- "'honesty" and "ethics" -- were repeatedly emphasised in schools and during talks on religions. In English-medium schools in particular, children were constantly reminded of the saying: "Honesty is the best policy".

TENGKU ZAFRUL AZIZ: Turning the apathetic into dynamic leaders
I CALL them the idealists and the apathetic. Poles apart though they seem, there is only one major difference. The apathetic are the disillusioned idealists.

EDITORIAL: Migrating to a graft-free system
It is not often that the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) see eye to eye. This time, though, they are in agreement: something smells rotten in the foreign labour outsourcing system. Tenaganita, which handles migrant workers problems, concurs. They want the system scrapped. They say the system, introduced in 2006 to smoothen the process of foreign labour recruitment and placement, merely fattens the wallets of some people.

OPINION: Catching 'em young to tackle prejudices
Racial polarisation continues to be the bane of public universities. This scourge must be arrested at kindergartens, writes CHOK SUAT LING

HARDEV KAUR: Petronas has to husband resources
MALAYSIA'S share of oil production is less than one per cent of the world's output and its known reserves are less than 0.5 per cent of global reserves. Malaysia's daily production is 700,000 barrels, compared with Saudi Arabia's 10.4 million barrels.

JOAN LAU: Indulge yourself for every day is a special day
ARE you a user or a hoarder? Not quite sure what I am talking about?

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: Arrest police's fall from grace
"POLICING... inescapably deploys methods which are harmful (and) which are normally considered to be morally wrong... To be effective, a police officer must have, and clearly demonstrate, an understanding of the reality of this complex environment before exercising authority over it. This requires sensitivity as well as decisiveness, compassion as well as strength...." Seamus Miller and Michael Palmer in Police Leadership in the Twenty-First Century.

LAI CHEE KIEN: Shipley, an architect extraordinaire
THE fact that the Parliament House complex is still being used today is testimony to its astute siting and proximity to Kuala Lumpur’s city centre, new or old.

JOAN LAU: When is good enough really good enough?
IT started out as idle lunchtime conversation: a bunch of us were talking about what we were like as children. One of my friends confessed to being a troublemaker in school.

ZAINI MOHD SAID: Here's to putting country before self
MY patriotic juices were flowing when I was having nasi kandar in Jalan Ampang recently.

TUNKU ABDUL AZIZ: Cut the theatrics, Anwar, and let Malaysians get on with their lives
IT seems to me that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is suffering from paranoid delusions. His preoccupation with what he sees as political conspiracy against him is doing his reputation and credibility, such as it is, enormous damage.

OPINION: Bakun Dam and the new energy equation
With the snags over underground cables and soaring cost, Sarawak planners, industry experts, activists and locals explore the options with DESMOND DAVIDSON and SANTHA OORJITHAM.

EDITORIAL: Refreshing winds in varsities
AN entry by someone called Gansad in the kadazandusuns website's forum recently is very telling of the state of affairs in the universities.

GAVIN YAP: Learning from moronic decisions is 'maturity'
I WAS going through some of my old stuff not too long ago, doing a bit of spring cleaning, and I stumbled across the first piece I wrote for this little column of mine.