12 Rabi’ul Awwal, the day our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws) was born, is a national holiday in Malaysia as it is in every muslim country on earth except one. In the city of Kuching, Sarawak, to where I had just moved from America, there was to be a large parade that morning as there is […]
Author Archives: bingregory
Better than Hip-Hop
A little while ago, the Malaysian Music Awards were on TV. At the moment I tuned in, the winners for the Rap category were being introduced. Pop Shuvit, they call themselves. I cringed to see these jokers come on stage with their pants sagging, jewerly blinging and hair done up in cornrolls. They rap in […]
Strange Fruit, pt.3: Salak
I came back from my latest foray in the night market with a small bag of Buah Salak. These fruits are about the size and shape of a ripe fig. They are covered in a shiny, scaly peel that resembles snakeskin or armadillo hide. Inside, the flesh is firm, dry and crunchy, kind of like […]
Rabi’ al-Awwal
We are now in the first week of the blessed month of Rabi’ al-Awwal, the month that Allah Almighty sent the Beloved, Our Master Muhammad , the Best of Creation, the Seal of the Prophets. His birth, or Mawlid, is celebrated on the 12th of Rabi’ al-Awwal, and is an official holiday in every muslim […]
Behold the Power of Cheese
My stomach had been upset since the morning so I hadn’t eaten a thing when I stepped into a supermarket for a few items I can’t get at the neighborhood kedai runcit. As I wandered through the aisles, my eye fell on the farthest corner of the refrigerated section, where, past the cheezwiz-type spreads and […]
SARS in Sarawak?
The Sarawak Tribune is reporting that the Kuching Mental Hospital in Kota Sentosa and parts of the Sarawak General Hospital are under quarantine pending verification. The SGH is within walking distance of my wife’s office. A woman from the mental hospital died of bacterial pneumnonia several days ago at SGH. Her case is being reexamined […]
Suffering Asian People
That’s the real meaning of the World Bank’s SAPs. Have a look at The Whirled Bank, a very well done parody of my least favorite lending institution. From Sassafrass by way of this Metafilter thread. Inside the Whirled Bank site, they have a surprising speech byHerman Daly, a former WB chairman, in which he quotes […]
Bup Kudus
A religious controversy came and went here in Sarawak before I even heard about it. The Bup Kudus, the translation of the Holy Bible into the Iban language, was banned two weeks ago, and dis-banned today. The Sarawak Tribune I picked up was so information-poor, I could not discern from the article why they banned […]