Lockdown diary in a pandemic


Blog

“You are not working from home. You are at your home, during a crisis, trying to work“. I’ve seen this phrase being shared repeatedly on social media the last week or so, as a reminder that this is an unprecedented time we’re living through. And we shouldn’t be expecting for things to continue like normal; […]

13/04/2020

On the problematics of “colour”, and on silence


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I have issues with the term “people of colour”. I despise it. One problem is because it’s an American term that has been popularised and adapted into global acceptance, without as much as contextualising the differences in history, culture and language. It also comes loaded with American sensibilities, and with it, its conception of race. […]

30/05/2019

Is your world more racist or misogynistic?


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I was recently asked if my current world was more racist or misogynistic. By default, I fell back to saying it was more racist, as I’ve reflected before, on how casually discriminatory and flippant people can be on racial and cultural differences. But over the course of time since the question was posed to me, […]

12/01/2019

Xenophobia in a multicultural society


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To the outside world, Malaysia, despite its various problems with government corruption on a global scale, is a considerably moderate and multicultural society. For decades, various ethnicities have learnt to live with each other harmoniously. And truth be told, this is something that is very visible, particularly in Borneo where the hometown is situated. It’s […]

25/07/2016

“Your activism is only valid if it agrees with mine”


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Funny thing, activism. I’ve spent the last few days observing how responses to the terrorist attack in Paris evolve from horror to full-on condescending admonishment. All that’s left at the end of the day isn’t forgiveness or feelings of solidarity; it’s confusion, it’s anger, and an even greater sense of hopelessness because I see friends […]

16/11/2015

The double edged sword of “coming home”


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When I accepted a lucrative job offer to return to my hometown, it meant relocating my entire life and that of my cat’s halfway across the world. Accepting academic jobs – or any jobs, for that matter – in a different country to that you were trained in was always something I accepted as part […]

22/05/2015