These two warriors should’ve learned that discussing people unlocks the true depth of humanity. — There’s an old proverb that’s been bandied about, percolating through the collective consciousness of society, like an oversteeped tea bag that’s been left too long in tepid water. The saying, in its most common form, goes something like this: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss…

Mona Fandey’s chilling smile and the spectral undercurrents that shape Malaysia. — When Mona Fandey smiled as she walked to the gallows, a disquieting chill wrapped itself around the heart of the nation. It was a smile that blurred the boundaries of the rational and the spectral, a smile that was an eerie echo of a world that many Malaysians had long…

Can the specters of tradition be reconciled with a progressive future? — In the bustling streets of Kuala Lumpur, where the monolithic Petronas Towers stretch their gleaming steel limbs skyward, there lies an inescapable spectral presence. It is a spectral presence, not in the traditional sense of the supernatural, but rather, a hauntingly palpable metaphysical specter that permeates the very essence of…

Haunted by its past, can modern Malaysia escape the specter of Mahathirism? — In the brooding labyrinth of modern politics, where ideologies joust like ethereal specters, we find ourselves in the spectral embrace of Mahathirism. A spectral embrace, indeed, for it is both a paternal hand on the shoulder of Malaysia and a ghostly chain that shackles the nation to its past. …

The future is pastiche — “The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an ‘objective correlative’; in other words, a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion.” — T. S. Eliot In the dawning twilight of an era…

UiTM’s recent controversy sheds light on the pressing need for academic freedom & active student involvement. — Oh, UiTM, that prestigious institution of higher learning where intellectual discourse and freedom of speech are nurtured and celebrated like nowhere else! Or is it? As we turn our attention to the recent events involving Syed Saddiq’s dialogue, one must wonder if this is truly the case.

Examining the potential of New Zealand’s vaping success in shaping Malaysia’s GEG agenda. — Is Malaysia’s GEG policy truly prepared to take on the intricate battle against cigarette smoking? The term "cobra effect," an anecdote from colonial India, describes a situation where well-intended solutions to a problem only serve to exacerbate it. It is fitting, then, to consider the Malaysian government’s proposed Generation End Game (GEG) bill, which seeks to ban the use, possession, and sale of cigarettes and…

Welcome to ‘The Unseen Symphony’, a publication dedicated to exploring the hidden symphonies of the extreme music world. Here, you will find no surface-level fluff or shallow distractions. Instead, we delve into the deeper meanings and themes of the underground, from metal to punk to hardcore. We believe that music…

As GE15 left me with a newfound appreciation for grassroot organizing, I learned that it’s a difficult but necessary task. — For Saul Alinsky, the Machiavelli of the Have-Nots. As the sun sinks low in the sky, casting a golden glow over the paddy fields of Tanjong Karang, it’s easy to get caught up in the romance of political activism. The promise of changing the world from what it is to…