bobjots : redux

Socio-Political Front

• Lingamgate Saga
  Parti KeADILan Rakyat (PKR) releases a video recording of a telephone conversation between a senior lawyer, V.K. Lingam, and another person purportedly to be current Chief Justice, Tun Ahmad Fairuz, making arrangements for the appointment of the latter as the Chief Justice
  • Lingamgate Revealed
    The video and the transcript itself.
  • Lingamgate: Blame the whistleblower
    Rather than taking action against V.K. Lingam, the authorities decide to put pressure on the whistleblower(s).
  • Lingamgate: Charge the whistleblower
    ACA gives an ultimatum to PKR Vice-President, Sivarasa Rasiah, and party worker, Sim Tze Tzin, to reveal the whistleblower or face jail time.
  • Siva and Sim tells ACA to go fly a kite
    Enough said :)
  • A Petition To His Majesty The Yang Dipertuan Agung
    The final arbiter of our democracy needs to hear your voice. Be part of the petition to appeal to His Majesty the Yang Dipertuan Agung to restore the integrity of the Judiciary
• 20th Anniversary of Operasi Lalang
  The Reb (short for both Rabbi and Rebel - the nickname for our own homegrown Old Testament scholar, Rev. Anthony Loke), posted a series of timely reminders that October 27, 2007 would be the 20th anniversary of Operasi Lalang :
  
  • 20th Anniversary of ISA Operation Lalang in Malaysia
  • ISA Op Lalang 20th Anniversary (con't)
  • Countdown to 20th anniversary of Op Lalang 1987
  • There and Back Again: Reading an Exilic Text for the Post 1987 Operation Lallang Malaysian Church (Academic paper)

• Barisan Nasional's Racialst Formula
  • BN’s tradition of quotas protects non-Malays BN State Assemblyman for Subang Jaya, Dato' Lee Hwa Beng betrays his inability to break out of the restrictive ethno-centric paradigm that some would claim is the malaise of Malaysia
  • Malays also discriminated against by Umno
    We always kinda knew this was happening .. but its always nice to have some documentary evidence. A possible violation of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution here?
  Those who believe in progressive multiracial politics must unite
  My friend, Nik Nazmi, suggests an alternative to the status quo.

Domestic Front

• Emerging Parents Blog
  A new blog set up by Julie Clawson that seeks to explore and discuss how we can follow Christ as parents, integrating our emerging faith and practices in with how we raise our kids.
  
  Especially important to me as I am now trying to come to terms with having 2 wonderful kids amidst the uncertainties that my career path brings about.
• Examen 35: Fatherhood
  Sivin explores fatherhood .. very reflectively.

Recent Reads
- some of which I'm still reading

• 無字天書無一字
  無字無解無自解
  自解悟來不依理
  心存一念理不通
  
  I reckon this might be one reason why Asians seem to be able to handle paradoxes better; or at least we ought to? How's that for a postmodern critique? ;)
• Biblical Ethics and Social Change
  Stephen Charles Mott is way underrated. This is a very readable book.
• A Christian Perspective on Political Thought
  Another very good title by Mott. I suggest reading this only after reading the previous title.
• Come to the Quiet: The Principles of Christian Meditation
  A gem by John Michael Talbot and a good reminder for me of the need to re-centre back on Christ despite the constant "busyness" and frustrations

My Book Purchase Quota of the Month

• A Book of Hours
  A cycle of meditative poems about the life of Christ based on the liturgical calendar of the church by John Reeves.
• The Oxford Book of Prayer
  A selection of prayers covering many centuries including prayers from the Bible and from the saints and mystics from the past, as well as from the great religions other than Christian, and also contemporary prayers from different parts of the world. The work was overseen by the former Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem, the Rt Revd George Appleton.
• The Celtic Way of Prayer
  Esther de Waal explores the legacy of Celtic songs, poems, prayers, and blessings that grew out of the dynamic meeting of Christian monasticism with an older, communal way of life ordered by kinship, a rural sense of place, the pattern of the seasons, and the cycles of birth and death
• Organizing for Social Change: A Manual for Activists
  Touted as the bible for anyone who wants to effectively organize to change the quality of their lives or the lives of others