Loading...
Alwyn Lau
Bookworm. Contrarian. Proud Malaysian. Or thereabouts. Tweets at @alwyn_lau
More from Alwyn Lau
-
Time to rethink the film-rating criteria?
NOVEMBER 12 — What does Annabelle: Creation and The Nun have in common, other than the fact that they’re both part of the Conjuring universe (see Note...
-
Do we treat our children like washing machines?
NOVEMBER 5 ― Turn the power on. Put the clothes in. Add some detergent and softener. Select the appropriate wash cycle. Press Start. After some time (usually less than an hour)...
-
Could marriage be the best way to end baby-dumping?
OCTOBER 29 — Babies abandoned inside garbage bins or thrown into rivers and drains. Foetuses left in toilets, chicken coops, out in the open or, sigh, even buried. Baby dumping...
-
If education isn't 'useless' now, it's useless in the future
OCTOBER 22 ― Is education the most powerful weapon we have to change the world? Sure, but not if it’s too “useful.” You see how rich people spend money on useless and...
-
'Bullshit jobs' ― a commonplace phenomenon?
OCTOBER 15 ― I once heard a manager from another department complaining that one of her staff is always looking at her WhatsApp messages; the manager claimed the individual in...
-
Why schools must remove those ‘30 days to SPM’ signboards
OCTOBER 8 — Many years ago I was invited to a school in the Subang Jaya area to give a talk about stress management to about a hundred or so SPM students. As is usually the...
-
How ideology trumps information
OCTOBER 1 — One of my friends once told me that he would only believe in God if he received a million ringgit, a beautiful wife, a bungalow, etc. At this point, my other friend...
-
What we can learn from the Predator
SEPTEMBER 25 ― (This is a spoiler-free commentary.) No matter how much you hate watching the Predator movies, I can tell you one thing: That ugly looking alien who kills humans...
-
Malaysia is no utopia and that's great
SEPTEMBER 17 — Think back to every movie that portrays an utopia or the promise of one. Hunger Games, Avengers: Infinity War, The Island, Demolition Man (yes, I’m...
-
Constructive paranoia and why we need it
SEPTEMBER 10 — “You will never fully convince someone that he is wrong; only reality can.” — Nicholas Taleb I have a relative who, if forced to make an unexpected stop...
-
God helps those who help themselves?
SEPTEMBER 3 — It has long been Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s axiom that God “helps those who help themselves.” The main idea, of course, is to encourage people...
-
Can’t abolish exams before abolishing the ‘examination mindset’
AUGUST 27 — The on-going debate about whether our country should abolish examinations for Years 1-3 (but why only these years?) needs to first address the nature of assessment...
-
Schizophrenia 101 and the absolute need for compassion
AUGUST 20 — A few years ago, the Health Ministry reported that one in a hundred Malaysians suffer from schizophrenia. That’s a relatively high number, in my opinion, but many...
-
How ‘The First Purge’ mirrors the Sedition Act
AUGUST 13 — I caught The First Purge the other day... it’s the latest in the series and I have watched all the others. Without a doubt, it’s one of the great...
-
The minority rule and why extremism persists in Malaysia
AUGUST 6 — “The ensemble may behave in ways not predicted by its components. A small minority, say 3-4 per cent of the total population, can cause the entire population to...