Author: Edmund Lee

What’s in a road name?

I learned that Jalan Badruddin in Kuching was named after the brother of Raja Muda Hashim, a close friend of Sarawak’s first White Rajah, Sir James Brooke. Raja Muda Hashim had a road named after him too. He was responsible for seeking help from James Brooke to quell a rebellion

Future shock in the present moment

In the morning, when the moon is at its rest, you will find me at the time I love the best, writing and penning my thoughts. It has become a routine for me to wake up every Friday morning around 4am to pen my weekly article. Things change so fast

Once upon a time …

When I was small and Christmas trees were tall. My mum said I was born under a wandering star and I remembered wondering how such heavy metal-bodied things called aeroplanes could fly so high and carry so many people over oceans, seas and skies. It was many years later before I

Cemetery and hospital – a reflection

Someone once said that a visit to the cemetery and hospital can teach a person good lessons in humility as well as humanity. I just did that over a space of one week – first to pay my respects to my late father, grandfather and ancestors during the recent Ching

Mind our language…

History has shown that lives can be lost by saying the wrong things at the wrong time…to the wrong person or persons at the wrong place. Captain James Cook may have discovered the Australian Gold Coast but he was tragically killed by savages, believed to be cannibals, in Kealakekua Bay,

The icons of unity in diversity

There is a saying, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” And there’s another saying which holds even greater meaning in the wake of the recent massacre of 50 Muslims in the tragic shooting

Whatever happened to our Rukunegara?

The Rukunegara or Rukun Negara (in Bahasa Malaysia, as “National Principles”) is the Malaysian declaration of national philosophy instituted by royal proclamation on Merdeka Day, 1970, in reaction to serious racial riots known as the ‘May 13 Incident’ which occurred in 1969 in Malaya, centred mainly in Kuala Lumpur. –

Close encounters of the wrong kind — in Kuching

Two things happened at different times, for different reasons, with different outcomes – the tale of a lorry and a stray dog. First thing first, BDC Commercial Centre, like many other commercial centres in Kuching has its share of indiscriminate parking which creates inconvenience to other road users. Lack of parking

To be or not to be – on the roads

I am not sure which is worse – a police patrol car colliding with an ambulance or a private 4WD driven by a 74-year-old knocking into one. Both happened in Kuching, at different road junctions – one, years back, and the latter, just days ago. The first incident, which happened

Lesson to be learnt from job scam episode

Firstly, let us welcome home the 40 Sarawakians, three Sabahans, three from Selangor and one from Kuala Lumpur after the state government and the Malaysian Embassy successfully negotiated their release with the Cambodian government. And kudos to the various parties who were credited with the success of the rescue mission