Columns

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  An important new book

  Jul 12, 2019

  Each year, I write a column sharing with readers the title and a brief synopsis of the ten books that touched me most that year.

  
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  Development for whom?

  Jul 12, 2019

  Wearing a white skull cap and beige baju Melayu, he showed me a six-point memo that the fishermen had couriered to the Department of the Environment in early June.

  
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  Climate change: An existential threat that demands action

  Jul 05, 2019

  France and Spain have recorded high temperatures as a heatwave blankets Europe, both countries going above 40C. Half a dozen people have died.

  
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  The loss of heaven and the fear of hell

  Jul 04, 2019

  Growing up as a Roman Catholic, like the rest of my generation, I was taught a prayer called, The Act of Contrition. Every Catholic back then had to memorise it and say it during or after going to confession.

  
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  What has gone wrong in our world?

  Jun 28, 2019

  Genesis shows that God created a world that was fertile and teeming with life. Water flowed from the very ground, which was fertile along river plains.

  
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  What makes for Christian communion?

  Jun 28, 2019

  The question of intercommunion within our churches today is a big one, an important one, and a painful one. I’m old enough to remember another time, a

  
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  Rachel Held Evans, 1981-2019

  Jun 21, 2019

  No community should botch its deaths. Mircea Eliade wrote those words and they’re a warning: If we do not properly celebrate the life of someone who has left us, we do an injustice to that person and cheat ourselves of some of the gifts that he or she left behind.

  
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  Are we sensitive enough to hear the cry of the poor?

  Jun 21, 2019

  The Orang Asli in Kuala Koh are suffering from some mysterious disease that has already taken 14 lives. Orang Asli in other parts of the country have been facing encroachment into their native customary land and conversion of forests to plantations for some time now. They are also worried about the impact of nearby economic activity such as logging and mining.

  
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  Equality and justice in the kingdom of God

  Jun 14, 2019

  Every year, the international charity confederation Oxfam provides its annual update on the state of the world and each time it makes for dismal reading. Wealth and income disparities seem to be growing ever-wider.

  
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  Faith, fear and death

  Jun 13, 2019

  A common soldier dies without fear; Jesus died afraid. Iris Murdoch wrote those words which, I believe, help expose an oversimplistic notion we have o