logo

let’s make something together

Give us a call or drop by anytime, we endeavour to answer all enquiries within 24 hours on business days.

*Five Arts Centre is moving! New address and phone number coming soon.*

religion

Of Boys and Breath Mints

By Yasmin Zetti Martin What kind of school has toughening-up camps that they force their “effeminate” students to attend? The kind of school located in front of a railway station that is known as a red light district? Or is this just the school playwright Shanon Shah went to? The school in question is the […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • July 11, 2008

Playing Catch Up

By Kathy Rowland Malaysia has a long history of conflicts over arts and culture, pitting artists against the Japanese during the Japanese Occupation, against the British during the Communist insurgency and anti-colonial movement that followed World War II, and, since independence in 1957, against the Alliance government. Over the past 49 years, the space for […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • October 5, 2007

Pasar Ramadan

By Toni Kasim Walking into a Ramadan evening bazaar with a rumbling tummy is almost masochistic. Here you are at in Section 14, Petaling Jaya, surrounded by stalls selling curries and roasts and breads and desserts, their multi-coloured umbrellas less vibrant than their wares: you are surrounded by so much of the forbidden, after almost […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • October 25, 2006

The Freedom to Worry

By Zedeck Siew I have been worried that my teeth are falling out. It has been six months since my last visit to a dentist. Being immigrants to the city, my family never really acquired a new orthodontist, so dental examinations require a one-and­-a-half hour drive back to Port Dickson: a Dr. Lim handles all […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • August 24, 2006

Who’s Afraid of Harmony Street?

By Concerned Citizens There is a street in Georgetown, Penang that has been affectionately dubbed “The Street of Harmony”. Once officially known as Pitt Street, it is now Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling. Along the axis of this street, there are three mosques, two churches and several Hindu and Chinese temples, all of them within easy […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • August 11, 2006

Talk Is Action

By Benjamin McKay There will be some among you who believe that talking about problems, about crises and about rights is a passive act. All talk, no action. I disagree with those sentiments. Talk, conversation, dialogue, argument and general discourse ARE actions. Identifying problems and the responses to those problems are important diagnostic activities too. […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • June 15, 2006

Undang-undang Pelukan

By Hishamuddin Rais Saya menimbulkan perkara nilai dan moral ini kerana pada minggu ini saya terus membaca berita tentang agenda untuk mewartakan moral. Saya juga telah membaca beberapa kenyataan dasar moral dari pelbagai pertubuhan dan badan NGO. Saya juga ada membaca surat-surat di media dari beberapa individu tentang perkara yang sama. Kelihatan hampir kesemua berita […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • April 28, 2006

The Umur of Innocence

By Ruhayat X Masa sekolah rendah dulu aku ramai member Cina, sebab parents aku for whatever reason lebih suka bergaul dengan cikgu-cikgu Cina colleagues diorang. Ada sorang member aku tu, nama dia Mun. Mun ni badan dia gempal. Muka dia bulat, kulit dia putih bersih, bukan kuning-kuning macam setengah orang Cina. Aku dengan dia start […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • April 14, 2006

Where Muftis Fear to Tread

By Toni Kasim Gubra raises a whole pile of socio-religio issues — some may even consider it somewhat overburdened — and in a heavily censored society, you really want to credit Yasmin Ahmad for using narrow windows of opportunities to test the limits of national and social discourse, even if some viewers may come away […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • April 14, 2006

Bebas Dari Onani

By Hishamuddin Rais It is easier to dominate someone if they are unaware of being dominated. Colonised and colonisers both know that domination is not just based on physical supremacy. Control of hearts and minds follows military conquest. Which is why any empire that wants to last must capture the souls of its subjects. – […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • March 1, 2006

Cartoons

By Goenawan Mohamad Puffy face. Heavy eyebrows. Bushy moustache. Black turban inscribed with sacred words in Arabic calligraphy. More interesting still: the turban is complete with wick – it is a bomb. If this picture had been without words, we would not have known that it was a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammed. Yet we […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • March 1, 2006

Yang Berat Dan Yang Hitam

By Hishamuddin Rais Tahun 2005 berakhir dengan nota yang kurang menyenangkan. Apa yang saya maksudkan ini bukan kerana kegagalan bursa saham melonjak tetapi penangkapan hampir 500 anak-anak muda yang sedang merayakan pesta tahun baru di sebuah kelab muzik – Paul’s Place – di Jalan Klang Lama. Mereka dikatakan sebagai penganut/peminat muzik genre Black Metal. Saya […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • January 12, 2006

Black Mental Nation

By Pang Khee Teik Rafil Elyas, 39, engineer, builder of mathematical models and rock musician, wasn’t playing at the ill-fated New Year’s Eve concert at Paul’s Place that was raided. But he was outraged all the same. So, with some help from the Centre for Independent Journalism, he organised a press conference at Paul’s Place […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • January 11, 2006

The Battle for Time and Space in Malaysia’s Narrowing Society

By Farish A. Noor ‘Power’ is not, and should not, be understood in a purely abstract sense. For ‘Power’ to manifest itself, it needs to be expressed in visible, even spectacular forms. Throughout humanity’s history, political power has been expressed through such spectacular excess: from public punishments to the visible cult of leadership embodied in […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • May 28, 2005

Mitos Peribumi Alim

By MR Al-Mustaqeem Dan berkatalah salah seorang (intelektual?) negara kita, bahawa siapa sahaja yang mempertikaikan Dasar Kebudayaan Kebangsaan (DKK) 1971, hasil resolusi yang dibawa dalam Kongres Kebudayaan Kebangsaan yang diadakan pada tahun yang sama, boleh dipertikaikan kesetiaannya sebagai warganegara. Yang Zainal Kling ceriterakan lagi, dalam wawancara dengannya di ruangan sastera, Berita Harian, 26 Oktober lalu, […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • November 8, 2004

Smorgasbord: A-Z of Spinning Gasing (Rampai Sari: “Spinning Gasing” dari A ke Z)

By Amir Muhammad Klik di sini untuk versi Bahasa Malaysia yang diterjemahkan oleh Abd. Latiff Bidin. A is for ARIFF. A campy Malay character played by Edwin Sumun, which explains why the campiness is more convincing than the Malayness. I kept waiting for him to come out with the revelation that he was an adopted […]

  • Azwan Ismail
    Azwan Ismail
  • October 17, 2001