Sajakkini

Josh Hong

President Bush has begun a fence-mending trip to Europe this week, in the hope of assuaging the angst of some European nations that have been growing wary of the arbitrary behavior of the United States following the Sept 11 attacks.

However, as the president is all smiling to his European friends (and perhaps some foes too), his administration is burning bridges on another side of the globe.

After the end of World War II, the US sought to tame Japan, the perpetrator of the Pacific War, by first occupying the country and then putting it under US security aegis, resulting in the US-Japan Security Treaty in 1960 that allows for Washington to maintain military presence in Japan for the sake of the latter’s security as well as for the maintenance of international peace and security in the Far East. (more…)

Hishamuddin Rais

Pada pagi Hari Kekasih (Feb 14) yang lalu, saya terserempak dengan seorang anak muda di perhentian SKR (sistem keretapi ringan) di Pasar Seni. Di saku belakang seluar anak muda ini terselit sebatang bunga ros yang terbungkus indah dalam balutan plastik kaca putih.

Kami sama-sama menunggu keretapi. Saya ingin ke Bangsar dan saya tidak mengetahui ke mana pula arah tuju anak muda ini. Saya tersenyum apabila ternampak kuntum bunga ini. Pastilah ianya akan dihadiahkan kepada si kekasih sebagai tanda cinta.

Saya gembira kerana saya sendiri yang kekurangan cinta, telah bertemu dengan seorang anak muda yang sedang bercinta. Dalam perjalanan itu, saya bayangkan betapa nikmatnya dunia percintaan. (more…)

3.00 am. We are standing in an alley that snakes like a river of piss and honey, she and I, facing one another. She sucks on the cigarette like it’s mother’s milk, and holds on to it like it’s a branch hanging over a bottomless crevice. Three stubs lie around her like acorns, their poison still drifting into the steamy air.

Her fingers are trembling and she’s gnawing her thumb into a stump. Her left arm presses her bag into her breasts like it’s a child needing comforting, the hand absentmindedly caressing her neck. Her furtive eyes actively avoid mine. Every question is met with a nervous giggle and a vacant “Yeah”. She must be new at this.

Her black satin slip looks more like what you’d wear at bedtime if you’re feeling naughty and you’ve run out of undies. Her stocking has a tear just below the right knee and I idly muse if she’d gone Catholic on someone in a street somewhere. She’s got dark wavy hair that cascades past her shoulders, framing a face so fine you know she must have one of those flowing names that sound like someone farting slowly through a silk bedsheet. (more…)