This might not be a burning issue the public cares about.

The columnist has more than a few worries about the new and improved National Service programme.

The columnist shares thoughts on positive ways for us to move forward as a nation.

MOHANDAS Karamchand Gandhi. I repeated the name over and over again as I memorised a brief life history of the Indian statesman for my Tawarikh (History) exam in Standard Four at St Marks Primary School in Butterworth, Penang.

ABOUT a month ago I read the sad news of a doctor in Sabah who committed suicide. I also know of an intern from my university who was said to have committed suicide while working as a houseman in a Penang hospital about two years ago.

DEMOCRACY, as we understand it in Malaysia, means every eligible citizen can cast one vote for one person or party at the federal level and one vote at the state level. There is supposed to be another vote at the council level but we do not practise that, not since I became eligible to vote decades ago, anyway.

This National Day, the writer asks fellow citizens to think of what they can do for the country.

SOMETHING ugly is happening to Malaysia. We have a group of citizens who belong to a particular political party declaring other ­citizens as “enemies of Islam”.

Books are ‘downloads’ of human thoughts and aspirations, and can be passed on meaningfully to the next generation.

MY wife Norhayati Yusof and I tied the knot – or in Islam, pronounced the akad nikah – on July 15, 1984. Yes, yesterday was our 40th anniversary, I am happy to say.

ABOUT five years ago, I started talking about the idea of building a parallel Malaysia. Because after 20 years of watching, responding to, writing and reflecting academically on many issues of social mistrust and religious conflict, I got to thinking that Malaysia seems like a terribly ill patient.

A new book addressing how people in the two Bornean parts of Malaysia feel about the nation prompts the columnist to re-examine some issues.