The World of Tai Tai

A few years back, we visited the grave of grand aunt. When grand aunt had been alive, she was the apple of great grandpa's eye. He was devastated upon her death from an attempted abortion. Great grandpa buried her in a family-owned hill. A year later, Brunei fell into the hands of the Japanese army. Due to great-Grandpa's wealth, the Japanese forced him into supplying food to their troop. When the Australian air-fighting force got wind of that information, they wanted to level great grandpa's residence and his properties. However, by a twist of fate, Great-grandfather was informed of the planned raid and escaped. Miraculously, the hill was spared the bombing. After the Japanese surrendered, in detention centre, some air-raiders revealed to great grandpa that they had almost dropped bombs on the family-owned hill. The sight of the cross on grand-aunt's grave giving off serenity had made them change their mind.

Fifty Ringgit By Lo Sin Yee     Chinese New Year was in the air again. The more my classmates bragged about what their fathers would give them during the festivities, the more I hated mine. On the first day of every Chinese New Year, papa would give my siblings and I one ringgit worth of red packets, a measly amount compared to those received by our classmates.  On the third day of the celebration, however, he would collect them back from us.                 My papa sold steamed buns for a living  Although our buns were delicious and reasonably cheap, the profit we made was meager and inconsistent.  Every month, much of our earnings was spent on our car repairs. The rickety beater meant a lot to us.  If it broke down, Papa would be unable to sell buns at the night market and we would have less to eat.  Each time our car required repairs,  papa would be on te...

The outbreak of the pandemic, Covid-19 has exposed the challenges of schools’ online education all across Malaysia. Those issues, if not given enough attention, may get worse and soon become out of hand, just like how an unattended flame turns into a conflagration that destroys anything around it. With online education fast becoming a new norm, its significance will continue to grow in ten to twenty years to come.  In the face of those challenges, we need to identify the root causes and together, work on how to alleviate them. The first issue - the anxiety over which online platforms to use for online teaching. On the heels of the first time when schools were ordered to close, worry was writ large on every teacher’s face and many were at a loss for what to do. Then, came the news of teachers having to go online. It was every inch a threat, jolting them awake from their comfort zone, which was classroom teaching. Teachers started tinkering with various online platforms...

I constantly have troubles dealing with others. Maybe it is because of my mental state. But I am by nature not like that. I was originally mild tempered. When I was at t he age of thirteen, mama had to leave Miri for work in Brunei. And papa became strange overnight, very violent and unpredictable towards me. In the first dinner without mama,  he portioned out  food,  me receiving very little but Ah Hui and Weng Weng had much more. But when I complained, his face dimmed and moments after that, I was slapped.   Yes, he had a hard time adjusting to the fact that he could no longer earn money for the family. We all knew that and had been trying to be considerate. But from then onwards, he always vent on me and I did not know why. When he was beating me, he used all of his strength, shouting and crying out loud. When I was studying in Kuching, despite his Ill treatment of me, I still missed him and my siblings. So, when I finally returned home f or good, I told mys...

Two years ago, the then principal Koh wanted to teach me a lesson by appointing a different teacher to take over my English Language Class. I still handled that class, but the subject I taught was Art. I was not happy with that decision, n insisted that I deal with English in that class. And he taunted me, ' Why back down all of a sudden. Don't tell me you can't teach Art.' Earlier on, I had ever requested teaching art. But not in a way that disturbed my teaching of English. He could have asked me to teach other classes art，which had no teachers. Hearing that, I stopped arguing with him. Not because he had won，but I had decided to let the git have his way. After all, he would retire soon. I only had to bide my time. And so I started teaching art. And I had lots of fun. Most of the students liked me and it had opened my eyes to how they behaved in a different subject. It had also made me realize that the English language was not the be all and end all. There was a r...

He smiles, hands on the steering wheel, one foot on the gas pedal, propelling the car forward.  Bound and gagged, all I can do is look on.                                   He drives on, hardly looking at me, humming snatches of songs. Suddenly, he has changed direction. The car makes an oblique rise, and then down it goes. Both of us jerk forward. The road curb is gone. We  are going down a slope, where the sea beckons far below.  I struggle, trying to free myself. I shout, but nothing comes out. My husband and two children....do they know of my whereabouts?  My fear forms into something gooey which fills every part of my brain, limbs and stomach. Hours before, I had been doing my laundry. The bell rang, and I opened the door, shocked to see him outside. `What are you doing here?" I said. We had...