Tommy Peters' Bicycles

Transcript: I'm Caroline. The writer asked me to deliver this commentary in place of those voodoo characters he usually employs. The writer said, being female, I am better suited to provide this brief tribute about a beloved Malaysian, a transparent personality yet sometimes misunderstood even by friends. For the affable Malaysian, such issues have to be taken in stride, and it has become a learning experience for those who know him.  A comparison between a Hollywood star and a Malaysian. Denzel Washington transcends racial barriers. He cannot 'blacken' his script, no matter how hard he tries, resulting in his roles being swappable with every Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Chow Yuen Fatt, and Jackie Chan. Washington did not create the ethnically neutral genre through acting lessons. An inherent character 'flaw' enables him to turn into a subliminal teaching device. 
 Lim Kit Siang transcends racial barriers. He simply does because the longest-serving politician i...

Denzel Washington transcends racial barriers. He is unable to ‘blacken’ his script no matter how hard he tries resulting in roles being swappable with every Cruise, Pitt, Chou and Chan. He did not create the ethnic-neutral genre through acting lessons. It is an inherent character flaw that enables him to turn his wonderful character into a subliminal teaching device.  Lim Kit Siang transcends racial barriers. He simply does because the longest serving politician in the Malaysian Parliament has a similar character flaw. He did not evolve into an ethnically-neutral Malaysian by rote. He was born one. Period. The quintessential politician is a walking Chinese, Indian, Malay and other race-combines, rolled into one.  In essence, he is Malaysia’s ubiquitous teaching device in the true sense of the word and being his job description, he simply does not have an option. Chance upon him on the street and say something - anything. He responds gregariously with his trademark s...

309 years ago a religionist in India said, " Over my dead body" in response to the ongoing Islamisation of the continent. He represented a 15 th century doctrine which stands to this day. His battle cry galvanized a movement that acted as a bulwark that stemmed the ‘Mughal' steamroller at the time. It is said that the current multicultural and multi-religious fabric of India remains secular, largely due to the advent of his movement. 18 years ago, in a more civilized setting, a politician in Malaysia said " Over my dead body" in response to a notion that Islamisation of Malaysia was imminent. It is not a coincidence the politician echoed the battle cry of the religionist. The politician is asking that we draw lessons from history that teach us that Islam in the public domain is incompatible with a multicultural and multi-religious fabric. The overtures of PAS towards UMNO revived the unifying sentiment of the ‘ummah’ within two opposing fa...