Aliran Monthly, Vol 24 (2004): Issue 11/12

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We apologise for the delay in getting out this issue. As we were going to press, the tsunami hit our region including Penang and Kedah. We decided, therefore, to incorporate discussion of this tragedy into this issue.

The cover story by Khoo Boo Teik, you will see, discusses the early December media campaign on restoring the shine to Penang in the context of the tsunami�s fury.

In accompanying pieces, Anil Netto reports on the plight of a group of affected Tg. Bungah residents while Jeremy Seabrook laments that the western media, even in this tragedy, makes a distinction between locals and westerners.

Housewife-turned-activist Norlaila Othman talks about the continuing tragedy in Kamunting and sheds some light on what really happened during the so-called riot there recently.

A mini tsunami, if it could be so described, hit the MTUC. The first by K George provides important historical background. The second article by A J Patrick and A H Ponniah welcomes the election of the new team led by Syed Shahir and Rajasekaran. The third piece by Aliran president P Ramakrishnan, distributed before the MTUC election, possibly had an important impact on the outcome. Rama had asked how Siva Subramaniam, who was challenging Rajasekaran, was going to cope with the heavy workload from the many positions he had accumulated.

Angeline Loh writes on a mundane yet extremely important issue: the financial burden of sending our children to school nowadays. On the same theme, Jeyakumar Devaraj discusses the mounting costs of medical bills in the wake of healthcare privatisation. We invite responses from our readers.

Finally, do not miss our centre-page story by Shakila Manan, who discusses award-winning author Fatimah Busu�s latest novel, Salam Maria.

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