Angry Malay Woman

‘Cloud Counter’ (2025)

Back in July last year, I enrolled in a short digital filmmaking course offered by the Objectifs Centre for Photography and Film, a place where I had organised the Walter Benjamin reading group for a few years. I figured it was high time for me to learn the nuts and bolts of cinema. Led by… Continue reading ‘Cloud Counter’ (2025)

Comments on new directions in queer ethnography in religious contexts

‘Queer ethnography’ is booming and making a difference in research on religious communities and institutions. One important significance I hope to see more of is the challenge to the homosecularism of queer studies; that is, the assumption that non-heterosexuality cannot be compatible and integrated with religious identity. I have a few commentaries on this score… Continue reading Comments on new directions in queer ethnography in religious contexts

Eric Rohmer’s red-pilled nouvelle vague

The films that make up Rohmer’s ‘six moral tales’ follow a loose narrative; a man sees a woman that takes his fancy, pursues her from afar, though during his pursuit he encounters another woman and gets sidetracked. He gets to know the second woman and discovers that she challenges him intellectually, makes him question himself… Continue reading Eric Rohmer’s red-pilled nouvelle vague

Starting from a place of disagreement

Many men don’t like it when women disagree with them, they (the men) often get very angry when disagreements don’t end with them ‘winning’. But let’s put that statement to one side for a moment to discuss structures – micro-structures of race, gender and sexuality that create gradations of asymmetry in dyadic (heterosexual) intimate relationships.… Continue reading Starting from a place of disagreement

The Malay feminist cinephile in 2026 (Part 1)

In the spirit of last year’s love affair with Tarkovsky, I decided to watch as many films from one filmmaker’s filmography as possible, along with all other extraneous documented audio-visual material about that filmmaker, their process, philosophy, and collaborators (mainly their ‘family’ of actors, DOP, composer). This year, it is the New German wunderkind Rainer… Continue reading The Malay feminist cinephile in 2026 (Part 1)

On the surpassing of feminism

Back in 2014, I went with my then-partner to a women’s bookshop in Wigtown, a small town in Scotland. I’ve written a blog post about it (to which the successive owner responded). What fascinated me the most about the bookshop was its collection of feminist books and journals stored in the backroom. There were just… Continue reading On the surpassing of feminism

Book launch address: Remapping the Cold War in Asian Cinemas

Here’s an example of being paid (and fed) to read. I was invited to be a discussant at a book launch Singapore Management University in February 2025. As discussant, it was my role to read a book and talk about it, especially the sections in the book by contributors who would appear in person at… Continue reading Book launch address: Remapping the Cold War in Asian Cinemas

Queer Muslim subjectivity: a short commentary

Below is a pre-published version of a commentary I was invited to write for Current Anthropology: One of the bees that inhabit uneasily in every anthropologist’s bonnet is the question of representation. Viola Thimm’s article, ‘Queer Muslim Subjectivity: LGBTQIA+ identity in Malaysia between transnational self-awareness, pilgrimage politics and Islamic repression’ [in Current Anthropology], is perhaps… Continue reading Queer Muslim subjectivity: a short commentary

After the Malaysian ‘gay novel’ (first published in the Mekong Review)

This is the pre-published version of my short review of Tash Aw’s novel, The South, in the November 2025 issue of the Mekong Review: Tash Aw has written five novels. His newest, The South, is the first one that explicitly explores the homosexuality of a teenage Malaysian-Chinese boy on the cusp of adulthood. The titular… Continue reading After the Malaysian ‘gay novel’ (first published in the Mekong Review)

‘Go toilet’: notes on Singaporean virtues

Singapore is a great country for individuals with IBS; there are free public toilets – most of which are clean and functioning – within a short distance of each other. The lavatorial services on offer far surpass advanced economies in the west in accessibility and just sheer logistical convenience. Nearly all of which do not… Continue reading ‘Go toilet’: notes on Singaporean virtues