Dina Zaman

Writer

Malaysia

Lead An Extraordinary Life

Dina Zaman

Writer

Malaysia

Lead An Extraordinary Life

Featured
The Handbag Theory Part II
Dina Zaman writes to find answers. Sometimes she doesn't. If she's not spending too much money on books, it's household items. She would like everyone to be happy. Sometime in May, a commentary by Lim Teck Ghee, director of the Centre for Policy Initiatives, stated that ultra nationalist group Isma was borne out of the NEP.
Featured
The Handbag Theory Part I
Dina Zaman writes to find answers. Sometimes she doesn't. If she's not spending too much money on books, it's household items. She would like everyone to be happy. The theory I had wanted to share with you readers over a month ago came to an almost abrupt end. It was meant to be a fun analysis of how the value of a (designer) handbag correlated with a woman’s financial capability and mindset.
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A short memoir of former slaves
FEB 20 ― Once in a while, I’ll catch up with a few friends who, like me at one time, worked for VVVVVVVVVIPs. When we worked for these people in power, we survived on little sleep and whatever that was left of our sanity. We barely lasted a year; it was never the work, it was dealing with the personalities.
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Who’s your Daddy?
Of course, everyone is talking about this phenomenon. From the office worker, to the budding fashionista, right up to high society itself. I suppose it is a good sign…. that… Melayu dah maju,” a friend said. You must have seen them: The New Rich and Beautiful. The young men are handsome, and the young women appear regularly in local magazines.
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The Bangsar bubble
Corporates do it. Socialites want to be part of it too. Anyone who wants to have his 15 minutes of fame, or brush with stardom, jump on the bandwagon. Activism, in Kuala Lumpur, has become sexy. Who doesn’t know of Loyarburok and Haris Ibrahim? The megawatt auras of elite activists and public intellectuals such as Malik Imtiaz Sawar, Art Harun, pack rooms when public discourses are organised.
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Halal Fuck Buddies #LoyarBerkasih
When love is always in transit, and can be dangerous, are there alternative solutions that society will accept? Dina Zaman looks at Islamic marriages in this thought-provoking article. I have many friends working in international development. The non-profit sector is teeming with women specialists working in poverty, conflict countries, landmine defusement.
Featured
Ladies, how about four husbands?
Recently, an article written by Nadine al-Bedair My Four Husbands and I created a furor among the Saudi conservatives. The said essay was picked up by the English media, though it hardly mustered a mention in Malaysia. Reading it, I thought Khaled Diab’s analysis of al Bedair’s prose as honest, practical and that Bedair put forth her arguments wittily.
http://www.api-fellowships.org/body/international_ws_proceedings/2012-2013/P4-TwoFamilies.pdf
Are we sitting on a mental health time bomb?
Like many Malaysians, I have a great fascination for the macabre and morbid, and strongly believe that the Western paranormal has nothing on ours. Our pontianaks, langsuirs, toyols and black magic can obliterate vampires, demons and all. All these have inadvertently made the Malays who they were before religion took hold of them.
When will being Malay no longer be the topic du jour?
I may enjoy researching about Muslims and Malays in Malaysia, but I felt quite drained after attending a few too many gatherings to discuss about Malays/Muslims in all aspects. Last week, I was privileged to have attended a closed-door roundtable on Malay leadership, attended by corporate luminaries and public intellectuals.
Pak Yap’s story
Last year, I was introduced to the writer Yap Lim Seng, who wrote "The Chinese Dilemma". He wanted an editor-writer for his next book, but the project halted halfway. I contacted him many times to plead and beg that he continue, but he kept saying he was tired and old, and what more could he say when the Malaysia he knew no longer existed?
Open season: Shoot a Muslim/Malay
I wasn’t expecting such a hullaballoo from the articles I wrote a few weeks ago. Perhaps I should have captured the zeitgeist in a more sedate manner. But there is one thing that we must do: we need to talk about us. My interactions with fellow Malaysians these days can be rather intense and combative experiences – I am a great believer, no matter how offensive one’s rationale is, that you are entitled to your opinion and beliefs.
Why we need to address the Bumiputera economy
Some time last month, Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Melayu (MTEM) released their report on the socio-economic status of the Malays. I chose to study MTEM’s study because for one, its members are Malay entrepreneurs and NGOs who face real-life issues of entrepreneurship and income-expenses. (No less important is the Khazanah Research Institute’s The State of Households 2014 Study.
Bidding farewell to Malaysia
Things can get busy on weekday mornings at the guardhouse outside the regal building of the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore at Jervois Road, as a string of Malaysians come to renew their passports, announce their permanent resident (PR) status and renounce their Malaysian citizenship. Between 30 and 50 applications to renounce Malaysian citizenship are received a day in Singapore, dropped off in a special box for documents of this nature, one of the guards on duty told The Malaysian Insider there recently.
Unappreciated in my own country
I never thought I would say this but when I arrived home from Singapore, and had a long drawn out battle with baggage delays at KLIA, and then touts at KL Sentral, I looked up to the dark evening sky and thought how Malaysia had become a third world country. As I stood there with my bags, observing fellow Malaysians shouting at the touts, while the security guards looked away, and then seeing a poor, hapless foreign porter being heckled by a lazy plonker of a Malaysian, I said to myself, there has to be a better way of living and to live.
Love kampung style vs urban romances
Dina Zaman writes to find answers. Sometimes she doesn't. If she's not spending too much money on books, it's household items. She would like everyone to be happy. FEBRUARY 14 ― Whenever I tell people about my grandmother’s neighbour, the many-times married Mariam (13 husbands!) , the response is typical and ranges from laughter, judgement and bewilderment.

About

Dina Zaman

Writing

Research

Interviews

Campaigns

Dina Zaman has been writing for the Malaysian media as a columnist for 20 years. She started writing about the single life in the 90s, and it was during her tenure at Malaysiakini.com that saw her find her niche: Muslim life in Malaysia.

She is an award-winning writer of non-fiction, fiction and poetry. She has a media presence locally and abroad as a columnist since 1994 and commentator of current affairs since 2005. Her bylines and editorial contributions appear regularly in well-read media outlets including The Malay Mail Online, The Malaysian Insider, The Star, to name a few. She has appeared on the BBC and been interviewed on Everywoman, a women’s programme on Al Jazeera. She wrote I Am Muslim (www.malaysiakini.com, 2005 to 2006), which is now a book published by Silverfish Books, and her latest book, King of The Sea, was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Short Story Award.

She was also a Senior Asian Public Intellectual Fellow (2012 to 2013) and a British High Commissioner Chevening Award Scholar (1999).

Email:
Books - www.silverfishbooks.com
Work - dinazaman.work@gmail.com
Other - dinazaman@gmail.com