Off The Edge Issue 38

..Off The Edge February 2008 Issue 38

Hey all, don't forget to grab a copy of the Off The Edge's February Issue (Marina Mahathir cover). For the first time they're giving a free complimentary cd, entitled 'Faith, Hope, Chaos' - Malaysian Contemporary Music Vol 1. I haven't listen to the music yet but free cd is always good to have. :P

I always think that Off The Edge is the best magazine in town, in terms of their content at least. I shall mention this that I have no any interest with Off The Edge (OTE), just thought of sharing my thoughts on the magazine. I'm now a loyal subscriber of the mag and enjoy 25% discount. In OTE, you have a range of excellent writers like Farish Noor, Hishamuddin Rais, Patrick Teoh and Kam Raslan (author of Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures), just to name a few. I don't have to agree with what they write all the time to enjoy reading their piece every month. I feel that in some way, OTE has shaped and increased my thinking, views and knowledge on certain things.

I think Kam Raslan is one of the best English writers that we have. If you have been following his writings on 'The Dato' Hamid Adventures' published on OTE for few months until around mid last year, you must've been very dissapointed like me to know that Dato' Hamid is in fact a fiction character! It's like so unbelievable! The way he narrates the whole story surrounding is so real. Anyways I'm not going to write a review of the story here though. If you haven't heard of the name or his book, click here.

I like what Hisham Rais commented about the book;

"As an Old Boy of MCKK [the Malay College of Kuala Kangsar], I was so convinced that Dato' Abdul Hamid bin Dato' Sidek was indeed my school senior. Then one day I was told that Dato' Hamid was the creation of Kam Raslan. I was dumbfounded. How could Kam Raslan create such an illusion and I fall for it. Until today I am not willing to accept Dato' Hamid as a fictional character. To me Dato' Hamid is the missing link between secular Malaysia and the born again Malay Muslim of today's Malaysia" —
Hishamuddin Rais
Writer, film-maker and cultural activist

Later folks!