Mahathir's description of Malaysia as a 'half-past-six' country has intrigued a reader and sent him on a search for the origin and meaning of the expression.

Tiga Suku: Tun Mahathir's description of Malaysia as a 'half-past-six' country intrigued me and sent me on a search for the origin and meaning of the expression. A quick Internet search yielded two results:

  1. The Double Tongued Word Wrester Dictionary, (which describes itself as a 'growing lexicon of fringe English, focusing on slang, jargon and more..." ) has this definition: half-past-six - adj. bad, shoddy, slipshod.

  • The Coxford Singlish Dictionary (which is featured in talkingcock.com) has this to say: Half-past-six - Describing something or someone as being half-baked or incompetent, the term is actually a sexual reference to the angle of the dangle of the male organ. Half-past-six is weak, but quarter past three or 9.45 is very strong!

    • Ironically, and suspiciously, both the entries are from Singapore-linked groups, and one has even a reference to the fact that the expression is of " original Singapore coinage"!

    Is all this true, that its sexual and Singaporean? Does it mean that we cannot use the expression to describe women? And could Tun Mahathir have picked up the expression during his university days in Singapore? Is it a slang medical term?

    Something for Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka , or Amir (of " The Last Communist" fame ) or Huzir ( of "Atomic Jaya" fame ) or the Instant Caf team, to follow up seriously and creatively?

    The following are comments from readers on our other reports. This one is on Bloody Sunday - the aftermath

    Weeping For Democracy:

    Batons raining down

    What's a cracked skull here and there?

    As long as we shut them up in this town

    Mugabe and Mao should be here

    To give out the medals

    For those fearless men of the Special Branch

    Who proves our democracy cradle

    Can only be birthed through a bone-shattering punch

    Perhaps we should send out the tanks

    Like the law and order bunch in Tiananmen

    Next time the morons say no thanks

    To our collective sacred 'sensitive lah' sentiment

    On Power tariff hike: 'Only DAP making noise'

    Anti-Tariff Hike Citizen: All Lim Keng Yaik is concerned is politics, and here, he is blaming the DAP for being the only one making noise insofar as the increase in the energy tariff is concerned.

    Where was he two Sundays ago when hundreds of people from all walks of life gathered in front of the Petronas Twin Towers to demonstrate their unhappiness about the tariff hike. These ordinary people have to even take on the police and many of them were beaten in the process.

    My advice to Lim Keng Yaik, repent and start listening to the people. If not, you will end up just be like the SUPP being shown to the door in the next general elections and I, for one, is getting fed-up to the core.

    On Let PM be minister for non-Muslim affairs: Hindus

    Billy: It is a brilliant move by the Hindu Rights Action Group to request that the PM be the de facto minister in charge of religious affairs for non-Muslims. The prime minister, just a couple of months ago, stressed that he was the prime minister for all Malaysians and that no one will be left out. Now is the time to put those words into action!

    On Rules are extensive to prevent tragedies

    A Bleeding Heart: All the ills and skeletons in what I call the Great Malaysian Graveyard can be traced mainly to the beginning of the era of what the late MGG Pillai called Bolehland, i.e., when corruption in this country has become such a common cancer that with the greasing of palms anything, and everything, will be overlooked and passed as "boleh".

    The time bombs which lawyer Derek Fernandez talks about are happening everywhere and everyday. People are dying from cancers of all kinds because health and enforcement measures are not carried out. Buildings are collapsing, things are dropping from construction scaffolding and killing people, potholes on the roads are injuring, sometimes seriously, low-income motorcyclists, etc.

    In the meantime, endless man-hours are spent by civil servants and politicians in fact-finding committees (preferably overseas with entertainment by belly dancers thrown in to stimulate their brain cells) and, if they do come up with pages and pages of professionally analysed findings and memoranda and even departmental requirements, these become buried and eventually get dusty from physical inertia.

    How else, for example, do things develop to such a stage in the administration of justice in this country that it takes no less than the Chief Judge Tan Sri Dato' Siti Norma Yaakob to remind our magistrates that it was mandatory for them to hold a coroner's inquiry in cases of unexplained death? What went wrong in the training of our magistrates?

    It would be interesting to find out how often the laws and regulations mentioned by Fernandez are contravened by the relevant authorities? Why are our ministers not accountable for all their errant underlings?

    In the Great Malaysian Graveyard, the conscience of the public sector has died. The private sector's conscience? That is a different story for another sorry day.

    On It's bang-bang at the NS camps

    Chin Koon Siang: I am totally opposed to allowing NS trainees access to arms training. First of all, I do not understand the objective. These trainees will not have proper military training and so their usefulness to the nation for defence is quite doubtful apart being able to use M16 only.

    Besides would they be eligible for call up to military service as a condition of the training? The reason given by Datuk Lee Lam Thye that over 90% of the trainees thought it is a good idea is a ridiculous reason for implementing it. I dare say asking them if having Play Stations all day is a good idea would produce the same result.

    Considering the track record so far, there will be accidents, there will be stolen arms and there will be opportunities for mayhem. Why do we need to spend even more money on the trainees now for such a useless activity ?

    On Fawziah Holdings awaits decision on Blair

    KSN: I am not a lawyer but a simple citizen who try to keep abreast of what is happening around. The Metramac case is one such matter. If as the learned lawyers representing Daim and the other guy, the AG is saying that Mrs Blair has no special knowledge on the issue to be argued in the Federal Court, is it not an advantage to the complainants?

    Why are they, clever as they are, panicking about her appearance? With a weak opponent, they start with a god-sent advantage! Right? The plaintiffs should take care of their case. Why are you worried about the other side? If they want a 'useless' lawyer like Blair, it is the defendants' right and their stupidity and they will suffer the consequences.

    Whether the appellate court's, in particular, Justice Sri Ram's pronouncements are expunged or not, the whole country and the world are in the know as to exactly what transpired in the shameful episode. Carry on, dear Sri Ram, court of public opinion is solidly behind you. That matters.

    On Vote buying whistle-blower gets death threat

    Jannah: I believe that the main problem of proving an electoral offence such as vote-buying is the threat to life and limb to whistle-blowers.

    I suggest that malaysiakini does a follow-up with lawyers who have represented petitioners and past petitioners. You will find that cases fail in court when witnesses are suborned by threats and petitioners cannot prove their case. They will provide illustrations or details where this has

    happened in the past. Journalists have a moral obligation to protect sources.

    Perhaps law reformers, the Election Commission and other institutions of democracy should look into the nitty-gritty of proof in such cases. Alternative processes should be investigated and recommended.

    A law to protect whistle-blowers is long overdue. Such a law is also useful for migrant workers and refugees against corrupt practices and acts of violence of law enforcers.