Search

Author: Valentine Tawie Salok

Fanciful names, thanks to imaginative Iban parents

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. – William Shakespeare, English playwright, poet and actor WHILE serving in a teachers’ college and later in a few schools from Kanowit to Bau and of course going around the longhouses in

Connecting with our armed forces

Brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war. – Seneca (or Seneca the Younger) (c. 4 B.C.E. – 65 C.E.), a Roman philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and writer. MY love affair with the armed forces started with an invitation to perform at a dance party held by

Hope to reconnect for AMD 2024

IT was in 2016 that the Anugerah Muzik Dayak (AMD) or Dayak Music Awards was last held. As it is a biennial event, the next one should be in 2018 but partly due to several factors it wasn’t held.  My last appointment in DAMA or Dayak Artistes and Musicians Association

Some vexatious moments without glasses

‘I’m blind without my glasses.’ – Adam Ant, English musician and actor Just imagine if you are short-sighted and the pair of glasses you are using breaks or one of the lenses falls down or worse still the whole set you are wearing falls down to a deep river or

Not maximising environment’s economic potential

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. – Thomas A. Edison, American inventor and businessman IT is a pity that there still exists a majority of Iban parents in the rural areas, especially those staying in longhouses or in individual kampung

Cherished pub rendezvous

I don’t know what it is that makes a writer go to his desk in his shut-off room day after day after year after year unless it is the sure knowledge that not to have done the daily stint of writing that day is infinitely more agonizing than to write.

Borrowers’ quandary in moneylending matters

Think twice when borrowing money from these loan sharks as there is a high price to pay. It is not worth the hassle and trouble for a temporary respite. I believe it is better to plan and spend prudently according to our means. – Datuk Seri Johny Ch’ng Ewe Gee,

Braving darkness since early age

MY early exposure to life at the jungle edge has proven useful in getting use to darkness. At a very young age I learnt to be in oneness with nature – including not getting intimidated by the night and the dark. Nyctophobia, or debilitating fear of the dark, is one

Taking a rest from batik painting

Love is like a batik created from many emotional colors, it is a fabric whose pattern and brightness may vary. – Diane Ackerman, American poet and essayist I was once obsessed with batik painting. What exactly is batik? The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines it as a colouring method whereby wax encloses

Always exercise extreme caution while driving

Don’t learn safety by accident. – Anonymous Road accidents of any kind, fatal or not, always bring change or changes to one’s life, the environment, even to society, especially if it involves any death. Not everything remains status quo. A veteran of one fatal accident that took the lives of