My dad, Wa Koy Tang, was born in 1927 in Malaysia from immigrant Chinese parents. His dad was an alcoholic who died when my dad was some 13 years of age. Dad had to leave school to take up the breadwinner mantle for the family, having only completed primary school education.

Early last year I, along with my long-time collaborator Robb Demarest, was invited by Malaysia’s NTV7 to guest star in 5 episodes of their paranormal reality TV show, Seekers. Here is the trailer f…

I’m sure most people reading this would think this was a strange angle to tackle on the whole Baby Gammy controversy. After all, why would Ms. Pattaramon (Goy) need defending – she’s been described…

When I was about 15, we had a very special guest from Australia come stay with us in Temiang, Seremban. She was considerate to a fault, and wrote us a detailed, thank you letter on the day she left…

Dad passed away two weeks ago – on the first day of Chinese New Year 2014. I flew out to Melbourne for some Tourism Malaysia commitments a few hours later, came home in time for the funeral, …

‘So where are you from, Jackie?’‘South Africa’‘Really?’‘Yup – Capetown’I don’t know why I said what I did to Rodney – probably the first Aussie guy to show a modicum of interest in me. Despite my …

Without having applied for a formal deferment, I turned back up at the Sydney University enrolment office the next year and in typical laid-back Aussie style, they happily re-enrolled me in my Arts…

1 December, 2010 I’m the owner and head cook of Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine and the author of the cookbook Jackie M Truly Malaysian: Street Food at Home. Born in Malaysia, I migrated to Austra…

I’ve never been hugged by my dad. Growing up, I was under no illusion that I was anywhere near the favourite of his 9 kids. I thought he was harsh, dictatorial, mean-spirited; I couldn’t stand wat…

To all our valued customers, This is a screendump of an email I received earlier this week – “ …If you are charging $ 16 for a plate of rojak, we have high expectation that it is of utmost p…

Several weeks ago, in my first group meeting held with all the different medical teams at Westmead Children’s Hospital, I floated the idea of having Noah home by Christmas, notwithstanding an…

Compiled by Ian Chow through stitching together some images and videos from my public posts regarding Baby Noah. The doctors are aiming for a discharge date of Monday 17 December; he still has a co…

Dear Baby Noah,You’re nearly 5 months old now and you’ve yet to leave the hospital. You came very close earlier this week, when they transferred you out of the ICU for the first time, to the gener…

“He’s VERY tall – at least 6’2”.” That sounds promising, I thought. “Let’s see about his age; how old are you?” asked the phone psychic. OK, aren’t YOU supposed to know the answer? For someone wh…

An old friend from my teenage years came to visit at the hospital last week and in the course of our conversation she joked about my legendary fixation with writing complaint letters back in the da…

When my mom and her adoptive family first arrived in Malaysia in the 1930s, the only place they could afford to rent was an apartment above a Chinese funeral parlour. It was cheap because the owner…