A loving tribute to the incredibly, amazingly, absurdly talented Jo Kukathas

I met Jo Kukathas 32 years ago when she was teaching literature at the Garden School. Apart from performing the occasional skit with her siblings or reciting poetry to entertain her ebullient and extremely eloquent father - the late K. Das, former bureau chief of the Far Eastern Economic Review, best-selling author, political commentator, and arguably the foremost authority on Mahathiritis (long before it acquired the status of a terminal, practically incurable disease) - Jo had never been on stage, except perhaps in a few school productions.

At our very first meeting, I noticed she had remarkable control of her voice, and asked if she had tried her hand at acting. "Not professionally," she replied, and I laughed and said Malaysia doesn't have any professional theatre yet, we're all amateurs, so she ought to give it a go.

And give it a go Jo did. In a matter of months I found myself applauding wildly after a theatrical performance in which Jo Kukathas featured - can't remember which play it was now. All I know is that Jo has never once disappointed - no matter what role she took on.

I don't want to make this a full-blown essay on the versatile, vivacious and vonderfully high-voltage Ms Kukathas - she deserves at least a 500-page official biography - and I can't possibly do the woman justice with a single blogpost.

Let it be known far and wide, nevertheless, that I absolutely adore and admire this feisty, brilliant peacock feather in the cap of Malaysian theatre. If she had chosen to be born in the UK or the USA, she would most certainly be vying for her share of the Oscars alongside actresses like Goldie Hawn, Whoopi Goldberg, Glenn Close, Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep.

Jo, please take as many bows as you please.

Eggs and stones may break your bones... but Umno/BN MUST be overthrown!

"Even if our bodies are crushed and our lives lost, brothers and sisters, whatever happens, we must defend Putrajaya." ~ Najib Razak, Umno crime minister of Malaysia


Defend Putrajaya against whom? A few million Indonesian, Myanmarese and Bangladeshi workers? Or is Najib referring to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and the Pakatan Rakyat coalition he leads?

What a pathetic poseur!
Who the fuck elected you?
Certainly not anyone I know.

Najib, listen up, fat boy! You're talking about me - and at least 10 million thinking voters who sincerely want to see you and Umno/BN OUT. We're ready to carry out a citizen's arrest on you for high treason. What you said about "crushed bodies and lost lives" is insanely incendiary - you are threatening us with blood on the streets, no less, if Umno/BN loses the 13th General Election. That is clearly a criminal offence - and anywhere else in the civilized world, any politician uttering such rabid  and dangerous rhetoric would be considered clinically mad and put in a padded cell.

You've already had 55 years of uninterrupted power and you can no longer deny that Umno/BN has fucked up big time. Malaysia is undergoing a moral crisis of gargantuan proportions - and soon it will also be a financial and political nightmare.

I swear to you, Jibby, the only thing that's going to be crushed is you and your witchy wife's big fat egos. Down, down you go, boy - along with Umno/BN!



Bravo, Jo! ;-)