Snippet (little one who snips?): Fairy kid Sarah, 5, was the guest of honour at the book launch because, as Farish puts it, "she's more important than any living Datuk I know".

Three days before Farish Noor flew into KL for the launch of his latest book, What Your Teacher Didn't Tell You, he wrote about the need for faith. This was in response to the many pessimistic comments on the increasing number of Malaysians migrating to other pastures.

"Malaysia is not made up of the buildings, towers, shopping malls and highways that dot our urban landscape. Those edifices do not even know that they are part of the Malaysian landscape, in fact they dont know anything at all.

"But we - citizens - are the building blocks of the nation and we constitute Malaysia and Malaysian identity. We also hold the key to Malaysia’s future and we are responsible for the twists and turns the country had made in the past. To determine how and where this country heads in the future is therefore the collective responsibility of all Malaysians and those who recognise themselves as such; and our agency and responsibility implicates all of us in the grand project that is called nation-building."

Happy to be by the side: Farish enjoying the good-humoured ribbing that went on during the launch.

"It is that longing for a Malaysia that is home to all that is under threat at present, and as I mentioned in the earlier abovementioned article, Malaysia is most in danger not when it is under attack, but rather when we stop believing in a Malaysian project...

"Believe, my friends. Now more than ever we need to believe that Malaysia and the Malaysian project can be rescued and is worth rescuing."

You can read the complete article in The Other Malaysia.