Azly Rahman's Blog, page 11

#3: Rally shows need for a radical revamp of the curriculum

Rally shows need for a radical revamp of the curriculumOpinion  |  Azly Rahman Published: 8 Dec 2018, 10:35 pm  |  Modified: 8 Dec 2018, 10:35 pm A+     A- COMMENT | Yesterday's rally against the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd) – which took place without any real reason, since Putrajaya had backed off from its original aim to ratify the treaty – saw 99.9 percent Malays staying at home out of boredom of being stupefyingly represented by 'amuk Malays'.Rallygoers went on a ' melatah ' (exclamation) trip, where they protested for the sake of protesting. This moment in history is a challenge to our Education Ministry to radically revamp the curriculum. It should underscore the importance of the direction of writing and teaching history that we are to embark upon.What kind of history, or rather whose history, are we going to pass down to make the young peaceful and peaceable, and to help build a better Malaysia?I have these notes for the Education Ministry to use as a guide:Neuroscience and teachingThe science of brain-based learning has shed light on optimal learning conditions. In Malaysia today, we have produced a nation of people that are angry and use race and religion as negative tools of engagement. The nation's brain has become 'reptilian' in this age of race-rooted mental insecurities, perpetually defaulting to fight or flight mode. This explains why we display signs and symbols of anger in public forums both in physical as well as cyberspace – keris wielding, internet spamming, and all other forms of human aggression. Our education has failed to force our educators to teach tolerance. Had our schools and universities been less segregated, the evolution of our civil society would have taken place at a much faster pace. Our institutions – political, cultural, and economic – are based on racism. We have forgotten that in each and every religion and culture lies the idea of the universality of human need, and how these will never be met through greed, or through institutions built upon wants and not needs. We can help tap our students' brain potential by guiding them to move away from the level of the 'reptilian' brain, and towards the 'higher' brain. The latter is a suitable condition for the advancement of higher order thinking skills, much needed to develop the three-pound universe in our head.The mind will need new ways to be stimulated in order to grow. A plethora of research on brain-hemispheric dominance attests to the idea of mind expansion through proper care and education of both sides of the brain. Newer strategies of teaching history, culture, and consciousness are therefore needed. Race and ethnicity are merely constructs of social dominance, containing neither scientific nor philosophical bases.A new interpretation of history needs to be made, one that will debunk the myth of superiority of any race. New historical accounts need to be constructed so that we may teach our students to interrogate the makers and producers of history, question signs and symbols of dominance, deconstruct theories built upon selective memory, put on trial glorified villains who abuse power, rediscover newer heroes, understand the issue of author, authorship, and authoritarianism in historicising, speak for the poor, silenced, marginalised, and oppressed, and have students explore creative dimension of subaltern history.Essentially, we must make history and the study of cultures meaningful to our students. Concepts to teachNew Bumiputeraism. Radical multiculturalism. Humanism. Evolving self. Alternative futures. Social reconstructionism. Counter-factual and alternative historicising. People's history. Power and ideology. All these concepts can be taught to our students of this New Malaysia; those young and curious minds that need a new understanding of Malaysian nationalism, or Bangsa Malaysia. How do we teach these concepts?We can involve students in activities that allow them to explore the meanings and mechanisms of culture. We can have them examine the universal and the particular in human motivations, behaviours, attitudes, values and beliefs. We must expand their understanding of the dynamic nature of culture and increase their awareness of their own place in global series of cultures and subcultures, and the challenges and opportunities such situations present in cross-cultural communications. We can get our students to construct alternative futures that draw out the ethical humanistic values into an integrative concept of 'new bumiputeraism' based on the premise that we are all human beings sharing a living space in borrowed time, and that the litmus test is how we treat fellow human beings with knowledge, understanding, and wisdom sound enough to make each other see through the lens of race, colour and creed.I believe that if we resolve this issue of bumiputera versus non-bumiputera through education for peace, justice, and tolerance, we will see the demise of race-based politics and the dissolution of political parties that champion this or that race. Ethnic studies as a vehicle of change for culture and consciousness will do the job – of course successfully in the hands of skilled trainers and professors who are colour-blind. The challenge is this: do we have colour-blind educators who will profess colour-blind ideology? I hope we have them in all our public universities. After all, their training should allow them to be true to the subjectivity of culture and the sensitivity to race and ethnicity.In fact, if we are sincere in developing our students' intelligence, we should even have them revise our History syllabus in schools and ethnic studies module in our universities from time to time – so that we may not be the 'sage on stage' but a 'guide on the side'.Kings, queens, datuks, datins, slaves, serfs, sultans, subjects, Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Ibans – all these are artificial constructs.Through time, space, and place, we create these constructs to enable or disable our understanding of what it means to be human. Educators of multicultural studies must be trained to counter-hegemonise apartheid, bigotry, arrogance, racism, and disabling cultures through the art and science of teaching and through their own repertoire of strategies of mental liberation and cultural action for freedom. It might be the longest battle – but this is going to be a great victory for Malaysian children of all races.Dare we take up this educational challenge of crafting a people’s history of Malaysia?AZLY RAHMAN is an educator, academic, international columnist, and author of seven books available here. He grew up in Johor Bahru and holds a Columbia University doctorate in international education development and Master’s degrees in six areas: education, international affairs, peace studies communication, fiction and non-fiction writing. Twitter @azlyrahman. More writings here.

#2 Our schools are not ‘medan dakwah

Our schools are not ‘medan dakwah’OPINION  |   AZLY RAHMAN Published: 22 Dec 2018, 6:02 pm  |  Modified: 22 Dec 2018, 6:02 pmA+     A-COMMENT | A gentle reminder to Malaysian educationists: A school is not an arena of proselytisation. It is a garden of liberal learning, of curious young minds, exploring. A school is not a "medan dakwah" (a platform for preaching) and "dakwah" is not a neutral word. It is a theocratically-charged term. One who studies linguistics knows the nature of language and social construction of reality.In order for the modern Malay culture to move forward with better identity, pride, and dignity, cleanse Malay language of Arabic words, borrowed from Wahhabi ideology. Bring back the beauty of Sanskritised Malay and inject it with large doses of the language of science, strong liberalism, and altruistic post-modernity.A school as "medan dakwah" is a madrassah. Not a public school wherein "child-centred philosophy celebrating diversity" reigns.Forty years after the Islamisation Agenda of the Mahathir-Anwar Era, we are seeing language of theocracy colonising public schools. In fact, the process is intensifying.Dakwah means Islamic preachingThe word "dakwah" is not neutral if one studies the connotation, denotation, discursive formation, and hegemonic foundation of it. A word is a concept, is an organic linguistic formation, and cannot be separated from its genealogy and dialectics of its usage.
From “dakwah” a constellation of words emerges: usrah, tarbiyyah, halaqah, harakah, qaeda, tabligh, shariah, ummah, and of course "jihad fisabilillah”. "Dakwah" is not a proper word to be used to denote and connote "teaching, learning, mental liberation" in a liberal multicultural nation.Each word that comes to us has epistemology and ideology. Language can enable or disable cultures. Choose appropriate ones, for a public sphere as democratic as a school where young, curious minds reside - the young, who are at an impressionable age.Malaysia's "Islamisation Agenda" during the 1980s Muslim Youth Movement (Abim)-PAS era saw the imperial march of Arabic words colonising the Malay mind. From word becomes flesh, becomes inscription of the mind, body, soul, and material spaces.We must go back to the core of the Malay language, to bring back the Nusantara culture and its non-arrogant variegated meanings and manifestations. Lovely are the Sanskrit words such as anugeraha, jiwa, raga, sanubari, pekerti, budi, bakhti, et cetera lost in its current Malay usage. Arabised.Language cannot be separated from culture. Because language is that. Therefore, we see Malays adopting Arab culture."Dakwah" cannot mean spreading Catholicism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, or Scientology. It must mean spreading Islam. That and only that. Ask Malaysia’s celebrated and well-protected Mumbai preacher. He would agree with what it means.The speeches of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ISIS leader with a PhD in Islamic Studies, are founded upon the language of "dakwah" and "Daulah Islamiyah". The word "Sembah Hyang", a Javanese Sanskrit word, was replaced with the Arabic word "solat”.The mind frames "worship" differently. Replaced by the Arabic word, “sembahyang” lost its metaphysical feel and appeal. Consciousness was transported to the experience of praying in the land of Arabia. Think about this.To do "dakwah" in schools, one would need the ideological apparatuses such as “pendakwah” and his or her “Islamic state" ethos and mission, vision, and operating principles. The concept of the Islamic “ummah”. Not a global community wherein transcultural philosophies reign. Pendakwahs work towards the goal of creating this Islamic state by whatever means necessary. Through coercion or consensus, through force, or through indoctrination.Ultimately a teacher is not a "pendakwah" or "preacher". Good teaching is to be a "guide on the side," not "a sage on stage."
I hope the teachers and the leaders in the Education Ministry are reading Plato's Socrates before going into the classrooms. When I was little, my mother used the word "bukak posa" for breaking fast, today I hear the word "iftar". I said what is that?Nobody knows what the language of paradise is. Perhaps Zoroastrian-Persian. Firdausi. Or Paradiso as in Dante's Divine Comedy.At 10, I was a little star in my village "marhaban" group in Johor. I saw peace. I saw love. I saw hypocrisy as well. Religious teachers showing lust, openly. Then I started loving Sixties rock music and wanted to be a rock star!I learnt a bit of Arabic words growing up, but mastered Gangsta JB Dialect and knew 100 slang words to be a good street kid. Growing up, I spoke English in school, Johor Malay at home, some Arabic in Ugama school, and Gangsta-JB language with friends."Guru" is a beautiful Sanskrit word meaning "darkness to light". "Sheikh" as in Sheikul Arqam, an Arabic word. Authoritarian.Sastra, Seloka, Negara, Agama, Dosa, Pahala, Shurga, Neraka, Durjana, Indera, Panca, Puja… beautiful Sanskritised-Malay words. Arta, Dunia, Tapa, Mentera, Purnama, Rasa, Jiwa, Raga, Sangka Kala, Kala, Dewi, Adinda… beautiful Sanskritised-Malay words.Laksamana, Betara, Takhta, laksana, sengketa, pancha, delima, karya, naga, suria... beautiful Sanskritised-Malay words. Capati, roti, dosa, tosei, kuey teow, chinchau, linchikang, chendol, roti John... delicious Malaysian words. Not dakwah words.Semejid, semekut, samseng, sekel, sengal, sakat, senoneng, sial, songel, senyongyong… these are real “gangsta” Johor words.Sorry I digressed. But still, on the beauty of Malay words.Instead of ‘medan dakwah’Use the gentle term “taman penyuburan ilmu di sekolah" (the garden that sows knowledge in school) rather than "medan dakwah". Less ideological. More Malaysian. Less jihadist. Have students think and use language of high tech and science of post-industrialism, infused with the spirit of discovery, inquiry, and inventive sensibility. We're not sending them to Yemen or Pakistan. Or even to Saudi Arabia, en masse.Understandably, the word “school” as "arena for dakwah" is just a Freudian slip that came from the mind of an Islamist ideologue.
Today, while the people are hoping for a healthy democracy, the leaders are plagued with the illness of a feudal mentality. Malaysia lost 60 years of time to forge an intercultural-multicultural-liberal national mindset. It ended up in a great robbery!Our politics breathes on racism. Education grows its seeds. Economy feeds us with it. Therefore, more violence manifests.When I was in my primary school years in Johor Bahru, I went to English school in the morning, “ugama school” in the afternoon.That was a great system. Separation of the worldviews. Malaysia doesn't need more dakwah teachers in schools. We need more of those well-versed in good teaching and intercultural skills.Arabic is not a priority in Malaysian schools. English, Bahasa Melayu, and the language of scientific thinking and rationalism are.No doubt, Arabic is a beautiful language like any other world language. But it is also today tied to modern ideology of failed theocratic and authoritarian states. Why emulate them?We want to see Malaysian children be excellent scientific, liberal, and progressive thinkers. Not little mullahs and ayatollahs. Read the preamble of our Rukunegara.Cultivate advanced scientific thinkingThe language of cybernetics, space exploration, cryonics, genetics, robotics, blockchain technology, hyperloop, superconductivity, and C3I (Command-Control-Communications-Intelligence) is still English, rooted in Latin and perhaps some phases influenced by Islamic civilisation - the philosophical version.The language advanced post-human science is not in Arabic or in Malay. Our schools must teach language that is vibrant, hybridising, and which opens minds. Not one that will turn you into clones of medieval tribes.In Malaysia, you want to make the schools more religious but, in the government, even the religious rob the pilgrimage funds, the baitulmal, and money set aside for orphans.More religion in school does not make a society more moral. More infusing of thinking skills and moral reasoning would probably do a better job. You will have a thinking and moral citizenry being developed.
Malaysia cannot afford to be turned into an Asian Turkey ruled by her version of the tyrannical Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan (photo). Monitor how our schools are run. We are approaching a failed state when it comes to schooling and race relations and technological advancement as well.In 1969 I saw people in red headbands planning to run amok. They were chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). Today in 2019, I'll see the same thing. The chants of “Allahu Akbar” is louder, their presence in and out of cyberspace more viral.Why have we not evolved? As long as our teachers are not trained in intercultural teaching and thinking, we will continue to produce racist citizens. Being a child of post-Merdeka who saw the horror of May 13, 1969 and was impacted by it in school, I am seeing today's education moving in the wrong way.
On a more humbling note of reminiscence, I am forever grateful to my teachers - Chinese, Indians, Americans too - who raised me as an educator aspiring to be worldwise. Had Tunku Abdul Rahman's, Onn Jaafar's and Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman's vision of Malaysia informed educational thinking, we would not have been in this mess.We must make our U-turn for the sake of our children, away from Arabisation and Wahhabism.We must radically  revamp  our curriculum and set straight our educational direction.But first, our national schools are neither madrassahs, nor an Arabian desert of medan dakwah.

#1: Renew prosperity, bring back English schools

Renew prosperity, bring back English schoolsOPINION  |   AZLY RAHMAN Published: 29 Dec 2018, 6:16 pm  |  Modified: 29 Dec 2018, 6:16 pmA+     A-COMMENT | In writing my last column for 2018, having focused mainly on the subject of my 30-year passion as an educator, I still believe that there once was a moment, a historical block, in which our country had something going – a political-cultural-educational will – to get this issue of race relations and interfaith understanding not just under control, but flourishing and set on the path of prosperity.That was the 1970s, when I was in the middle of finishing up my primary education and moving into secondary. That was the time when kids were taught the song "Muhibbah" and schools had an ethnically diverse composition of teachers and students. No Islamisation. No Arabisation. Not yet.That was when we had English-medium schools. Children instructed in liberal education. A beautiful experience I share below.I went to an English medium school, Sekolah Temenggong Abdul Rahman (Star 1) in Johor Bahru and went on to a specialised boarding school after being selected through a nationwide filtration process – based on how poor my family was, how eager I was to learn, and how well I did in the Standard 5 assessment exam.I had a voracious reading appetite, my diet ranging from Greek and Norse mythologies and other fun stuff in the Sultanah Aminah Library to Reader’s Digest magazines my mother bought me (she finished only Standard Three of her schooling) and the World Book Encyclopedia grandpa and mother bought on a many-years-long instalment payment plan from Grolier.Also, anything I could read in English namely, to keep myself occupied if I were not playing soccer barefoot trying to do bicycle kicks like my idol Pele and other great moves from people such as Eusebio, Johan Cruyff and Mokhtar Dahari, of course.
At 13, I was already taken away from my mother and placed in this Mara ashram-kibbutz-concentration-camp type of experimental educational facility in Kuantan Darul Bauxite (which I heard is now as red as Mars). So, I was there continuing my classes in English.I had hippie Malaysian and five American Peace Corps teachers who chose not to go to Vietnam to fight the war and instead be with these natives – kampung boys – they could experiment their teaching on. We were proudly called “guinea pigs.” And we gladly told our kampung folks that.It was a world of strangers I was in and I cried almost every night thinking of my mother. I wrote to her a lot on a fortnightly basis. In Jawi. The immense feeling of sadness lasted for a few weeks. But soon I made friends from all over the country – kids of my temperament, some with bizarre character and bloated little egos, from Johor to Perlis to Sabah and Sarawak. There were Chinese, Indians, Ibans and Kadazan and hybrids of these. Many talked strange.Most of us spoke English, Malay, and our own strange village dialect. I spoke Johor-Riau Malay, the standard language I mastered through my mother and my kampung folks. I was with kids whose parents were fishermen, rubber tappers, padi farmers, contract labourers and those you would consider today as the B40 group in a country ran by the few wealthy Malaysians.In other words, those in that 'Bauxite High School' with Peace Corps and hippie-looking Chinese, Malay, Indian teachers who were trying to educate us in English, we not children of kings and all the king's men. Not the children of rich businesspersons and politicians, although there was a significant percentage of children from rich and powerful families of the 1970s.Growing up 'English'But we were taught in English. We joked in English. Our not-so-clean jokes, too, were in that language. We enjoyed English – mainly American – music and movies in English and by the time we finished high school we were off to places of learning whose language of instruction was entirely in English.I recall as a 13-year-old, I would gather around friends who would spend time talking about “heavy subject matters” outside the curriculum such as Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Hitler and Rommel’s strategies during World War 2, the nature of the stock market, the nature of pi, Hardy Boys novels, Mad magazines, the Godfather movies, 1960s pop music, Rolling Stones, Harley Davidson and Nortons, the Apollo landing, Muhammad Ali and weapons of mass destruction of the 70s.
Yes, we had passionate conversations in English, at that age. Our conversations about those matters were a natural enriched extension of our Science and Maths subjects that were taught in English (yes, there were no controversies then on English used as a medium of instruction). Not much about girls we talked about since there were none yet in that school when we “pioneered and founded” it. But that was the impact of English Language instruction. Of liberalism. Of the ars liberalis. Of the free man.I remember as I reached Form Five, I wanted to be either one of these three things - a rock star, a psychiatrist or a rocket scientist who also designs a better version of the atomic bomb! Sinful thinking. Our parting song was Queen’s We Are the Champions which I still love, although Donald Trump used it as an opening tune for his glitzy-burlesquey campaign victory TV appearance. What a horrifying murder of something I loved and much to the annoyance of Dr Brian May, the band’s great guitarist, who objected to the American president’s use of their hit song.I was bored while waiting for my Malaysian Certificate of Education (MCE) results and at night till early morning, at home in Johor Bahru, I’d read this textbook on Psychology of Human Development meant for teachers takings their Master’s degree. I was fascinated by the Freudian Theory, how Einstein’s (photo)mind worked and a range of contemporary psychological issues in America.I was obsessed with that subject matter at 17. I read my encyclopedias and also my set of books on medicine. It was like a learning explosion and implosion. I read, played my guitar, listened to tons of 70s rock music. I could be passionate because I had access to the language I had used with ease since the first day I entered school.Because there were English medium schools. Schools to ignite exploring, thinking and to create new things.I wrote about my  passion  for reading, a few years ago. This year marked my 31st year I have lived without television. Yes, I stopped watching it and prefer reading, not only because my profession requires me to read and read but because I had access to the gradually different levels of sophistication of the language. I read 100 books this past year, fiction and non-fiction. All in English. I am now more fluent in English than in my mother tongue.
The ease of using the language got me accepted for PhD work in International Education, at the Stanford and Columbia universities. I chose the latter. New York City and Harlem and the ideas of a pedagogy of the oppressed and radical multiculturalism lured me there.And also, Columbia was where the American pragmatist philosopher John Dewey conceived "Progressive Education", the philosophical foundation of American schooling and democracy. I must have written a strong personal essay on why they should take me in. An essay in English. Of what it means to be an educator and how culture and consciousness shape cognition.An English poemA few years ago, sitting by my window sill watching the world outside, I wrote an English poem on my being-ness of neither here nor there:Snow-covered bamboo leavesToday I looked out of my window. The world was white.As white as the snow: falling and falling as if each snowflake must becomeA postscript.   Of the longest story ever told.Each bit of snowfall become one amongst millions and billions.Of snowflakes that will become a blanket of whitenessThat will be weaved like an endless design of a carpet of a story.Again, postscripts of a life that will be concluded in white.Today I looked out of my window. I saw not a single snowflake.The world was not white.Leaves from those bamboo trees fall: falling as if each mustBecome what a child’s dream is made of.I saw a child barefootPlaying with a blowpipe he made out of the postscript of his future.Running, laughing.   Away from his sorrows, I suppose.   He is a child of Nature.He looked at me as I looked outside of my window.We locked eyes.I saw snowflakes.I did not know what he saw.From amongst the bamboo trees, his eyes pierced into mine.He disappeared.Not a smile.Not a frown   he offered as a gift.In between the snowflakes and the bamboo leaves lie our story weaved.So what, then?Essentially, I have shared a fragment of my personal evolution as a consequence of being “languaged” in English. While still a Malay, by definition (what is race and ethnicity anyway but artificial constructs).
I believe it is still a powerful lingua franca. I believe we must change the course of how we school our children. Maybe my experience was unique and my story is a memoir of language use and how English has become my reality and how I continue to construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct realities based on the elements of race, culture, spirituality and religion that have defined me.Maybe it’s just “my” story. I cannot explain more. It would be an over-story. You will be bored. Just bring back the English Language if we are to gracefully ride the waves of the 21st century. We can renew our educational prosperity. In a world plagued with grave challenges and possibilities.I love our Malaysian people. I want them to succeed. No child left behind. Whatever colour, race, religion, caste they are from. We had models of great English-medium schools from way back then. No radical Islamisation. No Arabisation. Not yet. Bring them back, still alive. Let’s just do it. Before we see them too,  turning  into medan dakwah.AZLY RAHMAN is an educator, academic, international columnist, and author of seven books available here. He grew up in Johor Bahru and holds a Columbia University doctorate in international education development and Master’s degrees in six areas: education, international affairs, peace studies communication, fiction and non-fiction writing. Twitter @azlyrahman. More writings here.The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

This is the new look for my ancient blog. Back to th...

This is the new look for my ancient blog. 
Back to the MATRIX. I will begin sharing my thoughts, incidental pieces, book excerpts, book reviews, and notes on the pieces of writing I am developing.  
HAVE A WONDERFUL 2019 AHEAD, EVERYBODY
/azly rahman

"Muslim Ummah" a dangerous word?

by Azly Rahman Folks, I am back. Quite a hiatus.And what a tabling of Abdul Hadi Awang’s motion on the proposed amendments to the Syariah Court (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 it was, I saw on YouTube. It was a good early morning speech made in Parliament while the roosters and the frogs and the cuckoos in the village were sleeping.First Hadi Awang made his presentation and then all of a sudden there was no debate. Maybe people were dying for a teh tarik and nasi kandar kaw kaw breakfast that the debate had to be postponed to July. It was then that the opposition roared, “Takut... Takut... Takut...” (loosely translated as “Chicken Out... Chicken Out... Chicken Out...” in gangsta English). The power of the Malaysian power breakfast for champions.Then I thought what’s going to be the shape of Malaysian Parliament to come circa 2050. The year of the new slogan for TN50.At the rate of Parliament having marathon 20-hour sittings till the wee, wee hours of the morning, past midnight, past bedtime, past teh tarik session time, way past futsal, Malaysians are going to have politicians and lawmakers able to work at night and sleep in the day.The next breed of parliamentarians will come from the children of Dracula, Batman, Night Watchmen, Mat and Minah Rempit Johor, Pontianak, and also members of the Rukun Tetangga - those who are friends of the night. Unless debate sessions that must happen after two in the morning are held in a different time zone - New York City at 1pm daylight saving time.Cost will be an issue. Unless we use the government’s private jet. Maybe the next hudud debate session can be held in Uganda? Or Transylvania - home of Count Dracula?In tabling the hudud bill, Hadi used the words ‘Umat Islam’ a lot. Here is why the words are dangerous from a Platonic and Socratic point of view. Or even commonsensically.‘Umat Islam’ or the ‘Muslim Ummah’?Dangerous words used liberally and carelessly, isn’t it? A universalising third person pronoun used by preachers, Islamic religion teachers, and even by imam and politicians.‘Umat Islam’ connotes and denotes the one-dimensional and one-lump-sum thinking of all Muslims - from the believers of the coming of the mythical al Mahdi, of Gog and Magog and the Dajjal, the Taliban, the Boko Haram, al Shabaabs, the IS and of Muslims everywhere in all four corners of the world.It assumes that all Muslims think the same in all issues and ought to be following the same set of teachings, the Sunnah, the Hadiths, and believing in the same story and the same political ideology of we versus them, of the Muslims vs the Infidels and the we versus the enemies.Because the idea of an ‘ummah’ is a millenaristic-supranationalistic concept of global-political implications, PAS and others use it alike to coerce and force other Muslims to agree to whatever that needs to be agreed upon. No room for critical thinking, No room for questions. The ‘Umat Islam’ must agree because the ‘ummah’ is even higher in status that the nation state.Hegemonising, generalising and colonising a word it is. The words ‘Umat Islam’, used by political parties the species of PAS and the like.Every Muslim is different. Each does not belong to an ‘ummah’. To each Islam his/her own. Not PAS-Islam; an Islam that is failing, holding on to the rhetoric of ‘Umat Islam’. Revise your rhetorical device, if you understand what it means.Remember - Islamic State (IS) used the words ‘Islamic State’ and al Mahdi and umat Islam successfully. The power of generalising. The power of rhetoric...Child marriage is okay?And then related to the path Malaysia is taking towards the Islamic State of IS is the issue of the okay-ness of child marriage as blurted out by some prominent Islamist, okay-ed by many of those who think that marrying a nine-year old is Islamic. So I wrote these on my Facebook page:O’ MALAYSIAN MUSLIMSadvocates of child marriage
Are you going mad?
Why must you follow the Talibans?
a girl belongs in school, not to your lustful needs
not an Islamic, but an Arab tribal practice when marrying a nine-year old girl is permissible. Girls deserve to have a good childhood, good education, and good sense of the meaning of being a woman - arHere are my thoughts on a girl’s education:It never ends, formally or informally. A girl must be given all the rights, privileges, and opportunities to achieve the highest level of education, according to her wish and her means available. Marriage should not be a hindrance. If a man feels inferior to his partner's educational level; he will need to get rid of such a feeling and try harder to be at par, taking a different path.It is not a competition, as life ought to be. It is about equality. equity, and equal opportunity, framed accordingly. But a girl is not for marriage alone. She is for the world to be made a more peaceful, wise, and humane place. For Mother Earth to flourish.My last words for this column on the ways things are going in Malaysia these days:From issues manufactured to the nature of bills tabled, to the trivial topics released in the public sphere, the number of distractions have grown - clouding the issues of massive corruption and the selling of the country off to other nations.This is an old tactic of divide and confuse and conquer, produced in the name of an illusion called democracy and diversity of opinions. And Facebook becomes the arena to diffuse mass anger by still being angry albeit fragmentally.I hope we come back to our senses. It is better for Hadi and his band of Holier-than-Thou men and women to table a bill on what kind of hudud will be necessary for the billions of ringgit stolen from the country.Now, that bill will be good for the ummah - Malaysian Muslims and non-Muslims alike. And another bill is to stop dehumanising women and blaming them for rape. Agree?

Read more: https://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/378354#ixzz4dXKt4hZt

LET FAIZ SUBRI COACH my JOHOR TEAM!

by Azly Rahman
I don't know how to title this column on the Penang football player, Mohd Faiz Subri. but I do hope he reads this. Being a former recreation football player myself and growing up playing this beautiful game in Johor, in Pahang, and later in the States, I must comment on his ability to speak English, on what he wore that night in Zurich, and whether he should be put on a ‘pedestal’.Above all, what does his recognition mean to any football player, and not just Malaysians busy claiming or disclaiming his victory.Faiz, you did us very proud. You worked hard for it. It is no sheer luck. I don’t know how many thousands of hours you put into perfecting that magical mystical physics-defying curved ball kick you put in, but that was an amazing one, you earned your place as the best player with the world’s best kick for 2016.Which child, whether in Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Columbia, Germany, China, or even Malaysia where you hail from would not have dreamt of being awarded such a trophy by Fifa and by Cristiano Ronaldo!Faiz, you did well with the short speech, though it might have been a bit prepared. But you were caught by surprise. You will do better the next time, I am sure. Your achievement spoke louder than your one-minute chance to say thanks in English. Besides you are not Barack Obama giving a farewell address. Even Obama does not play football/soccer and certainly could not deliver a presidential kick like you did.So, those criticising you should just chill. Ignore them, but I am sure you’ll be prepared for any more awards ceremony like this. There is always the first time. And your first time is like a man from Penang landing on Mars.Faiz, as you know it is hilarious to read that people said you wore a ‘cross’ when you in fact wore a bowtie and a microphone. You wore a ‘bow-mike’. That's not a cross. The image made some people cross. Ignore them, teach them how to cross balls and curve them and defy more logic.Faiz, you ought to be put on a pedestal. You deserved it. There is a perception that the Johor team is a model and ought to be put on a pedestal. I disagree. I think you make the Johor team play better. You should coach the team, especially on free kicks.Imagine if you could teach each team member of Johor how to kick like you, the team can even be invited to Zurich. Imagine, even if the goalie can do that and every time he starts the game, how many goals can the Johor team get for every game? Hundreds maybe. I don’t know how good the team is now but I suspect it is better than the one when Osman Abdullah was the captain and when Othman Saat was the menteri besar.I grew up watching the Johor team play. I supported them although they were not good, an average team. I enjoyed walking to the legendary Larkin Stadium back in the day whenever the team plays. Especially with Kelantan. Only with Kelantan will the Johor play tooth and nail because they were traditional rivals.‘The fans love hating each other’They hated each other. The fans love hating each other as well. Johor fans, back in the day, would go crazy in the full-packed stadium. Si-Bongkok Tanjung Puteri kind-of-crazy Jalak Lenteng kind-of-crazy. Rock-kapak-Rempit kind of crazy. But they love to blame the referee when they are losing. “REFERI KAYU... REFERI KAYU... REFERI KAYU” (Deadwood Referees 3X) the fans would chant when Johor was losing.Even the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) dogs would look as if they too were chanting through their tails. I didn’t like that. One time the referee was chased around by a mad Johor fan carrying the pole from the corner of the field. Somehow, he escaped a barricade and ran into the field.Then there was chaos in the field when more fans escaped and when they Johor players themselves joined in in the Johor-Kelantan brawl. And then there were threats of burning buses. Threats of flying Kelantanese micro-mini-midget axes (kapok Siam).There were all kinds of threats for the fans to vent their anger through football. En masse, the anger was about the lives they lived I supposed. Just like the lives of the working class in Britain that translates into mass anger in Wembley Stadium. The revolt of the working class and the masochismo expressed through football.In Johor back in the day, it was about what the fans could not see - daily dehumanisation of a neo-feudal construction. Projection of fear and anger and blind parochialism. Of ‘we versus them’. Of Johor vs Kelantan in this case, back in the late 70s.So Faiz, with your now world-class knowledge of the free kick you can contribute not only to the Johor team but also to other Malaysian teams as well. The world voted for you, not just Malaysians. From a kampong boy you have become a great man on TV and in cyberspace. I am sure your act has become viral - as viral as the Gangnam-styled man with a billion hits on his YouTube video.Yours is an inspiration to others. To the bare-footed-football-loving children of the world in fact. Those wannabe Ronaldo, Messi, Pele, Eusebio, Bobby Charlton, and our own Super Mokh (Mokhtar Dahari).You don’t need others to judge you as are just a ‘one-hit-wonder’ or whether you are a benchmark for Malaysian football or whether your English-speaking skills should be as good as the Malay-language skills of all Malaysian parliamentarians. Your critics can chill and sit on the bench.So - bravo, Faiz. Bravo. Your Penang team is now better than any team in Malaysia. You have represented them in a world stage. Enjoy the glory. Share your skills with others. Inspire the young ones to like this beautiful game. The next time you need help in preparing a speech, I’d be glad to help!

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"MELAYU BUKAN 'RED INDIANS" or "Malays are not Red Indians": An essay in Malay on Ketuanan Melayu

'Ketuanan Melayu' dari pandangan seorang Melayu
Oleh Azly Rahman
Selasa, 09 Jun 2009 15:34





(Terjemahan daripada bahasa Inggeris oleh Helen Ang, Centre for Policy Initiatives, KL)'Wahai Manusia! Tuhan kamu itu esa dan dan kamu semua manusia berasal dari Adam dan Hawa, tidak ada orang Arab yang lebih mulia dari orang bukan Arab atau orang bukan Arab lebih mulia dari orang Arab; juga tidak ada yang (berkulit) putih lebih mulia dari yang (berkulit) hitam atau yang (berkulit) hitam lebih mulia dari (berkulit) putih), selain daripada belas kasihannya. Ketahuilah bahawa setiap Muslim adalah saudara kepada Muslim yang lain. Kamu semua adalah sama; tidak seorang pun yang lebih mulia dari yang lainnya kecuali dalam Taqwa dan beramal saleh.'- Sabda Nabi Muhammad s.a.w (Selawat dan salam ke atas junjungan besar Nabi)'Malaysia – dipunyai oleh siapa? Kepada warga Malaysia. Tapi siapakah warga Malaysia itu? Tuan Pengerusi Majlis, harapannya sayalah warga itu. Namun kadangkalanya, duduk di kamar ini, saya meragui kalau-kalau saya dibenarkan menjadi warga Malaysia. Ia keraguan yang membuai tergantung dalam pemikiran ramai orang,.... [sekali] emosi digerakkan dalam tindakan, manusia berlaga sesama manusia sepanjang kata-kata yang tidak terucap, kamu akan berdepan dengan perang yang akan memecahkan negara dari atas ke bawah dan meleraikan Malaysia.' – Lee Kuan Yew, Menteri Kanan, Republik Singapura.Menaksirkan Ketuanan Melayu sebagai 'Malay superiority’ (keunggulan Melayu) sebaliknya agak tidak bermakna, tidak tepat secara asal usul ilmu bahasa dan secara falsafahnya dilihat angkuh. Saya kira kata 'kediktatoran' lebih dekat pada pengertiannya. Seterusnya membaca tulisan ini, tolonglah jauhi daripada membuat penghakiman tentang nilai dan janganlah terperangkap dalam penjara bahasa yang berhubungan dengan kata 'kediktatoran'.Mendikte ['dikte' kata akar 'diktator'] membawa erti tersirat memberitahu, yang juga bermaksud menceritakan. Menceritakan bermaksud menjalin kisah berasaskan satu ideologi. Mengideologikan bererti mengurung. Mengurung bermaksud akan diperangkap. Kediktatoran di sini bermaksud pemerangkapan. Seseorang itu bukan menyedari kebebasan untuk memerintah tetapi sebaliknya sedar dirinya dalam perangkap – dan cuba keluar dari keadaan yang menjeratnya itu. Inilah bentuk kesedaran palsu.Kata-kata, seperti yang diungkapkan ahli teori sastera Raymond Williams, perlu dipancangkan pada konteks/diletakkan dalam keadaan ekonomi yang muncul di dalamnya. Pernyataan terkenal Marx bahawa kewujudan manusia itu berdasarkan takrif keadaan ekonomi mereka dan keadaan ekonomi tersebut telah ditentukan sebelum mereka lagi. Ini merupakan pandangan 'ketentuan' (deterministic) dalam sejarah manusia.Saya pertama kali mendengar ungkapan Ketuanan Melayu dalam pertengahan 1980-an dari buku karangan Malik Munip. Saya membaca karyanya, dalam masa yang sama menelaah tulisan Lim Kit Siang, ‘Malaysia in the dangerous 80s’ (Malaysia dalam tahun-tahun 80an yang berbahaya) untuk mendapatkan kesan penghujahan. Waktu itu, saya seorang siswa pengajian Sastera, Pendidikan dan Politik Antarabangsa.Saya juga mendengar, para pelajar Melayu tidak digalakkan membaca karya Kit Siang dan digalakkan membaca 'Ketuanan Melayu'. Saya sukakan buku-buku yang diharamkan dan buku yang disebut orang supaya jangan dibaca. Terdapat rasa cabaran intelektual atas keupayaan membaca buku-buku terlarang.Saya membaca buku Mahathir Mohamad, 'Dilema Melayu' dan buku Syed Husin Ali, 'Orang Melayu: Masalah dan Masa Depannya' serta buku, 'Mitos Pribumi Malas' karya Syed Hussein Alatas serentak pada waktu yang sama. Sekali lagi, untuk mendapatkan rasa keseimbangan.Saya membaca penerbitan rasmi tentang keadaan ekonomi, disamping iringan bacaan rapi analisa ekonomi-politik negara kapitalis Malaysia.Saya membaca karya Freud dan Marx bagi melihat sejauhmanakah penghujahan tentang totalitarianisme dari para pengarang besar arus pemikiran Sekolah Kajian Kemasyarakatan Frankfurt (Frankfurt School of Social Research). Saya membaca Al-Quran dan Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana dan Mahabharata untuk melihat dimanakah berdirinya hujah berkenaan keunggulan kaum dan apakah takdir masa hadapan manusia.Jika kita membaca sejarah perkembangan ideologi ketuanan ini, kita dapat melihat ide tentang penguasaan sosial dan keunggulan kaum kemungkinan segalanya hanyalah berpunca daripada ekonomi. Tetapi soalan saya – siapa yang berhak mendakwa bahawa tanah ini dan itu dipunyai oleh kumpulan orang ini dan itu. Di titik manakah budaya dan kewarganegaraan bertemu dan merundingkan isu berkenaan kesetaraan [fahaman egalitarianisme]? Di mana 'kebenaran satu-satu budaya' itu sampai ke batas hadnya dan datang persoalan menguasai tentang 'kebenaran kewarganegaraan'?Ia perihal persoalan yang cukup rumit. Warga Malaysia perlu menjawabnya setelah 50 tahun kemerdekaan. Kita mesti membuka ruang perbincangan berkenaan isu ini.'Lirik propaganda'Mari kita melihat bagaimana gagasan ketuanan Melayu disebar luaskan ke dalam jiwa anak-anak muda. Salah satu caranya, melalui kem-kem pemaksaan kepercayaan (indoctrination) dengan menggunakan nyanyian lagu-lagu.Lebih berdekad lamanya, barangkali jutaan pelajar Melayu diajarkan lagu propaganda berbahaya, ‘WARISAN/Anak Kecil Main Api’. Salah satu rangkapnya mengungkapkan kuasa orang-orang Melayu:… kini kita cuma tinggal kuasa
yang akan menentukan bangsa
hasil mengalir, ke tangan yang lain
pribumi merintih sendiri…(senikata lagu Biro Tata Negara)Saya tidak fikir kita memiliki kejernihan kefahaman terhadap maksud lirik ini. Saya juga meragui penulis lagu ini benar-benar mengerti maksud 'sejarah rakyat Malaya'. Ianya lagu yang berasaskan hasrat perkauman; liriknya ditulis seorang yang tidak memiliki kefahaman ekonomi-politik sejarah warga Malaysia, apatah lagi kemajuan terkini di bidang ilmu kejiwaan (psikologi) tentang kesedaran.Program-program latihan yang memerangkap jerat dengan tema lagu ini bertujuan menumbuhkan perasaan takut orang Melayu, bukan terhadap orang lain tetapi diri mereka sendiri, serta mengacukan kebencian terhadap kumpulan etnik lainnya tanpa menyedari siapakah musuh sebenar orang Melayu.Ia menggunakan kaedah merehatkan tubuh bagi membawa gelombang otak dalam isyarat alpha dan keadaan yang bersesuaian untuk penyampaian pesan-pesan tidak senonoh di bawah sedar. Dalam keadaan ini para pelatih dipukau ke dalam keadaan 'separuh tidur' bagi menyerap pesan ketuanan Melayu yang menjajah kesedaran mereka. Teknik ini dipelopori ahli sains Rusia, Barzakov dan Lozanoz di awal tahun 1970-an, dinamakan ’suggestopedia’ yang digunakan untuk menanam rasa takut yang mencengkam dalam diri seseorang dan kebencian mendalam terhadap orang lain.Sejarah adalah himpunan corak rumit tata cara aturan susunan kata-kata yang saling mempengaruhi di antara teknologi, ideologi, budaya, taksiran dan proses yang melembagakannya. Sejarah tidaklah semudahnya dapat dikurangkan setakat lirik-lirik dangkal yang pernah dinyanyikan suatu waktu dahulu sebelum perang [Dunia Kedua] di Jerman dalam alunan gubahan semangat kebangsaan yang melampau.Sejarah juga tentang kerumitan perkembangan beransur-ansur (evolusi) kelas pemerintah yang memiliki teknologi-teknologi pengawalan. Seperti kata Marx, pada setiap zaman hanya sejarah penguasa yang mengawal perkakas-perkakas pengeluaran yang akan ditulis dan ditulis kembali. Pemenang menulis sejarah, mereka yang kalah menulis puisi atau mengkaji sains kajian budaya (antropologi), keluh sebahagian orang lagi.Kembali ke lirik tadi. Setelah 50 tahun kemerdekaan, siapakah yang menderita di Malaysia? Siapa yang menjadi kaya-raya? Siapa yang membesar dan berkembang menjadi raja perompak? Apa yang terjadi ke atas sistem kehakiman kita, universiti kita, jalan-jalan di kota kita, jaminan keselamatan awam kita, sekolah kita, anak muda kita dan keseluruhan penyusunan sosio-ekonomi masyarakat menjelang pilihanraya umum ke-12 yang lalu. Bagaimana ide ketuanan Melayu menyumbang terhadap keadaan-keadaan yang wujud hari ini?Bahasa kuasa dan ideologi di alunkan dalam lirik tersebut. Penakrifan 'bumiputera' dimainkan. Ia menjadi kata yang bermasalah dalam era dekonstruksionisme [fahaman tentang kemusnahan makna dan pembinaannya kembali dalam bermacam ragam taksiran atas dobrakan pada makna tersebut]; menurut penyair WB Yeats suatu era dimana tiada lagi pemusatan, “pusat bukan lagi penumpuan segalanya.”Pemuzik rock akan mengingati lagu terkenal kumpulan Scorpion, 'Winds of Change' bagi mengenang runtuhnya Tembok Berlin dan permulaan pecahnya Empayar Soviet. Kita perlu berdepan dengan 'kemarahan' kata-kata.'Tamatkan Ketuanan Melayu'Bagi umat penganut Islam di Malaysia, sabda Nabi Muhammad S.A.W ini memang biasa didengar:'Asal usul turunanmu tidak perlu dibanggakan. Tidak juga ia membawa kepadamu keagungan. Wahai Manusia! Tuhan kamu itu esa dan dan kamu semua manusia berasal dari Adam dan Hawa. Kamu semua sama ibarat bijirin gandum di dalam cupak ... tiada yang lebih mulia dari lainnya, kecuali dalam amal saleh dan ketaqwaanmu. Untuk melihat seseorang itu dalam kekejian, mencukupi jika dia menghina orang lain dengan wang, amarah dan pembaziran....'Saya menyatakan ketuanan Melayu merupakan gagasan berbahaya yang mengancam hubungan kaum. Ia merupakan taksiran sombong terhadap sejarah terpilih; sejarah yang memberi keuntungan besar terhadap sekumpulan orang hasil daripada penerapan ideologi ini.Siapapun yang mempromosikan gagasan ini adalah dangkal dalam perihal perkara falsafah sejarah. Saya tidak fikir Melayu hari ini membeli ide 'ketuanan Melayu dan kediktatorannya'. Jika ada ketuanan satu-satu kaum itu, maksudnya kaum lain hanyalah 'hamba' dan 'abdi' atau 'warga kelas kedua'. Itupun kalau kita ingin menganalisa dari sudut pandang hikayat 'Tuan dan Hamba'?Selaku orang Melayu yang ingin melihat berakhirnya gagasan layu Ketuanan Melayu dan lahirnya kesedaran baru yang menghormati martabat semua kaum dan maruah kesemua kumpulan etnik, saya menyeru warga Malaysia untuk terus bersikap kritis terhadap apa jua usaha oleh kaum manapun untuk mencanakkan gagasan ketuanan palsu mereka. Ini kerana ianya akan mencambahkan etnocentrisme [fahaman kecintaan kaum yang melampau] yang berjiran pula dengan xenofobia [fahaman kebencian terhadap orang asing].Kita perlu bekerja sama untuk mendobrak [dekonstruk] segala bentuk susun aturan politik berasaskan kaum. Seiring dengan itu bekerja ke arah menzahirkan tata cara baru yang berasaskan kepada reka bentuk ekonomi yang lebih setara yang mengambil kira keperluaan asasi dan martabat kesemua kaum.Kita mesti mengajar murid-murid sekolah bagaimana untuk mendobrak rasa keunggulan ketuanan kaum itu, bukan saja dengan mengajar tolak ansur tetapi kesetaraan masyarakat – melalui strategi pendidikan kedamaian. Kita akan menuai hasilnya buat generasi akan datangWASSALAM-- azly rahman

READ THIS: BEFORE YOU DEMOLISH the GREAT BIRD of LANGKAWI

by Azly Rahman  Read this poem before you demolish the great set-in-stone bird of Langkawi:POETRY
for the great bird of Langkawi"Before You Demolish Me"Say my name
Say my name
Read my lips
It’s LANG-KAWI
not UNTA-KAWI, dude
It’s a bird so free
So majestic so pretty
Not some animal you breed
for slaverySay my name, dude
Say my name,
Ya Maulana Ya Habibi
It’s LANG-KAWI
not your kambing biri-biri
you sacrifice to remember
some kind of human sacrifice
of a child saved by some story
crafted for a belief whose meaning
lost in heaps of subjectivity and fallaciesSay my name
Say my name
Before you demolish me
It’s LANG-KAWI
Island of the majestic eagles
symbol of freedom
symbol of bravery
soaring with high intelligence
cruising the airwaves with dignity
eyes so beautiful
with piercing beauty
a symbol of heroism
of a glorious kingdom’s philosophyand you wish to demolish me
with your fatwa so faulty
so obsessed you and your tribe are
with your turban
and your tubular thinking
and your chains of ignorance
of the history of LANG-KAWI
Yes, say that again
It’s LANG-KAWI
and not UNTA-KAWI
or KAMBING BIRI-BIRI
you wish to replace
at the mouth
of this island
I love with sincerityTake your fatwa and use it wisely
To catch the thieves of this country
the robbers of this nation
who stole more that the weight of gold
of this statue of this mythical bird
guarding the kingdom of old LangkawiTake your camels, your goats, your kibbash
and your turban
and your green robe
and you unshaven beard
and rally them all with your ana
and anta
and your ya Habibi
and Ya Maulana
and your fatwa
to call upon those still in slumber
of the ills of this country
plagued with lies shroud in mystery
hidden in layers of hypocrisy
Rally against these
Demolish these
and not that bird in LangkawiAnd what's my name again?
It’s LANG-KAWI
Again,
It’s LANG-KAWI
Not UNTA-KAWI
Or 72 dancing white raisins
mistaken as hourisIt’s LANG-KAWI
The Eagle of the island of Majesty
and I’ve been around
a bird so free
longer than your ideology
brought by those
still struggling
to clip my wings
with your fatwas
and your hypocrisy- azly rahmanDestroyed by those who see god in moneySO - I wrote those verses.The proposal to demolish the statue of the mythical bird of Langkawi does not make sense, as nonsensical as the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statue in Afghanistan and the artifacts in Palmyra, in Syria - these by destructive Islamists who do not study history nor appreciate the legacy of civilisation’s memory.It painfully reminds me of ruins of a temple in Bujang Valley, Kedah, destroyed by those who see god in money. I wrote the following notes some time ago, in protest of the insanity at Bujang Valley.It is not just ruins of an ancient temple demolished to a pulp, it is a semiotic piece of your very existence as a people; a reality constructed socially through language that defines it.More than this, it is a monument upon which you are to preserve as an anchor of learning, and an installation of an inscription that inspires you to inquire into the ethics of authenticity; a system of belief of what the self is and how society in all its progressive strands of stability and harmony, and what salvation through the philosophy of samsara means and how these in turn , through a trajectory of transcultural evolution has defined you through the language you use daily with words such as:jiwa, raga, sukma, anugeraha, sangsara, puji puja, sembahyang, citrarasa, gurindam, seloka, hina dina, duka nestapa, kala, dewata, bayu, indera, purnama, suria, cakerawala, saujana, panca indera, sandiwara, astaka, shurga, neraka, dosa, pahala, alam semesta, durjana, sahaya, nescaya, kelana, mergastua, derma, dharma, budi, bakhti, budi-daya, budaya, lakshamana, singgahsana, ceritera, sutra, sengketa, jaya, cinta, negara, ayahnda, ibunda, maya, ...All these and more are the postscripts of the reality of who you are - these and the entire spectrum and kaleidoscope of the existentialism of your and your community’s collective consciousness.And you are ashamed of this past you failed to see the beauty of its philosophical glory? And you are waging a jihad against what you perceive at the phallo-centric object of blasphemy? What shallow understanding of what you have of the ethics of authenticity and the paranoia you have build within yourself, projects in your insecurities worse that a Freudian misinterpretation of the Oedipal and Elektra Complexes.And you destroy what you do not wish nor care to understand? And you call it the will of Man honouring the word of god? Or it is all about money and more money in these nice words you have crafted as a prison-house of language - words that no longer have any meaning in this world of the globalisation of Nothingness, in a world of a stream of consciousness that flows violently - a world of Legolands, this and that harems for Walt Disney, of tourism economy that destroy the environment arrogantly, endlessly, unrepentingly.And cultural barbarians you are - that should be kept outside the great wall of our kingdom of hope built upon the natural growth of the renaissance of knowledge and upon and enlightened path shined unto us, at this yuga of a festive and joyous celebration of cosmopolitanism, of cultural acceptance, of the diversity amongst us, between us, and inside of us. These are the hanging gardens we shall build to keep you and your jihad at bay.I have said my piece. I am still in deep anguish. Let us now ask how could this have happened and what then must we do, and how do we bring these kinds of barbarism to a grinding halt.Have we become a nation of destroyers - of our memory, our economy, and our willingness to use history as a mirror for our pride and dignity?Yet, we cry out loud to be called a developed country.What the **** are we?
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