Tricia Yeoh

Doulos

Posted on July 9, 2006 by Tricia

The last time the Doulos docked at West Port Klang, I was with a bunch of excited young girls in a car. Five years later, the old ship is back in town. Took a short visit over the weekend.

A little bit of history of the Doulos, which is even older than the Titanic by two years. It’s had three other names before it was converted into the Doulos. It was launched in its original name in 1914, and almost going to the scrapyard six times, it was saved by a bunch of Germans who were from an organisation called “Gute Bücher für Alle” – Good Books for All. They already had the very original idea of having a mobile library, travelling to all parts of the world.

Being on the Doulos brings back memories of my love for the ocean and travelling around gypsy-like. It reminds me of past dreams of being a sailor, navigating through the seas through my telescope, igniting my other love of astronomy. Being guided through the stars. And serving on board with 349 other people from 48 different countries. That is truly amazing. Nevertheless, the reality is that the ship eventually becomes a sort of vacuumed world in which you live 24/7. This is not a luxury, neither is it something all people can handle.

The cabins are tiny and cramped, things are mechanical and driven by clockwork which is necessary for the number of passengers on board any ship, discipline is required, rules are rules are rules. But for all that, the overwhelming excitement of working on board a travelling mini United Nations beats all odds. Plus serving with a heart of love for the true cause, for Him. That beats all.

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Down Memory Lane

Posted on July 4, 2006 by Tricia

I was asked recently by a high school girl from my alma mater to answer some questions. I’d be featured in the year school magazine, a kind of sentimental gift to myself since many years ago I was the editor in chief in charge of producing that very document! Now they are featuring me (probably amongst a gazillion others), but here are some interesting questions I took out, and share here:

What do you miss most about secondary school?

What do I miss most? The way in which friendships were created and forged. In secondary school, you are placed together in a little small world together, bounded by the four walls around the school compound. That forms a sort of campsite atmosphere, where the camp members are you, your schoolmates, your teachers. I guess it is the atmosphere of friendship, the semangat muhibah, the collective togetherness of the school air that you cannot get anywhere else, not at college or university level.

What advice do you have for the students currently studying there?

Appreciate your school years as much as possible. But in the midst of your enjoyment and fun, use your years constructively and wisely. These are the formative thinking years you do not want to waste. Explore issues, themes, important questions in life, read as much as possible, open your mind, ask questions, think outside the box, be creative, try as best you can to do things differently in anything you are involved in. You’ll find that these qualities will be greatly valuable when you leave school, go into higher education, and much later, into the working world and the rest of your life.

Note: I would have wanted to add on a whole lot of other comments and viewpoints… but not very feasible to do so in a yearbook.

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Interfaiths

Posted on July 4, 2006 by Tricia

The very term “inter-faith” has been somewhat of a touchy, sensitive topic of late. What with your regular Interfaith Commissions being criticised left right and centre, the issues of apostasy taking prime time in many websites and Lina Joy’s case being reopened (the final session is to be held tomorrow with Cyrus Das speaking at 11am), things are getting rather interesting or messy, depending on how you view it.

Malaysiakini has come out with a 5 part miniseries on religious freedom in Malaysia, where several personalities get together to share and air their views on this extremely sensitive topic.

Perhaps this is a step forward… Malaysians seem to think that we are not fully ready nor mature to discuss such things, but I say you never know till you try, really.

The main issue that is being hotly debated is whether or not people have a right to choose their religions. It boils back down to religious freedom – and what this is defined as. I keep coming back to this topic: Freedoms and what this means to different people.

It seems to me that if people are able to come to an understanding first of what this means: The Absolute Freedom of Choice: then would they be able to discourse rationally.

Do religions offer an absolute freedom of choice? This is something I personally have to contend with myself, when I think about Christianity.

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In the beginning

Posted on July 4, 2006 by Tricia

In the beginning was Brazil, and Brazil was confident, and Brazil fell, and Brazil wept.

Pride leaps before a fall.

I’m predicting a Germany-France final, although I’m thinking this has turned out to be more of a Euro Cup than a World Cup.

This goes back to economics, and how the rich nations are able to afford better coaches and better training sessions.

Let the rich get richer, with rich players pocketing gazillions of dollars whilst their fellow countrymen either party the night away with alcohol galore or watch their famous star on a ramshackled TV amidst adjunct poverty.

24 days down, 6 days to go.

Let the rich get better and the good get richer.

Khattam Shud.

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Islam Hadhari II

Posted on July 1, 2006 by Tricia

Article in theSun last week:

National policy must aim to embrace all
Islam Hadhari: Developmental framework
Guest: Tricia Yeoh
For the first time in Malaysia, a religious framework has been instituted within a national socio-economic development plan. Islam Hadhari was introduced in the Ninth Malaysia Plan as a “comprehensive and universal framework for the nation”.

Indeed, Islam Hadhari is interwoven into many chapters, promoting “a progressive developmental outlook” and “a moral society with strong religious and spiritual values.” This has stirred a wave of interest in Islam Hadhari: what it is, its implications, and how Malaysians should react to it.

Islam Hadhari literally translated means Civilisational Islam, a theory of government based upon the principles of Islam as derived from the Holy Quran. It seeks to emphasise development consistent with the central tenets of Islam. In particular, ten fundamental principles have been outlined and this includes faith and piety in Allah, a just and trustworthy government, and freedom and independence to the people.

Continue reading →

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Case Reopened

Posted on July 1, 2006 by Tricia

Case Reopened on Lina Joy… Extracted from various sources below:

Lina Joy, a Muslim converted to Christianity in 1998, has since been seeking her constitutional right to practise the religion of her choice. According to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, Lina could not register with the Registrar of Marriage as long as ‘Islam’ is on her identity card, which means she is legally a Muslim. The National Registration Department (NRD) had, in October 1999, accepted the reason given (the change of religion) and changed her original name, Azlina Jailani, to Lina Joy.

In April 23 2001, High Court Justice Datuk Faiza Tamby Chik rejected Lina Joy’s application that to drop the word ‘Islam’ on her identity card. He said that Malays could not renounce Islam because an ethnic Malay was defined by the Constitution as “a person who professes the religion of Islam,” and the jurisdiction in conversion matter lay solely in the hands of Syariah Court.

Lina is currently appealing against the 2001 High Court’s decision on the grounds that it contravened Malaysia’s constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

Lina Joy was granted leave to apply to the Federal Court on April 13, 2006. The date of hearring is scheduled on June 28.

The appeal will be confined to three main issues (April 14, 2006, New Straits Times):

• Whether the NRD was legally entitled to require someone to produce a certificate or a declaration or an order from the Syariah Court before deleting “Islam” from an applicant’s identity card;

• Whether the NRD has correctly construed its powers under the National Registration Regulations 1990 to impose the above requirement when it is not expressly provided for in the regulations; and

• Whether the landmark case Soon Singh vs Perkim Kedah — which held that Syariah Courts have the authority over the civil courts to hear cases of Muslims renouncing their religion — was correctly decided.

Constitution provisions: Article 11:1 Every person has the right to profess and practice his religion

Article 160:2 “Malay” means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay custom

No clear legal process on conversion matter

In August 2002, the Court of Appeals ruled that only the Islamic court is qualified to determine whether a Muslim has become an apostate. These rulings make conversion of Muslims nearly impossible in practice.

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One Month

Posted on June 30, 2006 by Tricia

Productivity in the country must have dropped for the entire month dating 9th June to 9th July. I certainly see more sleepy eyed droopy faced expressions all around. Or am I referring to the reflection in the mirror.

A final 6 and a half matches to go…

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Defining Race

Posted on June 23, 2006 by Tricia

What is a race?

I asked myself that tonight and found myself scratching my head. Because you have nation-states like Japan, where there is no question of race and nationality. Think also of China and England where race and nationality are synonymous with the other. Japanese are Japanese by race AND nationality. The English in England are English by race AND nationality.

Things become a bit blurry when migration takes place. So you have an Australian by nationality but English by descent. Extend this to Malaysia. You have Malaysians by nationality but Malay, Chinese and Indian by descent… in other words, a society segregated by race.

In the case of the latter two, the Chinese and the Indians come from a specific place from which race and nationality were never separate – China and India. So fine, being Chinese and being Indian means accepting one's racial descent.

But I've always wondered where the Malays came from. Originally from Malaya (if we presume Malays have to be from a similar country-sounding-place: Malaya) ?

I read interestingly on Wikipedia (which is an amazing mine of knowledge nuggets, by the way) the following:

According to the History of Jambi, the word Melayu or Malayu originated from a river with name Sungai Melayu near to Sungai Batang Hari of today's Muara Jambi, Jambi province of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Generically, the name "Malay" is used to describe all the numerous related groups inhabiting the Malay Archipelago, and which are not of older aboriginal stock. These include the Aceh, Minangkabaus, Bataks and Mandailings who live in Sumatra ; Java and Sunda in Java ; Banjars, Ibans, Kadazans and Melanaus in Borneo ; Bugis and Torajas in Sulawesi ; the various dominant ethnic groups in the Philippines such as the Tagalogs, Ilocanos and Ifugao of Luzon island, the Bisaya of the central Philippines, the Maguindanao, Tausug and Bajau of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago ; and the people of East Timor (again, excluding those of older Papuan stock).

In other words, the term Malay should anthropologically be used to refer to the different peoples of the Malay Archipelago within the region… Not exclusively belonging to any one country… It is a people group that is spread into different countries.. hmmmm… read more below:

In a broader sense, the term Malay also includes most ethnic groups in the Philippines and Indonesia west of Papua. It is best understood as a cultural, not racial grouping. For example, people of the Maluku and Nusa Tenggara islands up to Timor have darker skin but are more readily described as Malays than the Dayaks of inner Borneo.

Okay, so this makes things a little clearer. It is best understood as a cultural, not racial grouping… So it is not a race then? To complicate things further,

Most Malays had converted from Hinduism, Buddhism and animism to Islam in the early 15th century; influenced by Arab, Chinese and Indian Muslim seafarers during the Islamic Golden Age.

Really? I hadn't known that, to be honest…

Their conversion to Islam from Hinduism and Theravada Buddhism began in the 1400s, largely influenced by the decision of the royal court of Malacca. Most Malays in Thailand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Surinam — being descendants of those who had already been Islamised in Malaysia, Indonesia, etc — are also Muslims.

Never knew this either.

So the more significant question is… what does it mean to be a Malay living in Malaysia? I'll leave it at that.

Posted in Reflections, Religion | Leave a comment

Go Ghana!

Posted on June 23, 2006 by Tricia

In a previous post, I wrote about how I would support the team that has a lower GDP relative to whoever they were facing. Tonight, Ghana faced US (read: Lowest vs the Highest GDP countries that still remained in the World Cup).

And my reason in supporting them now goes beyond theoretics. They play with such spirit and passion. And they owe their allegiance to their God/Allah. When they play, you know they are driven by a powerful force. And so I was overjoyed, together with all their countrymates at home dancing and partying to African beats and drums, because I could feel their passion. Of course, they face Brazil in the knock-out round, next stage. No guesses for who is the favourite there…

But that they have gotten this far is a tremendous feat in itself. This is the first time they've even entered the World Cup tournament. And they are the last remaining African country. I blow them a flying kiss and hope they'll continue to play with unreserved spirit and passion!

Go Ghana!

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