Malaysian Vs. Singapore Culture

Posted on May 27, 2006 by Tricia

Malaysians and Singaporeans. Same difference?

The two peoples are really cut from the same stone, and yet only a couple of decades after its separation, there can be a defined difference between the cultures, which some would say is growing.

The development of any society can be closely intertwined to the political and administrative system of the country.

Singapore, together with many South East Asian countries, had for many decades the privilege/hegemony (delete whichever necessary and appropriate in your opinion) of a dictator-like leader. In a strange way, these strong-willed and almost theocratic leadership was necessary to allow control and positive development of the society. Think Philliphines, think Singapore, think Indonesia, and surprise surprise, think Malaysia. 

A strong leader like Harry Lee, brilliant and intelligent in leading his country, allowed for a refined political system that could not be questioned. Economic development into the country will always be received positively by its people. If you satisfy the basic need of the people, by filling their pockets and tummies, it is difficult to complain, really.

By having an administration provide virtually everything for you, you also subject yourself to allowing the system to do all the thinking. You are merely a follower and an implementer.

This is one of the major differences I often hear of people doing business and working in political fields in both countries. That Malaysians have a much stronger entrepreneurial spirit. Flexibility and adaptability are some of the characteristics often quoted, currently lacking across the border. This is a result of the way in which the mind has been developed to think.

On the other hand, Malaysians should not rejoice. Singaporeans are far, far ahead in terms of efficient implementation of anything. Even if our policies can be beautifully worded, we are so inefficient and ineffective that the means never even get to the "end".

Isn't it interesting that the same people groups have dichotomised in such a short period of time? Doesn't this speak volumes for political systems and what a huge role they play in the development of the peoples it commands? 

Posted in Reflections | 3 Comments

PAS redefined

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Tricia

PAS… i.e. Parti Seislam Malaysia, may open party membership to non-Muslims. Reported here:

For a start, he said, non-Muslims could be admitted into the party as associate members.

“And, when the time is ripe, they may become full-fledged members to strengthen the party’s political clout,” said Nik Aziz, who is Kelantan mentri besar.

Some people may find this ridiculous and absolutely undoable. But really, if the basic principles of believing in transparency and accountability are similar to that of Christianity, what is the theoretical fault in someone of a different faith joining it? 

If non-Muslims can accept Islamic banking, and indeed are customers of Islamic Banks because they believe in the same principles and values that the Banks advocate, i.e. non-interest paying, then what about this?  

Of course, whether or not their own political party members are able to accept this is a different story.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

We pay you send

Posted on May 22, 2006 by Tricia

From Seattle Post Intelligencer:

MOSCOW — Malaysia has signed a contract with Russia to send an astronaut to the international space station next year, Russian officials said Friday.

The deal was part of a larger arrangement that also foresees Malaysia buying some Russian Su-30 MKM fighter jets, said officials from Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-controlled arms export agency.

Two Malaysian astronauts will be chosen from a group that includes two doctors, a pilot and an engineer to prepare at Russia's cosmonaut-training facilities for the September 2007 flight.

The ITAR-Tass news agency said the entire deal would be worth about $1 billion.

Russia's space agency has complemented scarce state funding in recent years with revenues from commercial flights for space tourists. It also has courted other nations looking to send their citizens into space.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Clash of Civilisations

Posted on May 21, 2006 by Tricia

Samuel Huntington's famous book on the "Clash of Civilisations" outlined humanity in our present world as segregated into separate identities: Muslim, Western, Asian. Amartya Sen wrote a book in response to that, called "Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny", which speaks against the Samuel Huntington thesis of "Clash of Civilisations".

Dr. Sen proposes that our present world exists as a "bundle of identities", that liberal democracy is not a cultural phenomenon but a basic human aspiration. There is a certain universality of human nature and all peoples have an inherent ability to transcend their cultures and histories…. the give fruition to a certain declaration of human liberty, or in the case of America and many other countries, the Declaration of Independence.  

The argument therefore is summed up simply in the following statement: that liberalism is not in fact a Western phenomenon. Liberalism is something inherent that all humanity should seek after. Now when I say liberalism I do not mean the pagan sort of liberal culture of bra-burning, naked romping so usually thought of in this postmodern era.

Instead, that desire of wanting a democratic process and system running a country. The right to choose. The right to make informed decisions. The right to say no to theocratic power. 

Dr. Sen continues to question if really liberalism is a universal phenomenon (or at least, the deepest desire for it), then why is it that there are so few Muslim leaders, intellectuals, opinion leaders pressing for it? A possible explanation is that communities that have broken out of their colonialist rule immediately harbour resentment and distrust of anything they deem Western. This includes any trait practised by Western societies, which so happens to be that of liberalism.  

Now this is interesting. I have not myself read these two books in full (my bookmark is stuck somewhere in the middle of Huntington's book I believe), but Dr. Sen's alternative argument is interesting. Because, this means that it is the surrounding cultures that dampen an inherent desire for justice, equality and democracy. Because of poor safety, security and legal structures, the society is forced into practicing the opposite of liberalism. The destruction of such basic structures give birth to the clash of civilisations, not the other way round. 

Therefore, while it is true that there exists a clash of civilisations, this does not in any way point towards the fact that some societies should never practise democracy.

This revelation is in itself incredibly liberating!! 

Posted in Reflections, The Cause | 1 Comment

Browning the Bible I

Posted on May 21, 2006 by Tricia

I've written on this briefly before, but again as the movie comes into town with a big bang and wallakazzam I'll summarise a little of what was spoken about today during a "Da Vinci Code I" session. The book and movie are merely new entrants into a growing market for controversies, including the recent discovery and report on the Gospel of Judas. 

The claim made by Dan Brown in his book is that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were secretly married and had a child. This is based upon the Gospel of Philip. In this post I will just focus on the basis of this claim and why it is arguably false.

What these gospels have in common, along with others Gospel of Mary and Gospel of Thomas, is that they are known as Gnostic Gospels. What are the characteristics of Gnostic books?

  • They are contained within the Nag Hammadi texts, discovered in Egypt in 1945.
  • The earliest Gnostic gospel, Gospel of Thomas, was written in the early 2nd Century.
  • They are not historical biographies, as opposed to the four books in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Instead, their contents are skewed towards philosophical explanations.
  • They were written by Gnostics, a small group of Jews who believed that only the elite has secret knowledge that has access to Jesus. (They are called so because of the root word gnosis, which means knowledge) – Gnostics also believe that the body is inherently evil, and were largely anti-feminist.

Based on point two, if the Gnostic gospels were written in the 2nd Century, this means that they were using pseudonyms. It was someone else who wrote and used the names Philip, Thomas, Judas. 

Hence, nobody disputes that these gospels DID EXIST. In fact, Dan Brown's answer is ONLY to this extent. He says that "Documents, rituals, organisation, artwork, and architecture in the novel all exist." The existence of a document makes no solid evidence that its contents are accurate. Follow me further.

What we have is a diametrically opposed claim of Jesus' life: The Four Canonical Gospels (in the Bible) vs. the Gnostic Gospels.

  1. The CGs were written in the 1st Century, a mere couple of decades after the death of Jesus. The GGs were written roughly 150 years after the death of Jesus. Historians note that the closer the document is written to its actual date of occurence, the more reliable it is. Based upon the date of writing, the CGs clearly have a higher authenticity level.
  2. The CGs were written by the actual apostles or close friends of Jesus. These were people who were eyewitnesses to the actual life of Jesus. All of them Matthew, Mark, Luke and John satisfied this. The GGs were written under pseudonyms. Do we know who wrote them? The Gnostics. And why write them? Because they had a particular message to communicate across, which they would not otherwise have been successful in doing without using famous names of Jesus' disciples themselves.

Consider this timeline as a visual aid: 

  • AD50: Paul's letters
  • AD60: Mark's Gospel
  • AD62 – 68: Matthew and Luke's Gospel
  • AD90: John's Gospel
  • AD130: The 4 Gospels and Paul's letters recognised as authoritative sources.
  • Late 2nd Century: (AD250+) Gnostic Gospels

How was the New Testament Canon formed, then? And what about the Council of Nicea? And the divinity of Jesus that was seemingly fixed by Constantine the emperor? Wait for II.

Here, if one were to make an objective cross comparison between the Canonical Gospels and the Gnostic Gospels, it would be a non-brainer to state that the former carries a lot more weight than the latter. And if Dan Brown uses the claims made in the Gnostic Gospels to fill in the entire storyline of his book, he stands on rather shaky ground. 

Posted in Literature, Religion, Theology | 3 Comments

Sweeeep

Posted on May 21, 2006 by Tricia

(taken from Malaysiakini.com)

The clean sweep that was predicted of the Sarawak's elections yesterday was not so clean after all. The opposition won 8 seats this time round. This is surely a waker-upper for the coalition government. They must either address the issues that are of such great concern to all citizens immediately, or suffer the consequences of a lackadaisical attitude in the next general elections. Are these telltale signs?

An interesting turn of events is that 24 year old DAP Candidate Ting Tze Hui beat her contender to win the Meradong seat by more than 3000 votes, which is quite significant. Politics is seeing the fielding of more women, what with the rise of women's rights and women's issues. Candidates are also becoming younger, perhaps telling of politicians' intentions of targeting the younger generation.

These two: Youth and Women Factors, make me wonder. Perhaps Malaysia despite its long tradition of a hierarchical society, is now awakening to the relatively novel idea that authority does not necessarily come in the form of age. There is a certain truth in the need for quality as opposed to quantity.

Congratulations to this young girl. This is a symbol that ought to stretch across the younger generation of today. I just hope the young ones take up the need to be more aware of current affairs, whether or not it is in support of the government or the opposition. That it is spoken about with genuine interest is a step forward.

Posted in The Cause | Leave a comment

My World

Posted on May 21, 2006 by Tricia

A great big thank you..  Terima kasih.. Danke Schön.. Xie Xie.. for wishes from England, France, Canada, Germany, Singapore, Australia, and of course Malaysia! For attempted surprises, Spanish ink paella, carrot strips, chocolate cake in the jungle, Lied Geburtstag aus Würzburg, and an electrifying drummer.

Prayer: For God to bless my country and my world through the little of me.  

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

CEDAW

Posted on May 19, 2006 by Tricia

Some friends are going to New York to attend the CEDAW conference. More women should know about this! You can read more about it here: 

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women.  Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.

The Convention defines discrimination against women as "…any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field." By accepting the Convention, States commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to end discrimination against women in all forms, including:

  • to incorporate the principle of equality of men and women in their legal system, abolish all discriminatory laws and adopt appropriate ones prohibiting discrimination against women;
  • to establish tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of women against discrimination; and
  • to ensure elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons, organizations or enterprises.

Posted in The Cause | 1 Comment

Zoo

Posted on May 18, 2006 by Tricia

Are Malaysians matured enough to go to the zoo and listen to the most curious sounds made there? 

You can take a peek right here, online!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Blogging the Bible

Posted on May 18, 2006 by Tricia

David Plotz plods through the Bible as an ignorant Jew, as he says himself. In an interesting twist to the way blogging and Internetsphere is changing our worldviews, he will attempt to read and write expository notes on what he sees in the Bible from cover to cover, as he writes here.
In his first entry, entitled "from creation to the flood", he writes about God's role in what the Bible presents to us. In his second entry, "Abraham vs. God", he writes a detailed commentary on each of the chapters. He writes as a Jew who has never really gone through the pages of the Bible one by one, not even the Old Testament, that Judaism also takes as its own scripture (along with other documents). His style of writing is therefore akin to a child's, an ignoramus, curious and unbiased in his opinion, critical where need be and yet not sacrilegous as he too believes in the same God. 

It is unusual that Slate.com (which usually writes on current affairs) presents a detailed write-up on the Bible, in your typical commentary style. You have a catchment size of: Huge. Very rarely will people, even Christians take the time to read lengthy commentaries online, much less the written book (save those crazy ones who actually like reading theology, philosophy of any sort, yes the lunatics). So although this may present only a skewed disposition, I think it opens up again the opportunity to speak and dialogue openly online and in person on religion… something that we in Malaysia are SO great at doing!

Posted in Religion, Theology | Leave a comment