22 November 2007

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IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR ALL
The articles are captured from the original writer, MsMarina (with her permission). SambalBelacan is just compiling articles to make easier to find. Any comments received will remain un-respond because it's not mine.Reach her at her very own blog at http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com Please.
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Wednesday November 21, 2007


Stop embarrassing the public

Musings
By MARINA MAHATHIR

We need to restore a sense of public shame. We need to define it, and we need leaders who live and behave in an exemplary way.

I WAS observing recently how different people had different definitions of shame. Most define it as a sense of embarrassment when something they cannot control happens.

For instance, one person said it was what he felt every time he saw a foreign tourist go into a public toilet. Another said it’s when she can’t repeat what she just said in front of her kids.

I was curious about this because of the way the word “shame” kept coming up in relation to recent events.

There were some people who felt shame that Malaysians had taken to the streets in protest because they felt that this was “uncivilised’ behaviour.

Then there were others who saw shame in the opposite perspective: they felt embarrassed that their fellow citizens were treated so badly by the authorities. Surely, they said, we have become civilised enough to tolerate dissent without having to react to it with violence.

Thus “shame” and “civilised behaviour” appeared on both sides of the fence.

Then there were those who felt embarrassed and ashamed that a politician could expose himself as an inarticulate buffoon on international television.

Herein lies the puzzle: how is it that poor performance can invoke pride rather than shame? Is that symptomatic of something else these days?

In the old days (which didn’t seem too long ago), people did not talk about parts of the body or bodily functions in public, especially at inappropriate moments.

But these days we get parliamentarians and other public officials making crude remarks, almost always about women’s anatomy and bodily functions, without even so much as turning the slightest shade of red.

And what do their audiences do when they hear this? They giggle and laugh.

Perhaps, secretly, the mostly female audience felt shame and embarrassment but because they are dependent on male authority figures for their positions, they say nothing and play along instead.

And in so doing they betray their own sex once again.

How little we value our dignity.

These are the times when I feel so old-fashioned.

Which people may find ironic considering that I am accused of being shameless a lot of the time for wanting to talk about sex education for young people and about how to make sex safe.

But the one thing one never does when educating others about sex is to make it crude, because that’s what turns people off. Appropriate terminology and approach is key.

But outside of the educational context, when the intention is to humiliate, referring to the anatomy is crude and unnecessary. People should be embarrassed not only to have to listen to it but also to even mention it.

Thus I wonder at what point will we decide that our tolerance for such crudeness has finally reached its limit.

When are we truly going to censure public figures who talk trash regardless of their station in life? When are we going to shame them into stopping?

Instead we see endless displays of shamelessness.

There are public figures who build humongous mansions with unexplained funds and then try to look charitable by inviting orphans for a one-night stay. I blush at the thought of it; how come they don’t?

Others, obviously endowed by the thickest of skins, buy support by giving out honorifics even to those who patently do not deserve them or even have criminal records. Not an ounce of shame whatsoever.

Everyone else laughs at them but they actually think they are being exemplary human beings.

No shame in the least about redefining humanity as being corrupt. Incredible!

Maybe I should develop a thicker hide.

But the thing is I have a young daughter who reads the newspapers and I wind up red-faced when she asks me how come these people she reads about do and say things that I have always taught her not to.

Although not everything gets into the newspapers (perhaps their limits for shame are lower than the people they cover?), my daughter sometimes hears my friends and I talking about the latest public embarrassment.

How do I explain these to her?

We need to restore a sense of public shame.

To do that, we need to define it and we need leaders who live and behave in an exemplary way.

We need leaders who have a sense of diffidence and restraint, who understand that they can’t say one thing and do another.

Who do not treat the public as if they are fools who will take anything they dish out.

That time is no longer far off because we, the public, are beginning to feel we no longer want to be embarrassed.

12 November 2007

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IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR ALL
The articles are captured from the original writer, MsMarina (with her permission). SambalBelacan is just compiling articles to make easier to find. Any comments received will remain un-respond because it's not mine.Reach her at her very own blog at http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com Please.
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Wednesday November 7, 2007


Lessons from a nostalgic trip

MUSINGS
By MARINA MAHATHIR

Onstage a colourful multiracial and multilingual community celebrated the musical talent of P. Ramlee. Offstage, music and dance has become controversial.

I WENT to see P. Ramlee: The Musical recently and it was an enchanting experience in so many ways. For one, I felt proud that a musical of such high standard could be produced by a Malaysian team (with some neighbourly help).

It had energy, creativity, talent and great music in spades, and was an overall enjoyable treat. Congratulations to the entire cast and crew.

The musical was of course a nostalgic trip down the story of P. Ramlee, perhaps our greatest artiste.

But it was nostalgic in more ways than one. It spoke of a more carefree time, and despite being partly set in pre-independence years seemed a lot more liberated than we are today.

If we only looked at the characters portrayed onstage and looked at the audience, we can see the stark difference, even if the play is largely fiction.

Onstage a colourful multiracial and multilingual community celebrated the musical talent of P. Ramlee. Women dressed in the demure dresses of yesteryear. They danced and sang with abandon.

Yet offstage, music and dance has become controversial. Women’s clothes have changed from traditional to modern forms, but at the same time become more confining.

We can’t just say this was stage dramatisation, because if we look at old photographs from the 50s and 60s women’s heads were uncovered.

Onstage, Malay movie stars wore glamorous clothes and went to nightclubs without anyone shaking their heads in judgment. The entertainment press reported romances between stars, but did not moralise.

Now actors and actresses who want to get anywhere have to lead almost inhumanly exemplary lives or risk all sorts of censure.

Perhaps the stars of old were not always exemplary in their behaviour but people were more forgiving and society didn’t particularly suffer.

Nowadays, every social ill is blamed on people not being religious enough, even though despite having so much more religion around us we in fact have more social ills.

Perhaps it is unfair to compare life today with that portrayed in a stage play. But we can research the era and see what has changed.

Why was it that in the 50s and 60s, P. Ramlee could come up with movies and songs that have endured the test of time? Perhaps it was because he was given the artistic freedom to do what he wanted? Perhaps he was trusted?

Today what passes for popular cinema is of such low standard that it seems almost amazing that we even have such a cinematic heritage as P. Ramlee movies. Did all these spring from the same traditions? Or did our perspective on life change?

I watched the audience and even though there was uproarious reception from some quarters, you could still feel some disapproval.

Perhaps it was the depiction of nightclub life? After all, these days we raid nightclubs to rid them of Muslims. Was it the strapless tops? Of late, female singers are being hauled up for wearing more.

Was it the portrayal of strong women who didn’t want to take any nonsense from their men and walked out rather than stay and put up with it? These days, the misbehaviour of men are blamed entirely on women, both the ones they are married to and the ones they are not.

I get nostalgic for a freer time, when we still had to fight for something and not yet become mired in complacency. When we were still hungry for success and knew we had to work hard for it. When we didn’t know that there were shortcuts to success and that there were people who were extremely successful that way.

Why do I think that was a freer time? Because we were free to think that we all had potential and could fulfil it if we were willing to work hard. Now we have potential we don’t have the freedom to fulfil. Or we don’t believe we have potential because we don’t have connections or are not protected by privilege.

To achieve that we need to be able to think and speak, to explore unfettered. Even in Saudi Arabia, the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has been set up with a commitment to academic freedom and international collaboration.

Here we can’t even manage to teach Mathematics and Science in English, the international language. Which basically means we can’t even dream of sending our students to KAUST or to any other good university abroad.

We don’t even have the freedom of making good policy. A little bit of opposition and we pull back hurriedly.

We don’t have P. Ramlee anymore, and we don’t have that time again. We may have progressed but maybe we lost a lot, too.

05 November 2007

==================================
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR ALL
The articles are captured from the original writer, MsMarina (with her permission). SambalBelacan is just compiling articles to make easier to find. Any comments received will remain un-respond because it's not mine.Reach her at her very own blog at
http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com Please.
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Wednesday October 24, 2007


Winning votes soul-ly on talent

Jindal, a first-generation American from India to win the governorship of a traditionally conservative state like Louisiana speaks volumes for opportunity in the US for talented people with a penchant for hard work.

MUSINGS BY MARINA MAHATHIR

I READ on Monday morning that Bobby Jindal, the American-born son of Indian immigrants was elected Governor of Loui-siana in the United States. A young two-term Republican Congressman, he is a conservative who became the first non-white Louisiana governor since 1870 after running on promises to end political corruption, cut taxes and improve schools.

We cannot know how Bobby Jindal will do just yet, but I am intrigued by his win. The fact that a first-generation American from India could win the governorship of a traditionally conservative state like Louisiana speaks volumes for opportunity in the US for talented people with a penchant for hard work.

On TV I watched as all these little old white ladies shook his hand with great enthusiasm. He had replaced a white woman Governor who had been severely criticised for bungling rehabilitation efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

The fact that Jindal is very educated and had been a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford is definitely a plus point.

In Perak recently, the MB called for graduates to be selected as election candidates. That’s all very well but let’s hope they are real graduates and not the ones who get dubious doctorates from unheard of universities.

But we also know, having a degree from a prestigious university is no guarantee either that you’ll be a good politician or leader. For some people, entering politics is license to throw all that education out of the window in favour of the crassiest politically expedient slogans. Which makes them no better than the local village thug in my book.

Jindal also has a CV that is heavy on experience in public policy. For twelve years he successfully managed Louisiana’s health and hospitals department, sought to reform their Medicaid system and then went on to the Federal Government to become Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of Health and Human Services.

All that experience brought to bear when he returned to his home state to enter politics where he successfully ran for election to the US Congress twice. So he’s not a parachute Governor by any stretch of the imagination, despite his young age.

I have to sigh when I read about Bobby Jindal. When faced with the dimwits we have in Cabinet and Parliament, I have to feel depressed.

Are we ever going to hear our politicians say, as Bobby Jindal did in his victory speech: “One thing I know for sure, you can get a distorted view sitting in the halls of government. Things start to look different.

“The lobbyists begin to look larger and the people begin to look smaller. Reality becomes distorted. I’ve seen it in Congress as well. I’m not going to let that happen to me.”

Or this: “I have said throughout the campaign that there are two entities that have the most to fear from us winning this election - One is Corruption, and the other is his sidekick Incompetence. If you happen to see either of them, please let them know the party is over.”

Now this is no opposition politician speaking. He’s in the same party as George W. Bush. But all the same, he’s talking about corruption and incompetence generally, not corruption and incompetence only if they’re by anyone not in the same party. Is it any wonder that I find it refreshing?

It would be really great if we could only scrutinise all our political candidates closely before they stand for elections. We should be able to ask them what their stand is on many issues such as the Constitution, freedom of speech and of religion, on women, on the judiciary. They can have whatever opinion they want but whether we agree or not is what will decide whether they get our vote.

Instead we have to vote on what party the candidate is from, rather than the individual him or herself. That’s maybe OK for the truly useless candidates but for those who do have some integrity and talent, it must be a bit insulting.

I’m sure there are people out there dying to showcase their talents and ideas and market those ahead of the next elections. But they won’t get much of a chance because there is no room for individuality in our system, especially not individual integrity.

I read an article the other day about how campaigns by candidates with real integrity in the US get taken over by the party political marketing de-partments so that they become moulded into the type of candidate that the party wants them to be.

Some of them become successful politicians but with the sacrifice of their own souls. Those who cannot hack that loss of personal integrity eventually quit politics altogether.

Guess that isn’t a problem when we start off with soul-less politicians anyway.