"Removing Cultural Blinkers

Starmag, Sunday 31 January, 2010.
'By describing the genesis of his latest book, our columnist hopes to convince Malaysians that we need to move towards a true understanding of our differences."
"Rethinking Islamic Architecture"
By Mohammad Tajuddin Mohammad Rasdi.

How do we rethink our differences? Are we really different, the Chinese the Malays, the Hindus, the various others who makes up the population of this nation, are we really different? We look different although even this is not an absolute and we may eat different and sing different, we talk different and most of us think different, deep down are we really that different? We worry the same worries, we sleep the same amount of hours relatively and we eat when we are hungry and suffer from similar illnesses. We strive for similar goals and fight for our God given rights against any form of injustice and oppression mounted against us, but are we any different just because we came out of different holes and bow to different Gods and deities, we cheat, we bribe and accept bribes, we embezzle and exploit every trust and faith put upon us are we any different?
No! We are alike you and I, we are the same but we try our damnedest to be different, The Chinese wants to be more of a Chinese the Malays never more a Malay these days, and the Indians well...and so on. At no time in history are we closest to God.or we want to believe we are all of us and we are willing and burn and vandalize others' houses of worship to prove it, blast the non-believers or those with different beliefs out of their miseries no matter the collateral damages, God bless our suicide bombers! Are we different, you and I? We want our sons and daughters to occupy the best positions in the Government agencies and we want our relatives and friends to be among those driving fancy cars and living in fancy homes, we want to be able to say this is our neighborhood...only us our kinds, the browns, the blacks, the yellows...Smell the air! In this neighborhood you can only smell our kind of cooking!Yes, we are no different from you and want the same things too. We are selfish, inconsiderate, uncaring ethnocentric and religiously fanatical, and politically correct, just like you, most of us still worship our ancestors and practice their ways.
So are we any different you and I? Your color my color your skin my skin, your God my God your heritage my heritage,,, it all means only skin deep and that's the difference between us, but go deeper below the surface and what have we? Fear! You with your fears and me with mine, fear of not having enough, not knowing who we are, fear of loosing our identity if we have one and of what we have fear of becoming a second class citizen fear of this and fear of that and as a result we are willing to do just about anything to hide this fear disguise it, be ever ready to prevent it from being exposed, me hide mine and your hiding yours. I keep on building my temples and churches while you build your mosques and synagogues so that we can find shelter for this fear to be hidden in the form of religiosity and worship. Instead of facing and confronting these fears, some of which we created on our own some of which we inherited from our forefathers, we turn them into our idols, our causes our colors and creeds we venerate our fears and protect them from being exposed. Hide them in our mental closets and make believe they don't exist, crucify those who dare expose them to the light!
Yes we love this multi racial multi ethnic, multi religious, multi lingual and a host of other multi-s of a society we live in, proud of it, would die for it and it is in this diversity that we seek to create a One Malaysia, the merging of all differences and unity. To achieve this we all have to drop off our masks our inherited baggage our assumed identities, our personal beliefs and understanding based on past experiences, we have to become bare in mind and body if not in spirit and only then can we embrace what is a truly One Malaysian Identity. We will have to start with a 'tabular rasa' or a clean slate all of us and discard our self glorifying interests for that of a collective ideal but not having to embrace communism in the process. Accomplish this mental and spiritual catharsis as a whole will in more than one way ensure that our future generation will find a clearer meaning to who they are or meant to be as a citizen of this country.
Equality and freedom for all is not something that can be bought or forced upon it has to be a realization by all and for all. Just as there is the need for 'Rethinking Islamic Architecture', there need to be a rethinking of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Taoist Sikhism and what else we have in this country for it to work in harmony or we will be a country full of houses of worship but no home for the sick and the poor, full of ideas and philosophies but no substance whatsoever, full of rituals and ceremonies but no understanding of the significance of these in the context of everyday life. What is practiced in these houses of worship seldom spilled out into the streets for those who has performed these rituals walk out to become the demons they were before they entered. Disrespect, uncouth, uncaring, heedlessness, taking care of number one, cheat, swindle, exploit, bribe and be bribed, these are among the baggage we carry with us upon leaving the temple or the mosque not just our slippers and shoes.
In Islam, Allah has 99 Beautiful Names by which He manifests Himself in man and man just barely remembers one when confronted in everyday situation. As -Sabur is the One who is patient and this Name is the last of the 99 Names and this name is least practiced by a Muslim except to offer lip service only. I can only criticize myself, my lack of patience under circumstances and quick to draw when confronted, but Allah's virtue of Patience is one of the the most contemplated upon of His Names among practicing Muslims,just as it is practiced among Buddhists and so forth...patience is not merely a virtue for us, we living in a multi racial country need it as an antidote to check our potentiality to explode with the slightest friction. Patience is a virtue common to all races but seldom put to practice by individuals when faced with confrontation or agitation especially if it is of a racial nature. Often when ego steps in patience steps out, or when ignorance steps in patience is cast to the winds and usually anger prevails. Only patience can subdue anger and anger is the byproduct of Fear.
There are those of us who equate violence with bravery however these are the ones most afraid of facing their demons of fear in their day to day situation. The violent act is the manifestation of this fear in its worst form when all else had failed to guarantee the freedom from fear. But fear will never be eliminated not so long as we are gripped in a state of ignorance whether we are aware of it or not; Fear feeds on ignorance. It is ignorance that will be the cause of our downfall as a nation and no amount of buildings and development, religious sanctification's and fatwas can save us from our 'time bomb' as Tun Mahathir once wrote, it is still our dilemma and the bomb is still ticking waiting for the excuse to go off. The one thing that might be able to stop the ticking is for all of us to come to truly believe in the merging of our differences with single minded understanding of why we cannot survive otherwise. We have to educate the masses from the lay man to the elite movers and shakers sparing no man to be left in ignorance. We have to deliver an honest down to earth sense of reality for the people to digest not by fancy politicking and worse corrupted information full of hidden agendas. The message sent out to the masses will have to be bipartisan and free from religious dogmas. We have ran out of prophets, our politicians are functioning at substandard capacity and too busy either lining their pockets every chance they get or trying to bring the downfall of the guy who is not towing the party line, our business entrepreneur are hungry, Greed and Corruption rules over Safety and fair play.
We the people are the victims, pawns in the games of the so called elected minority who some have become untouchables above the laws of this country. We are dragged like cattle here and there at the whim of the few who deems what is good or bad for us and we are becoming non entities in matters that concerns the future of this our country. Our faith in the constitution is being tested to the maximum and freedom is slowly being eroded so much so that we live in fear of being incarcerated for just airing out our discontent while the real betrayers of the sanctity of our nation are awarded honorifics. We are the silent majorities who are trapped in the grip of fear and ignorance. We are the workers whose future is bleak as the cost of living rise and the job markets disappear into the hands of foreign workers. While our government is still embroiled with uncertainties as who is clean and who is not, who gets to rule and who should not we as a nation sit and ponder over what is to become of our future generation.