reMAPping the Kuala Lumpur art scene

Technorati tags: Art, Music, MAP KL, Art Festival

It’s been way too long since Walski’s blogged about something non-political or religion related – something that’s been a bit difficult to do with all that’s been going on these days. But this time Walski makes the exception. He has to keep his sanity somehow…

Yesterday, he and the Mrs spent a few hours at Kuala Lumpur’s new art hub – MAP KL, a new art space that opened its doors yesterday with a 2-day arts festival. Located just off Jalan Duta, at the not-quite-ready Solaris Dutamas hub, MAP promises to add spice and life to the city’s art scene, if yesterday was any indication.

The art space consists of two halls – White Box and Black Box – 2 floors up on the east-end lobby of the commercial development.

White Box is an exhibition hall, and currently hosts “Al Kesah / Once Upon a time in Malaysia” a collaborative art show, which officially opened yesterday, and will run until mid-April.

The exhibition showcases the works of 28 artists – both established and upcoming – in a variety of media and styles. Names you may be familiar with include Wong Hoy Cheong, Bayu Utomo Radjikin, Ahmad Fuad Osman, and Hamir Soib. In addition, the works of up and coming artists, such as Samsudin Wahab, Shieko Reto, Saiful Razman, Phuan Thai Meng, Melissa Lin, Poodien, Rahmat Haron and Ilham Fadhli, are also on display.

But during the 2-day festival, White Box features a lot more than just artworks. 
(performing arts, Black Box, and more, in the full post)

The center area of White Box showcases talks and performances throughout the the festival. Walski got there at around 6:30pm-ish, while the Poetry Underground Collective was performing.

Walski didn’t stay very long – probably spent only about 2 hours or so there – but did manage to catch a very interesting and intriguing performance by the Nyoba Kan Dance Company.

If you've never seen Butoh being performed before, you’ll be forgiven to think it as a distorted version of the Japanese Kabuki. Or be turned off by the name itself (which can be quite rude in the Malay slang-uage).

In reality, Butoh is a collective name for a very niche method-driven form of expressionist dance, combining the whimsy of sometimes ridiculous movement, with usually grotesque-ish makeup, but with precision slo-mo dance movements that can leave you in awe.

Yesterday’s performance, entitled “The Birth” was performed by Kiea Kuan Nam and Yeow Lai Chee, and the troupe’s interpretation and reconstruction of a larger 3-part performance piece, conceptualizing the themes of creation, human desires and immaculate illusions (via MapKL’s Facebook event invite). But even if you had no inkling of what the symbolism and imagery are meant to portray, last night’s short Butoh performance was one that left the audience in awe, through the precise movements (albeit somewhat ridiculous at times), and painstakingly-perfect execution of slower-than-life routines.

One of the art pieces that caught the attention of many was a collaborative piece, mounted on a central display mobile, quite aptly entitled Opening (#1, #2 and #3).

The three-piece montage work is credited to a group of artists called Lost Generation Space, comprising of Tsuji Lam, Yeoh Lian Heng, Jyne See Yee Wen, Allen Ng Boon Chong, Eva Chan Lai Kuan, and Tan Kean Hong.

Black Box, located on the other side of the East foyer (on the same level), is an art space of a different kind – an experimental theater, designed to cater for around 200 people. Unfortunately, Walski didn’t spend much time there, as he got in between performances. Quite a number of acts – musical and theatrical – have been lined up for the two day festival.

Included in the line up for yesterday were Hasan Peter and friends, Ensemble 11, and Rice Above No. 7 (organized by Joe Kidd). Today, starting at 7pm a string of artists will be performing under the umbrella name of Music Gig (organized by Jerome Kugan), and expected to be featured are Panda Head Curry, Vernadium, Tenderfist, Sharidar and Nizam.

Click on the image on the right (a thumbnail of the performance details) for a full list of who will be performing what, and when.

Some might see the emergence of MAP as competition to the Central Market Annexe, which for a long time has been the center of gravity for the Kuala Lumpur arts and performance scene. Well, not so.

The reality is that MAP provides an additional venue for the promotion of the arts, and in fact, Walski hopes that its emergence will rejuvenate the arts scene, allowing it to grow and prosper. Rumor has it that the Annexe may no longer be a part of the Kuala Lumpur art landscape in the years to come, and if this is true, MAP’s birth is a very welcome one.

Having an art space large enough to cater for a variety of events will definitely complement the limited space for creative ventures – apart from the Annexe, all we’ve had really is KL-PAC (in Sentul).

MAP combines both what the Annexe and KL-PAC can offer – which is great. A one-stop location for both art and performance, so to speak. It is also gratifying to note that the developers of Solaris Dutamas (Sunrise Corporation) have embraced the idea of developing and encouraging creativity through the provision of a channel to display such creativity. In what is supposed to be a commerce and retail hub, no less.

This conceptually bold move (if one were to ask Walski) simply illustrates that the developer is very forward-looking, and brave enough to venture into yet-untested concepts – from the Malaysian perspective, at least. It’s really heartening to note that the needs of the young – and young at heart – have not been entirely forgotten.

In any case, today will promise even more performances at the festival, and if you haven’t yet gone, it would be a perfect outing for the family – a departure from the tired mall culture that passes off as entertainment in this neck of the woods.

Oh, and if you can make it there, don’t forget to check out the Art Drum Project, located primarily at the south side foyer, adjacent to where MAP is.

It really is cool – 19 cable drums salvaged from the Solaris Dutamas development project transformed into art pieces, and displayed around and inside the foyer area. There is one drum where anyone can contribute to the “art” (colored marker pen provided). One of Walski’s favorite art drums on display also happens to be one that was featured in this KLue write-up (albeit shown during its construction stage).

Ultraman was one of those TV shows Walski grew up with, incidentally, and it’s always nice to see his favorite Japanese superhero depicted in art. Especially when it’s done in such a whimsical and creative way.

So, there you have it – how Walski spent some of his time yesterday.

If you’d like to catch the MAP KL Arts Festival, you still have time – provided you’re already in the city. Solaris Dutamas is just off Jalan Duta, and up the road about a kilometer or so (there are other routes to get there, of course). It will be ongoing all day today until about 11:30pm, so you’ve got loads of time.

And hopefully you’ll agree with Walski that MAP is definitely a boon to the fledgling arts scene in Kuala Lumpur, providing a new art landmark for a city where for the young, if it weren’t for mall culture, we’d probably have no culture whatsoever…

~ ~ ~ o ~ O ~ o ~ ~ ~

For more information, check out the MAP KL website, and bookmark it so that you know about upcoming events.

Also, check out these other write-ups and reports on MAP KL and the arts festival currently being held:

• A lil' fat monkey (a collection of nicely and creatively montaged pictures from the event)
• KLue: MAP Art Fest on 27 & 28 March: everything also got!
• Time Out KL: MAP Arts Festival at Solaris Dutamas
• … and loads more, via Google Blogsearch

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Opinion Poll: 1Malaysia Showstoppers

Technorati tags: Poll Position, Opinion Poll, 1Malaysia, Failure Factors

Truth be told, Walski has no problems with the 1Malaysia concept. As he understands it anyway – everyone seems to have their own idea about what this rather nebulous concept is all about.

To Walski, it’s pretty simple – 1Malaysia will eventually lead to the positive erosion of each citizen’s ethnic identity, such that an individual sees his/her-self as Malaysian first and foremost. And by “positive erosion”, he doesn’t mean that we forget our roots and heritage, but rather regard them as the required flavors, contributing to a greater sense of belonging to one nation.

And to him, that’s a good thing.

As most of you would have gathered by now, Walski’s stand is that as citizens of Malaysia we should be Malaysians first and foremost. The reality today is that despite almost 53 years of independence, and 47 years as a nation called Malaysia, we still identify ourselves by our ethnicity first.

Back in September 2006, a survey administered by the Merdeka Centre found that 73% of Malaysian Muslims polled saw themselves as Muslim (if they could choose only one identity) first, and only 14% as Malaysians first. Walski had blogged about this back then, but more from the viewpoint of another finding: that Malaysia is an Islamic state.

But that was then, and this is now – and so we come back to the concept of 1Malaysia.

The political rumblings that we hear on a daily basis – be it through the media mainstream, blogs, or these days more likely Twitter – tell us that racial identity is something that’s not only still strong in this country, but something that seems to be almost nurtured to remain the status quo way of seeing ourselves.

And so, Walski felt that this survey was something he had to do… 
(survey details, and more, in the full post)

If you’re new to this blog, the survey resides in the sidebar, to the right of the page. You’ll find it towards the top (its position changes from time to time, by the way).

Walski has given you a few choices to pick from in order to answer the question of what you see as the biggest hindrance against achieving the concept embodied by 1Malaysia. He thinks that while these might not comprehensively cover all the possible hurdles, they do represent the most major ones.

The poll will remain up until midnight on Sunday, March 28th. That should give you ample time not just to vote, but to tell your friends to pitch their opinion in as well.

One note about the “Other” choice – the space beside it is for you to enter what you think is the hindrance. It’s no fun just selecting “Other” and not specify what it is, no?

Now, a poll of this nature is most effective when the participants come from various walks of life and of differing outlooks, and so to help spread the word out, Walski would appreciate it if you could post it on your own blog (if you have one).

If your blog lives in a Blogspot environment, simply click on the “Add to Blogger” button immediately below the poll widget – that will allow you to embed the poll onto the sidebar of your Blogspot blog. If you’re more of a Wordpress person, you can use the following Wordpress shortcode: [polldaddy poll=2926347] (with thanks once again to Zurairi of Unscientific Malaysia).

So, what do you think – what is the biggest factor that can potentially derail the 1Malaysia concept?

Click here for the full post......

myAsylum on Facebook

Technorati tags: Blogging, Facebook, Facebook Page

Yeah, yeah… Walski’s been real tardy with updating this blog. Not that a lot of things haven’t been happening. On the contrary, a tad too many things have been going on in the Malaysian socio-political scene. And being that time is a real scarcity in Walski’s life these days, hence the scarcity of posts.

And then there’s been Twitter, which provides a more instantaneous 140-character per pop message gratification fix.

In any case, since everybody and their pet uncle – or depending on who you are, their Uncle Pet – are on Facebook these days, Walski thought that he’d create a page for this blog.

Not that Walski has been diligent with blogging of late. But he’s trying very hard to remedy that. 

So, in anticipation of the possible barrage of posts that may be coming (we hope), Walski thought he’d go ahead and use the power of social media to get the word out.
(why the page, and more, in the full post)

Here’s the deal – these days, you’ll likely find Walski most often on Twitter. For the instantaneous nature of that microblogging channel, if for no other reason. It is really effortless, so to speak, and it doesn’t rely on Walski having to be with his PC and having Internet connection. He can also update via his mobile phone.

But when there’s an article of interest that Walski wants to highlight, Facebook is his usual go-to. It’s definitely more instantaneous than blogging about the article. Of course, you don’t get what Walski thinks about a particular issue, but at least you get to know about the article.

So, one minor benefit of you becoming a fan of myAsylum on Facebook is that you get to know what’s on Walski’s mind.

How do you get to the FB page? A couple of ways – one of which is to click on the screenshot above. The other way, once you’re in the Facebook environment, is to do a search for “myAsylum” – it’s the only one in the ‘Page’ category.

What of this blog then? Well, Walski would very much want to continue maintaining myAsylum for as long as he can, and as much as time permits. So, worry not – it’s not gonna go away anytime soon.

The posts may not be as frequent, but this blog is here to stay…

Click here for the full post......

Reverse-Copperfield Manoeuvres In The Dark

Technorati tags: Politics, Islam, Third Power Column, Conspiracy, Karthika

In the 80s, there was a popular music called Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, or OMD for short, which Walski kinda liked. Apart from the title’s intentional similarity to the group’s name, this post has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with them.

And neither does it have anything to do with Charles Dickens, or the illusionist David Copperfield.

Okay, not quite true, because it does have a teensy-weensy bit to do with the latter – who’s known for making grand objects disappear into thin air. Or lead us to believe that they do, anyway.

A Reverse-Copperfield, therefore, is to make something that’s not actually there, miraculously appear. It’s a term Walski made up earlier today, and that is about the extent Walski wants to discuss about David Copperfield.

So what the heck IS this post about?

Well, let’s just say that it’s about an historic event that maybe didn’t actually happen…
(sometimes, things are the way they don’t seem, and more, in the full post)

Flashback a couple of weeks ago, just as Walski was about to end his wonderful week-long sojourn in Bali. Fellow-blogger and friend Marina M. went and totally ruined his holiday mood by texting him about what had just happened at home in Malaysia.

Okay, so Marina didn’t actually ruin anything, but her text message did get Walski to thinking about it. And the more Walski thought about it… his mind went like, what if… the whole caning thing never actually happen?

There are a few reasons why Walski entertains this possibility.

First off, according to the various news reports covering the historic female threesome caning, the women turned themselves in to the religious authorities. While this is not something implausible by any measure, have we bothered to ask ourselves, “WHY?”. Especially when one of them is already a mother (and married – more about that later). Are we to believe that guilt is that great a motivator?

And then we have the role of the Malay language press – why wasn’t the surrender of the three reported? Newspapers like Utusan, it’s more evil offspring Harian Metro, and the like, are usually very quick to pick up on these sorts of “redeeming” human interest stories. Granted the fact that he doesn’t usually read these rags, Walski had not heard ANYTHING about 3 women willingly submitting themselves to the religious authorities, purely out of guilt. Because that kind of news would’ve been BIG. You’d have had every religious authority, and their uncles, gloat about how great and successful their Islam-as-I-say-tion programs have been, to elicit such remorse in these “criminals” that they’d turn themselves in.

If it had been reported, it would have been talked about extensively around the Bloggerhood and Twitterverse (even if Walski hadn’t read the initial report). But no – the first time anyone even knew about this is when Spanky was quoted in the news, around February 17th.

Third – why is it that all 3 “executions” were carried out on the same day (February 9th, 2010), and at the same place (Kajang Prison)? Oh, and carried out in complete secrecy, apart from representatives from various governmental agencies who witnessed the historic event (translation by myAsylum).

Hishammuddin berkata wakil dari kementeriannya turut hadir semasa pelaksanaan hukuman dibuat bersama 13 orang lagi antaranya Pengarah Jabatan Agama Wilayah, Pegawai Jabatan Agama Wilayah dan wakil dari Bahagian Syariah Jabatan Peguam Negara serta wakil dari Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia.

Hishammuddin said that representatives from his ministry were also there during the execution of the sentence, with 13 others, including the Director of the Wilayah Religious Department, officers from the Wilayah Religious Department, and representative(s) from the Syariah Section of the Attorney General's Office, plus representatives from the Department of Islamic Advancement of Malaysia (JAKIM).
(source: The Malaysian Insider)

Meanwhile, The Star also reported Spanky’s pronouncement of the caning. The way it was presented adds to the doubts Walski has about the caning exercise (emphasis by myAsylum).

Hishammuddin said he decided to bring to public attention the punishment meted to the three women because there had been “too much hype” over Kartika’s sentence.

“People are saying that no woman has been caned before and that Kartika should not be caned.

“Today I am announcing that we have already done it. There is no hidden agenda, we are merely executing our responsibility,” he told a press conference at his office yesterday.
(source: The Star)

Which brings us to the matter of timing – his decision came two weeks before Karthika was supposed to meet with the Regent of Pahang. Now, “too much hype” surrounding Karthika’s sentencing had been the case since the decision to cane her was made in July 2009. Why the wait?

July 2009 also happens to be one month before the reported surrender of the 3 women, in August 2009. Which brings us to how superbly “efficient” the syariah court system has been in this specific case. Whip, Spank, Thank You Ma’am. As opposed to the highly inefficient Home Ministry, that is, basing on the timeline we’re expected to believe.

Due process of the law being what it is – it takes time, in other words – regardless of which court system, the entire process of surrender, trial, sentencing and execution took only about 8 months. It also raises the question of who, if anyone, represented the three “criminals”. No one seems to know, actually.

It’s reasonable practice to protect the identity of the 3 women – they have, by their own admission, reformed. The Star (and apparently no one else) carried a human interest story related to the three, identifying them by the pseudonyms Ayu, Aishah and Nur. One of the three, Nur, however was quoted to have said something that didn’t make any reasonable sense to Walski at all.

The third offender, Nur, who has a three-year-old toddler, said although she had wanted to make things right by marrying her lover, she took a long time to do so as she could not find her father to give her away.
(source: The Star)

Nur, presumably did make things right, despite waiting 3 years (going by her child’s age). And what does she do after that? Surrender herself to the religious authorities. Nur is either stupid, insane, or… was the entire caning story fabricated?

Here’s what Walski thinks: yes, the Karthika case has been hyped beyond belief – but for good reason. Part of the hype – and presumably perceived to be central to it – was that she’d have been the first woman in Malaysia to be caned (albeit the unhurtful syariah way). Poor Karthika, though – she’s now been deprived the honor of being the first. Tsk, tsk.

And the hype has placed the syariah court system in ill-repute. Although, what repute it had to begin with is questionable. But let’s not go there.

Calculating that carrying out the caning sentence in secrecy would outrage a lot of people, it was also probably calculated that the outrage would outweigh the desire to pause for a bit and think about the plausibility of the whole thing. Probably true in the case of most concerned Malaysians.

And so, as a form of damage control and PR, create 3 female “syariah criminals”, “punish” them by syariah caning, and then proclaim, “See? We’ve already done it – what’s the big deal?”

Well, the big deal is that Walski, who did take the time to think about it, doesn’t like it when his government lies to him. As he’s sure is the case with many of his fellow citizens.

Yesterday, something else was reported, which strengthens Walski’s belief that the caning of the three women was a stage-managed PR exercise, and that no caning took place at all – the possibility of Karthika being pardoned by HRH the Sultan of Pahang (via The Malaysian Insider), and also reported by The Star.

In all likelihood, Walski suspects Karthika will receive a pardon. The government and the various interested authorities may not be too thrilled with this prospect – they will, however, not make too much of a fuss. Again, this is Walski’s own speculation.

The caning of the three women – whether or not it actually happened – does achieve one thing: it reiterates the fact that the Third Power Column is very much alive, and wishes to make it clear who’s really in charge. And anyone who dares challenge the Third Power Column will be labeled negatively (see this The Malaysian Insider report for an example).

The fear factor instilled by such a collusion between an elected government, and an unelected pressure group, however, is all too real. Yesterday, The Star nixed this week’s installment of Marina M.’s weekly column Musings, in fear of similar repercussions like what happened with Managing Editor P. Gunasegaram’s piece entitled “Persuasion, not Compulsion” (via Unscientific Malaysian – The Star has removed the article from their site). In the Quran, there is not supposed to be any compulsion when it comes to religion. In Malaysia, however, the reality can be quite the opposite.

More importantly, a precedent has been set. One which the Government (guided by the Third Power Column) will try to use to silence any future dissent when it comes to religious matters. Nevermind that the caning could have been something of a Reverse Copperfield. Walski thinks so anyway, based on all the circumstantial clues.

When faced with difficult circumstances, sometimes what it takes for the desperate to succeed is a bit of illusionary maneuvers… preferably in the dark, away from the scrutiny of concerned citizens.

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Express Train to Nowhere

Technorati tags: Conservatism, Politics, Society, Malaysia, Anti-Progressive

Yes, Walski’s been away for quite a bit. Partly on vacation (more about that in a separate post), and partly because Twitter has taken over much of his spare time. Micro-blogging is instantaneous, and gets one’s thoughts out faster, despite the 140-character per pop limitation (although there’s always Twitlonger).

In any case, despite not having the opportunity to blog for a while, it doesn’t mean that Walski’s mind has not been heavily laden with thoughts. So, he thought that he should just get on with posting this, without delay.

To say that Malaysia is going through a period of conservative resurgence would probably be an understatement. Too many instances to comprehensively mention, but this more recent news report kinda highlights what Walski means.

Another related report (also from The Malaysian Insider) tells us more about this new right-wing coalition of NGOs. No surprise that Perkasa is part of this new right wing-nut grouping. But guess who else is part of the 50-some NGO grouping? Cuepacs – the Civil Service Workers Union.

Now we know why Cuepacs is so concerned about “female dominance” (via The Star) in the workplace – they’re part of the ultra-conservative demographic as well. And from this latest news, part of the anti-competition movement.

As a friend mentioned on Twitter recently, “Uncompetitive ppl are worried about liberal economic policies”. And these uncompetitive conservative, who only care for themselves, want to drag the entire nation down to their uncompetitive abyss. 
(accelerating regression, and more, in the full post)

More and more, Najib’s 1Malaysia concept is sounding like nothing more than empty rhetoric. And sloganeering. The reality is more like one-Malaysia-for-every-self-interested demographic. What’s worse is that it’s people in the government itself, and UMNO, who are derailing 1Malaysia.

The only person to take the stage was the quite sizeable Umno secretary Rauf whilst the Umno Youth exco members also fielded questions from the floor. I wasn't eavesdropping but the booming voices – especially those of Rauf and one Umno Youth member by the name of Megat – made it quite easy to make out the racist remarks which were spilling out of their primary orifice.

In his rant, Rauf called non-Malays 'bangsa asing' who were trampling on the Malays in 'Tanah Melayu'. I remember a direct quote, 'Jangan biarkan bangsa asing pijak kepala kita' as though the non-Malays were interested in little else than seeing Malays fail for their sinister, selfish goals.

There was also a vigorous defense of Nasir Safar's recent comments against non-Malays which branded non-Malays as beggars and prostitutes. According to one Umno Youth exco member present, those comments were not at all racist but quite contrarily 'just facts'. My oh my, I saw a Chinese couple next to me trying to tune out the words and focus on their meals.

Throughout the session, non-Malays were treated as the enemy and whilst they did praise Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, there was no mention of '1Malaysia', unity or multiracial nation- building.
(source: Malaysiakini)

Who needs enemies when you have friends like these, eh?

So just what kind of Malaysia can we hope to see in the near future? Going by the increasingly vocal right-wingnuts, definitely not one that embraces the 1Malaysia concept.

And not just conservative from an economic perspective either. Socially, we can expect life to get more restrictive. Today, Utusan published a scathing editorial that can best be described as gay-bashing (full article in PDF here, emphasis and translation by myAsylum).

Sama ada disedari atau tidak, di Malaysia, golongan tersebut semakin berpengaruh. Pengamal homoseksual yang kononnya punya merit, akan diangkat sebagai hero. Berdasarkan kajian tertentu, golongan berkenaan sanggup melakukan apa sahaja bagi mempertahankan kehidupan homoseksual termasuk sesiapa yang menjadi ikon mereka.

Whether it is realized or not, in Malaysia, they are becoming more influential. Homosexuals who supposedly have merit will be regarded as heroes. Based on certain studies, these people will do anything to protect their homosexual lifestyle, including whomever that becomes their icon.

Awang sudah tidak larat mendengus dan menggeleng kepala apabila mendengar 1001 cerita tentang gejala tersebut di tanah air ini. Kalau dibongkar habis-habisan, pasti ia lebih menggerunkan. Mungkin sama dahsyat dengan keadaan di Uganda. Cabarannya, berapa banyak lagi yang kita tidak tahu tentang gejala tersebut. Lebih mengganggu fikiran Awang ialah musibah apa yang bakal menanti kita jika fenomena homoseksual ini sudah tidak terbendung?

Awang can’t stand snorting and shaking his head any more when he hears the 1001 stories about this phenomenon. Delved into deeper, it is surely more horrifying. Maybe as bad as in Uganda. The challenge is that there is a lot we don’t know about this phenomenon. More disturbing for Awang is what disaster awaits us if this homosexual phenomenon becomes uncontrollable.
(full editorial [in Bahasa Malaysia] here)

Incidentally, the reference to Uganda has to do with the fact that an Anti-Homosexuality Bill was introduced in October 2009, that if enacted would “broaden the criminalization of homosexuality by introducing the death penalty” for persons with previous convictions (via Wikipedia). Two strikes, you’re out. Permanently.

Walski wonders if Awang Selamat aspires that Malaysia follows suit… It doesn’t take a genius to figure out, however, that while this clearly a gay-bash editorial, it’s politically motivated. Sodomy 2 ongoing and all, ya know?

And it’s not just same-sex sexual orientation that Utusan has a beef with. Other aspects of today’s social life, too, have been attacked, perhaps considered by our home-grown ultra-conservatives to be “undesired” alternative lifestyles.

Earlier this week, mixed marriages came under the scrutiny of this right-wingnut newspaper. Particularly those involving couples one half of which are non-Malaysian. Whom did Utusan choose to quote? None other than Mr. #yorais himself. Like he’s an authority on the subject (emphasis and translation by myAsylum).

Golongan muda termasuk kalangan artis diingatkan supaya berfikir 'beribu kali' sebelum memasuki gerbang perkahwinan campur kerana kajian menunjukkan kejayaannya hanya 3:10.

The young, including artistes, are reminded to think "a thousand times" before entering into a mixed marriage because research has shown that the success rate is merely 3 in 10.

Menteri Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim berkata, kajian ilmiah yang dilakukan oleh beberapa ahli sosiologi di negara ini antara 1995 hingga 1998 mendapati dalam setiap 10 perkahwinan campur, hanya tiga berjaya.

Minister for Information, Communication and Culture, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim said, an academic study conducted by several sociologists in the country between 1995 and 1998 showed that in every 10 mixed marriages, only 3 succeeded.

Malah, kata beliau, kegagalan perkahwinan campur amat ketara apabila melibatkan pasangan dari kalangan warga kulit putih atau mat saleh.

In fact, he said, the failure of mixed marriages was obvious when it involved white skinned people, or "mat saleh".
(full "report" [in Bahasa Malaysia] here)

First off, what business is it of a minister to dictate such things as choice of marriage partners? And what is Utusan driving at with this editorial-in-news-clothing type of report – Aryan-purity type of race ideals?

Another thing that’s symptomatic of how out-moded some of our ministers are – the reference to a “study” that’s over 10 years old. Yo Rais! – this ain’t 1998 anymore, in case you haven’t noticed. Here’s an example of true mixed marriage stories from THIS century, if you really are interested (courtesy of Unscientific Malaysia), including the ones involving “white skinned” people.

It must be said, however, that reading through the Utusan editorial-in-news-report-clothing, there is an inherent built-in male bias when it comes to some of our country’s rules and regulations. Like the bit about citizenship being “dependent on fatherhood, and not on motherhood" ("Ini disebabkan taraf kewarganegaraan dalam Seksyen 16 dan 17 Perlembagaan Persekutuan adalah terasas pada pertimbangan kebapaan dan bukannya keibuan").

It is a fact, however, that conservative (and patriarchal) societies the world over do put women on a slightly lower rung in the social food chain. The difference is that in Malaysia, we’re seeing more of it as time passes – quite the opposite of trends elsewhere.

Remember the Cuepacs fears of “female dominance” Walski mentioned earlier? It so happens that Berita Harian is running a survey related to this fear, and the way it’s been worded can only be described as misogynist.

Okay, admittedly the above is a bit of an eye-test. The survey question reads:

Sistem penyampaian awam akan tergendala apabila ramai wanita menjawat jawatan kanan dalam pentadbiran awam berbanding lelaki.

The public delivery system will be interrupted when many women hold senior posts in the public sector compared to men.

If you find the phrasing of the survey question (where you’re expected to respond either Agree, Disagree, or Abstain) insulting, the results to-date are equally disturbing: 65.7% of the respondents actually agree! Walski wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if some of these who agreed were women themselves, judging by what was reported in an article from The Nut Graph, “Women can’t become menteri besar?”, quoting Perak state ex-co member Datuk Hamidah Osman.

And let’s not even get Walski started on the syariah caning of the 3 women last month, done in secrecy – something that Walski actually doubts even happened, truth be told. But we’ll leave that mystery for another post.

All this is merely scratching the surface. What’s clear is that conservatism has reared its ugly head and it’s fast gaining ground in Malaysia. Which leads us to the question: where is Malaysia headed?

The title of this post, in fact, seems to hold part of the answer – if conservatism continues to color the demands of pressure groups, which of late the BN/UMNO government tends to pander and succumb to with increasing regularity. That, coupled with the increasingly incompetent policy-making bravados exhibited by governmental bodies (the 2-tiered petrol price fiasco being the most recent).

It’s a perfect storm, it seems like – growing conservatism within the ruling body politic, coupled with conservatism from religious and other pressure groups, and a ruling party owned media body to complete this almost unholy trinity.

Worse than going nowhere is Walski’s fear that Malaysia is actually regressing. Is it not time for us to do something about it?

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