So here we are at the end of all things (well, just the end of 2009, really).
Yesterday, I watched Avatar, and in short, it is a fantastic movie, and the best I've seen this year, and the best in a while. Many people would have seen it and I don't suppose I have to write much about it. It's very stylish, but it is also strong on substance and message.
When I returned home, I read The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy in practically one sitting. I only took my bath after finishing the book. It's a slim volume, just over a hundred pages, but it's a very powerful story. In short, the book is about the life of Ivan Ilyich and the process that he goes through as he lies dying from a mystery illness.
He is forced to take a cold, hard look at the life and relationships that he has formed, at the status in society that he has achieved, and whether or not his life was worth living.
Both Avatar and The Death of Ivan Ilyich confront us with the issue of what is important in life, and about how we should live our life and face our deaths. Ultimately, we can only die the way we have lived. And when we die, we die alone (physically). We came into the world alone, and we will leave it on our own as well.
Will we die having been a slave to money, power, position and the ephemeral things in life? Or will we leave behind wonderful memories, beautiful relationships and made this world a little better than when we came?
May all of you have a happy, fruitful and hopeful 2010.
Last weekend, while I was in Singapore, a couple of close friends and I managed to check out the AWESOME Body Worlds and The Cycle of Life exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre. The original Body Worlds exhibition is the brainchild of Dr. Gunther von Hagen, a scientist who invented the process of plastination. This technique halts the further decaying of animal tissue, and allows the parts to be flexed into various position.
You can see selected images of the exhibition from the images gallery tab from the website. Through this exhibition, we can see the amazing functions of the human body. In addition, the Cycle of Life, which is an addendum to the Body Worlds exhibition, shows in great detail how human life is formed, right from conception to birth.
You can also see videos related to plastination on Youtube, an example of which is shown here (from The Discovery Channel):
In different parts of the world, the original Body Worlds exhibition is shown with a different sub-exhibition. In Philadelphia in the USA, it's Body Worlds and the Brain, while it's Body Worlds and the Story of the Heart at the Ontario Science Centre in Canada. In other parts of the world, the original Body Worlds exhibition is still on show. When will this awesome show come to Malaysia.
This exhibition in Singapore, other than humans in "action", also featured the plastinated bodies of selected animals. The most awesome exhibit, I guess, will be that of the full body of a giraffe. A giraffe! Standing tall and erect, long after it has died. Visiting that exhibition really made my day, despite the SGD20 admission (just add another SGD1 to visit the Science Centre as well). Well worth the fee!
It is a great educational opportunity for everyone, especially children. For me, the greatest lesson I learnt from the exhibition is how precious life really is. A quote from Swiss philosopher Henri Frederic Amiel that says, To know how to grow old is the masterwork of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living." was displayed in the exhibition.
Yes, to grow old well and to live life without regrets is indeed a difficult and noble undertaking. In the goshoThe Gift of Rice, Nichiren Daishonin writes, "Life is the foremost of all treasures. It is expounded that even the treasures of the entire major world system cannot equal the value of one’s body and life. Even the treasures that fill the major world system are no substitute for life." (WND, 1125)
2009 is ending, and 2010 will soon be upon us. What kind of life do we want to lead in the coming new year, and for the rest of our lives? I had a great early Christmas with dearest friends last weekend in Singapore, and I hope that our friendship will last eternally. Indeed, eternal friendship is indeed one of life's greatest gifts.
The Body Worlds exhibition in Singapore will be on until March 2010.
I am currently reading The Road, Cormac McCarthy's latest novel (first published in 2006). Simply put, it is the best fiction I've read in the last few years.
It's about a father and son's journey through an extremely bleak post-apocalyptic America, where a catastrophe has destroyed nearly all life, and where its remnants are reduced to cannibalistic savagery. The father and son are making their way south along a particular road, presumably a former interstate road. Along the way, they meet with various atrocities, including a person who is kept alive while his limbs are cut off bit by bit to feed other people.
Father and son are "each the other's world entire." McCarthy's prose is such that you can feel the bleakness and hopelessness that he describes. You can feel the black rain beating down on you and chill your bones right down to the marrow, you can feel yourself trudging through the ash-covered snow, your boots sinking in the ground and wetting your feet.
About the warmest things in the book (so far) are the sparse conversation between father and son, never more than a few lines at a time, often terse, and sometimes filled with anger and despair. By not using the usual punctuation (he does not use quotation marks for the dialogues, and eschews apostrophes; doesn't becomes doesnt), he makes the prose seem even more stark and realistic.
The Road won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and the 2006 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. It's been adapted into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron. It was released in the USA last month. There is buzz it could be an Oscar contender.
The official trailer for the movie can be viewed on Youtube (embedding disabled by request).
Sigh...what am I gonna do when I finish reading the book?
The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 (or COP-15) will begin today, and end on 18 December, in Copenhagen, Denmark. This conference is seen to be the way to open a new path towards tackling climate change as the first commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol draws to a close in 2012 (wasn't the world supposed to end in 2012?). Top world leaders will be attending the summit, including US President Barack Obama, who has changed his schedule to time his arrival with the last day of the conference, in order to provide more punch to the commitments expected to be made.
What can we expect from this conference? Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) journalism student Gan Pei Ling wrote an excellent article about this event here. The Kyoto Protocol was blighted by the refusal of some powerful nations notably the US to ratify the treaty. However, more and more countries and people are seeing global warming and climate change as a real threat to human survival, and have pledged to step up efforts towards environmental protection on the road to Copenhagen.
COP-15 will prove to be a turning point in human history, for good or otherwise. In Fighting Climate Change, UN Secretary-General ban Ki Moon warned that "Yet, in the longer run, no one-rich or poor-can remain immune from the dangers brought by climate change." In his 2009 Peace Proposal, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) President Daisaku Ikeda wrote, "Global warming is having profound impacts on ecosystems everywhere. In addition to causing meteorological disasters, it has the potential to aggravate armed conflicts and the problems of poverty and hunger. It epitomizes the twenty-first-century crisis of human civilization...Climate change is both an ongoing multidimensional crisis and a threat to the future of
humankind, in that it burdens future generations with immense challenges of dire consequence." (p. 10)
SGI President Ikeda called for humanitarian competition to be at the heart of efforts to solve the environmental impasse that we are in. We must realise that it is not only up to the Presidents and Prime Ministers to solve this pressing issue, but ordinary citizens like us must play an important role.
The state of the environment is a mirror of our lives as human beings. A lasting solution towards the environmental crisis can only be found if we, as Nichiren Daishonin wrote, "quickly reform the tenets that you hold in your heart" (Writings of Nichiren Daishoni, p. 25). Mankind is racing towards the precipice of destruction as we have worshipped the wrong tenets. We have forgotten that the environment is a gift to humanity, to be cared for, to be cherished and to be loved, not to be raped and plundered as we please.
COP-15 is not just the business of the heads of states and governments. The world is not theirs alone. It is our business too.
On Saturday (5/12/2009), I attended a dialogue with the theme "Islam and Democracy in Malaysia", organised by the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) Malaysia and the International Institute Of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The purpose of this dialogue was to gather the views of a wide cross-section of Malaysian society on how to advance issues related to good governance, religious tolerance and the rights of women and minorities. These dialogues are part of a larger effort to advance efforts in promoting democracy and human rights in the areas mentioned above.
Participants were divided into tables of ten each. My table had among others, Rev. Sivin Kit, a pastor at the Bangsar Lutheran church. Sivin keeps his own website here. Earlier this year, Sivin was interviewed by Shanon Shah, whom I also met at the dialogue, and you can read it here. Shanon Shah is an editor with The Nut Graph, a site that I am liking more and more.
Helen Ang from the Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI) was also at my table. Helen works for Dr. Lim Teck Ghee. Helen also actively contributes for CPI and her articles are archived here. There was Dr. John Gurusamy from the Malaysian Interfaith Network (MIN), whom I have seen at some Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM) events. Tuty Ashikin, who volunteers at the Islamic Information & Services Foundation came as an individual and there was Kak Long from Rumah Pengasih.
All of us talked passionately and candidly about the challenges facing Malaysian society where those issues are concerned. There were times when we disagreed, but we did so honourably, and without malice. But we agreed on so much more. The challenges facing our country can only be overcome if Malaysians work together without discriminating on the basis of race and religion. We must no longer see things through coloured lens. Our education system must be reformed to imbue a sense of love for all humanity in our children.
We are like the bed of flowers shown above. Flowers of different species and colours made up that picturesque scene. No single flower can fully express the beauty of the multiculturalism and diversity that can be found in our country, and the world. Only when all the flowers combine, then can we form that picture above.
Buddhism expounds the principle of cherry, plum, peach and damson, whereby each one of us contributes to society through our unique qualities and the role we play in society. We cannot be anyone else. We must acknowledge and appreciate the differences between us, and work together based on our commonalities instead of emphasizing the differences only. The Holy Books and Scriptures talk about the importance of accomodating different viewpoints and living together in harmony.
It was great knowing all those people there, and I came back feeling super refreshed! Our moderator managed the session really well, and really encouraged us to share us views. I really look forward to joining more of such discussions and meeting up with my new friends!
Went to the Big Bad Wolf Sales twice over the last week at Amcorp Mall. The organisers said that this sale had twice as many books as the previous sales in June. I thought that I would have an easy time buying on the first day (26 November), but what a shock I got! There were tons of people there, jostling for space and books.
But it was a good thing. It was good to see Malaysians braving all these for books, instead of lining up simply for cheap sushi and ice-cream. It's good to see that there are so many of my fellow Malaysians who are hungry for books, just like me. I would say that there was not a single bad deal, with prices of books mainly at RM 8-10. It's a steal. Purchased 10 books in total, for just RM 77. I got quite a few gems myself, among them:
1. A Global Guide to Interfaith - a great books on interfaith initiatives around the world.
2. Love, Life, Goethe - a biography of the great German literary master, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
3. AIDS Sutra: Untold Stories of India - a collection of writings on the AIDS phenomenon in India. Features works from some of India's most well-known writers like Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai and Vikram Seth. Foreword by Nobel laureate Amartya Sena and introduction by Bill and Melinda Gates.
4. The Wicked Wit of Benjamin Franklin
5. Beyond Mine and Me by Gurmit Singh
6. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Yayyy!!!)
The Road has been made into a film, and in terms of emotional strength, it will probably be much better than 2012.
Still, I have to watch my spending, and couldn't spend as much time, or buy as much as I would have loved to.
Tomorrow, I will be heading back to Johor Bahru (JB) for the first time in two months, with my sister. I am looking forward to meeting my family and my two nephews, Roy and Rey. We miss them soooooo much.
Rey has grown especially large over the last two months! He will probably soon outstrip his older brother. Not sure if I will be able to post new stuff over the next few days. Have a great weekend ahead everyone!
"University printing presses exist, and are subsidised by the Government for the purpose of producing books which no one can read; and they are true to their high calling." - F.M. Cornford (Microcosmographa Academica) - Is this why our university-published books tak laku?
"Wherever they burn books, they will also, in the end, burn human beings." - Heinrich Heine (Almansor)
"Books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory...In this war, we know, books are weapons." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas." - Alfred Whitney Griswold
"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us." - Franz Kafka
"A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say." - Italo Calvino (The Literature Machine)
"Classic - a book people praise and don't read." - Mark Twain (Following The Equator)
"The world must be all f***ed up when men travel first-class and literature goes as freight." Gabriel Garcia Marquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude)
"The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Conversations with Goethe, by Johann Eckermann)
Recently, a friend of mine answered a question from SocialInterview.com (on Facebook) that says, "What is Dinesh Chandren obsessed with?" I don't know who created that quiz, and my friend answered ''Umm... books i think, as he'd rather spend his time & money on books instead of anything else, & that's something goddamn admirable...''
I replied that his reply made me sound like a f***ing geek. But I love books, and I guess I am a little obsessed with them. Here I have a selection of quotes from this rather nice little book, The Quotable Book Lover, edited by Ben Jacobs and Helene Hjalmarsson (The Lyons Press, 1999). It was one of those serendipitous finds.
"Books are the carriers of civilisation...They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print." - Barbara W. Tuchman
"A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return." - Salman Rushdie (Imaginary Homelands)
"Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book friends. They talk to me without embarassment or awkwardness." - Helen Keller (The Story of My Life)
"The failure to read good books both enfeebles the vision and strengthens our most fatal tendency - the belief that here and now is all there is." - Allan Bloom (The Closing of the American Mind)
"Books are my disease." - James Logan, in Edwin Wolf II, The Library of James Logan
"A great writer is, so to speak, a second government in his country. And for that reason, no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn (The First Circle)
"A room without books is like a body without a soul." -Cicero
Then there are some really humorous ones...
"I am still buying books. It is like getting pregnant after the menopause; it's not supposed to happen." - Chef Louis Szathmary, in an interview with Nicholas A. Basbanes
"I find television very educational. Every time someone turns it on, I go in the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx
"I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It's about Russia." - Woody Allen
It is sad indeed to read that cheating has become pandemic among students (it's possible that it's widespread in other places), and most students feel no remorse about cheating (they are only afraid of getting caught). Joe, a student at a top college in the Northeast said, "The real world is terrible. People will take other people's materials and pass it on as theirs. I'm numb to it already. I'll cheat to get by."
Will, a student a top public high school said, "Whether or not you did it or not, if you can get the jury to say that you're not guilty, you're free." Many students pointed to Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, Enron and other financial scandals and the inconsistencies of the justice system, and say cheating in schools is a dress rehearsal for life. Sigh, to them, life is about cheating your way to the top. Sadly, this has been true on too many occasions.
Technology has made cheating even more pervasive. Some students are able to access the Internet while taking exams with their hand-held devices.
In any given poll, more than one-third of students admitted to cheating. Teachers and professors admit to ignoring signs of cheating. A reader, Ron Butts, left a comment saying, "Kids are cheating because they see a society of cheaters from their sports 'heroes' to major corp. chiefs. The reason? It's worth it! The diference between 'the best' and second are extreme. We know that Michael Phelps is about to make between 50 and 200 million dollars for his gold metal performances...what do you think the silver medals will get in endorsements...next to nothing. CEO's are making an average of 400 times what the average employee is making for any given corp. The schools are cheating in their recrutment process of high school athletes and all of this is being witnessed by their student bodies. All the while, there are cuts in programs for the people that are to monitor indiscretions. It's a fast sinking ship."
I wonder how is the "cheating situation" is in Malaysia. Will we have the courage to do a comprehensive study on cheating in our schools? It is sad indeed to see our young people, the leaders of the future, resorting to under-handed methods to get ahead in life. Our future will be bleak indeed.
Last Friday (Nov 20), I attended a free concert organised by the Italian embassy in Malaysia, at Istana Budaya. It featured the Allegro String Ensemble, which played a selection of music from Italian composers like Verdi, Rossini, Scarlatti and others. The ensemble is conducted by Maestro John Allan and its leader is Maestro Antonella Aloigi Hayes.
What pleasantly surprised me is the orchestra is made up mainly of young Malaysians, most of whom seem to be in their teens. There was even a young girl of ten, I believe!Seeing such youthful performers is very delightful. Their passion and commitment to their art is something truly admirable. You can see the fire shining in their eyes. I did hear some of the remark after the concert that the hall was too cold though, ha ha.
They were supposed to start with the Intermezzo from Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, but decided to give the show a rousing start with the Overture from Rossini's William Tell instead. It was a good decision! Nothing like giving a show a bang right from the start. The Overture was pretty good! It would have sounded better with brass and percussion, but for a strings ensemble, they did very well. Since then I have seen excellent performances of this piece by the Berlin Philharmoniker (under Herbert Von Karajan) and the Halle Symphony Orchestra (under Mark Elder, at the Royal Albert Hall) on Youtube.
There were several pieces and composers that I was hearing for the first time, like Sonata-La Follia by Arcangelo Corelli, and Sonata for pianoforte K. 491 in D major by Domenico Scarlatti, and Tarantella, which is actually based on a Neapolitan folk tune, composer unknown.
The young ensemble was really amazing, and they really enjoyed themselves. The crowd loved them too. We asked for an encore, and they obliged us with Getaran Jiwa. I was silently mouthing the lyrics when they played it.A lot of wonderful thoughts formed in my mind during the concert.
That was my first live performance in a long time, and my first time at Istana Budaya, and what a way to make it back to the concert halls! There is nothing like watching a live performance, letting your heart sway to the movements and melody of the intruments. I was very moved. The performance was at the Lambang Sari hall, a smaller venue, which gave the event so much intimacy. The music, directly from the instruments, without going though any devices, unprocessed, makes it way straight to your ears and heart. Music at its purest, at its most sublime.
I just came across this, well, not-so-new book today. It's the Asian Poems For Young Readers, volume 7 (published under the Longman imprint by Pearson Malaysia). Volume 7? Looks like this series has been around for some time. The seven volumes published in this series so far included three volumes of poetry and four volumes of short stories.
What's unique about this series is that it was written by teachers and lecturers from around Asia, with their own students in mind. For this particular volume, the poems were written by participants from eight countries during a creative writing workshop held in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2006. For this workshop, participants had to write poems before arriving in Hanoi, and the poems were peer-edited during the workshop. The rest of the poems were written during a single day in a trip to Chua Huong (The Perfumed Pagoda) in Hanoi.
I am still reading through it, and would like to share some of the interesting stuff I had read:
Broom held in one hand, This absent-minded cleaner, Re-arranges dust.
(Alan Paley, UK)
How Funeral and Wedding Became Enemies
Funeral and Wedding, Were once good neighbours And lived happily side-by-side. But since Wedding turned down A visit from Funeral, Their relationship has turned sour!
(Janpha Thadphoothon, Thailand)
Faint Hope
So much water in the river, How can I hope to comb it all with my fingers?
So many trees on the mountain, How can I hope to trim them with my eyes?
So many ideas in my mind, How can I hope to string them together with words?
(Meng Tian, China)
There are still many more poems in this rather slim volume (76 pages). One of the editors of this volume is Jayakaran Mukundan from Malaysia.
It's good to know there are teachers who love to write poetry, especially in Malaysia. I believe there always has been; they receive little exposure.
Yesterday, I wrote of my concern about suspected war criminal Tony Blair being chosen to become the first permanent president of the European Union (EU). Thankfully, it was announced today that Belgian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy got the job instead. Phew...
He is also known as "Haiku Herman" for his love of composing poetry, especially haiku. A rarity among politicians, especially a Prime Minister. One of his haiku goes like this:
Hair blows in the wind
After years there is still wind
Sadly no more hair
And I would like to say:
Thank goodness you won
instead of one Tony Blair
a war crimes suspect.
But what does a President of the EU does? Do EU citizens care? A few years ago, in an election of the EU Parliament, less than half of eligible voters cast their votes.
Soon after he was forced out of 10 Downing Street, Tony Blair was appointed the official Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East on behalf of the UN, EU, USA and Russia. So what has this envoy of peace to the Middle East, who sent troops to invade Afghanistan and Iraq achieved so far?
George Galloway, British MP, and former MP of the Labour Part said in his speech at the Perdana Global Leadership Foundation Anti-War Conference, "Not since Caligula appointed his horse as a proconsul of Rome has there been a more inappropriate appointment than Tony Blair as the peace envoy for anywhere, never mind the Middle East."
He is currently one of the candidates for the post of President of the European Union. "They are determined to make people hate the European Union, I tell you," commented Galloway in the same speech.
Can a suspected war criminal (innocent until proven guilty in an international war crimes hearing) be chosen to become a peace envoy, or to head a largely peaceful European Union?
In the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US military has been deploying unmanned Predator drones to bomb various targets. The targeting technology of these drones were developed from studying the bio-mechanics of the vision of fruit flies. It was pionereed at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), which boasts more than 30 Nobel laureates, among them the late physicist, Richard Feynman.
The use of technology in killing innocent people have made generals and politicians less reluctant to go to war, as they perceive that the human cost, and only that on their side, would be lower. They are now more willing to satisfy their bloodlust, and they smirk to themselves thinking that they have killed their enemies without sending a single soldier.
Roger Cohen wrote in the New York Times Op-Ed pages (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/opinion/13iht-edcohen.html?_r=1): "The Obama administration should not be targeting people for killing without some public debate about how such targets are selected, what the grounds are in the laws of war, and what agencies are involved. Right now there’s an accountability void.There are also broader questions. When robots are tomorrow’s veterans, does war become more likely and more endless? Do drones cow enemies with America’s technological prowess or embolden them to think America is not man enough to fight? What is the psychological toll on video-screen warriors?"
The thing is, killing is killing. If there is to be a "public debate" it should be about how to end the war, and all future wars. Merely pontificating on the morality of using machines to kill people will not change the cruel, inhumane, murderous face of war.
Early last year, I posted a review of Karen Armstrong's book, Muhammad: Prophet for Our Time on another blog. I felt that it is time again to reproduce it here, so that we could have a greater understanding of who Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) really was.
When I bought the book, I had heard that it was a banned book. However, some months later, I saw the book in Kinokuniya in KLCC (wonder if they still have a copy). So, I guess it's not banned anymore?
Anyway, I believe that this is a very important book, and we would do well to learn from it.
MUHAMMAD: PROPHET FOR OUR TIME
“Since the destruction of the WorldTradeCenter on September 11, 2001, members of the Christian Right in the United States and some sectors of the Western Media have continued this tradition of hostility, claiming that Muhammad was irredeemably addicted to war. Some have gone so aft as to claim that he was a terrorist and a pedophile.
We cannot afford to indulge in this type of bigotry, because it is a gift to extremists who can use such statements to “prove” that the Western world is indeed engaged on a new crusade against the Islamic world. Muhammad was not a man of violence. We must appreciate his life in a balanced way, in order to appreciate his considerable achievements. To cultivate an inaccurate prejudice damages the tolerance, liberality and compassion that are supposed to characterize Western culture.”
Karen Armstrong, from the Introduction to Muhammad : Prophet For Our Time
“If we are to avoid catastrophe, the Muslim and Western worlds must learn not merely to tolerate but to appreciate one another. A good place to start is with the figure of Muhammad: a complex man, who resists facile, ideologically-driven categorization, who sometimes did things that were difficult or impossible for us to accept, but who had profound genius and founded a religion and cultural tradition that was not based on the sword but whose name – “Islam” – signified peace and reconciliation. “
Karen Armstrong, from Muhammad : A Prophet For Our Time, pg. 214
Muhammad : Prophet For Our Time, is an excellent biography of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. written by Karen Armstrong. Ms. Armstrong is one of the world’s most prominent comparative religion scholars and has written widely on issues pertaining to the world’s major religions.
She had earlier written a biography of Muhammad s.a.w. titled Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, which was first published in 1991. However, following the events of September 11, the author says, “…we need to focus on other aspects of Muhammad’s life. So this is a completely new and entirely different book, which, I hope, will speak more directly to the terrifying realities of our post September-11 world.”
In a world where there is serious prejudice against Islam and Muslims, what better way than to take a look at the life of the man who was the prophet of this religion? What kind of person was Muhammad s.a.w., and what were the teachings that he had left behind? What were the times that he lived in and what were the challenges that he had faced?
Like the many religious leaders and visionaries such as Jesus, Shakyamuni (the Buddha) and Nichiren, he was a man who lived in deeply troubled times and emerged as a leader who had a vision that was way ahead of his time. The Arabia that he lived in was then deeply cloaked in jahilliyah, which the author wrote is closely connected with “irascibility” and has connotations of ignorance. The Arabic society of the prophet’s time was acutely sensitive to honour and prestige, arrogance, excess and above all, a chronic tendency to violence and retaliation.
Muhammad (pbuh), armed with revelations from Allah, tried to steer the society of his times from one with a violent, destructive outlook to one that values compassion, benevolent justice and respect for women, among others. What were the challenges he faced? How did he achieve what he has left behind, establishing a religion that has 1.5 billion adherents today?
This biography is deeply insightful and easy to read. It is not some stiff-necked academic dissertation that is only interested with quoting sources. It is a revealing look at how human the Prophet is, and we see how the prophet squarely facing all the difficulties in life, from the death of his wives and children, to the various conflicts between his followers and those who opposed them. Like all great men, his life was marked by suffering and sorrow, but he did not let them deter him from his mission to create a compassionate and humane society.
In this chaotic world, we perhaps must look back in history, and take a look at the lives of the great religious leaders. It is without doubt that their lessons are still valid today, only that we have forgotten. We must re-learn them.
This poem was written by a thirteen-year old Iraqi boy named Jassim back in 1998. Jassim was lying sick from leaukemia in an Iraqi hospital that had been deprived of its capabilities due to the debilitating sanctions enforced on Iraq after the first Gulf War in 1991. Furthermore, it is believed that Jassim's cancer was caused by the radiation from depleted uranium that was deployed during the first Gulf War (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium).
He was waiting for medication to arrive from an European aid agency. As a result of the sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN) and the United States and their allies, the capacity of Iraqi hospitals to treat ilnesses have been severely compromised.
During the thirteen years of sanction from 1990 to 2003 (just before the Iraq invasion), more than 1.5 million Iraqis have died as a result of the sanctions imposed on them. About half a million of those dead were children under the age of five.
During those years of sanctions, the average Iraqi could only afford to have roughly USD 185 spent on them for various necessities. Meanwhile, the United Nations spent about USD 400 per year on every dog it used for bomb-sniffing operations in Iraq. This was just for food. Yes, the life of a UN dog is roughly worth the life of two Iraqis. And I am quite sure that these dogs got better healthcare than the almost 50 million Americans (and hundreds of millions more around the world) without health insurance.
Anyway, to cut the story short, Jassim died before his medication could arrive.
After the US soldiers committed atrocities in Vietnam, particularly in My Lai, the US Army drew up the Soldier's Creed as a guiding document of conduct for members of the military. It was designed to ensure that a soldier in a US Army uniform conducted himself with honour while in service. (Wasn't the entire Vietnam war itself an atrocity?)
Today, the Soldier's Creed has been replaced by the "Warrior Ethos". Observe the marked differences. It does not require him to restrain himself or his comrades from committing atrocities while in uniform. He is not specifically prevented from doing anything that will "disgrace my uniform, my unit or my country."
Is this why they and their allies seem to commit atrocities wherever they go? Even with a strict code of conduct, war simply brings out the demonic side in people. And this demonic side can be revealed in anyone, not just in soldiers of a particular country. War makes the unacceptable become acceptable. War does not just kill people; it kills hope, it kills peace.
Sami was once held at Guantanamo Bay for nearly seven years. During his time in detention, he endured horrors that we cannot imagine.
Even for me, the hell that is called Guantanamo sounded like a distant place, until I came face-to-face with a man who survived it.
He had been subjected to more than 200 interrogations, saw the Holy Quran torn and desecrated in front of him. He has been subjected to beatings and torture. He went on a 480-day hunger strike, and came close to suicide. He was force-fed food with a hose that's too big, with no lubricant or anaesthetic, and dirty to boot. Psychiatrists at Guantanamo even suggested methods of suicides to inmates.
How can anyone belonging to the medical profession do that?
Instead of feeling hatred for his captors, he feels pity for them. "How will they face their families and friends when they return?" For a man who has gone through so much, you would think that he would speak in torrential anger. He has every reason to hate his captors, who have not charged him with a single crime all the time he was there.
But no. He speaks in an almost monotone voice. That is because his heart is truly cleansed of hatred and anger. "We are seeking justice, not revenge," he stresses. "I am grateful because I have gathered so many stories." He has made it his mission in life to expose the injustice in Guantanamo, and of war.
My colleagues at Cosmic magazine and I had the honour of interviewing him at the Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) Anti-War Conference and Exhibition. He also gave his testimony at the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission.
I have a profound respect for this man. He is not only a beacon of journalism, he is also a champion of humanity. Because of people like him, our dreams of eternal peace is not just a dream, but a reality within our reach.
Rivers of Babylon is Boney M's most successful single in the UK, Europe and the US. It is actually based on verses from the Book of Psalm. You might know some of the words:
By the rivers of Babylon where we sat down
Yeah, we wept when we remembered Zion
By the rivers of Babylon where we sat down
Yeah, we wept when we remembered Zion
However, guards at prisons such as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo found
different uses for the song:
First, the prisoner is strapped in a chair, as shown below
(ok, maybe minus the nails and screws).
Then the music is turned on real loud. REAL LOUD. For hours on end.
And there is no end in sight.
I learnt about this during the Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO)
anti-war exhibition.
The following is a scenario imagined by the author:
Dearest students,
Welcome to the latest course in our class, Torture 101. This class is designed to instruct students on the most "effective" methods on extracting confessions, real or imagined, from your captives. We will be discussing the techniques involved and include demonstrations videos wherever possible. We will then discuss methods that will make the torture method even more effective.
1 Water-boarding.
This is a most popular, and effective form of torture. The target's head, in particular the nose and mouth is covered with a piece of cloth. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States prefers to use cellophane tape over the target.
Once the target has been so wrapped and securely strapped onto a workbench or flat table, water is then poured over his face. If necessary, the quantity and intensity with which water is being poured is increased in order to increase the speed at which the confession is obtained.
The purpose of this torture method is to simulate the act of drowning. The target will feel as if they are drowning, and this creates an immediate sensation of terror and helplessness. If they breathe, they will take in water. If they hold their breath however, they will feel the grip of the head-wrap getting tighter. It's a win-win situation for the torturer.
And so, we have come to the end of today's lesson. Your assignment" Get into groups of four and discuss ways to further enhance the effectiveness of water-boarding.
Class dismissed.
"War is the terrorism of the rich and powerful." - Peter Ustinov
"War brings only suffering and misery to ordinary people, to families and mothers. It is always nameless and unknown people who suffer and moan amidst the mud and flames. In war, human life is used as a means to an end, an expendable commodity" - Daisaku Ikeda
Wow, it's been a week since I posted something new on my blog. I just went to Petaling Street for the first time in years these last two days. Truth be told, it feels a lot like coming home. Felt quite at peace despite the hustle and bustle, and despite the face that for all its congested-ness, waves of people and numerous buildings, KL is a lonely city.
I am reminded of these two poems written about KL, which is published in In-Sights, an anthology of Malaysian poetry. I've actually met some of the writers of the poems in this book and got their autographs. The first poem is about the rapid development suffocating KL, and the second highlights the good and bad (especially bad) and the light and dark of KL.
RE: Construction
To Whom It May Concern
by Charlene Rajendran
Dear Sir,
or Madam,
i)
All the places where I grew up
have been torn down
because they said
there was no space
and we were
becoming modern.
Why must they build
a police plaza in Pudu
where my grandparents
‘grew old man’s darling’?
Why can’t the state mosque
not be in Bukit Palah,
where I climbed the
frangipani tree?
Why should the mega-mall
be at 218 Ampang
where I used to play
swinging ‘moneyplant’?
why do my memories
all have to be
only in my head
so I can’t show
my children
and their children
and so on?
ii)
The race course
was meant to be
a park within the city.
The playing field
was meant to save
some space for greenery.
The forest reserve
was meant to run
the cable car for fun.
Why must the flag fly
so high where no one
with feet on the ground
can see or touch
or wave it?
iii)
I look forward
to hearing from you soon.
and thank you.
Sincerely,
A City Girl
@Urbanses.my
Kuala Lumpur! Kuala Lumpur!
by Fan Yew Teng
Hello, Kuala Lumpur, Happy Birthday!
O you’ve grown, how you’ve grown!
What with your skyscrapers
your flyovers, your toll plazas
your tree-line malls
your flashy shopping complexes
snooker centres, noisy pubs
psychedelic discos, traffic congestions
sweaty queues, outdated roundabouts
and frantic rushes under the midday sun.
Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur
I love your nasi lemak in Gombak
your roastduck from Pudu
your mutton curry at Brickfields
your Bak-kut-teh in Kepong
your nasi briyani at Kampung Baru
your sugarcane water in Cheras
your flower nurseries at Old Klang Road
your Angsana trees in Jinjang
your incense at Leboh Ampang
your pasar malam in Petaling Street
your Hainanese chicken rice in Jalan Sultan
and the lusty bargains along Batu Lane.
Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur
beauty or beast, what are you?
who are you, human or divine?
Who knows what secrets in tall buildings
what juicy gossips and rumours in coffeeshops
what greed masked behind orchids
what slummy squalor behind concrete facades
what shady deals in the Golden Triangle
what fake massages in your exclusive clubs
what manicured conspiracies
what wheeling-dealing in hotel lobbies
what racial slurs and curses in backlanes
what supercilious pretences at cocktail parties
what murders and swindles at planning
what brines wrapped in hibiscus smiles
what hastily negotiated favours
what lusty tigershows performed
what dirty weekends enjoyed within sight of flaming trees
I'm on a haiku roll here. Here's something I wrote on the back on my credit card bill envelope. (Found a good use for something we all don't like.) Had some thoughts about the recent food fight Malaysia had with Singapore not long ago.
Bak kut teh, is it our dish or Singapore one? Don't care; don't like pork.
Copyright for food Ministry seems to not have much work to do leh.
Chilli or pepper? It does not matter at all to the poor, dead crab.
We fight over food that we all enjoy. Meanwhile, millions go hungry.
(It's actually a billion, but I couldn't wedge that into a haiku)
"World leaders have reacted forcefully to the financial and economic crisis and succeeded in mobilizing billions of dollars in a short time period. The same strong action is needed now to combat hunger and poverty," - FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.
The latest report from the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says that this year, there are 1.02 billion hungry people in the world.
Jacques Diouf also said, "The rising number of hungry people is intolerable. We have the economic and technical means to make hunger disappear, what is missing is a stronger political will to eradicate hunger forever. Investing in agriculture in developing countries is key as a healthy agricultural sector is essential not only to overcome hunger and poverty but also to ensure overall economic growth and peace and stability in the world."
"We applaud the new commitment to tackle food security, but we must act quickly. It is unacceptable in the 21st century that almost one in six of the world's population is now going hungry," added Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of WFP.
Poor households have been cutting back on education and other basic needs but it is still too overwhelming for them. In Somalia alone, the cost of food has risen 85% over the last two years.
We had no problem bailing the fat cats of Wall Street and the financial centres of the world. Maybe all that some of them lost were a few penthouses and Lear jets, and maybe the mistresses. But what can be done to mitigate the global food crisis?
Soka Gakkai International (SGI) President Daisaku Ikeda wrote in his 2009 Peace Proposal to the United Nations (UN):
"To ensure secure access to food for all the world's people, we need to design a mechanism to keep a certain amount of grain in reserve at all times as a global public good. These reserves could be distributed as emergency relief during a food crisis or released onto the market to stabilize prices."
He further added: "I also would like to call for the expanded use of innovative financing mechanisms such as international solidarity levies to raise funds toward overcoming poverty and improving health
care and sanitation in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The effort to develop innovative funding mechanisms can be thought of as a type of humanitarian competition, as various states constructively vie with one another to develop the most effective ideas and proposals."
If economists and financiers can come up with innovative ways to trade derivatives on the global market, surely we can do something about investment and fund-raising vehicles to ensure no one goes hungry.
He further says, "The bottom billion" -the poorest of the poor in fifty-eight countries, who have long been left behind by global economic growth--were one focus of debate at the UN last year. The stark
disparity in the value of human life and dignity, virtually predetermined by where one is born, is an unconscionable injustice in global society that must be corrected. If we are to lay any claim to human dignity--to manifest the feelings of compassion that Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) assures us were at the heart of even the earliest human communities--we must take steps to remedy this situation."
Nobel laureate in economics Amartya Sen astutely pointed out that "Poverty must be seen as the deprivation of basic capabilities rather than merely as lowness of incomes." Poor people are just as human as we are.
Yesterday, I watched Avatar, and in short, it is a fantastic movie, and the best I've seen this year, and the best in a while. Many people would have seen it and I don't suppose I have to write much about it. It's very stylish, but it is also strong on substance and message.
He is forced to take a cold, hard look at the life and relationships that he has formed, at the status in society that he has achieved, and whether or not his life was worth living.
