December 15, 2002
The way we are. Part 1.
By: Hazidi Bin Abdul Hamid
People are the same wherever you go; some people say that and there is much
truth to it. Ironically however, we also hate, despise and victimise one
another for no other reason that they being different from us. In Malaysia,
we commonly hear people telling us how great this country is and how good we
are. We want to constantly hear that we are friendly, hospitable and
helpful people. Then we turn the other channel on television and we see the
news of how horrible we can be to ourselves and to each other.
We talk about how beautiful our country is, how lush and green our forests
are and abundant our wildlife Is. Yet we are the ones who pollute our own
environment. Take the rivers for example. I live in the Pandan area and
not very far from my place there is the Pandan Jaya LRT station which stands
on the banks of a river that flows through Pandan Jaya, Pandan Indah and
several other places. This is not a high class are, some would call the
people living there generally coming from the middle class: in other words
supposedly civilised and relatively intelligent people. Yet the river
flowing beside the LRT station is rich in discarded motor oil, other oily
substances, and other equally irksome chemicals. Where the river is
hindered by stones big piles of foam and bubbles rise in testimony to the
total lack of civility the people here share particularly those in the
industrial area upriver. In contrast, I once lived near a river in
Lancaster. It flowed past a ‘working class’ area: supposedly less educated
blue collar workers. Yet in the afternoon after classes and on my way home
I sometimes stopped for a breather beside that river. It flowed smooth
without foam from chemical cocktails and motor oil residue. And yet we
claim that we are much better people.
We are told that we are good God-fearing people whose moral values are
reinforced from eons of civilization. We say that we are inheritors of
civilization that came from the sun-bleached sands of Arabia, the stony
grounds of Nazareth, the majestic halls of the Hidden City and the Lushness
of the Indus Valley. We have inherited pedigree morality but we have to
turn our houses into prisons so that we can feel safe enough to sleep well
at night. Our houses must have metal grills on each window and door because
we are good God-fearing people. Elsewhere where people are less so, the
situation is much worse, that house I mentioned above only had glass on its
window panes and my friend’s house in Kyoto has paper for doors, or so I am
told. Perhaps the Japanese too can claim exulted ancestor but the ancestors
of those people in the West were warring barbarians when our ancestors were
sipping tea and discussing philosophy, yet their houses need not have metal
grilles reinforcing them. However, someone told me that they too are
changing and becoming more like in this sense. This is sad but what is even
sadder is that we have always been like this.
They live in cooler climates and their insects bear less malice, I am told,
and so they only pollute their air with their chimneys. We live in warmer
climes and our insects are more malevolent and so we poison them and
ourselves with portable coils of vile chemicals in addition to our chimneys.
It is true that life here is so abundant that it proliferates everywhere but
perhaps we could spend more time in our esoteric pursuits if we did not have
to live in our own filth, the same filth that breeds these malignant
insects.
Then again, it may just be that I have not had my third cup of coffee today.
If that is so, I fear my pessimism will continue because I am cutting down
on my coffee consumption.
The way we are. Part 1.
By: Hazidi Bin Abdul Hamid
People are the same wherever you go; some people say that and there is much
truth to it. Ironically however, we also hate, despise and victimise one
another for no other reason that they being different from us. In Malaysia,
we commonly hear people telling us how great this country is and how good we
are. We want to constantly hear that we are friendly, hospitable and
helpful people. Then we turn the other channel on television and we see the
news of how horrible we can be to ourselves and to each other.
We talk about how beautiful our country is, how lush and green our forests
are and abundant our wildlife Is. Yet we are the ones who pollute our own
environment. Take the rivers for example. I live in the Pandan area and
not very far from my place there is the Pandan Jaya LRT station which stands
on the banks of a river that flows through Pandan Jaya, Pandan Indah and
several other places. This is not a high class are, some would call the
people living there generally coming from the middle class: in other words
supposedly civilised and relatively intelligent people. Yet the river
flowing beside the LRT station is rich in discarded motor oil, other oily
substances, and other equally irksome chemicals. Where the river is
hindered by stones big piles of foam and bubbles rise in testimony to the
total lack of civility the people here share particularly those in the
industrial area upriver. In contrast, I once lived near a river in
Lancaster. It flowed past a ‘working class’ area: supposedly less educated
blue collar workers. Yet in the afternoon after classes and on my way home
I sometimes stopped for a breather beside that river. It flowed smooth
without foam from chemical cocktails and motor oil residue. And yet we
claim that we are much better people.
We are told that we are good God-fearing people whose moral values are
reinforced from eons of civilization. We say that we are inheritors of
civilization that came from the sun-bleached sands of Arabia, the stony
grounds of Nazareth, the majestic halls of the Hidden City and the Lushness
of the Indus Valley. We have inherited pedigree morality but we have to
turn our houses into prisons so that we can feel safe enough to sleep well
at night. Our houses must have metal grills on each window and door because
we are good God-fearing people. Elsewhere where people are less so, the
situation is much worse, that house I mentioned above only had glass on its
window panes and my friend’s house in Kyoto has paper for doors, or so I am
told. Perhaps the Japanese too can claim exulted ancestor but the ancestors
of those people in the West were warring barbarians when our ancestors were
sipping tea and discussing philosophy, yet their houses need not have metal
grilles reinforcing them. However, someone told me that they too are
changing and becoming more like in this sense. This is sad but what is even
sadder is that we have always been like this.
They live in cooler climates and their insects bear less malice, I am told,
and so they only pollute their air with their chimneys. We live in warmer
climes and our insects are more malevolent and so we poison them and
ourselves with portable coils of vile chemicals in addition to our chimneys.
It is true that life here is so abundant that it proliferates everywhere but
perhaps we could spend more time in our esoteric pursuits if we did not have
to live in our own filth, the same filth that breeds these malignant
insects.
Then again, it may just be that I have not had my third cup of coffee today.
If that is so, I fear my pessimism will continue because I am cutting down
on my coffee consumption.
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