Another Side of Psy ~ Oxford Union Style!

I doubt if there's anybody who's connected to the internet who hasn't only heard of a 35-year-old South Korean pop sensation named Psy, but has watched his viral "Oppa Gangnam Style" video at least twice.

Psy's is a classic success story of a talented composer-performer who made it BIG through patience, perseverance, perspicacity, and sheer good luck. He literally struck the pop phenomenon jackpot with just one YouTube hit. But here's a whole different perspective on Psy the human being whose wry sense of humor and candor makes him a winner in every sense - and not just as a one-trick pony.

It's impossible not to admire and like this chubby guy in a suit and funky shades. He's a smart cookie and has really put Korean pop on the world charts, pretty much the same way Peter Jackson singlehandedly upgraded New Zealand's status as filmmaking hub with his epic Lord of the Ring movies.

The Politics of Oil and Oil Palm Plantations

The ragtag Royal Sulu Army prepare to invade Sabah

Below are spontaneous comments on the Sulu invasion of Sabah I left on various conversation threads over the past week. It's a vastly complex and multi-layered issue made urgent by the outbreak of violence which has cost nearly 100 lives on both sides. Brute force is an entirely inefficient and primitive way to resolve differences. These notes serve as a starting point for a wider discussion...

Taking on the Tausugs

A few hundred years ago, the Industrial Revolution was in its early stages. Nobody in this part of the world could foresee that all those hectares of jungle would someday be viewed as prime real estate - especially if oil deposits exist just off the coast. Can't blame the Sulu or Brunei Sultans for being so generous with parceling out their lands in exchange for small favors.

The wheel of fate and fortune spins. Here we are in 2013, and the Sulu people - mostly living in poverty compared to richer folks in the north and across the waters in what is now Sabah - suddenly realize they have been given a very raw deal. But short of wresting Sabah back by force of arms, they can only appeal to an international court for justice. So it's a complex legal issue made more complicated by all the secrecy surrounding it.

For example, we read that as recently as February 2011 the Malaysian Ambassador to the Philippines actually offered RM350,000 to Sultan Jamalul Kiram III if he would extend the lease by another 100 years. This only reinforces the Sulu Sultan's insistence that padjak means "lease" - not outright sale.

Jamalul Kiram III, self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu

Beyond any doubt there is an issue to be resolved peaceably and wisely, using a win-win formula. Malaysia has further compounded the problem by being in denial that the Sultan of Sulu and his heirs do have a legal right to cancel the lease and reclaim their ancestral lands - and they could also opt to sell the land outright for an agreed-upon sum. If I were the Sultan, I'd find the Malaysian government offer of RM350,000 for a 100-year lease extension insulting, in view of what Sabah is worth. If the Malaysian government does not recognize Jamalul Kiram III as the legitimate Sultan of Sulu, why didn't it discontinue payment of the ridiculous RM5,300 annual rent?

Not only that, rumors abound that during Mahathir's tenure, the Malaysian government was secretly financing the Muslim separatists in the southern Philippines - just as suspicion remains that the Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand are on friendly terms with Malaysia - or at least Umno and Pekida.

The only intelligent and reasonable path is to tell the truth - no matter how bad that makes Umno and Mahathir look (especially since they already look so bad it can hardly get any worse). What's done cannot be undone. If there are already 800,000 Filipinos in Sabah - a vast number with Malaysian identity cards and voting rights, what is to be done?

Accept them as our brethren and include them in our development programs? Or evict them by force? Obviously, the most compassionate solution is always the most enlightened. Sadly, the present Umno/BN regime doesn't have a clue what compassion, enlightenment and wisdom mean - all they know is how to skim fat commissions off unnecessary and environmentally ruinous mega-projects. That's why the bottom line is still... ABU!

A Malaysian armored car rushes into the fray

Warlordism, feudal traditions, monarchies trapped in a timewarp... these are the last vestiges of an era soon to be viewed as a bad dream of humanity's infancy.

Only 200 years ago the world was a very different scenario. Nobody thought it was necessary to live in harmony with Mother Nature. Natural resources were regarded as a means to immense wealth - timber, gold, diamonds, rivers and seas teeming with fish, forests filled with all manner of fauna and flora.

The Moro National Liberation Front, one of many
militant Islamic factions in southern Philippines (www.mnlf.net)

It was a time when an ambitious, strong-willed tribal chief could consolidate his power among neighboring tribes and become an even bigger chief, a panjandrum who could rule by fear and force of arms. The Dream of Empire drove men like Alexander, Genghis Khan, Attila, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to audacious extremes.

Tausug youth

Well, folks, those ways cannot be sustained in the 21st century - not when the rise of a global middle-class and the spread of information and knowledge have empowered ordinary folk everywhere, who no longer feel a superstitious awe of their hereditary leaders, who have outgrown the habit of kowtowing before unsmiling despots issuing decrees from ornate thrones. Alas, in the less developed regions of the world, such anachronisms still persist - and Southeast Asia has witnessed a tectonic shift in social and political changes since 1913 - and these changes have dramatically accelerated over the last 50 years.

What we're seeing now in Sabah is the deaththroes of insular tribalism, of fierce competition for land and natural resources. This worldview is completely at odds with scientific advances that reveal how all life is interconnected and interdependent - and that symbiotic cooperation can produce synergies that will elevate humanity to an exciting new level of consciousness that is holistic and synchronized with cosmic cycles.The younger generations are ready for this - but it appears their elders are still stuck in their petrified, doctrinaire ways of experiencing reality.

They may look like ballet dancers - but I wouldn't want to start a feud with these Moro warriors

You just have to admire the courage and perseverance of the Tausug. Far better to have such hardy warriors as our friends and allies than as our permanent enemies. If their grouse is being neglected, marginalized and impoverished for generations, it's far wiser - and less costly in the long-term - to help them out financially. I'm sure the amount squandered just to get Psy to perform for 8 minutes in Penang would have helped the Tausug regain a sense of dignity and well-being.

Tausug men in the early 20th century

Sometimes, it takes a crisis to shake us up and remind us that beyond race, religion and nationality... we are all part of the human family. Indeed, most folks who resort to violence and crime are forced to do so because nobody was paying attention to their desperate needs. Aerial attacks on a small group of Tausugs equipped with only small arms does strike me as overkill. I'm sure there are less violent strategies...

No doubt this is one complex and convoluted issue that cannot be resolved elegantly and wisely - unless everybody agrees to shift to a higher, more inclusive perspective - and this is when I start looking at Abraham and shaking my head. How could one guy cause so much bloodshed and conflict over so many generations? Obviously the Middle Eastern portal through which the Book Religions were inserted into the 3D Matrix is controlled by renegade reptilians who will do anything to keep people divided and easily misruled - and nothing does that better than monotheist dogma and entrenched dualism.

SABAH CLAIMS: A tale of two versions

A most amazing turn of events signifying the end of Umno...

Reproduced from Malaysiakini as a public service...

Saiful's dad apologises to Anwar, claims his son used

1:22PM Mar 8, 2013

The father of Saiful Bukhari has apologised to PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim, claiming that his son had been used by irresponsible quarters, including an officer of the prime minister, to defame Anwar in Sodomy II.

“Anwar is innocent and a victim of this slander... as such I apologise to Anwar and his family.

“He and his family have suffered a lot as a result of this slander,” Azlan Mohd Lazim said in a statement he released at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

“I deeply regret all the slander hurled against Anwar, which involved my son Saiful Bukhari,” Azlan said.

Anwar was acquitted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Jan 9 last year on charges of sodomising Saiful, who was his political aide, on June 26, 2008, in a condominium in Kuala Lumpur.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers has appealed against the decision and the Court of Appeal will hear the case on July 22.

In the statement, Azlan, 60, said all media statements by him and Saiful had been prepared by an officer with the prime minister's office and a lawyer.

Malaysiakini is withholding the identities of these two people pending their response.

“They are the masterminds behind all the sodomy slander against Anwar that involved my son.”

Azlan said he learnt about the sodomy allegation only from the “government-owned media” as Saiful never told him about it.

“I have never been contacted by any quarters to obtain my statement as his father, from the beginning till the end of the trial,” he said.

Giving moral support to his son

Although he was always seen accompanying his son during the trial, Azlan explained that he did that simply as a father who was giving moral support to his son.

“Actually I don't believe the allegations against Anwar.”

Azlan said he decided to make the expose today as he has unveiled the truth after spending a long time to collect information obtained during the trial, as well as those sent to him by the public.

The government has neither met him, nor asked for his opinion about the sodomy case, he claimed.

“Everything was so carefully planned and executed (by the official),” Azlan alleged.

“As a Malay and a Muslim, I started to realise the evil of this plan. I don't want to continue to conspire with this malicious slander. I want the people who love this country to know their malicious intention.

“If this malicious intention continues, not only the Malays and Muslims would be destroyed, but the nation would be destroyed as well. I do not want to see this happen.

“I decided to be with Anwar, Pakatan Rakyat, and the Malaysians who thirst for prosperity, peace and truth, and are against this evil act.”
  
Azlan urged the people to “rise and fight against this cruelty, and work hard to uphold the truth”.

“Let us pray to Allah to win the struggle of Anwar and Pakatan to take over the government in the 13th general election,” he concluded.

The Vagina Monologues Revisited (Yet Again)

The Vagina Monologues was originally written by Eve Ensler (left), who based the show on the findings of her personal interviews with more than 200 women. The first draft was completed in 1996 and has since been rewritten in over 45 languages and performed in over 120 countries.

In January 2002 theater-lovers in Kuala Lumpur were treated to a Malaysian version of The Vagina Monologues. The production enjoyed a packed-out five-day run and I was assigned by kakiseni.com to review it. The audience response was so enthusiastic the producers decided to restage The Vagina Monologues in February.

This time around, however, they were refused a performance permit by City Hall. Apparently, some ultra-conservative ulamaks in Kedah had heard reports about this dangerous and subversive play which threatened the very foundations of Islam's patriarchal mindset. So they issued a public condemnation - and that's all it took to put an end to what must have struck fear into them as a massive feminist uprising in Malaysia.

As a special tribute to the Sacred Feminine (coinciding with International Women's Day), I reproduce my January 2002 review below, along with a BBC news report that puts Malaysia in the medieval light in which it repeatedly and stubbornly insists on being seen...

Clamorous and Clever Clams
Antares is tickled pink by THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES

"Evolution began with Eve when she took the first bite of the forbidden fruit." ~ A.N. Onymus (actually I just made it up)

My mind is exploding with ribald puns after watching Joanna Bessey, Jerrica Lai and Renuka Veerasingam hurl themselves holeheartedly... I mean wholeheartedly... into Hari Azizan's boisterous dramatization of Eve Ensler's phenomenally contagious Vagina Monologues. At the Actors Studio Box (where else?) - under the aegis of the Director's Workshop program conducted by Krishen Jit and Joe Hasham - novice directors like Hari Azizan have found a dynamic springboard from which to launch themselves into a promising new career in professional theatre.

The Return of the Goddess has long been prophesied and now she is back and angry as hell!

Angry with the outrageous oppression of the feminine, the intuitive, the emotional, the artistic and nurturing aspects of the Life Force by a senescent but still warlike patriarchy. Angry with the hypocrisy and double standards that allow satyrs to be hailed as conquering heroes while nymphs are labeled whores and sluts. Angry with the patriarch's schizophrenic fear of and fascination with sex, which has led to the association of female sexuality with shame, the commercial exploitation of man-made taboos, and the public denial of private pleasures.

Home truths are often generalizations that come across as simplistic when expressed in language. However, dance and poetry are ambiguous and fluid enough to stir the passionate imagination into an evolutionary leap of courage, born of despair and generations of quiet suffering. And it is through Eve Ensler's polemical poetry and Judimar Monfils's evocative choreography that Hari Azizan has chosen to voice her rebellion on behalf of the sheeplike silent majority of Muslim women who accept their submission without a whimper of protest.

Only four of Ms Ensler's original monologues were selected for this 60-minute dramatization. Excerpts from esoteric publications like an academic dissertation on Gender, Culture and Religion (by Noraini Othman and Cecilia Ng) and Siti Zulaikhan Mohd Nor's Kedudukan dan Peranan Wanita dalam Islam ("The Role and Responsibility of Women In Islam") were inserted as text fragments.

The three actresses were in fine feline form as they launched into their tightly orchestrated business of confrontation, provocation, and group therapy. Ms Bessey was in admirable control of her delectable body and voice; Ms Lai, intense and wonderfully uninhibited, generously gave her all; but Ms Veerasingam was the bravest one, in view of her relative inexperience on stage (this is only her third public outing) and the fact that Indian girls generally have a harder fight against deeply ingrained cultural traditions when it comes to voicing controversial issues. A special round of applause for Mr and Mrs Veerasingam, Renuka's extraordinary parents, for supporting their daughter's bold venture into self-liberation!


The Mystery of Mysteries, reverently named al ghaib in Arabic, and worshiped as the Vesica piscis (the fishy vessel) in esoteric Christianity has long been the source of inspiration and the brunt of risque jokes. What Eve Ensler has done for the vagina - and the raising of planetary awareness through her V-Day Campaign about the brute violence that the rampant (and ever insecure) male ego has inflicted on women for thousands of years deserves much more than an Obie award.

Much as I enjoyed the performance and lauded the cogency and timeliness of the cause, I had reservations about a few stylistic elements that the young director seems to have borrowed from Five Arts productions like Skin Trilogy and Family. The angst-ridden melodramatization occasionally verged on hysteria, lending the poetry a militant, strident edge that grated unnecessarily. But in a close-minded, tight-lipped culture such as we have in Malaysia, subtlety may be a luxury accessible only to the well-heeled. As a female member of the audience remarked afterwards: "I didn't really like the show but I'm pretty glad I saw it."

In the final analysis, I found The Vagina Monologues vastly enjoyable and supercharged with meaning. And judging from the packed houses it has drawn since its preview, KL theatregoers are certainly titillated by the promise of anything that pushes the envelope - well, in this case, the sheath - in terms of self-expression. Never before have local audiences been treated to the sight of three women sitting on the floor with their legs wide open, spouting rude words while stitching up their labia with imaginary needles and thread.

All power to the Almighty Chibai, the Evermoist Cunt of Artistic Innovation, the Glorious Pudendum of Cultural Breakthroughs, the Numinous Nonok of Novelty that restructures and revitalizes the human condition.

If you haven’t yet seen The Vagina Monologues make sure you get to The Actors Studio Box early so you won’t miss James Lee’s hilarious video prologue. That alone is perhaps worth the effort of driving through KL traffic to catch the play.

26 January 2002

'Monologues' banned in Malaysia

A second run of the hit show The Vagina Monologues has been banned in Malaysia.

Authorities in the capital city Kuala Lumpur have ruled the show cannot return because of "complaints from a number of people."

The work, written by Eve Ensler, had a brief Malaysian run in January, when three local actresses played to packed houses.

It is not known exactly what the complaints were about.

The play has been performed around the world and has featured a variety of stars including Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon and Whoopi Goldberg.

Previous productions in London have included models Jerry Hall and Sophie Dahl - the new cast features Anita Dobson, Lisa Stansfield and Cecilia Noble.

Important

Marion D'Cruz, executive producer of Kuala Lumpur's Five Arts Centre which staged the first run, said she was disappointed that the show would not be coming back.
She said: "The play stands as an important piece of theatre, dealing with some serious issues of oppression and some things which are a little more funny.

"We do not choose to do controversial things because they are controversial. We have always done work we feel is important."

Originally produced in New York for a brief OBIE Award-winning run in 1996, the show has since travelled the globe.

[Source: BBC News]

LETTER TO THE EDITOR @ KAKISENI.COM

The Vagina Monologues are anti-Muslim propaganda

I'd like to comment on the Editor's statement that the license for Vagina Monologue [sic] was probably refused on the grounds of sexual connotation. I beg to differ. I'd like to think that it is the insensitivity of quoting some Quranic phrases off the Quran by non-Muslims and interpreting it out of context that made them do that. I'm no Saint here but I believe that we should draw a line between what is truly artistic and what is just plain propagandist. I think the same would have been done if one were to put up a play and have people quoting the Bible and deconstructing it as the play flows. Tit for tat. How's that?

Zue Nell
7 Feb 2002

A RESPONSE FROM ANTARES

Be not quick to anger and lash out at external "enemies" - the "enemy" is ALWAYS within and it is called FEAR!

I ask you all to quietly ponder this: which is more "sacred" - books of scriptural admonitions designed to program your behavioral responses through semantic encoding - or the living, luxuriant forest that was cut down to print these books?

Book religions inevitably lead to the desertification of the planet and the desecration of the sovereign human spirit in the name of appeasing a punitive and bloodthirsty deity. What the Earth urgently needs is the demise of institutionalized religions and the resurrection of true spirituality - which is beyond the contamination and control of exploitative and manipulative forces.

In recent years we have witnessed a massive resurgence of the feminine principle - and Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues" is merely one more manifestation of this breakaway from patriarchal control mechanisms (which usually take the form of political ideology and religious dogma).

It takes a fearless spirit like Hari Azizan to rock the boat of unthinking, unquestioning conformity with any social programming which imprints taboos against bucking the status quo. Concepts like "treason" and "blasphemy" are man-made Catch-22s to prevent the untamed spirit of future generations from overthrowing the parasitic coalition of feudal and ecclesiastical vested interests that has secretly ruled our destinies for hundreds of generations.

Socrates offers us a very simple test of authority's authenticity: True Authority, he says, never resorts to coercion or compulsion; true authority is self-secure and allows all views. False Authority invariably ends up pointing a gun at your head (or burning you at the stake or banning your artistic output)!

[Source: kakiseni.com]

Anwar Ibrahim: LETTER TO MALAYSIA (revisited)

Anwar Ibrahim's letter to all Malaysians was released on March 7th, 2008. the eve of the epochal GE12. I found it on Elizabeth Wong's blog and rather than reproduce the entire letter here, just click on this link! 

There are many reasons why I am voicing my support of Anwar Ibrahim's political comeback via Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) which as of today will lead a vigorous, newly elected parliamentary opposition.

My instincts tell me Anwar Ibrahim is a man of destiny and fully deserves our wholehearted support - but for now I am content to just let Anwar speak for himself.

I congratulate all Malaysians who voted with a vengeance on March 8th to foil BN's elaborate electoral fraud by the sheer force of their numbers.

Bravo, everybody! This has truly been a victory for People Power and I have never felt so optimistic about my country for as long as I can remember.

Before I sign off I just want to say to Dr M: you may be a cunning old crocodile but you are totally lacking in wisdom and humility. You were the one who sodomized Malaysia, not Anwar!

UNSINKABLE FLOATING OBJECTS (update)

Sim Kwang Yang has raised some very pertinent issues in his essay, "Whom should we trust?" Ultimately, we have to love and trust ourselves before we can love and trust anybody else. Otherwise we will end up behaving like the proverbial lemming, incapable of independent thought and action.

Every day I bump into people who continue to parrot well-worn clichés about Anwar Ibrahim being tainted during his long stint in Umno, his unrelenting political ambition, his connections with the Zionist banking fraternity - and, worst of all, the Islamic zeal that first shot him to prominence as a hot-headed leader of ABIM (the Muslim Missionary Movement). All these negative perceptions of the man are ultimately rooted in deep fear of individuals like Anwar Ibrahim whose lives seem like epics compared to most of us.

Every culture produces its own cult heroes - strangers who appear from out of nowhere, slay an ogre, marry a princess, and end up ruling the kingdom. Most of us are fascinated by heroes. After all, that's where our role models come from. However, in recent times, with the rise of the corporate superpower, heroes have become a manufactured product. The mass media conspires to transform ordinary folks into superstars - and then, almost inevitably, they commit deicide by ripping their icons to shreds through vicious gossip and slander.

Sim rightly advises us to reclaim the authority that resides within each of us, to embody within our own beings the noble qualities of the hero. This is the mark of a mature individual. As more of us become our own heroes, we shall no longer be in awe of other heroes. Instead we will befriend and cooperate with them to manifest our collective dream of the Promised Land.

During Mahathir's 22-year reign as PM, he effectively dismantled all the mechanisms by which citizens of a functional democracy can replace non-performing or misbehaving public servants. Without journalistic freedom, no real information reaches the ground, only corporate propaganda. Without academic, artistic and intellectual freedom there can be no open dialogue on values, perceptions and collective visions. Without a politically neutral civil service and police force, a climate of Orwellian absolutism prevails. And without an impartial and independent judiciary, no justice can exist, nor can serious wrongs be righted.

In effect, Malaysian politics under Mahathir was like a public toilet with no working flush mechanism. There's nothing more unpleasant than walking into the loo only to find Unsinkable Floating Objects in the bowl. With no flush - and no bucket and pail to perform the job manually - we had no choice but resign ourselves to the less-than-delightful odor and the disgusting sight of public servants, fattened on sleazy lucre, who simply refused to resign or retire even when they had long overstayed their welcome.

Rather than succumb to mistrust and fear, we would do much better to regard Anwar Ibrahim as the Master Plumber who will take on the unpleasant but absolutely necessary task of fixing the flush mechanism. Once that is accomplished, nobody will be reluctant to "get their hands dirty" by participating in local politics as every adult citizen should. The public bowels will be regularly moved and Malaysia's infamous stinky loos will become a nightmare of our collective past. In other words, let's get a grip on our conditioned reflexes. BN has ruled us for 56 years by playing on our fears. They fanned the flames of the non-Malays' Islamophobia even as they played up the Malays' anxieties about being overwhelmed by noisy platoons of pig-eating pagans.

In a fear-free atmosphere of open discussion - such as we are experiencing for the first time courtesy of the Internet - clarity, truth and wisdom have a much better chance to prevail over atavistic superstitions and taboos. When the public lavatories are clean and functional, people will be less likely to walk around full of their own crap - and public servants who become bloated with egotism and greed will find themselves unceremoniously flushed away.

[First published 14 April 2008]