Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 04:27 PM PST

NOV 24 — It was only last year that I celebrated my first Thanksgiving dinner. I was teaching dance culture at the University of California, Riverside and Thanksgiving saw most of the students and staff leaving the campus as well as town.

A new friend, Noitome Sunflowerfish, a PhD candidate and music composer for my "Hanuman" dance theatre piece, kindly invited me to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner at her place, not far from downtown Riverside. A few other friends, mainly from the Music Department, were invited and we bought the turkey for Noitome to cook.

For many years, I was confused about Thanksgiving, thinking it was related to Christmas and Christianity. Only last year did I discover the real meaning of Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, though another friend told me that they celebrate Thanksgiving in October in Canada. Perhaps that's when the confusion started.

My very first Thanksgiving dinner... delicious. — Pictures by Zubin Mohamad

As a Muslim, I have never been invited to Thanksgiving in Malaysia, and I thought that it was only celebrated among Christians, like a few celebrations in Islam such as Nuzul Quran and Maulidul Rasul.

Apparently, Thanksgiving is kind of like a harvest festival, just like the Gawai Festival in Sarawak and Pesta Keamatan in Sabah. In fact in the past, we used to celebrate Musim Menuai (Harvest Festival) by having a kite competition, rebana competitions and wayang kulit shows at night.

And during the performances, a few special dishes like "ketupat sotong" (stuffed squid) and "sotong giling" (grilled and pressed dried squid). My late mother was an expert at "ketupat sotong" and my father was in charge of "sotong giling." We would be selling those special dishes during the wayang performance. I am not sure why "sotong" of all food, but perhaps that's the major sotong harvest season.

That night at Noitome's house we had a good Thanksgiving dinner with salad, corn and potatoes to go with the turkey that took a few solid hours to be cooked. We know that Noitome cooked all day, but how much turkey could we eat among the four of us?

The star of the dinner... the turkey!

The bird was so big, at least a combination of three chickens. In the end, we had to split the leftovers between Noitome and me. I went home with a few little bags of turkey, but they went straight into my fridge as I was flying to San Jose the next day.

The next few days in Santa Cruz I hardly ate any meat as my host is pure vegetarian. In Berkeley, after watching an American puppet show we were lucky to find an Indian vegetarian restaurant.

Back in Riverside, in the next one week I ended up having turkey curry, turkey salad and turkey omelettes. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to make serunding out of that leftover turkey.

A yummy pie for dessert.

This turkey business reminded me of Hari Raya Korban where we go home with bags of meat, bones and other inner parts of the cow. After days and weeks of various curries in the kitchen, my mother would invent yet another dish for the leftovers.

Now that we no longer celebrate the harvest festival, as we are also buying our jasmine rice from Thailand, and wayang kulit and other forms of performing are banned in Kelantan, I wonder what's left for us to celebrate and for future generations to remember. With the bad flood in Thailand and a bad economy, what kind of rice is in store for us?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

You may be right, I may be crazy

Posted: 23 Nov 2011 04:03 PM PST

NOV 24 — "My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill" (Fiona Macleod).

The past two weeks I've been away from Malaysia, so I let my columns run a bit more off-centre for the duration.

I wrote about an inconsistent foreign policy and the curtailing of civil liberties. Unsurprisingly the responses have been divided, and at times vitriolic. I accept them, as anyone who makes his opinion known must. One must take greater comfort in that one's opinion is worthy of criticism to begin with.

It may have slipped the collective consciousness of my detractors that I have no special affinity for the state of Israel or the vanity parade which beauty pageants are. I speak of things I am involved in as I do of things I only have a cursory interest in. And sometimes of things I really don't care about.

I am permitted to speak of things or people or imaginary friends, as long as the manner in which I carry the discourse is reasonable, considerate and engaging. I expect only that reciprocation from those around me, not agreement. To live in a place where ideas have more resonance than the anger towards them, that is my utopia.

But the columns were not just an exercise in idea exhortation, they are intended to provide reflection for my countrymen and more so for me, this inadequate thinker.

Malaysians

There are those who oppose the way this country is run. Those voices grow by the day. However it is incumbent to realise that the capitulation of any regime necessitates a replacement.

This is where the quandary begins for Malaysians.

Those in power claim those outside their walls are disparate and often at odds with each other. That so many people opposed to the government of the day are equally opposed to many other things. Apparently, they are so caught up in their righteousness they'd manage a heated argument in an empty room, all by themselves.

The allegation has merit.

However, that observation does not absolve a regime which had run roughshod over a country for decades on the pretence of being the only possible government for such a divided country.

Being poorly-run while being resource-rich, and then ascending a class of people to the stratosphere while leaving more and more in a poorer-state, is not an acceptable reality.

A new Malaysia, the one post-Barisan Nasional (BN) must align itself to being a nation of many opinions, some contradictions but with a commitment to democratic ideals.

It really comes down to a sense of universal confidence that though most of us would have different ideas on how to go about, say, economic planning, poverty alleviation, foreign policy, moral codification, private space and speech, that the system will engage as much as possible with the population.

Not telling Malaysians what they should be doing, but listening to all Malaysians without prejudice and working a way to carry their honest aspirations forward.

BN believes this is not possible, not in Bagan Lalang, not in Section 17, Petaling Jaya. Malaysians are just going to go ape crazy at each other and will want to impose each person's absolutes on everyone else, according to them.

They are convinced they are the wall separating a functioning Malaysia and a chaotic Malaysia run by people who only know how to disagree.

For them it is better that the special well-bred and foreign-educated group decides for the rest, and manages the juvenile screams of a society too limited to understand the wealth present in our midst.

That is their ethos. It is not mine, and if enough of us want a change, then we all have to rationalise the absolutes standing in the way of our collective futures.

"But I can't" or "I am right, you are wrong, but I will hear you out to show you how magnanimous I am" don't engender discourse, they end them.

Malaysians wanting change must choose the country's real priorities and not hold up perpetually their shopping list of what shapes a "right" society, according to them.

BN must go, but those leading the clarion calls must decide if they will end up being a set of tyrants replacing the old ones.

Will Malaysians follow "Animal Farm's" Napoleon or Snowball?

I fear that a Napoleon, a populist reneging on principles but rich with promises, may seem more attractive to a nation being used to absolutes.

It seems attempts at bringing more Malaysians into the national dialogue are likelier to be met with cold water, despite our literacy rates and graduate numbers.

I fear they will hang Snowball.

All by myself

I've spent more time than is sensible to appear sensible to my countrymen.

As a minority, there is every chance my views would be rejected by my appearance not my candour. Having that as a shackle, I've learnt to take smaller strides so that those around me are not discomforted by my ambition and ability.

Though I have to admit, it is good political training.

The basic requirement for a politician is only one, to be willing to be a product. Once the subject is willing, then the passage is easy.

The product must meet the times, willing to abandon the past and ready to promise more. Awkward moments are met by obfuscations and challenges doused by delays.

And never say anything which alienates voters. Many times it is better to say nothing than to actually say something.

No one can get upset about nothing. But someone will always find something annoying about anything.

This is what I see in the wasteland of Malaysian politics. A continuous drone of copouts and reminders to everyone that politicians will never say anything citizens wouldn't want to hear.

I fear if I fall into this trap, then I will not be any different from those I oppose.

Which is why I raised those difficult issues. Most people wanting to engage Israel don't live in Malaysia or those who do keep their thoughts to themselves.

Beauty pageant contestants, organisers, publicists or viewers probably spend more time reading glossy magazines, they are not likely to jump into a burning pit to save me, or pass me the extinguisher.

There are no votes to be won from those segments or meaningful endorsements, yet I speak of these things because surely those who aspire to lead you must inspire as well as challenge you. That is how a country moves an inch.

I may be wrong, granted. I may also be right.

I wish you all the opportunities possible to engage me, even if it comes in volume and intensity. But will you listen also?

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Khamis, 24 November 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

0 ulasan:

Catat Ulasan