Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Lord of the Flies

The Book (1954)

(Based on the 1954 novel by William Golding)
(1963 movie, directed by Peter Brook)
(1990 movie, directed by Harry Hook)

This book is a popular choice among English literature students. It fosters engaging debate on the darker aspects of human nature, leadership, and the evil that resides within us. There is a fine line between remaining civilised and succumbing to savagery.

It was the period after WW2; the world must have been perplexed by the scale of the atrocities that took place during the war. The level of violence and destruction, especially after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, must have prompted questions about the evil that resides within each person. The 1950s still likely were not among the most peaceful times, as Russians had learned to produce the A-bomb and the US was moving into H-bombs.

Golding's story depicts a group of preteen boys stranded on an isolated island after their plane crashes. With limited resources, they attempt to survive until rescue arrives. The boys try to establish law and order by choosing a leader. Gradually, a rebel group forms among them, who would eventually go to great lengths to enforce their own ways.

1963 film

Even though they are just boys, it is interesting to see how they summon the animal savagery that lies dormant within their souls to harm and even kill the other party when competing. The dangers of unleashed energies driven by mob mentality cannot be overstated. At first glance, the narration portrays all people as inherently evil. We tend to see people as unthinking automatons with no agency. However, upon closer examination, some individuals do care for each other's safety. The boys initially cooperate to use what they have learned at school, like starting a fire and protecting themselves. They are willing to accept laws and follow them gladly. It is only when circumstances become tough that they retreat to their animal, primal instincts, revealing their ugly side. 

1990 film

People have to be kept contented and preoccupied with something to do. They need to be told what to do. Some amongst us are leaders material, the majority are mere followers and are easily malleable to rhetoric. An idle mind is the devil's workshop and the commentary of resentment and rebellion. When the piece of pie becomes smaller, tempers flare. There is a thin line between orderliness and mayhem.

Both the 1963 and 1990 versions feature mainly young characters, but I prefer the 1963 one. Maybe I am a fan of 'black-and-white'; it has more depth and gives the surreal feel of being trapped on an island. However, it also evoked a sense of watching a secondary school drama.

Both good and evil reside in the human soul. As individuals, we must remind ourselves to stay on the right path and not stray into darkness. Human history has shown that no single form of governance can withstand the test of time. When humans first began living in communities, they believed that autocratic rule by a monarch with demigod-like status would suffice. Resentment grew when divisive rulership became evident. Revolution was then justified. They thought that communism was the answer. However, human greed eventually overshadowed the desire for equality. It too collapsed. The free market often degenerated into vulture capitalism, and human follies permeated all systems. In a world darkened by terrible deeds, regular self-questioning and reasoning seem to be the only way social justice can prevail. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

P.S. 'Lord of the Flies' is another reference to Satan (Beelzebub).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

With claw, cleaver or cleavage, they clamour...

They are no more the weaker sex, the fair one, the one who plays second fiddle, the subservient one, the one to be seen but not heard. Sometimes, their presence was not even made aware as veils hide either their enclosures or their faces.

Nanthini

The world realised that second-classing half of the population was counterproductive. With the demand for extra pairs of hands in meeting the requirement of the times, the members all sexes were pulled in. 

For the first time, women realised that they too could walk shoulder to shoulder with men. With generations of oppression and suppression, their DNA must have understood there was dire need to evolve to stay relevant. Now more and more of them came out their cocoons, demanding equal rights. The powers that be had to relent.

By then, everyone realised that it was the way to go. The cake was big; there was plenty for everyone.

Somewhere along that path, something went astray. Socio-economic rights were confused with biological differences. Even though both sexes had been intrinsically made with differing roles and liberty, ladies insist that they want the exact leeway that was provided to their other opposing half. Rather than looking at their position as like that of two eyes working in synchrony to provide stereoscopic vision, now each eye liked to think that one is superior to the other.

Lately, the gender with the extra X chromosome had realised that they had a secret weapon. Liberation of sexes saw more than tunics that became scantier. The less the people hid, the more people wanted to see. Ladies have mastered the art of showing too little too much; giving little to the imagination but stirring the curiosity, nevertheless. Raising the hemline and lowering of the cleavage were sure ways to raise eyebrows or capture a roving eye.

Once the attention is of the intended is grasped, they moved in. Absorbing the knowledge denied to them thus all this while, they demanded more. They cried foul when their opportunities were denied. They wailed and drew crowds.

The coup de grâce must surely lie in the skilful exposure of the mammary glands. Enticing of the intended unassuming victim to ogle may knock him off his rockers. Even though the subsequent course of events may have been mutually entertaining and beneficial, or even educational, it is the self-proclaimed 'weaker sex' that decry injustice. They have no qualms in washing dirty linen in public and is equally at ease at invoking secretions from the lacrimal glands for good measure. Mission accomplished, and they would soon scale greater heights.

What is the point of all these; to prove that they are more powerful and resilient? Biology has already shown that their kind is already strong. After enduring aeons of hardship, their survival skills and ability to combat adversaries are proven. Their strength must have come from their task of carrying, caring and protecting their young from the womb. Now, if they wilfully decline that role, are they going to lose that quality in time to come?

A scene from 'Young Frankenstein'
Remember the line?

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The right to offend and be offended

http://www.familytrek.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/DI-I-offend-you.jpg

I saw a video clip recently on the social media. It took place within the confines of an underground train. A mother was seen nursing her infant in a sparsely occupied coach. She was admonished for exposing herself in public. The man who accused her of public indecency insisted that his liberty of not wanting to see a naked lady had been denied. Slowly, the fellow passengers joined to support the lactating mother, but the man stood his ground. He accused her of not bothering about how others would feel seeing a naked breast in plain view. The argument went on for some time till it was time for one of them to disembark.

A few months ago, a Muslim man is a Hindu-majority village in India was lynched to death when the village holy man announced that a particular occupant was in possession of beef. A mob, primarily vegans who thought that by controlling their cravings for blood and meat would be able to reach eternal bliss and be one with God, decided to ambush the Musalman's abode and make mince meat out of him.

So, there is a dilemma between what is offensive and when it acceptable to feel offended? Is it all right to offend another as it is an individual's right to do what he wants? Is it not also a person's right not to be ridiculed of his practices and be offended? The world community has agreed that every human creation has been bestowed upon him certain rights. Hence, by right, he should be able to demand those things that are due to him. But, only he alone is entitled to human rights, not the person he is offending?

On the other hand, feeling offended is the story of humanity. This offence drives him to strive harder. The natives who felt offended by the antics of their colonial master for treating them as sub-human were the driving force that pushed them to strive harder to squash the yoke of colonisation. This inferiority complex pushed humanity forward to fight orthodoxy.

Are we mollycoddling the minority or the vulnerable by giving them an umbrella of protection by shielding them from the reality of the world? Perhaps we should reflect upon these two quotations:

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

~Eleanor Roosevelt

“Avoiding offense means that we don't accept each other as equals.”

~Ayaan Hirsi Ali (activist, reformist, opponent of FGM)

What is it that you really want?

After the demise of Singapore's founding father, LKY, the question of personal liberty and freedom versus the need for Big Bro to oversee things for the nation's greater good made its rounds. Proponents of human rights and individual freedom would argue that the Government has no business barging into personal lives and tapping into our telephone calls. After gruelling all the wrong decisions in the past and paying dearly, the West could no longer trust their governments. Instead, they would let their elected leaders mess up all people's (Third World) future than their own. The leaders are elected servants, and they are there to serve.

On the other end, paternalistic leaders feel that human beings are just brainless blind invertebrates with a herd mentality. They just follow their peers without much thinking or analysing! This was proposed by Sayyid Kutb, the Egyptian school inspector who earned a scholarship to the USA. In his daily dealings, he discovered that people are only obsessed with materialism, violence, and sexual pleasures. They are clueless about what they actually want in their lives, and they need strong leadership to pave and lead the way. His ideology became the spine of many ultra-nationalistic and religious bigots.

LKY has an impressive set of laurels to prove that his formula of regimentalised dictatorship had been pivotal in transforming a backwater village into a first-class metropolitan city. His foes would say that the only difference between Kim Jong Il and LKY is the prosperity of its citizen. But is not that the end of all, being prosperous and affluent? Or is something more than being happy, belly full and money jingling in your pants and knowing your old age is taken care of?

Remember the time?

Make yourself at home

Remember the time in history when the first merchant ship landed in Surat and the year 1509 when Lopez de Sequeira landed on our shores with gifts and praises. The locals bent over backwards, as the local culture dictates, to please the guests and make them comfortable and feel welcome. The guests, fondly referred to as 'Benggali Putih', did not fulfil their part of the bargain of being a gracious visitor but instead became their masters. Life, as the locals knew it, was never the same.

Here comes trouble!

Fast forward 5 centuries later, the whole country is excited that the most powerful man on the world with the official authority to annihilate the whole world with a press of a button decided to grace his presence in this land. Media has gone bonkers hailing the visit as the next best thing since 1966 when his predecessor came here to signal to the Eastern Block that we were proxies of the Uncle Sam. So, keep out!

And it applies to others too!

So, why the honour? Is it because Big Brother wants to ensure his little one is doing alright? Is it like how we have to visit our loved one every so often to show that we do care about them?
Is his visit going to straight our dismal human rights' record, our achievement in topping human trafficking list, poor media freedom and the mushrooming of state sanctioned ultraist groups? Dream on.
In the immortalised words of his predecessor known for his clandestine activities in the cloak room than the oval office per se, "It's all about the economy, stupid"!
The poster boy has arrived to exude his charm or twist arm the leaders to sign at the dotted lines of the TPPA (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement). We have reached a crossroads where the leaders would have to decide whether to enrich corporate America, to safeguard its citizens or benefit (enrich) themselves via spillover effect of the deal.

The other side of HIS-story!

My Side of History (@Chin Peng; 2003)

A few years ago when Chin Peng's application to return to Malaysia appeared in the local newspapers, I remember discussing with a close friend about the subject. Being a learnt chap who was fair and aged as he was, I was taken aback by his reaction. Hailing from the district of Tanjung Malim, an area listed as a red light for communists activities, he was quite emotional that Chin Peng should not be allowed back at any cost. He had first hand experience of experiencing the violence and atrocities at the hands of people who looked at communism as the saviour of our nation to escape colonisation of their European masters.
Now, the question is whether CP was a liberator or a CT (communist terrorist). The question is who decides which, is it the victors of ideology or the historians. The fall of communism just convinced the victors that they were right all along. As in all human endeavours, the fallen would always be suppressed by the strong and mighty. Like they say, when caught in a strong current, always hold on to the strong roots by the bank of the river not the dangling branches.

A War Hero

From our childhood, we had been inundated with the idea that communism is some kind of evil teaching that is out to pulverise all kind of successes and liberty that mankind had attained since the time of Adam and Eve. So when I saw it this book at the local shelf in 2009, I grabbed a copy but only got to read it of late.
Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Too much information can sometimes lead to more questions and confusions. This is what happened to a young Ong Boon Hua (a.k.a. Chin Peng), a veracious reader. At time when the feudal system was meeting its coup de grâce through much human suffering and rising of the workers' class, elitists and intellectuals tried to stir human emotions on equality and humanity. These ideas fascinated many young minds of the mid thirties in the hope of creating an utopia on Earth.
The 1937 Rape of Nanking by the Japanese soldiers left a deep scar on many Chinese all over the world including the first generation migrants. It was only natural that when the Japanese reached our shores in early 40sduring WW2, the Chinese here took up arms against their Eastern intruders. WW2, in a way, woke Malayans from their slumber of nationalistic apathy. The people were also divided into two factions; one who went underground to resist the invaders from the Land of the Rising Sun (MPAJA) and the other who were cooperative and gained from the cycling Hirakiri advocating invaders.

Public Enemy No. 1

The bumbling British tried to make a comeback with help of the underground army. This cooperation between Force 136 and MPAJA later won many praises when the war was over. The Communist Party which was hoping to liberate Malaya from their colonial masters were taken for a ride. The newer batch of English officers were gung ho and set to reap maximum benefits for their motherland which was in dire straits after the war.
On the Malayan side, poverty was the order of the day. All the three years hard earned savings through the war years came to naught when the returning masters deemed the banana currency non legal tender. The new changes in the British administration and the economy malaise added by hungry mouths became fertile ground for fascination with socialistic and communistic ideologies. These ideologies infiltrated trade unions.
After the war, many MPAJA soldiers were decorated. Chin Peng himself was conferred 2 honorary medals and OBE. Ironically, less than two years later, he became Public Enemy No. 1 with a price on his head!
Post World War 2 era marked the begin of the Cold War and both divides were not giving their territories to the other side so easily, hence the change of heart.
The frustrated guerrillas took matters to their own hands. With the dearth of communication means, the leaders of CPM never could hold a tight rein on their subordinates. On top of that all, it was rife with internal problems. Its early leader, Lai Te, turned out to be a turncoat who sold his comrades to the Japanese and also to the British! He later absconded with a princely sum of money.
Interestingly, CPM received support from sympathetic Malayans and through capitalistic means!
Subsequent shrewd planning and propaganda use of the media on the part of the British crippled CPM.
The crimes of the communists were highlighted making it justified in the public eyes for them to be labelled as 'terrorist'. On the other hand, nefarious acts by the armed forces were muffled. A picture of a British soldier holding 2 'trophy' heads of Chinese communists made it way to the Daily Mail in the UK. It earned a bad reputation for the Brits. The authorities justified their action by the need of identification and census. They argued that they did not have to follow the international set of rules of treating captives as the Emergency period (1948-1960) was not a war! Then there is the Batang Kali massacre where the accusing fingers still point to the English.
This book gives a deep insight into the happenings during the 1955 Baling talk like never seen before in any history textbook. Chin Peng and his men, by then weary of the jungle, wanted to come into the mainstream. They wanted recognition as an entity which fought for the nation and be allowed to operate as a political party. David Marshall, a roaring lawyer from Singapore with his own political ambitions, is seen here a loud steamrolling one sided negotiator who wrecked the peace talk. Tan Cheng Lock, is painted as a true capitalist who seem more interested in loss of business opportunities and monetary wastage rather than liberty and social justice. Political wrangling by the powers of the day forced them to go underground again.
Once again, as world reeled from the post war slump and economy was booming, communist sympathy dwindled. At the end of the day, it is money that talks - a hungry stomach raises the sickle but when hunger is fulfilled, he yearns for peace.
In its early days, CPM seem like a groping organization with no recognition from its well established peers like in Australia and India. It was not even invited for the Communist World Summit in 1960. The Australian delegate who was passing through filled in on the details and suggested the idea of killing strike breakers and traitors.
The damage of public property was supposed to hurt the colonial masters. The first brutal killing of a British planter in Sungai Siput over wage dispute herald the beginning of the Emergency period. Renegade members of CPM killed here and there without the blessings of the Central Committee, allegedly. The assassination of Sir Henry Gurney was apparently a wild shot, unplanned. Guerrillas who wanted food and money hijacked a VIP car by chance. Sir Gurney happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Grinning Royal Marine with his "trophies".

Briggs' plan of creating new villages overnight by forcibly mass transporting villagers unannounced and rationing their food supply may appear inhumane but it helped to fade the sympathy of the Malayan people. This, with the euphoria of a new independent nation and burgeoning prices of raw material in the world market sent the revolutionary ideas further back into the back burner.
A disappointed Chin Peng went into exile in the background, He was a guest of Thailand, Vietnam and China. He received financial support for China and telecommunication aid to transmit communist ideas to Malaysia.
Chin Peng's love affair with communism met more resistance as the days went by. Malaysia started diplomatic relationship with China. CPM in turn had to comply with certain requests made by Malaysia via China. Difference in thinking amongst the Soviet, the Chinese and true Marxists created various factions within CPM with many backstabbing with money as the primary gain. The tired old man called truce in the 80s with the then Inspector General of Police but failed to make it even as to the motherland that he fought for. Ironically, his last breath was on the day sanctioned as Malaysia Day, 16th September 2013 at the age of 88.

Feel free to be free...

Another pastime that I occasionally indulge in is T-shirt watching. Some of the things written on them could be quite entertaining. Of course, some of them could be construed as sexual harassment if uttered by an individual. As it only written and not uttered, nobody gives a second look. Actually it is meant to be looked again and again! T-shirts with messages like 'Wish these were brains', 'Hammer says "You can't touch these"' would fit this bill. My favorite must be 'My girlfriend went to Vegas and all she got me is this lousy T-shirt'. Not to forget the abbreviations of the word 'Fornication Under Consent of the King' purposefully spelt as the abbreviations of 'French Connection United Kingdom' to  give a false sense of grandiosity to its wearer. Grandiose feeling by its wearer who is awed by his the fact that he is not wearing a garment but a statement. A statement that he dares to be different and fight against the self imposed worldly prejudices against him!
Just the other day, I saw this man who from his appearance as a vagabond with his disheveled hair, unshaven 1 week's stubble, more of a beard, worn out Japanese rubber slippers which had seen much better days, walking aimlessly with his gaze far into the horizon donning an equally worn out T-shirt screaming with red clenched fist and the fiery red words 'Walk for Freedom' emblazoned on it.
My curious mind wondered....
What kind of freedom is he looking for? Is he not free to wonder where he fancied - unlike a time not so distant in the past, where signboards like 'Dogs and so and so not allowed' were placed outside reputable restaurants. Is he not free to be restricted to dress in a particular way or manner (lack of) of grooming? Is he free to speak as he pleases? Is he not free to pursue his dreams if he had any?
Even the epitome of freedom, the bird, is not totally free. He is not free from his daily obligations to look for food. He is definitely not free from predators and pranking kids.
Maybe our homosapien friend wants to be free from the curse of the cycle of karma!
For all you know, the T-shirt could be a discard from a formerly radical thinking individual who had turned his back and to the dark side of capitalism because it is more self gratifying...