Time and place for everything?

Decision to leave (Korean; 2022)
Director: Park Chan-wook

The ageing brain finds it difficult to learn new tricks. Hence, it compensates for its deficiencies by filling them with old remote thoughts. Whilst watching this Korean thriller noir, a conversation with an old friend, 20 years previously, resurfaced.

P was an ambitious young man when he was posted as a secondary school teacher in a remote part of the country. His rumbling young heart knew then that he was made for bigger things in life, but teaching a bunch of uninitiated young kids in the periphery was a start.

Being well versed in the Malay Language, he was quite a hit amongst the locals, particularly his young lady colleagues. These young lassies were all over him, eating out of his hand and at his beck and call. Bending over backwards to be in his company, there were unabashed invitations for intimacy.

Such good chemistry, sensual without being sexual

On further prodding by his nosey on more juicy details, P told them there was nothing more to say. Nothing happened. With a blank face, he said something to the effect of, "one should defecate where he eats!"

P went on to spend his free time preparing for his law degree. Soon enough, he resigned from his teaching stint and is now a flying legal eagle.

In every profession, situations may arise where one can obtain personal favours. He may be lured to use his positions to curry flavours to fulfil self-interests. For that reason, to be professional in a particular job would mean to put the emotional aspect into makings job-related decisions, but to decide with the head and not the heart. But then, when Adolf Eichmann made similar decisions, the world accused him of treating an act of evil as the banalest thing to do.

The protagonist of this Korean thriller noir, Hae-joon, probably did not have a friend like P to advise him on how to act professionally. Married but a weekend husband only as he is stationed as a police detective in another town, he is assigned to investigate a hiker who is found dead. During the course of his investigation, ruling out the hiker's sensual wife, Seo-rae, as a possible suspect, he is drawn closer to her. A Chinese immigrant, a caretaker of the elderly with a clear alibi of innocence, she is off the hook. But there seems more than meets the eye as Seo-rae is seen six months later with another husband who just happens to die soon after their meet!

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Just to de-stress!

Bullet Train (2022)
Director: David Leitch

This movie gives a feeling of watching 'Kill Bill' or 'Pulp Fiction'. There is a Quentin Tarantino feel to it with much chaos and twists in its storyline. There are mindless fighting and meaningless killings. The storyline is so convoluted that it makes a Bollywood offering an Aesop fable with a straightforward storyline. Despite the violence and gore, the dialogue paints a picture of a dark comedy. And the scriptwriter must have been trying very hard to sound philosophical by inserting Eastern philosophy here and there. Coincidentally, the film is an adaptation of a Japanese story.

The story revolves around the high-octane somersaulting and shooting action upon a speeding bullet train travelling between Tokyo and Kyoto. A self-proclaimed harbinger of bad-lucked assassin codenamed 'Lady Bug' embarks on the train with a mission to seize a particular suitcase. He is merely filling in for another hitman who is hit with a bug. Unknowest to him, a gang leader and his henchmen are to get the absent hitman. Now, the gang leader's daughter also wants to kill her father. To lure another old enemy of his father aboard the train, she drops his child from a building.

This confusing plot forms the background of a CGI-filled meaningless entertainment that would excite the feeble-minded. Along the way, to lure intellectual discourse, they threw in hints of chaos theory, the randomness of life and the possibility of how the flutter of a butterfly can start a tsunami!

The makers of the movie have been accused of whitewashing the whole story. Even though the setting can be anywhere, not necessarily in Japan, and the characters just carry codenames, the filmmakers cannot be made to go off the hook. They stereotype Japanese service workers as docile, unresponsive people who are ready to take a proper bow in salutation even though there is total destruction and mayhem around them. And that is supposed to be light entertainment.

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Out of India it is, not Aryan Migration theory!

The Saraswati Civilisation. (2019)

(A Paradigm Shift in Ancient Indian History)
Author: Maj General Dr GD Bakshi

In secondary school history class, we were taught to believe that civilisation developed circa 1500 BCE around the Indus River. Then came mighty learned men from the Steppe Land on horsebacks to bring knowledge and wisdom to this region. The original inhabitants of this region ran helter-skelter, crossing the Vindhya Hills to root themselves in the Southern part of the subcontinent. We vaguely remember being told about the Aryan Invasion Theory and the clear demarcation between the Northern part of India and the South.

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Later in life, we were exposed to Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita. What was taught as mythological tales, we later found out, was actually backed with scientific facts. For starters, the birth dates of specific icons could be fact-checked as their birthdates were described in relation to astronomical positions. These scriptures also illustrate a lush culture along the banks of a massive river with a width of up to 6-8km with torrents of glacier water, traversing 4,600km from the Himalayas. The scientific calculations of this event place it somewhere 5,000 to 6,000 years before the present, i.e. ~3000 BCE. It is also said to bear water from Yamuna and Sutlej.

Bunkum, say the Western historians and leftist-minded members of the academia. Even modern-day Indian historians, among which Romila Thapar is infamous, concur with the theory that Aryan Invasion is true and the Sarasvati River did not exist.

Since the 1970s, with the aid of satellite images, traces the presence of a large basin reminiscent of a dried-up river. We know Carbon C14 dating on archaeological finds is not easy. However, local archaeologists are confident that Indus-Saraswati could be as old as 9,500 years before the present. If that is true, the Indus-Saraswati must be the cradle of civilisation, preceding the Tigris-Euphrates one.

The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro
Indus Valley Civilisation
?2300-1750 BCE.

Archaeological excavation reveals they find spoils away from Indus, nearer to Saraswati River's 'mythical' placement. Perhaps, the descriptions of Rig Veda, about the glory of Saraswati and the glorious kingdom surrounding Saraswati, actually denote Harappa civilisation. Is it not amazing that cultural traditions, as seen in statues from Mohinjo-Daro and Harappa, are still practised in the sub-continent even today? 

Geologists suggest massive technotic plate movements that made the Yamuna and Salrej rivers change course between 4,600 and 2,700 years ago. Only during monsoons the Sarswati used to drain. Later, Saraswati water went underground, leaving pockets of pools. The Ganges became more prominent as Yamuna and Sutlej brought in a glacial stream of water. So, the Saraswathi described in Rig Veda corresponds to the lifeline of the scriptures.

If the Aryans did indeed move into Indus/Sarasvathi Valley, we would have been moving into a desiccated plain where the rivers had run dry by 1500 BCE. If the Aryans brought in culture, archaeological dating of Mohinjo-Daro and Harappa buildings would pre-date this timeline.

Now, who are these Aryans? Are they alien immigrants or indigenous to the area? Genetic tracking via maternal and paternal DNA to differentiate Aryans and Dravidians and to prove migration into India does not seem convincing. Its methodology is also allegedly flawed. Its sample failed to include subjects from essential groups. There is proof Aryans were local people who had evolved all through the Paleolithic (Stone Age) through to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic (Bronze) stages of civilisation. They had become farmers and domesticated plants and animals.

In fact, many now believe that, just like there was an 'Out of Africa' theory to explain the migration of primitive homosapiens, there is a convincing case for an 'Out of India' deduction to expanding human civilisation. There is ample proof that eco-catastrophe made them out of Indus/Saraswati.

It looks like the age-old Aryan Invasion Theory propagated by Max Müller, and Mortimer Wheeler will get the boot. There is evidence of genocide to convince us that Aryans butchered cultured Dravidians and drove them southwardly. The theory that came out later, Indo-Aryan Migration, says that Aryans supposedly came in droves to a desert land.

The colonial masters probably introduced the Aryan Invasion Theory to convince their subjects that they had indeed been colonised for aeons. In a way, it was their justification to rule over India and 'civilise' them. The British left long ago, but the push to maintain the status quo is ever so strong. Detractors have, in their sleeves, many deceptive ways to prove their point of Europe and Central Asia being the cradle of civilisation, which forms the basis of Judeo-Christian ideology, not Hinduism, not India. It is peculiar that features seen in the dancing girl of Mahinjo-Daro, like the multiple bangle adornment and the vermillion marking at the parting of the hair characteristic of married women in the subcontinent, are still present today.

It drives home the point that Indian or Hindu culture, as that was how the way of life practised in this part of the world was referred to, still stand tall despite all the external forces and invaders that permeated and tried to dominate over theirs.

[P.S. The analysis of DNA samples extracted from the skeleton of a woman buried in Rakhigarhi, Haryana, four to five millennia ago rejected the theory of Steppe pastoral or ancient Iranian farmers as a source of ancestry to the Harappan population. It demolished the hypothesis about mass human migration during Harappan time from outside south Asian genes. The sample had traces of genes of Iranian lineage. Since the pieces were as old as 11,000 to 12,000 years ago, it is way before Harappan.]

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Charge God for negligence?

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Directed by Taika Waititi

Soon after the March 8, 2014, disappearance of MH370, the world went into a prayer frenzy. People from various denominations were in unison in wanting to invoke their respective Gods to give a favourable outcome to the fracas. Despite all the fear of possible eternal surveillance by the powers that be, people soon realised that they could let a magnanimous Boeing plane go missing right under their noses with no recourse to recover it.  

All the penance and the prayers proved futile as we have been made to believe that the vessel just disappeared into thin air. What is the response of the believers? Are you going to move on in life believing that the Divine Forces, in all their wisdom, work in mysterious ways and do what is best for mankind? Are they going to think that they had not prayed hard enough, or would they turn livid, believing that the Gods had let them down?

These thoughts went through my mind as I viewed MCU's latest offering. Not being an avid consumer of comics (I was made to believe in my childhood that comics are a waste of time), the characters introduced in this outing are Greek to me. 

As a devoted theist, Gorr soon discovered that the gods he held in high esteem were haughty, self-indulgent figures who never really cared for their loyal followers. At the height of emotional turmoil, Gorr unearthed a god-killing sword, Necrosword, to become Gorr the God Butcher. Gorr becomes a menace, threatening the existence of God. Thor has to save the day with the help of his ex-girlfriend Dr Jane Foster @ now Mighty Thor, as she can handle the hammer Mjolnir now; Valkyrie, the leader of New Asgard and Korg, an alien warrior.

The film earned temporary notoriety after being banned from being screened in Malaysian cinema halls because of its 'gay elements'. As the story in the movie goes, they is a suggestion that Korg was conceived when two male partners 'held hands over a fire'. And Valkyrie expressed love interest in somebody of the same gender in one of the scenes.

The ban is just viewed as a minor storm in the teacup. Nobody is bothered anymore as those who want to watch it do not have to depend on theatrical screenings. They have creative ideas for accessing it digitally, bypassing local authorities' restrictions. And the rest of the world is actually fed-up that LGBTQI elements are deliberatively inserted everywhere in the name of inclusivity, even though in real life, LGBTQI may only involve 1% of society.

The real issue highlighted here is about expecting 'God' to bail us out from all our follies. Should we accept whatever results come out of our endeavours as the will of God? Should we just pacify ourselves that whatever negative outcome manifest in our actions, we will be judged justly at the end of days? Then, why bother about anything, the discoveries, the legal system, the order and the whole shebang of living if living is for the afterlife? A case in point is the recent sentencing of Najib Razak. Despite all the glaring evidence, he and his lawyers insist they never got justice. His lead counsel even has the cheek to philosophise that only God can dispense true justice. It shows how much he believes in his profession; so much confidence he exudes in Lady Justice! 

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As long as law is respected...

Escape from Mogadishu (Korean; 2021)
Director: Ryoo Seung-wan

We go to bed at night knowing jolly well that we will get a good night's sleep. We can get up the next day to go to work, self-assured that our workplace will still be standing. We queue at the checkout counter to pay for our goods because it is the civil thing to do. We do not go around breaking into premises because we know that the long arms of the law will finally catch up with us.

This peace of mind is what we, as a society, gave up for law and order. The powers-that-be promised to care for us, and we, in return, would sacrifice some of our liberty to suppress our inner desires to do what we wanted. When the government loses its grip on power, all hell breaks loose. The evil side of mankind surfaces. The respect for law takes a backseat, decorum disappears, and mayhem will ensue. All special privileges vanish into thin air. The law of the jungle takes over where the rule of law fails.

The diplomats of two warring nations of the Korean peninsula, North and South Korea, found this out the hard way. Somalia in 1991 was in turmoil as President Barre's government was overthrown by General Aidid's rebels. It was a time when the Koreas were still trying to gain entry into the U.N. (This is news to me! Even though Malaysia was already in U.N. since 1957, the Koreas had been struggling to get in since 1949. Then the Korean War came, and the Soviet Union opposed South Korea's entry. Since 1973, North Korea has become a U.N. observer.)

The Koreas were frantic trying to gain votes from African countries for U.N. entries. They were sabotaging each other for this purpose. The level of animosity reached a feverish pitch until Somalia fell into anarchy and the rebels destroyed the North Korean embassy staff scurrying for refuge. Against much hesitation, the South Koreans gave humanitarian support and together, they tried to escape from Mogadishu as the hostile rebel troop terrorised the country. After all the fight for survival, they go separate ways acting as mortal enemies. At the height of desperation to stay alive in Mogadishu, they covered each other's backs and grew to like each other.

'Escape from Mogadishu' is a gripping action movie with high suspense and edge-of-the-seat value. It is based on actual events but with a liberal sprinkle of artistic liberty. If 'Black Hawk Down' was America's viewpoint of the Somalia situation, this film's South Korea's version. Maybe one day, we will get a Somalian version of the debacle.

(N.B. Perhaps Malaysians should give a pat on themselves. Being a young democracy that came into existence as an independent third-world nation 65 years ago, it did specific earth-shattering things to its government without much turmoil. It booted out a corrupt government through a peaceful election. It further sent its ex-Prime Minister to jail for corruption and may send more for the same.)

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The Queen is dead, long live the King!

©Elanour Tomlinson

We are often advised to say only the nice things about the recently departed. Somehow, all the ill feelings and the wrong paths crossed are temporarily swept under the proverbial carpet. Everyone, including the ones who tend to benefit from the deceased's passing, is expected to carry a sombre outward appearance - wear a sad face, dress down and avoid merriment. 

After the so-called mourning period, it will be pretty much no-holds-barred, I guess. 

But now, even before the dead are laid to rest, the wokies are already at it. I am referring to the recent demise of one of the longest reigning monarchs of the once most enormous Empire of the world, where the sun never set. True, she inherited a bounty of loot from the world over. At one time, pirates scaling the Atlantic high seas were free to pilfer gold from Spanish vessels legitimately under the auspices of the British Crown as long as they paid their dues to the monarch.

True, they went out with their imperial stance with a chip on their shoulders and a stiff upper lip to match. And plunder wealth from civilisations that had found peace with their place in the sun, create mayhem to liberate the oppressed and destroy other cultures with their new economic model.

This turn of events is inevitable. Every nation wants to improve life for itself. The designated / king does that for his subject at the expense of a gamut of benefits for himself and those under his umbrage who held his torch. This way of conquest was thought to trickle down the food chain and continues to date.

There were plundering imperialists, and there were cruel plundering imperialists. Some maimed their subjects without caring about their future. In a way, the British made some humane decisions to ease their administration but ended up causing their Empire's own destruction along with other compelling factors. They laid down plans for proper administrative machinery, invested in education for natives to help (and look down on their own cultures) and created an extensive web of transportation networks. 

If not for the English, this blog would not be in English or an incomprehensible language that could hardly pass for English. We were lucky that English became the lingua franca of the world, the modern language of communication. Left to our politicians to steer us to the future, we would still be a fumbling fishing village ruled by despots, not that they are not preventing this from happening. An unthinking obedient herd of the population led by their leash to the slaughter is their idea of utopia. If we had been savaged by colonists, we would have been brutalised by our own kind. As the Tamil saying goes, "Whether Rama or Raavan rule, it doesn't matter to me, I don't give a damn!"

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All the justice money can buy.

Chief Justices Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, Chief Judge of Sabah and 

Sarawak Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, and apex court judges 

Nallini Pathmanathan, Mary Lim and Mohamad Zabidin Diah.

The naive, straight-thinking, law-abiding me with no background in the legal field used to think that the buck stopped at the Court Of Appeal. If one fails at the Appellate Court, it was pretty much that. One goes to jail to complete a sentence or meets his maker as he hits the gallows. 

Now we know there is life after the appeal. One can seek justice by pleading at the Federal Court. If the results there are not to his liking, he further argues to have a judicial review of the panel of judges that meted his sentence. Even the Federal Court can be held at ransom. This is called justice in the world of the high-heeled. Everyone deserves adequate legal representation, and it is his human right. Of course, it becomes mandatory if the client can afford the obscene amount of retainer fees involved as the case goes higher in the hierarchy of the legal accolade. Nobody has the guts to inquire about these people's seemingly bottomless coffers and the disproportional amount they save from their structured civil servant pay.

Not to forget the special treatment these VIP client is entitled to. In the eyes of the law, unlike what everybody else says, he is not a criminal until he has exhausted all his legal avenues. Till then, he will be roaming freely, still flashing his designer outfits and not repeating wearing the same tunic more than once. He can perhaps add a tinge of tangerine in his tie to mock naysayers who miss the joy of seeing him in an orange prison suit. The shiny steel cuff links can remind them of the handcuffs that he does not have to wear. 

We, the mere mortal we are, are also told that everyone deserves a second chance. Like a true religious confession, with a single stroke of the royal quill, one can get a clean slate, free to do what he seems fit, sniggering at the whole parody of it all. 

In the true mantra of cash is king, money can buy friends, love, liaisons with the rich and famous and definitely justice and freedom. Laws are made to make the powerless remain so and squirm at the sight of the stick. For the privileged 1%, it is just an inconvenience. Laws are meant to be broken. The rich can challenge it. The poor just have to oblige. 

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