pīlōkär´pēn’s: if walls have ears

....It is quite clear that these "divisive walls" are built by Malaysians because of fear, not a problematic diversity. Malaysians turn to their ethno-religio-linguistic communities not because we don't share common ancestors, the same faith or the same language. We do so because we don't feel secure being individuals. We feel that we would be threatened if we don't have the numbers compared to "others".
We are always in a demographic rat race, or perhaps more precisely a rabbit race of reproductivity. After all, we care so much about our own community's reproductive rate to the extent that making love can be political rather than romantic or sexual....
Some reasons are natural. First of all, collective rights require economies of scale. If your community consists of only 50,000 people, you of course can't expect to have an Astro channel catering to just your needs. You may not have even a Wikipedia site in your own language. So, you end up not complaining about not having your People's Own Language (POL) class or being classified as "lain-lain " in census forms. The question is: how big is big enough to be entitled to collective rights in religion, culture and language? This question is important, because the divisive walls are not built by Penan or Orang Laut Malaysians, are they?

Secondly, democratic politics is a numbers game. If we have to divide resources by proportionality, then we need numbers, and we need walls. In fact, we will need to keep on moving our walls outwards to occupy a larger share of the territory, not unlike the Israeli-built wall in Palestine.

The third reason is arguably also reasonable but deeply problematic. We need the numbers from our own ethnic groups or our co-religionists because we are preparing for a showdown with "the others". In this sense, the real problem with the Shah Alam cow-head protest is not about offending religious sensitivities, but the threat of violence employed.

Any mad man or woman may get up to similar antics, but there is no need for society to jump and shout. But by signalling the use of violence to draw the ethno-religious boundary — "we constitute the majority here in this area, we set the rules; you follow or be prepared for bloodshed" — we are at the edge of returning to the barbaric pre-democratic world. We would be chopping heads rather than counting heads.....

Above is what Chin Huat's thought on wall...

Below is my take...

There’s just too many walls around us.

Some high.

Some low.

Some transparent.

Some with high voltage.

Some is just not physical enough to be broken down.

Some walls stays erected because of the wrong ‘walk’ that goes along with the right ‘talk’.

Just the other day, I was having this frivolous chat with the nurses while stitching up the bleeding uterus. Yes, I knew I was committing double sin. Frivolous talk breaks the 4^th percept and I shouldn’t be talking during surgery, although it was pretty much a straightforward, relatively dry operation.

Me: So, kak, raya tak de bonus ke?

Nurse: Tak de.

M: Tentu susah nak raya. Kan banyak orang yang harap bonus untuk beli benda-benda baru untuk keluarga.

N: Tapi, Najip senyum. Senyum makna ada harapan.

M: mungkin senyum sebab terfikir ‘apa ni, nak duit, mahu dari Balisan, bila undi, tak undi Balisan’.

N: Jika tak bagi, lagi undi Bulan. Kamu undi siapa?

M: Undi bulan kut? Bulan bagus kan.

And then, few days later, the news broke. Raya Bonus RM500 for all government servants who are Muslims.

Perhaps, it is just a rhetoric question.

Poverty hits us all, no matter Indian, Malay, Chinese, Chindian, Mamak, Bidayuh, Penan and etc.

So come next month, before Deepavali, can my Hindus colleagues expect a wave of bonus just for them?

Or will it simply be 1Malaysia, 1bonus and 1time only?

And yes, this is an entry about money and greed, something that makes the Chinese world turns around its axis, or perhaps it is more about the wall that Humpty Dumpty is sitting on.

And everyone (OK, not everyone) knows what will happen to that Humpty Dumpty sooner or later.

The higher the wall, the harder the fall.

P.S. I believe in true real solid 1Malaysia and to all my Muslims friends and relatives