1/31/2011

The issue of drums, cymbals and gongs

The new directive on what can or cannot be done during Thaipusam is going to become very contentious and a very difficult position to defend. The policy is going to cut very deeply into the credibility of the decision makers. In my view, the thinking behind it is half baked as the repercussion across all community festivals will bear through its naivety. The closest policy in the same vein is the banning of a bicycle event in East Coast Park, very similar thinking, and very short sighted. The controversy will only grow with everyday and with every festival in our multi cultural society. The danger of big festivals is obvious. The death toll of a cultural event in Cambodia was too vivid and recent to be forgotten. So were the cases in India and Saudi Arabia. In huge crowds driven to a frenzy, any small mistake will be multipled and can become a disaster or a tragedy. Even our National Day Celebration or New Year Eve Count Down could turn ugly. The trick is how to manage and control the crowds in big events. The bigger trick is how to introduce directives and manage an event sensibly and fairly without being seen to be discriminatory. Ah, the art of govt and the skills of the policy makers are very demanding in such circumstances. Any half baked idea will quickly back fired.

5 comments:

  1. All the whack-a-loon religious Hindus have to do is to appease the Christian-centric thinking, or oppose it in a religious war...which is always spectacular.

    The best way to settle religious difference is by outright brutal warfare where one side kills as many as they can of the other and the one left standing is the victor.

    This has worked for thousands of years. Fight, motherfuckers fight!

    As mentioned -- the other way is to appeae the Christio-centric thinking: make Thaipusam pay like Christmas -- in the retail, hospitality and tourist sectors, and you can do all the cymbal banging and gong whacking you like.

    After all for 2 months -- yes 2 long fucking months of the year we have to put up with silly boring anal squeezing "Christmas carols" 24 hours a day when the asshole Christians celebrate the (fake) virgin birth of their (fake) "messiah".

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  2. ...contd...

    Therefore a few days max of drumming, shouting and gong banging to me is completely acceptable.

    Hinduism is the oldest of all the "mainstream" religions -- meaning as a religion -- a set of bullshit, unprovable, mystical ideas -- it had stood the test of time the longest.

    Any school of ideas that can successfully maintain their con job for 5000 years deserves some respect.

    Namaste, motherfuckers, Aum shanti, assholes :-)

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  3. When the Fire Crackers, an almost Uniquely Chinese only symbol of festivity, was banned more than three decades ago, there was no hue and cry.

    Then the only Chinese Language Tertiary Institution Nantah was closed, many in Sin now even feel that it was a wise move, lol.

    It seems that only the Chinese in Sin are very happy to uproot their origins and to have them uprooted.

    patriot

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  4. patriot:

    Culture evolves.

    The evolution of societies are driven by the extent that capitalism improves the lives of people by making them wealthier.

    We live in a wealthier society now. There is a HUGE middle class who live in their own homes, population density is high. It is advances in technology and the accumulation of capital which makes this possible -- i.e. every sq meter in a civilised, market-based society is far more productive than a sq meter of swamp, forest, desert, or village land.

    Living in dense population, you cannot have individuals lighting explosives for fun like you could in village life.

    Culture has to evolve or die if it is no longer relevant. The basis of human perpetuation is progress, and the only way to do that sustainably and "justly" is through capitalism - where individuals freely act on achieving their values.

    I'd take the wealth increase over stagnation in "tradition" any day.

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  5. Hi Matilah;
    My first loyalty goes to my Origin(Root) follow by all others.

    Okay, me admits that i will not be able to explain the spiritual part of meself to others. Suffice to say me am an atheist who 'thinks' that nature is wonderful while human constructs are shitty stuff, be it science or religion.

    patriot

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