Jumbled Up: Community, Culture and Nationalism

Random Foreword

Today I've realised the need for a clearer vision for Incitement Youth (right now it's inciting positivity & long-term affirmative action). I contend positivity  cannot be incited (imbued) if people are not open to accepting it as a way of life. It's like pouring rainwater onto a wasteland not willing to flourish.

A clearer picture might produce something more sustainable. Incitement itself sees new faces most of the time and I'm trying to investigate how can we reverse that.

 A movement needs permanence- people who embrace its beliefs, not just free-riders who have fun for a day or two and then leave. Do people really practice what they learn at Incitement? change the way they see life & treat those around them after attending Incitement? I'm not sure and there's a need to be sure.

Therefore, I think before I continue embarking on the Incitement journey, I need to see more, learn more. My foresight is way too myopic. I keep doing things without thinking about the long-term impact. Quite possibly, I've been putting way too much effort into hitting the wrong targets, 'places' that aren't ready.

'Real' Musings

Institution such as Taylor's, HELP, INTI have weak sense of community identity (generalization). Note comment below by Johann Oh.

Moreover, I was surprised the other day when my juniors, Koji Hirayama and Gabrielle spoke as if I wouldn't come back to help out the college with Incitement. It was then I realised it is deeply embedded in our culture to abandon our college after we're done with studies. Alumni? Alumni does not belong in our dictionaries. 

Origin: 1635–45;  < Latin:  foster son, pupil,equivalent to al-  (stem of alere  to feed,support) + -u-  (< stem-vowel *-o-  in interiorsyllable) + -m ( i ) nus,  orig. passiveparticipial suffix (cf. adult, old), akin to Greek-menos;  see phenomenon

 

^ Etymology of alumni. To support & feed. Maybe an alumnus exists in the corridors if Taylor's College Sri Hartamas, but not an alumni just yet. Hope I'm wrong.

Me thinks the debating scene might be a good place to start my adventure on learning about culture & community. It's a scene densely populated by some of Malaysia's century-long established institutions eg. MCKK, TKC, SDAR, UT MARA, UiTM and the likes. (not sure if all are at least a century old)

Here's are some examples to show they're doing things right.

Just the other day, Dato' Saifuddin Abdullah, presumably Malaysia's 'Father of Debate' tweeted below 

Fiat Sapienta Virtus. 

I had wondered what it meant. Turns out it means 'Manliness Through Wisdom'. Interesting that he still remembers his alma mater's motto despite having left the school 35 years ago. Even more interesting that he still practices it until now. Post- GE13 and many have praised Dato' Saifuddin for being a true gentleman about his lost in vying for Temerloh's MP position. 

Naturally, the next person I'm about to mention is also from the debating scene. His name is Syed Saddiq. I met him on FB when I asked him about Dato Saifuddin's contributions to the debating scene (a whole bucketlist, btw. I dare say he created a legacy).

So fast forward our conversation, Saddiq mentioned he was from a military school where nationalism was deeply embedded in their school culture. It sounded quite alien to me at first- culture-nationalism. Coming from SK TTDI and SMK BUD (4), all I could ever remember was this collective yet selfish rush to obtain straight A+'s, get a scholarship and run away from a glass ceiling. A glass ceiling  that allowed us to dream big enough but yet taunted us for what we supposedly could not achieve.

Primary, secondary and even tertiary education...I still remember the first lesson during Malaysian Studies last year.

Mr. William asked,

"How many of you are willing to die for your country? 

Only 2 or 3 raised their hands out of a whopping 100+ students. I was one of them. (Another was Amalina Taib, my now super close college friend who unsurprisingly went to a smart school in Putrajaya). 

This occasion reflected the opening ceremony of HELPMUN 2010 (I was 16) where MP Tony Phua asked an audience of 200+ a similar question 

"How many of you plan to leave,know someone who does or have been asked by your parents to leave Malaysia?" 

At least 90% raised their hands. I was one of them. The sense of abandonment of community,a subset of society 3 years ago was very real. And still is now. Thankfully though, although Saddiq and I clearly come opposite ends of the spectrum, I am slowly but surely gravitating towards his, towards ours. 

Here's to a new journey of learning about community, culture and comradeship. 

And building it from down up.

Happy Days Ahead,

Hui Min

PS- this post was completely done on my phone on impulse. And I'm super duper sleepy. Hence,sorry the disorganized points and uncreative structure. I will probably revisit this piece again.