Wesak

A stone stature of the seated Buddha, with its head and two lower arms severed off, was photographed in Wat Maha That, one of the many ruin temples in Ayutthaya, Thailand. About 240 years ago, the invading Burmese army, destroyed everything Thai in the city and many of the wreckages still remain today.

This picture of the Buddha, at the moment of enlightenment, with his right hand touching the earth and the left hand calling the earth to witness it, captures the mood and essence of the Wesak celebration, in May every year. This visualization, brings together, the time when Siddhartha Gautama became a Buddha, when he was born (563BC) and when he died (483 BC) and also his teachings about spiritual liberation and human insights.

Ayutthaya, in the 14th and 15th century, was the second Capital of Thailand after Sukhothai. It was the greatest inland port at that time but it was in constant war with invading neighbours, wanting to take over its power and wealth.

Some of the best Thai Buddhist art flourished during that time but in 1765 the invading army from Burma, over ran the city within two years, and in its wake, desecrated everything sacred to the Thais, including manuscripts, temples and sculptures.

The Mon people (Thais and Burmese), who were mostly Theravada Buddhist, were at war with each other constantly, in their history, and they are now still at war, not only with their neighbours, but also with their own people. This is true too of many parts of the world today; we are endlessly at war with each other, many of these conflicts are in the name of religion, race, power and greed (for oil and other limited natural resources).

When will we ever learn to live and share with our neighbours?

A thin line

In the last few weeks, there has been a lot of news from all over the world, of countless deaths, due to natural or man made courses (famines, earthquakes, cyclones, droughts, starvations, floods, prisons, wars, massacres, revolutions, global warming etc.).

There is but a thin line, between life and death, and each of us crosses it and back, many times in our daily life. If we didn’t die today, we live for another day, and so on. But one of those day it will be our turn. This page is dedicated to all those of our distant blood brothers and sisters (related millions of years ago from the middle of Africa), young and old, near and far, all colours, cultures or creeds.

May you all find rest, some how, somewhere, sometime. Who knows, perhaps we’ll all meet in another form someday?

Citi Hadijah, 25, from Johore, is one of the many tenpin bowlers competing for a medal in the 14^th Paralympics in Kuala Lumpur (3 to 9 May). She is slow but she can sure swing the bowling ball over the pins. She has a personal style of holding the ball right up to her face, pause in concentration, before launching it.

The oldest bowler, Amaran B Bohri, 61, is from Kampong Paya Mebi, near Kuching, Sarawak. He is a veteran to this sport; he has won 3 gold medals and several other trophies, in individual and team events.

Amaran’s leg and back injuries were caused by an accident in his work place in 1995. That has not stop him from a happy family life and sports. He has six children and 20 grand children. Bowling is his favorite game.

Maizirah, 46, from Perak, is a first time bowler and she only started practicing two weeks before the games. She had just five bowling sessions at the Ipoh Parade Bowling Club before coming to this meet. She is a natural at the game and plays with a great deal of fun and enthusiasm.

She had a motor bike accident two weeks after her wedding and lost her right leg. At home she uses a pair of shoulder crutches to move about but she had to borrow a wheelchair to come to this venue. What she wishes for is a wheelchair so she can improve her mobility at home and at her sporting meets.

Maizirah’s contact no: 017 584 2639, (Please call her if you wish to donate a wheelchair).

Goh Cheng Yoong, 37, has cerebral palsy (CP), he is here from Penang, with his mother, Ho Lee Mei, to take part in the 14^th Paralympics in Kuala Lumpur (3to9 May). His game is boccia, an indoor bowling game especially designed for the severely disabled person.

The player, depending on his or her ability, may take 5 to 15 minutes to play, throwing or kicking or picking with a pointer from a headgear, the ball. Some players can play by themselves others need help.

Cheng Yoong needs his mother to help him play this game, as you can see from the photo. His mother sits on his right with her back against the playing field and she has to take instruction from him as to the detail position to place the shoot that launches the ball. His mother is his ‘hands’ and ‘legs’.

This couple, mother and son, for the last 37 years, has been closely link in everything in their daily life. His mother said, with a smile, that she is so use to doing things with her son, all the pain and the pleasure, good and bad days, are all mixed into one, that’s life to her. She is happy that her son can join in with the other CPs, in Penang and while at the games, and have a community life of some sort.

Fraidden Dewan, 22, is an Iban, a Sea Dayak from Sarawak’s 20 indigenous groups.

He is the star swimmer of the Sarawak team that is in Kuala Lumpur for the

14^th paralimpiad games, 3 to 9 May.

Eight years ago, when he was helping his father cut down a tree, in his village,

Mukah, near Sibu, he slipped on wet grounds while the tree was crushing down.

The tree fell on his lower left leg and crushed it. It had to be amputated.

He only took up swimming as a sport for the disabled in 2002 and since then

he has been selected to be part of the national team. He is in individual as well

as team events and he is here to show his swimming skills. Catch him and his

team mates in action at the Bukit Jalil sport complex today.

One of his problem outside the swimming pool is the difficulty of getting a

job in his town or near by Kuching. He is now a father of a two year old son

and has a young family to support.

At the moment he lives his family and his father is an odd job worker and the

family income is not predictable. What he wished for, at the moment, is to get

some professional training and to get a good job and to continue swimming and

may take part in the Olympics, in the future.

Last photo: from the left, Fraidden, Stanley, Zam, Zul Amirul

]]> http://vicchin.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/a-star-swimmer/feed/ 1 vicchin Fraidden Dewan doing the butterfly Fraidden Dewan showing his sign after the event Sarawak swimming team http://vicchin.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/malaysian-paralimpics/ http://vicchin.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/malaysian-paralimpics/#comments Tue, 06 May 2008 02:20:46 +0000 vicchin http://vicchin.wordpress.com/?p=167 ]]>

The 14^th. Malaysian paralympic games is on -3 to 9 of May – in various sporting avenues in and around Kuala Lumpur. There are more then a thousand athletes, from all over the country, gathering for this biannual sporting event.

Some of the athletes are competing for the first time and this experience of doing their sport, at the national stadiums, whether they win or lose, will add to their personal pride and also that of their family and community. Many are veterans in the games and they are here to show their self-worth.

Beside the competitive spirit in the games there is also the friendship and sharing of personal and sporting experiences among the disabled athletes. They are all housed in the sporting village in Bangi area, near to the Bukit Jalil sports complex, where most of the track and field and swimming events will take place.

This sporting event means a great deal to the disabled groups who have all trained hard over the years to show off their skills and competence. However this sporting event sadly does not get the media coverage it deserved as compared to the more main stream local and international sporting news. This neglect and discrimination by the newspaper and TV stations, to highlight the disabled in sport, lamentably, leads to the public’s lack of information and interest in the other fellow citizens’ sporting culture.

For more information of the games contact (main secretariat) Noraini Mohamad, 013-2027 930, Norimah: 03 2273 9293, Julia: 012 4045 738.

Top photo: Yee Gan Chee from Penang, powerlifting; Bottom photo: Ahmad Amil from Kuala Lumpur getting ready to show his strength.

The sovereign peoples of Malaysia, 49% of the 7.9 million, who went to the polls during the 12 general election on 8-3-08, voted for the opposition parties. Only 51% voted for the national coalition parties and they now rule the country by a simple majority, not with the 2/3 majority as they enjoyed before.

This is a victory for the Malaysians who dared to register their vote of dissent to the politicians in power for the last 51 years and this act of objection deserved our gratitude and praise. This ought to be a date in Malaysian history as a Malaysian Dissent Day (MDD) and ought to be celebrated annually from now on.

Politically MDD  will remind all the politicians, in power or otherwise, the peoples of the nation is the authority. And there is still the next task to get the rest, 50% of the population of 27 million, who didn’t register to vote to do so for the next election. This is a vote by the different peoples, for the peoples of the country and not for politicians to misuse it for their own personal or party’s benefit.

MDD will alert its electorates about the social and cultural racist practices that existed in the country and learn how this concept of a ’superior race’ is used, not just in Malaysia but world wide, as a tool to divide and subjugate its citizens and make them miserable and downtrodden.

The sovereign peoples of Malaysia deserved to live in freedom, dignity and fraternity. Long live the voice of dissent. Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Victor Chin’s letter of dissent, to the editor of the Malaysian newspaper, The Edge, was published in Options (Oct. 22, Issue 622). The letter referred to the piece by Veronica Shunmugan in Options entitled The art of being Jolly (Oct. 2, Issue 620) where artists Jolly Koh used discriminatory words like “Third World”, “feudalistic” and “impoverished cultural environment” to describe Malaysian artistic life.

Victor’s earlier letter, to the editor of the Malaysian newspaper, The Sunday Star, was never published. That letter also objecting to the same prejudice by the same artist, on the identical subject by the above mentioned writer while she was working for The Star.

These last 4 blogs ( Oct. 2, 10, 18 & 27 ) is a conversation about art and cultural life and how, there still exists, a lot of bias, bigotry and intolerance. Issues about cultures, races, ethnicity, religion, nationalism etc. are changing all the time. It also means changing how we view them. The less we see human kinds as them and us, the more we will get out of life.

All artists have some artistic heritage of some sort, whether we are aware of it or not. The creative influences can be internal or external and can appear at its own time or be developed consciously. To deny our aesthetic ‘parents’ or legacies, is a lie.
Showing together, two artists, John Olsen and Jolly Koh, we can see in their works, the visible links, in their similarities and the differences.

“By the way, a web search on Australian painter John Olsen provides interesting readings on Olsen’s artshop, which was once many a budding painter’s nestling place.” quoted from Screenshots .

In the Malaysian newspaper, The Edge, Options, October 2, Conversations @ Hilton KL, The art of being Jolly, by Veronica Shunmugam , Koh had many personal criticisms of Malaysian art and artists. However, his remarks are his own ways of seeing things and there is no point disputing matters of individual taste. Who cares if Koh don’t like other artists’ paintings of kampong scenes, installations and other new forms of artistic expressions while he only admires his own landscape works with birds? This is just double standards, on his part!

But what I find both dangerous and incorrect is his use of words like ‘Third World’, ‘feudalistic’ and ‘impoverished cultural environment’ in talking about Malaysian cultural life in the article.

It is dangerous because terms like ‘Third World’, ‘feudalistic’ and ‘impoverished’ have been used to describe tribal people as ‘backwards’ and ‘primitive’ since the colonial era. The colonial Europeans believed in the inherent superiority of the ‘White Race’ over the non-whites. This discrimination is based on class, colour and religion and without regard to individual and their community’s particular merits. This racist ideology helped legitimaze subjugation, slavery and the dismantling of the traditional societies of indigenous people all over the world. It is an anthropological crime. We must stop it.

It is incorrect because all societies adapt and change and we are not still living up on the trees. Malaysians, not only the artistic crowd, has had 100s of years of external and internal influences, in our cultural, social and political life. Human ingenuity is versatile. We have accommodated and adjusted over time. Why do we have to always play the ‘catch up’ games with the ‘educated mind’ in ‘developed countries’? What we have is a rich heritage and a colourful eclectic mix of all the different ethnic communities and room for a great variety of artistic expression for everyone. We must correct Koh.

A closer reading of Koh’s numerous comments of Malaysian artistic life, not just in the Edge but also in the newspaper The Sunday Star, also written by Veronica Shunmugam ( Starmag 3, 10 & 17 September, 2006) reveal Koh as a person with a phobic attitude towards people different from himself ‘educated’ and things unknown ‘a lot of bad paintings here’ or foreign to him. He is only interested in promoting himself and his own brand of painting and dislikes and looks down on any other types of representations of his fellow artists. This condition is called xenophobia. Xenophobia, as had happen in Germany in WW2, under Hitler, elicited hostile reactions; mass expulsion of immigrants and in the worse case, genocide of millions of Jews and others. There is no place for Jolly’s xenophobia here.

Finally, a senior writer, Veronica, seemed totally at the back and call of Jolly by the frequency she had featured him in her last newspaper and now in the Edge. What is alarming and inconceivable is that she seems to take in every word of his without much question or contention!