Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Suharto And The Address Unknown
"I can speak English, May I help you doctor, to translate"? A tall, good-looking girl in her snugly fitting blue jeans and white top with a pale pink head scarf asked me. We were in Meurah Dua, a remote village in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia, as a part of relief mission to help the Tsunami stricken people. Our team from Kerala, a southern Indian state, was supposed work in one of the worst tsunami hit areas, Banda Aceh. As Meurah Dua was reported to be more militant infested and obviously less media focused they did not to have many Australian relief teams over there. She introduced herself as Rina and spoke in an accent which had an apparent East Asian tinge. She was pleasant and sociable and took no time to merge with our team and helped us to feel Acehnese language as well as the people of her village. "I am so happy that I could speak English after many weeks" she told. She took me around on her bicycle and showed me militants and military. Gradually our friendship grew. Next day we had to depart, I could see tears in her eyes, but then her image began to blur as tears welled up in my eyes too. I held her hand and told "please do not forget to write mails Rina", "I do not have access to internet doctor" she replied. I tried to console her by promising to send her letters. But then came the most shocking statement of Rina that I am unable to come to terms with even after three years. "Sorry doctor, I do not have an address now" she said, pointing towards the tents…
This statement of Rina about her having no address disturbed me again recently when I watched Kim Ki Duk's 'ADDRESS UNKNOWN'. This movie's tragic tone hints at the consequences of the Korean War on people without being heavy-handed or overly biased towards one side or the other. Chang-guk is a half-breed, whose African American father deserted him seventeen years earlier. His mother keeps trying to write letters to her husband, but they're always returned to her. Here Kim depicts superbly the ordeal of being without address, thus the title. Yet another occasion was while going through a book titled 'KORA' by Tenzin Tsundue. He writes "Ask me where I'm from and I won't have an answer, I feel I never really belonged anywhere, never really had a home"! Tenzin Tsundue is a restless young Tibetan, who after graduating from Madras, South India, braved snowstorms and treacherous mountains, broke all rules and restrictions, crossed the Himalayas on foot and went into forbidden Tibet! In both the cases they were striving hard not to become a stolen or lost generation. Rina's address was stolen long time ago by Suharto, furthermore Tsunami has struck her people dreadfully. Since Aceh has abundant oil resources, Jakarta is keen to tap this for their big brothers. Puppet regimes show professionalism to convert even natural calamities in their favour.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a Suharto loyalist general, praised Suharto the dead dictator as "a loyal fighter, a true soldier and a respected statesman". World political leaders and international media showered tributes to this 'Pol Pot' of Indonesia who was responsible for not less than one million deaths. Suharto helped his colonial big brother Australia to plunder not only Indonesia but the neighboring Timor as well. This brutal exercise continued for almost four decades, but the colonizers disposed him as 'trustworthy friend'. Global media would have more reasons to celebrate when Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the new age Pharaoh, or General Musharraf, the enlightened moderator, gets elected for Nobel peace prize for their war against terror. The way the international media indulged in Suharto affair was a jolt to me and tossed me back to December, 2004, the days of tsunami. That was the Indonesia which I could see and feel. Perhaps, people can understand each other well only during their times of distress, and not when their despised 'democratic emperors' die. Nevertheless, it is more common to remember pharaohs for pyramids than those thousands who were crushed under the massive stones during its erection. Common mass symbolize a country instead of the powerful; similarly, villages represent a nation than their colonial capitals. Our relief team could see Indonesia quiet closely, possibly, because we were too far away from Jakarta.
Will the 'heroes' of the new world order be compelled to confess for these stolen addresses? Let us wait and see whether Australian Premiere Kevin Rudd's admission of guilt to the aborigines has any trace of political honesty.
Dr.Auswaf Ahsan
This statement of Rina about her having no address disturbed me again recently when I watched Kim Ki Duk's 'ADDRESS UNKNOWN'. This movie's tragic tone hints at the consequences of the Korean War on people without being heavy-handed or overly biased towards one side or the other. Chang-guk is a half-breed, whose African American father deserted him seventeen years earlier. His mother keeps trying to write letters to her husband, but they're always returned to her. Here Kim depicts superbly the ordeal of being without address, thus the title. Yet another occasion was while going through a book titled 'KORA' by Tenzin Tsundue. He writes "Ask me where I'm from and I won't have an answer, I feel I never really belonged anywhere, never really had a home"! Tenzin Tsundue is a restless young Tibetan, who after graduating from Madras, South India, braved snowstorms and treacherous mountains, broke all rules and restrictions, crossed the Himalayas on foot and went into forbidden Tibet! In both the cases they were striving hard not to become a stolen or lost generation. Rina's address was stolen long time ago by Suharto, furthermore Tsunami has struck her people dreadfully. Since Aceh has abundant oil resources, Jakarta is keen to tap this for their big brothers. Puppet regimes show professionalism to convert even natural calamities in their favour.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a Suharto loyalist general, praised Suharto the dead dictator as "a loyal fighter, a true soldier and a respected statesman". World political leaders and international media showered tributes to this 'Pol Pot' of Indonesia who was responsible for not less than one million deaths. Suharto helped his colonial big brother Australia to plunder not only Indonesia but the neighboring Timor as well. This brutal exercise continued for almost four decades, but the colonizers disposed him as 'trustworthy friend'. Global media would have more reasons to celebrate when Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the new age Pharaoh, or General Musharraf, the enlightened moderator, gets elected for Nobel peace prize for their war against terror. The way the international media indulged in Suharto affair was a jolt to me and tossed me back to December, 2004, the days of tsunami. That was the Indonesia which I could see and feel. Perhaps, people can understand each other well only during their times of distress, and not when their despised 'democratic emperors' die. Nevertheless, it is more common to remember pharaohs for pyramids than those thousands who were crushed under the massive stones during its erection. Common mass symbolize a country instead of the powerful; similarly, villages represent a nation than their colonial capitals. Our relief team could see Indonesia quiet closely, possibly, because we were too far away from Jakarta.
Will the 'heroes' of the new world order be compelled to confess for these stolen addresses? Let us wait and see whether Australian Premiere Kevin Rudd's admission of guilt to the aborigines has any trace of political honesty.
Dr.Auswaf Ahsan
Rumi and advaita
Rumi And Advaita
06 January, 2008Countercurrents.org
The house without a window is a hell;
To make window is the essence of true religion.
Don’t thrust your axe on every thicket;
Come, use your axe to cut open a window. - Jalaluddin Rumi
While I was reading a recently published book on Moulana Jalaluddin Rumi by Connie Zweig, one of the great mystics of Islam, my colleague at the dental school asked me, “Why do you read books written by Muslims only?” I told him that a similar query was posed to me 10 years ago but then the book was ‘Culture and Imperialism’ by Edward W. Said! I was intensely concerned by the observation of the fact that a stereotyped image is constructed around a Muslim as to what he/she would normally read. It remains a distressing truth that many of our ‘secular’ friends would have shirked reading Edward W. Said, thanks to his Arab roots. Perceiving a writer while reading his/her text shows maturity of the reader whereas gazing his/her religion/ethnicity prior to reading the text is blatant bias.
This kind of a construct is bound to create a ‘subtle pressure’ on any individual, intimidating him/her to move away from the currently contested secular space. When a Muslim thinks for himself/herself, it is implied that they are doing so for the benefit of the society in general. That is ‘Muslim’ is not an outsider. If a Muslim reads history and culture that is to relocate him/her in contemporary society. This sort of thinking is essential for ‘greater common good’. Denial of space to such Muslims would prevent healthy dialogue and subsequent erosion of meaningful contribution from them.
A few vital milestones in the history of Indian subcontinent have substantially transformed the way by which communities understand each other. 1947 (Partition), 1984 (Sikh mass murder), 1992 & 1993 (Babri demolition and Bombay blast), 1999 (Graham Stein’s murder), and 2002 (Gujarat genocide) are examples. Present locale of discourses on secular space, perhaps, will have to be redefined in such a way that the communities can recognize common ground. This will definitely broaden the scope of dialogue of civilizations.
It has become extremely cumbersome for a Muslim to comment on issues of social importance. ‘Babel’ (2006) a movie by Alejandro Gonzalez depicts how deeply the global scenario has transformed in terms of perceiving and responding to violence worldwide. It starts in the Moroccan desert, where a man buys a Winchester rifle from a neighbor to help keep the jackals away from his herd of goats. A Japanese hunter had gifted the neighbor with the rifle in gratitude for his work as a guide. Alejandro lucidly elaborates how an innocent shepherd boy’s playful mood turns out to be a serious stand off between US states department and the Moroccan state officials.
My colleague later went on to borrow the book by Connie on Rumi. He could not resist commenting after few days on that work, but he said ‘Rumi speaks Advaita!
Dr.Auswaf Ahsan
06 January, 2008Countercurrents.org
The house without a window is a hell;
To make window is the essence of true religion.
Don’t thrust your axe on every thicket;
Come, use your axe to cut open a window. - Jalaluddin Rumi
While I was reading a recently published book on Moulana Jalaluddin Rumi by Connie Zweig, one of the great mystics of Islam, my colleague at the dental school asked me, “Why do you read books written by Muslims only?” I told him that a similar query was posed to me 10 years ago but then the book was ‘Culture and Imperialism’ by Edward W. Said! I was intensely concerned by the observation of the fact that a stereotyped image is constructed around a Muslim as to what he/she would normally read. It remains a distressing truth that many of our ‘secular’ friends would have shirked reading Edward W. Said, thanks to his Arab roots. Perceiving a writer while reading his/her text shows maturity of the reader whereas gazing his/her religion/ethnicity prior to reading the text is blatant bias.
This kind of a construct is bound to create a ‘subtle pressure’ on any individual, intimidating him/her to move away from the currently contested secular space. When a Muslim thinks for himself/herself, it is implied that they are doing so for the benefit of the society in general. That is ‘Muslim’ is not an outsider. If a Muslim reads history and culture that is to relocate him/her in contemporary society. This sort of thinking is essential for ‘greater common good’. Denial of space to such Muslims would prevent healthy dialogue and subsequent erosion of meaningful contribution from them.
A few vital milestones in the history of Indian subcontinent have substantially transformed the way by which communities understand each other. 1947 (Partition), 1984 (Sikh mass murder), 1992 & 1993 (Babri demolition and Bombay blast), 1999 (Graham Stein’s murder), and 2002 (Gujarat genocide) are examples. Present locale of discourses on secular space, perhaps, will have to be redefined in such a way that the communities can recognize common ground. This will definitely broaden the scope of dialogue of civilizations.
It has become extremely cumbersome for a Muslim to comment on issues of social importance. ‘Babel’ (2006) a movie by Alejandro Gonzalez depicts how deeply the global scenario has transformed in terms of perceiving and responding to violence worldwide. It starts in the Moroccan desert, where a man buys a Winchester rifle from a neighbor to help keep the jackals away from his herd of goats. A Japanese hunter had gifted the neighbor with the rifle in gratitude for his work as a guide. Alejandro lucidly elaborates how an innocent shepherd boy’s playful mood turns out to be a serious stand off between US states department and the Moroccan state officials.
My colleague later went on to borrow the book by Connie on Rumi. He could not resist commenting after few days on that work, but he said ‘Rumi speaks Advaita!
Dr.Auswaf Ahsan
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Fateh al Mubeen
Good news! Fateh al Mubeen is in its final stages. Expected to be released in the month of March
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