The Burden of Responsibility

As the nation enters a New Age, in an epic turn of events that was the 14th General Election, many are quick to congratulate the 92-year old Tun Dr. Mahathir on his victory, and subsequently, on his appointment as the 7th Prime Minister.

Congratulations are of course due for the winning political parties and their supporters. But Tun Dr. Mahathir deserves much more. I believe when he rejoined the political arena a few years ago, after a brief retirement period, he never intended to become the Prime Minister again.

In fact - as evident by the tears of Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah on hearing the appointment of her husband as the PM candidate of the opposition parties before the recent election - leading the nation again in the ninth decade of life is no cause for celebration. It is a burden of responsibility - a gargantuan weight to carry on one's shoulders.

But at this period, shameful as it is to admit, there seems to be no one else equally capable to carry out the duties of Malaysia's 7th PM. This time is different, because the 7th PM carries the hopes of many who (were dissatisfied and mostly distrustful of the government, but with the fall of the party who ruled for over 60 years) dream of a better nation - of high income, championing freedom, peace, and rid of corruption. 

So let us not just congratulate Tun on his success in leading the opposition parties to win the election in unison. We must show Tun our heartfelt gratitude, by proving ourselves worthy of better living conditions - honouring our own duties and responsibilities, as enlightened citizens of this blessed country we call home.

The Private Reader

I.

I read a book last year called "Inventing the Individual"(1). It was about the origins of Individualism
as a movement, or a way of thinking. The book approached this topic from a historical point of view, beginning from early civilization to medieval times. The question of "How did we break away from traditional family values and become individualistic" was explored in the book by studying history through the written works of people in the past and trying to understand where individualism came from.

According to that book, it didn't start with the Renaissance, at least not originally, as was usually thought. The seeds of individualism were planted even further back than the Renaissance, and that was during early Christianity. It was during the early Christian age, that people were told that all were born equal. Before this period, it was generally accepted that we were not equal - some born to a higher status and others to a lesser degree. In this sense, the book argued, the people began to strive for equality and individual rights.

I think what the author have not stressed enough, was the role of technology in creating the Individual, especially with the invention of the printing press. What was revolutionary about the Gutenberg technology in the mid 15th century, the printing press, was that it allowed the mass production books. Before this technology, books used to be hand-drafted and copied. The mass production of books made them cheaper, more readily available, and hence books had a wider audience among the population than ever before.

II.

The way that books affect our mode of thinking and how it indirectly influence our way of life was extensively explored by another author, Marshall McLuhan(2). He found that books made people more private. Before books became popular, McLuhan suggested that the people lived in an oral world - knowledge and other information were passed around through the oral mode, that is by being spoken aloud or recited. Books changed that by allowing private reading, in contrast to public recitation.

McLuhan went further. He discovered that books also changed the way we process information, as they encouraged more systematic thinking. Books, through the written language, forced people to read word by word, paragraph by paragraph, and go from chapter to chapter, the way they were originally written by their authors. This is in contrast to the spoken language, which is more dynamic, as speakers may naturally vary their presentation even when they were presenting the same idea.

McLuhan also found that books changed language and literature itself. The printed word demanded more accuracy in terms of spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Compared to the spoken language which put less emphasis on these constraints, books made language itself more systematic. Authors would discover that books have the potential to replicate errors in great proportion - as terribly exemplified by the mistake in the Wicked Bible that read, "Thou shall commit adultery"(3).

III.

Where do we stand today? Naturally we feel that we are at the frontiers of progress in the history of mankind. As technology get increasingly sophisticated from the 20th into the 21st century - from radio to television, computers to smartphones, internet search engines to social media - one may be forgiven to believe that we have progressed further than our predecessors. But not all of us would agree on this.

An easy challenge to the delusion of our progress, is to study and compare the effects of books (as we have discussed above), and the effects of the modern technology like the television and the internet. This task was done at least twice before, firstly when McLuhan compared books to radio and television (4), and more recently when Nick Carr compared the effects of books and the internet (5). What they have both discovered paid more homage towards books, than the rest.

Although radio, television and the internet are faster, more readily adapted, easier to use and much more updated compared to books, they fall behind on other aspects. Books may be slower to read, more cumbersome to carry around and take longer time to write and publish. But books, as we discussed before, demand more accuracy, more systematic thinking, and allow for deeper understanding in a subject. While having references, books are complete in themselves - they are devoid of hyperlinks and advertisements that serve only to distract us from the main content.

IV.

We must not forget these virtues of reading, as we readily embrace the latest gadgetry and fashion. As we lose the habit of reading, we lose along with it our connection to the past. The history, folly and wisdom of our predecessors are forgotten. We would also lose the virtues of reading itself, that would have made us not only wiser and learned, but also aid our critical thinking and reasoning.

Some may claim that we have not lost the habit of reading - it is only that we are reading on a different medium nowadays. Granted that, I suggest that he picks up a book now and then. I would also add that he should choose a good book, one that was written in earnest from the heart of the author. Then he can judge the difference between reading on a screen and on a printed page.

History has come a long way in creating the Individual out of the general public, but we are today quickly dissolving into the masses again. Public opinion takes a stronger hold on us today, as news spread like wildfire on social media. Gossip, slander and biased views also travel further than ever before, only to corrupt our minds. So let us not dismiss the Gutenberg technology that once produced the private reader. Every book stands quietly independent in itself, and in this way every individual must follow suit.

...


References / Recommended Reading 

(1) Inventing the Individual (2014) by Larry Siedentop

(2) Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) by Marshall McLuhan

(3) The Wicked Bible (1631) published by Barker & Lucas

(4) Understanding Media (1964) by Marshall McLuhan

(5) The Shallows (2010) by Nick Carr

* Image: The Astronomer (1668) by Johannes Vermeer

Living In the Dark Ages

Enlightenment. A wonderful term to mean the use of our own understanding "without another's guidance", as Immanuel Kant put it two and a half centuries ago. But are we today enlightened? Or are we ourselves guilty of still depending on another's guidance in this day and age? I argue that we Easterners, especially my fellow countrymen, until today, are sadly, still not enlightened.

I think we simply lack the philosophy that would allow us to become enlightened. We are still drowned deep in the ocean of our dogmatic beliefs. We still believe for example, in supernatural powers, and it is no rare sight to see our people invoking supernatural causes to solve real world problems. No matter how highly sophisticated the technology that surrounds us (e.g smartphones, wifi, gps) we still believe that our troubles and ailments are caused by witchcraft or supernatural beings, and we cannot accept the possibility that we may be at fault for causing them. We somehow refuse to accept responsibility.

Now that's it! We just don't want to take any responsibility. And that's why we are still living in the dark ages. In fact, the characteristic feature of the Dark Ages, if we remember from history, was the witch-hunt. Back then, innocent women, charged with the accusation of using witchcraft to cause harm to their community, were burned at the stake. And all that happened because the people in the dark age society refused to accept any responsibility. They blamed witchcraft and the supernatural for what happened to them. More importantly, they did not use their own understanding, and instead drew hasty conclusions, guided by their dogmatic leaders. And so do we today.

Enlightenment is not the arrogant use of Reason to replace Beliefs. It takes a lot of effort and courage to use Reason. So we cannot say that the use of it is arrogant. Perhaps we say that, because we ourselves lack the effort or the courage to use our Reason. We prefer other people telling us what to do, when to do it and how to do it. That way, we cannot be blamed if something bad happens. We cannot bear the "dizziness of freedom", as Kierkegaard put it.

And so here we are today, trapped in the darkness of our false beliefs. We entrust certain people to guide us along the shortsighted exploration of our lives. We see history only through the lens of our guides and let them tell us the laws that are already set in stone. Of course, we still benefit from the outside world that lends us their scientific knowledge and technology. And we fool ourselves into thinking that our society have progressed because we possessed these technology. In fact we make it our aim, as a country, that one day one of us will win the Nobel Prize.

But we will never win the Nobel Prize if our aim is to win it for its own sake. It will never happen that way. But we cannot see this, because we let others tell us that winning the Nobel Prize should be our aim, when in fact, winning the Nobel Prize is only a by-product of becoming an enlightened society.

The Presenter

1. A better world without them?

Talk show and reality TV hosts, newscasters, radio DJs, museum and art gallery educators, all share a common role: to present to us certain interesting persons, topics or objects.

Can we imagine a world without TV and radio presenters? Yes, but we often get it wrong. We may think this imaginary world without hosts would be a better place than where we are now. After all, aren't most TV or radio hosts plain annoying? Even the good ones just keep us away from understanding the real deal, as we may be mislead by their interpretation of the subject anyway. Would it really be better for a show to run without a host? Maybe not.

In fact, a programme without a presenter won't be as good as a hosted one. It would be boring. And this is not necessarily because presenters are entertaining by themselves. What makes a programme so much better when it's hosted is all to do with our natural indolence (read: laziness).  We just cannot afford (or just too lazy) to do everything by ourselves, so these presenters are there to help us get to know a certain subject. But why are they so good at this? Let me explain.


2. Greek chorus

The ancient Greek used to stage plays in theatres, some of which are still standing, although now in ruins. From what we understand through records and traditions, these plays were not only popular in their time, but they also had some features that may at first puzzle us today. One of their features was to have a small group of people, called the chorus, who would stand in a place between the stage and the audience, essentially to host the drama enacted on the stage.

The chorus would narrate the story, and at times, even interrupt the actors on the stage with their commentaries. They would even have some dialogues with those actors. Their explanation may help the audience to understand the story, and this might have been done through singing. (This may be the origin of choral speaking and why it may also involve some singing..)

When I first learned about the Greek chorus I thought it was absurd. Wouldn't it disrupt the play on the stage? After all, we certainly don't see people standing between us and the stage who would talk to actors during the show and singing away the plot in modern theatres . But I was wrong. The chorus have climbed the stage and finally joined the actors in the spotlight. They are now called extras, or background actors.


3. Youtube comments and fake laughs

What's more satisfying than to watch a good Youtube video? To read the viewers' comments, of course. But have we ever wondered why?

Well, Zizek might have the answer. Slavoj Zizek is a modern day philosopher and I enjoy watching his videos on Youtube for his wacky comments on mundane things. In fact, my previous post on Diet Coke and decaff coffee was inspired by his talk.

Anyway, Zizek once described why comedy shows on TV would use fake recorded audience laughs and what makes them so effective in making us enjoy these shows. It's not simply a trick that tries to make us, the viewers at home, laugh, everytime we hear those fake laughs in a scene.

In fact, those fake laughs allow us to enjoy these programmes even without us laughing. Zizek thinks that this is because the recording has already laughed for us. So we only need to sit back and relax in front of the screen, and without even forcing a laugh we can feel good after watching the comedy programme.

Back to Youtube video comments, we find reading them actually gives us more pleasure than watching the video. Well, why not? Other viewers have already shared their thoughts on the video, and so we really don't even have to bother judging the video anymore. Just read the comment section and you could still enjoy Youtube without even watching the videos.


4. Film and reality

So why do we prefer hosted TV shows and radio programmes? Well first off they can do something which we'd like to do but can't be bothered to - talk to famous people, ask embarrassing questions and gossip about others, choose the right songs to play, etc. Of course we don't always agree with the host on her conversation with the celebrity, or her taste in music.

But to have someone do something for us is always convenient, and so unsurprisingly, Greek chorus, Youtube commenters, fake audience, along with museum educators, DJs and TV hosts can entertain us with their presence. By explaining to us the story in the play, judging a video, laughing on a funny scene, telling us the history of an art work, making a song playlist and talking to famous people, these presenters have allowed us to effortlessly enjoy these things. Isn't that amazing?

What's more amazing is to realize how 'presenters' can also play a role in films. Think of any famous films, there's always a character that narrates the whole plot for us, or explain the significance of events in the story. (Avatar: Jack's video blog, Titanic: Rose's interview). Without a narrator, audience can easily get confused - like what happened at the end of Inception.

Even a film with practically one character, like Castaway, needed a narration. Otherwise, we just don't see the point of the film - or rather, we can't be bothered to find out for ourselves why Tom Hank's character had to suffer from his isolation. 




Talking about isolation, we can easily imagine why it can hurt so much. When you live alone, you need to do everything on your own. Everything. Every little thing that you used to take for granted, when they are crucial for your survival, you'd have to work hard to keep it. And do this without any help from others. That's not easy.

In other words, the miserable experience of isolation can make us realize how dependent we are on others. Try not to watch any hosted TV programmes, stop listening to the radio, don't read the comments on Youtube, watch standups with no audience, and watch Castaway without that scene above.

Of course, it's not easy to get to know famous people, discover new music, watch the whole length of Youtube videos, laugh at comedy and putting together the plot - all by ourselves. So thank goodness we have each other!

Of News and History

Should we keep ourselves updated with the latest news? Why not, this would make us informed citizens, right? Well, I doubt it now.

How much information can daily news give us? Plenty, of course. But most of the information they feed us is trivial, on further reflection. As we can be fooled by first impressions, the shallow depth of information that we gather from news may also fool us. Let me explain.

If today we read about an important news - the result of a general election for example. How can this information help us, if we still cannot be sure how this new government would perform? Are they going to be responsible, generous, or corrupt? So we read the news again tomorrow, and many days to come - until eventually we get a certain impression of the elected government.

So far, news seem to be useful - to judge governments, for example - until we realize that we only need a summary of events between the previous and future elections, in order to decide wisely on whom to support. All that time wasted on reading daily news could have been used to read our history.

But what is the purpose of learning history? "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it". Obviously. 

There is actually nothing new in the news (if you pardon the pun). News events are nothing but repetition of the same mistakes - done by different people, at different times, in different places. I think we'd be better of reading history.

Tortor & Si Tanggang

It's rather intriguing to read from the news that many Indonesians are angered by Malaysia's claim that Tortor dance is a Malaysian cultural heritage. As Indonesians and Malaysians are increasingly becoming westernised, we would think that there would not be any more issues between us about our Eastern cultures.  So let's look at what these people are angry about as this may lead us to interesting conclusions.

This brings me to the legend of Si Tanggang, popular in Malaysia and Indonesia. As a short summary of this legend: 

Si Tanggang, who was brought up by a fisherman and his wife, became a successful sea captain. Later he disowned his true parents and consequently got cursed by his mother, which turned him into stone. 

Tanggang is usually portrayed as an ungrateful son - which is undeniable - and deserved to be cursed for his ingratitude. That's all very fine, but why on earth would a mother curse her (only) son? 

In fact, a similar question is asked by a lot of people regarding the tortor dispute: why are many Indonesians protesting against Malaysians - their blood relatives -  for claiming the cultural heritage to their traditional dance? Shouldn't they feel proud that their culture extends to a wider geographical area?

Of course the reply to these doubts would be to highlight the fact that Tanggang is guilty of ungratefulness - and similarly, that Malaysia is not the country origin of Tortor dance. However, we should not forget the other facts as well: that the curse came from his own mother, but not from an independent judge - and that the protest came from closely-related Easterners, but not from indifferent Westerners.

I don't deny the right of a mother to feel angry with her ungrateful son - but I think we can also question the sincerity of the mother's love to her son if she really did curse him into stone out of anger. Indeed, Tanggang would be retrospectively justified to disown his mother, if the only way she reacts to his behaviour is to disown him in return. 

Where is the love? *Sigh*

I am not a new man, 

not very different 

from you; 

the people and cities 

of coastal ports 

thought me not to brood 

over a foreign world, 

suffer difficulties 

or fear possibilities. 

I am you, 

freed from the village, 

its soils and ways, 

independent, because 

I have found myself.

from Si Tenggang's Homecoming 

by Muhammad Haji Salleh 

Malaysia Boleh!

London Riots - A Black Swan Event

Despite any attempt to make sense of the recent unrest in London streets, I think we should admit that it had caught everyone by surprise. It had a great impact on many people - especially the victims of looters, muggers and rioters; and also to the police, and the UK government - that we all wonder why we didn't expect this to happen at all.


There was a time when the Europeans thought that black swans do not exist, as they had never seen one - until they 'discover' them in Australia.


Nassim Nicholas Taleb had a name for the unexpected, highly significant, retrospectively predictable event: the black swan. In his book, The Black Swan, he discussed the impact of the highly improbable; and since it pervades history, how are we to live with these uncertainties. It's futile, he said, to make predictions about the future, as we can never truly understand the full force of history.


However, we can try to account for all possible futures, but accept what then happen and admit our ignorance of its causes. Just remember that even those with the smallest probabilities can occur - and those that are most probable, do not necessarily happen. With that in mind, I think we can live our lives happily discovering the good surprises that come, and not get badly injured by the unpredictable harmful events as we are mindful of its possibility.


Who would have imagined that suddenly in many streets of London, groups of young 'rioters' go rogue - smashing windows, looting shops, and burning them down? Could we have anticipated the riots and prevented the unrest from getting to such a massive scale? Well, I think not. Maybe the police could have taken a stronger stance against the rioters; Maybe the kids could have been better educated and had better parenting; Maybe the government could have tackled poverty and social inequalities better. They didn't - but we should not be quick as to blame them on all that had happened. 

Why the Movie SENNA is Rated 100% Fresh

Let me re-quote Joseph Campbell (I've done this before, twice!) from his revolutionary work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, to show you that Senna has what all the best movies have in common: a familiar plot about the hero as deftly described by Campbell in that book.  If you've watched Senna, you'd know what I mean.

The mythological hero, setting forth from his commonday hut or castle, is lured, carried away, or else voluntarily proceeds, to the threshold of adventure.

There he encounters a shadow presence that guards the passage.  The hero may defeat or conciliate this power and go alive into the kingdom of the dark (brother-battle, dragon-battle; offering, charm), or be slain by the opponent and descend in death (dismemberment, crucifixion). 

Beyond the threshold, then, the hero journeys through a world of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some of which severely threaten him (tests), some of which give magical aid (helpers). 

When he arrives at the nadir of the mythological round, he undergoes a supreme ordeal and gains his reward. 

The triumph may be represented as the hero’s sexual union with the goddess-mother of the world (sacred marriage), his recognition by the father-creator (father atonement), his own divination (apotheosis), or again - if the powers have remained unfriendly to him – his theft of the boon he came to gain (bride-theft, fire-theft); intrinsically it is an expansion of consciousness and therewith of being (illumination, transfiguration, freedom). 

The final work is that of return. If the powers have blessed the hero, he now sets forth under their protection (emissary); if not, he flees and is pursued (transformation flight, obstacle flight).

At the return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind; the hero re-emerges from the kingdom of dread (return, resurrection).  

The boon that he brings restores the world (elixir).

Essentially, we all want to be told the same old story again and again.

....

Embracing the Classical Era

Classical Greece was a truly remarkable time. It was the age of the discovery of Western thought and philosophy - when Plato, a student of Socrates, wrote his masterpieces, and founded the first Western Academy. Having gone halfway through one of Plato's most renowned writing, The Republic, I now find that it is by far the greatest book I have ever read. It's time for me to rediscover other classical writings as well! 

We just want to be able to live like human beings

"Let me be clear, the change that is taking place across the region is being driven by the people of the region. This change does not represent the work of the United States, or any foreign power. It represents the aspiration of people who are seeking a better life. As one Libyan said, 'We just want to be able to live like human beings.' It is the most basic of aspirations that is driving this change." 

President Obama on the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa (video)

Watch the video below of an experiment to find out how monkeys - who are also primates, like us - react to apparent injustice (would they notice it at all?). While the first monkey (Vulcan) gets a dry biscuit if he returns a token, the second monkey (Virgil) gets a  juicy grape when he returns the same token. Notice how Vulcan reacts to this blatant injustice. [start at 2:06]

It's fairly obvious then, why Tunisians, Egyptians, and now Libyans get so angry and frustrated at their leaders. They only want to live like the people in other countries: from the busy commuters of New York, London, Shanghai and Singapore; to the suburban dwellers of other cities; and the farmers and fishermen in smaller towns. Even monkeys get riled up if they are treated unequally!

We just want to be able to live like human beings - that is, like the better ones among us.


...

Hang Tuah - The Hero With A Thousand Faces

In my last post, A Very Familiar Plot, I've quoted at length the book by Joseph Campbell entitled 'The Hero With A Thousand Faces' its main thesis: that (familiar) plot encompassing all myths, legends, fairy tales and great stories of all time. Now I am curious, whether or not Hang Tuah is just another (our local) version of that Hero as uncovered by Joseph Campbell.


And so our journey begins...

PART 1: DEPARTURE (The hero leaves his everyday life, defeats a shadowy power & receives a charm)

 Hang Tuah became the Sultan's constant aide, accompanying the King... On one visit to Majapahit, Taming Sari, a famous Majapahit warrior, challenged Hang Tuah to a duel. After a brutal fight, Hang Tuah emerged as winner and the ruler of Majapahit bestowed upon him Taming Sari’s kris or weapon...purported to be magical, empowering its owner with invincibility... source of Hang Tuah’s alleged supernatural abilities.

PART 2: INITIATION (The hero faces challenges throughout his journey, with some magical aid, becomes triumphant, gains recognition/atonement)

 Rumours being circulated that Hang Tuah was having an illicit affair with one of the Sultan's stewardess dayang. The Sultan sentenced Hang Tuah to death without trial for the alleged offense. Believing that Hang Tuah was dead...Hang Jebat avenged his friend's death...wreaked havoc onto the royal court... The Bendahara then informed the Sultan that the only man able to stop Hang Jebat, Hang Tuah, was still alive.

PART 3: RETURN (The hero re-emerges from the kingdom of dread and restores the world with the boon that he brings)

 The Bendahara recalled Hang Tuah from his hiding place and the warrior was given full amnesty by the Sultan and instructed to kill Hang Jebat. After seven gruelling days of fighting, Hang Tuah was able to kill Hang Jebat.

(source: Wikipedia) 

Top 10 Read of 2010

This is the list of the best books I have read in the year 2010.

[ 1 ] Guns, Germs & Steel - Jared Diamond

  This is simply the best book I have read so far. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this masterpiece endeavours to explain why the European societies were the ones to conquer the New World, instead of the other way around - an attempt by the author that was achieved using archaeology, geography; also, animal and plant biology!

[ 2 ] Fermat's Last Theorem - Simon Singh

  Receiving almost 120 5-star rating in amazon.co.uk, this book explores the exciting journey of mathematicians through the ages to prove Fermat's last theorem (a deceivingly easy-to-prove mathematical equation). With riveting stories of the personalities behind this journey, this book is a testimony of my conviction that since there are so many non-fiction tales to read, I haven't the time to read fiction. Of course, history is not without errors, as long as it's written by fallible historians. 

[ 3 ] The Unfolding of Language - Guy Deutscher

  Aren't you interested to learn why our language is so different from others, and how come - apart from the differences - there exist similarities (even between English, French & Malay! - e.g. Two, Deux, Dua) ? Well, look no further, this book tells us just that, and much more - like why the language of our forefathers seem so different from ours. 

[ 4 ] Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell

  It seems so easy to attribute success to pure talent - as books written about high achievers often allude to. However, Gladwell tries to prove just the opposite, that if it wasn't for their luck, these high achievers (read: outliers) might not have succeeded in whatever field they're in. And this includes billionaires Bill Gates & Steve Jobs (Mark Zuckerberg was not included probably because this was written two years ago), the Beatles & athletes. Of course, in almost all cases, hard work had accompanied seizing every good opportunity.

[ 5 ] Life Ascending - Nick Lane

  From the beginnings of life on Earth deep in the ocean, to the complex multicellular life on land able to trap energy from the sun (via photosynthesis), to sentient beings curious and intelligent enough to ponder on their own existence; this book brings elementary biology to a new level, attempting to explain the 'ten great inventions of evolution' using chemistry, biology, archaeology & common sense. 

[ 6 ] The Ascent of Money - Niall Ferguson

 British historian, turned Harvard professor, Niall Ferguson discusses the 'origin of money' - those colour-printed papers/copper we regard so dearly to. When many saw the recent financial crisis as the fall of capitalism - having researched and skilfully written the history of financial markets - the author had these words to conclude his book:

 '..far from being 'a monster that must be put back in its place', as the German president recently complained, financial markets are like the mirror of mankind, revealing every hour of every working day the way we value ourselves and the resources of the world around us.

  It is not the fault of the mirror if it reflects our blemishes as clearly as our beauty.'

-

[ 7 ] The Armchair Economist - Stephen Landsburg

 An interesting read about the economics of daily life. From why popcorns are so expensive at cinemas, to why the government must not charge high tariffs on imported cars. It was so interesting that I finish reading it in barely two days!

[ 8 ] The Blank Slate - Steven Pinker

  I have just finished reading this book over Christmas. A cognitive scientist goes head on with the nature vs nurture debate, from IQ to gender differences. Not for the faint-hearted, hardcore liberals or feminist/sexist. Otherwise, an insightful read!  Nature -1; Nurture - 0

[ 9 ] The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker

  This is the second Pulitzer prize winning book in my list. It is also the oldest one published among the others in my list. The late author explored, in this book, the philosophy of the denial of our inevitable demise: in our social life (loyalty to friendship circle), work (striving to build one's own legacy) and religion (the promise of an after life).

[ 10 ] Jews, God & History - Max I. Dimont

  Finally, as the number 10 book of the year, this is, as its name implies, a record of the history of the Jewish people and how their beliefs (hence, 'God' in the title) had influenced their progress and fated them to meet challenges through the ages. I agree with the author after reading this book, that the Jews have been important contributors to our history (including the non-Jews), from the Judeo-Christian-Islamic scriptures & faiths,  to our economic, philosophical, & scientific progress. 

  Although the author no longer professes the Jewish faith,  he has great respect for it especially for his Jewish father.  This book was not written to promote Zionism, argue for or against it. It does, however, discuss the history of the formation of Israel, wars & crises of the middle-east. 

Where Did We (Malay People) Come From?

Who are these people? Malaysians? Indonesians? Nope. They're all Taiwanese. The guy in the middle is obviously Chinese, whereas the two girls beside him are 'Aborigines' - according to the uploader. Don't you think that the girls look very much like us Malays?

If you're not convinced that the girls above are Taiwanese (aborigines), then take a look at the next photo. 

The caption for this photo in its original website reads: Aboriginal school boys in Taiwan proudly show their gift of sponsored storybooks. 

So have our Malay ancestors migrated to Taiwan, or have they (and consequently we) once migrated from Taiwan? The answers to that question, and the question - why Taiwan instead of another place? - are not what I'd like to share right now. Neither do I want to answer the question posted in my title: where did the Malay people come from?

That's because I'm no anthropologist or historian - maybe an armchair speculator at best. My point is that it's more important to ask the right questions, than to have all the right answers.

Before I end let me leave you with a map showing the migration of the Austronesians around 5000 years ago.