Toot…

What defines us as who we are?

A couple of nights ago, my brother and I were in discussion about the effects of cultures in our lives. His stance is that culture is an imporant part of what defines us as who we are, which group that we belong to. My stance, however, is that some traditions are outdated and should not be practised.

Taking my grandmother as an example, my brother rethorically asked if I think she really believe that somebody will bless her, protect her, answer her wishes if she prays. I am not very certain of the answer, but I have a feeling that she’s an agnostic, and somewhat theistic. I think if I ask grandmother, she’d have answered me, there’s no harm done believing, so it’s better to believe than not to believe. Somewhat a Pascal’s Wager, don’t you think?

Another culture which is still somewhat prevailence among Malaysian Chinese is spiritualistic beliefs, especially among the older generation. Taking a recent event as example, a woman in Penang was conned of her jewellery and RM 6000. Apparently, she believed that she’s experiencing bad luck, and wanted to get rid of it. Detail aside, in the end, she was conned by three women, one of them claiming that she had learnt some skills from a medium.

Obviously, you can claim that this is just due to her ignorance, and possibly due to the lack of proper education. I say, however, if this spiritualistic beliefs are not in prevailence, this particular event might not have happened. If this kind of spiritualistic beliefs in my culture is what defining who I am, I would rather abandon my identity.

Obviously, if you want to get really scientific, what really defines us is our human genome, our individual unique genetic makeup, aside from natural or artificial clones. However, what I have in mind is how other people would describe us. Well, normally, I guess people would just say that I am a Chinese. Straying from the topic a little, I find it interesting that how those Chinese coursemates of mine from mainland China seem to be so shocked that I can speak Mandarin.

Now back to the topic. Sure, I am a Chinese, and I identify myself as a Chinese, but I don’t think that’s very imporant at all. I think people tend to care too much about racial differences and appearence. Growing up in Malaysia, religion aside, I do not think that children of different races live too different lifes. In fact, I think that it is very much possible that there are more similarities between two children of different race than two children of the same race.

This just reminds me of Tan Hong Ming and Umi Qazrina. Please do have a look at the following YouTube video, Percintaan Tan Hong Ming (Tan Hong Ming In Love) :

I think people of difference races in Malaysia are not too different from each other, it’s just that some people put too much emphasis on our differences, and choose to be blind about all the similarities that we share. They claim that we have different cultures, that we live totally different lives, and some other will agree without really reflecting and pondering this issue in their mind first.

Sure, we might have really different culture, 50 or 100 years ago, but I think this wall of difference between us is slowly, but surely desolving. Keep emphasizing our differences will be like constructing an imaginary “Malaysian Wall” which divides people of different races, taking steps away, rather than towards, unity. As a side note, ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. M, is still claiming that “after the land is sold, the Malays will be driven to live at the edge of the forest and even the forest itself”, referring to Iskandar Malaysia, or formerly known as Iskandar Development Region. So much for racial unity.

I think, one of the most beautiful fact that science has proven is that all humans are truly brothers and sisters. Perhaps it is time to embrace that fact, rather than wallowing in our imaginary racial superiority. No, I am not talking about abandoning our own culture. What I am saying is that we ought to acknowledge and embrance our differences, but emphasise on our similarities. However, I still hold strong to my stance that the aspects of culture which you deem unsuitable or even wrong, should be abandoned.

I urge you to have a look at Wade Davis’s talk on TedTalk, The Worldwide Web of Belief and Ritual :