been MIA for about 2 weeks now. during that time, i have written my 1 exam and come back home to singapore where i've been leading very much of a bum's life.

during the time i've been back, i've pigged out a lot during all the deepavali visiting that i've been doing. went for dya singh's concert with anantya. she mentions a funny incident that happened that day. the lesson i've learnt is to not ignore those people who come up to you with a proposition of some sort, because it actually might be REALLY free... anyhow, dya singh's concert was really good, and so i decided to bring my mom along for it y'day. his style is quite different i must say. mostly qawwali style, but i guess the uniqueness comes from the fusion of western elements. and the messages behind his songs are worth mulling over.

i leave you with an interesting analogy that i found whilst reading al-jazeerah.

Propaganda is consumed innocently, like drinking a glass of milk that has been contaminated with small drops of urine; the taste, color, odor of the milk is sustained, so the victims remain unaware. However, the perception changes once the consumer is alerted to the fact that urine was added to it. The consumer is disgusted as milk diluted with urine is the same as pure urine; not fit for consumption; they are both in the same category of lies!

the lights turn down. the percussionists are doing some last second tuning. and then the spotlight shines front centre, and you see this heavily painted person who looks like a shaman. "nan ts'ngonya ma bakithi baba", she starts chanting in zulu, whilst facing the left balcony. "sithi hm ingonya ma", the chorus joins in. another light focuses on the balcony where you see a barely dressed african with a gnu headmask who starts chanting back to the shaman. the chorus fills in yet again. the shaman chants again to the right balcony and another gnu headmasked african chants back. on stage, the lights start fading in, and a a lady in brown leotard appears on stage. attached to her hips is a cheetah puppet. the hind legs are attached to her legs. the forelegs are controlled by sticks. the movements of the cheetah's head are controlled by wires connected to the head of the puppeteer. along the aisle of the stalls section, a procession of "animals" march their way onto the stage. the most amazing is the elephant, which consists of a person in each of its legs. considering the dimensions of the theatre and the puppet, it would probably have been assembled after entering into the theatre. they all join up on stage and a veritable menagerie of animals is the result. all of these combine to provide an overwhelming sensory experience. in the centre of the stage is a spiral stairway that represents pride rock. up onto it climbs a guy who looks like some native american chieftain, except with a lion totem mask. with him is a female with a lioness mask. and the shaman joins them at the top to show the cub to the ensemble of animals.

the above goes nowhere near doing justice to the spectacle that was the opening song of the lion king: the musical. the musical does not try and make the characters look cute. the costume design did not try to fool anyone into thinking that there aren't any humans involved. as you can see from the pictures, the costumes are simply exquisite. i'd pay to watch it again, if just for the first 5 minutes. the musical was truly one of the best experiences of my life.

the rest of it was an equally magical experience, especially the scene in which simba speaks to the ghost of his father. what wouldn't i give to watch it again...

Rafiki's opening chant 

The oh-so-graceful cheetah and the giraffes 

The zebras prancing around 

The animals of the savannah hailing the heir apparent 

i did say that i was going to post my critical reflection report (no 2 parter though... all in 1 piece). having been used to academic writing through the course of uni, i must admit doing an unstructured piece of writing is quite interesting.

This report charts my emotional, spiritual and mental meanderings through the course of this module on Middle Eastern Politics and Society. Throughout this module, I have been exposed to many a new way of thinking, and my perspectives have been multiplied. That which I thought to be undeniable truths have turned out to be a matter of opinion. Now, more so than ever, after having had to chart my thoughts in words do I believe that the path of our lives shape our values and beliefs. Those themes which I consider to be the most important from my journal and those that keep cropping up through out the course are included here for your perusal.

Prior to studying this module, I have never looked at the Middle East region as individual countries. When I used to think of the Middle East, I used to think of it in terms of the Arabs and the Israelis. I used to believe that the Middle East consisted of a more or less pan-Arab state with a western system being imposed upon them and hence the division of nations. But that fundamentally, there was a sense of solidarity amongst the Arab nations. After studying this module, I have come to the conclusion that the Arab states are like furiously feuding family members who would like to present a face of unity to the outside world.

To me, the most alien aspect of Middle Eastern culture would have to be the place of women in society. Having been raised to believe that men and women are equal and that gender should not be a barrier in any aspect, the way that Middle Eastern women are regarded is quite puzzling. I believe the reason for the lack of women’s rights stems from the lack of evolution of Islam. My view is that there is too much of a puritanical streak in the Islamic clerics in the Middle East. Also, since the Middle East was held in high regard soon after the establishment of Islam, and has been in a state of decline since the 17^th century, I guess the people long for the “good old days” when things seemed better.

Prior to this module, most of my exposure to the current affairs in the Middle East was obtained via western media. One thing I have realised is that the religion of Islam has been quite vilified in the media. The word Islam has become synonymous with terrorism and radicalism. I used to think that Arab Muslims are a hostile and violent people. As I have learnt they are actually very hospitable people and the violence that is observed in the media is perpetrated by a minority. Another thought that cropped up is about the term “militant Islam”. It makes it look like there is a sizeable Muslim population going around crying for jihad. Other religions do not seem to get the same sort of treatment. Why do terrorists have to be “Muslim terrorists”? One thing that this module has done for me is to make me question the media bias in general and especially regarding the Middle East.

Coming from Singapore, I can very much identify with the political system in the Middle East. Especially since there is very much an entrenched autocratic system in Singapore. However there is an aspect of consultation of the population and there is a token opposition. The totally authoritarian system that is prevalent in the Middle East, I think is one of the things that make Arabs appear to be that much of the “other”. I had known about the absolute monarchies in the Middle East previously, and always wondered why the population was not clamouring for self-determination. The concept of rentier economies helped to partially explain the phenomenon, I guess.

Up till this present moment, I do not know if the Islamic paradigm is so alien, or is it being interpreted to suit the purposes of the players of the political game in the Middle East, i.e. the politicians and mullahs, whom I think can also be considered politicians. Especially, since Islam is supposed to encompass all aspects of a person's life, especially the political realm, it seems like the mullahs can be the kingmakers.

My belief that for a democracy to work, there would need to be separation of church and state, has yet to be challenged. However, from what I have learnt this semester, for democracy to work in the Middle East, the conclusion I arrived at was that there would need to be some sort of hybrid of the liberal democratic model. Attempting to parachute in a western model of democracy as it is in the western European nations and in the United States would be a futile attempt. I believe this is so because the population of the region is predominantly Muslim and so the ideology would have to have mass appeal.

I used to believe that the reason for the violence between the Arabs and Israelis was simply because the Arabs were being intolerant of a non-Muslim state in their region. However, after reading about the Balfour Declaration and studying the emergence of the state of Israel, I do sympathise with the Palestinians. I do think now, that the Palestinians got a raw deal. The Jews got one foot in the door and slowly increased their presence. And now, the denunciation of the Palestinians “terror” tactics does seem rather hypocritical considering that it was through means of “terrorism” that the state of Israel was formed. I would say that my regard for the Arabs has gone up and my regard for the Israelis has gone down, during the course of this module.

The cultural differences between the Middle East and the west are many and I do think that we would be remiss in trying to judge the Arabs and their actions or inactions by Western standards. A greater understanding of the history and the culture of the people of the Middle East, I believe would decrease the treatment of the Arabs as the “other” and it would engender greater trust.

The above are some of the thoughts that have occurred to me due to the stimulation of this module, and having listed them, I realise the ways in which my beliefs have been challenged.

my next post will be a lot more interesting, i promise. it'll be a list of the highlights of the lion king musical.

i never realised how hard renouncing one's citizenship could be. this is harper's take on an american's options on leaving in the aftermath of 11/2 (said in the same reverential tone as 9/11).

it was an interesting article in the harvard business review.

Description:
"Despite a long-term decline in the circus industry, Cirque du Soleil profitably increased revenue twenty-two-fold over the last 10 years by reinventing the circus. Rather than competing within the confines of the existing industry or trying to steal customers from rivals, Cirque developed uncontested market space that made the competition irrelevant. Cirque created what the authors call a blue ocean--a previously unknown market space. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. In red oceans--that is, in all the industries already existing--companies compete by grabbing for a greater share of limited demand. As the market space gets more crowded, prospects for profits and growth decline. Products turn into commodities, and increasing competition turns the water bloody. There are two ways to create blue oceans. One is to launch completely new industries, as eBay did with online auctions. But it's much more common for a blue ocean to be created from within a red ocean when a company expands the boundaries of an existing industry. In studying more than 150 blue ocean creations in over 30 industries, the authors observed that the traditional units of strategic analysis--company and industry--are of limited use in explaining how and why blue oceans are created. The most appropriate unit of analysis is the strategic move, the set of managerial actions and decisions involved in making a major market-creating business offering. Creating blue oceans builds brands. So powerful is blue ocean strategy, in fact, that a blue ocean strategic move can create brand equity that lasts for decades."

it is an interesting concept. however, it is quite sad that in singapore, venturing into the unknown isn't encouraged. oh ya... the government does yak a lot about entrepreneurship and all that jazz, but really... think about it. it is a working example of cognitive dissonance. all life long, the citizens are brainwashed with the mantra "the gahmen (aka the party in power) is your father and mother. obey the gahmen and follow the rules. do what we tell you to do. go against us and we'll crush you (not literally la.. just a few lawsuits that will leave you feeling worthless since we have decided that a person's self worth shall be determined by the amount of money he/she has)" ok.. that was a long parenthesised comment. heck it. you know what i'm getting at. i do think that singapore is really small and the only way to attain economies of scale is by filtering the population into certain key industries. but the key to a good investment portfolio is diversification and not to dump all your eggs into 3 or 4 baskets. oh well, the government has its job cut out for it. anyways i digress. my point was that the government propaganda emphasises obedience. follow the path that has been laid for you. inconsistent with innovation and that pioneering spirit that are needed for blue ocean entrepreneurship innit?

• adri
  

• ambiga
  

• anantya
  

• augur
  

• dersh
  

• flibbertigibbet
  

• ibrahim

• mistique
  

• mr brown
  

• mr miyagi
  

• music
  

• pope
  

• shaan
  

• vasud
  

• so long and thanks for all the fish

• love conquers all

• you've got to find what you love

• disappearing act

• loneliness

• O Fortuna

• *relief*

• *gloom*

• flowers

• eulogy for my grandfather

• August 2004

• September 2004

• October 2004

• November 2004

• December 2004

• January 2005

• February 2005

• March 2005

• April 2005

• May 2005

• June 2005