Culture is a bitch. I know how important it is - having done a whole year on race, gender and equality, I understand what kind of damage happens when individuals are removed from their cultural roots. (But like any other ecosystem, destruction caused by the absence of culture's steadying hand can be misleading, as I've ranted about in a previous post, so that the symptoms are "cured" but the disease spreads to other areas.)

I only wish I know what culture is.

What makes a Malay, a Malay? As I've written once before, it's almost impossible to identify the characteristics once you get down to it. Oh yeah, everyone knows about that thing in the Constitution where they say all these things about the Malays, but did the founding fathers bother to tell us exactly who is a Malay? Noooo. They just assumed. Quite cheeky of them, too, else they'd still be only halfway through writing the Constitution by now.

Think about it

If you have never sat down and thought about what makes you a Malay or Chinese or Indian or Lain-Lain, just take my word for it. Yes, it's one of those annoying things that seem easy, but like the Vietnamese highland goat, it is a tricky beast that people know exists, yet are not able to describe.

There are, however, basic "truths" that I believe about culture. One, culture is inevitable. Two, culture evolves.

And that's it. Culture, to me, is a manifestation of the behaviours of a group of people which they hand down to their future generations. It's an unwritten code of conduct, if you like, a set of rules that make an individual part of a particular grouping.

You might think that given its function culture must be static. Surely for it to be a reference point it needs to remain constant? But being a part of the people is also why culture will be unable to resist morphing. When the people in that grouping changes, or they move and come into contact with another culture,
their "original" culture too will change. This is inevitable.

Given all the hype, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Mother Culture sprang out of some wise people's loins fully formed and perfect for all time. The truth is that Malay culture (I can only speak for my own, sorry) has gone through paradigm shifts through the course of history. It all boils down to how far into history you want to go to define what makes Malay culture "Malay". And that's part of the problem. At what point does a culture shedding its skin cease to be that particular culture? If a Malay were to stop wearing traditional clothes completely and use only English in his discourse, does he stop being a Malay?

Heavy metal

When I was a teenager we used to go around wearing all these rock t-shirts; Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Dio, Judas Priest. You know, fun stuff like that. We'd stop to pray at any mosque we came across, turning the t-shirts inside out. And we'd sometimes get snide comments or looks from the be-ketayap-ed pakciks
loitering around on the balcony passing time for the next prayer.

Question: does wearing a baju Melayu, kain pelikat, songkok and having brown skin make the pakciks more Melayu than me? But I was reading the Sejarah Melayu and Hikayat Malim Deman (you should, too: the poetry is breathtaking) in those days; they probably weren't. I probably dip more into the cultural stream by not only attending cultural performances, but also performing in them; they probably didn't. So who is the authentic Malay?

Of course, I can see the point: your culture - who you are, what you believe in - is very often subconsciously reflected in your appearance. If you spend your life drinking nothing but a purple liquid, then your skin will probably have a purplish tinge, too. But that's only true when we talk about culture seeping from the inside out, when you are immersed in the culture. What about the other way around: when culture is only skin deep? When you don't really understand the thing you behold but you put it on anyway?

Culture is serious stuff. It affects your thinking, the way you see the world, the way you behave. So it is a powerful construct indeed. No wonder then, that throughout history you have all these endless battles to control culture. Control culture and you will control the people. At least that's the promise. But is it possible?

Editing

A particular Islamic party here in Malaysia seems to think it is. They think it is not only possible to create their own culture, but also that it is necessary, in order for one to be a "true" Muslim. They believe it is possible and necessary because the prophet had done it himself.

Of course, these PAS types are used to editorialising parts of the story that do not fit into their myopic vision. Sometimes they even put words into God's mouth. And if you happen to believe that you need to be dressed in a certain way before you can be accepted into heaven, well, that's your perogative. Just don't forget to ask yourself what it is the religion is really asking of you; what is the whole point. Unless you understand the Why, the What has no meaning.

Rebelling against culture in an effort to remove it or negate its influence is not only futile, but also stupid. Especially when you don't have something coherent to replace it with. You cannot imagine the problems you will give rise to when there is mass confusion.

That doesn't stop people on both sides of the fence from trying to move the fence over to their side, of course. These people, quite frankly, should be hanged and whipped. Both Islamists and counter-culture activists. They might think they are doing us all a favour, but how many times have well-meaning idiots given us grief, anyway?

This reminds me of a delicious incident that happened in the UK in the second year I was there. A group of environmentalists stole into a mink farm and released all the animals, because they believed that raising those creatures solely for their fur was unnatural. Within two weeks the farmers and the police hunting around for them would find minks dead and frozen all over the place. The animals simply didn't know how to survive in the wild. The activists, it bears no need to say, weren't in the least remorseful.

Better to die as a free mink, eh. What value is a life to bigots, no matter what skin they be wearing? So who cares what fatal wounds they afflict in their battle to assert their version of what the "right" culture should be?

RUHAYAT X does exist.