Recitation II: Random verses

Recitation II: Random verses
by Azly Rahman

Time, with thee I conspire with Fate and Free Will
unto thee I offer my salutation
from Dawn to Dusk to Darkness daily I see
thee tells the story of who I might have been
and yet  Evolution I must become
the story of Creation I have been told.
O Time, I wish all of creation know Thee

Read ... Read thyself
for thee is a book of signs, symbols, signifiers,
of the semiotics of spiritual symbiosis of the self
                   and the larger self; of truth within a truth,
                   of chakras configured from chaos connected to the cosmology of cosmic consciousness;
                   of a lamp within a mirror; of a speck of dust evolving and wishing to know;
                   of a text inscribed by the textuality of truth temporal

we come from love and unto love we shall return
in between these lies the deep understanding
                   of what love and the absence of it means
                   of suffering and liberation
                   of appearance and reality
                   of the evolution of consciousness and the destruction of it
                   of the entering of paradise and the expulsion from it
                   of the realization of beauty and ugliness
                   of the grayness of good and evil

O' capitalist societies, capitalist selves
be subjected to the ramadhanization of existence
for fasting is the act of slowing down your sense of urgency
         to accumulate and to acquire capital taken from Nature, from the Natural self
         to slow down the desire to
                             rob the poor
                             rape Nature
                                 and revolt against Love
Verily,
a life of detachment
of dharma,
and the realization of moksha
                         is a life free from dhukka

O' self, between darkness and light we met
and we mediate upon the covenant we are to made,
as we contemplate putting thee in the abode of Love,
where Paradise is never lost,
where Nature is the Ultimate Self
and as dawn breaks we set forth
to encapsulate thee into a soul, spirit, and body
as we greet the light of darkness and set thee free to roam the Earth
and to seek for thine self within a guide in thee

O' self, thou have shed tears of fear and loss
of meaningfulness at the dawn of creation
at the onset of thine journey through this matrix of complexities
and the Mandelbrott of spirituality
Did not thou agree to carry the gift of love and knowledge and remembrance of things past?
Go forth and seek for the guide within, so that thou will see Maya clearly

O' self
ask not what the nature of truth nor the form the guide taketh
these will come to thee in thine waking hours of labour
and thine conversations with Nature,
in thine deepest reverie when night falls
and when solitude is thine companion
for the righteous path will be many and will be one,
as the mind becomes science and the soul become a lotus that blooms
                                      a thousand times, piercing the eyes of reality

O' self
with sincerity, explore all possible roads that may lead to self knowledge
one may arrive first in a prison-house of language
in a tower of babel and end up feeling the pleasure of experiencing
                the universal in the particular,
                the profane in the sacred,
                the falsehood in truth,
                        and the grandiose-ness of the minutest of things

O' self
read ... read thyself ...
read ... even if it takes a lifetime to do so
for thou are a book of signs that began as a tabula rasa
constructed out of scripts whose ink drawn from the fountain of Love and Plenty
so that thine existence will become a scripture of scripts and subscripts
of narratives and meta-narratives of the Grand and the Subaltern

O' self
tame the Fire within for thou is a kingdom in itself
a master of thine's destiny with Fate decree and conspiring
command the armies
                the counsels
                the playwrights
                the scribes
                the artisans
                the musician
                the designer of battlefields within
for thine is a powerhouse of creations of many a worlds
                    to be created in thine's journey towards everlasting bliss

O' self
O' people
O' tribes
O' nations
see what destruction humanity has done when the stone is carved?
The stone was forced to become -- carved, constructed, characterized, and made to colonize
from the stone carved
        the powerful amongst you will invent, install, and institutionalize ideologies
        that seal the fate of humanity into becoming cogs in the wheels of absurdity
from stones we evolve.

O'self,
O' society
inside of thou resides beelzebub, iblis, satan, the demon mara
the darkest of the darkest human instinct, or whatever name you may call it
one that reincarnates into human systems, statesmen, tyrants, semiotics of power, casino capitalism, demonic-hegemonic cycles of civilizational force ---
know it, tame it, subdue it, bring it to de-evolution do that you may arrive at nibanna

O' deepest self
in earth, wind, fire water lies the metaphysical semiotics of thine's creation
and in the universe outside lies thine's universe inside;
rejoice
for thou is one with Nature
as that cybernetic energy imbued with an existentialist design of flesh and blood
rejoice and revolve, like Newton's universe
                             in harmony with thine's chakras within

O' self
childhood, youth, and old age are merely in thine imagination
for the mind, the spirit, and the soul
are old as the universe if thou knew that ecclesiastical history of the self
and the cosmology of creation
for thou is merely a symbolism of Time and Space constructed as an experiment
in the workability of creation;
                               do we exist hence?

O' people
guide thine youth to spend their early years in the pursuit of knowledge
and the passion of its application and the beauty of its bhakti to humankind;
teach them well in the way so of the "jen" or the gentlemen, as Kungfu Tze would say,
and turn them into deep thinkers who cares for the fate of society and
at the same immersed in the joys of growing up and finding meaning in being wise adults

O self
suffering lies in one's inability to detach oneself from materials, people, places,
and the urge to accumulate more than one could possibly share.
Liberation thus is to live a life focused on higher goals, ideals, principles and living a life
honoring what one needs and not feeding one's greed.
Live a life of mindful living, aware of the semiotics of Desire colonizing

O self
journey into the past, to battlefields of yesteryear
like those of Kurusektra, Peloponesia, Trafalgar
and slay thine dragons and demons thou have nurtured out of passion, desire and arrogance thou hath tamed not confront these as well as the skeletons in thine closet and come home to the present victorious
like Arjuna,Alexander, and Ashoka ...
                            so that peace of a thousand years shall reign thine heart

Life is not a losing battle; it is a glorious gift to the self

Become an ethnographer to thine's own life
an archaeologist of consciousness,
a philosopher of living
catalog the data of experiences
analyzing what thou have gone through
          so that thou may have conversations with thine's own inner culture
and reconstruct those patterns not longer in sync with thine's concluding chapter
                                of the Book of Thine Own Signs

O' self,
O' people
recite merely not thine holy scriptures
journey hermeneutically into it
         - recite, read, read, re-read, construct, deconstruct,
          dive into its dialectics, so that thou will find the meaning of each passage closer to thine's own desire,
          stripping off disabling cultural contexts of the world of yesteryears
          and ultimately it is you who will become the text in your own existentialist context

O' people,
Religion is merely
a logical structure of human experience
vis-a-viz the Divine
so that the mind can explore the meaning of religious rituals;
          symbolism, nature of existence, meaning of God, evolution of the self
                  as it journeys, through Love and Compassion,
                  toward the larger Self;.
Religion provides the idea of how human beings must treat each other
in this sea of Humanity and
in this Ocean of mercy

O'  self:
be in this world as a stranger;
thou do not exist except as a self conditioned by systems created by others,
controls imposed on the mind,
narratives inscribed by thine elders;
exist thou shall not in this state no longer
if thou knows that this journey of life is one of becoming a postmodern flaneur
and a destroyer of perceptions,
          creator of illusions, and
          preserver of thine's complex inner government

O' self
jihad till thou see the crystal clearness of thine soul, blissful thou shall be

O' people
activism and revolution alone cannot bring instant peace to any nation
it is the deep understanding, deep structuring, and the mass disseminating
                               of love for all things great and small
that will give everlasting meaning to desired change.
it is the absence of love that creates spaces for greed, hatred, and violence
                           subtly factored into systems of control
                           and organized chaos

to understand Death, one must first contemplate what Living means

O' self,
daily thou undergoes karma

O' Fate
O' Free Will
Let me conspire with thee

... 

Death

Death
by azly rahman


are we memories in search of a body?
or merely flesh and blood
and bones and all these and more in search of a reason to
walk away walk on walk through this path of ephemerality
of a game of chess
of a garden to grow
where we knew the game
we have met
when flesh and blood we were not yet
when flesh and blood we no longer are
are we up there seeing sight?
listening to hearing?
living what is to be lived?
with love found, lost, found again .. when love has always
not left us; as if we are like the fish
like waves and the shore
like the warmth of the light of the flame
that whispers in the night
i see myself when
the self in me sees you
you and i
dies
daily
in the beauty of living --- eternally
wherein memories, body, flesh, bones ... can no longer be

Pronouns, Pathetically yours

Pronouns, pathetically yours ...
by Azly Rahman

Sitting in my garden under a flame of the forest today
I close my eyes

Autumn breeze so refreshing
I am at the mercy of the the beauteous rays of sunlight
so warm as if love is in every speck of light
bathing me with my eyes closed, my soul scattered in the universe
Three wind chimes surrounded me
One made of steel
One made of wood
One made of bamboo
together -- music so magnificent they made
Three winds of culture blew into my slumber
as i think of pronouns in a land I once knew

why did god in scriptures speak in shifting pronouns?
ahh .. i thought ... not an important thought at this moment
i was as if like a dry autumn leave blown to a land yonder
as i asked with eyes still closed

if i meet an ancient malay king
will i use to pronoun "patik"
when i feel it sounds like "pathetically yours"
or will addressing them and their monopolized status divinely-sanctioned with a "you and I' will suffice?
i suppose i have the answer: "patik" or "pathetically yours" will not go
as i think the word "beta" as the pronoun of the monarchy conjures in my mind "of an experimental "beta-testing" version of a government ... if it works it works ..
no -- i then say, neither "patik" nor "beta" will go well with me
yes - "pathetically yours" and "beta-testing" will they sound to me
I shall settle with "you and i" as i address these human concepts of ascribed power i shall not agree ..

if there is "your high-ness" there must be "your lowliness" i must say .. in the mind of both they must agree to play this game of pronouns i should say
no-- i thought: i shall not play this game

the autumn wind blows
my eyes still close
such a beauteous day
i though the wind in its glory has brought me
like that single red leaf drying
to that land i once knew
has brought this "pathetically yours"
to where i ought to belong, the old folks would say

with a deep deep breath i took, like a buddha under a flame of a forest
i opened my eyes
i am still here ... i am ... that red leaf .. saved from being crushed perhaps
by pronouns ...

Arjuna II

Arjuna II

by Azly Rahman

and under the blood red sky He shoots arrows
drawn from the darkest dungeon of his Self
and thunderous was the sky
... tempestuous was the raging sea yonder
with a million eyes of the storm staring
and He saw like precious drops of rain
arrows turned into lotuses
multicolored
falling down one by one
like fingers falling of a hand dejected
He smiled ... in his dark shining armour He smiled
as the sky grew bloodier
the Earth below burst out in Anger -- ar

Wasteland II (with apologies to TS Eliot)

Wasteland II
(with apologies to TS Eliot)
by Azly Rahman

                       I
...
I woke up with the sound of boots
marching outside my window
British soldiers! British soldiers! They are here!
I screamed in my dream
I was a child worried my Union Jack flag on my kite is not ready yet
to be flown in the fields of dream
where my grandfather secretly brought me to
I love to sketch the grandeur of Stamford Raffles as he majestically stood
over the place I was s born

I saw the red coated ones outside my window, giving flowers
and kissing the forehead of politicians in Malay hats ...
how sweet are the saviours I screamed in my dream

In one ear Bach's Air on G-String played
In another I hear the ripping of Hendrix's Star Spangled banner
"... give me your hands, your minds, your souls ... tired masses ..."
as i hear Stamford Raffles plead ...
"give me your land, your love .. "
i shall give give your "life liberty and help you pursue
my happiness ..."
Ah ... sweet are those words I heard in between my dreams
and the reality I am yet to see.

I was child not yet born
That hears these monumentalism
of conversations of history
between army boots and Malay headgears
with the word: " a suicidal nation will be sweet"
written in jawi script, borrowed from a land far far away
... as we become postscripts of yet another Grand Narrative
of a the boy with a kite flying Union Jack

born he was not yet as he navigated and directed the wind
smiling he was as the kite yearns to be free
like the teeming masses on the shores of Lazarus

Intellectual apostasy by Azly Rahman

Intellectual apostasy
by Azly Rahman
News had it that in an islamic university
they plan to kick out a professor of law and constitutional legality
... who spoke up against interference of the monarchy
they suspended him and the nation is now in jeopardy
what an un-islamic act i am beginning to see
performed by an islamic university
today i asked this question many moments aplenty
is it islam? -- or is this political idiocy?
that has crept into the corridors of what could have been plato's academies
what worth is having an islamic university
when the act itself is non-halal laced with hypocrisy
what faith would one have in islam as practiced by hypocrites aplenty
when even an islamic university is advancing intellectual decadency
ahhh ... i wonder what version of islam must one believe in
when all is now so messy
messy messy messy .. like a lid of a pandora box of hopelessness and lunacy
let me retreat to the jungle and live like lao tzu and finally be happy
care to join me?

Malaysian academicians and their pledge of loyalty

Academicians and the ‘Akujanji’
by Azly Rahman
(written circa 2006)


A simple sentence/clause can clearly illustrate how these academicians are being controlled and their intelligence subdued. It takes us to deconstruct the clause and analyse what kind of ‘truth’ it embodies and how the ‘truth-force’ operates in the learning environment, to understand how thought-control operates.

The clause I am referring to is from the now infamous Surat Akujanji (Pledge of Loyalty) for ‘government servants’. Let us inquire into the genealogy of the production of the clause, how it is used to dishonour the university, and how the academicians are being silenced and stupefied by it.

The irony is that we have graduates from universities abroad who themselves were trained in the best and rigorous environment of learning that protects intellectual freedom.

We expect them to embody the ethos of a committed intellectual who will translate good expressions of freedom of practice, but instead, they have become the new colonisers of the neo-colonialist state.

Let us now compare, for example, what academic freedom means in America and in Malaysia. Let us then offer suggestions on how the Malaysian academic community can have its right to be intelligent.

Right to be intelligent

In the US, public school teachers, community college and university professors have all the guarantees of academic freedom as rights in their collective agreement with their respective institutions; rights that are also enshrined to ensure that the students they educate will become intelligent and informed citizens.

Academic Freedom clauses from the American Association of University Professors include

1) Teachers are entitled to full freedom in research and in the publication of the results, subject to the adequate performance of their other academic duties; but research for pecuniary return should be based upon an understanding with the authorities of the institution.

2) Teachers are entitled in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject. Limitations of academic freedom because of religious or other aims of the institutions should be clearly stated in writing at the time of the appointment.

3) College and university teachers are citizens, members of a learned profession, and officers of an educational institution. When they speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As scholars and educational officers, they should remember that the public may judge their profession and their institution by their utterances. Hence they should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that they are not speaking for the institution.

Another example comes from the reknown research university, Columbia University, in New York:

‘The University is committed to maintaining a climate of academic freedom, in which officers of instruction and research are given the widest possible latitude in their teaching and scholarship. However, the freedoms traditionally accorded those officers carry corresponding responsibilities. By accepting appointments at the University, officers of instruction and research assume varied obligations and duties.’

Clarifying that commitment, it states:

‘Academic freedom implies that all officers of instruction are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects; that they are entitled to freedom in research and in the publication of its results; and that they may not be penalised by the University for expressions of opinion or associations in their private or civic capacity; but they should bear in mind the special obligations arising from their position in the academic community.’

These statements of guarantee have become the cornerstone of the culture of ‘free spirit of inquiry’ enshrined in the thinking of American academicians and one that emanated from the protection of the fundamental rights of the individual.

The Surat Akujanji is doing exactly the opposite. Consider the implications of the clause (ix), in Bahasa Melayu and in English, from the document forced upon the Malaysian intellectual community:

bahawa saya antara lain:

(ix) tidak akan ingkar perintah atau berkelakuan dengan apa apa cara yang boleh ditafsirkan sebagai ingkar perintah (I shall not be insubordinate or conduct myself in such manner as is likely be construed as being insubordinate.)

Such a sweeping and generalised statement endangers faculty members in their pursuit of truth through critical inquiry. The clause entails that the academician shall have no freedom, rights, and responsibility in deciding the nature of ‘truth’ to be pursued. The idea of insubordination implies that the work of academicians will be subjected to the rigours defined by the prevailing ideology and those who are in power to impose such ideology.

In addition, the difference between the Academic Freedom clauses and that in Surat Akujanji is clear; while the one produced by American institutions encourage freedom and responsibility, the one adopted by Malaysian universities take away such freedom and assures that even academicians are inherently irresponsible.

In other words, the American academic community sees the ‘goodness and genius in the human being’ while the one adopted by Malaysian universities see the ‘evil and sub-standard intelligence of the human being’ and the need for the mind to be subdued, tamed, and domesticated. The latter is unquestionably reminiscent of colonial discourse.

Why should we perpetuate such a discourse among the people of independent Malaysia?

Power-hungry leaders

We must understand that organisations are made up of human beings who have personal biases, grudges, and motivations that can be counter-productive to the development of intellectual tradition of any university.

A leader of an organisation, even in a supposedly intellectual environment as in a university, can never claim neutrality in the way decisions are made. Our purpose as intellectuals must be to produce as best as we can, statements of guarantees that the nobility of the university environment must be preserved by all, and especially that rights of the faculty must be guarded against attempts by the leadership to subvert them.

The phrase ‘insubordinate… likely to be construed as being insubordinate’ is definitely problematic. In the hands of an autocratic leader who wishes to maintain his/her hegemony over others, or to maintain control and power over the powerless, or to maintain rule via Machiavellian tactics, the semantics of ‘insubordination’ can be a powerful instrument of oppression.

Ultimately, who defines what ‘insubordination’ means and what are its dimensions? It is too subjective of a term to be used in such a supposedly-objective manner. It will be open to abuse. Academicians do not wish to be oppressed nor abused especially in an academic environment.

Why can we not learn the virtue of intellectual freedom and the fundamental rights of the individual from nations such as the US? Must we not implement what is good from world-class practices?

Is not the purpose of education in Malaysia is to educate its students to become intelligent, creative, critical and open-minded? Do we not understand what a ‘university’ means and why we lecturers and professors have the moral obligation to help open minds and not close them shut? Do we really understand what a world-class university means?

What then must the Malaysian academician do?

Academicians need not be powerless entirely. In times like this that try their intellectual sensibility, they may discover that they can no longer seek the help of the university to address grievances - judging from the fact that there is no provision for an academician to argue for academic freedom, and that there is no mechanism to attend to such grievances fairly.

Clause (viii) of the Surat Akujanji guarantees that such a recourse cannot be taken. It states (in translation) that an officer “… shall not bring or attempt to bring any form of outside influence or pressure to support or advance (his/her) claim or that of other public officers relating to the public services …”

One must be aware how damaging the clause can be to the interest of the aggrieved party. Should there be instances of abuse of power, corruption in all forms, attempts to subvert the intellectual foundations of Malaysia universities, or any form of unethical practices, the clause would ensure that the complainant would not be able to seek the help of more credible outside agencies/organisations/bodies/persons to resolve those issues.

How do academicians criminalised by the system seek justice from the administration when they do not have faith in the organisation’s capability to be objective and to understand what the rights of an academic might be - when in fact, there is no charter or covenant/compact to guarantee such rights?

We must now be concerned how our universities will, in future be seen in the eyes of the international academic community with this clause that illustrates the intellectual problematique of this nation.

What then must we do? We must have the universities nullify, revise or discard the Surat Akujanji.

We must demand that the university administration forms academic freedom committees so that parameters of freedom of expression can be constructed. The committees must produce a statement of guarantees of academic freedom to be signed and honoured by all.

We must encourage dissenting views from as many perspectives as possible, true to the development of newer philosophies of multi-culturalism that is developing.

We must elect progressive university leaders into office; ones that will promote the rights of academicians and students to be more intelligent and more rigorous in their thinking.

Malaysian academicians, stand up for your rights!

Do not allow those who abuse power to trample on your hard-earned intellectualism. We have generations of creative young minds to educate. They are waiting for academicians to regain their right to be treated intelligently.

Is HIMPUN against apostasy necessary?

instead of gathering a million people to protest against apostasy,
why not ask them to stay home and pray for peace and prosperity
and then watch cartoons on TV ...
and then facebook each other reminding how cheap a publicity this is all will be
to destroy racial and religious harmony ...
ahh malaysians malaysians malaysians ...
you watch too much TV and believe in lies and bankrupt political ideology -- azly rahman

MRSM schools a successful failure?

MRSM schools a successful failure?

by Azly Rahman

As hypermodernising societies such as Malaysia progresses in syncrony with the advancement of capitalism, and as race and religion becomes the foundation for decision-making in education, especially in elitist well-funded schools, Malaysia is faced with another dilemma of education and national development.

Is this country creating sophisticated ethnocentrists that will continue to sustain race-based ideologies?

Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (Mara Junior Science College) schools, well-funded, well-staffed with advanced degree faculties, and well-taken care of by the Malay-centric government may be one example of a phenomena of a successful failure in the system's 40-year evolution.

The school system prides itself in innovative curricular experimentation drawn from best practice of schools, particularly those of the United States; as its original template was based upon.

What educationists will see in the list of innovations are merely aspects of the formal curriculum; upon further analysis lies the hidden and informal curriculum as perceived from curricular theory; hidden is the deeply racial socialisation aspect.

The overall picture lies in the impact of politics and education in the socialisaton of MRSM students. they parrot the teachers, the teachers parrot the politicians, politicians kowtow to money and power - that's an example of successful failure.

We are all economic beings, homo economicus undoubtedly but it is education and only education that is the best means to re-engineer, restructure, re-level, and redesign society.

It is the only means to sustain individual and social progress, as philosophers Dewey and Freire would argue.

Valueless ideologies

While the advanced nations are prioritising multiculturalism, honoring cosmopolitanism, and globalising education, Malaysians, through their endless fights over education are making many steps backwards. MRSM has produced a breed of sophisticated professionals to sustain ethnocentric valueless ideologies out of touch with current cultural realities.

Consider, in a similar vein, how much is spent and attention paid to on yet another high-priced elitist project such as the Pintar Permata at the expense of other schools in dire needs of even basic amenities such as those in Sabah and Sarawak or in many poor states - is that equity and equality for all races? Or is it a showcase based on ignorance of the meaning of equality and education?

With all due respect to the administrators, teachers, parents, and students, I must say about the MRSM school system.

With its insistence on being a Malay-centric, MRSM these days are not preparing children to survive in a multicultural, cosmopolitan, and ever-changing world that requires English as an important skill, and an outlook that is more open to learning about other cultures especially in the context of a rapidly changing Malaysia.

Those specialisations in each MRSM school are merely cliches filled with educational terminologies that are not fully understood but fully acceptable as a platform to appease the needs of the current regime.

Regimentation is necessary it seems to tune the mind of the monolithic mono-cultural students to accept governmental dictates making them in turn, one-dimensional beings.

Are any of those MRSMs suitable for Malaysian children? Or are they merely training and indoctrinating grounds to prop up yet another breed of leaders that will sustain the culture of blind following neo-feudalism of Ketuanan Melayu that itself is a dying specie?

Do parents know what goes on in the culture of the MRSM boarding schools and what goes on in the minds of your children?

In this context, we must look at the difference between education, schooling, indoctrination, mind-control, and liberation in thinking. I would say that the MRSM system is a successful failure.

Retrogressive ideologies

In MRSM, that predominantly Malay-elite secondary institution for the best and brightest young Malays, Malay-centric indoctrination work have been happening since the 1980s. Courses such as Kursus Kesedaran (Self Awareness Courses) are conducted to instill the questionable idea of Ketuanan Melayu, making the children afraid of "Malaysian bogeymen and bogeywomen" and their own shadows.

Open-mindedness is rarely encouraged and students take control over each others' lives transplanting retrogressive ideologies into each other's head, with the help of ultra-nationalist and anti-multiculturalist teachers.

Even if these children survive the ideological ordeal and experience 'tough love' and go on to get their degrees from top American and British universities, they will still be Malays with a shallow understanding of multiculturalism or become more sophisticated Malays with more complex arguments on Ketuanan Melayu.

They will then design policies to affect the needed sustenance of ideology in order to protect the interests of the few. Neo-feudalistic cybernetic Malays are then the new creations of the political-economic ruling class. They run the country and many are now running it down.

As an educator wishing to see Malays progress alongside in peace and prosperity with other races, I call upon us all to put a stop to all forms of indoctrination held especially by the BTN (Biro Tata Negara); an organisation that is of no value to the advancement of the Malays they claim to want to liberate.

It should be taken over by progressive Malaysians and replaced with a systematic effort to promote not only racial understanding through teaching respect and deep reflection on the cultures of the peoples of Malaysia, but also teach conflict resolution and mediation through cross-cultural perspectives. All must question the presence of BTN on campuses. All must reject BTN's programme for indoctrination.

Let us no longer allow any government body of that sort to set foot on our campuses or our schools. As Malaysians we have to demand an end to the further dissemination of racist ideologies.

Open up, not only institutions such as UiTM (Universiti Teknologi Mara) and MRSM but also Umno to more students of the major cultures. We will then have a great celebration of diversity and respect for human dignity in the decades to come.

We need to turn succesful failures such as MRSM into truly successful Malaysian educational ventures; an organic system able to prepare young Malaysian citizens for a diverse, multicultural, and rapidly challenging world - minus the cliches of educational innovation and blind nationalism that will be anti-national in character.

---

DR AZLY RAHMAN, who was born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Bahru, holds a Columbia University (New York) doctoral degree in International Education Development and Masters degrees in the fields of Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies, and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 300 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience spans both in Malaysia and in the United States and in a wide range of teaching context; from elementary to graduate education. He currently resides in the United States.

In my garden I asketh

In my garden I asketh
by Azly Rahman


In my garden I asketh
Roses why must you have thorns?
                   what story of life are you telling us?
as I mow the lawn with this wrecking guillotine machine in my hands
Up and down and in circles
Guillotining thousands after I stormed the Bastille

But still, roses roses why are you with thorns?
As I contemplate roses I asketh again and again
though a strange a question might it be
                  can a rose be not a woman but a man?
                  And the thorns that guard are but guardian angles?
now how could that not possibly be?
                  in a world as upside down as we have created it to be?

And even in my garden I shall never fail to see
As the poet Emily would too agree
                                Life and death
                                Heaven and hell
                                And purgatory
And the role I play in these little worlds I could see
Ah .. my garden and me

goodnight poetry by azly rahman

goodnight poetry
by azly rahman


poetry comes to me
from unexpected places
as i drift across continents
as my gaze scale the heights of monuments, of the towers of power
as i lay in-between my siestas and deep slumber
as i stare deep into the eyes of those speaking of the stench of wealth and power

ah poetry
you have cometh to me when i was a child,
                      in my simplistic mind, stoning those palaces of tradition 

you have now cometh to me as i close my eyes
verses flowing like a river styx
verses in search of a loved one


ah poetry
a friend you have always been
you roam the streets of egypt
of tunisia
of yemen
of mao's china
of castro's cuba
you have touched me
                and drowned me in your reality
that you are merely words
                that become living monstrocities

ah poetry
you and i
have always conspired
since i know what words can mean
how verses can become lovers
                       of a vengeance we embrace
to change things
to our heart's desire


ah poetry
even in my showers
as i bathe away the ills of yesteryears daily
those of mine and others
even as i soothe my soul and make each cells in me
as new as a child conceived in divinity
even as i speak to the waters of purity
that flow into the entire of me
you poetry
and your verses
will still clothe me
             in this invisible shroud oud of mystery

poetry
let us go into the streets
you and i
and plant the seeds of anger in them all
      for anger is already in their hearts


ah poetry
let me tell you this:
this world hath lost you
this word hath gained "it"
as the "it" drifts farther away
from the Thou-ness of things entire

you and i know
this world is a playground
made of the structures of power
installed by vultures
who speaks of the glories of culture
through the stench of their mouth
as their hands strangle the ignorant
as they steal from the poor

ah poetry
        we must now strip them naked
and parade them on a street samba
          in a maoist carnival
will you and i ... poetry?  ... my true lover?


you and i
we will wade through the river of blood
that flows deep into the jungles of steel and concrete
we will call upon Reason and Revolution
and the spirit of Rousseau
and break into the towers of power
and yank out those toilet bowls made of gold
of the owners whose fate were long foretold
and turn those mansions into houses of the holy and the old
and of children on the streets hungry and cold

ah poetry
you are now whispering words of love to me

as i close my eyes
to journey yet into another world
wherein the spaces of hope collapses into yet another
layers of colors like rainbow in the dark
as i close my eyes and pull the darkness of the night
that now becomes a blanket of memories like quilt
i close my eyes,
your soul meets mine,
we become one
and we lay silent
bidding goodbye
to this world

poetry: you are now inside of me
as we become
more silent that the night

Trishakthi and Malaysian Politics by Azly Rahman (with Malay translation)

Trishakthi and Malaysian Politics 
by Azly Rahman
(with Malay translation)

Come General Election # 13 in Malaysia, who's going to lead the cybernetic revolution of the Third Force, Third Wave, guided by the Third Eye? The Messiah we need to get us out of the Matrix ...

Third Force, Third Wave, Third Eye = Tri-Shakhti ... a force that should shape new politics away from the current ideological impasse ...Bloggers, commentators in social media must come together and ignite this new intellectual revolution in educating the masses. TRISHAKTI ... third force, third wave third eye ... A force that will color Malaysian politics blind. A force that will be a vigilante to the abusers of power. No one can stop it. The internet is anarchy -- ride its wave.

The Kuhnian Revolution in science proposed that when there are too many questions unanswered as a consequence of the end of history for the prevailing worldview, the paradigm is meeting the near-collapse of its existence. This is said in Kuhn's classic work The Structures of Scientific Revolution. (Thomas Kuhn is a Harvard historian of science)

Malaysia is facing such a crisis - the near collapse of the Barisan Nasional Paradigm. There are too many questions unanswered and too many structures crumbling - judiciary, education, law enforcement, economics, culture, etc. The third wave is here - postmodernity. The first wave, traditional societies gave way to modernization.

In Malaysia, both waves have failed; as consequence of failed policies of modernization taken over by privatization, Look East, and Malaysian Inc. as policies. Vision 2020 is a meaningless slogan created by the ideology of Mahathirism. Capitalism developed without ethics fueled by greed and convenienced by race-based politics.

The third wave is here. The March 2008 tsunami was warning of its inevitability.

But the Third wave needs a Third Force and a Third Eye; Third Force cannot be stopped, Third Eyes cannot be blinded.

TRISHAKTI is here. We need a leader -- an intellectual leader. Current leaders do not understand this force. They are in it and drowned by it, like fish in the water.

Let us push this idea to the masses and see it dance in the Malaysian cyberspace and gets translated into praxis. TRISHAKTI resides in the cave -- Plato's cave

________________________________________________________________

Trishakthi dan Politik Malaysia
oleh Azly Rahman
terjemaan: Zulqurnain Othman

Tibanya PRU13 betapa persoalannya siapakah yang akan mengetuai Revolusi Cybernatik atau Revolusi Cyber dan berlebih lagi dari kerangka Kuasa Ketiga atau Gelombang Ketiga dan berpimpinan dari Mata Ketiga yang mungkin juga boleh di ertikan selaku jurusan mata hati atau mata kalbu. Lantas kemungkinan juga perlunya kita berpaksi kepada Tokoh Penyelamat laksana Al Mahdi yang bisa membawa kita keluar dari kejumudan kewujudan kita masa kini.

Kuasa Ketiga juga gelombang ketiga dan dari itu mata ketiga=Tri Shakthi jikalau di ertikan dari bahasa sanskrit asalnya. Kuasa ketiga ini yang boleh membentuk aliran politik baru yang sewajibnya berjauhan dari ideologi-ideologi jalan buntu sekarang ini. Blogger-blogger juga tukang-tukang komen/ulas media sosial mesti bersatu mencetus dan menyalakan api revolusi intellectual baru demi menyerlahkan bahasa minda masyarakat majmuk.

TRISHAKTHI ... kuasa ketiga, gelombang ketiga mata ketiga... Satu kuasa yang keseluruhannya mewarnai poltik Malaysia hingga terus menjadi buta dari elemen-elemen rasis dan perkauman jumudnya. Kuasa yang pastinya menjadi laksana seorang vigilante atau sang skodeng yang bisa menjerit lantang sekiranya ada sang penguasa2 menyalah guna tampuk kuasa. Tiada siapa yang boleh menghalang

TRISHAKTHI. Dunia Internet sememangnya berbentuk anarki atau caca marba -- kita gunakan sepenuhnya.
Revolusi Kuhnian di dalam wadah sains melamarkan apabila dan tatkala adanya terlalu banyak persoalan yang tidak terjawab hasil dari berakhirnya ketamadunan sejarah atau "the end of history" dan di ertikan dari pandang dunia sedia ada atau prevailing worldview, paradigma ketika itu seperlunya berhadapan tanpa selindung keadaan hampir langsung roboh - near collapse pandang dunia atau world view itu. Kenyataan ini termaktub di dalam Teori Klasik Pendita Kuhn - The structures of Scientific Revolution ( Struktur-Struktur Revolusi Sains) Thomas Kuhn ialah seorang pakar sejarah sains dari Universiti Harvard.

Malaysia sememang nya berhadapan dengan krisis sebegitu rupa - keadaan hampir roboh langsung - "near collapse" Gabungan Barisan Nasional atau lebih tepatnya Paradigma BN itu. Terlalu banyak persoalan yang tidak terjawab dan terlalu banyak struktur-struktur yang telah reput - kehakiman, pelajaran, kuatkuasa undang2, ekonomi, budaya, dlll. Kuasa Ketiga telah ada sekarang ini - pasca modern atau postmodernity. Gelombang Pertama, masyarakat tradisional memberi ruang kepada modernisasi.

Di Malaysia, kedua dua gelombang - masyarakat tradisi dan modernisasi berakhir dengan kegagalan;hasil dari polisi polisi modernisasi di ambil alih oleh privitasi(privatization), Pandang Timur(Look East) dan Perbadanan Malaysia(Malaysia Inc.) sebagai polisi polisi gantian. Wawasan 2020 adalah satu slogan tanpa makna yang di bina dari ideologi Mahathirsme atau Mahathirism. Capitalism atau sistem kapitalis tanpa peradaban(ethics) di sogok lagi dengan naluri tamak tanpa had dan di permudahkan dan di selaraskan bersama 'kejituan' politik perkauman
.
Gelombang Ketiga sebenarnya sudah sampai. Tsunami 03/08 adalah amaran ketibaannya. Tidak dapat tidak.

Akan tetapi gelombang ketiga memerlukan kuasa ketiga juga mata ketiga. Justeru kuasa ketiga tak dapat di tahan dan mata ketiga tak dapat di rabunkan malah di butakan sama sekali.

TRISHAKTHI telah sedia hadir dan kita perlukan ketua --ketua berintellek. Ketua ketua yang ada tiada faham akan kuasa ketiga ini. Arakian mereka telah berada di dalam nya tetapi lemas di dalam nya, mungkin juga di ibarat ikan di dalam air bahkan tiada sedar ia sebenarnya beralamkan fitrah nya tetapi masih sesak lantas tenggelam setenggelamnya.

Mari kita ketengahkan idea gelombang ketiga ini and melihat nya menari nari ria di dalam alam cyber Malaysia tercinta. Juga meneropong ketika ia di bentuk menjadi aturcara aturcara gerak kerja ataupun praxis.

Maka Trishakti bermukim di Gua ahli filasuf Plato!

terjemahan: Zulqurnain Othman
from: Trishakthi and Malaysian Politics by Azly Rahman.

___

The Wise Man of Semabok, Part 2

THE Wise Man of Semabok, Part 2

II

AAAARRRRRRRGH!” he one day screamed,
... When the pressures of schoolwork sank into him.
“Can’t studying be easier than this?” Johan kept
on asking,
“Isn’t there a secret formula for learning and memorizing?”

And that day Johan buried his face in a mountain
of books,
Like a poor little kitten drowning in a brook,
And he yelled and screamed at the thought of failing,
Until late at night he kept on wailing.

That night Johan slept amongst his books,
Indeed that night he dreamed he was standing
by a brook,
And he was staring at the rushing waters,
“Will I leave this question unanswered?” he wondered.

And Johan kept on wondering and wondering,
When the answer will be arriving.
Not to mention why he was there standing,
Looking at the water fast running.

The Wise Man of Semabok, Part 1

THE WISE MAN OF SEMABOK
by Azly Rahman

rhymes for modern times,
written in seven days
... in seven different locations
in about seven thousand words

--------------------------------------------

I

There was a boy,
Johan as he was called,
Who lived in the toughest time of all,
In which there was too much to learn,
in not so much time at all.

It was the time of fast computers,
And supernovas and quasars and environmental
litters,
And of course in school, a lot to be learned,
Poor Johan, to have the mind of a genius,
was all he has always yearned.

In school there were Physics and Chemistry,
And History and Biology,
Not to mention all the languages
and all the readings and the homework
given by his teachers.
Oh, how Johan and all those very ambitious
Yearn to find the one best method which
will make them geniuses.

It was his eleventh year of schooling,
A Fourth Former like him doesn’t have much time
for doodlings,
For it was the year of high hopes,
Another year then - there would be a major exam
for Johan to grope.

Thus the journey began for his intensive studying,
Of constant memorizing and reading and calculating,
For Johan wants to do the best in every test,
So as to prove to himself, his parents and the rest,
That he indeed can be the brightest and the best.

Months passed by and the poor boy began
to feel the pinch,
As if he’s crawling every inch,
To get the facts he learned imprinted deep within,
So that he could perform the best - day out, day in.
When the going gets tough, as they say,
The tough gets going, come what may.
But life, like Johan, like that of the rest of us,
Is filled with ups and downs - a roller coaster such as,
And poor Johan, like a lark he rises early morning,
And like a nightingale he retires beyond
midnight calling,
Reading and writing, thinking and calculating.

This world is too much for me

This world is too much for me
by Azly Rahman

this world is too much for me
and one man can be an island entire of itself
unto which a kingdom divided and united and  divided and united again it stands
away from the marketplace and rich-quick scams
away, far far away from sultans and feudal gangs, and royal clans
away from missiles in silos which blow the world out of its DNA strands
away from the blown up face of a boy in Palestine the holy land
away from media persuasions and rape of clever brands
this world is way too much for me


this world is way too much for me
as i longed for death as it comes so easily in multiplicity
consistently in perfect harmony with profound beauty
as all the world's a stage i cannot be a mere player
nor will i be historied by narratives crafted by hypocrites in power way too many
this world is way way too much for me
i cried times too many
until a figure in white robe brought me away to this destiny
but still -- i sit peaceful and empty
though beautiful things around me i carry


this world is way way too much for me
but still i sit on my throne
with mere sound of my breathing i worship incessantly
and for many thousands of years i look into the mirror
like many a poor narcissus in many ponds of grandeur
and for many more thousands of years i waited for company
to help me construct my identity
so that i will be known and knowers will i see
but where is the beloved one who will be my company
one i waited a thousand years still, so patiently?
so that this kingdom of cybernetic philosophy
can reign more joyously?

and the prince will no longer be narcissus
but will be ready for pomp and pageantry
and produce offspring
          with roots and wings
who will journey down to this world called Maya
and revolt -- from Srivijaya to Cyberjaya
and destroy missiles in silos
hang war kings, hang their strange bedfellows
and restore the blown-up face of the Palestinian child
and resurrect in every hinterland and principalities
wise men and prophets who once foretold destinies

ahh... for now
this world is still way way too much for me
as i reign alone
meditating on the Self's multiplicity
waiting for company
to speak of unity
of two worlds
breathing silently
and as the hand writes ...
this world is still too much for me

And I bathe in you

And I bathe in you
by Azly Rahman

O' lovely one
Might this be the end of the journey?

to walden pond --
       as i walked back home from the marketplace
found this text written some time ago
pinned to my favorite apple tree
       a text of conversations in search of truth
and truth in each and every word?

said to myself--
       ah ... never can I think in straight lines
for, is it a square in search of a center?
a fractal coming home in search of that one-cell structure?
or is it us-- looking at the self in search of the other?

think of me come day and night
when you look at yourself with eyes wide shut
look at the beauty of things in state of sobriety
for-- on  a clear day you can see eternity
and is this a logical and sensible enough journey?

in the river that runs deep
you become the mountains
the sky
the stars
the morning sun

and in the river
    i bathe in you
-- but still: is not separation a melancholic and painful beauty?

She died at heaven's gate

"She died at heaven's gate .. "
by Azly Rahman


O' Messenger
I know she would return-- but not dead and still lovely like this!
And tell me-- it is not because of the poem she called "wicked and funny"?
... Not the metaphors of Life I used way too many?
Not talks of boddhistavas and deserving nirvanas?
These are not -- I hope
For these are mere words with not much hope

But she sent me sandstorms
And reconstructed love and conjure stories of more storms
The Rubaiyat of Wall Street I sent her was a gift too strange for many
But one which is a prelude to a journey
Many hath received gifts from me -- but few giveth back gracefully
Are we not the Gift -- unto IT we return night and day, every second aplenty?
But this lovely dragonfly of mine that flew close to the sun--
had not I expected her to surrender so easily
Though I know that rubaiyat a thing so phantasmagoric bound in eternity

I did not write the rubaiyat -- neither the butterfly many thought had died already
But is fantastic -- is it not?
What kind of mind created such verses
Not to be shared with others
Never reveal these to others
From the fountain of Al Kautsar it must have come
Verses and verse poets longed for

O' Messenger I have said to this soul searcher
That the hand -- as it writes --- writes
None is erased
Beauty flows from the heart
Love conquers all with all its might
And I write drunketh and intoxicated
As I sit alone in my kingdom--- of rainbow I erected

We will find out how this divine comedy will transpire
Methinks it might be beautiful if the Dead is resurrected
    and Love reconstructed entire
I will make this journey a peaceful one
Thou hath come a long way in search of the Chosen One

Stay for a while to write this story
You have journeyed times too many
Sit back, relax
perhaps a Cafe Mocha Grande' Starbuck coffee if you may?

She is a lovely child
Many hath asked me to lead them to this path so right
So right ... so right ... it is so blindingly bright
But not for this soul who is aspiring to greater heights

But O' Messenger tell me this
Which gate of heaven is she now at?
The night before I sent her a gift
Like many gifts I sent her and many others for their journey
To loves of my life and to unseen enemies aplenty

O' Messenger
I do not think this soul would be back so early
I had not finished even rewriting Dante's Divine Comedy
Lovely is she not? And she has the sword with her too
       one engraved with the words Might and Right
And she arrived early in the morning -- perhaps she took the early flight?

O' Messenger
You will stay with me
And write this chapter of metaphysical history
It can be better
     than a rumi
     or saadi
     or john donne's poetry
                        we shall see
And I have found my way
Already bored with metaphysical muses at this grand tower made of ivory
And bored of multiple voices I find fake, hollow, and empty

But now
Let me
Rewrite this divine comedy
But who is me?
Who is "I"
Who is "we"
In this kingdom of harmony?

So hush messenger
bring me the answers to this soul's beginning
                                                      and its destiny ...