Changing Cultures

by: I-Vonne Lim

 

Touchscreens. I see them everywhere. Gatherings, cafes, malls; anywhere with people. It seems as if touchscreens are man’s new spouse. Agree?

 

Alright, coming from a typical Chinese family, I meet my extended family members usually once a year – Chinese New Year. It is commonly the reunion saturated with lots of food, warm hospitality, snippets of “wow, you’ve grown so much” topic, and some rounds of games like mahjong, cho tai ti, and card games, motivated by a practice of gambling, to raise competitive spirits, and to add to the fun of the whole game.

My last Chinese New Year was rather different compared to previous years, as if it is taking on a revolutionary trend. Guess what? This ‘revolutionary trend’ is initiated by touchscreens.My uncle and family (with two children aged 14 and 11) owns three iPads, and two iPhones.

 

During the last ‘revolutionary trend’ CNY reunion, the whole family was in the living room of the home, all engaged in a game of the touchscreen gadgets. It was a rather phenomenal sight to witness in a I-only-meet-them-once-a-year family reunion. Not only that, walk into restaurants and cafes, and you’ll see families dining, while their kids engaged with Angry Birds, and the youths, Temple Run.

 

I personally feel that touchscreens have made people antisocials. It is undeniable that a whole new phenomenal alleviation of lives has occurred through the penetration of culture by Androids, iPhones and iPads that provide an inarguable limitless convenient access to any piece of information or entertainment.

 

However, an overindulgence in these technologies take your attention off people, and into the virtual world.Some people may say that applications like Whatsapp, Viber and other bridges of communication keep people close. Yes, certainly they do, without doubt.

 

Sometimes, I do feel that an extreme convenience of communication lowers the significance and importance of our conversations. For example, which among these do you appreciate most on your birthday – a wish on your Facebook wall, a text message, a call, a mail to your residence?

 

Notice that I’ve arranged the four options in hierarchy of convenience levels, from the most convenient to the least. The more effort is takes for you to communicate with someone, the more sincere you are, and the more important the other is to you.

 

I believe that these make real relationships – relationships that last. In my opinion, the foundation of a good life lies in the person’s relationships and connections with others. I mean, real relationships.

 

Everybody belongs to a community and society. Why not engage with people, and not our technologies? I believe it is utterly not wrong to add spices of entertainment and great access to information through our handy tech gadgets, but I also believe that there is a time and place to do so.

 

It should take our personal time, not during reunions, dinners, and gatherings, because it simply compromises the chance of us advancing not only our lives, but the lives of others who surround us, whereby a simple encouraging, mind-opening conversation could make such a difference in their lives.

 

That’s what they call, engaging people. It all boils down to living in moderation. That is, to utilize them moderately, hence to have a balanced level of input in our beings, at the same time, using the inputs to make a difference in people, and in the world. It is evident that the new generation are captivated by games on tech gadgets, where games come first before friends. It is sad that these virtual avenues are such  antisocial makers of the young kids today.

 

I wish to not imagine what would become of them in the future. Yes, they would be extremely informed. But perhaps, from the Dinosaurs, to the Ice Age, to the 20th Century, to the Silent World, where the eyes see only one thing – the screen in hand.

 

I look forward to my next CNY reunion, seeing the “silent world” subtly creeping into my family.

Where is the Love?

by I-vonne Lim

I had the opportunity to attend a session regarding racism in our nation by Mr. Haris Ibrahim.

He is a political critic, someone like Raja Petra, and I truly salute this man!

The messages of racism and unity does come to a cliche juncture at some point; when something is being repeated ad infinitum until your words are gone with the wind. I am honestly pretty tongue-tied due to the boundaries of my freedom of speech, but the inspration is keeping me going.

Although we don’t express our racial prejudices that is audible and visible to others, we actually still have a mental segregation, and make racial judgements inwardly when others are at fault. For instance, I used to take the KTM to school everyday the past two years, and had the chance to witness the general attitudes and values of our fellow citizens. The experience of dealing and accidentally eavesdropping into their conversations (well, they speak loud) equipped me with matters of truth on both sides – the racist, and the peacemaker.

You have no idea how many accidental reunions I have witnessed in the train. Out of the blue, two elder men or women would have a flame of joy, having not met for 20 years or so. They go on to revive childhood or school memories, and laugh at all the jokes and hilarious stories. And many of them were between two different races. Although I’ll pretend to read a book (as I was already am), but their fulfilling conversation just doesn’t allow me to pass it.

This scenario does give us free assurance that the message we’ve been infusing into the society all along has achieved its purposes. However, it does pain my heart to see racial cliques among my own friends, and the presence of mental division.

As deep as the sensitivity of the issue goes, I believe we are prejudiced towards others because of what certain people of their race have done or are doing, which certainly perpetuates the “status quo” of their race, in a bad manner. But, for instance, if you had an encounter with a rude person of race X, doesn’t mean that everybody of race X are rude. Every individual has their own heart, own perception, own values, and our outward surface truly does not commensurate to the inside. In the same vein, our prejudices have been built by general racial attitudes, and not by an individual’s persona.

Despite having written a couple of paragraphs and still tongue-tied, this is a message that calls for people to take ownership for.

Saya anak bangsa Malaysia!

___________________________________

I-vonne texted me a fortnight ago of her recent meeting with Haris Ibrahim, a prominent figure in liberating Malaysians from racism and the fight for a better democratic system and justice. When asked of her personal opinion in support of a better Malaysia, I-vonne agreed to my stances for equivalent rights for all in the sense of necessities and needs, a non racially-inclined system especially in the wake of globalization. These were excerpts of her previously-noted opinions, followed by the article published earlier.

“Mr Haris Ibrahim’s words were too blunt, I just do not have the guts to put it online. I assume you to be very open-minded and will not be agitated in the wrong manner whatever I am delivering to you.

This man spoke like a non-Malay citizen. He quoted from the constitution about how we have the freedom to choose and practice our faith, but yet the Malays are pinned to Islam. He said that this makes them a third class citizen because they are deprived of the right to think and to choose. He posed the question of why can’t we see beyond our races, and consider each of our identities first foremostly as Malaysians. He’s the founder of Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia. And when he fills up forms, when they ask for race, he puts that. Then, all the delegates of the conference are spirited up and encouraged to put that too. Also, he made a stand for the Malays too, in a way that not all Malays in our nation behave exactly like our government. Btw, he doesn’t side the Government of the day because he said there are still people dying of cholera in Borneo, but we’re an oil-producing country. Where did all the money go? Anyway, he told a true story of a Malay boy in the rural areas who kept skipping the last period of school. When he was called up by the HM, he began to cry, and said that he had to skip class so that he could run home, and let his younger brother take his uniform and shoes to go for afternoon session.
That stirred many of us delegates too.”

*I-vonne Lim is a JPA scholar who’s bound for India to study medicine, she’s currently studying at Kolej Teknologi Timur, Sepang.

*I-vonne can be reached at ivonnelim.wordpress.com