Wazir Jahan Karim | Wazir Jahan Karim

GREETINGS FOR 2010

From Wazir Jahan Karim

There have been so many issues that need more than Courts of Justice or Parliaments to resolve them, yet many do not get addressed by the right specialists or experts and run to seed in the scramble for legitimacy. The 2008-2009 economic crisis, said to be the worse since the Great Depression of the 1930’s has barely been over when the rush to declare millions of dollars in bonuses for top management in Wall Street and London has taken the beleaguered public by surprise. Billions of dollars has been gained from funds obtained at zero interest by merely lending money with interest to those without access to credit. The recovery is fast for those who received the first trillion in bails outs but will be slow for those who have borrowed from the big lenders who were bailed out. In the end, there has been no change in the global financial system, despite calls for greater regulation. Threats from the government to tax bonuses have met with defiance-bankers will leave London for more liberal shores. The homeless are still without their homes, the poor poorer from unemployment and governments still saddled with the burden of providing social benefits and healthcare to those who cannot afford them. So capitalism has won its biggest battle in recent years.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, there has been reluctant dialogue over religion. A key issue is the use of the word “Allah”. Can the Malay word “God” which appears in various forms in the Bible be translated in Malay (Bahasa Melayu) as “Allah”? In Sabah and Sarawak, where the majority of the population are Christians, the argument is that it is necessary, since the majority also speak and read Bahasa Melayu. In Peninsular Malaysia, where Malays are invariably Muslim, a growing argument is that, in terms of semantics, the Malay word “tuhan” should be the correct word for God, since it predates Islam and “Allah” in the Malay world. Hermeneutics experts would note that at the time when the Bible was written, the word “Allah” which carries the meaning of “one”, “singular” entity devoid of anthropomorphic connections to Man or Spirit (strictly non-Trinitarian) did not exist – so “Allah” has its own hermeneutics in Islam which contradicts the notion of God, son and the holy spirit. But unfortunately, the public read views of politicians, activists and youth leaders who have presented personal viewpoints based in their own political or ethnic convictions. The result is the emergence of more stereo-types of race and identity which may divide this nation further . This is unfortunate since the government has launched the campaign of “One Malaysia” which argues that social diversity does not preclude social unity.

On a more ominous note, we are told that lions in Tanzania are teaching their young to hunt for humans and not only animals. There are less than 15,000 lions left in Tanzanian’s national parks and as they are wiped out by MAN, they hunt them, so why is this news? It’s the old theme of the “hunter is the hunted” and as the Ma’ Betise’ stated in their attempt to restore harmony in the natural world, “ If a human be a human, if an animal be an animal but do not be human and animal”. To the lions, humans have become animals, in the way they hunt them. This may be news for humans but not for lions.

There is a link in these three issues and the link is –if capitalism is going to wipe us out and faith has not reshaped our thinking about ourselves, then we might as well be fed to lions.

In this year of the TIGER, the tiger reigns supreme but the faith of the tiger is in our hands. What is the point in killing and exterminating animals and then using them in Zodiac signs ruled by anthropomorphic symbolism?

There are predators in all the three and it is up to us to understand the logic, wisdom and semantics which underlie the human effort to gain and profit from everything it does.

“It is better to be born a snake and grow into a dragon than to be born a dragon and be a snake.” W.J. Karim (in relation to the Men of Wall Street)

“It is better to be born a tiger and to live as a tiger than to be born a human and live as a tiger”.

W.J. Karim ( in relation to people who cannot adapt to a multicultural society)

“If a human be ONE. If an animal be ONE. Do not be human and animal.” Ma’ Betise’ saying.

(in relation to the Tanzanians who are now being hunted by lions)

WAZIR JAHAN KARIM