So let's get to the main topic of the day. For the past few weeks or months that I have been at home, I have noticed a common thing that have been going on lately. It seems to me that people are getting more stupid. More accurately, people have seem to have lost the sense of prioritising. If my memory holds up well, it was about 2 weeks back when I first saw a news broadcast on TV. I supposed that some of you out there may have heard of it. The bulletin was showing that 2 of our neighbouring countries are in a war of words and pride. Let's just call the 2 countries Malaysia and Indonesia. Apparently, these 2 countries are in argument over a commercial. That commercial was for a 'Malaysia culture-esque' show on another channel. The problem was in that commercial, 'Pendet dancers', a traditional dance originating from Indo, somehow made a cameo appearance on it.

That 10-second-or-so cameo created such an uproar that it created scenes replicable from the G8 meetings. Burning of flags, banners with demands on it. Wow, never knew a dance could be so powerful. I know I know. It is not the dance itself, but more of the identity or culture behind it. Despite that, I really do not see the point of having the President of Indo coming on TV demanding to know what is going on and later on demanding an apology. Not after, the Malaysian Government had already said the comm was made by a 3rd party (a private company). This even brought on the ire of the Indons. Performers, officials are all looking for damages compensation for what have happened. So what had happened? To me it really seems that nothing of a big magnitude have taken place to warrant Indo to take Malaysia to the International Court for.

If really Malaysia had 'plagiarized' something out of Indos culture, they had already stated that it was made by a 3rd party and on top of that, they had already apologise. What more do you want? Besides, if anyone knows their history, in the earlier days of the 'Malay Archipelago', many of the local residents from all the countries have moved countries. So it is only natural for them to bring together their cultural understandings along. This will result in their cultures being infused into the local scene. This is more appropriate to the argument that they had the following week. Yes, it didn't end with the commercial. About a week later, the Indo government blamed the Malaysians of stealing its heritage by showcasing the 'Keris' and 'Batik'. The mind ponders. This isn't just stupid, it's plain ignorant. These two objects don't belong to countries, it belong to its people. Even the Malays here in Singapore are known to have history with those items. Therefore, by claiming a certain piece of history as your own, it is selfish. Even over this, the Indo Government made an official inquiry.

What's more interesting, that is only the build-up to the main point. A few days ago, I was watching the same news broadcast. This time they were showing the homeless and the destitute on the streets of Jakarta. It is heart-wrenching to see the appalling state that those people have to live with. Most of their livelihood comes from the handouts and donations from passers-by. Doing a good deed nourishes the soul I say. However, the next day I heard that the Mufti (religion head of state) releases a Fatwa (order equivalent), stating that asking or giving of donations is Haram (against religion). It was shocking needlees to say. The very idea of it is against the teachings of the religion. God encourages helping the needy and the like. So, making it wrong to do, who or what does that make you?

This weird trend is unsettling to me. It is happening even of the societal scale. People are too engrossed with the materialistic world that they are willing to do whatever it may cost them. Children sending their elderly parents to elderly home as taking of them at home takes up too much time, too much money, too much space. Parents chasing their kids away so they can have the house to themselves with their boyfriends. Indeed, our comprehension of order is out of sorts. There is more outside the circle of 'me'. If we look carefully, there are many still issues that can be worked upon. Therefore, I can only hope we as individuals start looking outside the circle and start seeing the bigger picture.

Before I end off, I would like to wish all Muslims, a safe fasting month to you and your family. Work towards doing good deeds, regardless of what people may say. Till the next time, take care.

Life, as knows it, goes ON.