To be, or not to be (assimilated)...

If you are a Star Trek fan, you may be familiar with the Borg expression, "You will be assimilated" or "Resistance is futile". The Borgs are a fictional race of cyborgs who goes about adding other species in the known universe into their own, in order to achieve perfection. And they achieve this through forced assimilation, a process which transforms individuals and technology into Borg, enhancing individuals by adding synthetic components.

Science fiction aside, I cannot help but draw on this analogy to the real world. Let's take a look at two very different situations.

1. Recently in Malaysia, there are increasing efforts in converting non-believers into Muslims (be they alive or dead). Overzealous parties are eager to "assimilate" people as one of them. Or do they? I shall not speculate, save to say that this situation is akin to hearing someone say, "If you're not with us, you're against us."

2. In Japan, quite the opposite is happening. The authorities and general public are grappling with two very grave problems; aging society and immigration. On the one hand, a country faced with an aging society needs population growth in order to power her economy and counter other instabilities. On the other hand, a country that has pride herself with deep traditions and customs is finding it exceedingly difficult to accept gaijins (外人) with open arms. Foreigners who have been working in Japan for years are totally bewildered by this fact, and finding out a sense of non-belonging living amongst the society here. Forward thinking immigration-based nations might find this hard to accept too. But, don't feel too bad, I am sure you will be consoled by these wise words, "if you asked me, I think them Japs are a lot of things, they just ain't no Borgs".

This reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a naturalized Japanese. This nice chap whose father is Korean and mother Japanese holds a permanent residency in Japan. He has a foreigner registration card just like every foreigner who is on extended stay in Japan. However, in all respect this guy IS practically as Japanese as any other "pure" Japanese friend that I know. The funny thing is he has two surnames, one Japanese and one Korean. So officially his name reads something like Yoshida a.k.a. Lee (吉田　コト　李). Because Japanese still cannot accept a foreigner with a Japanese name or a Japanese with a foreign name, he has to hide this fact from the world. I guess this is true anywhere else in the world. Being of Chinese-heritage myself, people might think I am a wierdo if I adopt a Bred Pid- or Mohamed Gundhi- sounding name. Not the mention the whole lot of confusion it will create amongst HR and immigration folks.

Anyway back to the topic of assimilation, I mean immigration. Recently, the Japanese government is beginning to relax their hard-line approach towards foreigners hoping to gain permanent residency here [1]. Let's hope that in the future, man can be united as one nation without borders. Perhaps not as unfriendly and unforgiving as the Borgs, but united in a sense that binds us as brothers and sisters with respect for each others individualisms.

[1] Eric Johnston (2008, Jan 26). Shaping the future as an immigrant nation. [Online]. Available: www.japantimes.co.jp

You can't handle the truth!

Today, allow me talk about something different. About politics that is. Having no direct confrontation with this strange concept before, I found myself mysteriously drawn to it quite recently. In this one particular aspect at least, Japan and Malaysia are not so much different from each other. And that is, to deny their citizens the right to know the truth. There are obvious reasons for this. Mostly selfish, I think.

History may not always be what is seems. Propaganda from the ruling government to self-propagate often put them in the best light to the common citizen (voters). What ever the cause maybe, the interest of the disadvantaged are ignored or often trampled-on because of someone else's selfish agenda.

Take for example,
i) The lies that are being told of the rioting incident in Kuala Lumpur during that faithful day of May 13, 1969. Fortunately, we have blogs that gives us a second account of the real version.

If you tell one lie, you will have to tell another lie to cover that first lie, and so on. Pretty soon, your story will collapse under an Everest of lies. Those who know the truth but choose to remain quiet are just as bad as those protecting their own sick interests. Why, because as Thomas Jefferson remarked, "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing."

ii) Corrections upon corrections of the official version of the atrocities of Japanese troops during WWII.

Sometimes, the hardest things to do is to admit ones' mistakes or the mistakes of our forefathers. If the reason for seeking forgiveness is difficulty in swallowing ones pride, then I say the bitter pill of pride is just the medicine needed to sow friendship and trust. I believe that when children are exposed to a wrong, they can learn from that lesson much more than just being ignorant about it.

Having said that, without the privilege of knowing the whole story. I realize that my comments are just as shallow as my knowledge. Perhaps like Jack Nicholson as Col. Jessep barked in A Few Good Men, "You can't handle the truth!"

One way to visualize the dilemma faced by politicians would be conjure a fake scenario. Suppose that the world is being threatened by an imminent deadly and contagious disease (bird flu, maybe). The government in all its earnest efforts wants everybody to stay indoors and, to reduce pandemonium, be ignorant about the current situation. Everything is on a strictly need-to-know basis. The government then diverts the peoples attention by staging a disaster to encourage people to stay indoors while taking care of the real outbreak. Finally, with the disease under control, the government then issues a statement that it is safe once more to come out, hence saving millions of lives instead of the thousands that died due to the outbreak. (Story adapted from http://www.slate.com/id/2126479/). However, what if the government couldn't contain the outbreak and the masses finally found out about the lie, or even if everything was OK but soon the information about the disease got declassified. What would happen? Would people be better off being ignorant?

I think that these are some of the dilemmas that politicians have to face everyday. They are controllers of information. Filters if you will. Good filters do their jobs unbiased. But how many Solomon-type filters are there to fill up all the politician jobs? I understand humans have feelings and feelings control our actions more than thoughts. Politicians face a lot of daily pressure and when they make a decision that pushes them into the limelight, they are assaulted by critics and supporters alike. Boy, I am just glad that I am not in that line. Otherwise, I don't think I can sleep soundly every night.