Two random thoughts living in Asia
1.
Being Asian is living in a neighbourhood full of bigger kids. It's impossible to control what they do and how they want to do it. Case in point - and every Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean will probably understand - the ridiculous haze that we've just come out of. Indonesians in some far-flung province burn down some forest, the smoke spreads to Singapore and Malaysia and we choke. When we ask the Indonesians to do something, they (generally) shrug and say it's hard to control, and simply to wait for the problem to blow over. Any Asian transnational problem follows this pattern.
It makes me openly wonder if all our regional blocs really work. It's been years since ASEAN was founded, and it's still struggling to be taken seriously. Yes, ASEAN probably helped persuade Myanmar (Burma) to restore civilian rule. But there's still the haze issues (it's been at least 15 years), Thailand's southern political problems and East Timor's entry. On a bigger scale, it's quite entertaining how the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans are locked in some kind of weird tangle over some chunks of rock.
Because when you live in the Asian continental neighbourhood, clout is still measured by the ability to make small talk while doing some arm-twisting.
2.
There's been some talk of pan-Asian commonalities, and all these discussions go back to music. True, in the context of popular music we're all quite similar. The Taiwanese began modern Asian rock, which got incorporated into the Japanese music movement, which got borrowed by the current hallyu K-Wave.
Then again, Asian culture/ music is not about random borrowing. It is taking an existing concept an injecting some new meaning to it. There's so much hybrid, changing meanings to things that it's almost impossible to pinpoint a universal identity or idea.
Case in point: Shila Amzah, who can win a talent competition based in China while wearing a hijab and singing a Wang Lee Hom song, beating all the K-pop bands in the process. Listening to hear talk about Wang as her idol is surreal and mind-blowing. But even more amazing is that Wang will be cutting a song with her. I would love to hear them sing and rap in Mandarin, Malay and English.
And finally, with all the change going on in the Middle East, when you have a bunch of young people at a talent competition singing "Do you hear the people sing?" from Les Miserables in Arabic (led by a Palestinian, the guy on the raised podium), what results is a fairly-lame song getting a revised history. Conclusion: living in Asia among all these neighbours is - one word - exciting.
Being Asian is living in a neighbourhood full of bigger kids. It's impossible to control what they do and how they want to do it. Case in point - and every Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean will probably understand - the ridiculous haze that we've just come out of. Indonesians in some far-flung province burn down some forest, the smoke spreads to Singapore and Malaysia and we choke. When we ask the Indonesians to do something, they (generally) shrug and say it's hard to control, and simply to wait for the problem to blow over. Any Asian transnational problem follows this pattern.
It makes me openly wonder if all our regional blocs really work. It's been years since ASEAN was founded, and it's still struggling to be taken seriously. Yes, ASEAN probably helped persuade Myanmar (Burma) to restore civilian rule. But there's still the haze issues (it's been at least 15 years), Thailand's southern political problems and East Timor's entry. On a bigger scale, it's quite entertaining how the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans are locked in some kind of weird tangle over some chunks of rock.
Because when you live in the Asian continental neighbourhood, clout is still measured by the ability to make small talk while doing some arm-twisting.
2.
There's been some talk of pan-Asian commonalities, and all these discussions go back to music. True, in the context of popular music we're all quite similar. The Taiwanese began modern Asian rock, which got incorporated into the Japanese music movement, which got borrowed by the current hallyu K-Wave.
Then again, Asian culture/ music is not about random borrowing. It is taking an existing concept an injecting some new meaning to it. There's so much hybrid, changing meanings to things that it's almost impossible to pinpoint a universal identity or idea.
Case in point: Shila Amzah, who can win a talent competition based in China while wearing a hijab and singing a Wang Lee Hom song, beating all the K-pop bands in the process. Listening to hear talk about Wang as her idol is surreal and mind-blowing. But even more amazing is that Wang will be cutting a song with her. I would love to hear them sing and rap in Mandarin, Malay and English.
Click to viewAnd finally, with all the change going on in the Middle East, when you have a bunch of young people at a talent competition singing "Do you hear the people sing?" from Les Miserables in Arabic (led by a Palestinian, the guy on the raised podium), what results is a fairly-lame song getting a revised history. Conclusion: living in Asia among all these neighbours is - one word - exciting.