And Where Are You From?

 There are Jews who are so because of their focus on heritage and culture.

There are Israelis who are so mainly because they are Zionists.

I am Malaysian by background, culture and heritage, not by race.

Some in Australia incorrectly reckon I am Malay, just because I come from Malaysia. They mix up nationality with ethnic origin.

The age of colonisation from the 16th to 20th centuries have resulted in many individuals sharing the heritage of the Indigenous and the conquerors.  Think of South and Central America, Australia, India, the Phillippines,

Lebanon, the USA and Canada.

Across south-east Asia, migrants from India and China in the same recent five centuries have also married and set up families with the already diverse ethnic groups residing there.  Today their off spring are popularly referred to as Peranakan Indians and Straits Chinese.  

(Peranakan as one may know is the Malay word for "local born".)

Those who have family trees from both European and Asian sides, originating from the age of the rise of Euro sailing trading powers across Asia,  are popularly known as Eurasians.

There are Portuguese Eurasians ( think of Goa and Malacca), Dutch Eurasians, Anglo-Saxon Eurasians (reflect on Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore) and Spanish Eurasians (the Phillippines).

Their numbers have dwindled in Singapore and Malaysia, perhaps due to emigration.  However many young people across Australia, UK, USA, NZ and Canadia today are the new generation of Eurasians in the 21st century.

In societies that make citizens and residents hold an identity card by law, are Eurasians recognised as an independent ethnic group on their own?  Chindians in Singapore have to choose either Indian or Chinese to state in official papers.

For their own reasons, several political entities insist on identifying and compartmentalising the race and religion of their residents.  Others do not because it suggests discrimination.

So an Australian, British and Canadian need not necessarily be of Caucasian origin.

Residents of homogenous cultural nations can find it hard to accept that an Australian can be African in appearance, a Canadian is Indian and a Peruvian is of Japanese origin.

How much do emigrants settled in a new nation hold strong links back to the mother culture? 

There is strong emphasis by the Japanese on such things.

Indian women proudly adorn their traditional dresses.  Muslims are strongly bound by their religious convention.

Chinese tend to everyday wear contemporary Western styles in their adopted lands, bringing out the cultural wardrobes on festival dates.

Improved economic ability, easier air travel, technologically facilitated contacts and more physical interaction amongst the diverse demographics of the human species have also resulted in more intermixing of DNAs, genes and cultural richness.

The evolving development of an European union is also helped by increased marriages of people from the so many different cultures on the continent.

#yongkevthoughts

What Used To Belong To Me

 Designs on various, current and former parts of the Malaysian Federation seem to not let up.

When the Malaysian Federation was formed in 1963, the Republic of Indonesia under Suharto threatened the formatoom of the Federation, triggering a Confrontation crisis across the Malacca Straits.

Thailand used to have sovereignty over Trenggganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis.
The colonial British authorities referred to them as part of the Unfederated Malay States ( Johore State being the other member).

Penang State's formation was based on some agreement between colonial British Captain Francis Light and the then Kedah Sultan in 1786.  The Pearl of the Orient was part of the Sultanate of Kedah when it was relatively undeveloped on the arrival of the British sailing ships ( I am still curious as to why the Portuguese and Dutch did not venture much into Penang Island with impact).

The Kedah Sultanate paid homage to Bangkok royalty then as expressed in the sending of the iconic Bunga Mas to Thai King Rama I.  The tradititional vibes of Thai culture and practices can be observed especially in Kedah, which has a Bujang Valley full of important Buddhist archeological troves from before the arrival of Islam.   South east Asia was basically under significant religious, language, political and traditional influence from India.

Eastward across the South China Sea from from the peninsular,  the decision for Sabah and Sarawak to join the Federation of Malaysia was made by an inner circle of individuals chosen by the departing British  - no public referendum was held.

Large portions of Sabah and Sarawak were ruled by the Brunei Sultanate, which had conflicts with the Sulu Sultanate.  People from Mindanao historically have ties with Sabah.  The significance of the influence of both the Sulu and Brunei Sultanates has often been undermentioned in the annals of the island of Borneo, now shared territorially amongst Indonesia, Malaysia and the compact but oil rich state of Brunei.

The Phllippines today is a nation with a Malay cultural basis, transformed by 400 years of Spanish Catholicism, a hundred years or so of American colonialism and still having millions of Muslims residing in its southern islands.   Sulu is part of this flank of the Filipino identity.

Back on the Malay Peninsular, Malacca was a city state founded by a Hindu prince and who had converted to Islam by the time the colonial Portuguese arrived.   The port city has historically welcomed trade, migrants, religions, finance and diversity.  Its significant role in south east Asia was overtaken by the burgeoning ports of Penang and Singapore.  Together the colonial British grouped them up as the British Straits Settlements ( together with the much forgotten district of Dindings in southerm Perak).

Sir Stamford Raffles managed in 1819 to get the Johor Sultanate to part with Singapore after the former realised the strategic potential of the island's location at the nexus between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea.  Contemporary Republic of Singapore governments are very emphatic in maintaining and developing strong relationships with the Johor Sultanate.

Singapore broke away from the Malaysian Federation after only two years.  Its high economic stature in standard of living, growth, financial prowess, governance reputation and technological investment surpasses many other nations larger in land size than her.  The Singapore government is ever conscious of her critical role in geopolitics and dependence on imports.   Will Johor want to reclaim Singapore?  

Will Sulu want to have Sabah back?
Will Penang revert as Kedah territory?
Will the northern Malay States want to rejoin the southern Thai Malay states?

Politics is an ever changing game.   Boundaries can be as fluid and pliable as what those in power want them to be.
Nations control parts which can be home to cultures and religions different from their controlling political centre.

The historical basis of which present countries have been formed can be flagged to the side in the game of acquiring resources, opportunities and power.  

#yongkevthoughts

Europa Europa

 Europeans are often viewed as originating in the north west corner of the Northern Hemisphere.  This misperception of the term "European" can downplay the extensive presence of Slavic demographics in Russia, south eastern Europe and the eastern Slav nations.

Russia has lands extend from eastern Europe to the coasts above Japan, Korea and China - 77 per cent of Russian territory is in Asia, although most Russians live in Europe. Russia can be said to be straddling both Europe and Asia.

It really depends on a point of view.

The European continent as such can be seen as layers of differing historical, religious and cultural implications.  The Vikings were focused on colder climes, as opposed to the Mediterranean nations that were the locations of the Greek, Roman and Ottoman traditions.

In between are the core of what is perhaps to be central European -  Latin influenced territories meeting up with Germanic homelands and spreading into the Balkans.

The impact Europe has made on the contemporary world has been having better technology, implementing colonisation, stirring geopolitics, conducting the major wars of the 20th century and securing world wide trade links. 

The Empire under which the sun once never sets - the British - has spawned five Anglocentric societies that still cuddle together in political flavour and intent in the 21st century. 

Apart from the Mother Country, the other four already have resident Indigenous peoples before their colonisation.  Britain used to extensively rely on agricultural, human, logistics and military resources from this alliance - and still do to varying extents.  Three of these nations still have a British monarch at the top of the chain.

There are two obvious nations geographically far removed from Europe -  but evolved into their present day realities primarily built from European settlement.  One is Argentina, populated by southern Europeans - and the other is Australia, first settled by the British and Irish.  Each nation is sited in a part of the world surrounded by non European cultures.

Being geographically located so close to northern Africa and the so called Middle East, Europe has significantly been affected by outside influences.  The European mind has in the long term been heavily influenced by, amongst others:

Arabian mathematics,
Greek philosophy,
Roman infrastructure,
City states that valued diversity, Mongolian attacks,
Muslim rule,
the Renaissance,
political upheaval,
artistic movements,
the power of royalty and
movement of peoples attracted by her wealth and relative freedoms.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had their daughters married off across various European royalties, including that to the last Russian Tsar. 

The remnants of colonialism in the 20th century had Indians, Africans and south east Asians establishing residential status across France, Holland, the UK and Spain. 

The conflicts in 21st century Arab nations, economic seekers from Africa and south Asia and left wing political correctness added to another wave to another significant wave of migration, particularly to Germany and the Scandinavian nations.

The Indian diaspora seems to now be at its height of dispersion and extensiveness.
A transformative event was the expulsion of ethnic Indian residents from Uganda.  This started the Indianisation of Britain, which had to accept them based on their colonial status.  The Empire struck back and Anglo Indian manifestation spread onwards from Mother England to Canada and the United States.

Indian political and cultural prowess had already been evident in south east Asia before the advent of Islam and European takeovers.  Perhaps Indianisation here was more successful than Sinofication - one just reflects on evidence of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms, artefacts, arts and structures scattered from present day Vietnam to Java.  The rather significant Indian influences also expressed themselves in language - contemporary Malay or Indonesian language has words originating from Sanskrit and other Indian tongues.

Will this historical Indian influence now seep and revive into the fabric of the five Anglicentric nations?  It has already established more than a beach head in the United Kingdom.  Will Indianisation jump across the Channel into mainland Europe - which is already grappling with Muslim demographics in the key nations of France, Germany and Scandinavia?

In eastern Europe, questions have arisen as to whether Russia wants to expand beyond her borders, or just wants to maintain her historical integrity.  Continental Europe's past has been significantly marked by what three powers do -  German- Prussian, French or Russian.  British royalty has Germanic foundations.  Europeans have given the world her share of philosophers, scientists, artists, political leaders and dictators.

South of the borders of Russia are the central Asian states and China.  China and India had the largest economies in the world before the onslaught of sailing ships, colonisation and the rise of European powers.  White Russians have lived together with Manchurians, Koreans and Han Chinese in the north eastern corner of the Eurasian mass.  The role of Russians as Europeans interacting with Asians has often been underemphasised.

The closeness of Communism from Soviet Russia into the development of Chinese Communism has resulted from how most European colonial powers treated a fledging and weak Chinese Republic after the fall of the last royal dynasty in 1912.
Key China leaders did however spend their formative years savouring and exploring revolutionary ideas and polititical thought in Paris.

The rather embedded sentiments in Europe from 1945, with the United States and her four Anglo connected partners rescuing Europe from the Nazis, are still difficult to shake off.  This sentiment perhaps has to be seriously resolved as Europe navigates into the future.  Europe has this vital opportunity to implement her own strategic interests and values in the face of changing geopolitics and the rise of a multi-polar world.

Most European powers have divested of their colonies, except for France and the United Kingdom.   Emerging powers are now strengthened by rising abilities in technology, infrastructure, trade and new networks in political relationships - not in far flung isles, navy ports of old and geographical spots which are no longer
strategic.

#yongkevthoughts

Europe Through The Centuries

Europe has always been a hotbed of conflict, opportunity and new ideas in history.

Feudal age saw the conflict within Christianity itself, amongst Catholics, Orthodoxy and Protestants and involving royalty, the military and Machiavellian politicians.

After that, the rise of the Ottoman Empire threatened Christian Europe with territorial and cultural conquests - but this interface also brought new learning and influences in science and mathematics from the Arabs and Persians to the continent.

Discovery of the compass and how to harness winds for long distance sailing offered several European powers the opportunity to enhance trade, discover cultures not hitherto known to them and exploit the economies of other lands through colonisation.

The relatively stronger technology, military capability and political strategies of these European colonials made them eventually control and subjugate other populations, except in old Siam.

The negatives and positives of European rule is etched across the globe from Africa, India, The Americas, Oceania, south east Asia and East Asia.

There was no such thing like today's political correctness in the period from the 16th to the early 20th centuries, when the advent of economic competition and the spread of missionary religion from Europe were first imperatives. There was an urgent race to "discover" non- European lands for resource exploitation and strategic ports.

In the process, various Euro languages, cultural practices and DNA were disseminated throughout the colonies in what was an Euro carve up of the world at large.

It can be strange to reflect now that the descendants of colonial powers take an overwhelming approach in the 21st century, being careful not to discriminate on various fronts like disability age, gender, race and religion. Is this a new age of enlightenment with liberal democracy?

A diverse variety of migrants coming to settle in Western societies in the past 50 years appreciate enjoying the relative freedoms and high level of human rights experienced in their new countries of adoption.

Questions do arise if some groups of migrants do exploit such liberal options for their own purposes in these Western countries. Is it better for migrants to integrate with the mainstream, or do we encourage such migrants, many from former colonies, to strike out their different way of life arising from their source cultures?

This matter can come to a head when globalisation forces in trade, finance and economics displace the jobs in the heartland and disenfranchise mainstream Caucasians of their past lifestyle and standard of living.

So in reaction, populist governments have taken control in Europe and the USA, changing past assumptions of the political landscape for the future.

Is this anything new, or is the world going through a recycling from royalty and dictatorships to liberal democracy to manipulated electoral systems and hardened right wing conservatism?

Political governance can always be an evolving matter as it cannot remain static. Like evolution according to Nature's laws, politics and social interaction must make society viable enough to be sustained and to grow.

The house has to be rebuilt, gradually or with a sudden change.

The so called Old World of Europe must continue to reinvigorate itself on all fronts.