Walls

Walls are not just physical structures, but also represent mindsets, preservations of what seems to have worked in the past and a telling inability to effectively embrace and utilise the best of changes.

Walls made of stone, metal or earth can only last as long as the materials offered by Nature and human handiwork. Nature is forever transforming. Humankind has progressed because of the evolving brain of Homo Sapiens to make the most of volatility, observe what is more stable and reliable and adapt better than others. Other related species have found limitations without embracing this significant ability, despite having larger sizes, apparently better physical prowesss and a longer track record of survival.

So when particular human tribes or cultures revert strongly to the circle of bandwagons mentality, it can be a decidedly portent sign of negativity and decline. The actual act of erecting walls, in the broadest sense of the word, has historically been more of a disadvantage than a benefit. The society that builds walls perpetuates in its own limbo - it can be compared to someone who needs positive change but is encouraged and emboldened to be trapped in his own debilitating comfort zone of bad habits and incriminating behaviour.

Hadrian's Wall, the Great Wall of China, the Wall of Ston in Croatia, the Berlin Wall, the Great Wall of Babylon and fortifications serving as outposts in dangerous territory of deserts and plains jump out of our school textbooks. The primary justification of strategic defence provides a psychological rationale for the construction of walls and accompanying moats. Often such physical manifestations just delay the arrival of the inevitable.

Is the real and effective enemy the barbarian waiting at the gate? Maybe the actual enemy is an inability to consider the new and seemingly unacceptable, to make use of the best offered by a seeming threat and to resolve internal dismay by seizing on an opportunity to learn?

We know that walls can be breached anyway in unexpected places. The Achilles heel of using a wall as a socio-political tool has been demonstrated by a top military commander willingly opening the gates to invaders in dynastic China. 

The man made wall is best seen as a temporary and interim measure to use when the builder is disorganised and refuses to adopt other more reliable methods. Walls of a cultural nature are echoed by strict interpretations of often a religious nature, the deeming of uniqueness behind the walls and strong restrictions in allowing foreigners coming in. 

The human penchant for building walls can also be seen in cyberspace, exercising extreme conservatism and building defences against inter continental missiles. Military strategy in the future must encompass a variety of holistic fronts and not just rely on a physical structure.

The greater ease of mobility, in travel, exchange of goods, virtual transactions and social engagement, implies that any one still believing in the usefulness of erecting walls, has a complex job ahead.

Not Too Long Ago

As the year 2018 came to a close, there were many reflections by the media.

I absolutely love history and how it has shaped our present and future. 

In 1978, the Lunar Year of the Fire Snake, Deng Xiao Ping commenced the liberalisation of the economy for the common man and woman in China. Forty years on, the transformation of the world's most populous country in many aspects of life, business, infrastructure, trade, technology and nation building, has astounded Western societies.

In February that year, the Sydney Hilton was bombed involving violent terrorism, a rather rare event for an Australian city, when compared with our current decade.   The iconic Mardi Gras began as a protest march on the streets of Sydney.

Grease, the dance movie starring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, was released in June to a raptious audience.

Robert Menzies passed on, marking an end to a significant political era.

Refugee boats from Vietnam floundered off the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia, which had a government towing them back to the sea. Many were put in camps in Thailand and on Pulau Bidong off the Trengganu coast. Under the auspices of the UNHCR, those who survived their ordeal migrated to Western countries, when it was obvious the neighbouring ASEAN nations did not want to accept them.

Ten years ago, Beijing hosted its first Olympics, marking a significant rite of passage. The Prime Ministers of Canada and Australia made formal apologies in their respective Parliaments to their indigenous peoples. 

Stirrings of the internet only began 30 years ago. 1988 also witnessed the opening of an impressive long tunnel between the Japanese islands of Hokkaido and Honshu. The Phantom of the Opera debuted on stage, Home & Away began on Aussie TV. The Estonians began their unique Singing Revolution, which eventually culminated in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Twenty years ago, anti-Chinese riots broke out in Jakarta, with reportedly a thousand people killed. The first Euro coins were minted in France. Titanic became the first movie to gross over a billion US dollars. The Good Friday Agreement was signed between the Irish and British Governments in Belfast.

In 1998, both Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur opened their then spanking new airports. Dictator General Augusto Pinochet was arrested and indicted of crimes in Chile.

Fifty years ago, the Battle of Khe Sanh raged on in what is called the American War in Vietnam. The Tet Offensive witnessed the Vietcong roaming downtown on the streets of Saigon, a forerunner of the eventual collapse in 1975. Extensive anti-Vietnam War protests break out in Western cities and the My Lai village massacre occurred in April of 1968.

1968 also witnessed the creation of the United Methodist Church, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, the appointment of Pierre Elliot Tredeau ( father to Justin) as Canadian Prime Minister and the opening of the hit musical Hair!, the TV classic Hawaii Five-O, the CBS news program of 60 Minutes and the cult cinema series, The Planet of the Apes.

Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Warsaw Pact countries. Yale University announced the admission of female students. Mexico City hosted the Summer Olympics. The Malayan Communist Party launched a second insurgency emergency. Thames TV began transmission in London.

Where Christmas Can Be Not A Holiday

The other day I wanted to Facetime with a nephew in Bangkok, but I did not realise that Christmas is not a public holiday in Thailand, the only Asian nation not occupied by foreign powers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

I then checked that Christmas is a public holiday, still, in all the Asian nations which were colonised by the British a century or more ago, apart from Brunei, which has recently banned any celebrations of Christmas, and Pakistan, which was a nation created for Indian Muslims in 1947 when the British colonials left. 

China, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea and Burma had varying degrees of Western colonial rule, either in parts of or the whole of their country, but do not recognise Christmas as a official holiday, except in the SARs of Macau and Hong Kong.

You may have noticed the much more impressive commercially sponsored lights for Christmas in places such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Saigon, Seoul, Taipei, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur when compared with Australian cities.

Most Asian nations also do not have a significant Christian majority like the Phillippines and Papua New Guinea.

Indonesia, a Muslim majority country, however offers two public holidays for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

North Korea does not recognise a holiday for Christmas whilst South Korea does.

Christmas in Australia is marked by hot temperatures and excesses of a relatively rich society. 

There are public messages by the reps of the Catholic and Anglican Churches, by the Queen of the United Kingdom and Head of State of 15 Commonwealth nations - and through overwhelming advertisements on screen media. 

There is over eating, intense shopping, over consumption of sea food, increased demerit points for traffic offences, superb alcohol sales, airport over crowding, electronic system failure of one kind or another and over exposure to the strong sun. Someone said to me do not blame the festive season, it does happen on other days as well.

Restaurants and cafes tend to close from Christmas Day. Fruits are a plenty Down Under unlike in the northern climes. Tradies go on long holidays. Neighbours disappear for their annual trips, or get more than their usual share of visitors. The beaches, cricket grounds and parks are inundated with people. Incidents of accidental drownings, bush fires, vehicle crashes and domestic violence are highlighted by the media more during this holiday season, when more people, especially families, gather and travel than at any other time of the Australian year, except perhaps for Easter.

The Australian government maintains a military presence in several areas overseas - and no matter what our political leanings are, our thoughts and prayers especially go to the individuals who cannot be with family during Christmas.