Cross-Cultural Intervention

Dear Meesh, much thanks for the lightning fast update on the strange goings-on with some 'fools on the hill'.

Recently I convinced some girls to dispense with the tudung for a 'persembahan pentas' as I told them that seeing a mix of women with and without tudungs on stage for a major youth event, in a way, sent out a message that the tudung was a personal choice, and not a mandatory decree. That such a message was important coming from a supposedly progressive, and inclusive Islamic society.

I guess I am a 'pencemar budaya' - and if it's that kind of 'budaya' it needed to be 'cemar-ed'.

Cross-cultural interventions (a.k.a. pencemaran budaya) are imperative when a fascist, self-righteous and holier-than-thou attitude builds into herd instinct: a lemming-like acceptance of stupidity appears to grip large swathes of a particular culture.

Virgin and child sacrifices were once seen as commandments from divine beings. Similiar such knee-jerk reactions are occuring with frightening frequency in our land.