Four generations ago, when my great-grandmother made the fateful decision
to leave what was then called the Dutch East Indies to settle in what was then
known as the British Straits Settlement of Penang, she brought along personal
items: Some sarongs and kebayas, a Dutch Indies uniform, a handful of
photographs and a life full of memories that were passed down from my mother to
myself.
It has taken me more than a
decade of research to trace my family's history, and all that I can say for
certain is that it was and remains a hybrid, complex family, like millions of
others in our region.
Today I find myself - a
Malaysian, working and teaching in Singapore - drawn to Indonesia as well. I
value the fact that my academic colleagues and students in Indonesia regard me
as one of them and I wear my Javanese sarong and blankon (traditional Javanese
hat) with some pride, though not bordering on exclusive nationalism.
Yet, as recent incidents have
shown, such instances of cultural sharing and borrowing are not always seen as
complementary; and for some it is downright provocative.
WHO INVENTED CHILLI CRAB?
Every few years or so, the
nations of ASEAN seem to engage in a curious ritual of cultural claiming. We
bicker over who really invented chilli crab, or bak kut teh, or tempoyak.
We accuse each other of
"stealing" our culture and at times, we even go to the extent of
laying siege to the embassy of our neighbouring nations.
"Cultural theft" has
become our bugbear of late, and perhaps when one considers how the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has not witnessed the sorry sight of war
between neighbours since 1967, that may well be a relief for political analysts
like myself.
But the root of the problem seems
to stem from our puzzling ignorance of each other and the fact that modern-day
South-east Asians seem to know more, and care more, about the latest Hollywood
blockbuster or K-pop trend. We can name the capitals of Europe but we don't
know what's going on in the country next door.
This myopia is further reinforced
by the tendency of our history books to tell the story of our respective
nations from our own national perspective - for invariably, our national
histories are narratives written by national historians for national audiences.
Such short-sightedness, and
blindness to our common past, is unfortunate indeed when we consider that in
two years' time - by 2015 - we will be heralding the arrival of the ASEAN
Community. But are we any closer to understanding each other and appreciating
the manifold nuances that make the ASEAN region the complex thing that it is?
A SIGN OF WHAT WE SHARE
As the ASEAN Community comes upon
us, nations need to understand two things: The first is that the many instances
of cultural sharing and borrowing that we see are neither new nor malign. It
testifies to the fact that all our communities are mixed and hybrid, made up of
itinerant diasporas from all over who have settled in the region they now call
home.
It is therefore not surprising if
things like batik, kebayas, sarongs and our music and food bear family
resemblances to each other, for we must remember that centuries before the age
of cheap airline travel, our South-east Asian ancestors were already moving to
and fro across the region with a regularity and speed that puts us to shame
today.
Secondly, it would be ironic if
South-east Asian countries today accuse each other of cultural theft when we
consider that the whole of South-east Asia - from Myanmar to Vietnam, Thailand
to Indonesia - still bears the lasting cultural imprint of the cultures and
civilisations of India and China that were the wellsprings from which so much
South-east Asian culture later emerged.
Throughout the region, the most
enduring popular myths and tales come from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, and
this is seen in the dances, music, costumes, shadow-plays and literature we
consume and perform until today. Yet at no point has India ever claimed that we
"stole" their culture and made us pay for it!
MORE CONFIDENCE, LESS ANXIETY
I raise these concerns today as a
result of my own observations across this region that I know so well by now,
and because of what I see as the rise of strident hyper-nationalism in some of
the countries of ASEAN.
While nationalism was crucial in
the decolonisation of the region in the 1930s and 1940s, it ought to be
remembered that much of what we regard as the culture of South-east Asia -
batik, sarongs and kebayas, our food, our music, our myths and legends -
developed long before the era of nation-states and before the names
"Indonesia", "Malaysia" or "Singapore" were even
coined.
Recognising this shared common
past may offer us some clues as to where the ASEAN community may head in the
near future and give us the historical precedents we need to look at the future
with more confidence and less anxiety about our identities.
ASEAN is indeed a rich and
diverse region, and studying it has been my job as well as my passion for years
now. The historical slant I take in my work, however, reminds me that what we
regard as new is not really that novel and that this region, if it remains
mindful of its past, will be more than able to cope with the trying demands of
the postmodern future that is about to knock on our door.
Dr Farish A Noor
Dr Farish A Noor is a Senior Fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of
International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.
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