The Pedestrian - Which cosmos are you from?

Thursday, June 11th, 2009 02:32:00

BY all accounts, the city of Kuala Lumpur hovers in the region of being 150 years old. Not as old as some cities in the region or even the peninsula. In fact, the secondary school I attended in Singapore is older.

But old isn't always gold and I know the new-ness of KL is well worth celebrating.

History will tell you that KL had its origins in the 1850s when Raja Abdullah, the Malay chief of Klang, wanted to open new and larger tin mines, and this is where Kapitan China Yap Ah Loy came in. The pioneer miners landed at the confluence of Klang and Gombak Rivers, and the muddy (lumpur) landing brought forth the city's name.

SERIOUS ABOUT DIVERSITY: Intellectual pluralism is loathed and feared by those whose truths are absolute.

KL has since grown to become the capital of business, politics (even of protest) and of culture. It continues to be a conduit for goods and people from all over the world. And with the energetic marketing strategies of private tertiary institutions, the city's cosmopolitan character is continually evolving.

But not everyone is happy about that. Some would like to demonise the very notion of cosmopolitanism (as they try with the word secular).It was reported earlier this week that Party Keadilan Rakyat's Kulim-Bandar Baru MP had suggested that the NGO Sisters-in-Islam be renamed (Ikatan Wanita Kosmopolitan ) or Alliance of Cosmopolitan Women.

Over the last year it seems as if this MP has set himself the task of single-handedly destroying his own political party's "progressive" image.

His latest intervention was apparently part of a debate sparked by Pas, which at its recently concluded general assembly tabled and passed a motion against the NGO, calling for it to be investigated, banned and for its members to be sent to faith rehabilitation camps. In this debate, former PM Dr Tun Mahathir Mohamad has come out decrying the call, suggesting that Pas was displaying its "draconian" impulses.

But why did the MP choose to label them "cosmopolitan"? Perhaps labelling them "communist" would reminiscent of the Cold War. And besides it has been overused in recent weeks.

What about that other favourite hobgoblin "secularist"? Or the more generic label, "subversives"? Being who I am, I cannot begin to understand how being cosmopolitan is a negative label. While I am sure I will never be able to fathom the murky depths of the YB's mind, perhaps it is worth exploring the meaning of cosmopolitanism in the Malaysian context.There are several ways to understand the notion from a cultural standpoint. Let me quote the quick and ready Net-based Wikipedia:

● A city/place or person that embraces its multicultural demographics

● World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship

● Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community
● Cosmopolitan Society/Cosmopolitan City, where people of many ethnic groups, religions and cultures meet and live in close proximity.

For each of these statements there are many questions to be asked. But what is clear is that many of us are inclined to welcome the values embedded in these stated characteristics.

We do because we are the cultural heirs to this cosmopolitanism through our ancestry as well as the places we have grown up in. For others, it is a process of enchantment because of where they have been schooled, or the books they read, the movies they watched and the places they have travelled to.

Is this fear of the cosmopolitan a trait of those who are parochial, whose sense of self is destabilised by the heady pace of globalisation and change we are confronted with almost on a daily basis?

I guess they won't allow their fears and desires to be dismissed without a fight

.● Sharaad Kuttan is suffering from an unrequited wonderlust.