Saturday, March 15, 2008

The Songkok Issue? - Let's change mindset too.


If PROTOCOL says, to be an Anak Bangsa Malaysia, one has to wear a songkok, I'd proudly wear it!  But don't get me wrong, it's only for protocol in the Royal Palace.  Nobody's telling us to wear it all the time.

We can’t seem to get over the fact that this should no longer be regarded as a symbolic submission of one to another culture.  Are we going to remain so chauvinistic so much so that any request to wear a songkok is like kow-towing to another community?  The days of this cultural stance created by political/racial chauvinism is of the bygone era should now be discarded.  Those days are gone for good.  We’ve just begun a new chapter last week.

Our younger generation, especially the girls, who grew up without our cultural baggage have gone ahead and dress themselves in baju kurung or saris without any inhibitions.  If we can dress up as westerners, why can’t we change our minds on this one?

Or maybe I’m seeing this issue from a too simplistic angle?  Maybe for the sake of going forward as a nation, all forms should be less emphasized than the substance?



9 comments:

  1. hahaha...your songkok looks senget bro...

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  2. Is that you !? Don't look the same to me - please confirm. Anyway, is songkok just a Malay hat or religious symbol ?

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  3. doesn't matter..it was done in a hurry. I just want to show that if we want to progress as a nation, we must not have small minds, like RPK says.

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  4. May I answer this. Songkok is not a religious symbol, nor does the traditional male arab head dress. Its more of a cultural thingie. In Indonesia, the male christian worshiper will sometimes wear their songkok to church. It looks more formal.

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  5. Thanks for the alert, epxy. Seems everyone's capable of jumping to conclusions, even those who seemed well informed. I'm just as guilty for acting on impulse too. As for the "taboo" of the songkok, I guess these things take time to get over. Whether they're mindsets or culture we just have move along with the adopt and adapt policy.

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  6. Being not in the public eye, I suppose I'd rather remove myself as the trend-setter. Instead I promote Jeff Ooi - the blogger politician. He already started the trend sometime ago.

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  7. Raja Petra has just issued everyone another gut-wrenching punch with his Storm in a Songkok

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