A New World Order - or - New World Odour?

Yesterday was a full day for Ram and I. There was a wedding of a daughter of a close relative, the solemnization ceremony and the reception was held at night and in the morning the bride performed the ‘Khatam Al-Quran’, or completion of Quran reading, in a ceremony followed by ‘Maulud’ and ‘Ratib’ or reading praises to the Almighty and his prophet. In the afternoon there was a talk on ‘The New World Order’ at the Islamic University, Malaysia. Sita, Fahrul with Najla came from Kerteh to attend the wedding.

I sent Ram in the morning for the Khatam ceremony and as it was mainly a ladies’ affair I left and did some errands, coming back to the wedding house just as the morning ceremony was about to end, conveniently and timely for lunch!!

After afternoon prayers we rushed to the Islamic University which is located somewhere in the Northeast of Kuala Lumpur, quite a ways form Petaling Jaya. We were a little late for the function and when we arrived the parking lot was already full and had to park along the roadside. Not sure if it was allowed but parked there nevertheless since there were many cars parked along this roadside. The function was just starting when we entered the hall and it was full with all seats taken up. Someone was kind enough to bring two chairs for us to sit. There were many standing at the back, mostly students, and I gestured at them but this kind man said no, these chairs are for the two of you. Very kind of him. Perhaps my full head of white hair gave us the advantage heh heh. There was, however one phenomenon that irks me throughout the session, that of ringing cellular phones!! These people are educated, I assume they are, since they sit in an institution of higher learning and amongst the learned. Maybe they are so learned that ringing phones do not distract them. Like ‘the nutty professor’. That means I am not nutty because I do get distracted by ringing phones, ahem!!

The talk, ‘The New World Order’ to be given by the Hon. George Galloway, a UK member of parliament, was jointly organized by the International Institute of Muslim Unity (IIMU), the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and Peace Malaysia. George Galloway, I understand, is a lone MP from a new opposition party in UK. He is an eloquent speaker and attracts the attention of his audience. The packed hall I believe were mostly students of the university and some outsiders like me. I notice that there were more foreigners than locals in the hall. I do not think the press and reporters were there as I do not see anyone looking like reporters around (if there were any they were good at hiding their identity) and no one was taking any pictures or photos. In fact, the speaker himself said that he has been in Malaysia, giving talks, for a few days already and not one reporter has approached him for an interview. I guess reporting on George Galloway would not increase sales of newspapers!!

The speaker started his speech by saying that the new world order will be nothing new and quoted an Irish singer who said that the new world order is like a ‘new world odour’, which smells the same as the old world odour!! He went on to describe how history has shaped the world and how the happenings of old would repeat itself. It is the might ruling over the weak. He says, “The great appear to be great for as long as others are on their knees”. That has allowed the strong empires to self appoint themselves to rule the world and they rule by dividing those on their knees into factions. He quoted Shakespeare who said that there is nothing new in this world. The might steals from the weak while dressed in different appearances. Imperialism flows from the system that we now call globalization, a world without borders, the system of exploitation in the guise of development, the exploitation by the rich of the poor. The rich imperialist use collaborators in the poor countries to do their bidding all for the exchange of a few favours. Imperialists or exploiters, different words but same objectives.

The rise of political Islam in the Muslim world is beginning to generate the possibility of changes in power. The change of power in Iran for example, with the masses standing up to overthrow the tyrant, the Iraq war, the Vietnam war where the Imperialist failed to dominate despite their slogan that losing the war has never been their option, and other examples of those on their knees standing up for their rights around the world, have made the Imperialist rethink their strategy to dominate. It is about time too that the Middle East countries and others similar get up from their knees and strike back, he says. Stand up and we can change the world, but there was no echo, he said. Donald Rumsfeld once said that it is not our fault that God put oil under the surface of other countries. But does that give him and the Imperialist the right to take them away. God gave wealth to the Muslims, why then give to America. Why must trade be in US dollars he asked. Why must reserves be kept in US banks, in US stock exchange and other US investment portfolios?

Today we see many do not want nations to become empires. We see organized resistance in many countries against power in US, Britain and so on. This resistance is growing, for example in Iraq, Iran and slowly around the world and these resistance cuts across cultural, religious, ethnic boundaries. It is about bringing justice around the world. It’s the duty of those on their knees to stand up and end the imperialist system, the double standards that they practice.

The talk ended with a question and answer session but as time was not on our side we had to leave and get home early as we had to get ready for the wedding solemnization ceremony scheduled for 8.00pm. We rushed home and arrived just as Sita and family arrived from Kerteh.

The wedding solemnization ceremony and the reception was an elaborate affair. Only close relatives were inside the house to witness the ceremony while the whole proceedings was transmitted by video onto two big screens put up under a huge tent outside the house for the invited guests, most of whom were already seated at their tables. Ram and I were inside the house. There were three video camera operators recording the proceedings each taking different scenes, one of them mostly concentrating on the bride and bridegroom. Later, I found out from Sita and Fahrul who were seated under the huge tent, that they did not miss any of the proceedings. It was very well coordinated and properly recorded. All these must have taken a lot of planning and preparations. I understand that there were committees and sub-committees set up to plan and manage the whole event, and that it was all within and amongst the immediate family members. I thought that it was a very properly planned and managed event, and with their experience here they can add ‘wedding plans and event management’ as an additional business venture.

We get to meet many of our relatives, some of them having traveled from distant parts of the country. There were also those from Indonesia, Japan and Australia. It was nice to meet up with them all. Najla was with us and she was awake, playing and moving around throughout the evening, and attracted attention as well since many of the relatives have not seen her yet. The long day ended past midnight and Najla fell asleep in the car long before we arrived home, and all of us soon after we got home. It was a memorable day indeed…..

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Petaling Jaya