Of Mice and Men

What is it with men and power? Haven't they heard that absolute power corrupts absolutely?

Be it in politics or in the corporate world, men tend to abuse their power to advance their avaricious agendas and proliferate their influence.

When we talk about power, it is always associated with an enviable position, a coveted reputation and an insanely large amount of money.

At the risk of sounding like an angry feminist and consequently cheese some males off, I'd like to qualify that my observation is based on experience and reliable third-party accounts.

As for women who indulges in unethical practices whilst in power, I've yet to meet or hear of any. Neurotic and bitchy, yes. But not to the extent of wanting to jeopardise a splendid career. The furthest she might do is to curry favour by siding with some really important people of the organisation but not without losing her own voice in the process.

Conversely, from time immemorial men are known to misuse the power that has been bestowed upon them for personal gains. This gain can be in the form of money, hedonistic pleasure, and 'hard' assets like properties, precious stones and kept women.

These men do not have any qualms about mixing business with pleasure as long as they are able to reap the benefits no matter how big or small. With immense power behind them, they are sly and ruthless in the pursuit of purely selfish, material pleasures.

Don't they know that everything has its season and it's best not to bury their heads in the sand?

For instance, a dishonorable man would use whatever measures possible to silent a vociferous opponent in an election campaign, such as scheming a way for the latter to be declared bankrupt and evicting him from the land in which he happily resides.

How about the unprofessional conduct at work in order to score points with a potential Wife Number Two? While this one is surely an interesting unravelling to watch, it is not so great when you become helplessly embroiled in the proceeding. That is, you are unwillingly instrumental in making sure that potential mistress is happy climbing up the corporate ladder. And you have thought those sort of things are stuff of legend. Doesn't that just leave a bad taste in your mouth?

Then, there is the story of an impertinent man mishandling his company's assets in order to finance a luxurious lifestyle enjoyed with a string of girlfriends, which had nearly brought him on the brink of bankruptcy.

Lastly, the current ongoing trial of one well-known political analyst for the gruesome murder of Altantuyaa cannot begin to describe the depths of corrupted power of politically-connected men.

Thankfully, there is still equally a large number of wholesome, successful and powerful men who lead others by example. They are far from being disingenuous and hold on to a firm set of principles. They are not easily swayed by cheap sentiments and fawning subordinates and compeers alike.

If only we'd know the true nature of a recipient to a powerful position, then all the unnecessary evils in the world could be thwarted. Alas, life doesn't work that way. We have to revert to our good old-fashioned faith and pray hard that our hunch (or thorough research, if you will) was right.

To purge our societies of corruption and greed, we can at least put in place a fail-safe KPI-ish benchmark that can objectively measure the amount of power an individual is entitled to. Remember my maxim at the beginning about absolute power?

Yet, it's somewhat unfair to squarely blame the men for all the world's trouble. As such, I leave you with two memorable quotes to ponder:

(1) Behind every successful man is a woman.

(2) A woman is the reason for a man's downfall.

And choose wisely. That goes for both man and woman.

It's Better Late than Never

It's probably old news by now but what the hey.

I used two different photographs for this. You too can get yours Simpsonified here.

So which one correctly portrays me? :D Since there were no takers, I'm going to put up the Simpsonized version of my family. Hehe.

A Rose By any other Name would Smell as Sweet

When you were little, did you ever remember being taunted by other children because of your name?

Well, I do. It wasn't a taunt per se. It was more of a grating background noise - a kind of a predictable, familiar refrain - almost always initiated by some obtuse boys.

"Here comes the M.A.S." with their hands animatedly mimicking a swooshing action of an airplane. Darn it! That's the lamest joke ever, as I rolled my eyes inside my head.

It was fine the first few times. After the umpteenth time, the cries just became stale. Yes, I'm a MAS, as in our Malaysian Airline carrier. So what? A new joke, please!

Like the carrier, the origin of my first name - Mas - is acronymic in nature. It's the combination of my father's and mother's names respectively - Mohammad Ali and Suriati. Also, in keeping with my mom's name, my name ends with a TI as well.

In fact, all of us siblings, regardless of gender, have the prefix Mas for our names. As a result, I prefer that people don't call me by this name since it'd cause a confusion whenever a person calls our home number (before the advent of cell phones, that is) to talk to one of us. "May I speak to Mas please?" The classic "Which one?" would promptly be given in return.

Apart from that, ironically the girls' names in my family would have turned out to be similar if it were not for the ONE letter in our names that distinguishes us from the other. The said letters are D, N, Z and L.

Save for the airline jest, I'm happy with my name on the whole. I bet there won't another of me in this world and that is strangely a comforting thought for me.

My topical interest with names arises from this online article which concludes that a horrible name doesn't necessarily equate to a bad childhood; nor does it prevent a child from growing up normal.

As explicated by Michael Sherrod and Matthew Rayback in their book "Bad Baby Names", this finding quashes some decades-old research which have suggested that individuals with bad names, such as Golden Rule, Ima Hooker and Rasp Berry, are more likely to end up either in prison or in a nuthouse.

On the contrary, these people turn out to be pretty decent folks.

“They were very proud of their names, almost overly proud,” Mr. Sherrod said. “We asked if that was a reaction to getting pummeled when they were little, but they said they didn’t get that much ribbing. They did get a little tired of hearing the same jokes, but they liked having an unusual name because it made them stand out.”

My point exactly. The litany of tiresome jokes annoys me more than anything else.

Another interesting point to ponder revolves on the fact that a person's physical attractiveness does not correlate with the name assigned to them.

Once people could see a face, they rated an Oswald, Myron, Harriet or Hazel about the same as a face with a “desirable” name like David, Gregory, Jennifer or Christine.

Not surprisingly, those given such horrendous names normally come from a disadvantaged background in terms of either money or education or both.

Martin Ford and other psychologists reported, after controlling for race and ethnicity, that children with unusual names did as well as others in school. The economists Roland Fryer and Steven Levitt reached a similar conclusion after controlling for socioeconomic variables in a study of black children with distinctive names.

However, I take exception when it comes to Hollywood celebs who are notorious for giving their kids unusual names. Yes, they are unique but are they really desirable? Take for instance, Hazel and Phinnaeus, the twin daughters of Julia Roberts and, Apple Martin, the daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin.

Also, how about names that cross gender like Leslie, Alex and Drew? Will the person has any problem fitting in? According to the psychologists, apparently not.

“They (the researchers) haven’t found anything negative — no psychological or social problems — or any correlations with either masculinity or effeminacy. But they have found one major positive factor: a better sense of self-control. It’s not that you fight more, but that you learn how to let stuff roll off your back.”

Well, echoing the writer's (who had to endure playground taunts as a kid) skepticism on this point, it's always easier said than done. Naturally, some people refuse to own up that it had caused them a problem!

On the local front, cross-gender names like Naim, Nazrin, Adi, Fairuz, and Niza come to mind. I do wonder if they had to put up with similar ridicule growing up. And there are names assigned to men that are obviously female in our culture such as Laila, Azian and Ani. In these cases, as far as sexual orientation and level of masculinity are concerned, I must say the results are inconclusive.

Like the researchers, I do agree names are just that before we add a host of other information like a physical look, educational background, personality and recreational activities. People are more susceptible to those details (and what more, sleazy gossips!) than a mere 'undesirable' name.

With that thought in mind, this Mas is taxing, I mean signing, off.

In Your Wilders Dream

Will the real Geert Wilders please stand up?

Before I jump onto any of the Kill-Geert-Wilders (not to be mistaken with the genuinely comical Gene Wilder) bandwagon or boycott Dutch-related products and companies (I so love Dutch Lady coffee-flavoured milk and fill up the tank with Shell), I want to reiterate that I will not be instigated by a nut case who sports a ridiculous platinum blond dye job which appropriately enough reveals the 'root' of his Aryan-like character.

To me, someone with a glaring hair colour has only one thing on his agenda: publicity, publicity and more publicity. I wouldn't want to trust a limelight hoarder.

Granted, his latest move of putting online the 'Fitna' short film that condemns the Holy Qur'an is an issue that must be taken seriously by 'concerned' Muslims. Instead of immobilising this looney with death threats that will only reinforce his fervent belief of Islam's supposed violent teachings, we should educate the misinformed on the correct meaning of the verses being manipulated in the short film. After all, as history has shown us anything taken out of context can be used to serve one's singular diabolical goal.

Having lived in the Netherlands for almost a year may not qualify me to make sweeping remarks about the Nederlanders; but from what I've been exposed to the Dutch are mostly peace-loving and friendly people. Sure, there were hiccups when dealing with the authorities such as the immigration but on the whole, the living experience has been great.

Probably we were lucky with respect to the locality in which we stayed in. As for travelling to the other parts of the country, again we met with people ever ready to help and flash a smile. Dutch's long-drawn history with Indonesia must have also played a part in creating an open-minded society. (Hey, they like to eat their patat (fries) with pindasaus (peanut sauce), for goodness sake!)

Also, one must also bear in mind that, despite the Dutch television networks' refusal to air his film and the entreaties of Dutch multi-national companies to drop the film, Mr. Wilders was still adamant to show his handy work to the world through the widely accessible Internet.

As this article points out:

Having failed to persuade a single Dutch television network to broadcast the film in its entirety, he said he planned to release it on the Internet by the end of this month.

He routinely equates the Koran with Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” saying it should be banned in the Netherlands, and he declared in an interview that the Prophet Muhammad could be compared to the German dictator.

Personally, I find it funny that such remarks come from someone - pseudo-White Supremacist, if you will - who has to dye his hair a hideous shade to get noticed.

Clearly, Wilders' sentiment doesn't speak for most Nederlanders. As such, I liken the call for the ban of Dutch products as a result of the short film to saying ALL Muslims have the propensity for violence and terrorism because of the 9/11 attacks.

(This is different from the 'Danish incident' where the newspaper could have prevented the cartoons from being published.)

And I also beg to differ with this bold contention:

Framing himself as a defender of free speech, Mr. Wilders said there would not be such a fuss about his film if it were about the Bible.

A few years ago, a group of staunch Christians called for the boycott of the film 'Da Vinci Code' due to its sacrilegious premise. Even the Vatican released a strong statement against Dan Brown's bestseller and its subsequent film adaptation.

Another bizarre twist to his stance concerns his policy of hating Islam, but not its people:

“I believe the Islamic ideology is a retarded, dangerous one, but I make a distinction,” he said. “I don’t hate people. I don’t hate Muslims.

He added: “I am not saying all Muslims are wrong or are terrorists or criminals. You will never hear me say that.”

I just don't get that one. How could you separate the two entities? Religion and its devotees are intertwined. As the great late Tan Sri P.Ramlee intones "Irama dan lagu tak boleh dipisahkan" (Rhythm and music can never be kept apart).

Or plainly speaking, it's like saying you hate Jesus but you love Christians. What gives? *Hello! (knocking on the head) Is anyone in there?*

All things considered, I really don't give a hoot about what this Geert Wilders buffoon has to say about my religion. He doesn't know better. We Muslims shouldn't retaliate in a predictable manner as this will only help to vindicate his theory, however paper-thin it might be. Explaining to 'outsiders' about the true teachings of Islam paves the way for a better integration within a mixed community.

By the by, I also have this nagging suspicion that Wilders' hatred of 'Islamic ideology' is just an excuse for his acute fear of the influx of Muslim immigrants in his country. (Hence, the Aryan Race comment above).

As for the continued, impassionate call to boycott the Netherlands and its products, please let me put things in perspective. This is a nation that legalises gay sex in public park (well at least the one in Amsterdam) but will not hesitate to fine dog owners who let their dog off the leash in said park.

You have been warned.