Appreciated #9

Visit entry Appreciated #10 [not yet created]

The following are some items I really enjoy.

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Remix. A very well-synchronised music video. A laconic presentation of Saban's first 2 Rangers seasons. [Footage and song: Saban / BVS.]

MALAYSIA IS SOMEWHERE ON THE WORLD MAP
A comment by Citizen of the Snakehead Peninsula. Revised by the author on Oct 31, 2007 [Flag inserted by the blogger]

In my opinion, the Malaysian flag's similarity to the U.S. flag is perfectly acceptable, if not laudable. After all, it has been written that the U.S. flag is similar to the flag of the British East India Company. Liberia, Cuba and Puerto Rico also have official flags very similar to the Stars and Stripes. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._flag)

A cursory glance through relevant articles on Wikipedia will reveal the flag of Bikini Atoll to also resemble the U.S. flag, even though Bikini is a part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The American flag has long been a symbol of progress and liberty. It could have been historical ties, identification with American principles, desire for close cooperation with America, and a combination of these and other factors, that prompted leaders and/or communities to adopt American-ish flags.

Food for thought: are state symbols protected by copyright laws?

Do our designs always have to be so dissimilar to other cultural motifs?

The Malaysian flag expresses the glory of an independent Malay state that refuses to be isolationist and seeks to integrate herself into a global fabric that the United Nations is apparently trying to weave. That this flag identifies us with the American nation is no bad thing: America is both a migrant society AND a land of indigenous races, and so is the case with Malaysia (Arab, Bugis, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Dusun, etc.)!

NO ONE in his right mind will fly the Jalur Gemilang next to the Stars-and-Stripes and revel in egoistic pride that "Malaysia is as technologically-advanced and blah-blah-blah on par with the U.S." No, we are NOT like the U.S. in many ways, though we are trying to be. I'd rather see our Jalur Gemilang design as an aspiration to adopt as practice the many fine ideals of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Jalur Gemilang is also an ongoing act of humility: its similarity with the U.S. flag shows that Malaysia understands it is subject to (though not subdued by) the leadership of the United States, whether economically, politically or culturally (indeed!); hence, our flag shows a very mature understanding of how the world really works and how our Malaysian people really live. As Malaysians we ought to know our place in the world, and -- as much as some people, for political or religious reasons, would rather see the U.S. destroyed or decimated -- we are looking forward to that day when the U.S. will once again be a glorious example for the whole world to follow, like in the days immediately after World War II. Today, we can read our Jalur Gemilang as saying, “America, we are willing to learn from you. Shall we work together?”

We flood our living rooms day-after-day with American T.V. programmes; we listen to American pop music; we use American webhosting services; we blog on Blogspot; we write in English on.......! And we run our government according to British-American influence. Is it so wrong to acknowledge another culture for what we are learning from it? Is it wrong for Vietnam to have a flag like China's, or the Chinese Communist Party to have a flag like that of the former Soviet Union? And for the post-1980 flag of Sarawak to assume colours that can be found on pre-independence Brooke Dynasty flags? And let's go deeper: Japanese, Korean and Chinese cultures contain features so similar, we would have a hard time trying to attribute original authorship! (The famous qipao/cheongsam is not even Han Chinese, but Manchu in origin. But it is now a part of Chinese culture.) Many cultural motifs just aren't protected by copyright!

As a sidenote, it appears Somalia's flag was adopted as a thank-you to the United Nations' effort at peace in the territory.

Speaking of our anthem, the BM Wikipedia has a writeup on Negaraku that you may want to read: http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagu_negaraku Whether it was Terang Bulan or Mamula Moon that inspired our leaders (in Perak and in Kuala Lumpur) to raise flags to the tune, I say it does not matter. Yes, no one can say that our National Anthem tune is 'original"; it isn't, and so what? We just have to come right out and be honest about it. Haven't you thought about the similarity between the song "Dayung Sampan" and "Tian Mi Mi", the latter performed by the late Teresa Teng?

In the built environment, in science and technology, and in medicine, we use loads of foreign and Western stuff. Who came up with the structural steel-frame buildng? Paved roads using bitumen? Telephone wires? Fighter jets? Electricity? And yet, we say "Malaysiaku Gemilang" (and in their Los Angeles-like cosmopolitan city, Singaporeans sing "Majulah Singapura") in praises of progresses that sometimes have little to do with our own innovations.

In the final analysis, is it such a bad thing that Malaysia's flag looks like the American one? Nope, unless someone-high-up starts saying that the Americans copied our flag! ■

Russian glory at the XIX Olympic Winter Games (Salt Lake City). Emotion, emotion. :)
[Video/recording of live broadcast: NBC]

Click on image to enlarge. [Image: Victor Ong, with insets by Leone Fabre and mohgui.]

I love Singapore! It's clean, it's green and it's safe!
I love Malaysia! It's kind, it's spacious and it's lively!




Hymn of the Russian Federation. My favorite of all the national anthems I've heard so far (as of 29 Oct '07). [Performed by: Helmut Lotti and others, and titled as "Russian National Hymn" in the DVD "(Helmut Lotti:) From Russia With Love", presented by Piet Roelen Productions]