Dear Sir,
I am tickled pink that your esteemed newspaper
has devoted almost daily coverage to this Alvin and Vivian saga since the story
broke.
We, as Malaysians, as Asians, can learn
a lot from all of this. For one, it
would seem that morality is very subjective.
One person’s morals are another’s fodder for scoff, or indifference. So unless there are actual physical/legal
sanctions to accompany the morality code, it would seem that the maxim that will
apply is, “to each his own”.
Two, there is an obvious disconnect
between the young and old generation, between those who believe in
individualism and those who prefer collectivism. Of course these two concepts do not entirely
overlap, but the Alvin and Vivian story is almost a perfect example of how
Malaysia has changed to a more individualistic society over the last generation
(say Gen-Y and after). The Gen-Xers, and
those before, don’t see, or don’t want to see, this. But it’s happening. We can pooh-pooh all we want, but things have
changed.
The writing, or rather the “erotic blog”, is already on the wall. One of your articles, “Young ones see no harm in erotic postings,” already shows hints of this. The young, having grown up in the highly sexualised environment of the Hilton, Kardashian, Edison Chen and numerous other sex scandals see it as ‘no biggie’. Their parents, of course, see it as nothing less than scandalous[True to form, Vivian’s mother gives the standard “when confronted with shame” ultimatum: Get married or get out.]. Added to this is the almost blasé attitude of Alvin and Vivian about the whole matter - they had sex on their first meeting, photography started at the second encounter, and they don’t care what others think [Alvin’s thoughts, and Vivian’s thoughts]. This is a powerful knife into the heart of proponents, or ‘guardians’ if you like, of normal “Asian values”. All that can be hurled back at Alvin and Vivian is, possibly, the long arm of the law, or something similar - like the MCMC (Malaysian Communications And Multimedia Commission) asking that the radio interview with the two be postponed.
Is that it?
Is force the only way to deal with
unwelcomed change? The attitude seems to
be wait-and-see. Wait-and-see if Alvin
says something wrong. Wait-and-see the
outcome of the NUS disciplinary hearing.
Wait-and-see if there is enough groundswell to fortuitously bring to
bear on Alvin and Vivian the realities of life - the “I told you so” moment.
All this belies the fact that things
have indeed changed. For better or
worse, I cannot say. But Malaysia now is
a bit different from before this story broke.
Cold hard truths about our young are starting to be very clear.
Can we gain anything positive from
this? Yes we can. If we look pass the morality angle, and all
the other obvious points - generational clash, individualism - we can actually
see virtue in this whole saga. One of single-mindedness in the face of
guaranteed condemnation/opposition. Has
this quality not been the driving force of innovation? The example of Steve Jobs and Apple come to
mind. Innovators, leaders, visionaries,
and the like share this quality of courage against the tide, sometimes
subconsciously, sometimes purposely, ignoring the obvious road-blocks in their
path. Sometimes, new vistas do
open.
The path of change is seldom
smooth. The road, less than
certain. This is the first genuine
gauntlet thrown at Malaysia’s “Asian values morality”. Before this, all the sex tape scandals were
of the ‘leaked’ variety, i.e. the tape/photo was made for private consumption,
and then leaked by (a) third-party(ies).
But now, we have the conundrum. Two privileged youths, doing what is
absolutely shocking (to the conservative fold), enjoying it, and not a hint of
shame. And there is no outcry from the
youth of the country. Is this a sign
that Malaysia is already changing? Does
it mean our young are over-indulged pampered brats who see nothing of shaming
the families from whom they came and who gave them almost everything they
had? That’s the scared, conservative,
Asian-value talking.
Or is this a sign that there is now less
fear, less tip-toeing, over the hypersensitivity of certain people? Is this a new dawn for a more robust (and
hopefully stronger) Malaysia, one which has citizens who are able to stand out
there and say, “Here I am, this is me.
And if you don’t like me, so what?
I am still a valid person. I am
still you. I am still part of you.”
Thus far, this story has been presented
as a morality tale. Woe to us if we
don’t see it as anything more than that.
20th October 2012
