SEPT 19 — “Jangan bawak dia keluar — dah senja, nak masuk Maghrib dah”, my father admonished, just as I was about to take my toddler son for a walk outside the house. We were at my parents’ place for buka puasa, and the weather being lovely, I figured that a stroll outside would do wonders for my son’s bottled-up energy.
“But it’s not even 6.30pm – Maghrib isn’t until 7.15pm” I tried to explain, unfortunately drawing a long, angry scowl from my father.
Sigh. “Okay”, I ceded. “We’ll just play inside” I said, to my son’s screaming displeasure.
Muslim-Malay children in Malaysia grow up with these little prohibitions peppered throughout their growing-up years. This particular one, about how children were not supposed to be outdoors near the time of Maghrib prayers, is rooted in the belief that the “momok” or hantu would, true to “vampiresque” fashion, emerge when dusk descended.
In fact, I had another reason to offer my father (had I been given the opportunity) and that was to say that since it was the good month of Ramadan after all, there was nothing to fear since the devil and his henchmen were all safely chained. However, I don’t think my father’s scowl would have been any less glowering had I tried.
Although pegged to a time of prayer for credence, it is more likely that this “twilight bogey” is rooted in the pantang larang of the Malays — taboos or old wives’ tales which have always been society’s discreet way of enforcing rules of behaviour and morality, even ordinary daily rituals — particularly with children or those currently in a new phase of life (like pregnancy) or are about to enter one (marriage, parenthood). This is often done by introducing bogeys into the equation or, as I like to call it, by “bogefying”.
It is highly probable that the twilight bogey merely seeks to ensure that children are safely indoors, bathed, dressed and ready for dinner and bed — without the parents having to scream at the top of their lungs for their children to come home before dusk.
In Egypt, on the contrary, I was surprised to see Egyptian Muslim children frolicking outdoors before, during and after Maghrib, as if that bewitching time meant nothing more than a short period to perform the dusk prayers.
And maybe that’s all it is, because if there is anyone in the world who can lay claim to potential danger from ghoulish visitations, it would be the Egyptians, with their ancient pagan civilisation complete with human sacrifices and witchcraft practices all those thousands of years ago. And yet, Egyptians go about their merry ways during Maghrib without the slightest indication of fear or concern for the younglings playing outside.
Scrutinising the twilight bogey with our logic hats on, does this mean that a child in a country with long summer nights can play outside until way past 9pm, since the sun only sets around 9.30pm? What about a child in Antarctica where there is no sun for six months? Stay indoors throughout? Although, admittedly, the very idea of a child being present in freezing Antarctica is ludicrous!
Then there are all those other pantang(s):
• wash your feet before entering the house at night to keep evil spirits away from entering the house or your dreams when you sleep (logic: no dirty feet in a clean house, please);
• don’t let food dry out on your plate because your rezeki will fly away (logic: plates without hardened food crusts make for an easier wash);
• young women shouldn’t sit in a doorway or they will become old maids (logic: don’t obstruct the doorway);
• don’t sing in the kitchen or you’ll marry an old man (logic: get carried away with your singing and you won’t pay attention to your cooking);
• don’t place your derriere on a head pillow or you’ll grow boils all over (logic: head pillows aren’t meant to be resting places for smelly, dirty buttocks).
The list goes on and I am certain each one of you will have many more pantang(s) and bogeys to share. The question is, how many of us today actually follow these pantang(s) and believe in the bogeys?
The trouble (or liberation?) that comes with an increasingly modernising world is that society’s mindset also evolves. No longer will society blindly accept rules and restrictions (not even children, as most baby-booming parents will tell you), and gone are the days when a parent, teacher, elder or leader (yes, politicians included) can just say that well, this was what our forefathers did and put into practice all these years, and it works, so swallow it up.
If at all, this only serves to create greater resistance towards compliance. The “recalcitrant” generations demand and seek answers and explanations before accepting anything, especially when it doesn’t make much sense.
For example, I will only follow a pantang once I establish the reasoning upon which it is rooted. If the pantang or the reasoning is gobbledygook, then forget tradition, I will steer clear away from compliance — like keeping a pair of scissors or small knife near a newborn’s head (bogey: to keep evil spirits away), or to avoid wrapping a towel around a pregnant woman’s neck (bogey: lest her unborn child have its umbilical cord twisted around its neck!).
Similarly for the twilight bogey. After observing the twilight nonchalance in Egypt and having hypothesised with the extreme climatic examples, I wasn’t sold on that bogey either. I simply chose to respect my father’s wishes when I was at his house.
Curiously, we may apply this same reasoning to politics. Nowadays, we have almost infinite access to information at our fingertips, significantly via the Internet. Knowledge is power, and try as a government may to suppress the flow of information, man will always find ways to work around it, just as how computer hackers continue to find ways to beat the most infallible operating systems.
Armed with the arsenal of information available to us, the political manoeuvres of demonising politicians and bogefying threats (recent trends seem to favour race and religion) are being met with increasing disdain and cynicism, if not outright anger.
One of the biggest mistakes Malaysian politicians make is to assume that the rakyat cannot think for themselves. There have been far too many examples of this in recent months.
When the Home Minister responded to the cow-head protest by saying that the protesters had not intended to defile another’s faith nor did they know that someone would bring the cow head and that well, quid pro quo, someone had thrown a pig’s head at an Umno member’s house before that — his statements had grossly undermined and insulted the rakyat’s ability to reason.
An ex-MB only exacerbated matters thereafter when he said that the controversy was all a misunderstanding over a “stupid” animal. I think most Malaysians felt an ironical metaphor with the cow if that was the kind of statement a politician was making and was expecting the rakyat to accept.
I do believe that the rakyat are truly fed up with the Malaysian political sandiwara. The political game plan needs to change, not only to be sensitive towards the rakyat and vigorous in tackling current issues like the sluggish economy, high cost of living, poor standard of education, and the alarming crime rate — but, just as importantly, to appeal to the rakyat’s cognitive thinking.
No more wasting time on bogefying the opposition, politicians, race and religion just to create smokescreens for inaction or incompetence. Ignore this, and the risk of the rakyat reciprocating that ignorance at the next general election may be too big a price to pay. After all, doesn’t the bogeyman always lose in the end?
Sazlin Daud wishes all The Malaysian Insider readers Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and happy holidays. Do try to exercise some restraint on the lemang and rendang if you can.
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
