The Importance of Representing Asia With Respect

I'm coming to realise that this Blog is a great Soapbox from which I can at least air my views regardless of whether anyone ever gets to read them, let alone agree with them. But air them I must as I believe I have, occasionally, something important to say.

We all do things because we want to, sometimes our actions are driven by need, other times by passion. It was passion that made me start the magazine as I feel a close love for Asia, its people and its positivity. Regardless of nationality I have always experienced kindness, warmth and a genuine welcome in all my travels.

Now I have to be honest and say that I have only, so far, visited three countries in South East Asia, though some several times. The Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore have all welcomed me and made me feel at home, often I left their ports in tears as I felt I was indeed leaving home. I mention that only because I have never cried upon leaving England, I am usually suppressing an urge to scream with joy. Don't get me wrong, I love my home country and would not speak ill of the UK, but I do feel it has lost its way of late and I am therefore much more inspired by places that are still coming of age and still embrace positivity and challenge with a passion as firm as a child's grip on a candy bar.

The people of China, have just demonstrated a united passion for the Olympics and together showed the World what is possible when you make sacrifices and join forces to make a unified impression. China is coming of age and the Olympics gave it the opportunity to turn a corner with a whole new expression on its face. China blew us all away with its facilities, its national dedication to the chore and the teams unquestionable determination to excel and win at every opportunity. Good for them I say, China we should all learn from your dedication to achieve your goals even when the World would choose to forget its own failings only to focus on yours for want of embarrassing you. You took no notice, you got on with pitching up with an incredible Games and can sit back proud in the knowledge that at least this part of the third World can achieve whatever it wants - when it chooses to.

I didn't want to talk about China or the Olympics other than to use that example to make my point. I have experienced two conversations recently that really impacted on me. Strangely, both were about the same country, no need to name it, but both were delivered by educated and competent people whom, in my opinion, should know better than to say what they did. Both made comments about a beautiful nation and its people which were both unwarranted and wrong. Both stated that while the people were "lovely" they are sadly naive and impressionable. "Happy back slappers" was one expression used because they are often "guilty" of praising colleagues for their achievements. In my opinion when a nation is rising out of the dust and building a presence in the World it is entitled to recognise those who have made it possible, even if only in part through individual actions.

There is a nasty "British" condition that I have always found ugly and offensive. It is the tendency to see ourselves as "British" and everyone else as "Foreigners", looking down on other nationalities as if they should be grateful that we allow them to share some space on "our" planet. I hate this misguided and arrogant attitude. As Brits we have indeed played our part in shaping the World and helping "lesser" nations to get on their feet with systems that even now form the structures of commerce, education and law. It was something we did when we probably had a right to claim something of a status in the World. But now, as in the case of the Chinese and the Olympics, we have to admit that others can often do things bigger and better than we probably can. Britain, once a World leader in standards, is now in danger of falling into disrepair and looking like an aged parent past their best years. It saddens me to hear India, Singapore and Malaysia, for example, praising the British systems they run on, the influence we had on their nations and the standards we set, when nowadays, we don't have much respect for our old standards at all. Britain, it's time to buck up! When was the last time you saw Japanese students fighting drunk in London streets, or Thai men coming here to have sex with our daughters? Maybe you think it is I who is being naive, not really I know I am being simplistic, I'm just trying to make the point that we are no longer demonstrating the standards we were once respected for.

Hearing comments about "naive" countries who have "no idea what they are doing" sickens me to the stomach. Our arrogance really knows no bounds. Recently I met a famous Indian musician. I went to interview him about his music of course, but I teased him and suggested he may have got me there under false pretences. For though there is no doubt about his abilities as a musician, talking to him revealed that his real gift is as a philosopher. His simple and yet complex understanding of the World made him an enlightened giant in my eyes. I came away from my meeting feeling educated and humbled by his take on life. Here was a man who many of my associates may look upon as a simple man by appearance, but explore his mind and you have to draw a very different conclusion. If we all took his approach to life we would indeed be more at peace with ourselves and much less self obsessed with our vanities.

This is why I am on my soapbox. I am tired of the way the West may incline to look down on Asia. At their simple lifestyles, at their comfort with themselves and the way they live. Let me tell you these people have an inner peace we could all benefit from.

Another example; At the weekend I attended the Bangladeshi Boat Race on the Thames in Oxford. The first "Nowka Bais" to take place outside of Bangladesh. A remarkable achievement in itself, involving flying two canoes at some considerable expense into the country etc etc. All achieved by Bangladeshi businessmen here in the UK. While wandering through the crowds I noticed several instances of young men holding hands and talking to each other at length. Was this a Gay Carnival? No not at all. Was their action strange in any way? Not back home in Bangladesh where it is quite the norm to demonstrate friendship or a union of thought by keeping hold of a colleagues hand while conversing. This was a harmless and positive demonstration of unity but most importantly of comfort within themselves. Their minds were free of Western hang-ups that might instantly assume such a practice as "weird" or "gay". To my mind what they were doing was demonstrating friendship, something we would do well to learn from. What I was more troubled by were the cyclists who insisted on riding their cycles through the crowds without any thought for all the children around, and the young woman who had elected to sunbathe on the grass where all the TV interviews were being conducted, apparently oblivious to what was going on around her and showing no intention or even thought of moving to somewhere less "in the way".

I'm going to stop going on now, but the more I learn about Asia, its people, its depth of thought and simplistic contentment, driven by support for each other through community and family - the more I like it.

Asia to my mind is not naive it is enlightened. One day we will realise that and probably claim that this "new" discovery - was our idea.