Is Malaysia Capable Of Evolving?

Third post as PopMuda at PopIN:

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Google “Malaysia” and “evolusi” together, and the first link that comes out is for “racing”-flick Evolusi KL Drift. FML.

This is where tackling the issue of evolution in Malaysia becomes rather tricky—it’s rarely because so many people oppose it. We just don’t talk about it much.

So let me get the ball rolling. What is evolution anyway?

To put it simply, theory of evolution explains how animals and plants change over time. This process of change is driven by a concept called natural selection, which means whichever species suits their environment best, will survive better on the average. To survive better, these animals and plants will adapt and change, causing variations after billions of years.

So why don’t we talk about it much? Chiefly it’s because the two main Abrahamic religions in Malaysia, Islam and Christianity are very much sensitive on the origin of human.

It’s understandable for Christians who believe in the Young Earth creationism (i.e. Earth was created in six days, and is only about a few thousand years old), but for Muslims, it’s simply baffling. Most would accept that the Big Bang did happen and billions-year-old fossils are real, but the mere mention of men descending from apes would make some go bonkers.

I have heard many instances of our students overseas who refuse outright to attend evolution classes, like the very act of learning is blasphemous.

Let me assure you, evolution does not even suggest that men came from apes, but that’s a story for another day.

Of course, there are attempts to reconcile evolution and creationism [English version]—an attempt which I think is futile at best—but isn’t it a wonder why this isn’t discussed more? Instead, authorities try their best to hush this up so there won’t be more who will question the status quo (just like they do with everything else).

Why are we, as a country, still in denial on evolution? It is the basis of modern biology, and one of the most important concepts in science. Just imagine the madness if the government suddenly decides to teach that the world is flat, or the Sun revolves around Earth!

Time and time again, why do we keep dismissing the theory of evolution, considering how much it affects our very lives? If we can’t agree on it, let’s at least talk about it more.

So, intelligent readers of PopIN, do you reject evolution? Or do you believe in the theory? Are you mostly confused? Do you think that there might be truth in it, but are still unconvinced? Do you think I’m talking total bullshit?

We would love to know what your views are on this controversial topic. Drop by our discussion board on the newly launched Unscientific Malaysia Facebook fan page and put forward your opinions! Hop on!

5 Points on Superstitious Malaysia

Here’s my 1st post as PopIN’s PopMuda. Tune in at PopIn’s Facebook page and Twitter for updates on my posts this whole week!

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Face it, we Malaysians are such a superstitious lot. Admittedly, it adds a certain flavour and colour to our culture, but there are some instances where the superstitions border on being absurdly ridiculous.

Let’s take a look at some of the stuff Malaysians take to heart:

1. Numbers
Countless Malaysians suffer from an irrational fear for numbers. The result: we have floor 3A instead of floor 4. Also because of this, car plates that contain variations of ‘444’ or ‘4444’ are relatively cheaper than other vanity numbers. Funny, innit?

Don’t even mention getting nombor ekor. We see them in the weirdest of places.

2. Bomoh
Bomohs and pawangs are almost part of our national health service, that I fear one day it might join the ranks of other alternative pseudo-treatments like homeopathy and acupuncture. The thing is, bomohs are notorious for rape cases and even murder. Furthermore, they do not need legit training, be hygienic or even certified. Unlike doctors, they are not obligated to abide by the oath to “do no harm”.

Why do we trust them so much again?

3. Hantu
Boy, we have so many names for different ghouls! (Danny Lim’s The Malaysian Book of The Undead is an amusing guide to most of them). However, more sinister is that there are always some hantus or makhluk halus to be blamed for everything that went wrong. Rape? That was the orang minyak. Theft? Toyol. Car acccidents? Pocong. Abduction? Hantu tetek.

Others? Just blame in on dark arts or djinn possession.

4. Media
Do we have so many supernatural news in the media because we believe in those nonsense, or do we believe in them because they come up a lot in news? Malaysian tabloids thrive on these paranormal sensations (here looking at you, Harian Metro and Kosmo) and we have kids reading Mastika instead of Reader’s Digest.

The tabloids are not the only guilty ones. TV3 featured the praying sejadah hoax a few weeks ago.

5. Bogus
Looking at the ads targeted at Malaysians, it seems that all we care about is getting thin and being virile. It is very common to see ubat kuat or urut batin ads plastered around, and to get thin, we’re easily duped by sham products ranging from diet juices, irradiated gems in Premium Beautiful corsets, magical crystals, magnetic mattress et cetera, et cetera.

I reserve my greatest gripe for the BioAura water system. According to their TV ad, some filtered water is all you need to become a successful person. Pfft.

For more take on the supernatural, visit Unscientific Malaysia.

Anu Dalam Botol’s Producer Raja Azmi Hits Back at the Malaysian Film Industry

When the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry announced a new ruling banning local filmmakers from showing Mat Rempit and men in women’s clothes in their productions, film producer Raja Azmi Raja Sulaiman was among those badly hit. Her currently-produced film about transsexuals, Anu Dalam Botol (literally Dick in the Bottle) has already racked a decent cost of RM100,000 (around USD28,300) before the ruling, which will go to waste if it couldn’t be shown.

Raja Azmi is known for being controversial—I can feel her spunk when she talks about censorship, the industry and her love of the limelight in today’s The Sun.

Since one of the reasons why the government imposed this draconian ruling is to fight immoral activities linked to groups of Mat Rempit and cross-dressers, Raja Azmi reasoned that:

I hate it when people say movies can encourage people to become Mat Rempit and transsexuals. Do you think movies can change people’s lives so drastically? Why do we have this mentality that if we made a movie about Mat Rempit the whole of Malaysia will become Mat Rempit. Movie-makers depict what is out there.

Frankly, I am not aware about the comparison of Malaysian films with Iran, but she raised a good point:

People ask why we don’t make movies like those by Iranian filmmakers about good people, good Muslims and innocent children. Their films have been winning awards. But do these people think there are no drug addicts in Iran, no rapists, no murderers. Of course there are no Mat Rempit because I hardly see motorbikes in Iran. But there are a lot of gays in Iran and there are a lot of “bad” men who seduce women. And Iran never made movies like that. But these things still exist in Iran. Can you can explain that?

I share her sentiments on sex, and wish more people will not only feel the same way, but are brave enough to come out with it. When accused of being a “sex maniac”, she retorted:

I believe sex maniacs are people who think about sex all the time and have many sexual partners. I am not like that. I believe that in life, you should have sex, religion and love. Your life is incomplete without these elements. You must be able to discuss these issues openly.

Sex is a creative part in a human being. There is a lot of creativity in sex. My husband and I discuss openly about sex. Every married couple should do that.

However, the best part about her is her unwillingness to kiss ass. She had this to say about our film industry:

We have too many rules.We are eager to ban this and ban that. There should be some form of censorship. (But) Too much censorship curbs our creativity.

She also claimed that the industry does not have an united front, incapable to demand more showings of local films in theatres, and furthermore:

The recent ban on movies depicting Mat Rempit and transsexuals proves that we are not united. Some film-makers do not care about the ban because they do not make this kind of movies. So they have nothing to lose and they will not speak up for producers affected by this ruling.

When asked about the reason the public do not prefer Malaysian films, she answered simply:

Our movies are of inferior quality compared to foreign films.

Way to say it, sister.

Besides producing the doomed Anu Dalam Botol, Raja Azmi is currently working on Karkuma, a novel about an epic war story between humans and demons. Awesome.

What do you think of the Malaysian film industry and government censors? Do you agree with Raja Azmi? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Research in Prayer’s Effects on Health: Wasted Opportunity in Science

From the esteemed labs of Universiti Malaya (UM), we can now find where the research funds are lost to: trying to prove that Islamic prayers (solat) can “boost health and cure impotency”. The study by UM’s Medical Informatics and Micromeelectromechanical Systems (MIMEMS) Labs has been going on for some time, but received national prominence with the launch of a national seminar on “Solat Science” yesterday.

Here is the official news from BERNAMA:

Prayer Positions Can Boost Health, Cure Impotency

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) — A scientific study on the benefits of ’solat’ (the Muslim prayer) reveal that it not only improves spiritual well-being, but performing it correctly with the right posture could also benefit physical and mental health, including curing erectile dysfunction (ED).

Among the other benefits uncovered by a team of biomedical researchers from Universiti Malaya (UM) include reducing the heartbeat rate, alleviating back pain and strengthening the pelvic floor muscles.
UM’s Biomedical Engineering Department head, Prof Madya Dr Fatimah Ibrahim, said the study revealed that the actions in a prayer could help patients suffering from ED.

Quoting a previous study by researcher Marijke Van Kampen, Dr Fatimah said pelvic floor exercises could boost blood circulation and reduce ED symptoms.

“Our own trial with two ED patients saw vast improvements (in their sexual health) after a month of ‘prayer therapy’,” she told reporters after the launch of the national seminar on ‘Solat Science’ at Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan here today.

The seminar was launched by former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Dr Fatimah said movements in a prayer could also alleviate back pain, especially in pregnant women.
She said a study was conducted on patients with regular back pain and pregnant mothers from the Malay, Indian and Chinese communities.

Findings from the study showed that the ‘rukuk’ (bowing with hands resting on knees) and ’sujud’ positions could be used as therapy as it helped relax the spinal canal and reduces the risk of pressure on the spinal nerve.

“The non-Muslim mothers only acted out the positions during the therapy sessions. They showed improvement in just a month,” she said.

In his research, UM Medical Centre Cardiology Consultant Specialist Prof Dr Wan Azman Wan Ahmad found that heartbeat rate could be reduced by 10 times a minute in the ’sujud’ (prostration) position, where Muslims knelt with their forehead, nose, hands and knees touching the floor to face the Kaabah in Mekah.

He said that 12 ‘rakaat’ (unit for a set of actions in a prayer) equalled to 30 minutes of light exercises daily as recommended by health experts.

All of the findings from the studies conducted have been compiled and can be found in the book, ‘Solat Science’, currently available in all book stores.

First of all, let us not be overwhelmed with the spin put by the press. You can take a look on how the experiments of “Physiological measurement to asses the impact of salat (Muslim prayers) physically and spiritually” are implemented at MIMEMS’ website.

Now, let me tell you why this kind of experiments is a fallacy from the start: it involves religion.

As with these experiments, where researchers try to reconciliate their beliefs with science, there can only be one result: a resounding success. One’s mind is already set on what one wants the results to be, either consciously or not. In this case, MIMEMS obviously wants to find that prayers do boost health, cure diseases, especially ED.

When one’s mind is set, one will tend to overlook minuscule errors, discrepancies in figures, rounding up numbers and making generalisations in order to reach the intended result. Every failures and negative results will be rejected—how can science be wrong when their faith tells them it is to be true?

Just for example of how “fudgings” (allowing leeway to achieve successful result) can occur, let us take a look at the statement of “12 ‘rakaat’ equalled to 30 minutes of light exercises”.

While it is true that most experts agree 30 minutes is the minimum recommended daily exercise, those 30 minutes are of vigorous cardio activities like sports or house chores, not “light exercises”. Furthermore, why 12 rakaats? Daily, Muslims pray a total amount of 17 rakaats. Does not that look like fudging to you?

How disappointing it is that so much effort and resources are being put into exegesis, experiments to interpret religion in science! If ever Muslim scientists grumbled about their lack of acceptance and participation in the global field, they only have themselves to blame. There is no value in these sort of outputs. What benefit is there from such experiments, besides bragging rights, besides assurance that Muslims are on the “right” path?

Maybe in the case of this experiment, it’s the profit from sales of these books.

I Am a Man. Should I Use a Toner?

I’m blaming Erina on this. She wrote a post on why women should use toners, which got me thinking:

“How essential are toners in men’s skin care?”

After all, I haven’t seen a lot of toners for men in common skin care ranges.

Ask any man about “toners”, and more of than not, I can guarantee that we’ll think you’re talking about the copier. Or the laser printer. Inks depleted and all that jazz. Knowing how frustrating the pursuit of knowledge would be, I decided not to make too much of an effort this time, and just trust the all-knowing source of information: the internet. So, hopefully this can help some men out there, but if this is wrong, I’m putting the blame on you, internet I hope a more knowledgeable bloke can help me out here.

So what the hell is a toner anyway? Basically toners are used to cleanse the skin and close the pores. One uses a toner by applying it with cotton balls right after a face wash and before moisturising, in order to remove traces of dirt, oil excess and residue from the face wash.

There are two types of toners, each for oily or dry skin types. If you have normal or sensitive skin, you’d have to choose between these two types, and with time and practice, find the one more suitable for you.

The two types are very different in how they work, obviously. For oily skin, the toner will act as astringents which control the oil gland activity and bacteria, while for dry skin, it will act against dehydration. As you can see by now, choosing the wrong type will put you in the opposite direction from where you are supposed to go, causing further skin problems.

I have found that many sources agree on one thing. Are toners important? The short answer is a resounding “no”.

Most of the people who swear by toners (I guess these are women, I can’t seem to imagine a man swearing by a toner) evidently “like” the way how toners make their skin feel refreshed and rejuvenated afterwards. The feeling of “tight skin” and the action of closing pores are basically the work of the alcohol content, rather than the toners themselves.

However, it can not be denied that toners will definitely help in keeping your skin clean, moisturised and feel fresh. It will make you feel awesome.

So, if you want to go an extra mile, go on and find a toner that’s suitable for your skin. If not, we can make do with the facial cleansers and scrubs and moisturisers for now.

What do you have in your grooming arsenal? Let us know in the comments.