About Character

Originally written under the working title The Cure for Man's Cancer and worked on sporadically for two weeks since some time around mid-May 2004, Character is about one's character and its complex relationship, or rather, interplay, or even perhaps, power struggle, with other characters within the context of a family unit during a conflict. The setting for the story is a typical Malay family home, and its details are very Malaysiana, in the sense that most of us, or those who frequent this page, can relate. The story's central conflict (i.e. there are sub-conflicts) is about a daughter's decision to go against her father's will. As with many of my works, Character is peppered with many issues for details; Malay family values, male lackadaisical, and feminism, which is excerpted below:

"[...] [T]he central idea behind [the] confrontational divide along the gender line could be summed up as: You are a human being first, then, and only then, you are a woman or a man. Thus, the vigorous pursuit of one’s basic human rights via the highlighting of [one's] gender as the platform for the battle [...] is akin to the Zen Buddhist’s koan, or one of Life’s greatest riddles, nonplussed, of: “Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?” Not the chicken; it is hatched from the egg. Not the egg; it is laid by the chicken. Neither the chicken nor the egg comes first, or thus, comes last, since one requires the other to establish one’s, and the other’s, existence. Therefore, the chicken and the egg can’t both at the same time be the first, or thus, be the last. [...] [B]laming the historical and cultural dominance of one "greater" gender over the other "lesser" gender for [one's] misery [is] folly; for, gender is an issue of interdependent, cyclical priority through which the existence of Man is justified: “How can two humans, who are equally inclusive to be made complete, be made different if their differences are to be equalized?” For such a koan, there exists no answer but the wrong answer, which is: the attempt to answer the riddle through reason and logic. [...] Life is about questions, not answers. [Para. 83]"

The version published here is the rushed, unedited and unrevised version of Character, roughly at 5165 words, as of June 2nd, 2004. There will be many revisions done on it soon; however, changes will not be announced here. All apologies.

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