Now, in light of the controversy surrounding the banning of pig farming in Selangor recently, I would like to draw everyone’s attention to the fact that a couple of days ago, the Delhi government had issued an explicit zero-tolerance reminder reiterating that the sacrifice of cows, calves and camels ahead of Eid is prohibited.
The sacrifice of other animals like goats and sheep is allowed — but cows, calves and camels are not.
The reason given by the Delhi government is the need to maintain public hygiene and prevent cruelty to animals. But if that is truly the case, then why is the ban limited only to cows, calves and camels? Why not extend it to all animals?
Now, we can ask ourselves such logical questions, but I doubt this kind of logical questioning is going to get us anywhere.
It is not going to get us anywhere in the same way that asking why only pig farming is being banned in Selangor is going to get us anywhere either.
As we all might know, the reason given for the proposed ban on pig farming in Selangor is that it contributes to water pollution and is unsuitable because land prices in Selangor are high. But if that is truly the case, then we might ask why the ban is restricted only to pig farming. Should not the farming of other animals — cows, chickens or goats — also be subjected to the same logic?
But this kind of questioning is bound to go nowhere, because not all aspects of reality are rational or logically grounded.
Reality also contains irrational components — and issues centered around identity, especially, are deeply rooted in irrationality.
The truth of the matter is that the issue of pig farming being banned in Selangor while other forms of animal farming remain permitted — and the issue of cow slaughter being banned in Delhi while the slaughter of other animals is allowed — has more to do with identity than rationality.
The rational component of the argument — whether it is preventing water pollution or preserving public hygiene — is likely only constructed afterwards to provide an explanation for something that is fundamentally identity-driven, and therefore intrinsically difficult to explain through logic alone.
As we are all aware, Muslims are discomforted by pigs in the same way that cows are dear to many Hindus. That is why Delhi Hindus have moved towards restricting cow slaughter while Selangor Muslims have moved towards restricting pig farming.
That is fundamentally what this issue is about - it is about identity.
We simply have to accept that this issue is about identity and thus inherently irrational, because if we don't, we will keep pressing further for a rational explanation, and our efforts is not only not going to produce any solution at all — it may instead make the problem even worse.
What does “identity” mean in this context?
It simply means that in order for you to feel like yourself, there are certain conditions that must be met.
For Muslims to feel meaningfully Muslim, for example, one of the conditions that they have to fulfill is maintain a distance from pigs. In the same way, for Hindus to feel Hindu, one of the conditions that they have to fulfill is to protect cows, or at least, not bear with the suffering or slaughter of cows.
If these conditions are not met, then one might become "disturbed" - or find it difficult to be oneself.
But then you might ask: if Selangor was previously fine with pig farming, and Delhi was previously fine with cow slaughter, why are they no longer fine with it now?
The answer likely has to do with the fact that the identities of Selangor Muslims and Delhi Hindus have changed.
What does that mean you ask?
Well, one possible explanation is that the Delhi Hindus or Selangor Muslims sense of status might have changed.
Think of it this way — when you were a teenager, you probably would not have minded not being given an important seat at a relative’s wedding. But when you become older and begin seeing yourself as an elder within the family, you may start feeling offended if you are not accorded a place that reflects your growth in status status.
In the same way, the changes in the status of the Delhi Hindus and Selangor Muslims might be the cause of why they are no longer able to abide by something that they could abide in the past.
Another possibility is that the way Muslims and non-Muslims in Delhi and Selangor see themselves in relation to one another may have changed.
If you see yourself as my friend, I can probably take many liberties with you. I might joke about your appearance or laugh about your past mistakes, and you may not take much offense.
But the moment you stop seeing yourself as my friend, those same jokes may suddenly become offensive — even if you once tolerated them without issue.
In other words, the act itself may not have changed.
What changed may instead is the identity of the people involved in the relationship — and when the identity changes, the meaning of their action and gestures will also change in tandem with the change in identity, even if their action and gesture itself did not change.
All these changes, which are related to identity, is if you ask me, is the real cause of the issue surrounding pig farming in Selangor.
It is fundamentally an identity-based issue — and identity-based issues can only be resolved within the framework of identity, not logic or rationality, if they can be resolved at all.
As a general rule, I tend to believe that identity-based conflicts belong to a category of problems that is best solved by making sure it doesn't arise.
Once they arise, they become extraordinarily difficult to resolve.
Why?
Because once a person or a people's sense of self is "disturbed", there is very little that anyone can do to bring it back to a state of equilibrium, until the "disturbances" itself runs it course.
Often, when confronted with an identity based issues that are inherently irrational, people will still attempt to solve them by applying logic and rationality — and when logic and rationality is applied to resolve an irrational identity based problem, it often does not only not resolve the issue, but only serves to make it worse.
If you ask me, no matter how dissatisfied the Delhi Muslims may feel about restrictions on cow slaughter, or how disappointed the Selangor non-Muslims may feel about restrictions on pig farming, confronting these issues purely through reason and logic is likely only going to worsen the situation.
So what, then, is the solution to an irrational identity-based problem?
Well, you might not like to hear this, but the application force is often what resolves an intractable identity issue. If you are in a relationship, and the desire of someone who you are having a relationship with to see themselves as how they want to see themselves is causing you to be unable to see yourself as how you wish to see yourself, then one of you will have to force the other to change the way they see themselves, so that the both of you might be able to be at peace with the way you see yourselves.
If you are unable to force the other party to change themselves, Then you can also sever your relationship so that the both of you can continue to see yourselves as how you wish to see yourselves independently, without being hindered by the other party.
But if neither force nor separation is desired, then the only remaining solution, if you ask me, is time, patience, forbearance and forgetfulness.
If people stop constantly reigniting the issue through endless rational confrontation, eventually the "disturbances" that they experience because of the identity crisis might subside on its own, to the point that someday, everyone will barely remember the conflict at all, or why it happened in the first place.
And if you think about it carefully, this is actually how many problems among friends and family are resolved as well — if they are resolved at all.
They are resolved not through application of logic, but by the willingness of all the parties involved in a relationship to be patient and forbear with the parts of the other people that they are in a relationship with, which they find bewildering, frustrating and even disturbing.
If all the parties concerned forbear with it patiently for long enough, in time, all the parties involved will just grow into become a bigger and better person, who will be able to deal with the quirkiness, eccentricities or natural differences that they have with each other, without being "disturbed" or subject each other to "disturbances".
The issue surrounding pig farming in Selangor is ultimately only one issue within a much larger relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in the state.
If we don't let this one issue define our relationship or colour other aspects of relationship ,its negative impact will be limited.
At the same time, if we resolve to create more positive interactions in our relationship, we might end up having more positive interactions than negative ones in the long run.
Any relationship will not escape negative or bitter interactions.
However, a relationship that is resolved to have more positive interactions than negative interactions will eventually became a lasting, meaningful and worthwhile relationship.
And that, ultimately, is how all long-term relationships endure:
not because conflict never emerges,
but because people continue finding reasons to live with one another despite it.
TheRealNehruism (nehru.sathiamoorthy@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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