Ride till you get naked…

LIBERTY!.. Oui, oui..and that is what I actually felt living in secular city like Melbourne. This kind of scenario, even though it would be nice to have it from time to time in my hometown Penang, or even Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, deep down in my heart I have a feeling that it will never happen, or would it? How will the Malaysian react with this? Hevoc and Riot, that were the couple of first things come to mind. Anyway, I thought I share this with you.Would you get excited viewing this photos? And if you do.. ask yourself why, then I think you might need to consult a Psychiatrist.

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Now, where were we… Oh yes, I was sitting in a cafe around Fitzroy, Brunswick St. (one of the chic suburb around Melbourne CBD) yesterday afternoon, over a pot of chai tea, my thoughts was disturbed by the cheers and roars by a group of Melbourne cyclist and screams if the supporters. I rush out from Babka (a warm feeling cafe managed by few lovely angles and homemade food by caring chef) and was blown with ride of celebrations. It was from Melbourne leg of Naked World Ride (see the Age online newspaper), all of the cyclist wear nothing but splash of colors painted on their body.

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I smile and thought for a while.. Wouldn’t it be nice, and wish that the space I am standing at the moment is at the Kedai Mamak ‘Line Clear’ on Penang Road, and groups of Malaysian is celebrating the same cause with the same views.. Of course, cloth-off. I wasn’t shock, surprisingly, because that was I been told, the fact that to see people naked is bad ‘haram’ because it will rise some sexual interest in a child.. and furthermore it will bring bad luck.. Hmmm… I don’t think so.. what bad luck got to do with seeing naked people? Does it mean it is bad luck to see ourselves naked in the mirror too? I think people with this narrow views, who scared others, implying bad luck and sensual connotation ideas behind this kind of scenarios have their own agenda, and fear with consequences.

I believed if we allow people, children, provide them with information, monitor them, discuss with open ended and honesty, these children at least will not find naked body horrifying. Instead they will see it as natural, and might ask us a question like ‘Yes… so what?!”. What I am trying to say here is essential to expose our future children and discuss openly about ‘naked body’, because each one of us have it, and there is nothing wrong about it. No need to be shy or to be fear off..

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Crowd along the cheered for the riders.

This scenarios implies many things, the state of mind of the community, the openness, the acceptance of the brave one, and the naked truth of our own body and nothing else. It is not sensual unless we want it to be sexual. And even so, it is not anybody fault accept ourselves. So stop scaring our future generation. It doesn’t mean that we have not been through this experience, we cannot allow our future children to experience it. What else unless CHANGE! And Malaysia… I think I take back my word.. I think we can see this happening in Malaysia in couple of decades if we broaden a little bit more of our our mind.

Photo credit: The Age, Melbourne, 22 March 2010. Article by Gordon Farrer

#Nurul Rahman is a practicing graphic designer, University Science Malaysia fellow researcher and a teacher. She is currently living in Melbourne completing her PhD.