The Fall of Malacca

Chapter 2

2

Out of the crackle of more announcements in Arabic and English, a new question begins to badger me: Given all the progress of the human race why do pilots still resort to the means of communications of the First Information Age? In this means of communications, the format involved, so to speak, is to shout the message to the world or to whisper it into the ear of another with or without the proviso that the message be repeated to others and so ad infinitum - the age of the Voice Protocol. Even the Gods, both in the singular and the plural phases of their anthropomorphic evolution on Earth communicate with us through sages, avatars and prophets in this format. “There is no other format but this format!” thundered the Almighty. Yes, they begin to hear voices that are not their own! Through these chosen few, we obey the message contained in these voices. When this voice tells us to move to another new place, we do. At other times the voice tells us to share some vital information with the rest of the group. And though at times we get the words all mixed up, perhaps out of both fear and excitement, we do not have the courage to clear things up with the ‘maker of the statement’. The cornerstone of the Law of Evidence, the exclusionary hearsay rule does not seem to apply to all matters related to the Spirit or the Divine. The centuries pass. The Gods have not communicated with us for a long time now. Then, very cleverly and using their own initiatives, our ancient forebears devise the format of the Second Information Age. We now inscribe information and messages on tablets, stones, plinths, columns and obelisks. We do it all over the world - from Sumeria to Egypt and China and India. No more the need to shout our heads off in the village square or whisper surreptitiously into the ears of others not always willing to listen. And this progress, this innovation in mass communication is a good thing. Humans can now combine their reverence for stones of all shapes, colours and sizes with information sharing. Especially if it was mind-boggling and large as Uluru, in the middle of nowhere in Australia, or smooth and shiny or black and sombre or white and odd-shaped..... And better still if they had tumbled out of the Heavens like a meteorite!

These stones with a message written on them associated with power and authority and in certain cases believed to be sanctioned by the Most Almighty are cleverly placed in strategic places for all to see, touch and marvel at. We are invited to subscribe to the information contained thereon. “Read!” said the stone staring at all and sundry before it in stony silence! We are now firmly anchored in the Second Information Age! But even then one had to read between the lines! The grand exception to this rule being the Rosetta Stone. The inscribers of this particular stone made a special effort to ensure the original message could be cross-checked by writing it in two other languages on two other faces of the stone! But just as important was that in this Second Information Age, the masses had to come to the font of information, the message center, the inscribed stone. The People must now chase information! The stone is immovable. The Malay language has a delightful phrase for such stones: “Batu Bersurat” or the “Lettered Stone”! The Divine Mastermind must have been keeping abreast of things here on Earth. Or perhaps it was Him who was driving all this technological change. And sure enough, when He next deemed it timely and appropriate to pass on to humanity some crucial information in the form of succinct rules of proper societal behaviour, The Ten Commandments, He made an illustrious forebear of ours walk up a mountain. The bush burns bright in the stillness of the night. Moses labours up the mountain. He is shocked out of his wits! He sees or as the Holy Scriptures put it, ‘he beholds’ messages from The Divine Mastermind written on stone tablets! Moses hesitates with bated breath for this is a momentous event in communications technology. These are tablets for God’s sakes! The cutting edge of information technology, no less! Moses is instructed in no uncertain terms to proceed and do the needful. With all due reverence he picks up these tablets containing the latest SOPs for human conduct and walks down the hill burdened by the weightiness of the message. For our part we are staggered by the implications of these tablets. The Divine Mastermind has now made an implied promise to us! From now onwards till the end of time our Maker will pass on to us messages using the means of communications we had devised and were accustomed to in any particular period of time! Word for word and stone for stone or whatever else we have innovated! We are delighted at this turn of events. No more turning back the clock of technology! With heartfelt affection and reverence the people call the bearer of these Divinely-made tablets, “Moshe Rabbeinu”, Moses the teacher.