| We're all class-ed multiculturalists now! |  |  |  |
| Posted by admin | |
| Sunday, 21 September 2008 10:45 | |
| We have deeply racialized human beings that are running neutral machines. We have ethnocentric leaders running humane systems. We have allowed imperfection and evolving fascism to run our system. We have placed capitalists of culture behind our wheels of industrial progress; people who have the dinosaur brain of ketuanan this or that. We have created these monsters and have unleashed them to run our educational, political, economic, and cultural systems. We have Frankenstein-ised our Merdeka. Azly Rahman Growing up in a Malay kampong in Johor Bahru, having been born in a British Military hospital in Singapore, schooled in Kuantan, Seremban, Shah Alam and moving from one realm of cultural experience to the next, living in from one enclave to another in the process of being schooled and in the process of being and becoming an educator, ending up in a town a half and hour's drive from New York City where I have lived for several years, I sometimes wonder if all these makes me a "cultural construction" of "multi-ethnicity" or a "Malay" still? Or --- how "Malay" am I still? Or --- what is a
Those are amongst the snapshot items of Malaysia circa 51 years of Merdeka/Independence. The composite image of a system of divide and conquer left by the British colonials continue to be artistically refined into subdivisions of divide and conquer, aided by the propaganda machine of the ruling class. Malaysia is seeing the image of the little brown brothers that are becoming the new colonizers and transforming into emperors in new clothes. If the words of the proclamation are to be our benchmarks of Merdeka, we must ask these questions:
Are we seeing a failed Malaysia? Has racial politics brought this nation into chaos? Across the board the country is in distress; education in shambles, polarized, and politicized, economy is in constant dangerous flux, judiciary is in deep crisis of confidence, public safety is of major concern due the declining public confidence in the police, and politics remain ever divided along racial and religious lines. This is the Malaysian picture of Dorian Gray, one that shows the image of a "vibrant nation of progress and harmony, and racial tolerance and a robust economy" but behind it is a deformed Malaysia that is merely a continuation of a feudal and colonial entity. The colonized has become the colonizer. The once oppressed is now oppressing. The ignorant is educating the educated. In a world of the blind the one-eyed man is king. The State has become a totalitarian entity using the ideological state apparatuses to silent the voices of progressive change. The nationalists have nationalized the wealth of the nation for themselves and perhaps siphoning the nation's wealth internationally. This is the picture of a broken promise made by those who fought for Independence; the vices of the early radical and truly nationalistic Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans, Sikhs, etc. of the early Merdeka movement. How then must Malaysians celebrate its 52 nd. Merdeka? By flying the Jalur Gemilang upside down? Or to do better than this – to put justice in its own place by engineering a multicultural jihad against all forms of excesses of the abuse of power and to de-toxify the nation entire, and next to begin with Year Zero of our cultural revolution through the gentle enterprise called peace and multicultural education? Herein lies education as a solution. I believe we need a radical overhaul of everything, philosophically speaking. We have the structures in place built in some instances to a state-of-the-art but we need to replace the human beings running the system. We have deeply racialized human beings that are running neutral machines. We have ethnocentric leaders running humane systems. We have allowed imperfection and evolving fascism to run our system. We have placed capitalists of culture behind our wheels of industrial progress; people who have the dinosaur brain of ketuanan this or that. We have created these monsters and have unleashed them to run our educational, political, economic, and cultural systems. We have Frankenstein-ised our Merdeka. We need to re-educate ourselves by reinventing the human beings we will entrust to run our machines. We must abolish the present system and create a new one; just as how we created our new cities – Putrajaya and Cyberjaya – our symbols of our Oriental Despotism and Asian capitalistic decadence. We must be aware that class in the broadest and most comprehensive sense of the word is what we are dealing with and through class and cultural analyses we can arrive at a different path to a new Merdeka. This Merdeka, the rakyat, armed with wisdom of a new era, must now speak softly but carry a big stick. Our struggle for Merdeka has only just begun. We hope that the ideas of change discussed in our little Malaysian "salons" -- from the warongs to online hangout joints -- will become impetus to the much needed mega change in consciousness of Malaysians. We hope that radical ideas will be debated in our universities, educational and cultural institutions and consequently affect political changes that would further compel educators to begin redesigning policies through the rejuvenation of thinking. Malaysians have no choice. We are all class-based multiculturalists now. We must reinvent even the way to think about how we think as Malaysians. Now -- that's a metacognitive challenge! _______________________________________________ I APPEAL TO THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT TO RELEASE RAJA PETRA KAMARUDIN IMMEDIATELY AND UNCONDITIONALLY AND RELEASE ALL THE ISA DETAINEES AS WELL AND CONSEQUENTLY REPEAL THE ISA AND ALL OTHER INTOLERABLE ACTS REPLACE THE ISA with the INTELLECTUAL SUSTAINABILITY ACT INSTEAD ______________________________________________ PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION ---> HERE <---
Comments (32)  ... written by ahmadneil, September 21, 2008 11:00:06 I have signed!Now,I also appeal to Deputy IGP to arrest Khir Toyo and Ahmad Ismail for he did swear to uphold the rules of the laws when he was sworn in as the Deputy IGP. report abuse disagree 1 agree 77 ... written by mem, September 21, 2008 11:03:19 before i sign this, i need to confirm; is anyone know that if all the names/ic# of the signaturer will be sent to Bodowi together with the petition? what if the gov will take action against who sign for this petition via the list of signaturer? just concern... report abuse disagree 56 agree 11 ... written by ahmadneil, September 21, 2008 11:09:57 mem,just the names only.If the gov't wants to arrest you and me plus all the millions bloggers then they will have to built more Sungei Buloh.No need 2 b scare.The brave shall prevail. report abuse disagree 1 agree 71 ... written by george3, September 21, 2008 11:16:20 I had signed the petition Could please e-mail me once our PM receive and acknowledge the petition? cos not confident whether this petition will reached him? Can please e-mail this article to our PM too? report abuse disagree 2 agree 20 ... written by mem, September 21, 2008 11:23:18 thank you ahmadneil for the confirmation. will sign on it now. report abuse disagree 0 agree 26 ... written by kavidibaku, September 21, 2008 11:30:59 I notice that majority of the signatures belong to nons. I wonder why. report abuse disagree 7 agree 20 ... written by talkingback79, September 21, 2008 11:37:10 This write up is too filled with verbosity. Many of us out here are just common people with standard level of education and , also, we don't hang an oxford dictionary round our neck. We hope writers will write in English. Thank you report abuse disagree 7 agree 22 ... written by sjs, September 21, 2008 11:51:57 Syed Hamid Albar, Release the following 64 ISA detainees immediately! Charge them in open court! Release them from the animal cage! Yazid Sufaat, Suhaimi Mokhtar, Dr Abdullah Daud, Shamsuddin Sulaiman, Mat Shah Mohd Satray, Abdul Murad Sudin, Zaini Zakaria, Zainun Rashid, Wan Amin Wan Hamat, Sulaiman Suramin, Sufian Salih, Mohd Khaider Kadran, Hasim Talib, Zakaria Samad, Ahmad Zakaria, Terhamid Dahalan, Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Mahfudi Saifudin, Mulyadi, Arifin, Mat Tarmizi Zakaria, Artas Burhanudin, Francis Indanan, Mohd Nazri Dollah, Mohd Arsad Patangari, Adzmi Pindatun, Idris Lanama, Aboud Ghafar Shahril, Jeknal Adil, Binsali Omar, Husin Alih, Yussof Mohd Salam, Ahmad Jamal Azahari, Pakana Selama, Kasem Dayama, Shaykinar Guat, Argadi Andoyok, Ng How Chuang, Ng Keat Seng, Mohd Azuan Aniffa, Mohd Faizol Shamsuddin, Zulfikli Abu Bakar, Zulfikli Marzuki, Amir Hussain, Mohd Nasir Ismail, Ahmad Kamil Hanafiah, Muh Amir Hanafiah, Tan Choon Chin, Mavalavan, Lian Kok Heng, Sundaraj Vijay, San Khaing, Shadul Islam, Abdul Sattar Sarjoon, Faycal Mamdouh, Mohamad Nakhrakhel, Muhammad Shuaib Hazral Bilal, Muhammad Zahid Zahir Shah, T Vasanthakumar, P Uthayakumar, R Kenghadharan, V Ganabatirau, M Manoharan and our hero RAJA PETRA KAMARUDIN! report abuse disagree 0 agree 51 ... written by Spear Bing, September 21, 2008 12:02:27 Dear Azly, You are decades ahead in terms of intellectual competency in the critical analysis of the Malaysian state of affairs - as compared to those UMNO-led government Ministers and political leaders. Their "Malay Supremacy' syndrome is already cast in stone. As the ex-de facto Law Minister, Zaid Ibrahim confessed, no matter how illustrious the command of brilliancy that you have elicited in this article, all of us including yourself will be facing, and will continue to face a 'brickwall' For the level of consciousness to evolve, a great transformation will have to be embraced. UMNO Ministers who read this article will have to come to terms with the realisation that such ugliness that they have created will have to be deleted. Make amends and atone for the misdeeds they have created for the past 51 years. They should be proud that Malaysia has produced a son of the soil whose mindset and knowledge are so enlightened and evolved. report abuse disagree 0 agree 38 ... written by hckit, September 21, 2008 12:22:22 I guarantee you ALL UMNO bullshit MPs will support abolishment of ISA ,.... BUT.... only when PR takes over Federal Government report abuse disagree 0 agree 13 ... written by sjs, September 21, 2008 12:24:56 DEFINITION OF CORRUPTIONS RAFIDAH AZIZ Rafidah binti Aziz is a Malaysian politician. She was the former Minister of International Trade and Industry, a position she has held since 1986. She is also the head of United Malays National Organization's Woman Wing (Wanita UMNO in Malay) and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Kuala Kangsar (since 1986). She has also been the chairman of MATRADE since 1991. She was born in Kuala Kangsar, Perak. In 2006, she was accused of corruption related to the issuance of Approved Permits (AP) for importing foreign vehicles, by former prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad in his series of criticisms against the government. NAJIB ABDUL RAZAK 1. Made million of ringgit in kick backs when he was education minister, mostly in purchase of computers and construction. 2. Huge kickback in purchase of defence weapon, submarine etc 3. Kick backs in national service programme. His best confidant and political analyst Razak Baginda was released on bail at one time (never happened in a sane court) for a well planned murder of a innocent young Mongolian woman by using C4 explosives which shouldn't have been reached to any security or police personnel without the approval of highest body of Defence Ministry (which was headed by Najib). TAIB MAHMUD Taib Mahmud is the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Malaysia, a post he held for 20 years. Also known as the Con Man of Sarawak. Owns a few large Sarawakian corporations like Naim Cendera and Cahya Mata Sarawak. His siblings and relatives are owners of large bumiputra corporations too. Most of them drive luxury cars and own mansions. He is best known for cronyism and refuses to answer questions thrown at him by the opposition party regarding his wealth. KHIR TOYO, SPECIAL BONDS TO ACA! Former Selangor Menteri Besar, Mohd Khir Toyo topped the list of corrupt politicians with more than 25 high-profile corruption cases in the country, with the highest number of reports lodged with the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) against him. More than 10 complaints had been filed with the ACA over the past six years against Mohd Khir, who was appointed menteri besar in August 2000. Among the complainants who had made police and ACA reports against Mohd Khir included media activist Ahmad Lufti Othman, DAP leader Teng Chang Kim, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat Youth wing, an ex-Umno leader and a consumer cooperative. Lufti, who had doggedly pursued cases against Mohd Khir with the relevant authorities, had filed so many reports that he could not remember the exact number. What is that deep bond that exist between Khir Toyo and the ACA! report abuse disagree 0 agree 48 ... written by shangrilapeace, September 21, 2008 12:31:41 This is the best analysis I have read for quite sometime. People changed Time changed System changed What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lost his own soul. Let our great grandchildrens feel proud of this moment that our forefathers scarificed and took this bold steps to create a better world for all Malaysians. Regardless of political parties stand. Sacrifices for the truth. report abuse disagree 0 agree 20 ... written by yy88, September 21, 2008 12:35:29 Dr Azly, If only those in the line of power put their sweats and tears in doing goods for the country and Bangsa Malaysia, rather than propaganding racial animosities and the "pseudo" ketuanan Melayu mentalitity, we will not be where we are now, but progressed forefront 20 years in many fields. If only those governing Malaysia now have a minute portion of your brain materials, there would not have been an avalanche of brain drain of our brightest brilliants out of the country, but a progressive community of many2 Dr Azlys. I dream of a day where all the 'exported' brilliant Bangsa Malaysia will converge and fall inline to return to Malaysia where they call HOME, to render their valued belated 'national service' to build a country each and every of us can be proud of. Hidup dan Maju Bangsa Malaysia. report abuse disagree 0 agree 16 ... written by chanatak, September 21, 2008 12:45:54 Dear Dr Azly, I never cease to be amazed by the depth of your perceptions and your ability to question issues so profoundly while suggesting possible solutions. I am ashamed to say this of myself .... I never thought ( before I came to read the articles by people like you and Farish Noor or Bakri Musa and all you wonderful guys ) that any Malay can have such thinking clarity and analytical objectivity. All these years, such capacity is beyond my imagination. Why? Just look at the those professor madyas I have come into contact with and how they articulate themselves! It is sad that great thinkers like you have to be forced to work from outside the country, while a hero like RPK is so badly oppressed here - as if we are a communist country of the olden days. But change is a long way off .... even if Pakatan does take over. The government infrastructure is stuffed full with narrow minded, selfish employees who thinks the government owes them a living, and they are employed by UMNO to safeguard and project the superiority of Malay race. Sadly at the same time, these idiots do all things that damage the credibility of everything they claim to protect. I just came to realize another grand self deception.... my 13 year old child who just entered a government secondary school for the first year now tells me that since the Puasa month, the Malay teachers have not been doing any teaching in class at all. All they do is give out a lot of written work for them to do, while they themselves are not in class. Puasa month is an excuse to be lazy while they promote superiority of the religion and race. Sad .... really sad. How many years will it take to change this ( and many such other abuses of the religion by the professors of the faith )? 5 years? 10 years ? 25 years ? never? report abuse disagree 0 agree 27 ... written by Spear Bing, September 21, 2008 13:00:01 The ' dinosaur brain' of Ketuanan Melayu will continue to surface and wear its ugly head in the political landscape of the country. For as long as those UMNO leaders in the corridors of power do not have the audacity and courage to transform themselves and embrace multicuturalism, Malaysia's progress will be stifled. That they continue to wear blinkers on their eyes and become audio-visual imparied to the cries of the rakyat, will be the demeaning setback to the country's evolution. report abuse disagree 0 agree 13 ... written by Spear Bing, September 21, 2008 13:18:26 Conventional wisdom reminds us that we should be forgiving and move forward rather than back-peddling the past despical events like "bathing the keris in chinese blood', 'balik China' 'balik India'. We thought we could just ignore themand move on. But no sooner than everytime when UMNO leaders have repented and made amends, then comes along another UMNO honcho who seemed to be idenitying himself with his despical ego, and made a slur against Chinese Malaysian being the Jews of America. And his supporter ran 'amok' and tore the former Penang CM. Truthfully, this only reflects the deeper wound of the UMNO's psyche. It's archetypal unconsciousness of UMNO's political culture. God knows when will they ever learn? report abuse disagree 0 agree 11 ... written by elaine7an, September 21, 2008 14:57:04 We should emulate the attitudes of our brother's and sister's in Sabah. To them they are all Sabahans. There is no chinese, malay, indians, ibans or kadazans there. Ask them "What are you" and the automatic proud reply is "I am a Sabahan!" When you quiz them further, all you will get is a look of confusion! Race doesn't even come into their minds! We are all Malaysians. Screw being chinese indians malays or whatever! First thing we should do is get rid of all the RACE & RELIGION boxes that are in all the forms. We don't need RACE or RELIGION in our psychographics anymore! It is enough to know if you are a Malaysian or not. report abuse disagree 0 agree 16 ... written by Sudahlah tu, September 21, 2008 15:13:11 Kita ..rakyat Malaysia telah lama diKAMIkan oleh sistem pendidikan negara. Kita diajarkan KAMI dari segi budaya, adat resam, kepercayaan dan segala aspek serta ciri-ciri kaum masing-masing. Kita dicerminkan sebagai menghormati sesama satu sama lain, akan tetapi disebalik semua ini .. terdpat unsul-unsul pemecahan kaum dan menyuntik perasaan 'tidak sihat' di antara KITA. Saya tidak begitu setuju dengan penyampaian mata pelajaran secara membahagi dan menawan oleh kerajaan. Kita selalu diingatkan akan KAMI... dan kalaulah hakikat ini diteruskan oleh kerajaan ..sampai bila-bilapun KITA tidak akan tercapai. Kini ..terpulanglah kepada kami semua untuk menetukan KITA boleh tercapai demi cinta KAMI kepada negara KITA. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by asguard, September 21, 2008 16:16:52 Maybe you should umno what they have been doing all this while since from independence day till now for some answers to all the mis used of power... report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by Midvalley, September 21, 2008 16:44:32 We can do everythings under the sun this govt. will NEVER CHANGE because this the way they want it DEEEEP DOWN in their heart ( maybe don't have heart)there know but this is thw way to stay in power and enRICH themselves for me I JUST DON'T CARE LET ABOUT THIS COUNTRY BECAUSE i AM A THIRD CLASS CITRIZEN LET MALAYSIA ROT. ROT untils they become become the poorest country in the world in 25 years from now. report abuse disagree 1 agree 4 ... written by hakuna, September 21, 2008 17:07:33 A thought provoking article into the essence of being Malaysian. The Great Onn Jaafar - a man of great wisdom formed a multiracial party out of his principles for the betterment of Malaysia but the idiots today are so ingrained with race that the politicians use without blinking. Reckon our blood group should be recategorised into Malay blood, Chinese blood and all else instead A, AB,B,O or even Bombay Blood and all transfussion should be carried out according to race. A superior RACE? Ha!Ha! report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by educationist, September 21, 2008 22:44:35 Again, very apt and refreshing viewpoints. But sadly. as long as the UMNOputras hold the reins of power, we will not see any of these enlightening opinions considered at the highest echelons of power. So, Go Anwar Go - you must not fail us, you must wrest control of the federal government before more irreparable damage is done to our country and the education system , in particular. Perhaps, when you form your cabinet you may want to consider giving Dr Azly the Education portfolio, of course I'm assuming he'll want to come back to remedy our education system. report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by Surich, September 22, 2008 05:26:54 We need to re-educate ourselves by reinventing the human beings we will entrust to run our machines. We must abolish the present system and create a new one; Ketuanan Melayu will create a Palembang in Malaya. And when the oil and palm oil which contribute 30% of our GNP is gone, ketuanan will fight the ketuanan. Can't we wake up and realize that the raja-humba has been replaced with Kerajaan-rakyat. Ketuanan means there is a tuan and there is a kuli. report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by quietguy, September 22, 2008 15:14:41 written by elaine7an, September 21, 2008 14:57:04 But don't you think it's a problem that they're not saying instead, "I am a Malaysian!"? report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by Rover05, September 22, 2008 15:16:38 It is still in my mind all this while, that a group of Lower Six students being gathered by a so-called camp in Kota Kinabalu in 1986 and being informed by one of the Malay speaker ( I forgot his name) that there is no such thing as fairness in this world and therefore we (Indian, Chinese, etc.) should forget about pursuing fair treatment in Malaysia. After so many years, it is very strange to see Malays who are willing to give up NEP and allow other races to have a fair go! I salute you for being open-minded and wanting to see a true Malaysia forming! report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by Daisy, September 22, 2008 22:38:31 Dr Azly, Thank you for this article. You say that we have to re-educate ourselves, reinvent the way we think. Yes indeed, I absolutely agree with you. I would go one step further: our education system is the root of our problem. As academics, we have an obligation to take this as our primary issue for the next several years. What our children experience becomes the “norm” for their generation. The way Malaysians have been educated has groomed them to be racists whether they realize it or not (I have heard what I consider open-mined friends making racist remarks). And then we are shocked to see people like Ahmad Ismail and Hishamuddin, deluded into thinking they are leaders, uttered the things they did. In fact I think many other Malays are secretly for them. And although I am not surprised, I cringe, to read all the other acrid, bitter and racist views from Malays and non Malays in Malaysian blogs, calling each other the vilest names, reading these makes me despair. To be point blank, the segregated school system has done its damage. We do not know each other, our best friends are not from the other ethnic groups, we know much less about each other’s culture, beliefs and philosophies. Ali and Ahmad are not real friends with Ah Chong and Maniam (all those soppy sketches about Malay girls falling in love with Chinese boys, or Malay and Indian childhood friends hugging each other are all wishful thinking, only put on TV around Independence Day just for show). Actually we look at each other askance, we hate each other (especially on the road, I see this EVERYDAY) it is made worse by religious taboo of the Malays which encourage suspicion (even someone’s remark that it is surprising that some Azlys and some Bakris can think and write well, to me is a sad indication of stereotyping of the Malays, and this goes on all the time unconsciously in the mind). I say, unite the children from now, put all resources into creating one type of school - excellent schools using Malay and English medium of instruction (intelligent, well-trained multi-ethnic teachers, good school facilities, revamped syllabus and textbooks especially history and civics, firm but caring disciplinarians). Throw out the NEP if it continues to favor one ethnic group over the others. This is the key to being Malaysian. There is no quick fix to the ‘racial’ problem, but we have to start NOW. Will the new government dare to take this up? If we have a racially segregated education system, the message to Malaysian children is that there are three separate ‘races’, which make up the Malaysian State. (A state is not a nation. A state is an organization of individuals dedicated to the creation and continuation of an efficient organization (infrastructure, health services, education etc. A nation is the bringing together of an aggregate of individuals which leads to the creation of a group that shares common goals and is willing to work towards effective means of arriving at those goals. Malaysia today celebrates 51 years of statehood but 0 years of nationhood. We do not have three cultures living side by side in harmony, we have three cultures running in parallel. That is not a Malaysian culture. A Malaysian culture would consist of an amalgamation of the best of all three cultures. From a prof madya. report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by nowinnofee, September 23, 2008 11:55:06 Dear Dr Azly Firstly, i am very dissapointed that you are not a Prof or a visiting Prof are not in the University of Malaya where I am a PhD student. Trully with a gift and intelligence like yours that you are willing to share with fellow humans, it is clearly Malaysia's loss. Then again, it shows how "intelligent" these people are if they are not willing to bring you at least as a visiting Prof. Would you consider it ? if I am able to organise a topic on Society and Multiculturism? Please let us know. Lastly but not least...... it is one of the best piece of your writings report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by renoir, September 24, 2008 01:57:19 Hi, all: It has been a long day, and I've do things early tomorrow morning. Some brief notes on Daisy's comments on nation and state: >A state is not a nation. A state is an organization of individuals dedicated to the creation and continuation of an efficient organization (infrastructure, health services, education etc. A nation is the bringing together of an aggregate of individuals which leads to the creation of a group that shares common goals and is willing to work towards effective means of arriving at those goals.< The above are, roughly, textbook definitions. Here's what I wrote under Dr.Azly's previous article "Stop Fighting Lets Celebrate" (I will talk about the State first and then the Nation): --A State, by contrast, often despises freewill and acts like a puppeteer pulling the rakyat around like senseless marionettes. Nation encourages us to share our humanity, whereas state differentiates us in order to better control us. Nation pulsates with life, while state prefers to make us zombies. The world is full of rational states but lacking in nations because states possess the deadly organized power that often suppresses and stifles the vitality, the creativity, and the humanity that give rise to nations.]] The keyword about State is ORGANIZATION, AND EVERY ORGANIZATION EXISTS TO PERPETUATE ITSELF. Thus the efficiency sought by individuals in every state organization - whether in the area of "infrastructure" or "health services, education" - is geared towards that end. This has great implications in terms of democracy. For instance, in the eyes of the state, more democracy often means looser control and supposedly less efficiency. Therefore it's in the nature of the state to introduce the means of control, whether through ideological state apparatuses or with more overt and coercive measures. And that's the reason why many of the American Founding Fathers saw government not as a good, but as a necessary evil. Now to my definition of Nation which "involves a spontaneous social organism that binds all of us. The nearest approximation for this definition would be "gemeinschaft" but without its attendant features of regulatory and homogenous tendencies." In other words, the traditional view of a nation "that shares common goals and is willing to work towards effective means of arriving at those goals" is inherently setting up itself for ideological domination of some group or groups. My concept of a nation is more organic, one that which presupposes not merely a slower passage of time to come to fruition, but also involving a Daoist spontaniety, a voluntary coming together of like-minded souls propelled by the commonalities we all share. This form of union is multi-accentual, polyphonic, and heteroglossic. It is under such conditions that allow for true nationhood, one that's truly creative and full of vitality. Nation and State are not merely parallel phenomena (sometimes, in totalitarian states, little of the nation exists): there's a tension between the two - the former giving birth to more diverse democratic centrifugal forces in contrast to the centripetal forces of control and domination. Thus, the Daoist Utopia is expressed as "the best government is no government." While that, for the moment, is not achievable, it's worthwhile just approach it. Lastly, I don't think many here understood the implications of Dr.Azly's series of questions, including this one: >how are we to build a progressive society based on science and technology when our understanding of the role of science and society do not clearly reflect our fullest understanding of the issues of scientific knowledge, industrialization, and dependency]] Here we could delve into cultural imperialism, Gramsci's hegemony, Althusser's ideological state apparatuses, the concept of center and periphery, etc., - a bit deeper in scope than meets the eye. Hope to be back within a couple of days. Regards, LChuah report abuse disagree 0 agree 7 ... written by Dr Azly Rahman, September 24, 2008 13:05:27 Dear friends of intellectual freedom, Thank you for your insightful and constructive comments. I think these comments are brilliant and have continued to enrich our dialogue. I am also humbled by all the nice words of appreciation on what I am sharing. Indeed, helping the nation revamp its educational system is what I am interested in doing. I have offered my services several times, from time to time but there is no interest in getting me to be part of the much needed change. Our government feels that it has so many experts and do not need any more. I have tried. But the doors are closed shut -- especially for me. Hence I will continue to share ideas in our forum so that the government experts will hopefully pick up and implement. Indeed I have also been asked to go to the Malaysian universities to share my ideas and experiences, but these institutions are still careful in letting me in. I am humbled by "nowinnofee's" invitation below: ---------------------------------------------------------- Dear Dr Azly Firstly, i am very dissapointed that you are not a Prof or a visiting Prof are not in the University of Malaya where I am a PhD student. Trully with a gift and intelligence like yours that you are willing to share with fellow humans, it is clearly Malaysia's loss. Then again, it shows how "intelligent" these people are if they are not willing to bring you at least as a visiting Prof. Would you consider it ? if I am able to organise a topic on Society and Multiculturism? Please let us know. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Certainly I would consider and will be honored to talk about the philosophy and practice of radical multiculturalism, but would the educational authorities consider? We have been playing the game of educational-political football game for way too long. Critical dialogue in our schools, public universities are not encouraged. In fact those who initiate thee dialogue will be deemed dangerous. My job as an educator, following Socrates and the sages, is to live a life teaching dangerously by making dangerous, arrogant, and irrational ideas become less dangerous and to ultimately destroy them so that culture can be more enabling and society more sane. But even if the doors to my sincere hope for direct participation is close (for the time being) we will continue our dialogue right here in cyberspace -- critical but ethical. It is ideas that need to be deconstructed for a long-term impact of social change. Essentially, I have always wanted to come home to contribute in a big way and to make our children in schools happier, less racist, given equitable access to resources, be educated in schools systems that are accountable in all aspects, be challenged intellectually by committed and dedicated teachers, and be treated as best and brightest young Malaysians. We must demand the best and expect the most from the children we are educating. We do not own their future. We can only guide them through critical sensibility and by not imposing our ignorance onto their excitable intelligence. We cannot let racism or any form of extremism to destroy the lives of our children and the children of others. We must teach every child to question and question so that they may have some answers and more and more questions. Only through a philosophy of education that values critical, creative, altruistic, and futuristic thinking can we create a generation of scientists, philosophers, artists, human rights activists,poets inventors, etc. who will also become vigilantes to those who abuse power and who wants to still keep totalitarianism as an ideology of education, using instruments such as the Internal Security Act and the University and University Colleges Act. But the doors for me are not open yet. Or maybe I am wrong. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by renoir, September 25, 2008 09:22:32 Dr Azly, Sometimes it's helpful to add a short bio in your column for newcomers who might not know your struggle before you decided to leave the country. Your experience is shared by more progressive Malays than many readers realized: Dr Farish Noor is another of those intellectuals provoked to base themselves overseas. Freedom of thought is a universal problem and it affects every Malaysian. >We must teach every child to question and question so that they may have some answers and more and more questions.]] Which means every premise, every sacred cow, has to be negotiated. There can be no closure. If this is true of "basic" philosophical concepts, how much truer it is of sleight-of-hand "truisms" - such as Ketuanan Melayu, "social contract," "original natives," etc. In addition, we've to really dig into terms such as "development," "modernization," "progress," and so on. We've to think about the phenomenon of "development of underdevelopment" to understand the widespread dependency of Third World countries. And as you noted, we cannot even begin to do all that when boundaries are set for the voyages of the mind. Fortunately, the internet has made it possible to effect changes irrespective of where we might be. Sometimes distance might even be a plus, as the intellectual is then free from the crude roadblocks imposed by the modern Hitlers. Raja Petra would be here with us today, at this moment, in M-T if he'd operated from the US or somewhere overseas. LChuah report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by Daisy, September 27, 2008 09:21:37 Dr Azly, I am going to try to bring you to KL not just to give a public lecture, but to gather like-minded academics (for a start) for a series of meetings on the best way for academics in Malaysia to initiate social change (we are referring to change at a deeper level). We ought to have a cadre of people who will be well informed, trained, above all caring for Malaysians of all creed and colors, from every corner of the country (a sort of training of trainers), to then go forth and spread a different kind of message to Malaysians. I would need your profile etc and I suppose I will go to your own blog to make contact. I am not a reader of blogs, I only subscribe to MT :-) Let's keep a positive mental attitude! report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 Write comment This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment. You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet. |
