| I think, therefore I perish |  |  |  |
| Posted by admin | |
| Wednesday, 15 October 2008 08:03 | |
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In the case of those who think for society and suggest for the betterment of the largest number of people, in a Utilitarian way, we see out government applying our own Cartesian principal of existence: we banish the thinkers and incarcerate them -- so that they will not become, like Socrates, Gandhi, or Mandela, an irritant to the rakyat and an agitator to the ruler or the State.
Azly Rahman dr.azly.rahman@gmail.com Cogito ergo, sum Rene Descartes the 17th century French philosopher and mathematician, in his most famous essay Meditations and A Treatise on Methods proposed the separation of mind and body in our conceptualisation of human nature paving way for the evolution of scientific method in the way we study phenomena. Sense perception alone is not capable of understanding Nature, thought process separate from the physical entity of the self make understanding Reality complete, according to Descartes. The ideology of thinking is now known as Cartesian paradigm. From Cartesian paradigm the idea of falsification and determining of truth-ness of a study evolve, later known as the Scientific Method. Cogito Ergo Sum, or "I think therefore I exist", according to Descartes. For the layperson this may mean that it is the independence of thought that determine the nature of existence. It is through the encouragement of thinking that human existence is celebrated. It is through doubting and dissenting that human beings will be defined as thinking beings. I perish We call it "I think therefore I perish". It permeates not only at the top level of political management but also universities, high schools, religious and social institutions and even our homes. In the case of those who think for society and suggest for the betterment of the largest number of people, in a Utilitarian way, we see out government applying our own Cartesian principal of existence: we banish the thinkers and incarcerate them -- so that they will not become, like Socrates, Gandhi, or Mandela, an irritant to the rakyat and an agitator to the ruler or the State. We see them taken away, put in solitary confinement, brainwashed, and indoctrinated with a new consciousness that will make them most subdued and lose their critical sensibility. This is the Orwellian world we have allowed to evolve – the world in which the British writer George Orwell (pen name of Eric Blair) described in his famous work, 1984 -- in which "truth is power" and "war is peace" and the Ministry of Truth produces Official Knowledge to be filter funneled into the mind of the citizens of Oceania. We are all guilty of being happily amused by the goodies and the candies we deserve as a result of our own surrender to this technopoly we let this Third World capitalist state establish. We have allowed the Malaysian corporatist developmentalist agenda dictate our economic condition and elect leaders amongst those who have a warped view of human nature, capitalism, and industrialisation. As in the case of Raja Petra Kamaruddin, we let our leaders jail those who show their rage against the machine; those who dissent and present powerful arguments for an alternative society that champions equality for all and punishes the corrupt and powerful few. We let the media evolve into a powerful instrument of mental colonisation -- letting television become babysitters to our children so that when they grow older they will become not only good consumers of artifacts produced by the Malaysian culture industry but become good and obedient followers of the ideology of communalism – ideology that thrives on the playing of religious and race sentimentalities. We have consumed too much the State-controlled newspapers, entertained by nice stories of the myth of our own Horatio Alger and the self-made urban legends of our Warren Buffets, Bill Gates, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers. Unbeknownst to us the complex interlocking directorates and proxies involved in the propping up of our rich and famous. Understandably the lower the socio-economic class the rakyat is in, the more they are attracted to the bonfire of race and religious vanities. Perhaps it is to the advantage of the ruling class that the philosophy of education for critical consciousness is to be silently murdered -- Championing ketuanan We see Acts such as the University and University Colleges Act of 1971 being jealously guarded by those in power; the part that disallow students to be involved in political parties are still kept intact -- in fear that the students will be free to work for parties that fit their liking for idealism and to ensure that corrupt parties will be legally challenged by an even larger number of students. We are allowing irrational patronage system to dictate how our students should behave. While many of the vice chancellors are former leaders of communal parties championing ketuanan this or that. While many now are chairmen and chairwomen of alumni of those race-based parties, the students are not allowed to join any. The argument that that students will not be able to focus on their studies if they join political parties is a lame one. It is like a bad tune on a broken record or a badly-scratched CD – students leaders, like athlete-scholars, can perform brilliantly when their focus is to enrich their experience with the philosophy and practice of establishing republics of virtue. Each student must be given the freedom and opportunity to decide the kind of government they want. Each generation must be allowed to evolve into ethical beings that will remove any government that has become corrupted and intoxicated with power and no longer serve the rakyat. In our age, the governing Cartesian philosophy is "they think, therefore they will perish" Or more accurately, if they think and act, we will make sure they perish – seems to be the way the present regime modus operandi. In universities, we see the separation of mind and the social self in the way our students are encouraged to think. Of course we see students protesting here and there but there is still a sense of emptiness in the content. The sense of critical sensibility does not seem to have permeated in their consciousness; as the curriculum that structure their mind is still watered down of its critical components. Over the past few years cases of students and faculty dismissed for speaking up against the government and the university's governance abound. Many are not yet resolved, waiting to be argued in courts. Violations of fundamental rights to speak up and to dissent are at the heart of these cases. They reflect the inability of our universities to respect the rights of individuals to be intelligent. One-dimensional We saw in the case of University Teknologi Mara the Cartesian principle applied. Why would those thousands of students embarrass themselves by championing for their rights to be chained and caged by the comfort of one-dimensional race-based thinking when their counterparts globally pride themselves with how diverse their campuses are? We saw the dangerous concept of Ketuanan Melayu funnelled into the mind of the students. Our bright young learners who ought to be socialised into a world of meritocracy and cultural democracy that values not only hard work and cognition but also inter-cultural understanding and collaboration. We should have not allowed institutions such as the prime minister's Biro Tata Negara to set foot on our campuses and force our children to learn its version of "citizenship". One that is not only based on a truncated and warped history of Malaysia but also one that closes the mind of the Malays into evolving into brave souls that values multiculturalism and champions the idea of "world citizens"; a noble concept that sees poverty and dehumanisation as a problem of humanity to be solved peacefully and collectively. We think, therefore we perish. What then must we do?
Comments (11)  ... written by DreamLady, October 15, 2008 08:19:11 Dr. Azly, I always enjoy reading your articles. Please, if you could, enlighten us further, most of the rakyat do not know much about other foreign Heroes. I was thinking maybe through your zest for reading, you might come across a fool-proved method used by those people suppressed by their leaders in other countries. We need desperate a solution to solve these endless lies by those in power,we watch helplessly when we are being robbed in broad daylight by the very politicians who are supposed to serve us, Please, Dr. Azly, do something, I know if you try harder, you are able to come across a solid solution for us, for our children, for our children's children... report abuse disagree 0 agree 8 ... written by DreamLady, October 15, 2008 08:25:25 Dr. Azly, the Malaysians are running short of time, as the mother of evil together with its trails of evil goons are approaching fast, with vernom drooling profusely at their mouths, ready to pounce on us within the light of time...Please, Dr.Azly,the malaysians are counting on all the intellectuals to defend them, to ward off the demons from them by protecting us with their mighty pens, so that our people could get to taste freedom, the taste of peace and harmony.. report abuse disagree 0 agree 8 ... written by samesamemam, October 15, 2008 08:32:04 The Cartesian logic is flawed…its dichotomous and dualistic and splits the person into mind and body…and that’s not the reality….a number of pseudo-philosopher bloggers are milking this Cartesian thingy till its dry….I may be wrong but I think the past sez its best…u publish then u perish… you can check the his or her story books if you don’t believe me… report abuse disagree 1 agree 3 ... written by Engineer, October 15, 2008 08:34:37 So true to the statement itself. We have many who either do not think or could not think or dare not think, but they did not perish. Senile TDM confessed in his blog this: "I have a problem. I cannot remember the date I was married. As a result I always get into trouble with my wife." This is definitely signs of azheimer that fail in correlating the dates of different wives. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by Apek, October 15, 2008 08:39:19 Dear all, Take courage in the face of evil. Take courage from the fact that history has shown us that the truth shall prevail. Take courage from the fact that it was only some 40 years ago that the Black man had no rights in the United States and that positive change has come to him. Take courage that all the prisons in South Africa could not break the braveheart we called Nelson Mendela. Take courage that the names of all those who have perished in prisons in Africa and in regime controled societies are today published with respect and fond memories. Take courage that it was the "poor fakir" we called Mahatma Ghandi that forced the overflow of prisons in all of India. Take courage that the small acts of "making salt" can destroy a regime. Take courage that no prison can destroy the will to be made free from fear and free from tyranny. Take courage in the face of evil. report abuse disagree 0 agree 8 ... written by Debbie, October 15, 2008 18:30:15 dear azly and all, I think , at least for myself and my kids I made the greatest decision by being down under. At least my kids and I are considered first class citizens even though we are just PRs. Still miss the good food though. my prayers are with rpk and therest that are still in detention report abuse disagree 1 agree 4 ... written by renoir, October 18, 2008 03:54:17 >we banish the thinkers and incarcerate them -- so that they will not become, like Socrates, Gandhi, or Mandela, an irritant to the rakyat and an agitator to the ruler or the State.]] Perhaps AAB is a closet Lao Tzu, hahaha! For did not the old man once said "away with philosophers, and the world will be at peace"??? Of course Lao Tzu was living during the Axial Age when every second or third person appeared to be a philosopher! But I think he wasn't so much appalled at philosophers than philosophy, which at the time were mostly closed systems of thought. This idea of a "well-rounded" worldview, common to most religions as well, saw its greatest opponents after Hegel, so much so that Bertrand Russel preferred to focus on logic rather than traditional philosophy. And did not Nietzsche belittle philosophy as a form of biography? Marx, of course, had little use for the discipline: when someone he knew wrote a treatise on "The Philosophy of Poverty," the irascible German Jew hentam back with a booklet titled "The Poverty of Philosophy." But since - hahaha! - we're onto such simple pleasures, why not substitute Cartesian duality with another binary, that of the center and its margins? It would've historical relevance too. The continuity of the imperialist/colonialist Metropolitan Center and its peripheries are reproduced even after Merdeka, this time with the ruling party as the Center and the rakyat as its Margins. Just as the former colonial masters depended on the nurturing of local compradors to run their empire, so does the present Center depends on its flunkeys at lower levels to run the universities and other institutions. During the colonial period, the compradors were mainly Chinese businesspeople and members of the Malay royalty. The former were given incentives largely of a monetary kind, whereas the latter were trained to be administrators for the Mat Salleh. As there was a dearth of brainpower among the royalty, it was felt that other Malays could be given an Eton-like education, complete with Western habits and values. Today, the Malaysian Center is merely following tradition when it sends its BTN to the country's campuses, where the margins are located. Just as those who adopted the English way were rewarded, so, in today's Malaysia, does people who embrace the UMNO credo rewarded. The English, of course, weren't so crude as to espouse a "ketuanan English" ideology, but that thought was never far from what they wanted to instil. There was always something magical with things British, whether it was London fog, English spoofery, or even the British bulldog. British retreat at Dunkirk became a victory of sorts, and British colonization of poor natives around the world became a "white man's burden." Of course, British reputation in the Third World began to really lose its lustre after the British-French debacle at Nasser's Egypt, and even more so when the East of Suez strategy had to be given up as the mighty English pound took an unceremonious beating. From then on, Britain depended on the people it'd trained to run the new "independent" governments. In our country, this was not easy, as we had to contain an insurgency that grew out of the former anti-Japanese forces. Similarly, as the ketuanan ideology appeared to have dimmed after the March 8th elections - as many of the urban Malays decided to give it a kick in the arse - our Putrajaya Center has to depend on its quislings to subdue the defiant margins. Hence we'd someone to call the Chinese "squatters," and another person to throw molotov cocktails, and so on and so forth. But here again, it's not easy. The Center should've understood why the margins began to rebel: the modern Malay Malaysian in particular knows where the bulk of the nation's money go to. He sees castles in Klang built next to poor squatter huts, and he didn't like it. He was told that everything was done in his cause, but he often finds that for every shilling he gets, someone gets a yacht in Turkey. So he started taking a closer look, just as Third World natives once did at the colonialist Center after WW2. Finally, like the revolutionaries of old, he hooks up with his "CLASS"mates from other ethnic groups .... "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world" (W.B.Yeats, 1920) LChuah report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by renoir, October 18, 2008 10:18:07 I wrote: >"Just as those who adopted the English way were rewarded, so, in today's Malaysia, does people who embrace the UMNO credo rewarded." Should be: Just as those who adopted the English way were rewarded, so, in today's Malaysia, are people who embraced the UMNO credo rewarded. Should've seen that even though it was scribbled late in the night (or the wee hours of the morning). Sorry. LChuah report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by Loh, October 18, 2008 18:34:58 TDM said that non-malays in the country refused to be assimilated, and thus they have to be discriminated. It must have been in his thought that people refused to be assimilated because they think, and since killing is illegal, the next best legal process is to discriminate against them. Certainly thinking persons would not be allowed to the centre of power, as there should only be one tiger in the jungle. The thinkers have to perish or be perished. report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by merlin2001, October 18, 2008 22:17:32 Dr. Azly, Come December if the black hand has his way the Chinese, Indians and those Malays who had dared to oppose UMNO will all be taught a lesson never the likes of which as yet seen in Malaysia. Likely it will be like Zimbabwe or an image of the killing fields in Burma. As sad as it may be there is no other options available to us. These are people who understand only the spilling of blood to satisfy their ambitions. Death is nothing to them. Malaysians just have to be ready to face fire and brim stones from its own citizens. Thus the reason to want to get rid of PM AAB ASAP. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 |
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IN OUR COUNTRY, WE HV A FORMER DICTATOR WHO IS NOW INSTRUCTING A WOULD BE PEEAM TO SHARPEN HIS KNIVES FOR THE MOTHER OF ALL PERSECUTIONS/OPPRESSIONS TO SILENCE THE PUBLIC. WHAT CAN WE DO???