by
AB Sulaiman
(AB SULAIMAN is an observer of human traits and foibles, especially within the context of religion and culture. As a liberal, he marvels at the way orthodoxy fights to maintain its credibility in a devilishly fast-changing world.)
RELATED ARTICLES
- By Feroz Qureshi, "The Difference Between the Malaysian-Malay Mind and the Singaporean-Malay Mind"
- By Sang Kelemabai, "Minda Melayu Tahun 2008"
"... the emotional, subjective, narrow-minded, and plainly prejudiced and racist Malay mind... is adamant stating he is right about it, and being so, everyone else is wrong.
This "I-am-right-you-are-wrong syndrome" remains in vogue and its pervasive presence will be felt for a long while to come.This environment is to me retroactive, and racist in concept and application. It is totally out of sync with the progressive outlook Malaysians badly need, to be on par with the rest of the human civilisation.
Learn, unlearn, relearn. This is one tested way to get on with life in this post-modern world. Sadly I do NOT see the Malay mindset learning, unlearning and relearning from it.
In the post modern world of human rational thinking decked with science and technology and where change is a constant, this Malay penchant for clinging on to the status quo is the worse thinking norm to have.
Old Timer will be left miserably behind (like many Malays are already) and the Ketuanan Melayu leadership will lead the country to ruin (like it is already?).Old Timer and the Ketuanan Melayu leadership are like confused ethnocentric crabs, walking sideways.
They connive for ALL Malaysians to walk SIDEWAYS, just because THEY walk that way, and NOT straight.
It might be too late for the country, for other countries might be that far ahead of us and our next generations will suffer, all because people like Old Timer do not know how to learn unlearn and relearn, and they allow the country to go down the drain with a clear sideways-walking conscience.
(But) I DO think that the Malay is beginning to be aware that his long held mental status quo has passed its currency and usefulness.
-AB Sulaiman
Excerpts: Read here for more AB Sulaiman's article "Window to the Malay Mind"
Debate on the word "Allah": "An Old Timer"'s Mindset
The debate about the word ‘Allah’ gets more interesting and challenging as days go by. The background is simple enough to enunciate.
I reiterate it here as a reminder (principally to myself) not to be confused about the issue.
It is that the generic or mainstream Malay mind does NOT distinguish between:
(a) the term ‘Allah’ as a concept of the transcendent super-being, andSo to the Malay mind there is NO difference between god as the concept and as a name give to recognise it; they are perceived as identical and synonymous to one another.
(b) as a specific name to label it.
This inability to separate (a) from (b) has probably led to the Malay’s ETHNOCENTRIC INABILITY to appreciate that ‘Allah’ has at least three meanings:
(i) the name of the Malay-Muslim GodThe challenge to this enunciation is that the Malay loads this belief with a lot of theology and spirituality, so much so that talking plainly about it is taken as blasphemous.
(ii) the word for God in Arabic, which therefore is commonly used by non-Muslim Arabs; and
(iii) the word for God used by non-Muslim and non-Arab cultures, borrowing it from Arabic.
In other words, the Malay mind sees the meaning of this word only as per (i) above.
He is totally ignorant and blind to the remaining two, and other, alternative possibilities.
An Old Timer puts it concisely thus:
"To the Malays, the word 'Allah' is unique and exclusive.By this terse statement, he sweeps alternatives (ii) and (iii) under the carpet and simultaneously gives credence and proof to my perception of HIS frame of mind.It refers to the God that they have been taught to worship and have submitted to".
Old Timer’s single perception has given us a clue, and a window, to his thinking norm.
When we separate the blasphemous element and concentrate on the basic scientific and secular elements we see that the mindset harbours the following features and characteristics:
1. He (Old Timer) displays the traditional thinking norm where everything is taken LITERALLY , where Thinking IS Reality . Because of this, he does NOT conceptualise and intellectualise.I’d put the case in another way.
2. He accepts past wisdoms inherited from his elders WITHOUT much scepticism and criticism. Everything he inherited (like in this case, that Allah has only one meaning) is right, and has to be right, while every OTHER thing is wrong.
3. This thinking norm is known not to have the avenue for realising its mistakes and therefore the path or avenue to get out of problems on its own volition. Old Timer has NO mental path or avenue to REALISE his mistakes.
Old Timer can be right only in ONE special case: That is:
- When there is only one ‘race’ in the world and that is the Malay race; andBut in reality there is no denying that there are very many ‘races’ in as much as there are many religions. So by the logic of the argument Old Timer cannot be right.
- When there is only one religion in the world and it is Islam.
In my perception he is wrong on ALL counts.
But as ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ are in turn elusive and subjective words, I’d rephrase my contention as follows:
Old Timer has no capacity to see beyond alternative (i) because of this he has no mental ability to accept the existence of (ii) and (iii).To be kinder, I’d say that Old Timer is obviously the person who does NOT know that he does NOT know.He is reduced to being emotional, subjective, narrow-minded, and plainly prejudiced - racist - with his contentions when he should be rational, objective and open minded about it.
Old Timer and others like him (think Fathima Idris, any member of the ulama class, and those individuals under the ambit of the Ketuanan Melayu leadership) have a way of discounting my arguments.
He’d merely term or label the contentions (that there can be three meanings to ‘Allah’) in effect as the current politically fashionable ‘rubbish’ as per his own words:
"When debating the use of term ‘Allah’, please do not quote Indonesia which has a different historical and socio-cultural background.By now it is obvious what he is saying is the following paraphrase: "Please do not resort to alternatives (ii) and (iii) to the meaning of ‘Allah’, because we Malays are not privy (i.e. unable or unwilling to conceptualise and intellectualise) to them. We are contented with alternative (i)".Also, please do not quote the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Bible used by Christian bumiputeras in Sabah or Sarawak because in the context of Malaysia, that should not have been allowed in the first place….
And of course, please do not quote the use of the word ‘Allah’ among the Christian Arabs because it is in a totally different context."
In simpler terms he is saying: "In debating ‘Allah’ just stick to alternative (i) and ignore (ii) and (iii) because I say so. They have no reason to exist in the first place anyway."
There is sadly no other substantive logic beyond this.
From here we can see that Old Timer is of the illusion and delusion that he is right, that only he is right, and all others are wrong.
I’d be happy to leave Old Timer alone in his illusion and delusion, save for one important observation:
That Old Timer also says this ominous following: "You too have to think like us."I take umbrage to this and cannot comply, for I think I have the mental or logical avenue to realise my mistakes. Moreover I value my own rationality and can make my own decisions and judgments. So beyond alternative (i) I do appreciate, accept and recognise the presence of alternatives (ii) and (iii).
I had been quite prepared to sit back and enjoy the proceeding of this interesting debate.
But Old Timer’s rigid exhortations prevented me from letting it go by.
The Need to Learn, Unlearn and Relearn
As a nation, we Malaysians have to at least learn a little bit from this heated conundrum.
To quote Alvin Toffler, we learn something, and if we find it untrue, to unlearn it, and then to relearn new things from it:
Learn, unlearn, relearn.This is one tested way to get on with life in this post-modern world.
The "Apostasy" Controversy
Indeed in the recent past the country has gone through one similar debate. I refer to the case of apostasy.
Sadly I do NOT see the Malay mindset learning, unlearning and relearning from it.
The gist of the debate on apostasy has been:
To the Malay mind, Malays cannot apostate, and non-Malay converts too cannot revert to their original religion.Like the word ‘Allah’ this is the way the emotional, subjective, narrow-minded, and plainly prejudiced and racist Malay mind takes the word ‘apostate’ to mean.
More importantly he is adamant stating he is right about it, and being so, everyone else is wrong.
I connect this I-am-right-therefore-you-are-wrong syndrome not only with the words ‘Allah’ as understood by Old Timer, and ‘apostasy’ previously, but also with the generic mindset of the Ketuanan Melayu leadership running the country today.
The BERSIH and HINDRAF Demonstrations and the "Ketuanan Melayu" Mindset
1. Remember the Bersih demonstration? This civil society coalition says the election system is a travesty of a clean democratic process. The authorities, however, are used to the idea that they are right all the time and every time. The police said No to a permit and declared the rally illegal.
2. Remember Hindraf? This nascent group claims that the Indian Malaysians have been suffering from the after-shocks of the New Economic Policy. The authorities, again used to the idea they are right each time and all the time, said No, this is not true and declared the Hindraf protest rally as illegal. Its leaders were branded as crooks, bad hats and terrorists.
3. Remember the other Ketuanan Melayu leaders doing and saying things that would result in severe discomfort for lesser mortals? To the ruling institutions, they were not doing anything untoward; they were merely BEING THEMSELVES . These symptoms are not dissimilar to Old Timer’s protestation that he is right and others are wrong on the word ‘Allah’.
The Malay Mindset of "I-am-right-therefore-you-are-wrong" Syndrome
It is evident this I-am-right-you-are-wrong syndrome remains in vogue and its pervasive presence will be felt for a long while to come.
This environment is to me RETROACTIVE, and RACIST in concept and application.
It is totally OUT OF SYNC with the progressive outlook Malaysians badly need, to be on par with the rest of the human civilisation.
Can we not change the Malay mindset a little bit, enough to enable it to say in effect:
‘I am right, but I can see that you might be right as well.Such show of flexibility and pragmatism should go a long way to sort out our national problem.Now, let us sit down and determine where the contradiction and conflict lies and find some flexible and pragmatic grounds where we can work together.’
The Malays Need Time (30-40 Years) to Change
Dr Mazeni Alwi has made some comments before that give me a glimmer of hope.
Give the Malay time to digest the concept and let it germinate, he has previously said on apostasy.
Then, "30-40 years" from now the Malay will grow to accept it.
In other words, right or wrong has nothing to do with it; it is the suddenness to make apostasy less rigid that has created the over-reaction on the part of the static Malay mindset.
It’s all a matter of timing. Let the Malay digest change slowly, and he will eventually think the way the rest of the world think.
Should indeed this is the case - if the Malays are projected to be able to address change three to five decades into the future - does this not mean that today he already has the conceptual ability to realise that today his I-am-right-therefore-you-are-wrong mindset is conceptually no longer right?
Does this not mean that there is merit in apostasy, in the many possible meanings of ‘Allah’, and in other such similar situations, but that the Malay mind cannot accept (or not quite ready to accept) the existence of this possibility?
I would like to think the answers are in the positive; and looking into the logic of the arguments I do think that the Malay is beginning to be aware that his long held mental status quo has passed its currency and usefulness.
Do I care? Yes, I do care.
In the post modern world of human rational thinking decked with science and technology and where change is a constant, this Malay penchant for clinging on to the status quo is the worse thinking norm to have.
"Ketuanan Melayu" Ideology of Malay Leadership and the Ruining of the Nation
Old Timer will be left miserably behind (like many Malays are already) and the Ketuanan Melayu leadership will lead the country to ruin (like it is already?).
Old Timer and the Ketuanan Melayu leadership are like confused ethnocentric crabs, walking sideways.
They connive for all Malaysians to walk sideways, just because they walk that way, and not straight.
The greater tragedy is, with the country’s political and power structures what they are right now, they might get their way.
And 40 years down the road can be a very long time indeed.
It might be too late for the country for other countries might be that far ahead of us and our next generations will suffer, all because people like Old Timer do NOT know how to learn unlearn and relearn.
They allow the country to go down the drain with a clear sideways-walking conscience.
No comments:
Post a Comment