Malaysiakini : Despotic traditions welcomed here
Yap Yok Foo
16th July 2000
Despotic traditions welcomed here
THE OTHER MALAYSIA By Farish A. Noor
Not too long ago, there raged the debate over the thorny issue of
"Asian values".
For more than two decades, East-West relations were fought out over
the question of whether Asians and Westerners were really as different
as some Asian leaders made them out to be.
In time there appeared what has since been known as the "Singapore
school" which defended the thesis that Asians were different from
other societies and cultures because of the values of Asians
themselves.
Much of what was said and written by the leading thinkers of the
"Singapore school" (led by the then-premier of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew
and Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad) was predicated on terms and
categories that could only be described as essentialist.
The so-called "Singapore school" posited the idea that Asians were
unique and different from everyone else because we are somehow endowed
with these so-called "Asian values" that are inbuilt and ingrained
within us.
Judging by what has been said on the matter by men like Mahathir and
Lee Kuan Yew, one can only conclude that underlying this theory were
decidedly dodgy notions about genetic traits and inherited essential
qualities.
As far as the theory goes, the Asian "economic miracle" was due
largely to these inherent qualities that are ingrained within the
Asian consciousness itself. Because Asians "naturally" worked more,
played less and were "naturally" obedient and disciplined, the
economies of the Far East and Southeast Asia were able to catch up
with the developed liberal-capitalist economies of North America and
Western Europe within a few decades. Or so we are told.
What the proponents of the Singapore school of Asian values forgot to
mention was the simple fact that much of the development in the Far
East was also due to external factors. For a start, realpolitik had a
lot to do with it.
It is hardly a coincidence that those countries that were allied to
the Western capitalist bloc during the Cold War were also the ones
that received all the investment and development aid.
Foreign investment and aid also contributed to the higher levels of
infrastructure development, domestic demand and credit expansion,
which in later years went out of control and contributed to the
meltdown of 1997.
The other aspect of "Asian values" that was left out by men like Lee
Kuan Yew, Suharto and Mahathir was the uglier side of the picture. I,
for one, have never been among the sceptics who claimed that the
concept of "Asian values" was bogus or mere word-play and political
rhetoric.
For me, Asian values exist in the same way that we can detect,
identify, decode and interpret Asian aesthetics, Asian cuisine, Asian
art, Asian architecture and even Asian humour. "Asian values" for me
is merely a nominal label for a set of values and beliefs that are
held by people who also happen to carry the name "Asian".
But the point that needs to be made here is that not all Asian values
are good, noble or indeed valuable in themselves. Indeed some of these
Asian values are downright repulsive and reprehensible.
This is simply because so much of contemporary Asian culture
(including its political culture) is drawn from the neo-feudal era of
the past where the feudal mode of government, rule and law were
derived from a personalised political culture where the ruler was one
with the state.
Much of these neo-feudal elements are still with us, and that would
help to explain why our so-called "developed and modern" country is a
mess of painfully apparent contradictions.
When the inspector general of police - the highest ranking officer of
law in the country no less - admitted hat he had brutally assaulted
the ex-deputy prime minister while the latter was blindfolded,
handcuffed and totally powerless to resist him, Malaysians were
shocked by the revelation.
But this sense of outrage, shock and horror is only appropriate in the
context of a society where such things are beyond the pale of
normality.
Unfortunately Malaysia happens to be a country where such things are
not beyond the boundaries of the possible, for the simple reason that
we still live in a neo-feudal political set-up where politics and
power are personalised and professionalism has a lesser value compared
to loyalty and obedience to one's (political) ruler.
Those who are not persuaded by this claim should have a look at the
"Hikayat Hang Tuah" and they will see how little things have changed
in this beloved land of ours. (I recommend the 1965 version edited by
Kassim Ahmad).
In "Hikayat Hang Tuah", Hang Tuah and gang were not exactly the
paragons of virtue and selfless heroism that we were taught by our
teachers at school. They were all members of the "budak raja"(Raja's
boys) and were basically a motley crew of mercenaries, cut-throats and
ne'er-do-wells who were given license by the king to do whatever nasty
things he needed done on his behalf.
If you think that the behaviour of the ex-IGP was appalling, then you
should look into what our "national heroes"did from a closer
perspective. Beating up the Raja's enemies and opponents happened to
be a routine daily task then.
These unpleasant realities are also part of our valorised and
canonised "Asian values". Mss. Lee Kuan Yew, Suharto and Mahathir may
not be all that happy to admit that they are part of our collective
legacy as a people, but the facts of history have the embarrassing
tendency to linger
around when we don't want them to.
And history books are not the only sources that we can turn to of
course: Much of contemporary Southeast Asia today is littered with
living and/or concrete proof of the fact that neo-feudalism is alive
and well in our neck of the woods.
What better example can we look for if not the sprawling
over-decorated and over-the-top palace complex for the PM that was
completed recently?
Apart from the fact that it was built at a time when the country was
reeling in the aftershock of the economic crisis, the form and
appearance of the palace itself is in keeping with the traditional
mode of Asian "elite" aesthetics which dictates that everything the
Raja possesses must be loud, vulgar and obscenely expensive.
When the "Asian values" debate began to die its own belated death a
few years ago, many prominent Asian leaders and intellectuals
expressed their disappointment. I must admit that I too was dismayed
by the turn of events for the simple reason that the topic was too
rich, too interesting and at times even too ridiculous for me to drop
just like that.
But those of you who think that "Asian values" are dead and gone
should look again. All around us there remain ample proof that the
uglier side of Asian values still exists, and haunts us still.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR FARISH A. NOOR is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights
activist who is currently writing a book on the Malaysian Islamic
Party, PAS. "The Other Malaysia" tries to unearth aspects of
Malaysia's history and culture that have been forgotten or relegated
to the margins, in order to remind us that there remains another
Malaysia that is often forgotten
http://www.malaysiakini.com
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finished.
21st century thinking for the 21st century!!!
Long Live Internet!
KidoSenkan
bigamy. if anything, we have become even more old fashioned.
there are 3 levels of our consciense, first one are values, followed
by beliefs then attitudes. Attitudes are the easiest to change and
values the hardest. the internet will change attitudes, but not
values-which dominate most of the old fashioned thinking.