The Other Malaysia

1 Response to Video: One-on-one with Farish Noor Part 3

1. Teoh
   June 19th, 2009 at 16:03

   I would like to agree with most of what you say, however, even in the most democratic countries in the world where politicians do actually serve the people more than they make the people serve them, where the access to and standard of education is much higher, it is still difficult to define the terms of engagement as you put it at the end of the interview. Simply because the reality isn’t as simple as it ought to be. An example where this problem exists is in the Netherlands. There are no doubt greater efforts there to engage the issues that concern their society at the moment, but there are also efforts to disengage, and it may not necessarily be just a minority opinion if the recent European elections are anything to go by. Dutch politicians on either side have also had to come to terms with this. I think in general politics alone, democratic or not, will not solve any of these problems whether it is in Malaysia or the Netherlands.

   I think there needs to be non-political efforts to take this on, such as like what Yasmin Ahmad is doing for Malaysia, though I’m sure if people get creative enough film and arts is not the only area where one can pull it off.

   I think the reality with approaching interethnic communication is that it needs to be done on two levels. One on the intellectual level as you’ve outlined, the other on the non-intellectual level where people basically just have to come to an understanding of each other on the most fundamental level, such as how we are in fact different in certain aspects but also similar in others. I think the non-intellectual approach doesn’t require debate or serious discussion per se, but rather that we just spend more time with one another in a meaningful manner where we will be genuinely encouraged to interact in a sincere and honest way.

   Much as I would like that the debates and discussions going on within new media, blogs etc., will be the catalyst for a new paradigm in social discourse in Malaysia, I think it will only ultimately succeed among the intellectual community, rather than the entire makeup of society. Without the non-intellectual form of engagement, we are blinding ourselves of the realities that exist and that will come to haunt us at some point in the future if we do not address it now. New media cannot help us there.

   Coming back to the case of the Netherlands, to some extent I think it was because the ‘intellectual elite’ did not pay enough attention to the realities on the ground in their pursuit of ‘progressive’ ideology that resulted in the existing social problems with which they are now faced with. The irony of it all, of course, is that the right-wing now consists of those arguing on behalf of enlightenment ideology.

   I think with your South African example, it is a bit of a stretch to put it in such an overly positive light. Again, it may really be true within the intellectual community, but once you get down on the ground there might be a totally different picture.

   Though we should take notice of the successes that have come out of other societies and learn from them, I think as a developing nation we should spend even more time dissecting the problems that exist as well, not for the sake of being critical of others, but for using to guide our own development such that we can avoid some of the problems they have to face.

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