Author: Zafom (mfzbj@hotmail.com)
Thoughts and actions
I would like to add on the matter of action and thinking (thought). I believe that proper way of thinking is the pre-requisite of any action. And I also believe this is seriously lacking in Malaysia today and in Asia in general.
Let me explain: The modern world as we know today is a result of western enlightenment since renaissance onward. However, what lead to the explosion of modernity is not action, but a series of thinking evolution which can be traced back as early as Socrates. All ideas had been tried and tested in the west before they arrive at where they are today. The society evolved along philosophy. Came modernism, they arrived at a lifestyle which can be considered a well baked brick which can stand the test of time. Then came action - industrialisation, urbanisation, technological advancement, nation state, etc. If we examine each aspect of modernity, we would find that it has it's underlying philosophy rooted in either Newton, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Marx etc.
Now my argument is, the western modernism, through colonisation and domination is immediately availabe to us at a rate which deprived us of adequate time frame for a proper learning curve. We did not grow together with all the technologies and social inventions. We lack the thinking sentiment accompanying modernity. Also we are deprived of the phase where we could examine the relevance and suitability of various aspect of modernism in our culture and philosophy. As a result we reacted in such a na?ve way, if not stupid, as Lee illustrated with the stock experience.
Let me try to illustrate this point in simple term: Take cars, automotive vehicle. By the time cars arrived at malaysian public, it already had breaks, headlights, turning lights, accompanied by british road legislations. We are thrilled, excited about this new invention. But we didn't grow with it. We still take cars as fancy machine which we could use to our whims and fancy. Hence the famous term "Malaysian driver". On the other hand the british's experience with car began when it was this horseless hansom, or even that ugly big wheel bike. Soon they had an acident which prompted them to install proper braking system, another series of bloody incident suggest that they need a way to indicate which way they are turning. Not long after that they found that they need a special regulations concerning the use of this machine. In short they grew with it, they are well aware of the needs for proper attitude with it. I remember once I was cycling in a housing area in England, I overtook an old man cycling in front of me. This old shaggy man told me, "you are overtaking on the wrong side son". I realized that the correct attitude towards this modern invention is deepseated within the psyche of this people.
My point is, we now are happy enjoying all this modern innovation, whether technological or social, without necessarily understanding inherent prerequisite of it. When we move on to modern politics, democracy, capitalism, socialism, free market, consumer culture, urbanisation, we simply go crazy. At best we become a western clone without a face, a "global man". At the worst we see baffled societies struggling between corruption, poverty, hunger, war, diminishing family vaklue etc. Is it a coincidence that today's developed nations consist MOSTLY of societies which were involved in thinking process ages old??.
I am not advocating for us to go back to begin examine socrates again, or to adopt western way of thinking, in fact I am an ardent western critic. Even the west are still struggling to rectify the side effects of modernism. What I am saying is that we had stopped thinking at all. ( not in Kevin,s sense). We are thinking like, how best to do a golf swing, how best to manage a golf club, but we do not think on the sense whether we need golf or not. Whether golf is a good or bad thing. We assume that since those enlightened people enjoyed golf so much, then it must be good. They had done the thinking. We don't think. (With apology to golfers, I had to pick golf to illustrate my point).
Thanks. Zafom
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