Towards A Competitive Malaysia #50
Chapter 8: Culture Counts (Cont’d)
Changing Culture: Lessons From Genetics
In nature, genes are stable, but changes do occur. Such spontaneous mutations would take generations to manifest themselves through natural selection. The process could be hastened through selective breeding where plants or animals with the desired characteristics were bred to each other. Through such repeated inbreeding you would get a population with the uniform desired traits.
Humans however cannot be subjected to selective breeding, though that does not stop some leaders from trying, not on themselves but on their followers. Lee Kuan Yew tried something similar by having a government agency for the sole purpose of matching graduates in his foolish attempt to breed a race of super nerds. Mahathir too suggested something similar by encouraging Malays to intermarry. Their understanding of human biology must be gleaned from reading The Dummy’s Guide to Human Genetics.
Such selective breeding has its own inherent risks of intensifying some other undesirable traits. Selective breeding produced the German shepherd with its distinctive shape and behavior, but also the traits for hip malformation.
There is a cultural equivalence of selective breeding. Imagine a society wanting to encourage in its members the aptitude for business. Favoring individuals with proven ability through generous rewards and honors would encourage others (even those not particularly gifted) to develop those traits. Soon those desirable traits would become widespread. America rewards its entrepreneurs like Ted Turner and Bill Gates generously; they in turn inspire others.
Modern genetics can improve the speed and guesswork of breeders by selectively manipulating the environment. Assume a bacterium had spontaneously mutated to develop resistance to a certain drug. Left alone it would take about a hundred generations before that trait is manifested in the general colony. Selective breeding would speed up the process a bit, but it would till be haphazard.
However, by manipulating the environment like exposing the mixed colony to that specific drug, it would quickly eliminate those bacteria that do not have the resistance and simultaneously let only those that have the trait to survive and populate the colony. After only a few generations, the whole colony would acquire the drug resistance.
This technique too has its cultural equivalence. In encouraging Malays to pursue the sciences, in addition to rewarding those who are successful, we could alter the social environment positively by increasing the number of science teachers, classes, and scholarships, and negatively by discouraging the pursuit of liberal arts by eliminating scholarships for and increasing the rigor and costs of those courses.
Unfortunately, while Malay leaders profess loudly their wish for Malays to pursue the sciences, the rewards and social environment are skewed towards not encouraging them to do so. Malays who are rewarded with senior positions in the civil service or directorships of GLCs are rarely those qualified in the sciences. Those few Malay scientists who are being rewarded have long ago abandoned their laboratories for the comfort of the administrator’s offices while the true “bench scientists” are largely ignored. That is definitely not the way to encourage Malays to pursue the sciences.
Grafting is yet another genetic technique to propagate desirable characteristics. The shoot of a plant with the desirable features (sweet fruits) is grafted onto the trunk of its wild counterpart. This new grafted plant will then produce fruits with characteristics of its grafted shoot. Vineyards and orchards rely exclusively on this technique, accounting for the uniformity of their fruits.
Comparable grafting occurs culturally. When Muslim traders entered the Malay world, they grafted Islam onto the native culture. First the traders converted the sultan, and as the prevailing Malay culture then (as now) commanded the masses to follow their leader, the faith quickly took root.
Similar grafting occurs regularly and almost unnoticed through our daily social and cultural interactions, but in their aggregate they too effect profound changes. The Black commentator Thomas Sowell wrote of his grandmother’s experience as a nanny for a White family. She would observe how the parents taught their children table manners and read storybooks at bedtime. She in her own way tried to emulate those routines with her own children. When the White family discarded their old magazines and children books, she would gratefully take them for her own children. She was appreciative of her work, both for the income and the experience. Having seen how the rich lived, she wanted to change her own life so that her children would one day get to enjoy such a lifestyle. She did not envy the White family; on the contrary she admired them.
Another Black nanny may also work for a rich White family. Instead of learning from the experience, she would seethe with anger over the excesses and affluence. She would be resentful; she could not imagine the luxury had she not work for that family. She wondered how much of that wealth was earned over the backs of poor hardworking Blacks like her. When the family would offer her its throwaway magazines and hand-me-down clothing, she felt offended. Her family had dignity, she would hiss silently.
Regardless of who was right or wrong, if one were to guess which nanny was happier with her work and more likely to have a successful family, who would one bet on? Both were underclass Blacks from the ghetto, both were subjected to the same experience and cultural influences, but they were affected in profoundly different ways. Their different attitudes towards and assumptions of the world would then be transmitted to their children.
The first grandmother would more likely produce children and grandchildren like Thomas Sowell; the second, rebellious malcontents of the Black Panther variety. I relate in an earlier book a similar experience of my father. He attended Malay school in the village, the only school his family could afford. His world was therefore very insular. He was fortunate or smart enough to be admitted to the Sultan Idris Teachers’ College (SITC) in Tanjong Malim, the only institution then that catered to graduates of Malay schools. His lecturers were almost all British colonialists, and my father had never before been exposed to the English, their language or culture. He had minimal talent in learning a new language and thus could not benefit much from his lecturers when they taught him literature and philosophy. What he could learn from them with his limited English was music. And learned it he did. He was an eager student and they were enthusiastic teachers. They introduced this village kid to the wonderful world of music and to the great composers. My father was profoundly influenced. Yes, at times he felt inadequate and even inferior when he compared those great compositions to the simple melodies of his favorite lullabies.
He was also intrigued by something else. What made those young English men and women venture thousands of miles away into the jungle, away from friends and family to teach uncouth Malay youths? Why didn’t their parents force them to marry the boy or girl next door and begin their family right away, as my father’s parents had been urging him to do? Directly as a result of his experience at Tanjong Malim, my father had a profound and abiding respect for the British even though they were Malaysia’s colonial masters.
His contemporaries at SITC were men like Syed Nasir Ismail and Ghaffar Baba, giants in Malay politics. Their attitude towards the British could not be more different. Ghaffar Baba once said, in referring to his experience at SITC, that the British were not content with colonizing Malaysia, they also wanted to colonize Malay minds! He was disdainful of those Malays who aspired to learn English, or God forbid, to further their studies in Britain. To Ghaffar and his ilk, the Malay world is wide enough; there is no need to venture beyond.
Why did the same college experience affect my father differently than it did the Syed Nasirs and Ghaffar Babas? Again, sidestepping the issue of who was right or wrong, which attitude or mindset would more likely produce a harmonious and better world?
A more instructive point is this. The Malay world lauds the Ghaffar Babas and Syed Nasirs; both were given heroes’ burial at the National Mosque. Bless their soul! I do not condemn them but merely wish to illustrate my point on the importance of such cultural values as the personalities we honor and the traits we value.
Instances like Black maids working for White families or my father being exposed to British lecturers are examples of social grafting. A larger scale would be when Malaysia sent thousands of its young abroad to study. Although the intent had nothing to do with social engineering, merely to supply the country with trained personnel, nonetheless the results were the same. These students absorbed the cultural norms and values of the West (most merely the superficial trappings and trivia of the West; a few, its more enduring values), and later spread them into the general Malay polity and society.
Next: Cultural Mutations and Cultural Engineering
March 26th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Very Profound observation but will you put this lesson into practise ? I doubt it very much. Malaysia has been independant for 50 years and still echoes the blare of MERDEKA ! and that Keris that has sunk the fortunes of UMNO.
Regretably the Malays had no body to blame but the unfortunate Chinese, not so much the Indians, but why ? Were the Chinese in collaboration with the British to colonise or in any way ill treated the Malays ? In the old days only the Malays had the priviliges of having MALAY COLLEGE AND MALAY GIRLS COLLEGE; both were set up by the British to emulate Sandhurst, Rugby or similar schools to breed an elite class, which in many ways the British succeeded. Only they in all Malays had the privilige of a doarding school education.
For the Chinese, we had to educate our children by community support and donation, hence we had the VIC. INSTIT. CHUNG LING HIGH SCHOOL etc. but our Chinese children worked hard and they achieved much more than the free education that the Malays enjoyed.
Quite apart from the distortion that arose in the Malaysian education system, THE MOST REGRETABLE development that grew out of the racist policy of the NEP was the steady decline of the Chinese (noy so much the Indians) MERCHANT CLASS and the Chinese professional class. This of all the other negative factors is the greatest loss to the Malays and ultimately to Malaysia. Of course you will say that “whothe hell cares” but maybe the after effects has not yet trickle down into your thinking brain yet, but that loss will eventually sink in. I will tell you what you have lost. THERE IS NO MALAY MERCHANT CLASS IN MALAYSIA; you may choose to shut your eyes, but the fact is that a merchant must grow out of the society that nurtures it. YOU CANNOT TEACH BUSINESS ! No matter that you send your Malay students to learn business; but business cannot be taught. For the Chinese Business is daily activity, and it is discussed as the normal course of dauly life. It comes to us as natural as the ait we breath.
China merely took a mere 30 tears from Nixon’s visit and opening up of China to progress from 132 rankings to now at 2nd rank to USA as 1st; but to my mind we are already No 1. If you Malays are truthful to yourselves you will admit that today’s Malaysia there is no Malay Merchant class.
ONE FINAL WORD, WHILE UMNO PURSUES RACIAL SUPREMASY MALAYSIA WILL SHOOT FOR THE BOTTOM RUNG OF THE LADDER OF COMPETITION in a globilised world.
March 27th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Yap Chong Yee
May 13 happened in part because of Chinese arrogance. UMNO got two black eyes at the polls because of arrogance on the part of people like Hisamuddin. Malaysians voted across racial lines for a new dawn.
Racism will not disappear overnight, nor will it ever as long as there are people like you around.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Outsider, if you cannot admit Malay is an inferior race now, and cannot be criticised for being stupid like you tell your staff stupid, racism can never go away until you are cow/cull!
March 27th, 2008 at 7:13 am
And if you think sultan is God and cannot be questioned where no other human beings on this earth think like you, you must be a moron while you’ve only keris to show off.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Ask Bakri Musa why he has committed adultery in the USA while he could have married four for being a muslim????
March 27th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Ask Bakri why he cannot come home!
March 27th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Dear Outsider ! you will not believe me if I told you that I am not out to insult the Malays; I am merely pointing out the obvious. Will you say that I am racist because I say tha Malays “have no head for math & science ? Take notice that China (PRC) graduates 75,000 engineers per year; and will you also gradge me for saying that the level of English in Malaysia is so low that senior government officials cannot make themselves understood both in oral & written english. I do not say that English is everything BUT ACCEPT THE FACT THAT UNLESS YOU ARE FLUENT IN ENGLISH, GERMAN RUSSIAN,JAPANESE, CHINESE ETC, languages that science is written in; then you cannot learn science & math. MALAY IS NOT A LANGUAGE OF EDUCATION AND LEARNING. That is the truth of it !
There is one very imporatnt observation that I want to make; you Malays want a policy of exclusion, even at the expence of loosing out to the rest of the world. You Malays have a pathological obssession for craving obeisance. You do not care whether you deserve it or not. “Pankat” is not for real, it is a mere illusion and it gets you nowhere. Real excellence is achievement and that means not what people think of you but what you yourself know of your own limit and be guided by the limits of your capability. TAKING A JOB THAT YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF PERFORMANCE IS IRRESPONSIBLE AND THAT IS WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MALAYSIA; a Malay is put into the job even when she is incapable of performing at a working level.
Look at what is around you and if you are sincere you will ahve to admit that I am right.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:51 am
AbangCina and Yap ChongYee
Stop this Malay bashing. Not all Malays fall into the category you describe. You have generalized all Malays as being stupid and have no future. But contrary to your statement there are many Malays that have been successful “on their own”. You can ctiticize a particular group of people but not the entire race. You clearly demonstrate a poor attitude. Just because you feel you have been wrong by a certain group of people you take it out on the whole race. It’s people like you that feeds the May 13 fire.
March 27th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Shrek, I can be wrong, but I know you Malay can never imagine it can be a Waterloo for Malay if May 13 fire is inflamed again.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Hello Shrek ! I am afraid you are blaming the victim as usual. I have said at the begining I am not here to insult the Malays but merely to state the obvious and if you think that I am doing what you say I am doing please point out to me where it is that I am wrong !
Yes I had been wronged by Judge of the Court of Appeal, [name deleted] who adjudicated my wife’s petition in a manner that she was so ignorant of the law that she committed several criminal offences in the performance of her duties. I have just written another letter to this new Minister of Law Zaid Ibrahim who wrote eruditely of the law but is placed in the position that made him eat his own words. How can a judge of the highest court of the land MADE A CRIMINAL OF HERSELF BECAUSE SHE DID NOT KNOW THE LAW. She unknowingly blundered into comitting breaches of the penal code and she is a criminal. She was so incompetant and she is sitting on the court of appeal. A judge who does not know the law.
You know Shrek ! This Judge [name deleted] can come to Australia and apply to our courts in Perth, where I live for my extradition (to be sent back to Malaysia for defaming her), and I will have the defense of the truth. I am writing in any way I know to insult this Judge so that she can come to Perth to defend her honour; but for 2 years or more she has not got the courage to confront me. I have not prectised law for over 35 years and I still can defend myself.
I still maintain that most Malays do not have sufficient English to understand the law and you can forward this post to her and do tell her that I have spread this criminal charges against her all over the internet. IF YOU CANNOT READ OR WRITE ENGLISH YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND LAW THAT IS THE LAW OF MALAYSIA.
come read all about this judge at my own blogg. :http://yap.chongyee.blogspot.com.
Email :ychongyee@yahoo,com,au
March 27th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
AbangCina,
You admitted “Ican be wrong” so perhaps you are wrong on bashing the whole Malay race. You should take it out on those people that have wronged you just like Yap ChongYee, not the entire race.
If you feel that UMNO had wronged you take it out on them. Not all Malays are members of UMNO or have benefitted from UMNO. I rest my case.
YapChongYee, I’ve read your dissertation on the things that the judge [name deleted MBM] had done to your wife. My answer is take Judge to court. Appeal her judgement. There are appeals court in Malaysia you know. What is it that you intend to achieve by writing on Bakri’s blog about the Judge? Do you think the readers on Bakri’s blog have the power to change the judgement or the Judge’s sentence?
There is a time and place for everything. This blog is not the proper forum.
March 27th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Hello Shrek ! This blog and every blogg. is the right place to air our problems because Malaysia is lawless. It is quite obvious that you have not read my blog and I do not recommend it because I had written some 92 posts on this subject. [This] Judge [deleted MBM} knows all about it but I also know that she will not read it because IT WILL BE TOO HARD FOR HER TO UNDERSTAND.
By the way Shrek I am writing at 3 AM, Perth time and you are writing replies at the same time. Are you awake this ungodly time ? Just curious !
Back to my discussion; well Shrek my wife's counsel Mr David Hoh of M/s Lim & Hoh of Ming Building Bt. Nanas KL is in conspiracy with this Judge [name deleted MBM]. Although I do not care too much about it (since this mistake will give my wife grounds for suing her counsel for damages for professional negligence), My wife’s counsel DID NOT FILE A DEFENSE TO RESPONDENTS’ APPLICATION (THIS APPLICATION IS BOTH UNLAWFUL & ILLEGAL) FOR LEAVE TO STRIKE OUT SAID PETITION. This means that my wife has no course to APPEAL because there is nothing to appeal on (no …. defense). That is what makes it very imporatnt for me to publise the misconduct of all the parties concerned all the respondents, [this] Judge the lawyers on the respondents side and my wife’s counsel as well. This has become a royal mess. If you care to do so you may fax this posts to Judge, Mr David Hoh and M/s Annad & Noraini of JLN. Yap Ah Shak KL. I like them to know that I am spreading this mess like confetti !
Do Fax this message to all those I mentioned and let me see them take legal action against me.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Yes, those who felt wronged tend to lash out but always remember, it is individuals who wronged you, not the race, albeit they were conditioned by that ‘ketuanan’ culture nurtured by UMNO for the past 38 years. Yap and a.cina, please do not stereotype. I do have contacts with many Malays who are very good in Maths and Science AND very good in business. Unfortunately they have to subscribe to and continue to spew that ‘ketuanan’ thingy in order to get their dues. That many do not subscribe to it, (kudos to them), left them at the wayside just as yap and a.cina felt they were left by the wayside.
The unfortunate thing about some Chinese is that they tend to be abrasive and can be quite ruthless when it comes to business dealings. I said ’some’ because I do meet those Chinese businessmen who when successful, lend a hand to other businessmen irrespective of race. That less and less do so, that is, help their Malay business friends, is because there is always that fallacious thinking that “anyway the government is helping them, so they don’t need help”.
I find that in these past 2 or 3 years, there has been a lessening of racist feelings amongst the races and that whatever anger seemed to be channeled towards a ‘racist’ government. In fact someone just commented to me that the ordinary people in Malaysia get on fine, it is the government, or rather UMNO, that is stoking disunity.
In life, we must accept that we win some and we lose some. So, to all Malaysians, please be united. Under our skins we’re all the same, ordinary human beings eking out a living under the Malaysia sun and hoping to make Malaysia a better place for our children to live in.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Yap ChongYee
Now you mentioned that your wife attorney (a chinese) is in collaboration with the judge. How come you did not take it out on the Chinese race for being a conspirator and collaborator? How come this fact was not highlighted in your previous comment? Instead you took it out on the Malay judge inspite of your Chinese lawyer failing your wife.
You are free to write anything that you are not happy but again as I said do you think the readers on MBM blog have the power to correct the situation? I even go so far as to say how many readers are really interested in your wife’s case? If I were you I would take the case to people who care and who can make a difference. Perhaps you may want your wife case to be presented to Zaid Ibrahim the new Law Minister. He’s already taking steps to have the government apologize for the injustice done to Salleh Abas.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Let it be known that Umno is a political party that thrives on racism in order to remain relevant. The last election is proof that ordinary Malaysians are not interested in racial politics. I come from an environment where mixing is a norm so I find my Chinese and Indian friends endearing. It’s those who are being brought up in a era where the word “Ketuanan” is being over amplified are the ones most susceptible to this form of brainwashing. Look at the Umno inspired demo at Komtar following Lim Guan Eng’s announcement on a NEP. Most are there for a reason - no more freebies. Vilifying the whole Malay race for the mistakes of a few is improper.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Yap ChongYee
It’s night time in Perth but it’s early afternoon over here. This is also the regular time for me to communicate with my friends in Australia. Friends from school who have kept in touch for more than 45 years, friends who grew up in an era where we are all Malaysians and not Malay, Chinese, Indians or lain llain. We each have been wronged and have gone on with our lives, found new opportunities in new lands. Not sure about the lawlessness. In all court case the judge is restricted by the laws of the land and there will always be a winner and a loser.
By the way if you feel your wife’s attorney had been negligient, file a report with the Bar Council and have him disbarred. I am not an attorney and have limited knowledge about the laws in Malaysia or Australia but I am sure all countries have recourse for appeal. Maybe you need a second opinion from a different attorney, one that will take your case to the end.
You are free to write and express your views in any blog subject to the blog owners consent. I don’t deny that but please don’t generalize especially with regards to the races and please try to stick to the subject being discussed. It help the other readers to address and perhaps advise you on your next move. The late MGG Pillai have been wronged badly but he’s having the last laugh now.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Hello Shrek ! I graduated from the University of Singapore, one of the finist Law school in the world. I do not need any other help, but I want to make known to the public that this Judge [name deleted] did not act according to the law whatsoever. She acted outside the law and for that reason I had charged her for committing the criminal offence of Malfeasance, aiding and abetting forgery & perjury and for aiding and abetting a conspiracy for perverting the course of justice, and other criminal offences.
I have written to the Minister of Law, Chief Judge of Malaya, President & Secretary of Malaysian Bar Council over a long period of time with no response. MALAYSIA IS LAWLESS ! the situation in Malaysia is hopeless and meaningless. This Judge abused her powers and she knew that respondents had absolutely no defense to my wife’s claim but she struck out her petition in criminal circumstances; this Judge is a criminal !
March 28th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Shrek, you need to exocise the demon in you before you dare to stand up and speak the truth of your mistakes and weaknesses at the core.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
AbangCina
I am where I am because a long time ago I spoke the truth and Malaysians cannot accept the truth. What you all are experiencing now is nothing new. I left Malaysia in the 70’s for the same reasons and never looked back.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
For a long time, this blog has attracted some of the best Malay minds. Today it has degenerated into a blog some come to bash the Malays and square personal scores!
March 28th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Observer
Right on. That’s why I had requested that Malay bashing be stopped lest the Malays start Chinese bashing and Indian bashing.
Furthermore some commentators can’t let certain issues drop without having the last say. Others take their personal fight onto the blog.
But rest assured the best is still to come.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I disagree ! Why blog if you have nothing to gribe about. In my case the complicity among my own counsel, lawyers for the opposition, the 6 respondents AND THE … JUDGE … all acted in a criminal conspiracy to unlawfully and illegally to strike out my wife’ petition which all the same mentioned parties knew the respondents had no defense !
March 29th, 2008 at 6:38 am
shrek, a word of wisdom: you cannot stop people from talking, until he finished talking la!
March 29th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
AbangCina, Number one son very wise. Thanks for the advice.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:36 am
‘May 13 happened in part because of Chinese arrogance.” Outsider
What’s wrong with being arrogant? We control the economy. Malays come begging at our doors for jobs. In the office I run, Malays are only fit to be office boys and toilet cleaners! MBM’s note: This “Jong” is a different person from the other “Jong”.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
This Jong, perhaps you only want to pay peanuts so the Malays don’t want to work for your company. I used to see Chinese companies paying cheap wages but supplied lunch in tiffin carriers to their employees.
Malay youth likes to be office boys, they get motorcycle and have lots of free time. I don’t see many malays working cleaning toilets. Perhaps you have mistaken the Indonesian or Bangladeshi workers. They look like Malays too.
April 4th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Comrade Jong !
Please do not streotype cast the Malays or anybody for that matter. This is exactly what we are trying to remove from our society. My CVharge against Judge Zainon binti Mohd. Ali is to expose her as a charlatan; she is a Court of Appeal Judge but she does not know the law.
I have backed all my charges with legal principles and arguements and I have every time posted to many practising lawyers in Malaysia. This is intended to shame Judge Zainon binti Mohd. Ali; and I will pursue this line of exposure until the in coming GOVERNMENT IN WAITING takes government, under the P Mship of Dato Seri Anwar.
The PKR led leadership wants to reform the judiciary and my wife’s case will give them all causes to bring in reforms overnight in the judiciary.