Rethinking the myth of “consensus of the majority” - 1

Image thanks to here.

At the very outset, I would like to state this – consensus has its relevance and role. Now my thoughts on the subject:

Is the so called consensus real and founded on sound knowledge?

We like to think that one of the marks of a civilized society is the ability to reach consensus on important issues affecting society. In fact, consensus has today become as normal and unconscious as breathing in many important aspects of our life. Consensus indicates agreement in the judgment or opinion reached by a group as a whole.  The masses then adjust and manage their lives within the framework of consensus that has been presented to them – unthinkingly.

In almost every aspect of our lives – corporate, family, politics, religion, etc – consensus determines and controls our perspective of things.

It is generally accepted that consensus is vital for life to progress and the opposite of it will be chaos. If you belong to any social unit, you are expected to adhere to consensus; otherwise you will be ostracized as a trouble maker. The mindset of consensus is so ingrained in most of us that we are unable to see its clear and present dangers.

Consensus is also equated with “decision of the majority”. We have been brought up to think that decisions made by the majority are always good for all of us. We therefore must “respect” or adhere to the norms of the majority. Minority views are suppressed, not given any thought or even ridiculed.

I can understand the usefulness of consensus to achieve certain objectives in society. However, I will not extol it to be the “high virtue” that many seem to have unthinkingly accepted. Consensus is only useful when you understand its consequences and limitations. It appears to me that preference for consensus alone (to the exclusion of differing views) is indicative of the human being’s failure to rise from mental primitiveness.

Consensus, as practiced in our lives universally, has created more problems than benefits. My informal study of human history seems to suggest that consensus has been a major tool of oppression of the masses, reformers and intellectuals causing untold confusion, misery and cruelties.  Shocked at this proposition? Let me explain.

I view the unthinking obsession with consensus as people’s readiness to surrender their lives to a very small elitist group in their society. Most people actually live their life allowing it to be shaped by unseen human hands under the convenient tool called “consensus”.

I must confess that I began analysing the usefulness of consensus when I was compelled to think of the following verse from the Quran, some 15 years back:

“And if you obey most of those in the earth, they will lead you astray from Allah's way; they follow but conjecture and they only lie”. (Quran 6:116)

The above verse seems to suggest that majority views are often a result of conjectures (assumptions/guesswork) and untruths/lies/unfounded premises. I suppose this makes sense as any fact or truth is independent of the numbers who believe in it. As we often hear, a lie repeated a million times is still a lie and a truth of one is still the truth.

Since the Quran seems to suggest that majority views are a result of conjectures, it is therefore incumbent upon the thinking person to verify, ascertain and evaluate the views, norms or anything that he hears or experiences (see Quran 17:36).

In this paper, I shall attempt to analyse various aspects of our lives that have been wrecked by the myth of consensus and the untold misery and injustices that has unfolded.

Politics and Democracy

Democracy we say is the government of the people, by the people for the people. It is, we boast, a system that allows the people to form a government and run it by consensus. We say it is a majority rule government. Does that “majority” include you and me and the 15 year old child who does not know where to get the money to go to school? 

To be continued in Part 2.

Peace !

Reforms or ad-hoc solutions? Leaders or Opportunists?

Some people want to be controversial even though the subject matter of their controversy is puerile, insulting to the mind or simply idiotic. They do it because they have a ready made audience which is equally puerile, weak minded or simply ignorant. Through the controversy that they create they become heroes of some sort to the weak minded crowd, especially if such a crowd is actually big.

The sane, intelligent ones will either have to count their blessings that they are not weak minded or pray and hope that hero will soon be exposed for the charlatan that he or she is.

True reformers are difficult (not impossible) to have a significant impact on a society that is blind to many things, especially the rotten aspects of their society. It is a major challenge to invite a society  that has a blinkered view of life to see beyond the horizon. It is challenging to make a slave realise his slavery until he himself is prepared to think out the circumstances he is in and understand the alternatives available.

However, the sad fact is: people often get the leaders in society that they deserve. Generally, if the society is made up of members who do not have high self esteem, they will end up having rogue leaders who will manipulate their weaknesses. If the members have deliberately kept their minds in cold storage, then charlatans will be held up being clever. As the saying goes, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed person is king! 

Nature works in such a way that a good tree will not come forth from a bad seed. It is pointless trimming the tree, putting manure, watering it if the seed is rotten. Trimming, watering, putting manure, etc makes us all very busy and gives us the illusion of doing something to improve the tree. It will not work. The tree will forever be a source of problem. Obviously, many heroes often rise from this mindless, futile effort of endless ad hoc problem solving activity. Through time, many become blind to the real, fundamental problem - the bad seed.

It is mind-boggling when you think of the problems that can branch out from a bad tree and the ad hoc solutions it will entail.

The tree from the bad seed has to be uprooted for a good tree to grow. This is problem solving at the fundamental level. 

However, many will prefer the bad tree to stay. They are more concerned with the trimming, putting water, manure, etc opportunities that a bad tree provides. If the tree is uprooted, their role and hence their importance (and economic opportunities) becomes equally extinct.

Much boasted reforms unfortunately are confined to maintaining the bad tree rather than reforming the tree itself.  Planting a new seed appears to have escaped many people's minds.

However, to reform the tree itself, the people must be prepared to recognize the bad tree for what it is and have the knowledge of what a good or a bad seed can produce. For this, they need to - think !  

Having thought, they would then need the courage, the persistence and the sincerity to have the bad tree uprooted and to plant the good seed.

Peace !

Are You A Child, An Adult, or a Mentally Retarded Adult by Choice (MRAC)?

If you ask anyone if they are proud of themselves, the almost defensive answer will be: “of course. I am proud of who I am”. But who are you?  How would you define yourself? Even if you have not consciously defined yourself, the fact is you have been defining yourself by the life you live.  I will bet my last dollar that many of us have been defining ourselves completely contrary to what we think we are most parts of our lives.

When you were in kindergarten, you just behaved as you would behave. You can get along with some friends and with some others you cannot get along. Most probably, you never even knew why you could not get along other than being just uncomfortable. Sometimes, it is probably because you figured the other boy or girl is just not sharing her toys or things with you. Or maybe, being a child, you have not yet developed social and discerning skills. It is acceptable and sometimes it can be cute to hear a child say: “ I am going to complain to my papa about you”. Or, “I don’t know, let me ask my mama about it”.

When a child or even teenager says something like; “ I have get my parent’s permission first before I can do it”, we consider them well brought up and disciplined. What if an adult says something like that all the time?

For instance, in deciding what clothes to wear or what speech to make, the adult tells you: “I have to ask the permission of Mr X”. And Mr X is a stranger to him! Or say, you ask him, “What do you think of freedom of thought?”. And he replies, “Can you give me two days to get Mr X’s views of that please? I do not want to get it wrong”.

What am I talking about? I am talking about adults who live a child’s life. An adult who lives like a child is not cute but mentally retarded. I am sure this is an acceptable proposition? Let me illustrate:

Somewhere in the growth path of your life, someone comes along and tells you that since you are a Muslim, you cannot do this and that. Or cannot say this or that or wear this and that. In fact this person even tries to control what you think and feel. Now, this person who is telling you how to live your life is not even your father or mother. He is not even your remote neighbour. He is some paid civil servant whom you are meeting for the first time. He does not only tell you, he has been given the legal power to punish you if you do not abide by his dictations. He can have you caned like a child for disobeying him.

Remember, while with your own parents, you may disagree with their view of things since you feel that you have now become an adult, it is not necessarily the case with the paid civil servants. Your parents may finally accept that you have grown up, capable of making responsible decisions and after all you are now supporting them. It is not so with the paid civil servants. Their word, their world view and their interpretation of life is law. You have no choice but to abide by their views unless you want to commit a crime.

Yes, a crime for not agreeing to someone’s world view of how you should live your life. It does not matter that your world view does not cause any physical or moral harm to someone. It also does not matter that you have a higher level of intelligence and better discerning powers than the paid civil servants. The point is: they have been given authority to treat you like a child and somewhere along the line, you had, either ignorantly or recklessly, given them that authority.

And just like everything else in life, a nightmare or fantasy actually acted out in daily life ultimately becomes a norm. You even tend to forget that you are being treated like a child. You become what you are and you accept that as a fact of life. Once you do this, unconsciously you have limited your thinking capacity to that of a child. However, since bodily you are not a child, your behaviour is actually idiotic or at best childish.

Your mind tells itself not to develop and you find normal adult things complex. Just like a child you get used to being dependent on the very thing that limits and controls your life – the paid civil servants.

Try to multiply this childlike people into a group or a community and see what you get.

You would probably get a community of people who have child-like fears that adults should not have. They would forever need to be protected by someone else to whom they consider superior or capable of protecting them. They would want someone else to get them the toys that they want without having to work for it like adults.

They will ask for permission before they want to speak on something in case they are rebuked. Maybe too like a child, they do have the capacity to distinguish between foolishness and maturity. Unlike a child who is growing, they, the child-like adult have surrendered their thinking responsibility to the paid civil servants – and are happy with it!

I have often said that everyone grows old and few grow up. However, when the growth ability of human beings are systematically retarded by the system, we have imbecilic adults and a culture of mediocrity. Such a community actually legalizes institutions that treats them like a child (or imbeciles, since they are now adults) without realizing that they are lowering their dignity and surrendering their lives to paid civil servants.

What seems to escape everyone’s attention is that the paid civil servants are also a product of the very system that created the mediocrity culture. Hence you have mediocre people in authority creating an even more mediocre environment for the rest. You, the adult become subjected to this because of the label that you are legally given.

In other words, you have allowed the law to turn you into a child-like state where people in authority can dictate to you how you live. Adults are supposed to have the ability to think for themselves and decide on personal matters without external interference. However, once the law says that something is no longer personal but it concerns the interest of the State, then your personal liberty is now taken away. Like a child, you become a custodian of the disciplinarian, the State officials. They now have power over your lives. You are trained to stop thinking for yourselves.

In a mediocre, child-like environment, the adult who chooses to behave like an adult is frowned upon by the MRACs. When you go to a kindergarten, you will find the children playing with the children, away from the adults.

Do you understand what I am saying and if you do, does this in anyway affect your dignity as an adult?

Are you comfortable being an MRAC?

Or maybe like a child, you lack the ability to think and lack maturity?

Peace!

The Technologically Advanced Primitive Man - Part 2

Form over Substance - Society of superficialities???

It is the malady of humankind that we get stuck in the pool of form rather than live with the flow of substance.

While form has its role, without substance it is as useful as a corpse - after a while you could almost smell the stench of its uselessness. However, the law of nature appears to be that over time, people may become accustomed with even the worse of stench.

Form however seems not only to pervade a large part of our lives in diverse ways but it has become sanctified. Take any part of our life and you will note that form is given predominance over substance.

Say we take religion. Hardly will we hear a whimper if a religious follower is a cheat, corrupt or oppressor. No one will jump on him alleging that he is irreligious. However, the moment a religious ritual is called into question, the entire band of the followers may even call for his blood. Similarly, it will not matter that the person is an honest, hard working and generally a decent person if she is not garbed in the form her religion requires. The mantra in a foreign language is more important than what it means. or the rationality of its meaning. Sanctification of form itself leads to an illogical state of mind that says:  "There is something sacred in not understanding!" .

Grand titles of 'divinity" for the religious leaders overrides the substance of their speeches. It is no accident that most leaders of  religions place the greatest emphasis on the form of the religion rather than its substance. This is evidenced by their dress code, personal appearances, hierarchy, the  pomp and pageantry that accompanies their presence and so forth. Symbolism, which is totally form is a sacred tool in religions.

It may not be too far from the truth to say that religion is where form is given its greatest prominence over substance. Probably because symbolism and ritualistic behaviours are more effective in the identification /classification of groups than unique thinking persons of substance. Collectivism also helps to gloss over the existence of the many more that are endowed with lesser thinking capabilities. Maybe this explains the general insistence on "faith" as opposed to reason in many religions. Hence like the buffaloes' stampedes, the religious followers are prepared to cause untold damage to uphold form rather than substance. In fact, you may find that  the call to think about substance is construed as sacrilegious and even blasphemous.  (As in politics, the call for thinking about substance may be construed as seditious or security threat).

Politics is another horrific entertaining aspect of our lives where there is greater emphasis on form rather than substance. It is in the political arena that we find the greatest adjectives created to disguise the lack of substance - the number (and length) of honorary titles, fancy sounding official titles, pomp and grandiosity of ceremonies, etc. It all seems calculated to give the theatrical impression of being more than superhuman.  It no wonder that despite centuries of so called leadership, human beings everywhere are still grappling to evolve into "enlightened" beings ! On the contrary, historical events globally actually seems to suggest that we have regressed into primitiveness.

Every single political leader promisingly speaks of bringing society to a better level since time immemorial. They wave the flag of hope and stoke the inherent fears in human nature to gain control and power. The people in turn unfailingly fall prey their game and get duped by the form that they are presented with without even evaluating the substance of what is promised. It seems to escape everyone’s attention that globally, political leadership as we know it has generally failed humankind.   We soothe our irrational senses by looking at the overfed, the rich, and the accumulative society while blinding ourselves to the larger reality of the hungry, homeless, war-stricken, humiliating human conditions in other societies. Selective perception fueled by superficial thinking allows us to live proudly while substantive thinking will expose us for the miserable and ignoble parasites that we collectively really are by choice or through apathy.

Our consumptive culture too is largely dictated by form that is turning us into superficial beings. We look at 'things' rather than the "person".  We measure the success of a person by the things he possesses regardless of how he came to possess them.  To assist us in further evolving into beings who lack substance, we have created the ultimate "form-maker' called 'branding". Hence with branding, instead of developing our inner selves, we are taught to develop our image rather than build character.  The frightening aspect of this "form over substance  virus"  is that we even tend to lose sight of even our own selves  when our "form" that we are busy creating does not match our "substance" that we have neglected. This, I believe is responsible for many depressive tendencies in this so called modern age. 

We seem to be in a hurry to accumulate perishable things to satisfy our perishable lives  such that we are useful to mother earth as manure only when we die. Somehow, we seem to have overlooked  the fact that the nature of form itself is perishable and when perishibility sets in,  disappointments and depressions are in order.

The manner in which we prefer to treat each other is probably dictated more by form rather than substance. We have become comfortable, for example, with the classification of human beings into “races” though in many instances it makes little sense substantively.  By race, we define or group human beings according to certain similarities such as common social settings, language, “culture”, dietary habits and so on. However, once so classified we lose our flexibility in labeling a person other than the “race box” into which we have put his fathers into.  For example, a person is still considered Malay even though he has lost most of the characteristics that initially classified him into that box. Likewise, an English is forever English even though he may have acquired most of the characteristics that would describe a Malay.   Again these are results of lack of substantive thinking.

Lack of substantive thinking, for instance prevents people from perceiving each other in terms of blood groups instead of “racial groups” though in many instances, blood groupings seem to make scientific and biological sense. What use for example, is a Chinese with blood group AB to a Chinese of blood group O in a life threatening situation where immediate blood transfusion is needed?  When you start thinking substantively, you will realize that there are several ways of classifying human beings for various purposes. However, politics seem to prefer only one sort of classification - that of “race” and society whose main concern is that of form, readily accepts this.

Even in our everyday communications, form seems to take precedence over substance. We have invented all sorts of pleasantries that represent merely form and totally lack substance. For example, we ask simple questions that we do not really mean like “How are you?” and expect nothing more than “I am fine” response.   It will be a shocking day for us if the person responds by sharing all the problems he is actually facing for the day! 

 Peace !

Credibility of politicians at all time low???

I have been meeting various people for the past 2 months – politicians, non-politicians, people in power, and those very ordinary ones who just want to go on with their iives. The “scary” comments are from students and those between the ages of 19 to 27.

The general impression I got is this – they do not trust the politicians all round.  What this means is that they do not seem to have the confidence in ANY of the political parties that is currently available.  The conversation sometimes turned to “who is less bad than the other”. IN other words, lesser evil of the evil ones present.  

This is clearly a national credibility crisis among political leadership in our country. 

Probably this ex[lains why new poltical parties are being formed. This may also explain the birth of MCLM. 

If truly this is the general perception of the voters (and the young voters are going to count), then it is highly possible that we may have a hung parliament for the first time in Malaysian history.

Are we prepared for this?

Peace !

Muslims cannot celebrate Chinese New Year with others ???

This 8 year old Muslim boy studies at a Chinese school. He came home one day and told his father “Papa, did you know that Muslims should not celebrate Chinese New Year?”

His father asked. “Who said that?”

He replied, “My Ustazah in school”.

The father explained to him that a Muslim can celebrate Chinese New Year with their Chinese friends. That Chinese New Year is not a religious festival but it signifies the start of the Chinese calendar.  The father told him that he will go and speak to the Ustazah not to say these things.

“But Papa, don’t scold her. She is a nice lady”. His father assured him that he won’t scold the Ustazah.

The father then went to school and the following transpired:

Father (F) : “ Salam Ustazah. Saya ayah A. Ada perkara nak bincang sikit”.

Ustazah (U) : “Mualaikum salam. Sila masuk”.

F: “ Anak saya balik dari sekolah tadi, dia kata orang Islam tidak boleh raikan Hari Raya Cina”. 

U: “Betul lah tu. Saya yang cakap. Kalau ikut kan tak boleh?”

F: “ Maafkan saya Ustazah. Hari Raya Cina tak ada kena mengena dengan agama. Ia merupakan permulaan calendar ciptaan orang Cina berdasarkan pengiraan perjalanan matahari dan bulan. Sepertimana juga kita ada calendar Hijrah, calander Gregorian yang 2011 ni, dan macam2 calaneder lagi. Semua ni menjelmakan rahmah dan kebesaran Allah yang bagi ilmu pada kita untuk mengira masa melalui macam-macam cara”.

U: “Tapi Hari Raya Cina kan untuk CIna. Makanan dia orang tu kan tak halal?”

F: “ Puan, di Cina ada lebih daripada 30 juta orang Islam melebihi kita yang Melayu disini. Pokoknya ialah bukan Cina atau bukan Cina tapi Muslim atau tidak. Bukan semua Cina bukan Muslim”. 

U: “Maksud saya, kalau kita pergi rayakan di rumah orang CIna, kan makanan dia orang tak halal?”

F: “Kita jangan lah makan makanan yang tak halal kalau ada. Kalau kita dijemput, tentu mereka sediakan makanan halal. Kalau mereka tak sediakan, apa salahnya kalau kita pergi tapi tak makan? Kalau was was pun, tolak cara sopan. Tujuan kita kan nak rapatkan siratul rahim dan berkongsi rahmah yang Allah bagi pada kita? Kita orang Islam berupaya hidup dengan segala makhluk Allah secara aman.”

U: “ Ye tak ye juga. Mungkin saya tersilap cakap sebab saya risau pasal makanan. Mungkin tak kena saya cakap macam tu pada budak-budak”.

F: “Saya tak salahkan Puan. Pemikiran kita jadi sebegini kerana system pendidikan kita serta pergaulan kita yang memprejudiskan minda kita. Macam isteri saya juga orang Cina tapi semua keluarga dia adalah vegetarian.  Sampai ada coklat yang punyai gelatin pun dia orang tak makan.  Lagi risau dia orang tentang perkara tu daripada kita”.

The father and the Ustazah greeted each other and parted as friends as they discussed the possibility of her teaching his son Arabic in his home.

I do not blame the Ustazah. She is a kind and good lady but the product of an education system that has been segregationist. There are of course a host of other reasons why such things happen – mostly due to the kind of Islam that is permitted to grow in our country for the past 20 years by politicians, religious people and the institutions.

Peace !

The Water Wars - the next War for Mankind???

I have been thinking about this for a long time. Of course just 40 years ago, if you were to say you were going to sell water, everyone in Malaysia will think you are mad. Why would anyone want to buy a bottle of water when they can get clean water off the tap or just from a stream somewhere? That was how water was taken for granted before we became "civilized" and "developed".  In today's Malaysia, water is no longer safe to be drunk straight from the tap. (I suspect this is the same in most parts of the developed world).

Have you ever wondered why the water from the tap suddenly seemed to be dirty with the advent of water filters being sold by private companies? Or was it just a coincidence? The mineral water industry has grown and become big - all over the world.

We all know that life cannot exist without water. He who controls water, controls life. In this sense therefore water is a security and essential industry in any country.

Have you ever been concerned with the commercialization and privatization of this very vital component of life? Who controls it here or in the world? Did you know that billions of people in the world do not have access to water?



The issue with water is very complex, and has ironic issues. If human beings were to assimilate into their environment naturally, the it is possible that natural "clean" water may be more readily available. However, humans like to "develop", re-engineer the geography of the nature and hence, "artificial" water sources need to be developed. As I said, there are various complex issues concerning water today.

In 1995, Ismail Serageldin, the Vice-President of the World Bank predicted about the future of world wars saying: "If the wars of this century were fought over oil, the wars of the next century will be fought over water". Obviously, the war strategists and capitalists will sniff out this future much earlier than the citizens of the world living in their comfort zones (Never mind Malaysians!).

Water is a human right. Why is it that we do not hear clearly of International Treaties, laws and seminars on this issue? I am sure there are politics involved in this issue too - maybe someone wants to research this and enlighten us? The following is interesting (and frightening reading):


"We are on the verge of a water crisis.

By 2025, more than half of the nations in the world will face freshwater stress or shortages and, by 2050, as much as 75 percent of the world’s population could face freshwater scarcity. International Alert has identified 46 countries, home to 2.7 billion people, where climate change and water-related crises create a high risk of violent conflict. A further 56 countries, representing another 1.2 billion people, are at high risk of political instability. That’s more than half the world.

And we are becoming a much thirstier world. Growing populations spur demand for more industries and farmland, draining water resources more quickly than ever. Climate change is expected to exacerbate the problem as it alters rainfall patterns. And, unlike carbon reduction, there is no alternative, no substitute to promote".



I am getting nervous and that makes me thirsty...gonna grab and appreciate my mineral water.

Peace !

Women are inferior to Men ?

Very often we hear that women are actually inferior to men in many ways. They are the "weaker sex", they are impure to the extent that they cause men to "fall from grace" and their rightful task is to be a homemaker.

Today women are oppressed in almost every way - as a human being, as a worker, as a sexual object and so on. Many put this phenomenon down to the assumed "fact" that even in primitive times, women were oppressed. Is this really so?

If you are interested in the issue of whether "womens' inferiority is a myth or a fact, you may want to read further here.

Peace !

The Technologically Advanced Primitive Man - Part 1

Image thanks to here.

I liked to visit second-hand book shops when I was a teenager. There were lots of them in Penang along Jalan Macalister.  There were plenty of books of diverse interests and they were cheap. You may also rent them. (Come to think of it, probably people read more books or more quality books back then!) When I was in Form Four, I chanced upon a book titled “Future Shock”. It was a book of about 512 pages thick. I skimmed though the book and recall being both mesmerized and shocked.  I had to have the book but I just brought enough money to rent it. I had to buy it and lucky for me the mamak seller knew me and trusted me to pay him the balance the following week.

I started reading the book at the bus stand while waiting for the bus. I was reading it while standing in the bus and was reading it while walking back to my house. It was for me a book that I cannot put down. It was full of shocking information for the future.  I was simply amazed how the author, Alvin Toffler was able to predict it so logically. Many of the things that he forecasted were of course unforeseeable then in Malaysia. Malaysia did not even have the clues present but I seemed to be taken in by his logic and force of arguments.

I still remember his argument that the most undeveloped aspect of human civilization is communication skills. In his view, this is a very young skill that human beings have acquired. I am afraid, even to this day, he is right. We have yet to develop and let alone understand the mechanics, art, and importance of communication between human beings. Probably, I am inclined to believe that that the other species have relatively better communicative skills and ethics than human beings do. 

In 1976, about the time I bought the book, there was only A&W in Penang and I do not think there was a KFC or a McDonalds then, even in Kuala Lumpur. Hence, Alvin Toffler’s explanation of the “impending society or culture of impermanence” was quite difficult to understand (not impossible for those who do not mind thinking). He proposed the thesis that society is moving towards a society of transience ie that everything in our life is going to be deliberately temporary. Everything here includes not only consumables like houses, disposable items like spoon, cups, etc but also relationships. Friendships will be deliberately short he argued and all this due to the economic philosophy that we will come to embrace (which we now breathe it like it is normal!).  It is amazing how a serious and passionate social scientist can draw accurate conclusions from disposal items. 

He also introduced for the first time in the world (I believe) the concept he called “death of permanence” and that this “shelf life” attitude will become an accepted culture.  This is so true today – youth today define two months as a long period to be in a relationship! Relationships or so-called “friendships” are defined in terms of need rather than attraction due to “chemistry” or sharing of values. Today, you hear everyone who has been in a business relationship or politics introducing the other as a “good friend” so much so the entire basis of friendship has altered under our very noses.

Due to its need based relationships, the relationship itself becomes superficial and hence communication itself becomes superficial and confined to economic needs. This phenomenon is further accelerated by the pressures of living in the current economic and political model which is largely capitalistic – leaves very little time for substantial development of relationships.

Slowly but surely, each and everyone one of us became an economic tool serving an economic function in the capitalist economy.  Hence, we want to “share” business opportunities, want to build a “network of friends” for economic purposes, and so on. Words and concepts that were once reserved for genuine human relationships have now mutated to play prominent roles in the marketplace. Since, business and commerce does not allow for deep reflections on human nature, our communication opportunities are largely confined to the role of surviving in the capitalistic economy. We lose a large part of our communicative potential and in the long run, we lose our sense of human being.

The primitive man is seen as being loyal to his tribe and fearful of other tribes. He lacks the knowledge of science, in particular the biology of the human being. Thus, he may be forgiven if he is tribalistic in his world view.  However, in this so-called technologically advanced society with so-called opportunities for education, information and knowledge, we have greater tribalistic culture and attitudes.  Like the primitive cavemen, we  have no compunctions being cruel to anyone else who does not look like or behave like the members of our tribe. Unlike the cavemen, we use the modern technology to advance primitive ideas and behaviours. Is I  opined earlier, while the physical world may have developed technologically, we as human beings are regressing for many reasons including the fact that we have never focused on developing the "inner" human being. Even our education system is geared towards primarily turning us into income producing tools and loyal servants of the system.  In other words, most of us have become technologically advanced primitive human beings. We still have a herd mentality because of our system that discourages thinking.

It is important for the primitive man to have a leader who can lead the rest of his tribe. The leader is usually one who has most brawn than brain. In a complete primitive tribe, apart from the medicine man, you also have the witch doctor who can spurn 'godly' stories and "protect" the tribe from the "supernatural forces". Such powerful witch doctors are revered because of the ignorance of the tribe members and the superstitions that the tribe as a whole have come to accept. Any one thinking member of the tribe who dares to invite any other member to evaluate or rethink the superstition is quickly dealt with and sometimes with the death penalty. How much of such primitive behaviour has our technologically advanced and "educated" society shed? I see that the technologies are actually being used to further enhance primitiveness.

The physical world around us may have advanced technologically for example, the Ipad, the “latest” technologically advanced phone, the “latest” computer processor, the “latest” car and so on….the human nature however has regressed towards primitiveness. Why do I say so?

Taking from what Alvin Toffler wrote way back in 1976, this deliberate attitude of the capitalists to make sure that all products have a pre-determined shelf life, it seems to have affected our world view without us realizing it. While we allow ourselves to be trapped by the capitalists’ game of being subsumed with things “latest”, we never pause to think that we are being hypnotised to buy things which are not the best.  This is because, the very idea of an engineered shelf life will not allow the best to be produced and marketed! In other words, what is produced is always something of sub-standard so that it can, within a few months, be replaced by something else called the “latest”!  

Commercially of course it makes good profit sense since you literally compel the consumer to forever keep up with the “new products or technology” that has been engineered to be “obsolete” later. The entire motivation is capitalistic – to continue making profits by forcing consumers to keep replacing their products. How does this affect the human psyche anyway you may ask? This and many other factors spurned by our capitalistic fish tank that we live in makes us increasingly superficial human beings.  This ingrains in us the idea of never being satisfied with the physical things that we have. This also develops our ego to be bigger than our brains and makes our self-esteem incumbent upon the “latest thing that we possess”. We start defining ourselves by the things we have OUTSIDE ourselves instead of WITHIN. Superficial appearances become important such that superficiality (in various “new” words) becomes a dominant culture in our lives. Superficiality necessarily means that we tend to regress as human beings back to primitiveness.

Our world view seems to be largely and subtlety shaped by dangerous capitalistic values and demands.  Take the “latest” craze in the corporate world called “branding”. Our political leaders get into the game very quickly welcoming it as the “latest” and sophisticated thinking that can “sell” ideas.  Knowing the shelf life solution mentality of our political leaders, this is not surprising. They have always been unable to think beyond the short term if they can think at all. Coming back to branding, what is it fundamentally? 

Granted that branding allows people to identify and recognize a product. Granted that it has its advantages. Granted that branding does help to sell an idea or a product quickly sometimes.  However, there is a major danger with branding that those few who know are not telling. IN the context of human development, branding simplifies things to an extent that thinking is dispensed with. The very idea of branding is to excite the emotions, the sentiments rather that to provoke the intellect. Branding encourages the notion of generalizations to the point that relevant details become irrelevant. Branding has the capacity and is intended to hide the faults and highlight the merits. IN short, with the kind of excitement people have with this new tool called “branding”, more and more people get dragged into the culture of superficiality. Superficiality sells.  However, it is these kinds of superficial developments that make us regress to primitiveness. 

The cumulative effect of our capitalistic living has actually made us regress into a state of primitiveness. With the so-called technological advances around us, most of us have actually begun to lose the ability to think and think wholesomely.  With the so-called advancements, we have also allowed ourselves to be duped into primitiveness by “new” buzz words that camouflage primitive behaviours.

TO be continued …Part 2

Peace !

Non-Muslims as Syariah Lawyers???

Dear Webmaster,

1.       1. I wish to comment on this issue to fulfill my academic responsibility and the duty of being transparent with the true facts that are within my personal knowledge. It is not intended to be subjudice but rather an explanation of academic facts and circumstances of which I was a part.

2.       2. I attended the 92^nd National Fatwa Council in Melaka recently.  It was clear to me that not all the members had agreed to state definitively that non-Muslims be prevented from practicing as syarie lawyers. Hence, the announcement that the National Fatwa Council had reached a unanimous decision in this matter is untrue.  What transpired was that some of the Council members, including myself, wanted the matter to be studied in detail in accordance with the injunctions in the Al-Quran and Al-Sunnah. It was a premature decision. I had also wanted the paper to be studied at the State Fatwa levels. The paper that was prepared by the JAKIM’s Syariah Research Panel was found to be wanting and lacking in relevant support from the al-Quran dan al-Sunnah. The support or Quranic evidence that was cited in the paper is not directly relevant to the issues under discussion.

3.       3. JAKIM Panel’s paper merely focused on verses that relate to walayah (leadership) that prohibits a Muslim from appointing a non-Muslim as their guardian or helper in their affairs while some of the members and myself are of the view that the matter relates to wakalah (representative), not walayah (leadership). 

4.       4. If the walayah (leadership) verses are used in this instance, then there will chaos in the administration of the Nation in Malaysia. Such Talibanistic and extremist thinking should never be allowed to develop in Malaysia. It will give rise to challenging the validity of appointments such as the Minister, the Chief Secretary of Ministries, the various Department Directors who manage Muslims. Surely chaos will ensue.  It is critical to understand that such chaos will start from “small matters” such as the issue of wakalah (representation) of Non Muslims to be the lawyers for Muslims.

5.       5. In fact, according to the Al-Shafie school (which is the official school of thought in Malaysia), in Kitab Mughni al-Muhtaj, al-Imam al-Sharbini, the renowned ulama who is a constant source of reference, is of the view that a male Muslim can be represented by  a Non-Muslim to handle the divorce of his Muslim wife.  Such views are also held by other ulamas such as al-Dasuqi from the Maliki school and Ibnu Qudamah from the Hanbali school. The Hanafi ulamas are more liberal in this matter. This is the true views of the “jumhur ulama” (majority) in this matter. Only the Shia school does not permit such representation.

6.       6. The issue of legal representation is a worldy matter between human beings. Islamic views on wordly matters between humans is wider and open because it does not concern matters of faith and worship. Hence, Ibnu Qudamah in the al-Mughni is of the view that ‘Ammah Ahli al-‘Ilm (all the ulamas) say that Non-Muslims can represent Muslims on matters between human beings except in certain matters that concern wasiat and wakaf. Such matter should be scrutinized. 

7.       7. The laws of Egypt permit Non-Muslim lawyers to represent Muslims in their Courts. Certainly, the ulamas in Egypt have considered the views of the ulamas earlier mentioned in the interest of peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Non-Muslims.  

8.       8. At one time, Malaysia was rocked with the unfortunate tussle over the deceased bodies of persons whose “Islamic status” was in dispute in the civil and the Shariah Courts. AT that time, there were voices that permitted non-Muslims who claim that their deceased relatives belonged to their original religion to seek redress in the Shariah Courts. It was a sigh of relief to note the openness that allowed the Non-Muslim to seek justice in the Shariah Courts. Such openness should be encouraged..

9.       9. Islamic shariah offers justice to everyone. It is the beauty of Islam that it offers mercy to everyone which is not the monopoly of any particular group. Did the Prophet Muhammad not mortgage his shield to a Jew? Didn’t Ali Bin ABi Talib argue his case in the Court against a Jew on the matter of his shield? The Jew was allowed to argue his case in the Islamic Court where Ali Bin Abi Talib lost his case. Is this not a from of legal process and defence in the Islamic Courts that recognizes everyone’s rights? 

10   10. Hence, there is not a single clear authority that prohibits a non-Muslim lawyer from advocating the rights of a Muslim or a non-Muslim in an Islamic Court. All the conjectures and assumptions that there will be adverse effects is a result of prejudice and the attitude of oppressing non- Muslims. 

1    11. The assumption that action cannot be taken against the non-muslim syarie lawyer in the event of contempt of court is a technical matter that can be easily resolved by legislation or by making it as a pre-condition of the practicing licence or the contempt proceedings may be transferred to a civil court. 

1   12. If an existing system denies justice, then one should refer to true Islam which offers justice to all. Islam is never wrong! The error lies in the human interpretation that does not want to understand or share Allah’s mercy of justice for all human beings.

Sekian.

Dr Juanda Jaya

20 Disember 2010

Kuching, Sarawak.

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1.       Dr Juanda Jaya is the Mufti of Perlis, a member of the National Fatwa Council  and was a visiting fellow at  Oxford University.