April 24, 2012 in Articles, Books etc
Tun Muhammad Ghazali Shafie’s ‘Memoir on the Formation of Malaysia’ should be read by all Malaysians.
April 24, 2012 | By A. Murad Merican
GHAZALI MEMOIR: Understanding how Malaysia came into being
I USUALLY begin my Malaysian Studies class on the two levels of approaches in conceiving the nation-state — the concrete and the abstract. Neither is unproblematic.
January 16, 2012 in Articles, PLF News
January 15, 2012 | By Professor A. Murad Merican
Professor A. Murad Merican is a professor at the Department of Management and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Petronas
I AM not amused with academics who have a condescending view of journalism and the press. Perhaps I should not expect them to hold journalists and the press in high regard. Or perhaps, too, their frame of reference is based on their experiences of newspapers and newsmen.
To a few, the press is cheap newsprint, trash, daily gossip and spin, and as they say, fit for wrapping fish.
But then, I do not hear academics or the layman expressing the same sentiment about bloggers and online newspapers.
We are indeed influenced by form, and what we have seen. But what is journalism? I have a soft spot for the surat khabar. It will be around for many, many years to come despite what the pundits have said.
Why journalism is becoming increasingly significant is due to the fetish with the computer-mediated cyberworld.
It blurs the authority of ideas and opinions. It dangerously simplifies the complexities of interpretations. As such, it is imperative to redefine journalists and journalism.
We need a new journalistic literacy. So back to the question — what is the press? Why should we care about journalism? We routinely consume journalism, and nowadays we produce it, too.
We experience the world through journalism, through the newspaper. We may be addicted to television, blogs, Facebook or online newspapers.
But are we all journalists, based on what we see, hear and narrate about ourselves and the world around us? Can we call ourselves as such because we write and narrate about ourselves and the world around us?
Journalism is a mode of expression. But journalists themselves seldom talk about their profession. Profession? Some would measure journalism against the professions of law and medicine. Journalism is not a profession in the conventional sense of the word.
It is a fraternity. It is a vocation. It is a craft. It is an occupation. It is an ideology. It is a narration. It is an intellectual pursuit.
It is not only reporting the news. And it is not only a neutral transmitter of events and ideas. It interprets the world near and far, concrete and abstract
It can be partisan. It is objective. It is impartial. It is ideological. Journalism has often been deemed as not worthy as an object of study. To some, it does not deserve to be studied in a university because it is perceived to be hollow of corpus. Journalism has often been conceived, even among journalism educators, only as a skill.
But nay. It is concept, it is ideational. It is philosophy – much associated with factuality, objectivity, imagination, meaning, creativity and language. It gathers a privileged status over prose fiction and non-fiction. It is expected to be truthful and more so adhere to the canon of accuracy. But it must also be conscious that accuracy is not equivalent to truth.
It searches for authenticity. At the same time, it delves on repetitiveness. It is a discourse. It creates space for the intellectual and the intelligentsia. It provides for social and political criticisms. It projects identity and ethnicity. It promotes literacy and the exchange of ideas. Journalism is a cultural form.
It is a mode of story-telling. It is “reality” as reported. It is information – powerful and ubiquitous, fluid and constrained at the same time. It is watch-dogging and punditry at its best.
News is important. But opinion is more critical. The journalist oscillates between neutral transmitter and participant observer. We see this in Malaysia’s reconfigured culture of journalistic practice – full-time journalist and part/fulltime blogger.
Journalists are writers, too. And intellectuals also journalise, devoting part of their energies to journalism in the likes of Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, and Edward Said. And closer to us, Mohandas Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Syed Shaikh Al-Hady, Eunos Abdullah, Ishak Muhmmad, and A Samad Ismail.
Also, scholars who write for the press are those who take it upon themselves to share their ideas, advocate a cause or project and mitigate a sentiment. The journalistic institution mediates scholarship to the layman.
What we have also seen, in the evolution of the press in Malaysia, and especially since the emergence of the Malay newspaper from 1876 is the intellectualisation of journalists and journalism.
There is much interchange and interdependence between intellectuals and journalists. They are two sides of the same coin. But one side is dominated by the market where information is produced, customers are canvassed and ethical codes are abided to.
Journalists are intellectuals in their own right. They make meaning every day. They provide a barometer of the social, political and economic environments. They interpret cultural and ideological codes.
Journalism also has its geographies. We may assume that journalists and journalism anywhere in the world are the same. While there are universal principles, there are marked differences within and between different cultures.
We inherit the tradition of the scribe from Fleet Street. But we largely study American journalism in our journalism schools. British journalism is different from its continental cousins.
British and European journalism are highly partisan. American journalism assumes the cardinal ideal of objectivity.
But European journalism is far more literary and journalists are part of the cultural intelligentsia. And Japanese journalism is another story.
One must also not forget the role of journalism in toppling the Soviet regime. The Samizdat (underground newspaper) prevalent in the 1980s assumes a different character for journalism.
Journalism is also activism, especially in the early years of many a post-colonial state such as India, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Journalism extends scholarship. It shares thoughts and ideas with the disempowered and the powerful. By sharing the journalistic platform, it generates debates and criticisms. Commentaries and reviews are journalistic ingredients.
Journalism is a habit, beyond ink and paper, bits and bytes. And engaging in it is a ritual, honest and unapologetic. We celebrate the scribe in all his manifestations.
“Professor Murad is the inaugural Honorary President Resident Fellow at Perdana Leadership Foundation where he is conducting a study on Malay Views of the West. He can be e-mailed at murad@perdana.org.my”
June 24, 2011 in Events@PLF, Spotlight
Prof. Dr. Ahmad Murad receiving a token of appreciation from Harish (the far right) and Marcus Tan (left) of BQe
There is an old saying that, “Leaders are made, and not born”. That was indeed the main message delivered by Perdana Leadership Foundation Honorary President Resident Fellow, Professor Dr. Ahmad Murad Merican at an event organised by Brewing Quality Entrepreneurs (BQe) on 14th June 2011.
Professor Murad started out by pointing out the difference between “business person” and “entrepreneur” – the former thinks mostly in terms of profits and the bottom line while the latter sees business as a way to transform their values and ideas into a “revolution”. For this reason, entrepreneurs must be clear about their passions and goals, as these would form the core of the entrepreneur’s business and become, in a sense, that entrepreneur’s ‘religion’.
In order to develop this strong sense of self, the Professor emphasized the need to allow for students to think “outside the box” and to break or question conventions. However, the education system in Malaysia is such that breaks from the norm or breaks from convention are frowned upon and discouraged. Even universities and colleges in Malaysia tend to confine students rather than grant freedom, and at an age where young people are supposed to be learning to express themselves and to explore their own ideas.
“Consider it like a newsroom where everything is controlled, one of the many reason why I stopped being a journalist and left BERNAMA,” he quipped, but warned that once a person becomes comfortable conforming to sociatal norms and molds, it would dampen original thought and creative expression. Fear of failure is a strong limiting factor, and would-be entrepreneurs need to overcome the fear of change and constantly challenge themselves to bring ideas to fruition. “Everything starts with an idea,” the good Professor reminded, and added that, “For every success, there are 1,000 failures.”
As an aside, Professor Murad mentioned the importance of writing in leaving a legacy of ideas and passion, and cited Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as one of the best examples of a Leader-Writer.
Even a writer is an entrepreneur because when you write, you put yourself in the picture. Therefore, when you write, you are an entrepreneur.
Tun Dr. Mahathir was a prime minister, he was a leader and he writes. Prof. Dr. Ahmad Murad claimed that leaders write to leave their legacy, to leave their ideas, to prove their commitment on their religion.
The session ended with a lively question and answer session.
Imran and Marcus of BQe, hard at work making sure everything are in place
Our CEO Forum made an appearance at the event
The Professor telling the crowd how one should be brave to try new things
The eager listeners
October 20, 2010 in Articles, Events@PLF, PLF News, Spotlight
Professor Dr. Mohd Fauzi Hj. Ramlan Deputy Vice Chancellor of Students' Affairs & Alumni delivering opening address
“Malaysia in a Globalised World: Courage to Think Beyond” was the theme for the Essay Competition Forum 2010 that was held on 21st Sepember 2010, jointly organised by Universiti Putra Malaysia and Perdana Leadership Foundation in conjunction with the PLF-MPH Essay Competition 2010. UPM was the third university that the Foundation had visited to encourage Malaysian university students to participate in the essay contest.
Among the audience attending the PLF-UPM Essay Competition Forum
Professor Dr. Mohd Fauzi Hj. Ramlan, the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Students’ Affairs and Alumni welcomed the audience to the Forum during his opening speech and stressed on the need for students to have “courage” – that ingredient so necessary for success, not just in university but beyond. He defined courage as the courage to make decisions and to act upon decisions. Courage is also about accepting defeat but not giving in to it, and trying again.
Professor Dr. Ahmad Murad Merican receiving questions from the audience
The first speaker of the Forum was Professor Dr. Ahmad Murad Merican, the Perdana Leadership Foundation Honorary President Resident Fellow who shared an overview of historical personalities who were brave to think beyond and ahead of their times: Abdullah Munshi, dubbed as the ‘Father of Modern Malay Writing’, who frequently compared European practices of governance with the Malay system of monarchy at the time; Syed Sheikh Al Hadi who invited Muslims to change at a time and established the first Malay radical media, Al Imam in 1906; nationalists Ibrahim Yaacob and Ahmad Boestamam who had the courage to go against the prevailing beliefs at the time though they were finally defeated by the more-favoured aristocrats; Tunku Abdul Rahman was also rated a brave thinker, who championed a new idea of a Malaysian nation, and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as a “basher of paradigms extraordinaire” – someone whose abstract thoughts can overcome physical limitations and set new standards.
Associate Professor Dr. Azahari Ismail of the Faculty of Educational Studies
The second speaker of the Forum was Associate Professor Dr. Azahari Ismail of the Faculty of Educational Studies, who shared his views on how to become a successful entrepreneur: he or she must have the propensity to think, the ability to think well, decisiveness; problem-solving ability; and the ability to escape from mental blocks. He also believed that a ‘thinking culture’ was not present in Malay culture and wondered whether this has contributed to the poor performance of Malay students in Maths and Science.
Professor Dr. Rosli Salleh of Faculty of Economics and Management, UPM
The last speaker was Professor Dr. Rosli Salleh of the Faculty of Economics and Management, UPM, who talked of globalization and its impact on the workforce. Globalisation, he said, has increased human resource mobility and to succeed well in a world on international competition, Malaysians need to upgrade their thinking skills as well as work ethics.
During Q & A session
October 19, 2010 in Articles, PLF News, Spotlight, Tun Dr. Mahathir
Dr Mahathir’s early writings, embedded in the then nascent modern Malay political identity, make a significant contribution to Malaysia’s intellectual history
October 17, 2010 | A. Murad Merican
WHAT is in the writing? Recently I gave a seminar at Perdana Leadership Foundation on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the West. The seminar was to commemorate 63 years of writing by Malaysia’s fourth Prime Minister.
Being faithful to text and context, I spoke about Dr Mahathir through his early writings. Upon closer inspection, it was Dr Mahathir in response towards colonialism and the West, set against articles with titles such as Malay Women Empowering Themselves, Ronggeng is Popular, Town Malays Drop National Dress, Malays in South Siam Struggle On and New Thoughts on Nationality. (Re)reading those works, you encounter Western civilisation in its most unlikely facade.
In conjunction with the occasion, Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd republished the The Early Years: 1947-1972 compiled by Datuk A. Kadir Jasin which first appeared 1995. This time, the second edition was re-titled as The Writer: The Early Years 1947-1972 with an introduction.
Dr Mahathir first wrote to the newspapers — the Straits Times — on July 20, 1947 under the pseudonym C.H.E. Det. In his preface, Kadir invites us to journey back in time to understand the beginning of Dr Mahathir’s thoughts and opinions on politics, governance and international issues.
Not many of us are aware of Dr Mahathir, the writer. My introduction to the edition with the title Mahathir Mohamad, His Writings, and the West, began by alluding to my General Paper teacher in Lower Six at Penang Free School.
In 1975, in one of our class meetings, our teacher Lim Chin Kee, who also taught Geography, asked: “Can we call Dr Mahathir a writer by just one book?” We had heard of The Malay Dilemma. And many of us thought that the book, banned until the early eighties, was the only book by Dr Mahathir.
Like Mr Lim, we were then unaware of Dr Mahathir’s articles in the Straits Times. We could not have foreseen the discourse behind his numerous books, papers, speeches and now blog that would have spawned the nation’s consciousness for 35 years since 1975.
Dr Mahathir first wrote as editor of the Sultan Abdul Hamid’s College’s Darulaman magazine where he penned a front-page editorial for its single issue in 1945. Later he was editor of the journal The Cauldron, when he was studying at King Edward VII College of Medicine. That was in 1947, the year he first wrote for the Straits Times.
Dr Mahathir’s discourse was extremely diverse. He not only wrote about the Malays, Malaysian politics and society, Science and Technology, education and Islam, he also wrote about the West.
And in many of his later works in the form of speeches and books, he has continually dealt with Europe and the West. Even in introducing the Look East policy in Malaysia, he has in essence engaged us with the West.
His 1947 article dealt with the issue of Malay women empowering themselves and helping their menfolk in the struggle for national existence. This article, his maiden response, is to be followed in his life of writing, to a new world, to a milieu, to modernity and development. It was a response to the Occident and at the same time, a product of European and Western influence.
In the article, Dr Mahathir offered a dialogical construction of the world. He promoted the West, writing through semantics that was not always familiar to the Malay polity then — “political bodies”, “economic and political progress”, “constitutional problems” and the “Occident”. Here he declared his perspective of the world. He called for the adoption of Western culture. He made reference to “the dewy-eyed ‘Lotus Flowers’, once so provokingly shy, were emancipated and became the objects of envy of Malay boys and girls. For a time, Malay parents stuck to traditions and eyed with severe disapproval any modernistic trend among their children.”
He chastised the Malay response where “religious teachings were intensified and a campaign was started to make the word ‘modern’ as odious as possible”. He manifested the tradition of self-criticism in Malay society following Abdullah Munsyi much earlier. He made comparisons with the West, at the same time described to his readers how the West was.
What Dr Mahathir emphasised in his 1947 debut article in countering a Eurocentric view of the world was “religious teachings designed to enable them (Malays) to distinguish between the good and evil if Western culture must be initiated”.
In his early writings, he positioned himself as the subject — an informed rather than a passive one. He displayed a critical sense of judgment on the superiority of the West. Singapore opened his eyes to the possibilities of modernisation, he told Barry Wain in 2007 (Malaysian Maverick, 2009).
In Town Malays Drop National Dress, which appeared in the Straits Times on Nov 28, 1948, Dr Mahathir rebuked Malay men in Singapore for forgetting that “their race has a national dress worthy of their pride”, and that the art of wearing and the desire to wear the national dress had been lost.
Dr Mahathir’s comments in the 1940s preceded the modern-day inquiry on Media and Cultural Studies of the Occidental kind when he observed that “the cosmopolitan atmosphere of this city (Singapore), the American tourists and the cinemas have had their effects, and the result is none too pleasing. In upcountry towns, Raya days are occasions for a display of a riot of colours. Gay kebaya and sarung mingle with equally colourful male attire of silk, satin and threats of gold. Occidental coats and ties are discarded and something of the atmosphere of a true Malay country is recaptured.”
Dr Mahathir was then hardly a year in the British colony. He feared the erasure of Malay identity by the West. Relocating from the fringes of the empire to the commercial centre of colonial Malaya, he had encountered a completely different world in Singapore.
His early writings, embedded in the then nascent modern Malay political identity, make a significant contribution to Malaysia’s intellectual history. In 1947, when an editor of the Straits Times. asked whether he was interested in a job as a journalist, his reply was in the negative.
Dr Mahathir’s writings and the course of the nation’s history would have taken a different route and dimension had the medical student joined the Straits Times.
The writer is a Professor in the Humanities at the Department of Management and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. He is also the Perdana Leadership Foundation Honorary President Resident Fellow. Email him at amurad_noormerican@petronas.com.my
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