The Dumbing-Down of Bolehsia.

******************************************************

Whatever Mahathir's lazy and myopic Vision 2020 may say, it is my belief that a "first-world " nation is built on the foundation of viable philosophical ideas nurtured by their intellectuals and politicians - and not the physical attributes as in KLCC, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya etc. Rather than investing in intellectual growth, the myopic authorities we have would rather spend our limited resources at their disposal, to create physical monstrosities in their pursuit of material wealth. As a result, we have the common man gawking at the physical progress, with little spiritual/intellectual growth that makes such physical growth sustainable.

New ideas are more often than not, demonized and dismissed even before it is discussed in a civilized manner. Mob mentality is subtly encouraged by the authorities, to prevent discussions or forums that highlight progressive ideas or the failures of the Umno warlords in ruling the country. A free Media and Democracy which is the saving grace of the nation, are subverted by fascists who reason that religious bigotry, racial dominance and racism has to remain the paramount priority.

The ruling elite, through the Information and Education ministries however believe otherwise - and as such, indulge in the systematic emasculation of the electorate which surrenders itself to them (read Umno). Unknown to many Malaysians, the real target of this dumbing-down, is non other than the Malay people themselves - so that they are easily hoodwinked into submission to the "glorious Umno leadership". This group of Malay elite have managed to successfully indoctrinate a clueless people that they, and only they can be and will be the sole guardians of the Malay people - and as such, are indispensable. The basic simplistic "philosophy" that they propagate is this - "Malay dominance under the Umno elite - at any cost". It doesn't matter if they are corrupt and plunder the country's resources. Never mind if, a generation of unthinking graduates are created. Never mind if we have a nation of pseudo-intellectual "basket-weavers" and rempits. Never mind the numerous bogus degree/ PhD holders. Never mind the refusal of PR status for the numerous professionals (and/or spouses). What matters is that we have Umno to represent a people satisfied with their own mediocre standards of "Cemerlang, Gemilang and Terbilang".

Today, you have the moronic Muhyiddin and Khairy defending a disbarred Rohaizat (who also denies having an unregistered second spouse), as a worthy candidate, while saying that it matters not if he has a credible past, and all that matters is that he can "bring development" under the BN banner.
We also have the Malay MSM/tabloid propagating fascist ideas like - "Democracy is meaningless if Malays were to lose political dominance" and that Malays are cowards for not "rising up against the boldness of the non-Malays". There was once a commenter on MalaysiaToday (long before the March 8 "tsunami"), who even said that he "would rather swing from tree to tree in the jungles with the comfort of knowing that Malays rule the the country, than achieve progress while living under the political dominance of 'pendatangs'"! The strangest part of it all is the fact that we have a cadre of political midgets who strive to defend mindless remarks such as these, by regarding them as "Malay nationalists"!

There is this "lazy" habit which is adopted and encouraged by the BN elite - that of seeking the easy way out and neglecting the use of clear, definite and precise expressions to articulate complex ideas that abound. Simplistic understanding of complex problems coupled with ideas that pander to the lowest social denominator appear to be the standard response in all that come to light - and the rest are just swept under the carpet. It is as clear as daylight that there is an “impediment” in their ability to conceive philosophical problems in a clear and unambiguous manner, or to articulate their response to it in a coherent manner. This "lazy" attitude is also seen in many of the projects undertaken by the ruling elite of this country. They are more concerned about the propagation of simplistic ideas, that highlight the differences between communities, so as to create confusion and mutual suspicion among the people - to make their role of "peacemakers", indispensable.

Chief among those are attempts at creating an academic community of politically enslaved intellectual amoebas, whose job is to twist and spin ideas that perpetuate the narrow & fascistic agenda of politicians, who seek to consolidate their grip on power.
One significantly lazy idea (among others), was the "formula for the short-cut to success" which was masterminded by none other than our dear Tun Dr. Mahathir - the introduction of PPSMI. He even went on to claim that Malaysians (especially the Malays) will be stupid if they did not accept PPSMI!!
(**Excuse me, TDM sir, but I don't think Umno needs any help in achieving the “Stupid” status – you got them there long ago - even with the English education which you had).
This myopic idea was mooted with total disregard for the necessity to develop scientific/literary/commercial progress in the Malay language, which remains the one identifying and unifying factor of the Malay majority and the nation as a whole. The fact that the emasculation of the language would affect its role as a tool of progress for the vast majority of Malaysians who are now more well-versed in Malay than English, was totally ignored. The linguistic disconnect which the vast majority of under-privileged may suffer would also be a serious destabilizing factor in the long run.
This is not to imply that English is to be disregarded or ignored - on the contrary, proficiency in English has to be developed in tandem with that of Malay as a tool of communication in society, trade, research and in literature – through increased utilization.
One more new "lazy" idea that has come out (of Mahathir too?) of late is the idea of having the Chinese media translate themselves into Malay- for the benefit of those who are too lazy to learn and translate the language themselves!

One can also see the lack of reading material (original or translated) in the Malay language when it comes to higher levels of knowledge in any and all fields - be it the arts/ literature, Law, science, mathematics, politics, philosophy, religion. No effort is also made on part of the authorities to encourage the translation of classics in foreign languages. Almost all of the educated class (except for the vast majority of the half-baked academics) are forced to do their thinking in English, and due to the limited nature of the Malay language, are unable to translate complex ideas coherently into Malay.

It is quite clear that the Umno elite chooses by design, to systematically paralyze the minds of ordinary Malaysians (mainly the Malay community), while appearing to strive for excellence and progress. Unknown to many, the truth is exactly the opposite of what they claim. Contrary to what many of their followers believe, it is in Umno's interest that they make the “Myth of the Lazy Malaysian”, become reality. What they want is none other than the dumbing-down of Malaysians, to create a community rich with graduate "basket-weavers", who take pride in their ability to be unthinking pseudo-intellectual zombies. To do otherwise, would spell doom to the future of UMNO as we know it. It is just to bad that Umno has miscalculated in its arrogance, and so BN is now on shaky ground - and as such, its days are numbered.

With the control over the mainstream media it had for propaganda, it did not figure the internet in the equation - they realized too late that they cannot have a monopoly on the media, unless it wishes to go back to the stone age. They do not control knowledge or information any longer, as the internet has "liberated" the media to a certain extent. Using the Police and the MACC, no matter what they do to subvert Pakatan state governments and Democracy for now - (which they may very well succeed, considering Umno's power, bigoted/racist mindsets and PR's poor "planning, organization & teething problems")- it is just a matter of time before Malaysians rise up once again to emancipate themselves, and throw these Umno warlords out of the corridors of power for good.

****************************

"I say, let these powers be abused, and you will see
how the people in the country will rise against it.”
- Tun Dr. Ismail, debating the ISA

***************************************