The following letter was published on MalaysiaKini.com on May 28 2004. I was not pleased with a column by Dr Mazeni Alwi on how Malaysia should move more towards the Arab World and less towards the West. Why? What can we possible gain from the Arab world at this time in History? Oddly, it was my Arab friends who liked this letter most, many of my American friends were a little surprised at my bluntness.
In his recent Matahati column entitled More Arabic or American? the writer Dr Mazeni Alwi, makes a number of assumptions about American and Arab culture which seem to be out of touch with reality. He suggests that Malaysians should be embracing Arab culture, but should avoid US culture. He is, sadly, overestimating both. His first mistake is equating American culture with globalisation. He writes: "It is true that being a willing player in the corporate globalisation game, we are vulnerable to invasion by such consumerist culture which aggressively try to make us gullible to crave the same food and drinks, wear the same shoes and clothes, watch the same movies and TV shows, and listen to the same mindless music as the American consumers." He blatantly ignores the fact that globalisation has become a two-way street and economic data shows that developing countries like Malaysia are contributing more and more to global cultural trends. Thanks to the high number of foreign immigrants in the US ever hungry for their home culture, the US now has a cultural deficit. In 2000, Americans imported US$60 billion dollars worth of foreign culture (defined by Unesco as printed matter, music, visual arts, cinema, photography, radio, television, games and sporting material) and only exported US$44.4 billion worth. This leaves the US with a cultural deficit of 38.2 percent according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace body. Where does Malaysia stand in this same report? Malaysia actually has a cultural surplus of 5.7 percent. Believe it or not, Malaysia exports more of its cultural elements than it imports from overseas. This is probably due to our culture being imported into neighboring countries like Singapore and Indonesia. America does not equal globalisation. Depending on how you feel about globilisation - America is either its first victim or its first benefactor. Thanks to America’s healthy respect for immigration and multiculturalism, the world has been globalising America far more rapidly than the other way around. Matahati goes on to make a second big mistake. He suggests that American culture is choking other world cultures including the Malay culture. Matahati writes, ‘... this threat to [Malay culture] is not from ‘Arabised’ Malays but from the very same consumerist materialism that does not respect local culture and traditions everywhere.’ As a Malaysian living in America for almost 10 years, I have been amazed to find that American culture is influenced more by the world around it than the other way around. It’s a flexible, ever-changing amalgamation of ideas, values, knowledge and beliefs that come from its many immigrants. Even at home, the United States enjoys no cultural hegemony. American cultural heroes are also turning out to be more and more colorful. Who would have thought that America’s top box-office action star would turn out to be Jackie Chan? Or that the daughter of India’s greatest musician, Ravi Shankar would sweep last year’s Grammys? Or even that a Malaysian by the name of Michelle Yeoh would be a Bond girl? I remember in school in Malaysia when students were crazy about American NBA stars like Abdul-Jabber and Michael Jordan. Well today, Americans are crazy about Chinese-born basketball players Yao-Ming. For every one McDonalds in Asia, there are 1,000 Asian restaurants in the US. Even Asian spiritual ideas like Buddhism, Reiki and Yoga are fast gaining momentum in America. When you embrace American culture, what you’re indeed embracing is a world culture that has been ingrained into America. American culture dominates the world because it embraces the world. It does not kill local beliefs, it intensifies them. Look at how popular Hawaiian cultural elements like surfing, the luau, Hawaiian music and grass skirts have become since Hawaii became a US state. Like so many other writers in malaysiakini, Matahati’s seems to blame America for everything. But cultural imperialism shouldn’t be one of them. Matahati also overestimates Arab culture. Arab culture is far from its pinnacle of success. Has Matahati even read the recent UN Arab Human Development Report? Among its findings are that the Arab world had a GDP growth rate of only 0.5 percent a year for the last 20 years. Furthermore, 50 percent of Arab youth are so disillusioned with their nations that they wish to emigrate. Mazeni talks of knowledge-based Islam – what knowledge? Among the findings of the Arab Development Report: - There are only 18 computers per 1,000 people in the Arab world. The global average is 78 per 1,000. - Only 370 industrial patents were issued to people in Arab countries between 1980 and 2000. In South Korea during that same period, 16,000 industrial patents were issued. - No more than 10,000 books were translated into Arabic over the entire past millennium, equivalent to the number translated into Spanish each year. I am in no way attempting to put down Arabs. Many of my closest friends around the world are Arabs. My point is simply that because of current world realities, Arabs serve as a bad role model for Malaysians. The Arabs should be learning from more progressive Muslim countries like Turkey and yes, Malaysia. Until the Arabs can hold free elections, push knowledge rather than mindless religiosity and bring about women’s rights and embrace pluralism, Malaysia should not be imitating the Arabs. They should be imitating us. Finally Matahati writes: ‘Islam also serves to moderate our tendency towards excessive, irrational sense of nationalist pride that makes us stubbornly cling to shreds of our inherited tradition in the name of cultural preservation.’ The same can be said for the globalised world culture that America espouses. It helps people open themselves up to the world. But there is one fundamental difference between American culture and Islamic culture. American culture is not forced upon someone by their parents or society. It does not assume its own infallibility nor does it call deserters apostates. American culture allows you to love it or leave it. It puts the choice in your hands. Islamic culture has failed to adopt this democratic flavor. It is easy to turn on the TV, glance at MTV and be aghast by American culture. But let’s not forget that the invisible elements of society, those that support the very fabric we are in, are also based on American and Western culture. These include the freedom of speech, women’s right, the right to a fair trial, and democracy. Compare this to Arab culture – lack of free speech, lack of women’s rights, dictatorial regimes, and poor economic growth. It’s ridiculous to follow a loser just because he has the same religion as you. |W|P|110874584504996613|W|P|Arabize or Americanize? The Choice is Clear..|W|P|email@vishen.com