The Other Malaysia

by Farish A. Noor

(Below is an abbreviated summary of the impromptu speech given by the author
- Farish A. Noor- during the launch of his book ‘The Other Malaysia' at Silverfishbooks in
Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur on Jan 18. Two days later, the police raided
malaysiakini's office.)

-text of speech-

Allow me to begin by thanking Silverfishbooks for consenting to put together a collection of my articles that were first published by the online daily malaysiakini. I have to thank Raman Krishnan and the team at Silverfishbooks for all the work they have done, and for trying to bring it out as soon as humanly possible. I also have to thank Amir Muhammad who came up with the idea in the first place - without his support and hard work, this book would
never have come out.

Thanks are also due to Steven Gan, Siew Eng and the staff of malaysiakini for their support over the years. Malaysiakini was one of the few independent media outlets in the country that gave me an opportunity to air my thoughts and share my ideas with others, and by providing the service that they do, they have helped to open up new spaces and avenues for public discourse on matters that were previously regarded as marginal, irrelevant or even taboo.

As a political scientist and historian, I have always marvelled at the way we Malaysians continue to live a life of ease and comfort, buffered by our cosy platitudes and instrumental fictions. Ours is a historical narrative that remains myopic, narrow and one-sided: the contribution of other marginalised groupings women, ‘minorities' (I have to state here that I hate this term), the underclass and the subaltern remain outside the ambit of official history
till today.

Other Malaysias

In many of my columns I tried to show that there was another Malaysia, in fact many other Malaysias, that exist as well. I tried to highlight the forgotten or erased aspects of our common history, in order to show that the historical development of Malaysia was far more complex than we often think it to be.

In particular, I wanted to show that the process of historical development itself was more often than not a combined effort, bringing together agents and actors whose own parts in the national drama were not acknowledged and recognised.

Official Malaysian historiography still privileges o­ne particular historical subject - that of the Malay, Male, Middle-class Muslim - as the primary actor on the stage of Malaysian politics.

Though many of my columns dwelled on the lives of such figures, their aim was to debunk the myth that such a unified and simplistic subject exists. I tried to show that such essentialist understandings of identity were in need of major critical analysis and deconstruction, something that can only be done when we accept that the writing of history itself is often political in nature and guided by particular political interests.

Malaysian culture is a myriad of multiple influences and personalities, and it would be wrong for us to assume that Malaysian history has been static or that its development was linear or fixed. We in this country still labour under a political system that is shaped by the vectors of race, ethnicity, gender, class and religion.

Despite of all the talk of ‘multiculturalism', this society remains deeply divided and fragmented from within. Alienation is the norm, as the politics of identity have been subsumed under the politics of communitarianism instead.

Yet these identities are really plural, internally differentiated, complex and shifting all the time. To speak the language of simplistic communitarian politics would mean distorting the realities of Malaysia today, which are far more complex and confounding than they really are.

It is o­nly when we recognise the manufactured aspect of history: that nothing is given, fixed or decided by fate - that we come to realise our full potential as agents and actors ourselves. We cannot rely on politicians alone to bring change. (Reading the writings of some of them, I have to tell you  much hope or faith in any of the parties on the political scene today.) The politicians themselves are hostage to their political agendas and the limited and exclusive demands of their specific constituencies.

Real change

Real change comes from below, from the level of the ordinary and subaltern, where the painful realities of economics and power-relations hit the ground. Despite the failings of our leaders (whom we ourselves have elected), we ordinary people can still win back control of our politics and our history. My columns attempted to do just that, to remind us of the actions and efforts of the little people and ordinary members of society, or those whose labour have long since been forgotten or erased.

Unless and until we realise our true potential and abilities; until we are aware of our own capacity to alter and affect the historical process, we will remain the passive subjects of an official history that we cannot alter for ourselves. As citizens of this country we need to exercise our will and power to change things, to involve ourselves in the politics of everyday life and to assert our will as rational beings endowed with rational agency. We cannot
and should not allow politics, history and the writing of history to be confined solely to the institutions of conventional politics and the ivory towers of academia.

It doesn't have to be like this. A close reading of the past will remind us of the multiple possibilities of what this country could have been and where it can go, still. We need not remain trapped by a communitarian politics that divides our society along the lines of race and religion forever. Our trajectory into the future has not been decided, and never will be. We can still dream of a better, freer, more democratic and equal Malaysia.

Independent media

But for that to happen, we should be allowed to think and dream aloud at least. It is for that reason that a free and independent media is so important for a country like Malaysia.

Malaysiakini arrived o­n the scene in 1999, at a time when the Malaysian public was o­n the lookout for alternative sources of news and information. Some of you will still remember that at that time there were dozens of alternative websites in cyberspace, offering a myriad of views and readings of Malaysian politics. Many of these websites became politicised and
partisan, but malaysiakini maintained its independence and objectivity while the others succumbed to the vicissitudes of politics.

Over the years, malaysiakini has offered me, as well as a host of other writers, a space where we could write about issues and concerns such as gender, politics, race, and religion.

As a believer in the transformative potential of progressive Islam, I regarded malaysiakini as one of the few websites where such ideas could be raised and discussed in a frank and
intelligent manner.

Of course many of these debates were contentious and some of us had to pay the price for writing the things we did. As many of you know by now, I, along with some others who are here today, were attacked by some hardline religious groupings last year for the stand that we took on a number of issues. But malaysiakini stood by us and gave us both the media space and support to go on.

Today, there is a need for media outlets like malaysiakini here in Malaysia. For there to be any real change in this society and for us to progress towards a politics that is truly democratic, plural and open, a free and independent media is paramount.

No attempt to create a tolerant and democratic form of governance and/or a progressive school of Islamic thought can succeed without the existence of a free press.

A free media is the best - and in many cases - the only defence against both religious fanaticism and secular extremism.

A free and independent media remains a check against the abuse of power and the culture of authoritarianism. I for o­ne am happy that malaysiakini arrived on the scene. Long may it last.
 

(from Malaysiakini website column)