Eddin Khoo speaks
September 5, 2010
Eddin Khoo Speaks of Respect, Openness, Intellectual Development and Culture in Malaysia (La La Land)
Born in 1969, Eddin Khoo is of mixed parentage who was nurtured in a very intellectual environment. His Dad, Professor Emeritus Dr. Khoo Kay Kim is a respected Malaysian historian who can be regarded as a pioneer in the intellectual development of the post Merdeka generation. Like Professor Emeritus Dr. Khoo, I belong to the pre-Merdeka generation, meaning that we spent our teenage years under British and went to English or mission schools. As I listen to Eddin’s interview, I realise that there is no generation gap between us to speak off, although 30 years separate us chronologically speaking.
I admire Eddin for his clarity of thought and eloquence, what he has achieved and what he continues to do. He is an active member of the new generation of Malaysians who want to build a liberal and progressive Malaysia. I agree with him that we now exist (note I do not use the word ‘thrive”) in a society where our values make us individuals without conscience and empathy. We seem to have become a culturally impoverished and insensitive people. This is indeed tragic; for what is economic progress, if we are a nation led by rapacious leaders who put self above nation.
I let Eddin speak on my behalf and I wish to assure him that most men and women of my and his father’s generation understand where he is coming from. Good luck, Eddin.–Din Merican
Eddin Khoo Speaks
Eddin Khoo, well spoken about Msia and the world history, hope and no time for “HOPE”.
We believe your dad knows this country’s background very well which he is not allowed to share with Msians, sad indeed. “Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes few seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.”
___________
Ben, you can read his articles and books. All you have to do is to google him. Here is some information:
Tan Sri Prof Emeritus Dr Khoo Kay Kim (Chinese: 邱家金, born March 28, 1937) is a Malaysian Chinese historian and currently is a Professor Emeritus at University of Malaya’s history department. He was born in Kampar, Perak, Malaysia.
All of his university degrees – B.A. 1959; M.A. 1967; PhD. 1974 – were awarded by the University of Malaya. The title of his PhD thesis is The beginnings of political extremism in Malaya 1915-1935 (1973) and was supervised by Prof. Kennedy G. Tregonning, who was then the Raffles Professor of History. Tregonning was also trained at the University of Malaya. Khoo is one of the co-authors of Rukunegara. He is a highly regarded national academic for his views on local sports and socio-political issues.
ben - September 5, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Pretty sharp thinking and reasoning by Eddin. Studied philosophy huh? Lots of Ivan Illich, Thomas Merton and Jaque Ellul’s macrohistorical stuff in his short interview. I’ve 2 ‘barkings’ only:
1. Losing the Language of Nationhood: How true. Our ability in traditional conflict resolution and mediation between cultures went the way of the dodo. In a multiethnic and multicultural society, this is fatal. The neglect of social sciences and humanities is our undoing. No point having doctors, engineers, lawyer, accountants etc, when there is no sense of Be-ing and thus belonging. What we have, is a ‘nationalism’ that is superficial, cynical and puerile. There is no attempt to understand, much less accept cultures that seem alien. The young Malays seem to think the way of their elders are ‘Karat’, resulting in their self assertions gone awry. Many of the Chinese youth remain stuck in the Utopian dream of Materialistic Self and the Indians are enamored with social status and verbiage. The tools of socio-cultural discourse just aren’t in place. Perhaps our youth are too ‘dense’ to understand it.
2. Hope. depends on your definition. If it is anticipation for some future good that leads one to strive for a goal, then indeed it is necessary. Being Hindu doesn’t absolve one from ‘hoping’. Yes we must be mindful of the Now and the Reality. But without striving for something better, we will all just: “do and do with rule on rule” and we all fall backwards and are ensnared by our own follies, ambitions and unrealistic fantasies.
2.
Menyalak-er - September 5, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Syabas Eddin. Your dad taught you, Rubin and Marvin right. I share your sentiments since we are the same age.
P.S. I like your dad’s truthfulness. On every interview, The Star will always said he conceptualized the Rukunegara. And every time, he will be correcting. It’s not me. It’s King Ghaz. “I am just a member of the panel.”
Sayang Bangsa - September 5, 2010 at 6:19 pm
As I listened to Eddin Khoo speaks, certain phrases kept re-surfacing in my mind like ‘who we are as a people’, ‘search of the inner self’ of a ‘sense of who we are’, the ‘emptiness’ of the Mahathir years, and ‘a language to rationalize that transition’ etc. Born to a Chinese father and an Indian mother it is not surprising to hear the speaker talk about a journey we as a nation find ourselves on. It is also his personal journey. He is a biracial child growing up in an environment that has suddenly broken away with tradition, tending to isolate him in the process. Being a biracial child he grows up in search of an identity, the burden of finding out who he really is and the fact that he obviously looks Malay, but has a Chinese surname and speaks English with an accent that is more of a cross between Chinese and Indian with an empathy for Malay cultural values, does not make it any easier. He seems to belong to all and yet to none.
The parallel between the journey his country, as he sees it, finds itself on and that of his own is not a coincidence. All biracial children find themselves on the same journey, in search of who they really are, a void left by being the product of an interracial marriage, in order to fulfill the basic human need to belong, and the need to have an identity.
Tunku had a Thai mother, Chinese wives and an English wife and as someone with a biracial background it was not surprising that he showed tolerance to an astonishingly high level by today’s standards, to everything that is different and diverse. In the case of our first prime minister, it shaped his views of nationhood and his understanding of the continual need for a national conversation.
Barrack Obama himself a biracial child grew up to face the same problem. Born to an absentee African father and a white mother and raised by white grandparents, he found himself on the same journey and drew parallel between that journey and that of his country. He took to basketball in the hope that people would let him have an identity. He later adopted a black church on the southeast side of Chicago (the equivalent of East End if you are in London) and became a community organizer working among people from whom he has long hoped to identify himself with. In his case it was later to catapult him to the position of leader of the Free World. Today some Americans talk about taking back America, employing pretty much the same rhetoric as our Perkasa leaders do – except that our Perkasa leaders are defending what they see as their rights and making sure these are not taken away from them.
With Tunku it was about the importance of having a never-ending national conversation. Today we lost the ability to converse. We lost the language itself. We traveled from a time when the need for an on-going national conversation was paramount to one when we could not hold one because we have that ability – the language itself.
How fast we dot our i’s and cross out t’s would determine the speed. Meanwhile, it is not about continuing a journey but of putting ourselves back on one.
Mr Bean - September 5, 2010 at 8:24 pm
“..it is not about continuing a journey but of putting ourselves back on one.”
Absolutely, buddy. The language that is lost, can be rediscovered. It may not be exactly the same as that expressed by our beloved Tunku, as times are achanging. Ivan Illich (“Deschooling Society”) wrote about the effects of development and argued that contemporary culture was being corrupted by the “professionalization of virtue”. I quote from his “Tools of Conviviality”:
“Part of the genius of modern instituitions is that they develop rituals that speak to every aspect of peoples’s desires: to vanity, to the love of beauty, to the pursuit of truth and order, to all sensual delight and, coming full circle to the origins of humans – according to scientific literature – they especially speak to fear.”
A kind of ‘soul theft’ that has replaced moral growth with despiriting rules and procedures – putting power in the hands of those least qualified to wield it and taking it away from the very people the system was meant to serve. He also derides the present usage of language as jargon with “amoeba words, Newspeak and Uniquack” which generate forms of deception, lies and falsity. Langauge has now become an object to be manipulated, from it’s original purpose as a medium for fresh and original communication.
How do we, as a ‘divided’ country converse? Through our perceived ‘truths’ in plain language, not hiding the imagined slights and rancour of simple words; and with much soul searching before opening our gabs. To be honest Perkasa is not the only one’s who are idiotic, unintellectual and morally corrupt. There are Chinese and Indian entities as well, although not as rabid. As long as the “Agenda” is for building a better, holistic Malaysia – let the true conversation begin. We may have to start with “baby-talk” again. Enough of coarse rhetoric and vulgar posturing..!
Menyalak-er - September 5, 2010 at 9:21 pm
“As I listen to Eddin’s interview, I realise that there is no generation gap between us to speak off, although 30 years separate us chronologically speaking.” Din Merican
We belong to the Moses generation. Eddin Khoo belongs to the Joshua generation upon whose shoulders lay the burden of finishing the journey. We will not live long enough to see the Promised Land but without the vision of the Promised Land that has guided the Joshua’s among us, we will be just another lost tribe wandering in the desert.
Mr Bean - September 5, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Bean, the sad part is that we are not a lost tribe wandering in the desert. The tribe is broken and all set to terminate each other. This is exactly what Apanamadia, Perkasa, is all about. Now, Najib has shown his true colors, with his public reaction about Teo.
It is now crystal clear. Najib is only trying to fool the people into thinking that he will bring change. Change cannot come from UMNO. UMNO is too selfish to think for the common good of our nation.
james - September 5, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Certainly not the lost twelve tribes.
Mr Bean - September 5, 2010 at 11:24 pm
“Being a biracial child he grows up in search of an identity, the burden of finding out who he really is and the fact that he obviously looks Malay, but has a Chinese surname and speaks English with an accent that is more of a cross between Chinese and Indian with an empathy for Malay cultural values, does not make it any easier. He seems to belong to all and yet to none.” Mr Bean
And so it is that Mr Bean speakes as if he has first hand knowledge of what it feels to be mixed and yet not have a sense of belonging. Such admirable empathy that it seems valied to say that we are all connected in Essence , if not how does Mr Bean seem to know this person’s inner most thought? Or sounds as if he does. But we are all spirits on a human journey. We DON’T belong to this world ,we are of another, passing through to achieve Higher Wisdom from the challenges that we face part of which is How we treat each other hence forth. That I believe should be the new focus of Malaysia for her journey into maturity.
We need more to reflect as Eddin has here and I believe the turmoil that Malaysia faces will produce thinkers of this calibre.
(p/s my friend of Malaysian Indian heritage says that the best looking malays are the mix between Chinese and Indians.)
Kathy - September 6, 2010 at 8:36 am
The sophistication that Eddin talks about is nearly non existent in Malaysia or if it is in existence in the minutest form it is invisible to the public. The depth , the cuture is not there. All people do is sit around at cafe’s sipping their Latte’s to be seen at the right place with the right name brand clothes of handbag. Everything superficial. that is what Malaysia is about right now. It is quite boring as a nation. I have heard lots of complaints about there is nothing else to do but go to shopping centres.
Kathy - September 6, 2010 at 8:53 am
I doubt very many understand ,or any of the younger really thinks about histroy, reading Joseph Conrad or culture or philosophy. Are we a nation that reads at all? ( it is banned as “Sin” in certain states). The country has indeed lost its humanity . Perhaps Din is the one that has to introduce it back to the new genration. How about apart from this blog Din you teach us all about Books we shoud read History, arts, culture and philosophy. After all wasnt it Kakrubi who said that we should tap into your knowledge Din?.
Kathy - September 6, 2010 at 8:57 am
M. Insider carried a Bernama report on Khoo Kay Khim’s take on Article 153. where he reportedly stated that no one should question the article, what more to debate the said article. This Edin bloke should tell his Tan Sri Emeritus dad that the debate is not about the existence of the article but about the abuses related to the article and its hijacking to justify the plundering and abuses of power by UMNO and BN cronies under the pretext of advancing the economic and political progression of the collective Malays and Bumiputras !!!! I found Prof Khoo a stuttering average when he lectured history in MU but now a titeled Prof. Emeritus !!
ken - September 6, 2010 at 5:00 pm
The constitutional right to freedom of speech is not unfettered. The problem is constitutional fetters to our right to free speech have been widened to include questioning of the interpretation itself of constitutional provisions; by doing so the ruling party removes it from public discourse under the pretext that such public questioning raises issues of threat to the country’s security. A plethora of subsidiary legislation has grown over the years to further stifle public dissent.
Hardly the mark of a regime that says it is committed to preserving democracy but acts like democracy is more of an inconvenience.
Mr Bean - September 6, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Quite so Mr bean, it all so deliberate to protect and preserve the greatest Lie in order to preserve their money grabbing mechanism and formula that has thus far worked to cheat the nation of its legitimate resources.
Kathy - September 7, 2010 at 8:16 am