Well folks The Star came by the other day and interviewed me for their "Moderates" series they are running. Here is the article that appeared in today's Star (Saturday 17 January 2015).
KUALA LUMPUR: A moderate and developed society is one where people can listen to views contradictory to their own and react intelligently instead of emotionally, said prominent blogger and businessman Syed Akbar Ali.
One of the benchmarks of being a developed nation, he said, was having a society that was moderate.
“It is not just how much money we have in our pockets. We can have all the money in the world but if we are clawing and scratching at each other for small things, then we are not there yet,” said Syed Akbar, who runs the blog “Outsyed The Box”.
Syed Akbar, who has been blogging for about six years, said the Government needed to pay serious attention to what was happening in the country.
One of the benchmarks of being a developed nation, he said, was having a society that was moderate.
“It is not just how much money we have in our pockets. We can have all the money in the world but if we are clawing and scratching at each other for small things, then we are not there yet,” said Syed Akbar, who runs the blog “Outsyed The Box”.
Syed Akbar, who has been blogging for about six years, said the Government needed to pay serious attention to what was happening in the country.
Thats me doing the thing with my hands
“Referring to the letter by the 25 Malay personalities on moderation – they are people of prominence.
“Is the Government going to ignore what they have said?
“I think the Government has an obligation to listen to them and find out why they wrote the letter,” said the blogger who is an investment banker and developer.
Commenting on The Star’s “Voices of Moderation” campaign, Syed Akbar said it was a reminder that Malaysians should not take moderation for granted.
He said while he believed that race relations among the Malaysian people were still strong, it may not last long if extremism was not addressed.
“If we don’t check it now, it will seep down to the ground and infect the masses.
“If the Government doesn’t clamp down on this, it could lead to a real change among the younger people and school-going children and this is very dangerous,” he said.
Tackling this issue, however, should not be through imposing criminal charges or by harassment, he said.
“We have to engage them and have dialogues. There must be an sincere and honest desire to solve the problem or to prevent it from getting worse,” he said.
The Sedition Act in its current form, he added, was way past its shelf life.
“It was introduced in 1948. It is a colonial act. Now we have come so far, the country has evolved, the act needs to evolve as well.
“We have to fine-tune it so that people can question certain things and need not be held criminally liable for discussing certain issues.
“Otherwise, we will not grow as a mature society,” he said.
Syed Akbar added that it was worrying that the sphere of religion was increasingly being dragged into various issues.
“I believe we can never use religion to solve problems. When people have problems, we look for accepted methods, such as going to court.
“We gather evidence, present it and accept the decision-maker’s decision. It is based on logic, mathematics or science.
“Religion is not a science – it does not have a conflict-resolution mechanism.
“But in our country, unfortunately, religion is being pushed more and more to the fore.
“We must remove religion from the public sphere, and keep it inside our homes and our hearts,” he said.
“Is the Government going to ignore what they have said?
“I think the Government has an obligation to listen to them and find out why they wrote the letter,” said the blogger who is an investment banker and developer.
Commenting on The Star’s “Voices of Moderation” campaign, Syed Akbar said it was a reminder that Malaysians should not take moderation for granted.
He said while he believed that race relations among the Malaysian people were still strong, it may not last long if extremism was not addressed.
“If we don’t check it now, it will seep down to the ground and infect the masses.
“If the Government doesn’t clamp down on this, it could lead to a real change among the younger people and school-going children and this is very dangerous,” he said.
Tackling this issue, however, should not be through imposing criminal charges or by harassment, he said.
“We have to engage them and have dialogues. There must be an sincere and honest desire to solve the problem or to prevent it from getting worse,” he said.
The Sedition Act in its current form, he added, was way past its shelf life.
“It was introduced in 1948. It is a colonial act. Now we have come so far, the country has evolved, the act needs to evolve as well.
“We have to fine-tune it so that people can question certain things and need not be held criminally liable for discussing certain issues.
“Otherwise, we will not grow as a mature society,” he said.
Syed Akbar added that it was worrying that the sphere of religion was increasingly being dragged into various issues.
“I believe we can never use religion to solve problems. When people have problems, we look for accepted methods, such as going to court.
“We gather evidence, present it and accept the decision-maker’s decision. It is based on logic, mathematics or science.
“Religion is not a science – it does not have a conflict-resolution mechanism.
“But in our country, unfortunately, religion is being pushed more and more to the fore.
“We must remove religion from the public sphere, and keep it inside our homes and our hearts,” he said.
My comments : Well I am an ex banker. To stress on the "religion does not have a conflict resolution mechanism" point, I have already spoken about this before in this Blog. This is an argument I am pushing wherever I give a talk or an interview.
The other point I like to stress is the need to amend our libel and slander laws. They are worse than the ISA or the Sedition Act and are really responsible for keeping this country down. Maybe more on this later.
Religion is not science. In religion you cannot use the methods of science like logic, mathematics, evidence and empirical measurement to prove your faith. Religion is just blind belief.
(The only exception is the Quran which to me is logic. That is why I say the Quran and religion are two different things.)
So how are you going to solve real world problems by drawing upon religion? You cannot. Which is why religious based disputes have never been solved. Examples : the 1400 year sunni-shia dispute, the catholic-protestant dispute and many other religious disputes.
It is simply "my belief" versus "your belief". So the more you fall back on religion to resolve disputes, the more unresolved those disputes will become.
The other point I like to stress is the need to amend our libel and slander laws. They are worse than the ISA or the Sedition Act and are really responsible for keeping this country down. Maybe more on this later.
Religion is not science. In religion you cannot use the methods of science like logic, mathematics, evidence and empirical measurement to prove your faith. Religion is just blind belief.
(The only exception is the Quran which to me is logic. That is why I say the Quran and religion are two different things.)
So how are you going to solve real world problems by drawing upon religion? You cannot. Which is why religious based disputes have never been solved. Examples : the 1400 year sunni-shia dispute, the catholic-protestant dispute and many other religious disputes.
It is simply "my belief" versus "your belief". So the more you fall back on religion to resolve disputes, the more unresolved those disputes will become.
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