Questionable questions kids face

THE other day, my daughter brought some homework from her university. It was a set of four questions that had to be answered.

I had expected some difficult questions, but what I saw shocked me instead. Two of the four questions had me scratching my head.

One asked students to give four examples of the mass media promoting “ideas of information” that are amoral, lack spirituality and promote disbelief in God by emphasising and idealising hedonism, consumerism and materialism.

Mass media in this case included information and communications technology, advertisement and the global entertainment industry.

The other question asked the students to give four negative effects of ideas such as anthropocentrism, egoism, eurocentrism, rationalism, secularism and liberalism. All these, the question claimed, were seen to be colonising the minds and souls of Malaysians.

Really?

I can understand things like egoism or even eurocentrism – no one likes big egos and we Malaysians do not need a colonial mindset – but liberalism? Or secularism? That’s really strange considering that Malaysia itself is a secular nation.

The Alliance memorandum submitted to the Reid Commission responsible for drafting the Constitution prior to Merdeka said that the religion of the federation shall be Islam, but it shall not imply that the state is not a secular state.

Now, that may sound a little convoluted but in simple language, it just means that although Islam is the country’s religion, Malaysia remains a secular state.

The father of the nation, Tunku Abdul Rahman, had also said as much. He should know. He was the key man behind the Constitution, and a qualified lawyer to boot.

The third prime minister, Tun Hussein Onn, another lawyer who was educated in Lincoln’s Inn, England, had also declared that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as the official religion.

Many other legal experts, like former Lord President Tun Mohamed Suffian Hashim and Emeritus Prof Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, agreed with that interpretation.

So why are students being asked to criticise secularism? The students could have been asked to discuss the pros and cons of these political philosophies; but no, they were asked to focus only on the negatives.

One gets the feeling that there are people with a certain agenda behind these questions.

Liberalism, meanwhile, is basically a philosophy that says the government has to ensure the rights of the individual, liberty, and equality before the law. It also promotes democracy to reduce warfare and fights between nations.

Now, how negative is that?

And why is being rational an evil thing? Sure, there are things about this universe that we do not understand, but rationalism holds that reason is the most important thing. After all, we all do believe that medical doctors should be the ones treating diseases, not witch doctors.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we all agreed that vaccinations work, and not “rasam” or margosa leaves and turmeric baths.

The worst thing, however, was when my daughter said she wanted my input because I work in mass media. And I was supposed to suggest the negative side of mass media? That was driving the knife in.

Are we in the mass media really promoting ideas that are amoral and about disbelief in God? No, I don’t think so.

Hedonism is often touted as a bad thing, but is it, really? It promotes the idea of maximising pleasure for oneself – even to the exclusion of others. But it also includes things like cuddling the dog, petting the kitten, playing with the children and dancing in the rain.

Of course, advertisements often lure people to buy things they do not need, but they also serve to give people choices. Rivals selling similar products advertise and buyers can look at all that’s on offer before parting with their money.

In my more than four decades in the business, I don’t believe there have been many instances when the mass media promoted immoral activities or disbelief in God.

The opposite, in fact, is more likely to be true. So many campaigns against immoral activities have been done via mass media and although there are sections of the entertainment industry that may have adult content, they usually come with a warning to ensure the young are kept out.

Of course, all sorts of content are available on the Internet. All it takes is a few taps on a keyboard, but that is no fault of the mass media, or even the entertainment industry. It’s a whole dark industry that has to be wiped out.

And disbelief in God? God forbid! No advertisement – or report – in Malaysia can see the light of day if it promotes blasphemy or even atheism.

There may be some movies that promote atheism, but there are just as many – or more – that glorify God.

After all, it’s right there in our Rukun Negara, the very first pillar, “Belief in God”.

I have to assume that those who drew up the Rukun Negara wanted to ensure that we all believe in God, whatever our religion.

Oh, and we should read the preamble too. It says we must ensure a liberal approach towards our rich and varied cultural traditions.

Those learned professors who set questions for our tertiary students should know that.

Maybe, they should focus instead on things students should really be criticising, like corruption, kleptocracy, nepotism, discrimination, extremism and apartheid.

I would willingly give suggestions on the negative side of those things to my daughter and her friends.