Hence the non-Muslims must openly declare that they support not only Hudud but also PAS’s aspiration of turning Malaysia into an Islamic State. Only then will PAS have a chance of winning the 70 seats it is going to contest. And only then will ABU succeed and Pakatan Rakyat get to form the next federal government. And please do not apply critical thinking to what I just said. Critical thinking is what the government is proposing and anything that the government proposes we must oppose if we are loyal opposition supporters.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Subramaniam: Critical thinking vital to developed country goal

The country’s education system should undergo continuous transformation in an effort to produce people who excel at critical thinking, said Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.

He said without critical-thinking people, a country would be left behind in development.

In the march towards developed country status, he said about 50 per cent of the country’s workforce should acquire critical-thinking skills and knowledge.

“The government is looking at changes needed in the education system in an effort to produce critical-thinking students, workforce and people,” he said after launching the national-level Science Fair for Young Children (SFYC) 2012 at the German-Malaysia Institute here today.

Last Friday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was quoted as saying that details of the education transformation plan in an effort to achieve an extraordinary quantum leap in the country’s education field would be announced on September 11. (The Malaysian Insider, 5 August 2012)

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Critical thinking is thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is always true, sometimes true, partly true, or false. Critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic method of Ancient Greece and, in the East, to the Buddhist kalama sutta and Abhidharma.

Critical thinking is an important component of most professions. It is a part of the formal education process and is increasingly significant as students progress through university to graduate education, although there is debate among educators about its precise meaning and scope.

(Brookfield, S.D. "Contesting criticality: Epistemological and practical contradictions in critical reflection" in Proceedings of the 41st Annual Adult Education Research Conference (2000)).

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So there you have it. The government now wants to reform the education system and is now propagating critical thinking. I thought that before we all go off tangent and start shouting, “How can the government talk about critical thinking when we are not allowed to criticise the government?” maybe we should first of all be clear about what critical thinking means.

First of all, I hope that the Minister, Dr S. Subramaniam, and the Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, understand both the concept and the implications of critical thinking. No doubt, this is exactly the type of reforms that the Malaysian education system needs. But are Malaysians, considering the religious and cultural background of most Malaysians, ready to embark on this route that may open up a Pandora’s box that can never be closed once opened?

Let me make one thing very clear. I am in support of critical thinking and I try as much as I can to include arguments based on critical thinking in the articles that I write. Of course, not everyone can accept my arguments and a many a time what I had written had been met with very vicious responses. But is this not so for thousands of years when those who engage in critical thinking were labelled as deviants, heretics, apostates, etc., and were persecuted, arrested, tortured and sometimes put to death for these perceived ‘crimes’?   

I support this move to upgrade Malaysia’s education system and to make critical thinking the thrust of educating our students. Of course, this may go against the stand of some people who view critical thinking as dangerous, especially in matters of religion. But then should we have a caveat on critical thinking? Should we exclude religion, or maybe politics, in the scope of critical thinking and anything but religion (and/or politics) is subjected to critical thinking.

I like what I hear but I fear that this idea may be shot down even as it is still taxiing on the runaway. That is what I fear. And it would be a great shame if that happens because Malaysia would have lost its golden opportunity to change the mindset of Malaysians, many who are still stuck in the last century.

Okay, that is my stand and you now know what my stand is. And this is a plan being proposed by the government. But then I am supposed to be anti-government. So do I oppose this move? I support critical thinking but it is the government that is proposing this. So do I oppose critical thinking since the proposal is coming from the government?

Yes, that is the dilemma that some of us are facing. Even when the government comes out with a good idea we are supposed to oppose that idea mainly because we are supposed to be anti-government. And if we support what the government says and does then we would be labelled as a turncoat, traitor, frog, etc., who has been bribed or bought off to support the government.

Even when the idea is a good idea, as long as it comes from the government, we are supposed to say that the government is not sincere, this is only cakap politik (political talk), they say only but will never do it, and so on. What if we say we like the idea so much that we volunteer to work with the government to make sure that it succeeds? Then we are dead meat. We will be condemned and vilified and everyone will say that this is proof we have been bought off and have sold out.

Hence, to demonstrate that I am a loyal opposition supporter and have not sold out, I shall now oppose the plan to introduce critical thinking into Malaysia’s education system. Critical thinking is an idea that comes from the government and anything that comes from the government is either bad or, even if it is good, cannot be sincere.

But I will need to support my stand of opposing critical thinking with a valid argument. Well, there may be one good argument I can use, an issue that is currently being hotly debated. And that issue is the Islamic law of Hudud.

If we allow critical thinking, Malays would question the practicalities and viability of introducing Hudud in Malaysia. They would look into the history of the Sharia and analyse the reasons why the Sharia exists and so on. And, by applying critical thinking, many Malays may come to the conclusion that Hudud is no longer practical or applicable to modern-day Malaysia.

Critical thinking allows the Malays to think. But thinking Malays may not be beneficial to the opposition’s aspiration of forming the new federal government. Let us look at the 2008 general election results to understand why I say this.

PAS has just announced today that it will be contesting 70 Parliament seats. In 2008, PAS won 23 Parliament seats -- plus two states, of course, Kedah and Kelantan. Umno, however, won 79 seats in 2008. Although PKR won 31 Parliament seats in 2008, not all the seats were ‘Malay’ seats like those won by Umno and PAS.

Hence, if PAS wants to win a large percentage of those 70 seats it is going to contest in the coming general election, it will have to poach those seats from Umno. This means Umno has to lose for PAS to win, although some of those Umno seats will go to PKR. Nevertheless, it is the Umno seats that are most crucial to PAS.

It is, therefore, very important that PAS succeeds. The battle cry is ABU or ‘anything but Umno’. Hence PAS must win a large portion of those 70 seats if we want to see the downfall of Umno.

Now, PAS was formed a year before Merdeka in April 1956 as a splinter of Umno. Then it was called PMIP or the Pan-Malayan Islamic Party. The religious wing of Umno wanted to see more Islamisation while the nationalists in Umno opposed this move. So those in favour of more Islamisation left Umno to form a new Islamic party.

Since then, PAS and Umno have been poaching each other’s seats. If PAS wins then Umno loses and if Umno wins then PAS loses. That has basically been the trend since Merdeka.

So, if we want to see Umno defeated and also see Pakatan Rakyat form the next federal government, we will need to ensure that PAS wins a large portion of the 70 seats it is going to contest. Only then can Umno be brought down and Pakatan Rakyat get to form the new federal government.

Hence the Malays must be made to believe that Hudud is compulsory and that Malaysia must implement the Islamic laws of Hudud. And the Malays must also be made to believe that it is their religious duty to vote for PAS and not for Umno. And this will also mean that the Malays must not be allowed critical thinking or else they may reject Hudud and PAS would not get their votes.

But PAS cannot do this alone. The Malays are of the opinion that the non-Muslims are opposed to Hudud. And Umno is capitalising on this and is playing up the issue. In fact, today, the Umno Blogs are even saying that DAP has a secret plan to turn Malaysia into a Christian state. 

Hence the non-Muslims must openly declare that they support not only Hudud but also PAS’s aspiration of turning Malaysia into an Islamic State. Only then will PAS have a chance of winning the 70 seats it is going to contest. And only then will ABU succeed and Pakatan Rakyat get to form the next federal government. And please do not apply critical thinking to what I just said. Critical thinking is what the government is proposing and anything that the government proposes we must oppose if we are loyal opposition supporters.