Shaharuddin Maaruf.2014. Malay Ideas On Development From Feudal Lord Capitalist. Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development.
PREFACE
This book was first published in 1988 of
the same title. Some may wonder why this
new edition, instead of an update or even a new book altogether? I favour a new
edition, making changes only where necessary, retaining the original form
basically, for several reasons. Firstly, although many changes had affected
Malay society and Malaysia in general over more than two and a half decades since
the publication of the book, the inquiries of the book and the general concerns expressed
therein, in my estimation prove to be as relevant or pertinent as ever. Specifics
and actors may have changed, which is of course to be expected given the
passage of time and evolution of society, but the ideas or the style of thinking analysed have persisted,
and more likely have even gathered momentum both in terms of strength and
influence.
A second reason for this new
edition, keeping as close as possible to the original, is that I intend it to
be a kind of social documentation as well. I see some value in retaining the
original for in many ways the book itself was part of the time, partaking the
history of ideas in Malay society and the Malaysian nation. In this respect,
‘updating’ the book would invariably carry off with it many elements of social
history, the socio-political conditions and ethos of the time. Hence, for
example, readers will come across many references to personalities holding positions
they have ceased to do so long ago. In such cases and the like, retaining of
the original is deliberate and not to be taken as omission in updating.
I see a third reason for so insisting
on a new edition, keeping close to the original. With the passage of time, the
context in which the book was written had invariably changed, and hence the
meaning and social purpose of the book. At the time of writing during the 80’s,
I intended it to be part of the discourse on Malay development that was raging
then, which invariably spilled over into the discourse on nationalism, capitalism,
Islam, Malay culture, Malay economic lag and the roots of it, the function of
intellectuals and the elite, the vision of society that should guide Malay
society, and of course the New Economic Policy. I hoped then, even as now, to
contribute modestly to Malay society and the Malaysian nation in this way. This is the backdrop that determined the
epistemology and the nuances of the book.
Formally speaking, the New
Economy Policy had been replaced by the New Economic Order, which had been
promulgated in the name of Liberalism. Thus it may seem that the issues and
concerns addressed by the book had been rendered irrelevant by the shift in
policy. Against such proposition, I must that my book addresses itself to the
question of ideas, principles and weltanschaaung
beyond mere policies and formality. It is therefore too early in the day to
conclude that the new Liberalism has definitively replaced the New Economic Policy
(DEB) as an era and ethos, throwing into question the relevance of this book.
It may well turn out to be that the issues and concerns of the book transcend
superficial policy changes in a more fundamental way.
Shaharuddin Maaruf
University of Malaya
15 April 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment