Farish Noor: Neo-colonialism is never the answer

[pywong]

No, neo-colonialism is never the answer

Wednesday, 05 November 2008 12:24

Today, the structures of colonial rule persist with colonial era-inspired laws such as Malaysia’s Internal Security Act still in place; and the ruling elite of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries are likewise distanced from their own people. Like the colonial masters of the past, they view their own fellow citizens with incredulity, and fail to understand how plural and complex their societies really are, observes Aliran member Farish Noor.


I recently had a conversation with an Indonesian political analyst in Singapore, where I am currently based. In the course of our discussion about the state of Indonesian politics, he let slip a statement that I felt terribly uncomfortable with. While lamenting the state of Indonesia’s convoluted politics, he opined thus: “I wonder if Indonesia ’s problems could be solved if we allowed a foreign government to run our country?”

http://www.aliran.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=751:no-neo-colonialism-is-never-the-answer&catid=55:2008&Itemid=40

[Isa Rahim]

There's a lot of factual errors and stereptyping in Farish Noors article, which betrays an extremely partisan view of the colonial era.

I agree with the overall theme, that neo-colonialism is never the answer.
However, the reasons for this are not the ones that Farish Noor alleges.

The most important error in Farish Noor's article is that the corruption factor is entirely ignored. It's the inability to remove corruption which thwarts and supercedes democratic mechanisms. And it's the democratic mechanisms and independent journalism which ensures that the complexities of the society are cared for by the system of government; not individuals.

Then there's a quite blatant error in the discussion about ISA. Yes ISA might have originally been put in place by the British; but the purpose and employment of this act was and is almost entirely post-merdeka. It's ultimately corruption which keeps ISA and - of equal seriousness - OSA intact.

Unfortunately neo-colonialism still exists, but not in the shape that Farish Noor purports. That there are pockets of colonial dreamers in various places in the world has no bearing on the future of the world. But that countries like Malaysia and Indonesia handle parts of their countries with strong imprints of colonial settlements, may they be Sabah, Sarawak, Bali or Sumbawa, will ultimately have major impact in the future.