October 5, 2008
Well folks, this is my Blog. Have I arrived? I guess I am a writer too. Those of you who have read The Sun newspaper when it first appeared many years ago may recall a column called ‘Human Rites’ by an Akbar Ali. Well that was me. I wrote that column in The Sun from 1996 until 2002.
In the Malay language, I also wrote the column ‘Komentar Hujung Minggu’ in the Berita Minggu from 1999 till 2004. Then both my columns sort of faded away. So I took to writing books. My first book ‘To Digress A Little’ came out in 2005. It has sold over 6000 copies – not bad for a first outing for a local writer writing in English.
My second book ‘Malaysia And The Club of Doom – The Collapse of the Islamic Countries’ was published in September 2006. It has so far sold over 12000 copies. Both books are still available at the major bookstores. If you have not read them yet, please do. You may find them quite interesting and also informative.
My third book ‘Things In Common’ is soon going to print. I hope to see it in the bookshops by end October. Do get your copy and read it too. I dont want to sound like a salesman selling his own books but the fact that my first two books have sold 18,000 copies in total in two years is proof enough that many readers find my messages quite useful. I think that I do have something useful to say.
But why Blog (aka write)? It reminds me of the American joke, ‘what happens if you cross a rooster with a telephone pole’? The less colourful answer has something to do with wanting to ‘reach out and touch someone’. This was the tagline in an AT&T ad that was quite famous in the US. AT&T or American Telephone & Telegraph is the famous US telephone company, also known as Ma Bell.
The Internet started off in Malaysia in the mid nineties. I have been ‘Netting’ since then. There were no Blogs available at that time. But you could set up a discussion list or a discussion group like Yahoogroups and others. Nowadays they call it blogging but essentially it is writing. Only the format is so advanced now. You can say your piece, add pictures, videos and links which can make your Blog really informative.
I hope the little intro that you will read in my Blog will give you a clear idea of what I would like to say in my Blog. First of all I have chosen the name OutSyed The Box. Its all about thinking. Let me reproduce my Blog intro.
‘To embark on unfettered thinking, inside the solitude and privacy of that ocean of space inside our cranium. No one else can access that most spacious of places. The dead cannot think. Those who retain boundaries inside their brains remain uncivilised. Ergo life becomes a slow, sorrowful funeral, full of unhappiness, looking over the shoulder, doom and gloom. Poverty of thought ensures their poverty.’
Even in the US, Europe and elsewhere – people are always talking about ‘thinking’. We never stop hearing people say ‘we need new thinking, new mindsets, new ideas, we should not be afraid to think freely’ etc. Barack Obama’s campaign slogan ‘Vote For Change’ is all about new thinking. Constantly generating new thoughts and new ideas is essential to progress.
However there is one big difference between the US, the Europeans, the other so called First World countries and what are generally known as the Third World countries. The Third World countries would include us. Malaysia is still firmly entrenched in the Third World. Well the difference is that the First World has long ago found out that there must not be any fetters or controls on thinking. This is Step 1.
It does not mean that unfettered thinking automatically generates genius. The unfettered thinking in the US for example in the past ten years has resulted in them shedding the blood of hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their unfettered thinking has also resulted in the present financial fiasco that is now engulfing their economy.
But the counter argument to that is the fact that under George Bush, American politics has been relying on the infamous ‘if you are not with us then you are against us’ bullying. This bully mentality has been counter productive to free thinking. You had to toe the line. Bombing Iraq and Afghanistan is a clear cut case of behaviour sanctioned by non-thinking.
The same argument applies to their financial markets. Over the years certain religious mantras have developed in their financial system which could not be questioned. Financial deregulation, asset securitisation, derivatives and hedging followed by derivatives trading and hedge transactions became huge temple walls which you could not question or attempt to tear down. They developed their own Chief High Priests who soon started making fatwa to condemn any heretics who questioned them.
But the wonderful thing about the First World is that they do not stop thinking. They do not prevent people from thinking what they want. Hence they are able to repair their wrongs and fix what is broken rather quickly. They pick up the broken pieces quickly and move on. It is most likely that the Americans will come out of their present state of affairs, they will heal and move on stronger than ever.
But in the Third World (which includes Malaysia) even the act of thinking is not always allowed. (We have not come to the output of any thought processes yet, we are still stuck at the act of thinking). If you want to say something, you may need a certificate first. Printing licenses, University approvals, religious credentials, Home Ministry approvals etc may be necessary before you even start thinking. If you do not have one, then you cannot even start to think.
Then assuming you have secured these licenses, credentials and so on, and you start thinking, your thoughts must then pass muster. What you think can be censored or even censured. And you may also be prosecuted for what you think.
The end result is that there is not much thinking allowed in our country. What it means is that we remain in the Third World. We remain poor, backward and yes we remain stupid. And complicating things in Malaysia is the fact that the divide between the thinking and the unthinking is often differentiated by race and religion.
The Internet and Blogging must be expedited to change all this. The difference between the Blogs and the mainstream media is that views such as that expressed here will not see the light of day in the mainstream media. The MSM has become the cheerline for the mindless.
So with that I hope that you will all happily read my Blog, talk about it and tell people about it. We have minds to set free.
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Editor’s Note: Folowing is a sort of INTRODUCTION about the new kid on the blog, and who better to do the honours than All-Blogs President, eh! ~~ YL Chong
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Ah, Syed Akbar Ali blogs!
By Ahirudin Attan aka rockybru
OutSyed The Box. Blogosphere has been waiting for Syed to start his own blog. He wrote a column in the Sun from 1996 to 2002. and has authored two books. Alright, alright, Syed also has a court case pending for thinking aloud.
Please visit his brand new blog for a tutorial on thinking, and to find out why we are still Third World and why we may stay Third World (unless everybody blogs).