Enggan Berfikir Dengan Teliti Mungkin Membawa Maut

Enggan Berfikir Dengan Teliti Mungkin Membawa Maut

M. Bakri Musa

 

(Petikan dari terjemahan buku saya “Qur’an, Hadith, Dan Hikayat:  Latihan Berfikir Dengan Teliti”)

“Jika anda buta, menggambarkan wajah gajah senang sahaja. Seperti cerita dongeng enam orang buta, anda boleh menyifatkannya seperti batang pokok besar; kipas gergasi; atau tali kecil panjang, dan seterusnya. Tetapi kalau anda boleh melihat, yakni tidak buta, kerja anda akan menjadi lebih rumit.”

Dari Chinua Achebe "The Sweet Aroma of Zik's Kitchen, from “The Sweet Aroma of Zik’s Kitchen” in The Education of a British-Protected Child (“Harum Manis Dari Dapor Zik" dalam “Pendidikan Kanak-Kanak Yang Dilindungi British.”)

 

Kita kerap kali berbuat keputusan tanpa berfikir dan merenungkan akibatnya. Dalam keadaan biasa, ini mungkin tidak mengapa. Jika keputusan kita tersilap atau salah, akibatnya terhad dan tidak akan memberi bencana atau keburukan yang besar. Contohnya ialah memilih gerai makan untuk berbuka puasa. Begitu juga jika kita terpesona kepada penjual di kedai kaki lima. Kalau tertipu kita kehilangan hanya beberapa ringgit sahaja, melainkan jika makanan di jual itu tidak bersih atau bercampur dengan bahan bisa atau ramuan berbahaya.

 

            Tetapi semasa wabak Covid-19 atau rusuhan kaum, keputusan yang biasanya mudah dan senang di buat mungkin membawa maut jika tersilap. Wabak Covid-19 di Malaysia tercetus akibat perhimpunan besar Tablighi Jamaat di sebuah masjid Kuala Lumpur pada akhir Februari 2020.

 

            Semasa rusuhan perkauman Mei 1969, seorang gadis sekolah dan rakannya ingin menuntun wayang di pusat bandar. Biasanya keputusan sedemikian di buat tanpa berfikir panjang. Tetapi dalam suasa yang amat bertukar, keputusan gadis itu mengakibatkan sahabatnya terkorban dan ianya di kejam igau tengah malam yang tidak berhenti, seperti yang di ceritakan oleh Hanna Alkaf dalam novel autobiografinya yang memukau, The Weight of Our Sky. (“Beban Langit Kita.”)

 

            Kita mesti berhati-hati bila berbuat sesuatu keputusan sungguh pun itu mungkin di lihat sebagai tidak penting kerana anda telah melakukannya kerap kali. Tetapi keadaan semasa mungkin berubah tanpa anda sedari, seperti semasa rusuhan kaum 1969 atau bencana lain seperti wabak Covid 19. Kita perlu sentiasa berwaspada jika ingin mengelak bahaya dan tidak terkorban.

 

            Namun semasa kemuncak wabak Covid-19, ada yang mendakwa bahawa kita harus patut takut kepada Tuhan lebih daripada virus yang tidak nampak. Pada kaum Kristian pula, Nabi Isa akan melindungi mereka dengan lebih berkesan daripada memakai topeng muka atau di suntik. Beribu mungkin berjuta yang terpesona dengan kata menenangkan hati itu, termasuk orang Islam di Malaysia mendengar imam mereka ke kaum Kristian kulit putih di Amerika dengan paderi mereka. Akibat mendengar pemimpin agama tanpa berfikir dengan teliti membawa maut dan kesedihan kepada keluarga mereka yang berpanjangan.

 

            Keengganan atau malas untuk berfikir dengan teliti sebelum berbuat sesuatu keputusan yang besar atau kecil bukanlah kelemahan atau tabiat mereka yang miskin, kurang pengetahuan, tidak berpendidikan, atau rakyat Dunia Ketiga sahaja. Kebijakan dan kelulusan tinggi bukanlah jaminan bahawa anda tidak akan tertipu. Anda mungkin pintas dan bijak dalam satu bahagian tetapi itu tidak semestinya terpindah atau ada kena mengena di kawasan lain. Mungkin anda berada di dalam persekitaran yang baru di mana andaian sebelum tidak boleh digunakan atau tidak lagi sesuai. Pelancong mudah tertipu kerana mereka kurang sedar tentang persekitaran baru dan mengandaikan bahawa keadaan lama mereka masih berada.

 

            Sebaliknya mereka yang cerdik dan pandai pun mungkin menjadi mangsa. Sangkaan bahawa mereka mahir, bijak dan bermaruah tinggi dan beramanah hanya atas nama dan pangkat serta kononnya kelulusan dan kepakaran, sering tersasar dan mungkin membawa ke jalan jahanam.

 

            Pada tahun 2008 Bernie Madoff, seorang pengurus wang terkenal di Wall Street New York dengan beribu-ribu pelanggannya, ditangkap kerana menjalankan apa yang kemudiannya terbukti sebagai satu skim wang Ponzi yang rumit. Yakni, dia menggunakan dana daripada pelanggan baru untuk membayar "keuntungan" lumayan yang dijanjikan kepada pelanggan terdahulu.

 

            Pelanggan Madoff semuanya bijak, berjaya, dan berkelulusan tinggi. Madoff tahu bahawa mereka akan semestinya bertanya dengan teliti beberapa soalan penting. Untuk memastikan bahawa itu tidak berlaku, Madoff memperolehi keyakinan mereka dengan cara lama. Yakni dia "menjamin" pelabur awalnya aliran keuntungan yang mantap. Kecuali itu bukan keuntungan yang tulen, sebaliknya wang daripada pelabur baru yang terpikat dengan janji keuntungan yang terjamin yang di alami oleh pelanggan asli. Pada dasarnya, dia menumpulkan akal dan fikiran kritikal mereka dengan wang. Itu cara lama, satu sifat rasuah walaupun mereka tidak menyedarinya sebagai begitu.

 

            Kita biasa dengan permainan silap mata. Ahli silap mata itu akan mengalihkan perhatian anda, dan dalam sekelip mata burung merpati muncul dari lengan panjangnya. Penuntun kagum!

 

            Istilah “silap mata” mencerminkan apa yang berlaku dari segi anatomi. Silap mata mencerminkan dengan lebih benar dari segi anatomi apa yang berlaku dengan lebih tepat lagi daripada frasa Bahasa Inggeris "sleight of hand" (keliruan tanggan). Tipu helahnya ialah melalui mata, bukan tangan.

 

            Bila kita menerima sesuatu keputusan, maklumat atau penegasan daripada seseorang tanpa menggunakan keupayaan otak kita untuk berfikir dan menilainya, kita membenarkan diri kita di mainkan atau menjadi alat silap minda mereka. Kita mungkin menjadi mangsa mereka dan dipermainkan seperti dalam silap mata. Menggunakan otak dengan teliti dan berfikir cara kritis akan menjauhkan diri kita untuk dipermainkan atau terus terang tertipu.

 

            Dalam silap mata, mata kita terpikat kepada benda yang lain. Dalam silap minda kita terganggu oleh apa yang dipanggil oleh ahli psikologi sebagai pencemaran maklumat dan kebanjiran data yang mengelirukan otak supaya kita sangkakan berbuat keputusan yang betul dan tulus berdasarkan "fakta."

 

            Berfikir dengan teliti akan membimbing kita dari mengikuti orang secara membuta tuli, seperti pelanggan Madoff. 

 

            Pelanggan Madoff mengingatkan saya dengan cerita dongeng dua ekor keldai. Satunya telah dibebankan dengan bungkusan garam; keldai yang ke dua, kapas. Semasa mereka menyeberangi aliran air, keldai pembawa garam itu tergelincir dan jatuh. Apabila ia bangun, bebannya terasa ringan sedikit sebab sebahagian daripada garam itu telah terlarut. Itu mendorong si keldai itu untuk terus sengaja tergelincir beberapa kali untuk meringankan bebannya. Melihatkan sedemikian, keldai yang membawa kapas itu terus mengikut bersama. Tetapi malangnya, tiap kali dia rebah, bebannya bertambah berat sebab kapas itu bertambah basah!

 

            Iktibar cerita dongeng itu jelas dan mudah difahami. Kita mesti awas sebelum meniru kelakuan atau perbuatan orang lain. Sekali pintas keadaan mungkin kelihatan serupa untuk mengelirukan anda, tetapi sebaliknya bertentangan dengan apa yang anda sangkakan serta inginkan.

Lack of Critical Thinking Could Be Fatal

 Lack of Critical Thinking Could Be Fatal

M. Bakri Musa

 

Excerpt from my Qur’an, Hadith, And Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking

 

“If you are blind, describing an elephant is easy. You can call it, like the six blind men in the fable, a huge tree trunk; or perhaps a giant fan; or an enormous rope, and so on. But having eyes, far from making such descriptions easy, actually complicates them.”

 

Chinua Achebe “The Sweet Aroma of Zik’s Kitchen” in The Education of a British-Protected Child

 

It is amazing how often our decisions are made through faulty analysis or without much thought. In many instances those may be excusable for if they were to be wrong, the consequences would be self-limiting or carry a low cost. Deciding which restaurant to patronize falls into this category. Likewise if we were to fall for the snake oil salesman’s slick pitch, we would be out only a few ringgit, unless his products were to be laced with arsenic or some such dangerous potions.

 

         However, when there is a raging Covid-19 pandemic or a deadly race riot, then those hitherto simple decisions could have life or death consequences. The first surge of Covid-19 in Malaysia was triggered by the mass Tablighi Jamaat gathering in a mosque at Kuala Lumpur in late February 2020.

 

         During the May 1969 riot, an otherwise inconsequential decision to go for an afternoon movie downtown cost a school girl her best friend, and for herself, endless nightmares both literal and figurative, as Hanna Alkaf related in her riveting autobiographical novel, The Weight of Our Sky.

 

         One cannot but be circumspect in making what may seem to be even the simplest and seemingly inconsequential decision. The decision may be routine as you have done it so often in the past, but the circumstance may have changed without your being aware of it, as on that fateful day in May 1969 for those innocent schoolgirls in that novel.

 

         Yet during the Covid-19 pandemic there were those who claimed that we should fear God more than this sub-microscopic virus. Or that Jesus would protect us more effectively than vaccines or face masks. Millions fell for those soothing words, from pious Muslims in Malaysia listening to their imams to evangelical White Christians in Midwest America their pastors. More than a few paid with their lives for their lack of critical thinking in assessing the veracity as well as wisdom of their faith leaders’ advice.

 

         This reluctance to think critically is not an affliction peculiar only to the poor, uninformed, uneducated, or those in the Third World. Being smart is no assurance that you would not be taken in. You may be so in one area but that does not necessarily transfer to another. Or you may be in an entirely new environment where your previous assumptions would be inoperative. Tourists are easy prey precisely because of this lack of awareness of their new environment or assuming that their old assumptions still apply.

 

         The otherwise wise and prudent could still fall victim. Their implicit assumption–that they could trust their skills and smartness, or the integrity of those they were dealing with based on nothing more than that nebulous entity as reputation, expertise, or familiarity–is often misplaced.

 

         In 2008 Bernie Madoff, a prominent Wall Street money manager, was arrested for running what later was proven to be but an elaborate Ponzi scheme. His clients were all smart and otherwise successful. He knew that they would ask tough questions. To discourage that, he gained their confidence the old-fashioned way. He “guaranteed” his early investors a steady stream of great returns. Except that they were not true returns, rather cash from new investors lured by the promise of generous profits. He blunted their critical faculties with cash, the old tried and true way.

 

         We are familiar with magic shows, or in Malay, silap mata. Literally, “a slip of the eye.” The magician would distract you, and in that split second slip out the pigeon from underneath his long baggy sleeve. The audience would gasp!

 

         Silap mata is a truer (anatomically) and much more evocative description of the trick than the English “sleight of hand.” The trick is with the eye, not hand.

 

         When we accept an assertion without exercising our critical faculties, we are allowing ourselves to be given a silap minda, trick on our mind, akin to the magician’s sleight of hand or the Malay silap mata, except that it is our mind and not eyes being played on.

 

         In a magic show or silap mata, our eyes are momentarily diverted; in silap minda we are distracted by what psychologists call information pollution, a glut of erroneous and misleading data, to lull us into thinking that we are making the right decision based on “facts.” Critical thinking guides us from blindly following others, as Madoff’s later clients did his earlier ones.

 

         Madoff’s later clients bring to mind the fable of the two donkeys; one loaded with bags of salt, the other, cotton. As they were crossing a creek, the salt-carrying beast slipped. As it got up, the load felt lighter as some of the salt had leached out. That prompted the donkey to continue slipping, for with every ‘slip’ its load became lighter. That in turn led the donkey carrying the cotton to do likewise, only to find that its load much heavier with every fall. The cotton had absorbed the water.

 

         Beware! Things may seem to be just similar enough to deceive you, and you would end with the very opposite of what you had expected or desired.

 

Next Excerpt:  The Big Lie of Malay Special Privileges

QHH Excerpt #2: Minnows In A Pampered Hatchery

 :  Excerpt #2:  Minnows In A Pampered Hatchery

Qur’an, Hadith, And Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking

M. Bakri Musa

 

Excerpt # 2:  Minnows In A Pampered Hatchery

 

The central injunction of the Qur’an is “Command good and forbid evil.” This is strengthened by the sunnah, the utterances attributed to the Prophet (hadith) as well as by his exemplary conduct. Interpretations of both Qur’an and sunnah must therefore conform to this central command. If our readings of the Holy Text or sunnah were to lead us otherwise, then we must re-examine our premise.

 

         One particular term I examine here is ribaa. Our current interpretation of that term results in more harm than good. It discourages Muslims from putting aside savings and thus contributing as well as participating in the modern economy. It is time to re-scrutinize the meaning as well as intent of ribaa.

 

         Reciting the Qur’an and recalling hadith are not the challenge; living their message is. That would necessitate some degree of comprehension, and that in turn requires a critical mind. Muslims believe that the Qur’an is Allah’s words and thus perfect. However, its interpretations, being the works of humans, are not. They are burdened with all the imperfections inherent with such endeavors. Only Allah is perfect.

 

         Man-made laws, unlike Allah’s which are perfect and immutable, of necessity require amendments from time to time. The US Constitution for example, has been amended 27 times since its inception.

 

         Pramudya Azhar Oktavinanda in his University of Chicago JSD dissertation, “Interpreting Immutable Legal Texts: The Posnerian Pragmatism of Islamic Law,” asserts that at the operational level there is little to no difference between the two. While Allah’s dictates cannot be altered, their interpretations can and do change with time, culture, and circumstance.

 

         While amending secular laws are governed by prescribed rules and procedures that have been agreed upon ahead of time, with God’s laws however, we need our critical thinking faculties both at the individual as well as societal levels to interpret them to meet our current needs and challenges. Absent critical thinking we would be trapped by the interpreters of yore.

 

         While we acknowledge their vast contributions and tap their wisdom, we should also be aware that theirs was of a different era, norms, culture, and language; likewise, the challenges they faced. Instead, we should deduce from the particularities of their reading and try to derive the underlying universal principles, and then apply those to our current tribulations. This was the method used and advocated by the late Fazlur Rahman as manifested in his various treatises.

 

         We should not be led astray by the specifics. Such a challenging task would entail much critical thinking. Endlessly reciting the texts or views of past luminaries is no substitute; likewise when reading our hikayat and folklores.

 

         Writing on critical thinking in English for a Malay audience may seem, as per the wistful Malay saying, teaching a fish how to swim. All you have to do there is provide the water. Or so it may seem.

 

         Malays educated in English or have been exposed to Western liberal education should be familiar if not facile with critical thinking. Alas that is not so. Pursuing my earlier fish metaphor, Western-educated Malays may have been taught to think critically, but back in their familiar home waters, most are content flowing with the stream and swimming with the rest of the school.

 

         That stream is now full of fish bred and pampered in protected hatcheries, with all their needs provided. Even the currents they swim in are artificially created and their directions controlled, unlike in the real world where those and other elements are unpredictable and often treacherous, far from the comfortable artificiality of the hatchery.

 

         So comfortable and for so long have Malays been pampered in the hatchery that we assume it as the natural order. We have been lulled by that sense of false security and have failed to realize that we have been controlled and manipulated all along. We have been led to believe that since those in control are of our own kind, they would have the same benign benevolent intentions, or at least share our values and goals. We have been lured and trapped by our tribalism instinct, the very danger our Qur’an and Holy Prophet had warned us against.

 

         Hatchery operators are by nature obsessive control freaks. They have to. A slight error and they would wake up in the morning to see all their fish belly up, and they are stuck with the stench.

 

         Shifting to terrestrial imagery, ponder the kind shepherd leading his contented flock from one lush meadow to another, as per many religious texts; to wit, the Biblical “The Lord Is My Shepherd,” and J S Bach’s cantata, “Sheep May Safely Graze.”

 

         Malays too have our comparable comfortable wisdom, as with Raja dan rakyat berpisah tiada! (King and citizens separate not!) Those pristine pastoral temperate imageries of Bach contrast to the raw realism of the tropical jungle as so aptly captured by the African proverb:  The sheep will spend its entire life fearing the wolf only to be butchered by their shepherd. Malay leaders are closer to the African shepherd model than the biblical one.

 

         To revert to the hatchery metaphor, Malays are now but pampered minnows to be released into the recreational fishing waters for the enjoyment of their leaders and other sports fishermen.

 

         A major contributing factor to this sorry state of Malays vis a vis non-Malays in Malaysia is our schools. The vast majority of Malay children attend national or religious schools. The focus and rewards there are on memorization, regurgitation, and following the existing order–the very antithesis of critical thinking. In short, indoctrination masquerading as education.

 

         As for the few smart ones (test-wise) who would later attend universities in the West, old habits die hard. When they return home, they would be back accommodating with ease to the controlled flow and artificial current. Soon, either out of habit or having been re-acculturated to the existing value system, they too would go happily with the flow without realizing that the stream had since been directed towards the fish trap. By the time they realize that, it would be too late.

 

         For many Malays it is their belief that God had created the hatchery and its current. Who are we mere mortals to challenge that or swim against it? The idea that those currents are created and manipulated by our own kind, with the best of intentions or otherwise would never enter our mind because of our lack of critical thinking.

 

         I hope this book would help disabuse my fellow Malays and others out of their comfort zone.

 

Next:  Excerpt #3:  The Outline

Qur'an, Hadith, Dan Hikayat: Latin Berfikir Dengan Teliti

Qur’an, Hadith, Dan Hikayat:  Latihan Berfikir Dengan Teliti

M. Bakri Musa

Petikan #1:  Menganggap Za’aba Sebagai Si Bodoh Kampung

 

Berfikir Teliti, Pahlawan Sejati

Minda Hamba

 

                        Berpusing roda beralih masa  /  Pelbagai neka hidup di bumi.

                        Selagi hidup berminda hamba  /  Pasti tetap terjajah abadi.

                        Kalau hidup ingin Merdeka  /  Tiada tercapai hanya berkata.

                        Ke muka maju sekata, maju kita  /  Melemparkan jauh minda hamba.

 

            Ampun maaf kepada Usman Awang’s (1929–2001) 

 

Yang paling ketara dalam alam maya semasa ialah ledakan dan lambakkan serta kemudahan mendapati fakta, berita, dan maklumat serta karangan, ulasan, dan rencana. Walaupun demikian, kesenangan mendapati tidak ada rangkaiannya langsung dengan mutu, kebenaran, dan juga hikmatnya. Begitu juga samada maklumat itu boleh dipercayai dan digunakan untuk memberi faedah. 

            Di zaman digital, si bodoh kampung boleh mempersembahkan dirinya setaraf dengan Pendita Za’aba, jika tidak lebih hebat lagi. Dengan grafik yang menarik dan teknik yang beres serta prosa yang hebat akibat menggunakan software kecerdasan buatan (Artificial Intelligence) seperti Chat GPT dan Deepseek, si bodoh kampung dengan senang boleh dipercayai dan buah fikirannya disangka bijak dan mendalam.

 

            Untuk sebahagian besar, menyalah sangkakan Zaaba sebagai si bodoh kampung tidak akan membawa anda ke akibat yang buruk. Tetapi sebaliknya tidak begitu. Beribu rakyat Amerika telah menderita akibat menerima nasihat si bodoh di White House pada tahun 2020. Dia mencadangkan menyuntik dengan cecair pembasmi kuman untuk mencegah jangkitan Covid-19!

            Sebelum zaman digital terdapat penjaga pintu seperti penyunting yang boleh dipercayai, wartawan yang bermutu, dan kaum profesional yang tulen untuk membimbing pembaca. Kita yakin dengan pandangan mereka. Mereka pula berhati untuk menjaga dan melindungi taraf mereka. Hari ini kalangan mereka sudah tipis dan mungkin terancam.

            Tanpa bimbingan dari mereka yang boleh dipercayai, hanya masa sahaja yang kekal sebagai hakim yang benar dan unggul. Nasihat serta pertimbangan yang bodoh dan berniat buruk akan didedahkan dalam tempoh masa. Sementara itu kita mestilah menggunakan otak dan fikiran sendiri serta berbuat pertimbangan sendiri sebelum menerima sesuatu. Yakni, berfikiran dengan teliti atau kritis.

 

            Itu sepatutnya sudah sedia dimaklumkan. Tetapi ada yang meremehkan pemikiran kritis, menyamakannya dengan menyoal, prasangka, atau tidak percaya. Ramai umat Islam merasakan bahawa kita harus mengetepikan sama sekali dengan akal dan penaakulan rasional dalam perkara akidah dan agama. Iman sahaja akan mengatasi segalanya dan mencukupi, dakwaan mereka.

            Terdapat juga kepercayaan yang meluas bahawa jika kita mengikuti ajaran seorang alim atau pemimpin teragung, itu sudah memadai dan mencukupi. Jika mereka bersalah, kita akan diampuni dosa. Sebaliknya, hanya mereka yang akan menanggung beban itu. Oleh sebab itu kita boleh mengetepikan untuk berfikir dengan teliti. Ikut sahaja bersama menjadi Mat Turut dan Mah Turut!

            Ulama dan pemimpin mungkin akan menanggung dosa kita di Akhirat. Sementara itu, kita yang menderita menanggung di dunia akibat menjadi pengikut buta tanpa menggunakan fikiran sendiri.

            Ajaran Al-Quran jelas tentang perkara ini. Pada hari kiamat kita akan bertanggungjawab atas perbuatan kita sendiri semasa di bumi Allah. Islam tidak ada konsep “super savior ala Jesus Christ” yang akan menebus dosa umatnya. Walau bagaimanapun, terdapat di kalangan sesetengah umat Islam bahawa Nabi Muhammad, (Semoga rahmat Allah ke atasnya!), mempunyai kuasa seperti Nabi Isa atas kaum Kristian untuk mengampuni dosa pengikutnya di hari Kiamat. Sah atau tidak, sementara itu kita masih terpaksa menanggung beban di duniawi ini akibat perbuatan kita.

            Terlalu ramai yang senang dipengaruhi oleh jurujual minyak ular di pasar malam dan kaki lima kerana kurang berfikir dengan kritis. Hari ini penjaja minyak ular itu mungkin menyamar sebagai ahli politik yang hebat pidatonya, lebai yang berserban besar, dan profesor kangkung yang berderet ijazahnya. Media sosial melebarkan pengaruh mereka dan dengan itu meningkatkan beberapa darjah bakal mangsa mereka yang boleh ditipu.

            Patuhi nasihat bijak Presiden Reagan akibat daripada pengalamannya berurusan dengan Komunis Rusia (dan lain-lain), "Percaya, tetapi sahkan." (Trust but verify.)

            Percaya kita mesti. Itu adalah asas dunia kita yang bertamadun. Walau bagaimanapun untuk mengesahkan kita memerlukan beberapa kemahiran untuk berfikir dengan kritis. Hanya dengan itu kita akan boleh menjadi pengikut yang bijak untuk pemimpin kita, baik agama mahupun sekular. Kita sendiri mesti memutuskan siapa yang patut mendapat sokongan kita dan siapa yang harus kita ikuti. Mengikuti seorang pemimpin secara membuta tuli tanpa menggunakan otak serupalah dengan seekor kerbau yang boleh dipimpin hanya melalui tali yang diikat melalui lubang di hidungnya. Itu satu gambaran yang biasa di kampung lama dulu. Dalam keadaan itu, tidak penting siapa yang menjadi pemimpin. Seorang kanak kecil pun boleh memimpin kerbau jantan yang besar.

            Kebolehan berfikir dengan teliti akan membantu kita memahami al-Quran dan hadis dengan lebih baik, serta menghargai keindahan dan hikmah hikayat serta cerita nenek moyang kita. Berfikir teliti juga akan membolehkan kita untuk menimbang ulasan dan rencana semasa. 

Quran, Hadith, And Hikayat Excerpt #1

 Qur’an, Hadith, And Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking

M. Bakri Musa (2021)

 

Berfikir Teliti, Pahlawan Sejati

(The Critical Thinker, A Fearless Fighter)

 

Minda Hamba

 

                   Berpusing roda beralih masa  /  Pelbagai neka hidup di bumi.

                   Selagi hidup berminda hamba  /  Pasti tetap terjajah abadi.

                   Kalau hidup ingin Merdeka  /  Tiada tercapai hanya berkata.

                   Ke muka maju sekata, maju kita.  /  Melemparkan jauh minda hamba.

 

With apologies to Usman Awang’s (1929–2001) Jiwa Hamba

[My translation:

 

       The Enslaved Mind

         The wheel turns, and so the seasons.  /  With it, life’s endless variety.

         An enslaved mind spared this concern  /  Tyranny the only certainty.

         Yearning for life of liberty  /  Words alone are no certainty.

         March with determined unity  /  And trample our slave mentality.]

 

Excerpt #1:  Mistaking A Village Idiot For An Einstein

 

Preface

The most visible manifestation of our current digital age is the explosion, instantaneity, and ease of access to facts, news, data, information, and commentaries. While the accessibility and quantity are there and obvious, less so is the quality, both with respect to reliability as well as utility.

 

         In the digital universe, the village idiot could with ease have the same presence as an Einstein. With slick graphics and other tested techniques, the former could be made to appear smarter and even more credible if not profound. With today’s quantum leap in Artificial Intelligence, some claim that one could crank out an essay on Malaysiana with the elegance of a Joseph Conrad. 

 

         While mistaking Einstein for the village idiot would carry little consequences for the most part, that is not so the other way around. God knows how many people fell for the advice of the idiot in the White House in 2020 who suggested ingesting disinfectant to prevent Covid-19 infection!

 

         In days of yore there were reliable gatekeepers as with ethical editors, credible journalists, and true professionals to guide us. We could be assured of their credibility and reputation. They in turn were scrupulous in maintaining and protecting their status. Today they are being drowned out and becoming endangered species.

 

         Without the instantaneity, time remains the best and objective judge. Rotten advice and information would be exposed with time for what they are. Meanwhile despite reliable and near instantaneous “fact checking,” it remains for us as individuals to exercise our critical faculties before accepting and making judgement.

 

         That should be a given. Yet there are those who belittle critical thinking, equating it with being judgmental, as with questioning or disbelieving. Many Muslims feel that we should dispense all together with our intellect and rational reasoning on matters of faith as well as with everything else. Faith supersedes all, and should be enough, they claim.

 

         There is also the associated widespread belief among our fellow believers that if we were to follow the teachings of an alim or leader, then that should suffice. If they were to be wrong, we would be absolved of the sins. Instead, they would bear the burden. As such we could dispense with thinking for ourselves.

 

         Those ulama and leaders may bear the sins for us and be answerable to the Almighty in the Hereafter. Meanwhile we, their followers, would bear and suffer the consequences of our decisions right here and now in this temporal world.

 

         Our Qur’an is clear on this:  On the Day of Judgement, we will be responsible for our own deeds on earth. Islam does not have the concept of a super savior a la Jesus Christ who had died earlier in order to expiate the sins of his followers. There is however, a strain of thinking among some Muslims that Prophet Muhammad, (May the blessings of Allah be upon him!), has this Christ-like authority to intervene on our behalf on Judgement Day. That may well be but we would still have to bear the consequences of our deeds in this world.

 

         There are many who had and are still being “suckered in” by the snake oil salesman’s pitch for lack of critical thinking. Those snake oil peddlers may masquerade as pandering politicians to censorious clergies, and from slick salesmen to pushy professionals. Social media amplify by a quantum leap their potential universe and thus gullible prey, thus expanding almost limitless their prospective hunting grounds.

 

         Heed the sage advice of President Reagan on his principles when working and dealing with the Russians (and others), “Trust but verify.” I would go further. Don’t trust till you verify! 

 

         Trust we must; it is the foundation of our civilized world. To verify however, would require us to have some critical thinking skills. Only with a critical mind could we become intelligent followers of our leaders, both religious and secular. We decide who should deserve our support and whom we should follow. Blindly following a leader without applying our critical faculties would be akin to a buffalo being led by a string tied to the ring in its nose, a familiar imagery of my youth. At that point it matters not who the leader is, for even a toddler could lead you.

 

         Critical thinking helps us understand the Qur’an and hadith better, as well as appreciate our hikayat (ancient literature), folklores, novels, and ideas in contemporary commentaries. That in essence describes and summarizes the purpose of my book.

 

Next:  Excerpt #2:  Minnows In A Pampered Hatchery

Meningkatkan Pencapain Murid Mealy

Meningkatkan Pencapaian Murid Melayu
M. Bakri Musa
 
Dalam ucapannya kepada kakitangan Kementerian Kewangan pada Rabu lepas 12 Feb 2025, Perdana Menteri Anwar Ibrahim menekankan semula keperluan untuk “memperkukuh penguasaan Bahasa Melayu (BM) . . . dan penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris (BI) yang mantap sebagai bahasa ke dua dalam kalangan pelajar.” 
 
            Beliau juga melahirkan rasa kecewa dengan kelewatan dan kajian yang tanpa berhabisan di Kementerian Pendidikan. Anwar sedar atas kepentingan pendidikan dalam pembangunan negara. Bagi Malaysia khususnya, kemajuan masyarakat Melayu. Yang tidak dinyatakan tetapi difahami dengan baik oleh pendengarnya dari khalayak kakitangan penjawat awam yang hampir semuanya Melayu, Anwar merujuk kepada murid Melayu.
 
            Malaysia menghantar guru ke Finland untuk mencontohi sekolah di sana yang di taraf terbaik dalam dunia. Yang lebih baik serta sesuai ialah Kanada, dan bukan hanya cara meningkatkan taraf sekolah tetapi juga mengendalikan dwibahasa secara khususnya dan hubungan antara kaum secara amnya. Masyarakat Finland satu rupa; Malaysia lebih serupa Kanada dari segi bahasa dan bangsa rakyatnya.
 
            Rakyat Kanada sekarang faham bahawa kemahiran dwibahasa (Perancis dan Inggeris) adalah satu keistimewaan dan kebolehan yang pasti, dan bukan seperti pandangan terdahulu, yakni "menyerah kepada mereka." Sekarang dwibahasa bukan lagi satu masalah memecah belah masyarakat. Sukar untuk kini membayangkan bahawa Kanada mengalami “Krisis Oktober 1970” di mana pihak mereka berbahasa Perancis merusuh kepada mereka berbahasa Inggeris. Sementara itu di Malaysia kenangan zaman gelap Mei 13, 1969 itu sering ditimbulkan dengan semangat berapi-api.
 
            Pendidikan di Kanada adalah tanggungjawab negeri, bukan persekutuan. Maknanya model sekolah yang sesuai adalah di Alberta dan British Columbia. Kedua-duanya mempunyai majoriti berbahasa Inggeris tetapi minoriti Francophone pun besar. Alberta mempunyai sistem sekolah awam yang cemerlang, baik aliran sekular mahupun "terpisah" (maknanya, Katolik). Sekolah swasta tidak langsung dapat pasaran di sana!
 
            Pendidikan dwibahasa di kedua-dua wilayah itu amat disukai oleh rakyat kerana mereka sedar bahawa kefasihan dwibahasa memberi kelebihan yang besar dalam sektor awam dan juga swasta. Pakar neurolinguistik menganggap bahawa kefasihan lebih daripada satu bahasa membawa banyak kelebihan kognitif (berfikir) dan faedah lain, termasuk ketegasan angka otak serta keupayaan untuk mengenali corak dan penyimpangan. Lebih kecil lagi seorang itu mendapat kemahiran itu, lebih baik. Tidak hairanlah senarai ibubapa yang ingin anak mereka memasuki aliran Bahasa Perancis (BP) amat ramai.
 
            Alberta mempunyai tiga aliran pendidikan dwibahasa, dan menyerahkan pilihan itu kepada ibu bapa. Pertama ialah sekolah menggunakan BP sebagai penghantar dengan BI diajar sebagai satu mata pelajaran. Ini seumpama di Malaysia, dengan BM menggantikan BP. Kedua, BP ialah bahasa pengantar (kecuali semasa kelas BI) tetapi hanya untuk bilangan tahun yang terhad, seperti tiga atau empat tahun permulaan. Selepas itu BI digunakan kecuali untuk kelas BP. Ketiga, di mana BP diajar hanya sebagai satu mata pelajaran, biasanya untuk satu tempoh sehari, seperti pengajaran BI di Sekolah Kebangsaan hari ini.
 
            Ketiga aliran itu boleh diubahsuai untuk Malaysia. Pertama, sekolah penuh BI dengan BM hanya satu mata pelajaran. Ini berbeza dengan sekolah kolonial dulu di mana BM tidak langsung diajar dan kurikulumnya penuh dengan hal di England.
 
            Mengembalikan semula sekolah kolonial lama tanpa ubahsuai, seperti yang dicadangkan oleh sesetengah pihak, sudah tentunya tidak boleh diterima dalam suasana politik semasa. Tambahan pula itu langkah kebelakangan. Mengubahsuaikan, seperti meletakkan sekolah BI hanya di kampung dan kawasan luar bandar di mana kefasihan BI di keliling rendah. Juga hadkan kepada kanak-kanak dari keluarga yang lazimnya bertutur dalam BM di rumah.
 
            Saya bersekolah BI di zaman penjajah. Saya tidak diajar BM sehingga beberapa tahun kebelakangan apabila negara merdeka. Yang peliknya, saya tidak dikehendaki mengambil BM dalam dua tahun terakhir (Tingkatan Enam). Namun oleh sebab BM ialah bahasa ibunda, saya kemudiannya boleh belajar menulis dalam BM moden tanpa kesukaran.
 
            Kita juga akan meningkatkan kemahiran BI jika mengajar Pengajian Islam dalam BI atau mengadakan Sekolah Agama saluran BI seperti di Amerika Syarikat. Pasti itu akan laku di masyarakat kita. Maklumlah Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia adalah aliran BI.
 
            Walaupun terdapat pembaharuan tidak berhabisan dan pelan tindakan yang tidak berkesudahan dalam sistem pendidikan negara, cabaran penting masih kekal dan belum lagi diselesaikan. Beban dan akibat sekolah daif memberi kesan yang lebih teruk kepada masyarakat Melayu. Itu menyumbang kepada kedudukan kita yang agak ketinggalan di negara ini, kecuali dalam perkhidmatan awam. Dan itu dicapai hanya melalui perintah.
 
            Sekolah kebangsaan juga gagal menyediakan pengalaman yang dikongsi bersama antara murid berbagai kaum. Kini murid sekolah kebangsaan hampir semuanya Melayu. Itu tidak sihat untuk masyarakat majmuk. Hanya Sekolah Kebangsaan Jenis Cina sahaja yang meningkat jumlah pelajar bukan Cina (khususnya Melayu). Sekolah agama dengan muridnya yang semua Melayu menambahkan masalah ini.
 
            Sekolah Kebangsaan juga gagal dalam meningkatkan kefasihan BI, kecekapan STEM (Sains, Teknologi, Engineering [Kejuruteraan], dan Matematik), dan kemahiran berfikir kritis antara murid mereka. Sementara itu aliran agama langsung mengabaikan masalah ini. Kegilaan mereka hanya indoktrinasi dan ritual keagamaan. Yang menjadi mangsa kedua-dua aliran pendidikan ini ialah orang Melayu. 
 
            Begitu juga dengan saluran 60:40 peratus STEM dan bukan STEM yang tidak habis di hebohkan. Yang lebih penting ialah berusaha untuk memastikan supaya semua pelajar meningkatkan pemahaman mereka tentang dunia di dalam dan di sekeliling kita (teras pengajian sains) dan beberapa kemahiran kuantitatif (berfikir dengan angka) tanpa mengira pilihan kerjaya pilihan penuntut pada masa depan.
 
            Sebarang pembaharuan sistem persekolahan bermula dengan menerima tiga realiti teras. Pertama, ibu bapa dan bukan ahli politik atau kakitangan Kementerian Pendidikan yang faham apa pilihan terbaik untuk anak mereka. Ke dua, tiada satu sistem yang sesuai untuk semua. Maknanya, kita perlu membentuk model yang berbeza serta senang di ubahsuaikan supaya ibu bapa boleh memilih. Ketiga, tanpa berpendidikan yang bermutu susah masyarakat membangun.
 
            Dalam syarahan beliau, Anwar juga menyenaraikan cabaran lain yang dihadapi oleh sektor awam, memetik fikiran teragung Ibn Khaldun dan Malek Bennnabi, antara lain. Walau bagaimanapun, masalah pendidikan negara jelas, malah orang kampung sudah sedia mengetahuinya serta mengalaminya. Apa yang dikehendaki ialah kemahuan dan kecekapan untuk membatasinya. Doa dan rayuan sahaja tidak mencukupi.
 

Enhancing Malay Educational Achievements

 Enhancing Malay Educational Achievements

M. Bakri Musa

 

In an unusually introspective speech at his Ministry of Finance monthly gathering on February 12, 2025 to introduce the I-Payment system, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reemphasized the need for “strengthening Malay [language] proficiency . . . and robust English proficiency as a second language among students.” Left unstated but well understood by his nearly all-Malay civil servant audience, Anwar was referring to Malay students.

 

Anwar expressed frustrations with delays and prolonged studies at his Ministry of Education. He is aware of the importance of education in the development of a nation. And for Malaysia specifically, the advancement of Malays.

 

            Malaysia sends her teachers to Finland to learn as Finnish schools are rated as the best. A better model would be Canada, and not just on improving schools but also handling bilingualism specifically and race relations generally. Further, Malaysia is like Canada in language as well as population plurality; Finland is homogenous.

 

Canadians recognize that being bilingual (French and English) is an invaluable asset, and not as per earlier views of “giving in to the other side.” Bilingualism and biculturalism are no longer divisive there.

 

I differentiate between bilingualism versus proficiency in two languages. With the former you express concepts and ideas using tones, imageries, and symbolisms unique to each language and culture. You also dream in both languages. Anything less and your translations are but literal and utterances rojak style, a laManglish (Malaysian English).

 

Education in Canada is a provincial matter. Thus, the appropriate models would be Alberta and British Columbia. Both have an Anglophone majority but a substantial Francophone minority. Alberta has such excellent public schools, both secular as well as “separate” (Catholic), that private school operators see little market there!

 

There is considerable demand for bilingual education as Canadians recognize its advantages in both public and private sectors. Neuro-linguists tell us that knowing more than one language confers many cognitive and other advantages. The younger one gains that ability, the better. Hence the waiting list for bilingual schools.

 

Alberta has three versions of bilingual education and leaves the choice to parents. One is where French is the medium of instruction, with English taught only as a subject. This is similar to Malaysia today, with Malay instead of French. Two, “early immersion classes” where French is the language of instruction but only for a limited and variable number of years (as with the first three or four). The remaining years would use English except of course for French language classes. Three, French is taught as a subject, typically for one period per day throughout the school years, as with the teaching of English in Malaysian national schools today.

 

Those models could be adapted for Malaysia. One would be to have all-English schools with Malay taught only as a subject daily. Those schools would be unlike the old colonial ones where Malay was never taught and the curriculum consumed with ye old England.

 

The old colonial English schools were excellent. The problem was one of equity, specifically of access. Being few in numbers (just enough to satisfy colonial conscience) and located in urban areas, rural Malay children faced considerable obstacles.

 

Resurrect those old colonial schools but with a twist. Have them only in areas where the level of English fluency in the community is low, as in the kampungs, and restrict admissions to children from homes where Malay is habitually spoken. Another would be early immersion schools where English would be used exclusively for the first few years.

 

Like Anwar, I attended the old colonial English school and was not taught Malay until my last few years when the country became independent. Perversely, I was spared from taking Malay in my last two years (Sixth Form). Yet just with that I could later learn on my own to write in Malay with ease as it is my mother tongue.

 

Teaching Islamic Studies in English or having English-medium Islamic schools as in America would also help increase English proficiency among Malays. Afterall, the International Islamic University Malaysia is English-medium.

 

            Despite endless reforms and blueprints, crucial challenges remain with Malaysian schools. That disproportionately impacts Malays, and is the major contributor to Malay laggardness except in the civil service. That exception is by fiat, not merit.

 

The colonial schools of yore did provide young Malaysians with some shared experiences. It was this that convinced the Brits to grant the nation independence with little fear that it would degenerate into another mini-Indian subcontinent. Perversely today, only National-Type Chinese schools with their increasing non-Chinese (specifically Malay) enrollment provide this valuable shared experience. The proliferation of exclusively Malay religious stream only compounds this problem of lack of shared experience.

 

Malaysia dabbled briefly with Dual Language Program as well as the teaching of science and mathematics (PPSMI–its Malay initials). “Dabbled” is exactly the right word. There was minimal planning or solid research underpinning both adoption and later discontinuation except for the plethora of local “scholarly” papers published in predatory journals. Likewise with science streaming, another distracting obsession. The religious stream ignores those problems. It focuses instead on indoctrination and religious rituals. The victims here are again Malays. 

 

It need not be that way. Morocco’s Al Qarawiyyin and Egypt’s Al Azhar, together with Harvard and Yale all began as religious institutions, with the first two established centuries earlier. Today those institutions together with their supporting societies could not be more different. That difference is in their ability to adapt and change to meet evolving societal needs and challenges.

 

STEM streaming, the current obsession, is another distraction. Make all students understand the world within and around us (the essence of science), together with enhanced quantitative skills regardless of their future career choices.

 

Reforming education begins with acknowledging three realities. One, parents, not politicians or Ministry of Education bureaucrats, know what is best for their children. Two, no one system fits all; hence the need for different models as well as flexibility. Three, society cannot develop if its members are not well educated.

 

In that presentation, Anwar also enumerated other challenges facing the public sector, quoting luminaries like Ibn Khaldun and Malek Bennnabi. The problem however, is less with acknowledging those problems (they are obvious even to kampung folks), rather the will and competence to rectify them. Pleas and prayers alone would not do it.