Lack Of Critical Thinking Could Kill You

 Lack of Critical Thinking Could Kill You

 

Excerpt #24 from my book:  Qur’an, Hadith, and Hikayat:  Exercises In Critical Thinking.

September 28, 2025 

 

Failure to think could end up literally killing you as well as your loved ones. This is more so when it comes to matters of faith.

 

         In 1978, a white Californian pastor led his congregation of hundreds to his paradise in the jungle at Jonestown in tropical Guyana. Prior to that he was a celebrated Church man praised by the luminaries of California. Jim Jones embodied modern California with his rainbow family of adopted children from various races and his equally diverse followers. In part from the widespread adulation, it did not take him long to have a cult following. It also did not take him long, like other leaders with unquestioning loyal followers, to abuse that trust.

 

         Responding to queries from concerned family members of Jim Jones’ followers, the Congressman from his California district, Leo Ryan, came to investigate Jonestown. On that fateful trip Ryan and his entourage were ambushed by Jones’ followers, with Ryan and a few members of his team killed. Later the whole colony of hundreds, on instructions from Jones, committed mass suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. The images of that gruesome tragedy were broadcasted worldwide. Today “drinking their Kool-Aid” is a cruel metaphor for obedient followers blindly following their leaders’ commands.

 

         Malaysia too has its share of cult groups. One was Al Ma’una. At its height it claimed a following of several thousands. In 2000 they disguised themselves as members of the Malaysian Armed Forces with their leaders appropriately donned in imposing officers’ attire enabling them to enter a large army base on the pretext of an “official inspection.” The guards let them in and the intruders began inspecting the arms depot.

 

         As expected, they found many “substandard” weapons which they hauled away. A few days later they overran the base using those very same weapons, killing many soldiers.

 

         That tragedy could have been prevented had the guards not been gullible and exercised their critical thinking skills. Those guards suspended elementary precautions, overwhelmed by the “officers” commanding demeanor and their bedecked crisp uniforms.

 

         That tragedy was as much a tribute to the skills and imaginations of the Al Ma’una members as well as the stupidity and lack of discipline of members of the Malaysian Armed Forces. To be noted, those traits are not unique to the military.  

 

         Fast forward to 2021, there was former Prime Minister Najib Razak being convicted for swindling billions from the government-linked company, One Malaysia Berhad (1MDB). During the lengthy trials there were repeated testimonies from the company’s senior officers of them never questioning their superior – Najib.

 

         One of them sported a Stanford degree, proving that having superior education does not guarantee one to have critical thinking skills. The government’s top civil servant at that time, Sidek Hassan, no product of an elite university, admitted in court that he was paid a very generous extra allowance, far exceeding his official salary, to be on the board of 1MDB and, in his own words, “do nothing!” That was Najib’s Kool Aid for Sidek and the others.

 

         Sidek’s immediate successor, Ali Hamsa, was no better. He ordered damning copies of the company’s audit committee report critical of management to be destroyed and replaced by a sanitized version. Unlike Sidek, Ali was not highly compensated but was satisfied with a Tan Sri; his Kool Aid.   

 

         The list of those who drank Najib’s Kool Aid with respect to 1MDB goes far beyond, to snag some previously-thought illustrious names. In 2016, then Auditor General, one Tan Sri (again note the exalted civil title) Amrin Buang, a man presumed to have unquestioned integrity and impeccable qualifications, agreed to the destruction of that audit report. 

 

         It was fortunate that Malaysia still had a few brave unsung heroes, individuals of steely resolve and unquestioned integrity whose critical thinking abilities were not marred nor blunted by titles or money.  One was Nor Salwani. She had the courage and smartness to have kept the original damning 1MDB Audit Report which she then passed on to Amrin Buang’s successor. She remains the few unsung heroes responsible for the ultimate incarceration of that national crook, Najib Razak. No Tan Sri honorifics for her for sure, but Allah is All-Knowing.

 

         Najib’s Kool Aid did not kill those who took it. The grim punishments were instead transferred and imposed onto innocent others. Thousands died because Malaysian healthcare was sorely underfunded because of funds siphoned by Najib as well as to pay the subsequent humongous debts he imposed upon the nation.

 

         This blight of lack of critical thinking is not unique to Malaysians. Up until December 2008, many otherwise smart savvy Americans otherwise hard-nosed and with sharp minds were hoodwinked by the legendary Wall Street operator Bernie Madoff. The Kool-Aid Madoff dispensed on his clients was the spectacular returns of their “investments.” His clients’ critical thinking was blunted by the steady flow of money, that is, until that was stopped by Federal Authorities in what was later proven to be nothing more than a massive elaborate Ponzi scheme. Those “investment returns” were nothing more than new money put in by other equally greedy and non-questioning investors.

 

Next:  Excerpt #25:  The Tyranny of Conformity