The Reluctant Nation: Malaysia and Its Vain Quest for Common Purpose is a compilation of Ooi Kee Beng’s writings which cover the thought of nation building and Malaysian political history. Reluctance can have many reasons. It can simply stem from a psychological inability to decide, a lack of power, or the absence of clear and realistic goals. It can of course also be a conscious strategy to maintain the status quo, however untenable that may seem to others. Building a nation—be it to achieve a homogenous society or a pluralistic one—requires the generating of a sense of common purpose among key stakeholders in society. Strangely, a sense of common purpose is something that is harder to achieve than actually having expressly common goals. In fact, stating common goals tends to work against the sense of common purpose, ironically. Words divide, while experiences unite.
That is one insight gained by the author of these articles over 30 years of political analysis and philosophical thinking. Common purpose is gained through common daily experiences and struggles as simple as taking the same bus or being drenched in the same storm. Ideological statements and policy goals divide by infecting daily experiences with abstractions. The author considers his writing more as learning processes for himself than as public expositions of ready thoughts in his mind. In that sense, these pieces point forward as points on an endless learning curve, and are best contemplated collectively more to understand a certain potent frame of mind and paths of thought, than as statements of facts and as claims for the reader to accept or reject.
Foreword
Introduction
Part One: Politics that Will Not Heal
1. Making the Most of the Promising Epistemological Shift from STEM to STEAM
2. Anwar Ibrahim in Power: A Historical Locating of the Limits for Change in Malaysia
3. With Some Luck, We Will All End Up Living in Social Democratic Federations Located in Mutually-Supportive Neighbourhoods
4. Time to Treat National Narcissism in Malaysia and the Region
5. Rethinking the Reform Agenda for a New Age
6. Guidelines for Reform and Unity in Malaysia: Technocracy, Regionality and Solidarity
7. Strengthening the Nation’s Sense of Common Purpose is All the Unity Government Needs to Do
8. How Nationalism Drops Us in Euclidean Space Away from the Multiverse
9. ‘The Deep Crises of Our Times Instil Quiet Despair in Us All
10. Country Building is Citizen Building
11. AI—Boon or Bane, Intelligent or Illusory?
12. Effective Leadership is Bred, not Born
13. Malaysia Locked in a Historical Search for Sufficient Unity
14. Applying What’s Good for Foreign Affairs on the Domestic Front
15. Democracy Works Best with Populism Curtailed
16. In Many Minds about Sustainability
17. Opportunities for Governance Upgrade in Post-Pandemic Phase
18. Nationhood is Born of Inclusiveness in Politics and Integrative Dynamics in Economics
19. Economics Understood as Soft Power Makes More and More Sense
20. Pandemic or Not, there is No Such Thing as “Deglobalisation”
21. In a Pandemic, Science and Statesmanship Must Tactically Converge
22. International Trade Remains the Basis for Global Goodwill
Part Two: A Common Existence
1. Diagnosing Countries: Education in Malaysia Show Signs of Arrhythmia
2. Curating the City: Public Spaces and the Framing of Urban Architecture
3. The Creative Industries Require More Organic Solidarity and Less Mechanical Solidarity
4. Weathering Climate Change—A Battle Fatal to Lose
5. Taking Physical Space or Making Cultural Space? Multicultural Peace Depends on Which We Prefer
6. Fight for Your Man Caves and Your Comfort Foods
7. Urban Mobility and the Sense of Common Purpose
8. Excelling Every Day Is Easier Than You Think
9. Books are the Preferred Medium, even for the Gods
10. Can We Be Playful About Sport?
11. The Creative Economy Appears Devised for Penang
12. Words and Music—Two Sides of the Sense of Hearing
13. The Dubious Grouping of Ages
14. What Are We to Do with You Millennials?
15. The Educational Origins of Penang’s Skills Mismatch and Brain Drain
16. Trusting Remains a Process that Takes Time in the Information Age
17. On Urbanity and Wealth, and the Future of the Countryside
18. Respect All Persons, and Gender and Other Equalities Will Follow
19. Is Mans Ultimate Success His Ultimate Failure?
20. Beasts are ‘Us: The Merging of Man, Nature and Animal in Zodiac Systems
21. Revealing the Wonderful World of Biodiversity
22. The Intriguing Invention of “Zero” and “One”
23. Having Had So Much Time to Think Recently, We Should Now Be Able to Act Smarter
24. With E-Learning, Universal Education Finally Comes of Age
25. The Future of Work Will Include Clubbing
26. Gender Relations: A Wrestle or a Dance?
27. Digital Literacy Should Be Pursued the Way Universal Literacy Once Was
28. Freedom Socially Anchored is a Formidable Thing
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