Intellectuals in Developing Societies

Intellectuals in Developing Societies tackles the question of “development” in postcolonial societies with specific attention to Asian societies. As the author writes in the acknowledgements: the book reflects on four years of abortive participation in politics as the chairman of the opposition party and a short time in the Malaysian Senate. He is wrestling with the implications of that experience, trying to come to terms with his own place as a scholar, as an intellectual and as a politician. Intellectuals flourish during times of crisis; but in periods of relative calm, they must form a community, without which there will not be conscious and intelligent solutions to the problems faced by developing societies. These problems must be met by intellectual justice, not with the exploitative ignorance of the fools. Only after the emergence of such a community can the developing societies of our world escape the clutches of the fools and chart their own course.

Alatas was not content to criticize, he was also intent on thinking through possible solutions. If there was no sign of change coming from within the ruling elites, could there be opposing forces from without? Here Alatas denounces the “revolution of fools,” by calling for their replacement by the “revolution of intellectuals.” Intellectuals in Developing Societies is constructed around such a possibility. Intellectuals are leaders in the realm of thinking by using the faculty of reason rather than the common sense of “sensory perception.” Intellectuals are possessed of a spirit of critical inquiry; able to assess the wider picture of society and its challenges. They are distinguished from the intelligentsia—scientists and professionals who have acquired higher education but are not able to grasp the context in which ideas emerge and grow, not able to examine the fundamental issues at stake, captive of the ideas they have inherited from other contexts.