Seksualiti Merdeka and the social cost of sidelining moral vanguards

Dr. Mohd Mahyudi Mohd Yusop

November 7, 2011 There have been several opinion pieces on the 'Seksualiti Merdeka' programme. One of them presents a passionate defence of the homosexual movement in Malaysia. The writer proclaims his homosexuality, and in the same breath tells us that he respects PAS Murshidul Am Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, “believes in Muhammad and Allah, and also supports the existence of anti-terrorism law.” Another one on the same topic heaps scorn on PAS Youth over its opposition to homosexual singer Elton John’s concert. In summary, the writer attacks the sorts of people who deem that the society needs them to preserve its predominant values. The twists and turns in this discourse on morality have become more perplexing.These writers have only motivated me to contemplate deeper on the possible underlying forces that were at work behind their writings. Does our society need vanguards for our moral stance? The only response to that pivotal issue is ‘yes’. Allow me to give a justification that has an economic bent to prove my case. The recent Great Recession and the unfolding euro-zone sovereign debt crisis has their same root cause: greed. The schematic working of pure-selfishness by individuals to attain maximum utility from serving their insatiable desires; by corporate citizens to set their highest profit level and bonus payout records ever; and by political parties to plot their pragmatic strategies in order to stay in power; undeniably spells disaster for all. Some philosophers, academics, analysts and observers might either innocently or maliciously be tempted to resort to euphemism and call it moral deficit or moral failure. But, no matter whatever nice words are used to coin it, the crux of the matter is still the focal topic of values. The world is slowly and reluctantly accepting that greed was the recalcitrant culprit that brought financial capitalism down on its knees in 2007-2008 and at present, makes the double-dip story becoming more palatable by the day. The far-reaching implications from that crisis are unsurprisingly severe; so much so that even the wisest American and European scholars, economists, think-tank and policy makers do not have the slightest clue on how to save their economies from the seemingly bottomless pits of massive unemployment and extreme inequalities in distribution of income and wealth. Note that the bleak foreseeable horizon for the US has contagious effects on citizens of other countries across the globe. This state of affairs has sparked the “99%” to protest in Wall Street against the lucky “1%” who amass 40% of the US wealth (based on a study by the 2001 Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Joseph E. Stiglitz). The scale of this Occupy movement, with protesters going out in more than 900 cities. Thus, what should be apparent to everyone from this unfortunate series of events is that; to keep a blind eye on values in theory and practice is the kind of business to be left to the ignorant and arrogant crop of economic bigots who are so heartless in allowing social and political tensions to persist worldwide. In final analysis, the economics pretext vividly presented above implies the important role of universal values in any society. The worse kind of problems; for instance, the breakdown of family institution, would surely emanate from societies’ risky experimentation to disregard moral values in the domain of social interaction between members of the public. As a developing nation, we must agree that we are in dire need of vanguards to defend our firmly established positions on morality and values against the onslaught of the western liberal influence. In fact, I would further propose that all civic-minded citizens should be affiliated to at least one of such groups to manifest our concern and care about the fate of our blessed country. This is owing to the cogent idea; which states that the whole society would live precariously if we let minority rights to reign supreme over and above that of the majority in all circumstances. If the voice of the minority was to be entertained every time they confidently speak up, it will be a matter of time before society is cornered to have to an open public debate on many other dumbfounded liberal views, like its view on bestiality. This slippery slope is simply a waste of time and effort for us all to go through if we are that serious in trying to be a progressive country and economy. The real challenge besetting all societies; without any exception, is how to achieve the right vision of the society guided by the right value system. In the rare occasions that we have valid creeping issues with the way these ‘moral defenders’ carry out their noble and altruistic duty, one should confine one’s criticisms to their means and not encroach on the borders of their sincere intent. For our progeny’s sake, the onus is upon us to provide constructive criticisms that come with reasonable methods for these vanguards to pursue their aim in the most amicable and efficient manner. But, to quash the very idea that we have to have such ‘values troops’ would lead to the unwarranted consequence of leaving behind a weaker generation to face greater future complications than the social, economic and political predicaments that we are struggling with today. That would be such a pity. * The writer is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics in the Kulliyyah of Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia.