High time to rid of colonised mentality and use modern science and technology to uplift humanity, instead of waging war, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
In his speech at the launch of "A Malik Bennabi Reader" and the International Institute of Futures Studies on Wednesday (Feb 5), Anwar highlighted the importance of the Algerian thinker Malik Bennabi, who taught that colonisation is not solely about brute force, but a broader, more complex phenomenon.
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In his speech at the launch of "A Malik Bennabi Reader" and the International Institute of Futures Studies on Wednesday (Feb 5), Anwar highlighted the importance of the Algerian thinker Malik Bennabi, who taught that colonisation is not solely about brute force, but a broader, more complex phenomenon.
Read more at https://tinyurl.com/ubmwnmh7
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
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NewsTranscript
00:00It is with pride that I join you today in marking two important milestones.
00:12The launch of Malik Ben Nabi Rida and the establishment of the International Institute
00:18of Future Studies.
00:21Though distinct, they are connected by a commitment to intellectual renewal, critical inquiry,
00:29and the shaping of a just future.
00:33They are endeavours that embody the spirit of Malaysia Madani.
00:37And thank you, Usman, Zamri, Tahir, and of course, Zia.
00:44Now the unveiling of this two-volume work on the ideas and thoughts of Malik Ben Nabi
00:52is a cause for great delight.
00:55Ben Nabi's moral and intellectual convictions have profoundly shaped my own perspectives.
01:04So thank you again, Bahayam Sawi, for bringing this admirable book to fruition.
01:12This may well be the most elaborate or comprehensive exposition of Ben Nabi's thought to have graced
01:21the printed page.
01:24It is a work destined to be a cornerstone reference for many years to come.
01:35Ben Nabi's homeland, Algeria, paid a heavy price for its freedom.
01:42Stems from a country with one and a half million martyrs.
01:47Yet his vision was never shackled to one land alone.
01:53He saw the struggles of Muslims across Asia and Africa as shared struggles.
01:59He spoke not just for them, but for all of humanity.
02:05The subtitle of this speech, A Muslim Visionary in the Whirlwind of Colonial Modernity,
02:13is a succinct, evocative, and compelling encapsulation of Ben Nabi's intellectual and moral journey.
02:23Ben Nabi may have left us more than 50 years ago, yet his thoughts remain as timeless as
02:30they are profound.
02:33He sought to understand why some societies were vulnerable to domination while others
02:39strived.
02:42I mean, this is essentially Khaldunian, about those subjugated.
02:49But from my initial readings, not to include your two volumes, to me, that's a great strength,
03:01to give that push, that challenge to the ummah, that you can only be truly independent and
03:11mature as a society and succeed as a nation if you can overcome that captive mind being
03:20encapsulated by the colonial view.
03:25Ben Nabi, of course, understood that colonialism was not merely an external imposition.
03:34It was also an internal ailment made possible by the weaknesses within colonized societies.
03:41Now Ben Nabi embraces his fears with deep compunction.
03:47And from that platform of rectitude, reminds us that without the moral courage to grasp
03:54the guiding ideas of civilization, now guiding ideas was one of the theme of my speeches
04:02in the late 70s.
04:05We will be doomed if we repeat the errors because then we'll be consigned to the dustbin
04:16of history.
04:17Thus, Ben Nabi called for a revival, not just in political terms but in a deeper, more holistic
04:29sense, which I term is as madani or script.
04:36To break free from the legacies of colonialism, societies had to dismantle the mindset of
04:43subjugation as much as the physical structures of imperial control.
04:49This meant rejecting the culture of empire and cultivating what he termed as culture
04:57of civilization, a beautiful French phrase that he used, I would dare try, that is rooted
05:09in the ethical and spiritual principles that define human dignity.
05:16Now ethical, moral principles is in a deficit in today's world, in politics, in business,
05:26in the academia, and Ben Nabi called for this revival in a holistic sense.
05:35Now he is also able to see through the illusions piercing the rhetoric of progress, remember,
05:44the rhetoric of progress in civilization, their colonial powers willed to justify their
05:50subjugation of others.
05:54He recognized how modern science and technology, forces meant to uplift humanity, had been
06:03perverted into instruments of domination.
06:09Now nowhere is this clearer today than in Palestine, where the tiresome and mendacious
06:19claim of defending the only democracy in the Middle East is wielded as a shield to
06:28justify the dispossession of an entire people.
06:35Modern military technology, surveillance systems, modern bureaucratic state have been deployed
06:43in the service of murder and subjugation.
06:46Just as in the colonial past, power cloaks itself in the language of security and stability,
06:56when in truth it is entrenching displacement and genocide.
07:06For Ben Nabi, true liberation was not merely political or economic.
07:15A society that grants political rights, yet leaves its people in economic servitude is
07:24not truly free.
07:26Remember Ramanan, what Ambedkar said, without social independence, social democracy, independence
07:35would be rendered meaningless.
07:38The law is a society that ensures material security, while suppressing intellectual and
07:46political freedom.
07:48Ben Nabi envisioned democracy as a synthesis, where political and social democracy coalesce
07:56to ensure both liberty and dignity.
08:02This is the essence of Islamic democracy, a system that frees people not only from external
08:13oppression, but from internal servitude.
08:19So when the Quran declares that God does not change man's condition unless they change
08:26themselves, their inner selves, this is as much an injunction to bear responsibility
08:35for one's actions and by extension into the arena of politics, clearly a commandment for
08:43accountability without which democracy becomes a mere platitude.
08:49So I have popularised not just democracy as a democratic accountability.
08:56It's important for an Amno leader to nod with me on this.
09:01Hence, our Mardani framework of governance places paramount importance on democratic
09:10accountability.