Sexism and Racism : Recent Developments

Two events occured recently which augured in arguments over discrimination. The election of Barack Obama saw many proclaiming the end of racism, while Rafiah Salim's demotion from her post as the de facto head of Universiti Malaya saw a revived discussion of sexist tendencies in communal male-dominated Malaysia.

Mr. Obama's victory will be celebrated for years as a new dawn in world history. It was a quantum leap in terms of the general view of the stereotypical American. He was voted in in most part over his rhetoric. Promises were made, and the people took in the words, and who could blame them, for he was certainly forceful. Thirty minutes of canvassing before one of America's most heavily-watched television events, the Superbowl, must count for something.

However, the aftermath of the revolution resulted in wildly off the mark feelings. The fact remains that Mr. Obama was voted for by significant numbers of the population on the basis of the colour of his skin. In some parts, this would qualify as reverse racism, preferring a certain race over another instead of discriminating against. However, it would be fair to say that any form of discrimination, whether positive or negative, qualifies as being racist and degrading. A key example would be patronising behaviour; this is frowned upon by all minority groups from the disabled to adolescent Goths.

Racism will not be dead, until all judgements made on others are made objectively, without brownie points for the colour of their skin. In this, it could be argued that while Mr. Obama's victory will usher in an era of greater objectivity, it cannot be said that the death of racism as a card to be played is upon the Americans, nor for any nation.

Rafiah Salim was a respected academician and corporate leader. To evaluate her after two years on the job, and finding her work unsatisfactory is to do her a disservice. The fundamental flaw of judgement is to account for all failings through internal factors, i.e. the candidate's ability, and ignoring external factors, i.e. the freedom given to the candidate, the intrinsic will to change of the institution, the existing structural strength of the institution's intellectual capacity, and so on.

It was comical how some MPs had put the failings of our public institutions down to their administrators, only three of whom are women. It was interesting to note, from Ms. Rafiah's later outbursts, that her fellow female VCs were all offered two year contracts with a view for an extension, a departure from the three-year norm. It smacks of a double-standard. In terms of performance, Sharifah Hapsah, the UKM VC has been doing a stellar job, even having UKM usurp UM as the nation's highest ranked university by the Times' top 500 university ranking last year. One only has to look at the performance of the lowest ranked Malaysian research university, UPM, to see how a male VC has no bearing on performance. Nik Mustapha is in his third year of service. The structural flaws of our public institutions will be discussed in another review.

Racism and sexism are human traits, irreversible in terms of the unconscious. We are programmed to discriminate, through irrational judgements based on physical attributes and conscious judgements based on experience. The first step towards getting past these intrinsic failings is to admit them, and then work to remove them. Denial would mean desensitizing the effects of sexism and racism and allowing them to cloud our ethical and moral judgements.

Obama time

Monumentally wrong. There's a monument being erected in honour of how wrong I was about the US election.

Obama will be a beacon for the US, certainly. The US will be a better nation in the eyes of the world, obviously. It ended good and I'm happy with the outcome.

On the reasons why McCain should have been president, as was detailed in a previous post, time will tell how those come out.

A victory for the idealists, less so for the realists.

why McCain should win, and why he will

Come Wednesday, Malaysians will be thinking and saying, "The stupid Americans did it again, they went Republican." But they would not realise how much better off they will be.

The main argument against the GOP is that they are confrontational, foreign policy hawks. The war against terror was wanted by many as a reaction after 911. The argument should have ended there. War or no war. Once war started, there shouldn't have been more arguments. War is like a cancer. You have to finish it off once it starts. Obama will end the war in Iraq, putting even more Iraqi lives at risk.

Malaysians do not realise how favourable US economic policies have been towards them. Sure, there are many barriers against trade enforced, but they were only recently deposed as our largest trade partners. US companies have an enormous presence here, in manufacturing and services. Many US companies outsourcing contracts provide employment for thousands of Malaysians. Obama will stop this, closing up trade. He will also increase spending, increasing US borrowing, and increase the budget deficit. If Obama comes through, the ticking time bomb of burgeoning US external debt will be left to explode.

Latest US opinion polls show Obama leading slightly with 51% of the numbers. The Bradley effect might come into play, unfortunately for idealists like myself. The race is too close to call. But for purely selfish and nationalistic reasons, I would go McCain.

My internet connection is down, I'm a noisy cafe writing this, and have finals looming over my head. Sorry for the lack of depth.

Glazed Dreams

Bridges - Dialogues Towards a Culture of Peace is a running event held by the International Peace Foundation. So far, the biggest news out of this is the drama surrounding Shrin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace laureate from Iran.

This event will bring the best academic lectures we have seen in this country, from James D. Wolfensohn to Robert Mundell, a pioneer of neo-classical economics.

What I am most perplexed by is the failure of my alma mater, Universiti Putra Malaysia, to be part of this event. The rest of the so-called top 4 Malaysian public universities are hosting events.

So much for improvement.