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-- AlfianKuchit - 20 Nov 2008
Liberation and the Internet Society: The Role of Muslim Intellectuals in Malaysia
Do you think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm? - Malay proverb
Introduction
Human history is shaped by the interaction of ecology, group interest and creative individuals. When habitual, routine thinking will no longer work, creative individuals are those who, at certain moments in history produce new alternatives (Hodgson: 1974).
For a developing nation like Malaysia, intellectual leadership is a significant development need. To lack a functioning creative and intellectual class is to lack leadership in (1) the posing of problems; (2) the definition of problems; (3) the analysis of problems; and (4) the solution of problems (Alatas: 1977).
As Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, Muslim intellectuals play a major role in social transformation and creating a progressive Islamic discourse. Without their intellectual leadership, traditional discourses on Islam will prevail and continue to produce a non-critical condition rooted in external dependence and internal submission (see Sharabi: 1992).
While Muslim intellectuals have focused their energies on the issues of human rights, social justice, authoritarianism and democracy, the issue of privacy and the Internet Society remains at the periphery of their consciousness. In a place like Malaysia where Muslim intellectuals hold a lot of influence, the responsibility of raising consciousness on issues of privacy and to speak out against new forms of exploitations must inevitably fall on their shoulders.
One of the urgent tasks of Muslim intellectuals in Malaysia, therefore, is to provide a progressive religious discourse which is both contextual and dialogical (see Engineer: 1990). The aim is to reflect upon concrete reality, raise critical consciousness and focus on pedagogical strategies to struggle against dehumanizing conditions. Religious commitments must therefore be anchored to the urgent issues of the society at large and centrally rooted to the idea of religion as a force for liberation.
Malaysian discourses on development have focused exclusively on technological advancements. Government-controlled media have often hailed the Multimedia Super Corridor as Malaysia’s ambitious commitment to transform its rubber and palm-oil plantations into Asia’s Silicon Valley (see http://www.mscmalaysia.my/).
In many countries, the strength of civil society can be a bulwark against the erosion of privacy. Privacy is important because it protects one “from being misdefined and judged out of context” (Rosen: 2000). Unfortunately, in Malaysia where the government often bend backwards to accommodate foreign investments, privacy rights are given a short shrift. Furthermore, in Malaysian society, surveillance by the government in the name of crime-prevention and national security is a given.
While critics of the Malaysian government have focused on environmental degradation and displacement of indigenous tribes in its rush to achieve developed nation status by 2020, what is urgently needed is also a national discussion on privacy issues to limit the boundary of government and commercial surveillance. In the International Privacy Ranking released last year, Malaysia shared the last spot with China and Russia and was categorized as “endemic surveillance societies”. The U.S. did not fare much better either (see http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-559597).
Muslim intellectuals together with other members of the Malaysian civil society must remain vigilant of the abuse and misuse of technology. Data mining technology in the U.S., for example, has allowed commercial entities to constantly monitor, store and analyze personal information of their customers. Zarsky (2004) raises the specter of price discrimination (where companies use personal information to create different pricing schemes for different types of customers) and the “autonomy trap” (where personal information can be used to manipulate the customers through the use of personally targeted advertisements).
The transformation of human society into an Internet society means that there is an urgent need to not only have technical literacy but also critical literacy, allowing one to be able to read both the word and the world (Freire,1993). Critical literacy provides the intellectual tools to understand reality in favor of the permanent emancipation of human beings at a time where the commercialization of cyberspace has led to metaphors like “market for eyeballs” (which reduces humans into passive receptors) or “the Information Superhighway” (which reduces the Internet into a pathway of commerce rather than a tool for emancipation) (see Dahlberg: 2002, Moglen: 1997).
Without doubt, the Qur’an is greatly concerned with a just and egalitarian order (Qur’an, 49:13, 5:8, 28:5, 4:75, 2:219). But the implications for contemporary practice are much less clear.
Who are the oppressors and the oppressed in the Internet society? In Malaysia, this question needs to be answered by the Muslim intellectual and creative class. What they must bear in mind is that there is nothing inevitable about the erosion of privacy in cyberspace nor is privacy doomed in its battle against government intrusion and technology. But as Frederick Douglass has suggested, power concedes nothing without a demand.
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