Impact Of West Disrupting Traditional Malayan Values

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30121, 3 May 1963, Page 2

Impact Of West Disrupting Traditional Malayan Values

The disrupting of Malayan family life caused by the impact of Western ideas and technology was resulting in an increase of mental illness and delinquency arising from the conflict between the old and the new ways, Miss Masna Ismail, of Malaya, told members of the Pan-Pacific and South-

East Asia Women’s Association during a panel discussion at the monthly meeting, last evening.

Miss Ismail, an arts student at the University of Canterbury, was one of five Colombo Plan students taking part in a discussion on the good and bad effects of the West on the changing pattern of modem life in four Asian countries.

Other panel members were Miss Thong Tip, a chemical engineering student from Thailand, Mr Chinh, an arts student, Mr Duoc, an engineering student from Vietnam, and Mr Soegandi, an engineering student from Indonesia.

Western education had given women in Malaya an enhanced value and they were now regarded as social assets. They did not have to marry to survive any longer.

Freed from domestic chores by Western machines, mothers could achieve financial independence from their husbands and follow their own desires, said Miss Ismail. She asked if the increased spiritual and physical freedom was worth while. “The country is in a transition state. Do we keep our traditional pattern or do we move ahead?” Misuse Of Freedom

Freedom could and was being misused. Western education meant children became strangers to their parents. Western technology was undermining the father’s position of authority as head of the family. With both parents working and coming home tired, family life was no longer calm. Delinquency and reform schools were no longer unusual. People were confused. Where once the word family meant the whole clan which shared both joy and pain, the new idea was for a young couple to live without interference.

Caring for elders was not

obligatory, yet many children felt guilty if they did not.

Mental illness was becoming common and mental hospitals had to be built. This was a drain on the economy, said Miss Ismail. Indonesia had many regional cultures but as yet her national traditions and cultures were still in the infant stage, and needing protection, said Mr Soegandi. His country’s problem could be summed up as Western influence and progress versus national interest.

“Sometimes they both travel together, sometimes they are in conflict. Our problem is to find the right solution. I am confident that we shall,” he said. Equality In Vietnam, while women had always been treated with respect and consideration, they had been confined mainly to family life, said Mr Duoc. Now rules ensuring women's equality had been written into the constitution. However, Western influence could not wipe out entirely the old family life based on Confucianism, he said. “Vietnamese women do not deny the family nor dis-

pute the authority of the father. They keep the traditions which are considered feminine in our society,” he said. The situation was similar in Thailand, said Miss Thong Tip. Marriages were no longer arranged by the parents. If they did not approve of the choice made by their son or daughter, it was usual for their wishes to be followed. The ideal was to take what was good from Western ideas and methods and incorporate it with what was good in the traditional patterns. Thus an equilibrium could be established, she said.