The West is no longer the best

The East is not all that either. But we understand that war sucks and there should be another way. A response to Robert Wu's "The end of West's ideological monotony".

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

I've had a really tough week at the office where my work literally tripled, so I'm not going to be terribly coherent today.

I really wanted to write an elegant response to

Robert Wu

’s newsletter, but since my brain is fried, I think this rambly newsletter is the best you'll get.

First, yes, Robert's newsletter is awesome, go read it.

The end of West's ideological monotony

And, honestly, he's a braver soul than I am because when I had look at the comments section, whoo baby! I don't know if I can handle such ... vitriol, condescension and ignorance.

So, I'm not as diplomatic as Richard. Part of the reason why I avoid talking about politics is that I've always been a straight-talking girl, and this often gets me in trouble in the corporate world let alone the "diplomatic" world of social media. I reassure you, nobody's going to hire me as a mediator anytime soon.

This world is not for the faint-hearted. Hard decisions are being made all the time. There would not be any magic pill for the world’s problems. And once there was an attempt for a magic pill, disasters usually ensue. -

Robert Wu

I’m a child of a hybrid world

Like Robert, as a Malaysian, I did think that the West was best.

I grew up in a world where every Malaysian wanted to migrate overseas. And when they say overseas, they mean Australia, England United States, basically anywhere Western. Nobody said that they're going to move to Thailand, or China.

Like Robert, I had my awakening when I started travelling abroad. First, for studies, then for work, when I was a jet-setting journalist. Some of the cities I had visited: London, New York, Los Angeles, Edinburgh, Dublin, San Diego and San Francisco to name a few. But I also travelled extensively in Asia, which included China, and had the privilege of watching Beijing grow, over a decade, from a dusty, run-down city to the shiny megapolis of today.

The contrasting conversations I had with people from all these regions made me realise something very early: Malaysia is not that bad, even if fellow Malaysians think I’m talking out of my arse.

The Western nations may have nicer-looking buildings, and the weather is less stifling, but they have the same problems we do.

I also realise taht I really loved being a Malaysian, that living in Malaysia was quite a good thing. I felt lucky to live in a country where there was no violence, where I don't have to freeze in winter, where no natural disasters touch us, water was abundant and vegetables and fruits grow all year round.

I love the fact that in Malaysia we understand many cultures at once or make a lot of effort to do that. Our history books are not just about Malaysia. I grew up learning about the history of China, India, the Middle East, the US. The only sad thing is we left out African nations. Sorry, my friends.

I love that in Malaysia, we live the ASEAN way, which is to talk to our neighbours rather than label them evil or good. And I was able to think this way because of where I'm from, my linguistic abilities and I'm very grateful for that.

Not that Malaysia doesn’t have problems. Oh boy do we. But like Robert said, “the world is a hard place” but we make do with what we’ve got.

Anyway, the event that really made me question the whole dogma that the West was the great benevolant leader of the world was the 2003 Iraq war. (Or invasion, as my part of the world prefers to call it.)

In Malaysia, we have news channels in English, Malay, Chinese, and Indian. So, we have the perspectives of the West but we also have perspectives from China, India, South-East Asia and the Muslim world.

Imagine having this massively diverse media diet from such a huge number of regions all your life. Imagine how that shapes your mind.

I realized very quickly during the Iraq invasion, that Americans don't have the same thing I do.

No matter how much I reason with my online American friends that the Iraqi war wasn't something they should champion, all I got was cancellations. That really broke my heart because I lost many good online friends.

Watching much of the Western world condoning and sending their troops to Iraq made me upset. A few years later when it emerged that “the weapons of mass destruction” did not exist made the entire East roll their eyes. And our hearts broke for the people of that region who were left devastated over this “mistake”.

After Iraq, more wars followed.

Dear West, I’m exhausted by your wars.