This post is written in Malaysian context, me being a Malaysian, I guess.
One thing about Malaysians that never failed to make me feel like knocking on somebody's head using a sledgehammer (you know, like that wrestler Triple H did?) is their tendency to put the blame on everything Western every single time things go wrong in Malaysia, especially where our teenagers and youngsters are concerned. Discipline problems among today's Malaysian schoolchildren? Blame it on the "Western influence". Growing addiction towards pornography among Malaysian teenagers? It's the Westerners' doing.
Try asking a typical Malaysian (a typical one, mind you) about reasons underlying booze addiction in this country. I guarantee you that from numbers of reasons that he/she might give, the magic phrase "Western influence" will never be left out. Hell, it's one of THE main causes. Oh, I'll give you one better - it's THE main cause. Like Westerners alone would be the sole cause of why more Malaysians start getting drunk regularly.
This one tendency we have cannot be more obvious to mine eyes when it comes to cases of Sufiah Yusof and Amalina Che Bakri. The moment people talk about them, they start talking about how scary it would be to send kids to study abroad, yada yada yada. "This is all caused by the Westerners' way of life, very carefree, very immoral..." Such words to that effect we will always hear.
It's as if everything from the West is all bad, all stinks, all sucks, you name it. And everything from the East is all good. Gosh! What sort of misconception do we have here?
We blame the Westerners for getting us acquainted with brandy, stout, wine, etc. etc. Oh, please. What about tuak, tapai, todi? Do all these come from them? Do we come to create this after we come to know Carlsberg's and Tiger - you know, to go together with the "belilah barangan buatan Malaysia" (let's buy Malaysian products) policy? I wish we would stop being so spoon-fed and ignorant.
And besides, not everything Eastern is good. We look up to Japan as one of the most prominent, economically growing countries in the whole world, particularly in Asia. We admire their resilience. We look up to their strict adherence to discipline. They are disciplined in so many ways, and they are resilient enough to withstand whatever comes their way (look how they cope with the aftermath of the recent tsunami and earthquake). Those things I shall make no attempt to deny.
But don't tell me you're oblivious to the fact that Japan has a porn industry of their own - and a legit one, at that? And what else - slavery in Sudan, discrimination towards women in the Middle East - is this what we call good influence?
Not everything about the West and Westerners are bad things, you see. I think some of us do realize that. Why don't we try to mingle more with them? I have. Some of you, I bet, have done so, too. Most of the Westerners I know are indeed lovely and amiable. So far none of them have tried even to persuade me to get drunk or to molest me.
At the end of the day, whatever that is good we should take and practice, never mind if it's Western, Eastern, Northern, Southern etc. Whatever aspects that is bad, or unsuitable, coming from any culture worldwide should not be practiced. (Some of you might bring up the issue of ethics and morality, which is a very wide issue in itself, but let's save it for another time, yes?)
