Intellectual Discourse on Liberalism

FNF supports the Open Dialogue Centre in conducting an intellectual discourse on liberalism which aims:

• to promote a better understanding of the liberal principle of individual freedom;
• to strengthen culture and tradition in Malaysia through a philosophical debate especially on liberal culture and tradition;
• to discuss in depth on economic philosophy, especially the liberal economy, to see its influences and challenges in Malaysia and to address social dilemma in Malaysia - regarding rights and individual freedom, education, economic, security etc. from a liberal perspective.

On 24th June 2006, the Open Dialogue Centre (ODC) conducted its first Intellectual Discourse on “Great Thinkers of Liberalism and Their Philosophies” by inviting Professor Mohd Hazim Shah B. Abdul Samad from University of Malaya to discuss about Karl Popper and Richard Rorty on Science and Liberalism and Its Implications for Multiculturalism. This course has exposed the audience to the foundations of the idea of liberalism. One participant said that the topic was presented by a person who has a deep understanding on the questions at issue.

The second intellectual discourse continued on 11th August 2006 on “What is Liberal and What are Liberal Studies” by Al-Mustaqeem Mahmood Radhi from the Middle Eastern Graduates Centre. Participants usually looked at liberalism from the perspective of religion. However, after the lecture one of them said “I understand more about the exact meaning of liberalism and I now look at it from a different perspective”.

The third discourse focussed on Liberal, Liberalisme, liberality and libertine by Khalid Jaafar, the director of the Institute of Policy Research, on 18th August 2006. The lecture focused on the types and differentiations between liberal concepts. The fourth discourse on “Evolution of Liberal Philosophies” was conducted also by Khalid Jaafar on 25th August 2006 with the aim to revise the past two topics and to evaluate the understanding of the participants on the concept of liberalism.

Khalid Jaafar referred to John Gray’s “Liberalism” which characterised liberalism by reference to four main features. “It is individualist, in that it asserts the moral primacy of the person against the claims of any social collectivity. It is egalitarian, in that it confers on all men the same basic moral status. It is universalist, in that it affirms the moral unity of the human species and it is meliorist, as it asserts open ended improvability by the use of critical reason on human life”.

The intellectual discourse on liberalism continues every Friday at 10.00am at Ibnu Sina Institute. Short summaries of the lecture series will be published regularly on this website.

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