Going past the point of transition

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abd Razak
Learning Curve : Perspective
The Edge Malaysia - 19-06-2011

THE prestigious Pacific Science Congress meetings date back to 1920. Indeed, it was an honour for Malaysia to host the 22nd Pacific Science Congress meeting, themed Asia Pacific Science in the 21st Century: Meeting the Challenges of Global Change, from June 14-17 in Kuala Lumpur. Anchored by Akademi Sains Malaysia and Pacific Science Association, more than 800 participants from over 40 countries attended the event.

In my keynote address, I highlighted three major concerns, namely global change, the challenges and Science in the 21st century.

Global change is often cited as important, but by and large, it stops at that.

The more common events that never fail to be mentioned are climate change, technological advances, increased poverty and population growth.

Some simulate models to explain the finer points of global change. Several of these need to be fitted together into a more meaningful, larger picture.

The models may be scientific work, which can be published, and are no doubt important, but in many ways we are still far from finding a truly global solution.

A case in point is the phenomenon of global warming. The choice is whether we act collectively in a convergent manner based on the strength of multilateralism, or remain fractured in our efforts which could work at cross purposes with one another -- be it in the sphere of culture, geopolitics, socioeconomics or science.

While talk is global, action is often local if not parochial! So much for so-called "global change".

Consequently, the challenges that we face in achieving "global change" become even more arduous due to lack of a common platform for concerted efforts.

When there was a common platform, a fractured approach created an insurmountable barrier. An example is the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), a truly global agenda and challenge that most, if not all, member countries of the United Nations are signatories to.

Despite commitments to narrow the dire gaps as outlined in the eight goals within the MDG framework, the failure in fulfilling them is harrowing!

And yet when it comes to wars, trillions of dollars are wasted, let alone the cost of post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation, further threatening the already anaemic performance of the MDG.

The biggest challenge is to zero in on the prevailing mindset and the priorities it focuses on. Indeed, what is wanting is not merely global change in the real meaning of the words, but more so a global change of world view that created the existing mindset. To quote media mogul Rupert Murdoch: "We've been living in the Western world way above our means. We've been on a great binge and it has come to an end and we have to live through the correction."

The "correction" is what the ultimate challenge is all about without which the "great binge" will continue to be the mainstay of the world's way of living, albeit Western in character. And fundamentally, the "great binge" is not longer sustainable!

This then leads to the third concern, namely Science in the 21st century.

This, by implication, contrasted with "Science prior to the 21st century" as a continuum to the Industry Age of the 1800s. Science then was deemed successful in creating what the world is today. Not forgetting, however, that the same Science has also been the cause of the current global dilemma for many generations to come.

In that sense, Science is not a panacea that we can solely depend on, and never is! In other words, Science too must undergo a change as remarked by Albert Einstein: The problems created by a level of thinking cannot be solved at the same level of thinking. Essentially, Science in the 21st century must be premised or positioned differently.

And this means a new global world view, which may well be the start of a truly global change that the 22nd Pacific Science Congress is searching for. Otherwise, it is difficult to envisage how change can happen while we are entrenched in the "old" unsustainable world view, due to a level of thinking which is also unsustainable!

Perhaps this is what Pacific Science Association president Professor Congbin Fu alluded to when he spoke about "point of transition" in his opening address.

* The writer is the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia. He can be contacted at vc@usm.my