John Stuart Mill

fundamental issues

As discussed in the earlier section, Islam is perceived as superior in deciding the Muslim codes of conduct (Ataullah, 1997; Haque & Masuan, 2002; Krisnan, 2004 ). There is no limitation in inculcating the essence of the Islamic teaching in all aspects of life (Husain & Hodge, 2016). Therefore, it is also important to analyse the frameworks that manifest the classification of conduct disorders from the Islamic perspectives. Compared to Western “values such as independence, self- actualization, self-expression, and explicit communication styles that express individual opinion, Islam tends to affirm interdependence, community-actualization, self-control, and implicit communication styles that safeguard others’ opinions” (Husain & Hodge, 2016, p. 396). As such, Malay psychological well-being is described in a relational way that suggests personal wellness is grounded in the relationship with Allah (the God) rather than through a sense of autonomy (Hatta, 2010).

Islamic teaching suggests a very different view from those in the West concerning ethics and morality. Conceptually, from the western perspectives, ethics and morality are both derived from

different origins. Ethics or “ethos’ is originally a Greek word while morality or ‘morals’ is a Latin

word. Literally, both denote the same meaning, habits or customs. Technically, moral means commonly felt while ethics means appropriate and rational (Ataullah, 1997). Both ethics and morality are rooted in the value of human reason, human experiences and customary laws. In imposing the ethics and morality guiding behaviour, they are less likely to account for religious beliefs (Adibah, 2013). According to this perspective, the ultimate pursuit of the human existence is to generate good behaviours through rational thinking and that individuals serve a supreme authority to reach this goal (Major, 2013). Therefore, in Western critical morality, individualism is stressed through autonomy, well-being, character and excellence (Wall, 2013).

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Individualism, with the lack of engagement and attachment to the religion, family and society, people who perpetrate culturally improper conduct within their culture of origin have a high tendency to justify their conduct by employing an ‘individual right’ discourse (Bernama, 2014). Even in Malaysia, through globalisation processes, individualist human rights discourse is finding its way into the lives of Malaysians, especially the Malay (Bernama, 2014). For example, issues pertaining to LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) people are now marking the development of new trends in the social movements of the Malaysian people (Muniandy, 2012). The active dissemination of knowledge through the globalisation process by its powerful means i.e. mass media has contributed to the newly approach in informing, shaping and framing the individual experiences with regard to social issues. Thus, the contemporary people prefer to structure the conduct issues they are experiencing into the individualistic and worldly structure that is manifested through private frames, social frames and governmental frames. Yet, most of the time there is less or total absence of relational and interdependence values between man and the God expressed through religious frames (Mucciaroni, 2011).

While Islam is vital for the Malay, Hatta (2010) argued that there are those “whose faith in Islam is only ‘skin-deep’”(p. 338 ) and know little about the basic tenets of Islam despite their claims to being Muslim. In most cases, these people are in favour of emerging new values that appear to be consistent with their desirable outcome. As an effect of the inculcation of other’s values, in the current situation, it seems that the Malays in Malaysia who used to be very submissive (Al- Attas, 1977; Goddard, 1997) have started to have found a voice through the human rights platform.

This new phenomenon in Malaysia is also known as ‘humanrightism’ established on the core beliefs

of humanism, secularism and liberalism (Bernama, 2014). As an implication, rather than framing the issues from within the religious right discourse, most of today’s Malays prefer to frame their conduct issues through an individual right. It is necessary to mention here that the current government of Malaysia does not legislate against human rights’ principles, but argues that individual rights need to be applied moderately based on the principle of justice, fairness and excellence (Bernama, 2014).

From a the fundamentalist position, attending to psychological knowledge is accepted so long as it is from an Islamic framework that is centred in the spiritual and religious moral values. Hence, the Malays who hold a secular mindset are perceived as a deviation from their fundamental beliefs and practices (Kamal, 2005). This belief is generated in response to the inflated acceptance of Western knowledge by the Malays. Thus, there has been a continuous effort commenced by local and international experts in revisiting the knowledge of development issues to ensure that knowledge is consistent, acceptable and meaningful across culture. As a result, since the 1960s there have been

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several Muslim intellectuals who were keen to Islamise psychological knowledge. Their efforts are based on the beliefs that spiritual and religious factors play a vital role in mental health among the Malays (Haque, 2005). Most of these efforts are centred on countering the philosophical underpinnings in the development of psychological knowledge in general and are less likely to focus on a specific psychological issue such as conduct disorder. Therefore, we should consider the capacity of the DSM for accommodating socio-cultural diversity in making psychological knowledge more meaningful to the Malay people.

I am convinced that Islam has its own concepts and models in governing the morality issues among Muslims.. Morality is also known as Islamic ethics or akhlaq (in Arabic), which means character, nature and disposition. The concept of akhlaq in Islam can be further divided into two divisions that include physical and spiritual forms of mankind. The word akhlaq is associated with the close relationship between man and God (Adibah, 2013). Based on this knowledge, Muslims do have religious responsibilities that are reflected through their behaviours. The concept of Islamic ethics or morality is grounded in al-Quran as the primary source and the Sunnah (tradition or the way of life) of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h). Both Al-Quran and the Sunnah are also known as the scriptural morality (Adibah, 2013). Given these resources, Malay adolescents are expected to adhere to these principles through Shariah Law which is extracted from those resources.

Through the lens of Islam, the prohibition of certain kinds of behaviours such as drinking alcohol is obviously mentioned in the primary sources of Islamic teachings and therefore it is forbidden to all Muslims (Assanangkornchai, Talek, & Edwards, 2016). Thus, the prohibition is considered absolute and unchangeable. Such a clear instruction can be found in the primary sources of Islamic teaching, however some aspects of behaviour, particularly with regard to emerging contemporary lifestyles is left to Muslims to interpret and to decide on their appropriateness (Ataullah, 1997). Therefore, the process of interpreting and engaging in contemporary lifestyles must be considered in a systematic manner so that it is consistent with the fundamental principles as outlined by Islam. In doing so, there are several alternative resources other than Al-Quran and the Sunnah for Muslims to refer to. These include Islamic theology, Islamic philosophy, Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic mysticism (Adibah, 2013). These resources offer some methodologies in embedding the emerging new values and lifetyles into the Muslim life. So, Islam does promote flexibility in applying its knowldge into the Muslim life.

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4.6

Summary

The progressing of psychology in Malaysia sheds light on the development of appropriate psychological knowledge that is meaningful to the Malaysian as a whole and the Malay in particular. While the complexities in understanding and conceptualising conduct disorders from the local perspectives are acknowledged, the clear principles of Islam with regard to how to approach behavioural issues offer space for discussion on how the structure of the Western knowledge system can be embedded meaningfully within the contemporary Malay community in Malaysia.

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5

Research Methodology

The present research employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to examine how Malay adolescents with conduct disorders make sense of their lived experiences in responding to the effects of globalisation process in the Malaysian context. The aim of this research is to

examine the participants’ understandings of and orientation towards the world around them, which

might play a significant role in their participation in criminal offending. To make sense of the experiences of the participants, I interpreted their understanding of their lived experiences in a way that reflects the complexities and tensions of the relationships between local Malay culture, values and practices that are much guided by the Islamic teaching and global culture alongside worldviews associated with modernity and globalisation. I also questioned the appropriateness of Western knowledge of conduct disorder to the Malay cultural and ethnic context, and whether it may be useful for understanding the tensions Malay adolescents face in their everyday lives.

In dealing with the adolescents’ experiences, it is important to note that not all research

questions can be answered through a quantitative approach as mainstream psychology usually does, especially when dealing with the meaning the participants attach to their experiences that explain the relationship between the individual and their reality. In my view, the interpretative phenomenological approach has the potential to complement quantitative measures in understanding the lived experience of the people in depth. This notion is consistent with the idea that the scientific findings will be more meaningful, well framed, clarified and justified when there is collaborative work between multiple research designs (Miner-Romanoff, 2012). Thus, IPA, which focuses on both epistemological and ontological dimensions of human experiences (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009) enables a research process that attends to descriptive and interpretive analysis that allow in-depth

exploration of participants’ understandings of their lived experiences. As such, the process may offer

new insights into what is happening to Malay adolescents in the current globalised era from their own perspectives.

Adolescents’ understandings of their lived experiences are subjective in a complex manner

(Miner-Romanoff, 2012), particularly when they are linked to the impacts of the globalisation process (Mohd Najmi et al., 2013). Therefore, the utilisation of in-depth exploration of their subjective perceptions and interpretation is essential in explicating the complexities experienced by them. To explicate the complexities, I examined the tensions experienced by the Malay adolescents on the changes in many different facets of their lives due to globalisation processes, which included,

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familial, economic, social, educational, cultural and Islamic values. To me, to contextualise the

participants’ experiences, it is essential to examine the various contexts they are embedded in.

Utilising IPA as a method for the present research enabled an in-depth exploration of the Malay

adolescents’ lived experiences within these multiple contexts. This notion is possible as the process

involved in IPA was not limited to descriptive phenomenology, but also analysing the adolescents’ voices and understanding through their language (Shinebourne, 2011) in reflecting on their everyday experience.

In choosing the method used in the present research, it is also essential to consider my research background in which I have to admit that, I have no strong philosophical background. Therefore, I prefer to engage in more clear approaches, philosophical underpinnings and corresponding methodologies, which were offered by IPA. To me, IPA is a user-friendly method that allows the researcher to use their creativity in adjusting the method depending on the need of the research situation or context and objectives. IPA recognises the central and active role of the researcher in making sense of the research participants lived experiences (Pringle, Drummond, McLafferty, & Hendry, 2011; Smith et al., 2009). Hence, IPA may contribute to increased understanding of research issues and produce findings that reveal individual experiences and genuine thoughts and reflections with few difficulties (Miner-Romanoff, 2012).