Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on February 13 - 19, 2017.

 

One of the most inspiring ideas to have gained popularity in recent years is that cooperation, not competition, produces the most efficient outcomes.

The attractiveness of cooperation as an operating mode is all the more pertinent today when numerous crises of global proportions can be traced to a blind belief in the survival of the fittest as an inherent principle of nature.

In modern times, this faith in the competitive spirit as a catalyst for bringing out the best in human potential can be seen in virtually all fields, from economics and sport to education and everything else in between.

This faith in the killer instinct is quite understandable because not only is competition evident in nature, it is also inherent in humans and frequently dominates our motivations and actions.

Nevertheless, when taken to extremes, competition can be shown to carry heavy costs that may include eliminating rivals, destroying resources, damaging relationships, causing wars, displacing people, and so on.

These adverse consequences suggest that while competition is indeed natural and has many healthy aspects, it needs to be contained in a broader matrix where other wholesome attributes can balance its effects, in order for optimal outcomes to be achieved.

This has led to the search for better solutions to the many problems that confront us today, some of which, ironically, have come about following the pursuit of competition as a means of ensuring success.

This is where the idea of cooperation as a grand principle operating in nature has come to light and inspired new concepts in human relations, business management, politics and development, among other things.

Before going further, it is pertinent to note that competition and cooperation can be seen to co-exist in the natural environment, and appear to be complementary processes that sustain the organism or ecosystem. Therefore, when seeking to transform human systems, it would be a mistake to replace competition with cooperation as both have crucial roles in the bigger scheme of things.

In nature, a dynamic equilibrium can be seen between competition, which promotes the efficient use of resources, and cooperation, which ensures that the larger system thrives. There appears to be an instinctive awareness that is shared by all parts of the organism that is working to ensure the survival of the whole.

Perhaps it is this shared sense of being that we must become more aware of to bring human activities into alignment with that survival instinct that seeks to preserve us as a species.

One area where competition has taken extreme forms is politics, which has divided the nation into opposing camps and is threatening to inflict serious damage on the social fabric. This competition for political power, and consequently for control over resources, has resulted in the polarisation of the people according to race, religion, regional affiliation and class.

The unhealthy competition for voter support can be seen in the frequency of vicious attacks by one political group on another, where unholy intentions are ascribed to their opponents at every turn. The theme underlying the aspersions of these protagonists on both sides of the political divide is that only their brand of political representation can safeguard the interests of their target groups.

The national mood has become so badly infected by the poison spewed by our political leaders that it has now become necessary to think of a fresh start for the political life of the nation — an idea that is ironically being championed by the same people who have brought us to this unenviable state of affairs.

Unfortunately, no lasting improvement in the state of our well-being can come about until we learn to transcend this instinctive urge to compete for power, influence, resources, prosperity or what have you.

To cooperate successfully implies that we must each surrender our immediate best interests for a higher common good, and trust in the nurturing instinct of that greater whole to sustain each and every element within it.

If this principle of cooperation for mutual advantage were applied to the highly politicised field of education, for example, it would enable the diehard proponents of a single education stream and national language policy to accommodate the arguments of the equally adamant supporters of vernacular education and English language education and vice versa.

For the adherents of the Malay nationalist mindset from the first group, then, a cooperative rather than competitive framework would create room for cross-pollination of best practices from vernacular and international schools. Conversely, for the vernacular and international school systems, there is a valuable dividend in diversity and localisation to be earned through an openness to adaptation.

A key element of the cooperative mindset is an openness to see the other not primarily as a potential competitor for what we have or want but merely as a component member of our ecosystem. This requires us to shift our awareness from a fear-based state to a non-judgemental acceptance of others as they are.

This state of openness, where we are free from emotional tension, enables us to see the full potential in others, from where we can choose to focus on the qualities that complement our own, for our mutual best interests.

There is much to be said for pursuing the path of cooperation, while giving due attention to the value of healthy competition, to address the many challenges that are facing our nation — from striving for educational excellence and addressing the imbalances in our political equation to mending the state of inter-communal relations and more.

While the first step would be to keep an open mind about the potential ways we could collaborate to combine our strengths and minimise our weaknesses, real progress will only follow when we learn to transform that openness from a mental attitude into a heartfelt acceptance of one another.


R B Bhattacharjee is associate editor at The Edge Malaysia

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