Scientific ignorance and the theory of evolution in Malaysia

[Young]

So I recently came across this most shocking document published in 2008 by the Malaysian Science and Technology Information Centre (MASTIC) regarding the awareness of science and technology among Malaysians. The statistics I found were nothing short of horrifying.

Based on the statement “Human beings as we know
them today developed from earlier species of animals”:

50.8% of Malaysians consider the theory of evolution to be false whereas 31.7% are unsure of the subject, meaning only 17.5% of Malaysians consider it to be true. This is a shockingly low number.

What's worse is that MASTIC considers the correct answer to be FALSE.

It should be noted that the public’s responses to the evolution ... do not indicate familiarity with or ignorance of scientific concepts and issues. instead, they are statements of a person’s beliefs or philosophical stand more than his or her knowledge of the concepts.

In this survey and its predecessors, Malaysian scientists have regarded the two statements as FALSE

That's right, the science and tech branch of our government officially believes in creationism. We are all doomed.

The report also revealed some other really interesting things about how ignorant Malaysians are about science:

-MASTIC considers the Big Bang theory as FALSE.
-About 30% of Malaysians did not know or were unsure that the Earth revolves around the sun.
-Over 90% did not know or were unsure that antibiotics killed bacteria and not viruses.
-About 85% did not know or were unsure that lasers focus light instead of sound.
-About 85% of Malaysians entertained the thought of our ancient ancestors living with dinosaurs ala Flintstones.

So yes, many Malaysians know very little about science and technology but the issue that really boils my blood is MASTIC's purposeful misinformation and ignorance regarding issues like evolution and the Big Bang theory.

Grrrrr.... Anyone with anything to say?

Sources:
1. The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2008 (MASTIC) The good stuff starts in page 18 onwards.
2. An article in TMI on said report- In denial over evolution, in denial over science.

[plawks]

Nice find. The creationism wiki page also said that "only 8% of Egyptians, 11% of Malaysians, 14% of Pakistanis, 16% of Indonesians, and 22% of Turks agree that Darwin's theory is probably or most certainly true" (with citation).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism#Islamic_countries
-,,-

[vseehua]

Originally Posted by Young

The report also revealed some other really interesting things about how ignorant Malaysians are about science:

-MASTIC considers the Big Bang theory as FALSE.
-About 30% of Malaysians did not know or were unsure that the Earth revolves around the sun.
-Over 90% did not know or were unsure that antibiotics killed bacteria and not viruses.
-About 85% did not know or were unsure that lasers focus light instead of sound.
-About 85% of Malaysians entertained the thought of our ancient ancestors living with dinosaurs ala Flintstones.

Wow, no wonder our doctors can give antibiotics anytime to their patients for anything resembling a cold.

[wannie]

some places do ban the theory of evolution to be taught in classrooms (e.g Kansas but it was changed in 2001). even in the USA where freedom of speech is probably most valued, the theory of evolution is the one which brings a lot of controversy. only between a quarter and a half of americans do accept Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection. the funny thing is, i know of some people who accept darwin's theory and are very religious (not sure if they support creationism as well because that would be so contradictory). i believe that the society of today is very apathetic in a lot of things to the point of agreeing in controversial ideas. btw, did you know that dragons were probably made up when our ancestors saw the bones of dinosaurs?

[Young]

Originally Posted by wannie

some places do ban the theory of evolution to be taught in classrooms (e.g Kansas but it was changed in 2001). even in the USA where freedom of speech is probably most valued, the theory of evolution is the one which brings a lot of controversy. only between a quarter and a half of americans do accept Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection. the funny thing is, i know of some people who accept darwin's theory and are very religious (not sure if they support creationism as well because that would be so contradictory). i believe that the society of today is very apathetic in a lot of things to the point of agreeing in controversial ideas. btw, did you know that dragons were probably made up when our ancestors saw the bones of dinosaurs?

Regarding the issue of evolution being taught in America- the situation seems to be easing now. The Dover school trial was a landmark case in 2004 that saw creationism being put in its place as pseudo-scientific and religious BS. Many American academicians are speaking out against the fallacies of creationism and the massive turnout at the recently held Reason Rally speaks volumes about Americans finally coming to their minds.

It's a different situation altogether in Malaysia though. Religious extremism is well-tolerated (especially by the ruling government) and this inadvertently affects any concerted effort to bring an issue like evolution into the public spotlight. Heck, the Rukun Negara and Pendidikan Moral both contain strong elements of religious bias and creationism. It's really hard to go against the tide if institutions and establishments are set against you from the start. And like you said, appealing to the rationality of the public isn't going to work because... well, we're an apathetic bunch.

[Nicholas92]

You're surprised? We live in a country with generally religious conservative people - it's totally predictable that we'd find creationism to be popular among people here. Add that to the fact that we don't actually learn about evolution or natural selection pre-SPM.

[Young]

Originally Posted by Nicholas92

You're surprised? We live in a country with generally religious conservative people - it's totally predictable that we'd find creationism to be popular among people here. Add that to the fact that we don't actually learn about evolution or natural selection pre-SPM.

I'm surprised not so much by the public response, but by MASTIC's declaration that evolution/BBT are false and that 'scientists in Malaysia' seem to agree with them. Any scientist worth his/her salt will say that evolution is an irrefutable fact.

[youngyew]

Originally Posted by vseehua

Wow, no wonder our doctors can give antibiotics anytime to their patients for anything resembling a cold.

I would have to disagree with this - in Malaysia most doctors give out antibiotics either due to pressure from the patients themselves (due to their misconception), or pressure from the clinic's boss. Yes, some places force their GPs to prescribe antibiotics for viral illnesses because they make money out of it.

Anyway, I have to say that the methodology of this study is seriously flawed. "Human beings as we know today developed from earlier species of animals" is a potentially misleading statement and could easily have been rejected by people who might have been scientifically literate. When you say "developed from earlier species of animals", people could easily have conjured an image of a monkey, or even a donkey morphing into a human (an imagery which would be easily rejected based on "common sense" alone); and this is obviously not what human evolution actually is. So while strictly speaking the correct answer should still be "true" for this statement, a lot of people could have answered "false" based on the knee jerk reaction as their brain conjures the preposterous imagery of a donkey or a monkey morphing into a human.

Yes, we did not evolve from monkeys - we simple share the same ancestors which are technically named the Great Apes. This IS an irrefutable truth derived from the same rigorous scientific process that brought you the Apollo 11, lifesaving antibiotics, DNA forensic science and tells you accurately that venus transit will not happen again for another 105 years.

Having said all that, it does anger me that this report has absolutely contorted the scientific knowledge of evolutionary process and the big bang theory, and claims that the acceptance of these two theories are faith-based when the opposite is the case.

It's like calling the NON-acceptance of Noah's ark faith-based.

[plawks]

Originally Posted by Nicholas92

You're surprised? We live in a country with generally religious conservative people - it's totally predictable that we'd find creationism to be popular among people here. Add that to the fact that we don't actually learn about evolution or natural selection pre-SPM.

Evolution isn't in the SPM syllabus but last time I checked it is in the STPM syllabus.

[youngyew]

Can someone verify if the theory of evolution is in matrikulasi syllabus?