Dear Editor,
I refer to a letter in SN on December 5 by Mr Vishnu Bisram in answer to Ms Dawn Holder’s offering. The thesis of Mr Bisram’s letter is widely accepted by intellectuals in both the developed and developing worlds and the evidence he brings simply overwhelms that of Ms Holder’s persuasion.
The main point, however, on which I would like to take up Mr Bisram is his quote from Prof McCord that “only India and South-East Asia among ex-colonies have really made progress since Independence.” This remark is not perceptive.
The fact is that India and China are resurgent world civilizations which up to 400 years ago contributed as much to human civilization and development as the modern West. The Indians and Chinese fell into a historic slumber for 400 years from which they have now begun arising, and to these massive and great civilizations, the 200 years of British imperialism in India and the 150 years of Western and Japanese imperialism in China, is a tiny phase in their long and ancient histories.
And in any case, they tended to choose what they wished from the West – mainly Western technology. South-East Asia was deeply influenced by India and is part of the India/China nexus of civilization and re-awakening.
It is therefore quite incorrect and facile to equate India and South-East Asia with the rest of the ex-colonial world and to blame them for not being like the Indians and South-East Asians.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
