POSITION PAPER 4 by Nor Fazela ( 0724448)

“Since most of the assessment instruments in the market were made based on American culture, Muslim counselors should not use standardized assessments at all”. Discuss.

Over the years, assessment instrument that Malaysia used commonly created by Western especially America. For sure, the format or styles of assessment instrument were made based on American culture. But, as a Muslim counselor that have knowledge and knew better about culture in Malaysia can be adapted the instrument based on our culture. Hence, it is not true that Muslim counselor should not use assessment instrument based on American culture at all because it will help counselor in facing the different background of client and also lack of sources in terms of counseling field in Malaysia.

First of all, we can use the instrument regarding western culture because in Malaysia we may face many kinds of races, religion, gender, social background and so on. The main point is how we adapt it based on our culture especially our religion. May be the instrument is related to client’s culture even not same with us as a Muslim. We must remember that we not only deal with Muslim students but other races such as Chinese, Indians, and other minority ethnics. So, the instruments that we used must suitable with client’s background and needs. Furthermore, in counseling session also, we are referring to Western theories. But, as we know, we can get used to our culture.

Secondly, Muslim counselor can use assessment instrument based on American culture because lack of sources in terms of counseling field in Malaysia. As we know, Malaysia a little bit left behind from Western country in terms of counseling field and also other fields. In education we already used Western sources as a guideline to create education system in Malaysia but based on our culture. For example, in university majority text book and reference book are from Western rather than Malaysia sources. Hence, as a Islamic country it is not wrong if we refer the sources from western but adapt it based on our culture in order to give students the best education.

On the other hand, some people may claim that we should not use the assessment instrument based on American culture at all because we already have assessment instrument in Malaysia like Personality Inventory Test by Sidek Mohd Noah. They said, we should refer to our assessment instrument that Malaysia have. However, as we can see that assessment instrument also referred from Western too. It is because, until now, Malaysia doesn’t have any research center that is specific to counseling field like Western country. Maybe we can build it to make a research on counseling and create new assessment instrument in Malaysia.

In conclusion, it is not true that Muslim counselor should not use assessment instrument based on American culture at all because it will help counselor in facing the different background of client and also lack of sources in terms of counseling field in Malaysia. In my opinion, we can learn many kinds of knowledge in this world but as a Muslim we should also view that knowledge from Islamic perspective. Like our prophet said, “belajarlah sampai ke negeri China”. It’s mean that we are encouraged to learn and gain knowledge as much as possible even from other countries. But, we should have our own identity as Islamic country and also based on our cultures that have variety of religions, races and ethnics.