FACTS ARE IMPORTANT INDICATORS OF SUITABILITY FOR HIGH OFFICE
PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang asks his political rivals: HERE
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/313054
“If you can accept communism, why not Islam?”
“Similarly, he said the people accepted BN, MCA and MIC which promotes capitalism, an ideology pioneered by the Englishman Adam Smith.”
From an ambitious Asian politician seeking to govern his country he demonstrates his ignorance of history and facts.
The obvious response is to note that Adam Smith was never an “Englishman” - he was born in 1723 in Kirkcaldy, in Fife, a county in Scotland, making him a Scotsman. He occasionally lived in England but never long enough to be confused as an Englishman, spending most of his life in Scotland.
Moreover, Smith never “pioneered capitalism” - he never knew the word ‘capitalism, which was first used in English in William Thackeray in 1854 in his novel,The Newcomes, issued in weekly parts from 1853-55.
The Oxford English Dictionary, considered an authority on the English language, credits William Makepeace Thackeray for the first published use of the word ‘capitalism’ in his novel, “The Newcomes” (1853-55), though it is clear from its context that this refers to finance capital, rather than to a ‘system’. Financiers in 19th century novels tended to get a bad press; see also Trollope’s ‘The Way We Live Now’.
Archival Note:
From “Lost Legacy”, 9 February, 2007:
“The origin of the word ‘capitalist’ is of much earlier vintage: in French, A. R. J. Turgot (1727-1781) used ‘capitaliste’ in his essay, ‘Reflection on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth’ (1769-1770), and William Godwin used its English version, ‘capitalist’, in his Political Justice (1794).”
