The man who made a difference
A lawyer-turned-psychologist who stood for human rights was imprisoned and shared a cell block with Nelson Mandela. He also played a role in influencing the South African constitution.
HE walked into the hall, his tall figure standing head and shoulders above most in the hall. But that imposing presence belied his down-to-earth character and diplomatic personality.
Dr Saths Cooper, current president of the International Union of Psychological Science, which represents over a million psychologists worldwide, was at the Help University’s Subang 2 campus in Shah Alam to give a talk titled The Future Of Psychology In A Globalised World.
Cooper, who was born in Durban, South Africa, says that his surname means barrel maker and good humouredly tells us that he might drink out of a barrel rather than make one. He explains that his first name Sathasivian has South Indian Tamil origins and eventually evolved to Saths.
The former South African human rights and political activist believes that psychology is pertinent in all areas of human endeavour.
“No matter what field a person is in, whether it’s advertising, public relations, human resources, sales and marketing, education, or others, psychology is relevant. Without that psychology knowledge, many institutions – corporate, public or private – would be poorer. More and more institutions are adding psychology to their courses because they realise its value,” he said during an interview after the talk.
The youthful-looking 67-year-old believes that psychology can help prevent or lessen a lot of issues that the world faces today, such as stress in the workplace, suicides (especially among youth), bullying, and even terrorism.
“If we use psychological knowledge and insight, we’d be able prevent certain stuff from happening. We can help our children understand from a very early age what issues are likely to impact them and be better prepared to deal with it, rather than end up bullying, using violence, or becoming self-destructive,” said Cooper who was also the first president of the Psychological Society of South Africa.
Cooper believes that prevention is better than cure, especially in one of the major issues that young people face today – depression.
“Having prevention programmes, starting from school-age children, is better than only trying to solve the problem when the symptoms start appearing and giving them a pill to pop,” he explained.
“If we implement preventive strategies, we would be better off as a society,” he said, adding that confrontations in the workplace can be circumvented, and even if there were to be confrontations, they can be mediated effectively.
However, he is quick to point out that there is a positive side to conflict in the school environment.
“A young enquiring mind that is filled with knowledge might disagree with his or her teacher, but this is a positive tension because the child feels empowered to raise questions.
“Unfortunately, many teachers often deal with this by shutting the kid up, or complaining to the parents about their ‘problem child’,” he explained. “But the kid is not really a problem child but just doing what a child ought to do.
“If children are complacent, always obedient and subservient, then they are not really exploring their world, and early exploration is vital for healthy human development,” he added.
“It is important to nurture that enquiring mind because it is those who challenge that innovates. Innovation comes from people who are critical, not people who are all kow-towing, who are all dressing the same way, thinking the same way, behaving the same way, but it comes from those who think outside the box,” he said earnestly.
“I appreciate in some of South-East Asian cultures, parents want their children to be the most successful, materialistically well off person in their field. But people need to be re-educated about success.
“Rather than a ‘My success is your failure. I’ve won, you’ve lost’ mentality, there can be a different way of mediating life’s challenges, a ‘win-win’ situation – whether in education, workplace, or personal and public life. There can be ways to prevent negative outcomes to ensure people are less stressed, lead more wholesome, harmonious lives, and are more productive in society.”
Cooper started his human rights activism during his student years.
“It was involvement against the apartheid system in South Africa when there was no other political activity tolerated. The party that Nelson Mandela led had been banned, and as students, we felt that we could not be effective intellectuals without challenging that condition. So, we opposed the system and the racial segregation that was very stark. Toilets, restaurants, schools, transport, residential areas – every area of human life was segregated,” he said.
“We created awareness among our fellow university students and high school students, larger community-based organisations, cultural organisations, and worker organisations, and created internal opposition to the apartheid state,” he added.
For that, Cooper served nine years in prison, five and a half (from 1977 to 1982) in the same cell block as Nelson Mandela in Robben Island Prison off the coast of Cape Town.
When asked what it was like being co-cell mates with Mandela since both of them were from two different generations as well as political backgrounds, he replied: “He was a very personable co-prisoner and always had the patience and time to engage with prisoners of all backgrounds and ages. Being young people in our 20s and he in his 50s, we respected him as an elder, but we often debated strongly on our different ideas.”
But both of them agreed to disagree and were able to get along well. “While Mandela had a fairly open mind on most issues, he also had very strong beliefs like many of us. And while we argued vigorously and attacked the ideas, we never really attacked the person, so we maintained a good relationship,” he said.
“Mandela came from an organisation where they believed white people and so-called coloured people should have their own separate organisation. But our view was that we needed one common organisation because although we come from different ethnic, religious, and language backgrounds, all of us confront issues that are similar,” Cooper explained, adding that Mandela’s organisation eventually changed their perspective.
“I’m pleased to say that as young people, our interaction did have an influence on what he did and some of the old definitions changed, and the consti “Interaction tution right now is a result of that.
with Mandela was a sobering experience. We learnt to be a little bit more patient, yet intolerant of the bigotry and narrow idealogies of that time,” he added.
“Before us, people looked at themselves as European or non European, because of South Africa’s history linking Dutch settlers, during the East India Company period in the 17th century. Then, the terminology was changed to white and non-white. Our view was and still is that you can’t describe one people in terms of another. That’s negative, so we came up with the terminology of black to refer to anyone non European,” he said.
Despite their difference in age and initial political outlook, Cooper and Mandela did share some similarites. “Besides vigorously challenging ideas. I knew his family, his two daughters from his second marriage, and his other children later. Some of them were my contemporaries.”
Cooper’s foray into psychology started while in Robben Island Prison. “I’d been studying law and decided that I couldn’t do law and take an oath as an officer of the court to uphold the apartheid system, so I changed courses,” he said. Cooper eventually focused on psychology, and was determined to become a professional and not just a masters level clinical psychologist, so he completed his PHD.
“I did three majors – philosophy, English, and psychology – even though I was denied studying privileges until the last two years of my imprisonment, but I had also taken courses before my imprisonment,” he explained.
His love for education was evident in that he graduated with distinctions and went on to Applied Psychology at the University of Witwatersrand and then Masters in Clinical Psychology.
“While I was finishing that, I was offered a full scholarship from the British Council, and I had said, I’d go wherever they gave me a passport to because I’d never had a passport before.” Eventually, he got a passport and it was valid only for the United States.
Cooper chose Boston because he wanted to be in a fully intellectual environment with multiple universities. He was admitted into the Community and Clinical Psychology programme there.
He admits with a laugh that ironically, none of his three children followed his footsteps into psychology, and all of them are studying law, although his daughter has a degree in psycholowomen’s gy and studies too. He gives them the freedom to choose their own paths without trying to influence them.