September 24, 2014
Former Chief Justice distorts Malaysian History
by Mariam Mokhtar @ http://www.theantdaily.com
In his latest attack on the non-Malays, former Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad disputed the role of the non-Malays in gaining independence for Malaya. He alleged that the Malays were the only people who demanded, and truly fought for the country’s independence.
Why did Hamid encapsulate centuries of history into one sentence and denigrate the non-Malays? What is his real reason for making this remark? Perhaps, the answer lies in the Malay youth. Forget the thuggish Mat Rempits or the pampered offsprings of royalty and the children of the nouveau royalty – the UMNO-Baruputra élite. They only demand more of the excesses to which they have been accustomed. They have no boundaries in life. They are not like ordinary people, who have to work for a living.
Ordinary young Malays are distancing themselves from the ideology of “Ketuanan Melayu” (Malay supremacy). They are not afraid to make a stand and unfortunately, many students now face arrest and charges for sedition. When young Malays think and behave like Malaysians, it is our racist leaders (like this racist former Chief Justice, and the extremists within society, who feel threatened. Our leaders do not want to forge a united and enduring Malaysia, by engaging and communicating with all Malaysians, regardless of ethnicity and religious background.
The Malays would not cease to exist, if Malays were to reject racial and religious indoctrination. On the other hand, parties like UMNO-Baru and PAS, and extremist NGOs like PERKASA and PEKIDA are the ones whose futures are at risk. Race-based parties like MIC and MCA, and others in East Malaysia, would also be doomed.
All over the world, governments are struggling to contain pockets of violence and intolerance, yet this Hamid fella feels compelled to erode the rakyat’s sense of national identity. Each and every ethnic group has contributed towards our place in history. Despite the NEP and other affirmative action policies, the Malays feature prominently in the lists of the poor, the uneducated, the homeless, those addicted to drugs, those suffering from HIV/AIDS and the single mothers. People know that the NEP has failed.
Hamid’s allegations were made at Universiti Selangor (UNISEL), during a seminar called “Islam and Tajdid (adherence to Prophet Muhammad’s teachings). He also claimed that the Malays were opposed to the Malayan Union, that members of the community had sacrificed their lives fighting the communists during the Emergency, and that the motivation for the non-Malays to seek independence was the protection of their own interests.
Hamid is correct about Malay opposition to the Malayan Union, but he failed to mention the reasons for this. He also omitted to say that more ordinary Chinese died at the hands of the communists, because they refused to help the guerrillas. It is also a bit rich to say that “non-Malays only wanted independence to protect their own interests.”
Similarly, in modern Malaysia, UMNO-Baru politicians will cheat and bribe their way at elections, “to protect their own interests”.Hamid forgets that Malaysia was built by the blood, sweat and toil of all the races, in the mines, the estates, the railways, and in defence of the nation. Hamid’s failure is to reveal only the tip of the iceberg, of the history of Malaya’s independence.
Why did he not mention that the early Malay nationalists, in 1900 – 1910, were promoted by people who were hardly Malay, as they were from Acheh, Singapore, Minangkabau or of Arab-Malay descent?He forgot to say that 20th century Malays were parochial and were loyal only to the sultan, of their state. These Malays did not see themselves as citizens of a nation.
In the last century, many ordinary Malays saw royalty as strong supporters of the British. In today’s Malaysia, ordinary Malays know that little has changed in this relationship, except that the new colonial masters are UMNO-Baru.
Hamid did not explain the rise of the Malay élite, who rejected the claims of the Indian-Malays and Arab-Malays, that they were part of the Malay community. Ordinary Malays despised these pseudo-Malays, because of their wealth and capabilities.
Derogatory terms (DKK, darah keterunan keling, of Indian descent and DKA, darah keterunan Arab, of Arab descent) were common in Malay society, then and possibly now. Many of these pseudo-Malays were marginalised in Malay communities. In today’s Malaysia, how many Malays will admit that Malaysians have been ruled by a non-Malay Prime Minister?
From 1922 onwards, many Malays graduated from the Sultan Idris Training College, at Tanjung Malim. This college was formed to train kampung Malays to become teachers for the kampung schools and many radical Malays graduated from this facility. The irony was that giving education to the masses meant liberating the Malay mind. Today, UMNO-Baru fears the same mental liberation, which early Malays underwent.
Ordinary Malaysians today are not confused about their identity. It is their leaders, and their rulers who are trying to cling onto the past. When people like Hamid uses his exalted position in society to belittle others, he does not deserve our respect, only our contempt.
Mariam Mokhtar is “a Malaysian who dares to speak the truth.”
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
According to my History professor at the University of Malaya in Singapore in the early 1950s (Professor Cyril Northcote Parkinson, the creator of Parkinson’s Law), history should be written as it actually happened – not turned and twisted to suit any individual, government or organisation as has been happening in Malaysia. Some write the history of the country to suit the wishes of the government. In return, they are given national honours by the government. We call such historians “political animals.” It would be better for those who not know much about the history of our country to refrain from making any comment on the subject. Is Abdul Hamid Mohamed a historian or an authority of Malayan history? I thought he was a legal man?
Judge Abdul Hamid should not be political as he was a judge.
How do we all vet him if he had made judgment in favour of UMNO?
TUN Zaki was an UMNO member who held high political position, and was appointed as Chief Justice.
It looks there is no separation of power.
This looks like STALIN COMMUNIST system.
Brilliant article Mariam. The truth is spoken and history cannot be painted over.
Ya-lah, Mariam, these old ducks are beyond contempt.
And worse than that, are other old ducks trying to defend their dead historical quacks.
So instead of cussing them, i think it’s best we bid these autumn leaves, ‘Con te Partiro’:
This is a well meaning piece but it is meaningless because it is written in English … the language of the converts who believe Malaysia will be better without BN and their bigots and cronies.
The battleground lies in the hearts and minds of the Malays, for they are the ones who can free Malaysia of the cancerous BN, not the non-Malays or non-Muslims.
Mariam should write her pieces in Malay and post it in as many Malay websites as possible. Likewise, all other progressive Malays should do the same. You too, Din. Liberate the minds of the Malays across the countries. Challenge them to think. Flood the Malay websphere and blogsphere with critical analytical views of the predicaments of the Malays and Malaysia. Wake up the Malay masses!
People who believe in propaganda have no wisdom to be proud of. You can blame the British for divide and rule. Once you become a nation of a diversified ethnic base, you have to make them work as a team. Otherwise you are heading towards disaster.
In his young days this former CJ (it is amazing how he became a senior member of our Judiciary) must have read history written by a nutty history professor or could he be tutored by one? He wants to be remembered as a Malay supremacist but ends up making a fool of himself. And so he richly deserves this damning rebuttal from an erudite and prolific Mariam Mokhtar. Let us hope she will one day compile all her writings into a book.–Din Merican
The Malays must learn to speak and write English. Otherwise they will lose out to the rest of the world. Muthu, I am not going to spoon feed them.–Din Merican
There should be a review of all cases heard before this judge. Wonder how many cases were decided with questionable judgement based on his bias.
The ordinary Malays in particurlar and others in general are screwed big time by self serving and corrupt career politicians.
It is disturbing to hear a person holding a CJ could hold such grossly distorted views of history…..people like this in public service are responsible for the mess destroying the country.
No wonder the country is sick with many grossly unsuitable, undesirable and dangerous people in position of power, trust and influence……it has probably passed the point of no return.
Hamid is shameless to the extreme. He has the gall to re-write history and denigrate our ancestor’s contributions to Malaysia as only a chauvinistic racial supremacist blind self-serving buffoon would. Mariam and Dino, unfortunately, are in the minority among the Malays. It is indeed depressing to have such a state of affairs in today’s Malaysia. It seems like our world has gone mad, turned upside down with fool and idiots at the helm while intelligent and moderate people are hunted down like criminals. How perverse!
Speaking of having a good command of English, I do recall that way back in the mid-70s when I was doing some part time teaching for pocket money, I told my students that no matter how hard they were pushed to master the Malay language, make sure that on a personal level their English was good. It was a time when the Malay language was beginning to be used to teach most school subjects.
I brought this up to my students because instead of just marking and correcting their test papers on the substantive topic taught, I had to tiresomely correct their English as well!
Yes, a nation must have a “national language” (Singapore actually has 4) And in the context of Malaysia, the natural choice must be Malay. But on a practical, pragmatic level, a second language which attains the status of an “international language”, whether for international commerce or encounters between national leaders, must also be mastered.
Even in ultra-nationalistic France and Italy, the second language is English. And emerging economic giant, China, has its people learning and mastering English by the hundreds of millions. Now with the phenomenal success of “Alibaba” in New York, (and making Jack Ma the richest man in China overnight), the Chinese people will be doubly motivated.
So, my Malay friends and compatriots, mastering the Malay language in Malaysia is now longer a problem, (whether at the national or individual level), as I’ve seen and heard many non-Malays speak and write better Malay than educated Malays. Bilingualism, or even tri-lingualism, is the order of the day in this fast-paced interconnected World. The Malay elite’s children are all quietly educated in Western universities, so no problem for them.
It has been said that the Malays in Malaya and later Malaysia were left behind economically in pre- and post-independent days because of the perceived lack of business acumen and capital. Well, the Malays may be left behind again for not mastering the English language, or perhaps in years to come, the Chinese language. These two wicked coincidences seem, unwittingly, to give the Malaysian Chinese an advantage yet again. What to do?
Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention that “a man who speaks two languages is worth two men”
We non-Malays could not care a hoot about what racist CJ says. It is the Malays should worry because the CJ and those like him paint their entire race of who they are.. Every single non-Malay and outsider looks at a Malay even Mariam Mokhtar and think they have to be careful because there is no guarantee some part of them is just like the CJ..
In Batu Tiga and Shah Alam areas, it’s sad to see middle aged and elderly Malay women going from table to table in eating places to sell packets of tissue or bags of keropok in order to survive.
(My “Significant Other” scolds me for the bags of unfried keropok
piling up in my home).
Like many parents my parents allowed me to go to Sunday School Mission Schools although we were not Christians. Why , because these institutions were the source of a good education in those days. Many of my friends who were not Christians always resented that fact that they had to mouth the Lord’s Prayer from time to time. Many of them who over the past 20 years sat in positions of power did all what they could to cut their links from these institutions. Could this be the reason for this relentless search for our identity? But whatever it is we should let it go and try to build a better Malaysia with institutions better than those that were there in the 50s and 60s.
In this regard, The Republic of Korea comes to mind. Over the past 40 years they have risen from the ashes of the Korean War to become one of the leading countries in our part of the world. Today, they are hosting their Third Asian Games in a third different city in the Republic. Their Per capita income has risen from US500.00 in the years after the end of the Korean war to over US15,000 today. We made an effort to learn form them through our Look East Policy but could not keep it up. I hope that our citizens who have made contributions to this country will play an advisory role that will bring us to the next level of development rather than indulge in the past and leave this great nation running on the spot.
In my two-cents opinion what the CJ probably thought or perhaps I may be wrong, was that the non-malays were less interested in those days to fight for the independence of Malaya ( Pers. Tanah Melayu to the common malay folks at that period). The non-malays during those dqys especially the chinese were more interested in their business and making good fortunes for themselves. They still preferred the British then to stay and rule the country, because as minority groups the non-malays were less concerned about Malaya gaining independence as they viewed their economic and political position in post-independence Malaya would not differ in any way they thought possible.
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I personally don’t tolerate racists. This former CJ is a racist, period.–Din Merican
I suppose the liberation of Malaysia from the grip of
kleptocratic UMNO Baru-BN depends, in the final analysis, on the Malays.
UMNO Baru-BN has laready lost the support of about 80% of the Chinese and about 60% of the Indians. Yet more than 50% of Malays continue to support UMNO Baru-BN.
The progressive Malay intellectuals (academics, mass media people, progressive religious leaders etc) must play their part in
opening the eyes of ordinary Malays and leading them in the creation of a better and fairer society. What’s needed is an alliance of working class Malays, middle class Malays, progressive Malays from the upper classes who are led by progressive Malay intellectuals and political leaders, in partnership with the non-Malay Malaysians.
Din, what I have suggested is not “spoon-feeding” the Malays. That’s what BN has been doing for over 50 years.
And yes, learning English is a definite in order to come of their shells.
But, if Bahasa Malaysia is all that they understand well currently, would it not be the ‘lingua franca’ to reach out to the Malays (especially in the rural areas) to raise their awareness and change their mindset.
Don’t worry about the former CJ, he is not alone. Majority of the Malays are delibrately misinformed for hidden political agenda of the country’s real history.
If he is a racist, they are plenty more from decades of institutionalised racism and gross discrimination of Non Malays destroying the country.
Syed,
Quote:- “In my two-cents opinion what the CJ probably thought or perhaps I may be wrong, was that the non-malays were less interested in those days to fight for the independence of Malaya”
Well, we have to read between the lines of what the former CJ said.
What he is hinting or implanting into the minds of his Malay audience, (especially the impressionable young and poor ones), is that since, “…the Malays were the only people who demanded, and truly fought for the country’s independence”, the Malays are therefore the ONLY people who deserve the benefits of Independence, (meaning citizenship), the fruits of the country’s economic success, (leaving aside for the moment the question of who contributed the major portion of the country’s economic success which the astute former CJ cleverly avoided)
So Syed, assuming you are right that the non-Malays were “…less interested in those days to fight for the independence of Malaya….”, do you then agree that the Malays are the only people who deserve to have it all?