Archive for June, 2007
Mengikut laporan daripada komik atas talian, Malaysiakini, Ezam Mohd. Noor telah keluar daripada Parti Keadilan Rakyat, atas sebab “hilang kepercayaan kepada pucuk pimpinannya, termasuk mentornya dan ketua PKR, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.” Pengeluarannya ini menyusuli pengeluaran mantan bendahari agung PKR, Abdul Rahman Othman and salah seorang ahli glamernya, Dato’ S. Nallakaruppan.
Mengikut laporan tersebut, antara sebab-sebab Ezam mengundur diri dari PKR ialah pada pandangannya, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim bersikap sebagai diktator yang lemah dan berada dibawah telunjuk naib presiden PKR, Azmin Ali. Menurut Ezam lagi, Anwar “dikatakan telah mengarah bahagian Permatang Pauh supaya tidak membuat sebarang pencalonan bagi jawatan timbalan presiden.”
Walaubagaimanapun, tuduhan Ezam itu telah disangkal oleh Timbalan Ketua Bahagian Keadilan Permatang Pauh, Che Mat Hashim di dalam satu kenyataan yang boleh di baca pada pautan ini: Sah Ezam Keluar PKR. Perkembangan ini boleh dilihat sebagai petanda yang PKR berada di dalam satu krisis, yang mana jika tidak ditampan, boleh membawa kepada parti tersebut meledak dengan sendirinya.
Jika dilihat dari aras muka, sememangnya itulah kesimpulan yang ketara, terutama sekali jika kita menilai kenyataan-kenyataan yang telah dikeluarkan oleh Sdr. Ezam dan Dato’ Nalla (Sdr. Abdul Rahman Othman tak kata apa-apa, dia belah aje). Akan tetapi, penganalisis kami di MILF-PRON mempunyai kesimpulan yang berbeza dan berwawasan — iaitu, pengeluaran personaliti-personaliti tersebut adalah kerana mereka merupakan sebuah cabal yang cuba untuk menjalankan satu koop ditat (satu perkataan Belanda yang telah di Melayukan) keatas pucuk pimpinan PKR — yang akhirnya terkandas.
Berdasarkan dokumen-dokumen rahsia yang kami jumpai (di belakang rumah RPK), MILF-PRON mempunyai bukti yang angkuh kukuh untuk menyokong dakwaan kami ini. Dalam menganalisa dokumen-dokumen tersebut, tidak syak lagi bahawa Ezam, Abdul Rahman dan Dato’ Nalla berkomplot untuk menjatuhkan pimpinan aristokratik dan lembik Datin Seri Wan Azizah Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Juga, mereka merasakan Anwar tidak mengotai janji-janji manis yang dituturkan kepada mereka sepanjang menjadi ahli PKR. Umpama kata pujangga negara yang popular seketika dulu, Gingerbread:
Lembut lidah mengukir janji
Segunung mimpi berkecai kini
Selain daripada itu, sikap tidak demokratik yang dipamirkan oleh Datuk Seri Anwar yang lebih mendengar kata-kata Azmin Ali and Tan Sri Dato’ Khalid Ibrahim (dan tidak kurang juga Datin Seri Wan Azizah dan Nurul Izzah) menaikkan perasaan jeles dan kecil hati di dalam jiwa mereka. Ini adalah kerana, dalam pendapat mereka, adalah lebih demokratik jika Datuk Seri Anwar mendengar kata-kata mereka.
Sejurus daripada itu, mereka dan penyokong-penyokong mereka (yang terdiri dari semua golongan kaum, seperti bangsa Melayu, Cina, India dan Lain-lain) mengadakan perjumpaan rahsia di hotel-hotel and rumah-rumah tumpangan terkemuka di sekitar Wilayah Persekutuan dan Ijok. Di dalam perjumpaan yang beberapa kali itu, mereka merancang koop ditat untuk mengambil alih pucuk pimpinan PKR daripada Datin Seri Wan Azizah, sambil meletakkan Datuk Seri Anwar sebagai pengerusi boneka.
Walaubagaimanapun, koop ditat ini gagal, seperti yang kita ketahui. Antara sebab kegagalan koop ditat ini ialah kehilangan semangat Dato’ Nalla setelah dia menyedari bahawa ahli baru berbangsa India yang dibawa masuk olehnya ke dalam PKR bukanlah berjumlah 1,000,000,000 tetapi sebenarnya 10. Bagi Abdul Rahman Othman pula, dia merasakan bahawa bergabung tenaga dengan orang bukan Islam mungkin bukan cara yang terbaik, maka dia pun mengambil keputusan untuk menyertai PAS, kerana PAS adalah parti yang tidak mengira kaum, asalkan kaum itu beragama Islam. Untuk Ezam pula, dia merasakan teramat bosan dengan kerenah Dato’ Nalla and Abdul Rahman, maka dia bermula untuk lebih menumpukan perhatian kepada NGOnya, GERAM. Diatas sebab-sebab yang telah kami nyatakan di atas, bercampur dengan sebab-sebab lain, arakian terkuburlah usaha koop ditat ini, akibat habis nafas.
Begitulah kesimpulan analisa yang dijalankan oleh penganalisa-penganalisa zakar pakar di MILF-PRON. Sekian, terima kasih.
NOTA: Ini adalah rekaan semata-mata. Jangan ambil serius, ye.
Filed under: MILF-PRON, Mentera Moden, Politics | |No Comments
Title: May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969
Author: Dr. Kua Kia Soong
Publisher: SUARAM (2007)
This May 13 book has generated a lot of controversy in the past month and a bit since it was published, partly because it deals with a very controversial and painful time for Malaysians, but mainly because it is a subject that the government has actively discouraged from discussing openly. And as we all know, where there is prohibition, there is desire. I obtained this book late last month but only got into it a week ago. A slim tome, it was not that difficult to finish. It was, however, a difficult read because in spite of myself, I was often left quite incredulous by its contents.
“The author maintains that the “May 13 Incident” was above all, a coup d’etat by the then emergent Malay state capitalist class to depose the Tunku who represented the outdated Malay aristocracy. It was a critical political putsch which changed the course of Malaysian political history and ensured the rise and entrenchment of the new Malay capitalist class through the New Economic Policy”
Introduction, pg. 3.
One did not have to read far into the book before the author’s predetermined bias was made clear, as shown in the excerpt above. In fact, one did not even have to open the book at all to see it, since the blurb at the back said the same thing. In and of itself, that’s not really a problem. Where this book breaks down is that Dr. Kua seems to have failed to provide his assertions with actual, solid proof.
In a sense, it wasn’t what was written in the book that left me dissatisfied, it was what was left out. The blurb at the back of the book also claimed that it is “the first credible account of the May 13, 1969 riots in Malaysia …”
I don’t think so.
For example, in the Introduction, the author wrote that Chapter Two, The 1969 General Elections, examines the 1969 elections, and states that “… But as observers have noted, the jubilation and celebration by the opposition parties after the election results could not possibly be sufficient excuse for the hoodlums to run riot.” (pg. 5). However, in Chapter Two itself, there were no citations or statements from the “observers” refuting the official government line that puts the “blame for the riots on the provocation by opposition parties after they had made significant gains in the 1969 general elections.” (pg. 29).
In Chapter 3, Record of the Riots, the author all to briefly touched on the May 9 Labour Party funeral procession and the May 12 “Victory Parade”, with no real details included. Contrast this with Mubin Sheppard’s biography of the Tunku[1] where he chronicled the events leading up to May 13 to include the genesis of the May 9 Labour Party funeral procession, and the May 12 “Victory Parade” organised by the DAP and Gerakan. While the May 9 funeral procession omission may be understandable, it was inexplicable that Dr. Kua did not elaborate on the May 12 parade. In the Tunku book, Dr. Sheppard wrote “When the main body dispersed, groups of troublemakers, Indian and Chinese, toured the main Malay residential area and deliberately insulted the residents, sometimes accompanying their remarks with indecent gestures. No breach of peace occurred, but the deliberate provocation contributed powerfully to a demand, the next morning — May 13 — for a Malay counter-procession: a demand which could not be refused.” (pg. 163)
One gets the feeling that the May 13 author deliberately put his blinkers on, and choose to not mention several incidents leading up to the May 13 incident, just so that he can assert his own take on things. And his take was that it was a coup d’etat.
I was hoping for some mega revelation, of clandestine meetings, planting of agents provocateur in mobs and some sort of steady eradication of the aristocratic rulers’ (as personified by the Tunku) influence which then led to the May 13 incident and the culmination of the coup by the setting up of the National Operations Council (NOC) and suspension of parliament. The way the book was promoted, you got the feeling that the incident itself was a planned event as part of the coup rather than resulting in the NOC and suspension of parliament.
Indeed, one would better assume that May 13 represented the culmination of disparate events which were used by certain UMNO leaders as leverage to remove the Tunku from power. This was also the opinion expressed by Dr. Syed Husin Ali, in an interview in Malaysiakini.
Going through the rest of the book, I get the impression that the book is more of a diatribe against the racial policies of the government (rightly or wrongly) than an in-depth account of the May 13 incident, betraying the author’s DAP credentials. And that, in the end, is the main reason for my dissatisfaction with the book. The claims made in promoting the book were not substantiated by the contents. Never has the cliche’ to not judge a book by its cover (and its propaganda) been more true.
This book is not a balanced account of the incident, and in that sense, cannot be a “credible” one. And what a shame that is.
[1] Tunku: His Life and Times: The Authorized Biography of Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj; Mubin Sheppard; Pelanduk Publications (1995).
Update 2007-06-25: It has been pointed out to me (by Farish) that Dr. Kua may not, in actual fact, be a DAP member anymore. I have not found any evidence of this either way, so far.
Filed under: Book Reviews | |5 Comments
Sometimes, it’s hard, we have to admit. Living in such a prosperous and happy, happy country. In a fish bowl covered by a coconut husk. Where the issues of the day include the attire of MAS flight attendants (too sexy), Hattan’s rendition of Negaraku (not as good as MP Seri Gading’s), Ministers’ wives (who’s hot — Tiara and Normala, who’s not — Jeanne, apparently), Hantu exhibitions (they’re not real — you think?) and sundry other matters.
Of course, that’s just being simplistic. There also issues like conveyancing for banks where certain racial makeups are required.
There’s also that one where a dead guy turns out to be another religion than what his whole family thought he was.
Then there’s the time when your MP or ADUN kicks the bucket and you wake up the next morning to find that the road in front of your house has been retarred and is now 6 inches higher than it used to be, so much so that your lowered Toyota KE20 can’t get out of the driveway without the bottom scraping the edge. And remember, Tok Guru said that you can take their money, just don’t vote for them. It’s okay, he made a fatwa.
Who can forget about the two bloggers getting sued? It then resulted in a bunch of bloggers getting together to Unite! After which, they realised that some of them don’t like each other, so they disunited (and there’s a surprise).
And now … our artists are getting to be too much. Men wearing earrings and women shaving their heads. Goodness gracious, what next!
ENDNOTE: Thanks be to Suanie for is get finding the pictchures.
Filed under: Mentera Moden | |No Comments
About a month ago, I made a business trip to Taiwan. Along with my work colleague, we were accompanied by a couple of guys who were the Malaysian distributors of the product we were looking to purchase. These two guys were Malaysians of Chinese extraction. My colleague and I were, effectively, being chaperoned, which is normal business practice.
While we were there, the two dudes and their Taiwanese counterparts treated us well, showing us their product lines and taking the time to go through the bugs we found in the products they had already sent to us to test.
Anyhow, that’s not what this is about.
What this is about is that the two dudes kept calling the Malays in general, and me in particular, “bumi”. For e.g.:
“For lunch, we’ll take you to this halal restaurant, because we know you bumis are particular about your food.”
“When I was in school, I was friends with lots of bumis.”
“We got this product that we want to show to the Ministry, but we need you bumi guys to front for us.”
“I know this bumi guy who just bought the new S320. Nice car.”
“This Pak Lah government no good. Last time, can still do business with bumi company fronting. We let the bumi company make some money while we do all the work. Now, Pak Lah say cannot do Ali-Baba anymore. Cilakak! This is our rice bowl. We don’t mind the bumi fler make some money, as long as we also make, mah!”
After some time, I got tired of it and said that if they need to call me anything, then call me Malay.
The point is that, as an unfortunate side effect of the NEP, whether consciously or subconsciously, other races look at the Malays as “bumis”. This is an old subject, sure, but one needs to be raised continuously and raised often. That the Malaysian society is rent into two classes is one that cannot and should not be sustained forever.
After all, which is the more “privileged” — the race that is given discounts on property, special quotas in business, easier entrances to universities and so on, or the Other that has none of those? I would argue the latter. Nothing comes easy in this life, and we are often the stronger for having to work harder.
As Rehman Rashid noted in his book, “A Malaysian Journey” (and I’m paraphrasing here, since I don’t have the book with me), with the NEP a Malay will no longer know whether whatever he achieves is solely due to his own efforts.
When a non-Malay calls a Malay “bumi”, the Malay is accorded a different status, and that status is not often an elevated one. In fact, I get the feeling that it has become a derogatory word, and I look forward to the day that the word is consigned to the same bin as “keling”, “Chink”, “slit-eyes”, “nigger” and “towelheads”.
Filed under: Mentera Moden, Politics | |No Comments
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