At a time when the country is grappling with a question on its independence history – was the country ever colonised to begin with – academic Kua Kia Soong attempts to make sense of the “patriots” and “pretenders” of the country’s struggle for freedom. independence.
So, who are the patriots and pretenders? According to Kua, (left) the common folk were the patriots for they lay down their lives against the colonial masters while the pretenders tried to take credit for the country’s independence without shedding any blood.
“The patriot are those who defended their country with their lives and their freedom. They sacrificed themselves in at least two important wars, against the Japanese fascists in the second world war and against British colonialism.
“The pretenders are the one who did not lay down their lives but claimed that the country’s independence was gained by them… Independence was gained by the anti-colonial war movement made up of the workers, peasantry and the progressive middle class, people who were in AMCJA-Putera…”
These were the groups that had demanded independence, long before Umno, said Kua during the launch of his latest book, “Patriot and Pretenders: The Malayan Independence Struggle” in Kuala Lumpur last night.”
Also present were Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) chairperson Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim, PKR vice-president N Surendran and Centre for Independent Journalism executive officer Masjaliza
Hamzah.…more
Real patriots ignored by history, says academic
Sep 24, 2011 – Malaysiakini
Posts Tagged ‘History
It is clear that Umno leaders are unable to hold a public discussion nor can they agree to disagree. It’s either their way or no way at all. This is clear in the case of Mat Sabu, the deputy PAS president, who has become the latest victim in a string of events that continue to show that the biggest bully in the nation is Umno.
Not even two weeks have passed since Prime Minister Najib Razak grandly promised to repeal the outdated Internal Security Act and three Emergency laws to make Malaysia the “best democracy”, yet we are now witnessing the greatest travesty to democracy itself – the silencing of the voices of dissent.
As one member of the public told Malaysia Chronicle in an immediate reaction to Najib’s announcement:
“For real changes to be felt by the people, it is not only the law which needs change, but the manner in which they are used,” a investment director MK had told Malaysia Chronicle.
“Until the government stops the systematic abuse and misuse of not just the legal system but also institutions like the police and the election commission, civil liberties remain out of reach for us Malaysians. After all, we used to have an independent judiciary who interpreted the law without fear or favour. Nowadays, the government can enact all the shiny new laws they want, because it is the interpretation and administration of those laws which can be perverted.”
Only Umno’s opinion matters
Indeed, in a growing democracy, there must be room for all to speak. Bear in mind, all citizens have the right to their opinion. But sad to say, in Umno’s case, only its opinion matters and all others will face the wrath of the law as they twist it to suit their political agenda.
Mat Sabu is facing the wrath of the Umno-led government and its mighty machinery. Attorney-General Gani Patail has conveniently slapped on Section 500 of the Penal Code and promptly got Mat Sabu arrested.
Gani’s action is reflective of the federal government as a whole. So far by its actions and track record, it is all out to stifle freedom of speech and expression is totally contrary to Article 10 (1) of the Federal Constitution that states : 10. (1) Subject to Clauses (2), (3) and (4)— (a) every citizen has the right to freedom of speech and expression.
By slapping Section 500 of the Penal Code on Mat Sabu, the AG is actually saying the government is charging Mat Sabu for defaming the government. In criminal cases of defamation, when the state prosecutes a private person for defamation, Section 499 to Section 502 of the Penal Code is applicable.
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Hush, careful what you say or Umno the Bully will throw you in jail
22 September 2011 – Malaysia Chronicle
PETALING JAYA: Two prominent figures in the legal fraternity have reacted with incredulity over PAS deputy president, Mohamad Sabu’s, criminal defamation charge with one of them bluntly calling it “stupid”.
Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, was charged yesterday at the Butterworth Sessions Court under Section 500 of the Penal Code with challenging the official account of the 1950 Bukit Kepong incident during a ceramah in Tasek Gelugor, Penang, on Aug 21.
He was accused of defaming the dead police personnel and their families who defended themselves during a Communist attack led by Mat Indera on the Bukit Kepong police station.
The charge has drawn harsh criticism from opposition supporters and NGOs who questioned the sincerity of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s recent pledge for democratic reforms and openness.
Mat Sabu himself has said that the case is about the interpretation of history and should be resolved through debate and dialogue, not by court. And he has since won the backing of two top legal eagles.
Lawyer and former UN Special rapporteur, Param Cumaraswamy, warned that Mat Sabu’s prosecution is an affront to Najib’s Malaysia Day annoucement.
“I’m very surprised that this archaic penal provision of criminal defamation has been invoked to charge Mat Sabu,” he told FMT in a text message.
“Many countries have decriminalised such defamation from their Penal Codes as it offends the fundamental right to freedom of expression. Malaysia is one of the very few to retain and invoke it.”
“This prosecution certainly makes a mockery of the PM’s recent statement proposing repeals of the several draconian laws. Looks like the Attorney-General is not in tandem with the PM.”
Let the affected families sue
Former Court of Appeal judge, Shaik Daud Ismail, didn’t mince his words when he branded the charge as “stupid” and dismissed it as having no basis.
“How can it be defamation?” he asked. “If he is being accused of defaming the dead, then let the family alone tackle it. Why are the police and the Attorney-General so concerned?”
“Utusan Malaysia has written many defamatory things in the past and yet no action has been taken against it. That speaks for itself.”
Shaik Daud said that the charge did not hold water and that it would reflect very badly on the legal fraternity.
Judge Ikmal Hishan Mohd Tajuddin has fixed Oct 27 for mention of the case and Dec 5-9 for trial.
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‘Defamation charge against Mat Sabu stupid’
September 22, 2011 – FMT
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Human rights groups nationwide today condemned the authorities for charging PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu with criminal defamation, calling such a move a clear violation of human rights and free speech.
The groups said the use of the antiquated law sparks concerns that the government was not serious in implementing legal reforms, even after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement last week that the Internal Security Act (ISA) and other security laws would be repealed to give Malaysians more freedom.
Mohamad, popularly known as Mat Sabu, claimed trial today to a criminal defamation charge of glorifying communist guerrillas and defaming policemen and soldiers who defended the Bukit Kepong police station in 1950.
“It is certainly a violation of human rights and could be a violation of free speech as all he did was express a different view of history,” Bar Council Human Rights Committee chairman Andrew Khoo told The Malaysian Insider.
“It puts a damper on anyone who thinks of arbitrating a view that goes against the norm. Just because people didn’t like what he said, does it make it criminal? I can’t see where the criminal intent is,” the lawyer stressed.
Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) director Dr Kua Kia Soong called it “ridiculous” to charge someone for merely interpreting a part of the country’s history that was still being debated.
“Recent history professors have shown views on colonisation that were at odds with most people in this country. Are they going charge them as well?”
“Charging Mat Sabu is the ultimate in dishonesty and injustice because it was only his interpretation of history,” Kua told The Malaysian Insider.
The Suaram director said that Mohamad’s prosecution showed that the government continues to overlook important areas of democratic reform such as freedom of assembly, freedom of association and freedom of expression.
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Muhammas Sha’ani Abdullah said that the charge was unjustified as Mohamad did not break any law.
“The claim that we have 1,000 police reports does not justify a charge to be made against a citizen for just voicing his opinion. There should be a clear threat to public safety, otherwise it will prevent discussions and debate in the country,” he said to The Malaysian Insider.
UPDATED A day before PAS deputy president Mat Sabu is to be charged in court over the Mat indera issue, his home was attacked with fire bombs or Molotov cocktails, prompting rebuke against leaders of arch rival party Umno for carrying out a ‘hate campaign’ against the popular PAS leader.
He was also arrested by the police in connection with his alleged remarks made during a speech on August 21 over the Bukit Kepong incident, wherein he had said Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Umno party was not the only one who fought for Malaya’s independence from British rule.
Sabu, had voluntarily gone to the state police headquarters at 8.30pm before he was detained. He was leter released on bail at 9.05pm. According to PAS lawyer Hanipa Maidin, Sabu will also be charged at the Butterworth court under Section 505 of the Penal Code for making statements aimed to stir public mischief.
If convicted, Sabu faces a maximum two years jail term, a fine or both. Sabu has however denied the allegations and has launched a lawsuit against the Umno-owned Utusan newspaper for twisting his words. “They should be charging Utusan Malaysia,” said Hanipa.
“This is obviously politically motivated and intended to persecute a leading oppositionist,” PKR vice president N Surendran told Malaysia Chronicle.
Police pandering to Umno’s political games
Mat Sabu could not be reached for comments but his party colleagues condemned the arrest and also the fire-bomb attack. They called on the police to carry out speedy investigations to ensure that Sabu and his family were safe, rather than waste time pandering to Umno’s political games.
“Let the police check thoroughly but I won’t be surprised if the culprits were paid by Umno to harass Sabu’s home and family,” a PAS stalwart told Malaysia Chronicle.
A sign GE is around the corner
According Pakatan Rakyat leaders, the decision to charge Mat Sabu confirmed two things . Firstly, it made nonsense of Najib’s promise last week of making Malaysia the “best democracy” in the world. Najib had showily promised to remove the oppressive ISA used often to incarecerate political rivals but insisted two new laws would be enacted to replace them.
Secondly, it was a further sign that the 13th general election might be held sooner than anyone had anticipated. There have been many who have shifted their estimate to March April 2012 from November this year.
Time to reclaim our true history
We’ve never been colonised by the British! I’ve never heard anything so ludicrous. And it’s coming from history professors. Not just one, but at least two. Yeah, professors touting hogwash.
Prof Zainal Kling (right) first dropped the bombshell when he said several days ago that Malaya was never colonised.
He said it was wrong to say that we were under colonial rule for 400 years, which would mean since 1511 when the Portuguese invaded Malacca.
This would also mean that we were never colonised by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. No kidding?He said under the British, the Malay states were merely protectorates because the Malay rulers retained their sovereignty. Only Singapore, Malacca and Penang, known as the Straits Settlements, were colonies.
He said Malaya was colonised by the British for only two years, during the Malayan Union period from early 1946 to the end of 1947, and by the Japanese during the Second World War. Wow!
And here’s his punch line – it is therefore wrong to say that the police, political leaders and Malay officers before 1957 were subservient to the British.
Ah! That’s the main point, isn’t it? He brought all that up to discredit what PAS deputy president Mohamad (Mat) Sabu (left) had recently said about the attack on Bukit Kepong, didn’t he?
Mat Sabu had said that the real heroes of that incident were not the police who defended the Bukit Kepong police station because they were serving the British, but that the credit should go to Mat Indera, the communist who led the attack, because he was fighting against the colonialists.
Mat Sabu’s remarks have created a storm since, and both sides of the political divide have been drawn into it. Their supporters have also entered the fray, either voluntarily or through being instigated to do so. Even ex-servicemen have joined in.
But supposing what Zainal has said is true – that we were never colonised – why did he wait till now to point this out? Why did he keep it secret from the whole country and allow the government to continue to celebrate Independence Day every year when there was really no liberation from colonialism to begin with? Why did he let Malaysians put up with this masquerade?
Something doesn’t add up.
By withholding this crucial piece of information from the nation, is Zainal Kling being a true Malaysian? Why has he waited till this politically opportune time to drop the bomb?
Semantic quibble
The other professor who has come out to say the same is Prof Emeritus Khoo Kay Kim. He corroborated Zainal’s viewpoint by saying that “the British never ruled the country”. They had “merely taken over the administration of our country”, he added.
Excuse me! Is there a difference between “ruling” and “administering”?
This whole thing sounds like a semantic quibble – the British merely administered, they did not rule; we were not colonised, we retained our sovereignty; we were a protectorate, not a colony.
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Time to reclaim our true history
17 September 2011 – MT
SEPT 12 — I must admit of being astounded by the claim by Professor Datuk Dr Zainal Kling that Tanah Melayu had never been colonised by the British, save for the period when Malayan Union was introduced. For the record, this is his claim:
The good Professor rested his claim as such on the fact that the Pangkor Treaty of 1874 between Raja Abdullah and the British Governor in Singapore did not mention that Perak was to be colonised but was only to be “protected” as a “protectorate” of the British. The Professor went on to say that the only states which were colonised by the British in Tanah Melayu were Singapore, Penang and Melaka.
The good Professor may be correct in so far as historical terminologies go. But history is not about terminologies and semantics. True history is about facts and reality. Of course, facts may be looked at from different views, angles and perspective resulting in different interpretations and conclusions. Realities may also be subjected to the same treatment giving rise to the term of “administered reality”.
With all due respect to the good Professor, the British entry into Tanah Melayu and their subsequent entrenchment in Tanah Melayu’s administration leading to at least a de facto colonisation of the whole of the Tanah Melayu peninsula and her surrounding islets cannot be viewed solely from and within the effect of the Pangkor Treaty alone. That would tantamount to an attempt to define the whole cosmos just by looking at the moon alone and nothing else.
Let’s however begin with the Pangkor Treaty 1874 (as the Professor had relied his thesis on it).
For the record, prior to the Pangkor Treaty, the British, through the British East India Company, were already deeply entrenched in Tanah Melayu. It “colonised” Penang in 1786. Penang was later confirmed to be a possession of the British in 1800 by the then Sultan of Kedah. In 1819, Stamford Raffles took it upon himself to bring Singapore into the British fold.
Later in 1824, the British and the Dutch, presumably under the mandate of some godlike creatures residing somewhere within the mountains of Scotland, decided among themselves to divide the Malay Archipelago into two, thereby giving away Melaka to the British and Indonesia (Sumatera) to the Dutch.
In each of these three little states which the British saw fit to do as it please, they had a Governor who governed for the British. In 1867, these so called “settlements” became the “Crown Colonies” and came directly under the purview of the Colonial Office in London.
Meanwhile, in Perak, upon the death of Sultan Ali in 1871, a palace power struggle was brewing. The Raja Muda of Perak was Raja Abdullah. He should have gone on to take the thrones. As events would have it, the Raja Bendahara, Raja Ismail was pronounced as Sultan.
Perak was a rich tin producer at that time. The British were itchy to get their greedy hands on Perak. They were waiting for an opportunity. That opportunity presented itself when Raja Abdullah wrote to the Governor of Singapore, Sir Andrew Clarke, spelling out his desire to place Perak under British protection, and “to have a man of sufficient abilities to show (him) a good system of government.”
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Is it really, Professor? — Art Harun
September 12, 2011 – Malaysian Insider
SEPT 6 — If you do not believe that Umno has already passed its expiry date as a potent political party, all you need to do is to watch how its entire leadership as well as its entire propaganda machinery have been fully engaged in the past week to indulge in an orgy of attacks against Mat Sabu, the PAS deputy president.
It’s OK if Mat Sabu has done something wrong. But the awful truth is that he has done nothing wrong.
Mat Sabu has only exposed the myth that Umno is the only one who fought and gained Malaya’s independence from the clutches of the colonial power.
His illustrative mention of Muhammad Indera (fondly known as Mat Indera) as an independence fighter was only in the context of lambasting Umno for ritualistically twisting the Bukit Kepong assault incident on every National Day for Umno’s self-glorification — as if it is the only body accountable for the country’s independence.
MAT SABU BASHING
Pouncing on Mat Sabu’s positive mention of Mat Indera, Umno bays for Mat Sabu’s blood. It accuses Mat Sabu — and by extension PAS — of praising communists and glorifying communism and wanting to turn the country into a republic.
While the entire might of Umno has been unleashed on a non-stop assault on Mat Sabu’s alleged advocacy of communism, has anyone of them paused to reflect that the word “communist” or “communism” was never mentioned by Mat Sabu in his entire speech?
Rationale of history syllabus?
I am completely perplexed! Is this all my children are learning in school? Does this not make them myopic and insular? Learning history is much more than learning about Malaysia. One needs to learn about world history. I talked to my children about the Hundred Year Wars, the Renaissance Period, the Mogul Empire, the Spanish Inquisition, the Boston Tea Party, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, Slavery and the American Civil War, The Long March etc and they have no inkling what I am talking about!
…What is the rationale behind our history syllabus? What is the reason for making history a compulsory pass in SPM? We have five solid years to impart history to our school going children and the government has decided that a Malaysian student should learn (almost) solely about
Malaysia and to use this subject as the platform to inculcate nationalism.History is an important subject as we need to understand the past to appreciate the present in order to achieve the desired future.
I would sincerely like to call upon our Education Minister to re-look the entire history syllabus. We need to give our children a balanced view of world history and yet understand the significance of Malaysia in context. We owe it to our children.
