MGG Pillai Commentary View

<< Previous || Next >>

The Japanese won us our Merdeka

The Japanese won us our Merdeka in 1957. They had defeated Russia in 1905, the United States, France, Great Britain, Netherlands between 1939 and 1942. That they were subsequently defeated in 1945 is neither here nor there. For that victory by 1942 showed that the 'white man' did not have any special magic with their race and could be defeated, and slowly the 'white man' gave up his belongings in Asia: From India to Macao just off Hongkong. Malaysia got its independence in 1957 after Britain was forced by the Communist Party of Malaya, which had forced the British hands into giving power to an Oxbridge elite, who could be manipulated from behind the scenes, who declared its independence in 1957. That elite continues to run the country, though the leadership is not Oxbridge educated. But the unpalatable fact is that it was the Japanese who by defeating the five European powers set in motion the string of countries that became independent in the 50 years since the Second World War.

And they were aided by the Malayan Communist Party, whose leader Chin Peng was awarded the OBE for his help against the Japanese during the Second World War. The British were forced to let get of Malaysia, and held on till 1957 by which time they had enough Malaysians educated (and brainwashed) by then. Just as the British-belever Gandhi did in India, and Osama bin Laden, the CIA operative turned intractable enemy of the US, Chin Peng was forced to confront the British. Chin Peng is not allowed to settle in Malaysia as the other communists are, and whether he can is before the courts here. The next history of Malaya will reveal all this.

The politicians who say otherwise are off their heads or know which way their bread is buttered. The Islamic agenda has taken over with even UMNO joining it. It is UMNO's death wish, for in the end, it will be the Islamists and the local educated who will take over. That the British has won, for the moment, is clear. It remains in power through their local satraps in what used to be British terroritories. But this will be their downfall. The constitutions have been amended, as it has in Malaysia, to remove their secular preference for a religious state. And this is driven by the very people it has supported. Malaysia is now as Islamic state, made in fear by UMNO of the Islamically inclined PAS. It made the laws in Kelantan and Trengganu states that allowed Islamic practices, which PAS made use of to widen their agenda, which is a nation-wide Islamic state.

UMNO, in power since 1955 - two years before independence, has had to alter its tactics over the years by PAS and the extreme conservatism of the Malay hinterland. The other races do not matter, though they represent 35 per cent of the population of 20 million. People in Sabah and Sarawak, mostly Christians and animists, suddenly found they were in the minority although they form the majority in that part of Malaysia which is larger than the peninsula. Malaysian military officials have no concept of Sabah and Sarawak as part of Malaysia, as I found in their papers during my years as a lecturer at the Ministry of Defence, and it is UMNO which governs in the state of Sarawak. There was an agreement solemnly signed by the Malayan government and the governments of Sarawak and Sabah before their accession to Malaya to form Malaysia. The fact that only Muslims can be yang di-pertuan negaras in what is largely a Christian and animists rankles. Sarawak and Sabah would secede, if they are allowed to under the constitution. One third of parliament is to have come from Sabah and Sarawak, but that is in the document not in practice.

We have nothing to celebrate on the 48th birthday of Malaysia. In Malaysia, the Chinese and Indians are relegated as "pendatang" (arrivals). Those who trace their background to the early days of british rule in Malaya cannot still get their citizenship while those from the Indonesian islands can get it after a year's stay here for that would increase the Malays here. In the 1931 census, the Malays in Selangor had their parents born overseas. Part of it is the British probem. They could not persuade the sultans to issue citizenship except by an involved procedure. It was only after the war, with the formation of the Federation of Malaya in 1948, that sultans could issue citizenships to those who had lived in their state for a number of years. My father became a subject of the ruler of Johore in 1952, 22 years after he had decided to live here. It was only in 1957 that he became a federal citizen, and I, who was born in Johore Bahru, became one as a result. But my father had thrown in his lot to Malaysia early on, and he was criticised by the Malaysian Indian Congress (now part of the BN) for forsaking his Indian citizenship! Now it is an obstacle course for a Chinese or an Indian to take his citizenship.

The government agencies are closed to the Chinese and Indian, so both have written off the civil service. The government is composed of UMNO, MCA, MIC, Gerakan and the other parties of the Barisan Nasional. But the leaders of these parties have remained in the cabinet for ecades, and reluctant to talk of their compatriots in government-run establishments. UMNO had taken this one step further. The prime minister, Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has stated that those in the government are not required to resign if they lost the party election, as many in MCA and MCA have, and MIC is due to have its elections soon. In the Gerakan elections for the party president, the loser is therefore allowed to remain in the government. Unless he chooses to resign. But resign he would not, if others are an indication. The former health minister, Mr Chua Jui Meng, resigned from the cabinet when he lost the MCA elections.

Now this desire of the political party leaders to remain in office as long as they can, has caused the man in the street - the Malay, Chinese and Indian in West Malaysia, and the Christian, animist, Muslim in East Malaysia - to take matters in his own hands. He has asked the BN his own desires, which include a more equitable use of the 30 per cent bumiputra requirement, that the Chinese and Indian be allowed to partake in the 30 per cent bumiputra requirement, that more Chinese and Indians be allowed in the government services, the police especially, and the special requirement in place after the 1969 racial riots be dispensed with. A token is not what is needed, although the Chinese and Indian leaders may think so. In Merdeka day 2005, it is safe to predict the end of UMNO as a valid political force - if not in the next general elections, the one after that. The Chinese and Indian leaders in BN do not recognise these trends, but they have been in office for decades, and are not likely to. You can threaten potential candidates for party elections so much, but the day will come when the average man in the street will not be frightened, and bring the Opposition in. Then it will be a matter of time the BN is confined to the Opposition.

As it is, UMNO is controlled by warlords, and the Prime Minister is a puppet. His refusal to sack the two ministers from his cabinet for proven wrong doing comes with the curious argument that if he were to sack them, they could join the opposition to him. So, he manages only the non-UMNO members of his cabinet. But not from East Malaysia, where the chief ministers of Sarawak and Sabah, though aligned to UMNO, would not allow UMNO in West Malaysia to interfere; not least the Prime Minister himself. Malaysia has become a fascist state so that BN can remain in power. But the hinterland of Malays with the Chinese and Indians are slowly cutting the ramparts down so that the BN is reduced to making slogans while it loses power to a new conglomeration of a multiracial coalition. This National Day is a transition to an Islamic state, because the BN had cut off the average Malaysian's interest in left wing politics, and is forced to go into Islamic politics. The new politician is more likely to join PAS is an added worry for the BN. The 48th Merdeka Day celebrations is the beginning of the end for BN. If that is a matter of celebrations, then so be it.

[I thank all those who inquired, and sent good wishes, and who scolded me for not writing since 26 June not knowing I was ill, for the two mild strokes I had had since July 6, and had been recuperating at home the last two months. Please take this as acknowledgement of the emails.)

M.G.G.Pillai

pillai@streamwyx.com