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Why is Tun Ghafar's grave dug when he is still alive?

THE GRAVE HAS BEEN DUG at the National Mosque, and those who went to the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur were told it is for the former deputy prime minister, Tun Ghafar Baba, now in Pantai hospital where is undergoing medical treatment. He is weak. He has been out of ICU for about ten days, and looks poorly. He may not survive his stay in hospital, as Tun Razak did not in a London hospital, but the officials have decided he would not return from hospital alive. But the grave. ghoulishly, had to be dug three times because the length of the grave each time not correct. The National Mosque has graves for six who laboured for Malaysian independence. The former deputy prime minister, Tun Ismail bin Abdul Rahman, was first, followed by the two prime ministers, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tun Hussein Onn. The man who should be there and the first prime minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman, a member of the Kedah royal family, decided before this death that he would be buried at the royal family masouleum there. Another man, Dato' Sir Onn bin Jaffar, is not counted by the officials, and died a lonely death because he was in the opposition. His son, Tun Hussein Onn became prime minister, and his grandson, Dato' Hiihamudin, sits in the present cabinet. But Dato' Sir Onn, who was related to the Johore royal family, is buried at the royal masouleum in Johore Bahru.

In today's Malaysia, those who were important in the past are not now. Who ordered that Tun Ghafar be measured for his coffin? Why was it necessary to dig his grave while he was still alive. Admitted he is in very poor health, and taken in an ambulance to London, and after he was comatose. He is now in the Pantai hospital. Almost any one who reaches high position in Malaysia will wear charms to ward off their enemies. I travelled with a cabinet minister into the bondooks more than twenty five years ago, found this out at first hand. Five star appointments, let alone sufficient rooms, are not available, and in one rural town, we ended up in the same room. I noticed the minister was wearing charms. He explained to me why he was waring it. It did not help him in all circumstances, but it saved him from the most violent backstabbing in the UMNO supreme council. Almost everyone, including the non-Malay men in the cabinet, wear charms to ward off their rivals. It all depends on the power of the 'master'. So different 'masters' are consulted. In one famous incident, the state executive councillor could only be killed over water. He took great pains to not even go to Singapore. He was murdered over a stream!

But this search for a 'master' can have hilarous results. One minister's gardner had the same name as the master, and the politicians who asked a go-between to fetch the 'master' approached the gardner instead. And the gardner, who had told his employer about this strange request, was brought to Kuala Lumpur and put up at the Crown Princess hotel. The gardner was asked to give charms to ward off his employer, and give them successful terms in UMNO politics. All failed, and none of them are in prominent positions today. The minister knew who his enemies are, and took evasive steps against them. And he told the prime minister about them. Their other charms were effective in rising in UMNO politics, but their future in cabinet is zero. The minister told me this at the time the gardner was in Kuala Lumpur.

One lady did not die until her charm was passed on to one who was not in her family. She lingered for months until it was done. She had taken a charm to ensure her husband did not stray as long as she lived. After she died, he took a second wife amost immediately after the mourning period. Ordinary men and women takes charms as a matter of course. I was given two on my wedding day nearly 40 years ago. I still have them on my body. Whether they had an effect on my life, it is not for me to say. Perhaps my life would have been different. I believe in the efficacy of charms when properly done. It goes against the grain for the Western educated, who believe in proof, but almost all Asian and African people use them. They may in the Western education decry them, and wear them by saying that there is no harm in it.

Most people while believing in rationality would delve in the irrational. People are always afraid of the dark. The Western mind is very logical and dismiss the fears people have. But they delve in the supernatural and supranatural. In the West, where rationality is supposed to reign, the people do go in for charms. I know of may in the West who dismiss the supernatural but wear charms and the like. They take the attude of the late Malcolm Muggeridge, who was asked on BBC why after a life time of atheism he had embraced Roman Catholicism. "What if I am wrong," he replied. We do not know the afterlife. But the rationalist is defensive when he delves into the supernatural. No so the Asian, African or even the South African. The further you move from the land, the stronger the rationalist becomes. That is why even in the United States, the rationalist and the "modernity" of life is challenged by those who believe in charms and the like. In modern day life, it is considered backward if you do not accept the West's belief. So, to be modern, countries in Asia, Africa and even South American take Western trappings. But in their every day life, they take on the traditional beliefs which are often apposite to it.

So Tun Ghafar wearing charms is not odd. But digging his grave is. They had to dig his grave three times, because each time it was found not to fit his body. They had to dig it again and again. That is why those who went for Tun Hussein's tahlil on what would have been his birthday found an open grave. The grave diggers had no qualms about telling those who asked who it was for. They could not dig it and fill it with earth so it was easy to use it when required. It could not be hidden from the most observant who attended the tahlil for Tun Hussein on what would have been his birthday. But is this necessary? Why was not the grave dug up after he died? It is alright to have the grave earmarked, and could have been dug after he died. But in this official rush to make the prime minister a dictator, all niceties are forgotten of those before him. Tun Ghafar was ignored in retirement. His police protection was removed. I used to visit him often. Never did I seen an official from the government or UMNO visit him. And not a cabinet minister. But he has been active well before UMNO. It was he who turned Dato' Sir Onn's Rural and Industrial Agency into MARA. It was his support that hade Tun Mahathir turn UMNO from a nationalist movement into the political party it is now. He did not agree with much of what has happened, but that does not allow him to be forgotten. He may not hold public office now, but when the history of UMNO or Malaysia come to be written he would have a prominent role in it.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com