I received many text messages from friends and my readers regarding the party-switch by former MIC Deputy President Dato’ S.Subramaniam to Parti Keadilam Rakyat (PKR) days ago.
One of the text messages I received says, “All leaders from BN component parties who failed in their bid for top party positions will cross to PKR!” referring the recent cross over by Chua Jui Meng, S.Subramaniam and the rest who are thinking of defecting in this few days and weeks.
This is not coincidence as the other side of the fact is that all good leaders in all component parties in BN would eventually be side lined initiated by their own leaders with power craze and forced the members to endorse the move.
All leaders of BN component parties are perceived to be the mediocre while the real and relatively better leaders are all on the side line. This is particularly so in UMNO.
After a decade or so the parties were led by unscrupulous, stained as well as faked leaders who were all out to keep their personal politics above the party struggles and hence it has come to a point that the parties looses reverence from the voting public in both the General Elections (GE) and by-elections.
I am not wrong to say that S.Subramaniam was a better leader than Mr Samy. In fact the oppositions are very contented, for as long as Mr Samy leads MIC as they need not have much exertion to entice the Indians to support them in any election.
In essence Mr Samy is serving and giving good favor for the opposition if he still tries to cling to the top MIC position.
Few of my Indian neighbors and friends say, “We are voting the oppositions until Mr Samy is done with and in the meanwhile led the Indians choose their leaders without fear.”
UMNO had contracted this disease for an extensive while and the consequence of that disease had made the party looses their potency and might and soon to be in destitute and insolvent.
Dr Mahathir started his political move to sideline all budding and potential national leadership the moment he became the Deputy President of the Party in 1976 and his move became more evident since he assumed the Party President position in 1981 and 22 years of his reign saw a line of mediocre becoming leaders.
By the time he retired in 2003 there were already a huge blankness in the leadership and Abdullah succeeded him only to find the nation was under the was under weak and indefensible leadership.
The pressure for Dr Mahathir to resign was too evident as such that the weak Abdullah was given 90% mandate in 2004 GE. People then just wanted Mahathir to go as they wanted new political ambience.
In actuality Abdullah was never a good successor and people gave BN thumping mandate in 2004 GE was purely made up by the relief feelings of Mahathir’s resignation.
Mahathir’s greatest failure was not being able to prepare honest and capable successors as he was too obsessed in strengthening his personal politics and all current political insanity derived from his leadership.
Mahathir suspected everybody and trusted nobody. To him one can behave as he liked as long as he or she supported him.
Along the way UMNO and BN was infested by crimes like corruption and abuse of powers by the big and tiny leaders at all level and he condoned it to the fullest.
Mahathir blamed Abdullah for not taking some leaders to court for the corrupt practices committed during his (Mahathir's)reign.
Defections have been a median for current political circumstances. Mahathir defected from one UMNO to a new UMNO bringing along with him millions of members from the old one just because to side line few leaders who he considered to be a threat to his personal politics.
All the 22 years of his reign was for his personal and had nothing to do with protection of his race which he chose to be.
Samy Velu has been the MIC President for more than 2 decades and the position is for his personal selfish interest. If it is not than it’s for what?
MCA has been laden and impregnated with corrupt perception. The 12 billion PKFZ issue is the issue centered on MCA leaders of the past and present.
MCA lost heavily in the last GE to DAP and PKR and defection of their leaders seemed imminent as the split within the party has come to a breaking point.
Most of the ordinary members have defected to the opposition in the last GE, so the defection by their leaders is just the follow through of their members who defected massively in 2008 GE through the ballot box. So there is nothing new at all.
In actual essence political parties do not serve any purpose any further if they were to talk about starting a fresh for the nation as all the parties are suffering from unmitigated corruption issue.
So do their leaders. How a corrupt leader could promise us to combat corruption? How could the leaders take that sodomy is more heinous that corruption?
When come to leadership issue sodomy and corruption do not have a breath of different. If we have to punish a person who commits sodomy we should also punish the corruptors the same.
Islam says a corrupt person is as good as a person who eats the flesh of his on siblings and family.
So how do we find the basis of saying that corrupt person is less sinful than the person who commits sodomy?
I wish some religious scholars can convince me on this. To my simple mind if a person is thrown into the prison for sodomy, the corrupt must also be caged.
Quitting BN seems to non exertion effort as there is nothing left for one to stay on in that coalition.
For the Malays they feel they have no more reason to struggle in UMNO as all the struggles for them have been shelved away with that beautiful slogan the current leadership is propagating.
They were in UMNO to struggle for a purpose; that is to strengthen the Malay existence but all those are thrown away in the ditch by their leaders. Their existence in the party is of no more relevant.
This is the group that has the potential of defecting to find a party which they feel having the purpose of their existence.
Lastly my question is: what is so heinous when a person defects from his party as opposed to corrupt leaders and a person who commits sodomy?
Defecting from BN component parties will soon be a daily affair and there is no solution for the circumvention of the move.
As Tengku Razaleigh has loudly said, it has to be an entirely new deal to effect new political circumstances for the betterment of the country and in particular the inter-racial issues which is at a very worrying state.
I trust this great veteran is the solution to the whole and entire problems we are facing.
Anything less would give all of us the chance to witness the unkind tribulation in Malaysian politics.
Trust me, we will see that happening if we are still in denial. Don’t believe me only when the circumstance becomes reality.
I am saying this not only to UMNO and BN but it is also for all the opposition parties.
Political parties seems to be of no relevance at this point of time any longer but most importantly everyone has to have the nation’s problem to be of priority to be addressed.
Thanks……………………………………………………………..Aspan Alias
28 July 2009
19 July 2009
Teoh Beng Hock’s death : A tragic incidence, a tragic consequence may be
Situation in this country is far from sanity and civility. Everyone on the street now talks about politics and hearing the conversations on the ground make many feel that we are in the worst of politics with no more graciousness.
It seems everybody is not happy with everything on every issue. The state of confusion has never been to this nerve-racking level as the environment is too fertile for political calamity for everyone from all quarters.
The latest of the uninspiring an uneventful issue is over the death of Teoh Beng Hock, the political aide of one of the Selangor Executive Councilors.
His body was found on the 5th floor of Wisma Masalam in Shah Alam 9 floors below the office of the State MACC office where Teoh was interrogated for lengthy hours.
It was believed that he fell from the MACC head quarters and this incident warrants attention from every considerate and watchful Malaysian.
This is not an ordinary death to the opinion of every Malaysian because it happened while he was in the custody of the MACC.
Even though MACC was quick in saying that the investigation agency had already released him at the time of his mysterious death but that cannot change the public’s perception that this death had everything to do with the investigation.
I am with million of Malaysian calling for serious investigation without fear or favor and get politics be out of the investigation.
The police and MACC must seize this opportunity to prove that they are authentically independent from any political infestation like many have perceived them to be.
MACC must prove to all Malaysian that the agency was not just changing of name from BPR just for the sake of changing names but for real and effective agency meant to combat heinious corrupt practices without any fear of favor.
MACC and the Police as well as the current ailing government can attest their integrity by exercising their investigation with total transparency, and to get to the actual truth that caused the death of this young and budding politician.
I hate to say that if the investigation on this issue is not done with optimum care, it can take the government to trial presided by all Malaysian.
Please remember that a young adult has lost his precious live to the bereavement of his loving family members who were busy preparing for his auspicious wedding scheduled to take place last Friday the 18th.
Bar Council, UMNO Youth and various NGO’s are all in the open demanding for a Royal Commission to be set up to deal with the cause of this death.
MCA Deputy President too agrees with the Royal Commission to be set up as immediately as possible.
Let us wait for the outcome of the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to see how the Government looks at this dreadful happening. All Malaysian are watching with microscopic eyes to see how the Cabinet decides over this sensitive issue.
This is no small matter. It is of great consequence to the country. I reckon that The Royal Commission is the answer, nothing less than that…and of course with no cover-ups.
Together with million of other Malaysian I extend my deepest condolences to the bereaved family members of Teoh Beng Hock in facing this inopportune experience.
Thanks…………………………………………Aspan Alias
It seems everybody is not happy with everything on every issue. The state of confusion has never been to this nerve-racking level as the environment is too fertile for political calamity for everyone from all quarters.
The latest of the uninspiring an uneventful issue is over the death of Teoh Beng Hock, the political aide of one of the Selangor Executive Councilors.
His body was found on the 5th floor of Wisma Masalam in Shah Alam 9 floors below the office of the State MACC office where Teoh was interrogated for lengthy hours.
It was believed that he fell from the MACC head quarters and this incident warrants attention from every considerate and watchful Malaysian.
This is not an ordinary death to the opinion of every Malaysian because it happened while he was in the custody of the MACC.
Even though MACC was quick in saying that the investigation agency had already released him at the time of his mysterious death but that cannot change the public’s perception that this death had everything to do with the investigation.
I am with million of Malaysian calling for serious investigation without fear or favor and get politics be out of the investigation.
The police and MACC must seize this opportunity to prove that they are authentically independent from any political infestation like many have perceived them to be.
MACC must prove to all Malaysian that the agency was not just changing of name from BPR just for the sake of changing names but for real and effective agency meant to combat heinious corrupt practices without any fear of favor.
MACC and the Police as well as the current ailing government can attest their integrity by exercising their investigation with total transparency, and to get to the actual truth that caused the death of this young and budding politician.
I hate to say that if the investigation on this issue is not done with optimum care, it can take the government to trial presided by all Malaysian.
Please remember that a young adult has lost his precious live to the bereavement of his loving family members who were busy preparing for his auspicious wedding scheduled to take place last Friday the 18th.
Bar Council, UMNO Youth and various NGO’s are all in the open demanding for a Royal Commission to be set up to deal with the cause of this death.
MCA Deputy President too agrees with the Royal Commission to be set up as immediately as possible.
Let us wait for the outcome of the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to see how the Government looks at this dreadful happening. All Malaysian are watching with microscopic eyes to see how the Cabinet decides over this sensitive issue.
This is no small matter. It is of great consequence to the country. I reckon that The Royal Commission is the answer, nothing less than that…and of course with no cover-ups.
Together with million of other Malaysian I extend my deepest condolences to the bereaved family members of Teoh Beng Hock in facing this inopportune experience.
Thanks…………………………………………Aspan Alias
14 July 2009
In defence of my race Final Part
The British Malayan Union realized that the support of the Malays was a necessity as Malayan Union was in desolation and despondency.
The British was in despair and the only forward move that they had was to work with the Malays, the indigenous, as the immigrants were going against the British. They were trying to get the country by themselves and their fight was in the name of independent Malaya.
Apart from the PKM, KMM and many other secret societies the immigrants were active in triad activities and became dangerous for a nation to bear.
Going to the red spot at any big library in the country will provide us the detailed of how serious was the atrocities of the immigrants through PKM, and had cost lives of the people especially the innocent Malays in the remote areas.
The reactions of the local Malays resulted in the bloody incidences in Batu Kikir, Sg Manik and Batu Pahat and these are the incidences that we should put behind us as history and never ever should we go through that anymore.
The British was forced to talk and confer with the Malays and the provision put forward by the Malays was to renounce the Malayan Union.
The British agreed without much more exertion and decided to accept the condition and from then on both side agreed for the formation of the Federation of Malaya.
The Federation of Malaya was to return the power of the Malay Rulers of respective states and the epicenter of administrative powers would be at the Federal Administration.
The Governor General of Malayan Union was to be replaced by High Commissioner for the Federation.
Bahasa Melayu was to be the official language and Islam was to be the official Religion.
The Malay Special Privilege was to be reinstated.
The British then proposed to set up Working Committee to formulate the Federation Constitution and the agreement to be signed between the Federal and the States within the Federation.
The Working Committee was represented by three 3 groups. They are:-
1) The British
2) The Malay Rulers
3) UMNO
Representing the British was:
a) A.T Newboult (The Secretary General of the Malayan Union)
b) K.K O’Connors (Attorney General Of the Malayan Union)
c) W.D Godsall (Malayan Union Financial Secretary)
d) Dr. W Lineham and A. William (Malayan Union Public Service Commission)
The Malay Rulers were represented by:-
a) Raja Kamarulzaman (Perak)
b) Dato’ Hamzah Abdullah (Selangor)
c) Dato’ Mohamed Shariff (Kedah)
d) Dato’ Nik Ahmad Kamil (Kelantan)
Representatives of UMNO were:-
a) Dato’ Onn Ja’afar
b) Dato’ Abdul Rahman Mohd Yassin
c) Tuan Haji Megat Yunus (Secretary)
Others in attendance in the Committee were:-
a) Sir Theodore (Adviser for the Malay Rulers)
b) Sir Roland Bradell (Legal Adviser for UMNO)
c) Mr. Ralph Hone (Representing Malcolm MacDonald, the British Governor General
for South East Asia)
d) Mr. D.C Watherson (Secretary)
So in essence the Committee for setting up of the Federation of Malaya was representative of the British and the Malays and their Rulers and no other representation of other races who were not the citizen of Malaya.
The deal was between the Malays as the sons of Malaya and the colonial master, the British. It was a deal that was designed for the British to give back the land to the rightful and original owner, i.e. the Malays.
The Committee was set to deliberate on the formulation of the Constitutions of the Federation in hand-in-glove and to see that the final draft was to be tabled as soon as possible.
For 5 months the Working Committee was busy writing up on the Federation of Malaya Constitutions and finally on the 20th of November 1946 the draft was tabled at a congress with the 3 permanent members; Malay Rulers, UMNO and Malayan Union.
The draft was acknowledged officially, and was formally submitted and tabled at the British Parliament and Cabinet.
On the 5th of December the draft was accepted and the British agreed with all contents of the draft of the Constitution, and on the 1st of February Federation of Malaya was formally formed.
With the formal existence of the Federation of Malaya, it was a major accomplishment of the Malays and their Rulers to liberalize the country from the grip of the Malayan Union.
The Malay Rulers got back their states and with the Federation the Malaya and the long and rough path was cleared and consequentially the Malays were already prepared to work on total independence for Malaya.
It was from then on that the Malays through UMNO started to toy around seriously for total independence and it was from this point that UMNO engaged themselves with the Chinese and Indian and other immigrants to achieve self rule for the Federation of Malaya.
This was about the time when the engagement between UMNO and Chinese as well as the Indians resulted in the formation of Malayan Chinese Association(MCA) and Malayan Indian Congress(MIC) representing two major races and in the end the three racial based parties formed the Alliance long years after that.
Along the way through the negotiations there were many problems faced by the parties especially UMNO when the differences between them resulted in the formation of Opposition Party, Pan Islamic Party(PAS) led by some big names from UMNO.
These four series of articles are only touching on the Malay struggle to reject the Malayan Union.
The struggle for independence may be written at later dates of if there is anyone who wants to spend some boring time to write on it, would be much welcomed.
My reason of writing this part of the nation’s compressed history was nothing more and nothing less to remind everyone not to be deceived by unscrupulous elements with malicious intention to destroy us.
We are all here to ensure that we live in this nation with some kind of sacrifices. If the Malays were historically on records prepared to share with other races, it is only proper and nice for others to reciprocate and withstand some weaknesses idiosyncrasies of each race.
The Chinese have weaknesses that the Malays have been tolerating, and so do with the Indians. Conversely the Chinese and the Indians must not be too stingy to reciprocate the kindness of the Malays.
A line of sincere advice for anyone concerned; ‘Never take friendliness as weaknesses’.
Let us all submit that we are all different from each other. The differences between us are all Gods creation and should be taken as blessings.
As I have said many times God exhibits his greatness by the differences between us. It would be noble deed for everyone to avoid the feelings of prejudices and hatred among the races and religions.
If there is no difference between us there is no element of respect for each other. We have had good times all these years and let us cherish live in civility in perpetuity.
Our sacrifices of today are just for our next generation to live within solace of Malaysian uniqueness and inanimattibility.
I reckon the current animosities were the direct result of innate incapacity of our leaders to manage the nation the way it should.
That is all and I have to terminate these series of article at this point. I hope my upfront opinion is not taken offence by any quarter.
The one ultimate and mandatory intention is ‘we must live in optimum harmony’ within the lines stipulated in our Constitutions.
Thanks……………………………………………………………Aspan Alias
The British was in despair and the only forward move that they had was to work with the Malays, the indigenous, as the immigrants were going against the British. They were trying to get the country by themselves and their fight was in the name of independent Malaya.
Apart from the PKM, KMM and many other secret societies the immigrants were active in triad activities and became dangerous for a nation to bear.
Going to the red spot at any big library in the country will provide us the detailed of how serious was the atrocities of the immigrants through PKM, and had cost lives of the people especially the innocent Malays in the remote areas.
The reactions of the local Malays resulted in the bloody incidences in Batu Kikir, Sg Manik and Batu Pahat and these are the incidences that we should put behind us as history and never ever should we go through that anymore.
The British was forced to talk and confer with the Malays and the provision put forward by the Malays was to renounce the Malayan Union.
The British agreed without much more exertion and decided to accept the condition and from then on both side agreed for the formation of the Federation of Malaya.
The Federation of Malaya was to return the power of the Malay Rulers of respective states and the epicenter of administrative powers would be at the Federal Administration.
The Governor General of Malayan Union was to be replaced by High Commissioner for the Federation.
Bahasa Melayu was to be the official language and Islam was to be the official Religion.
The Malay Special Privilege was to be reinstated.
The British then proposed to set up Working Committee to formulate the Federation Constitution and the agreement to be signed between the Federal and the States within the Federation.
The Working Committee was represented by three 3 groups. They are:-
1) The British
2) The Malay Rulers
3) UMNO
Representing the British was:
a) A.T Newboult (The Secretary General of the Malayan Union)
b) K.K O’Connors (Attorney General Of the Malayan Union)
c) W.D Godsall (Malayan Union Financial Secretary)
d) Dr. W Lineham and A. William (Malayan Union Public Service Commission)
The Malay Rulers were represented by:-
a) Raja Kamarulzaman (Perak)
b) Dato’ Hamzah Abdullah (Selangor)
c) Dato’ Mohamed Shariff (Kedah)
d) Dato’ Nik Ahmad Kamil (Kelantan)
Representatives of UMNO were:-
a) Dato’ Onn Ja’afar
b) Dato’ Abdul Rahman Mohd Yassin
c) Tuan Haji Megat Yunus (Secretary)
Others in attendance in the Committee were:-
a) Sir Theodore (Adviser for the Malay Rulers)
b) Sir Roland Bradell (Legal Adviser for UMNO)
c) Mr. Ralph Hone (Representing Malcolm MacDonald, the British Governor General
for South East Asia)
d) Mr. D.C Watherson (Secretary)
So in essence the Committee for setting up of the Federation of Malaya was representative of the British and the Malays and their Rulers and no other representation of other races who were not the citizen of Malaya.
The deal was between the Malays as the sons of Malaya and the colonial master, the British. It was a deal that was designed for the British to give back the land to the rightful and original owner, i.e. the Malays.
The Committee was set to deliberate on the formulation of the Constitutions of the Federation in hand-in-glove and to see that the final draft was to be tabled as soon as possible.
For 5 months the Working Committee was busy writing up on the Federation of Malaya Constitutions and finally on the 20th of November 1946 the draft was tabled at a congress with the 3 permanent members; Malay Rulers, UMNO and Malayan Union.
The draft was acknowledged officially, and was formally submitted and tabled at the British Parliament and Cabinet.
On the 5th of December the draft was accepted and the British agreed with all contents of the draft of the Constitution, and on the 1st of February Federation of Malaya was formally formed.
With the formal existence of the Federation of Malaya, it was a major accomplishment of the Malays and their Rulers to liberalize the country from the grip of the Malayan Union.
The Malay Rulers got back their states and with the Federation the Malaya and the long and rough path was cleared and consequentially the Malays were already prepared to work on total independence for Malaya.
It was from then on that the Malays through UMNO started to toy around seriously for total independence and it was from this point that UMNO engaged themselves with the Chinese and Indian and other immigrants to achieve self rule for the Federation of Malaya.
This was about the time when the engagement between UMNO and Chinese as well as the Indians resulted in the formation of Malayan Chinese Association(MCA) and Malayan Indian Congress(MIC) representing two major races and in the end the three racial based parties formed the Alliance long years after that.
Along the way through the negotiations there were many problems faced by the parties especially UMNO when the differences between them resulted in the formation of Opposition Party, Pan Islamic Party(PAS) led by some big names from UMNO.
These four series of articles are only touching on the Malay struggle to reject the Malayan Union.
The struggle for independence may be written at later dates of if there is anyone who wants to spend some boring time to write on it, would be much welcomed.
My reason of writing this part of the nation’s compressed history was nothing more and nothing less to remind everyone not to be deceived by unscrupulous elements with malicious intention to destroy us.
We are all here to ensure that we live in this nation with some kind of sacrifices. If the Malays were historically on records prepared to share with other races, it is only proper and nice for others to reciprocate and withstand some weaknesses idiosyncrasies of each race.
The Chinese have weaknesses that the Malays have been tolerating, and so do with the Indians. Conversely the Chinese and the Indians must not be too stingy to reciprocate the kindness of the Malays.
A line of sincere advice for anyone concerned; ‘Never take friendliness as weaknesses’.
Let us all submit that we are all different from each other. The differences between us are all Gods creation and should be taken as blessings.
As I have said many times God exhibits his greatness by the differences between us. It would be noble deed for everyone to avoid the feelings of prejudices and hatred among the races and religions.
If there is no difference between us there is no element of respect for each other. We have had good times all these years and let us cherish live in civility in perpetuity.
Our sacrifices of today are just for our next generation to live within solace of Malaysian uniqueness and inanimattibility.
I reckon the current animosities were the direct result of innate incapacity of our leaders to manage the nation the way it should.
That is all and I have to terminate these series of article at this point. I hope my upfront opinion is not taken offence by any quarter.
The one ultimate and mandatory intention is ‘we must live in optimum harmony’ within the lines stipulated in our Constitutions.
Thanks……………………………………………………………Aspan Alias
11 July 2009
In defence of my race Part 3
The exertions and pressure on the British and Malayan Union was never weakened and relented.
Malayan Union on the other hand was facing difficulties as it was discarded by the Malays and the Malay Rulers working hand-in-glove to ensure unrelenting pressure to the newly formed government under the British Queen continued incessantly.
Back in England the Conservatives were keeping on the pressure on the ruling Labour to protect the indigenous Malays and warned the government that the Malays were going to revolt and any length to ensure their future were protected.
Meanwhile the Malays through tens of organizations and movements converged in Johor Baru on the 11 and 12th of May 1946 for their 3rd Malay Congress at Istana Besar Johor Baru.
The congregation of many Malay leaders representing various Malay movements was to reinforce the Malay struggles against the Malayan Union by forming one single body called UMNO.
Dato' Onn was unanimously elected to be the chairperson for the Congress and his fiery speech he reminded the delegates of the resolution of the 1st Congress to form one political body to unify the movements of the Malays under one entity.
The first Congress which formed a committee to originate the Constitution was headed by Onn Ja'afar.
The other members were Dato’ Panglima Bukit Gantang Abdul Wahab, Dato’ Nik Ahmad Kamil and Dato’ Hamzah Abdullah and the committee was prepared to face the 3rd Congress with proposed draft of the Constitution.
The draft of the Constitution was tabled to the Congress for the approval of the delegates and as expected after a long perusal of the meticulous delegates.
It was unanimously accepted and from then on UMNO was officially formed on that auspicious date of 11th may 1946 slightly over a month after Malayan Union was formed.
The 3rd Congress was immediately dissolved and after brief refreshment the 1st UMNO delegates’ meeting was called and the first agenda in hand was to choose one of the proposed slogans and ‘Hidup Melayu’ was the chosen one.
Dato’ Onn was unanimously elected to be the President of the newly formed UMNO. The Congress also decided to elect 3 of its members to represent the Party to join the Malay Rulers in the planned entourage to London to protest against the Malayan Union.
The 3 elected were Dato’ Onn Ja’afar, Dato’ Panglima Bukit Gantang and Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra.
However the planned delegation to London was aborted as the British by then had already resolute to dismantle the Malayan Union and to form a Federation of Malaya in place of the short-lived government and its constitution.
Many may ask why the British decided to disband Malayan Union. The answer was found by the British themselves.
The British while they were too obsessed in forming the Malayan Union they worked together with the immigrants to admonish the Malays and their Rulers.
The British realized that the immigrants were quietly playing politics of underworld. Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) was already active subverting the people especially among the Chinese immigrants.
PKM had already managed to extend their tentacles down south even to Singapore and they were influencing the left wing Malays from Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM), Parti Democratic Malaya and the labour organizations and the peasant Chinese immigrants in the hinterland of Malaya.
Chin Peng and PKM members were already in the jungle together with the tiny KMM leaders like Rashid Maiden and other few Malays to fight the British who just came back after the Japanese surrender in the 2nd World War.
These movements were supported by foreign political parties like Kuomintang, Congress Party of India and few more left wing parties from Indonesia to go against the British administration in Malaya.
The Chinese who stayed at the fringes of the jungles were the regular source of food and financial supplies to the communist activist in the jungle.
The British was suspicious of the immigrants and they realized that the British were at odd with every race which resided in Malaya.
The British felt the danger of insubordination from the immigrants in Malaya as they were fighting for foreign power while the Malays through UMNO were fighting to regain their country.
The British realized that the Malays were more trustworthy as the fight against them (British) was the fight to gain back their land while the fight of the immigrants were for foreign elements.
Cutting long history short, the British ultimately agreed to do away with Malayan Union in June 1946 and worked for the formation of the Federation of Malaya.
Within 5 months the formulation of the detailed Federation’s Constitution was completed and the Federation of Malaya was formally formed on the 1st of February 1948.
Let us focus on the processes of the formation of the Federation of Malaya, as it is very interesting to envision how it can help us to fortify our feel of affection for the country and appreciate the impeccable co-existence among us, Malaysian of all races.
If we were to read in detail the struggle the past leaders, they were having one common attribute that made them successful in their comings and goings for their race and nation; they were not corrupted with personal politics.
There were some clear attempts on the side of the British to wheedle and persuaded the Malay leaders not to persist the resistance with some form of corrupt elements, but all those were rejected vehemently and their struggles were pure and untainted.
This is the value which has been long absent in our politics and government.
This was one of the main issue that made the Malays and Malaysian alike distancing themselves from the ruling BN in the last General Elections especially among the middle class population who suffered serious injury as the result of mishandling of politics and government by BN leaders.
All that will be in my next posting in 3 or 4 days time.
Thanks……………………………………………………………….Aspan Alias
Malayan Union on the other hand was facing difficulties as it was discarded by the Malays and the Malay Rulers working hand-in-glove to ensure unrelenting pressure to the newly formed government under the British Queen continued incessantly.
Back in England the Conservatives were keeping on the pressure on the ruling Labour to protect the indigenous Malays and warned the government that the Malays were going to revolt and any length to ensure their future were protected.
Meanwhile the Malays through tens of organizations and movements converged in Johor Baru on the 11 and 12th of May 1946 for their 3rd Malay Congress at Istana Besar Johor Baru.
The congregation of many Malay leaders representing various Malay movements was to reinforce the Malay struggles against the Malayan Union by forming one single body called UMNO.
Dato' Onn was unanimously elected to be the chairperson for the Congress and his fiery speech he reminded the delegates of the resolution of the 1st Congress to form one political body to unify the movements of the Malays under one entity.
The first Congress which formed a committee to originate the Constitution was headed by Onn Ja'afar.
The other members were Dato’ Panglima Bukit Gantang Abdul Wahab, Dato’ Nik Ahmad Kamil and Dato’ Hamzah Abdullah and the committee was prepared to face the 3rd Congress with proposed draft of the Constitution.
The draft of the Constitution was tabled to the Congress for the approval of the delegates and as expected after a long perusal of the meticulous delegates.
It was unanimously accepted and from then on UMNO was officially formed on that auspicious date of 11th may 1946 slightly over a month after Malayan Union was formed.
The 3rd Congress was immediately dissolved and after brief refreshment the 1st UMNO delegates’ meeting was called and the first agenda in hand was to choose one of the proposed slogans and ‘Hidup Melayu’ was the chosen one.
Dato’ Onn was unanimously elected to be the President of the newly formed UMNO. The Congress also decided to elect 3 of its members to represent the Party to join the Malay Rulers in the planned entourage to London to protest against the Malayan Union.
The 3 elected were Dato’ Onn Ja’afar, Dato’ Panglima Bukit Gantang and Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra.
However the planned delegation to London was aborted as the British by then had already resolute to dismantle the Malayan Union and to form a Federation of Malaya in place of the short-lived government and its constitution.
Many may ask why the British decided to disband Malayan Union. The answer was found by the British themselves.
The British while they were too obsessed in forming the Malayan Union they worked together with the immigrants to admonish the Malays and their Rulers.
The British realized that the immigrants were quietly playing politics of underworld. Parti Komunis Malaya (PKM) was already active subverting the people especially among the Chinese immigrants.
PKM had already managed to extend their tentacles down south even to Singapore and they were influencing the left wing Malays from Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM), Parti Democratic Malaya and the labour organizations and the peasant Chinese immigrants in the hinterland of Malaya.
Chin Peng and PKM members were already in the jungle together with the tiny KMM leaders like Rashid Maiden and other few Malays to fight the British who just came back after the Japanese surrender in the 2nd World War.
These movements were supported by foreign political parties like Kuomintang, Congress Party of India and few more left wing parties from Indonesia to go against the British administration in Malaya.
The Chinese who stayed at the fringes of the jungles were the regular source of food and financial supplies to the communist activist in the jungle.
The British was suspicious of the immigrants and they realized that the British were at odd with every race which resided in Malaya.
The British felt the danger of insubordination from the immigrants in Malaya as they were fighting for foreign power while the Malays through UMNO were fighting to regain their country.
The British realized that the Malays were more trustworthy as the fight against them (British) was the fight to gain back their land while the fight of the immigrants were for foreign elements.
Cutting long history short, the British ultimately agreed to do away with Malayan Union in June 1946 and worked for the formation of the Federation of Malaya.
Within 5 months the formulation of the detailed Federation’s Constitution was completed and the Federation of Malaya was formally formed on the 1st of February 1948.
Let us focus on the processes of the formation of the Federation of Malaya, as it is very interesting to envision how it can help us to fortify our feel of affection for the country and appreciate the impeccable co-existence among us, Malaysian of all races.
If we were to read in detail the struggle the past leaders, they were having one common attribute that made them successful in their comings and goings for their race and nation; they were not corrupted with personal politics.
There were some clear attempts on the side of the British to wheedle and persuaded the Malay leaders not to persist the resistance with some form of corrupt elements, but all those were rejected vehemently and their struggles were pure and untainted.
This is the value which has been long absent in our politics and government.
This was one of the main issue that made the Malays and Malaysian alike distancing themselves from the ruling BN in the last General Elections especially among the middle class population who suffered serious injury as the result of mishandling of politics and government by BN leaders.
All that will be in my next posting in 3 or 4 days time.
Thanks……………………………………………………………….Aspan Alias
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