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

14 comments:

robbin said...

'Macam tikus membaikki labu'. Itulah peribahasa yang layak diberikan kepada Najib dalam isu memperbikki keadaan ekonomi dan social negara.

He thinks he is smart. He treats us like monkey when he announced the 100 days in office presents to us.

I am just praying for devine intervention to keep this country well managed by anybody other than him.

Shit!!!

Anonymous said...

Syabas, my friend. I'm so glad you write all these. My memory has also gone hazy concerning those facts.

I do wish as many non-Malays as possible read these so that they know the intrigues of the British and the non-Malays before Merdeka, of where the loyalty of Chin Peng and the Malayan Communist Party lay. They should know that they were immigrants: even the British historical records call them immigrants. And they need not be sensitive at being called "Pendatang"; it is a historial fact and is recorded in many places. Pak Lah of course was a sad specimen of a Malay apologist; he even sent a Minister to China to apologise for alleged mistreatment of "a Chinese" who turned out to be a Malaysian. How demeaning, how pathetic.

I also wish the "liberal" and "intellectual" Malays read these so that they realise what Malays have gone through, the struggle the Malay leaders had to endure to protect and further the interest of the Malays before and at Merdeka time. They were fighting for their rightful place in their own country. No doubt the British colonial masters applied a lot of pressure but the Malays did agree on non-Malay citizenship and, in exchange for that, secured Special Malay Rights that were written in the Constitution. The non-Malays must not begrudge them for that. The Malay so-called "liberals" and "intellectuals" must not ape the West and adopt western values unrealistically. They have a different history, and equality and justice are still wanting there, for example in the treatment of the blacks, whites and Latinos (sometimes the yellow and brown skins do not feature in decision-making calculations), and Guantanamo Bay detention without trial is still there.

Yes, the bloody corruption. The endemic, systemic and endless corruption. The scourge of mankind. That which had caused a lot of problems in the country. That which has been sabotaging the NEP: the improper distribution of the NEP benefits, its exploitation by the non-Malays when questioning the policy, the resulting many nincompoofs running the country. When are we getting the political will to get rid of corruption? I hope you would elaborate on this subject in your coming articles. I look forward to reading them and volunteering my thoughts as well.

God bless you and poeple like you.

albert said...

Aspan,
History is insuperable in life, more so with regards to politics and the governments of any kind.

You are having knowledge of history and I hope you go on writing without fear and with no favor.

I see you as a person who non racist. You are just writing what should be written bro.

Just write to encourage harmony.

ceers

Justin, understanding chinese. said...

Not all Chinese are not aware of the Constitutional provisions. It is only a few who just be blinded by prejudices while are wild.

I think the problem started when TDM hit at the Malays overly when he was the PM.

He admitted Malays are weak in many fields but he wanted changes immediately.

Our Cinese leaders can be idiotic but they don't get enraged to our race the way TDM did.

TDM made many Chinese look down on Malays as they feel that even their leaders look down on their race, so why get angry when other races look down on them

There must be reason for a cause. That maybe the answer bro Aspan.

hamdi said...

Pertama kali saya membaca blod sdr.
Sejak 2 jam lepas saya membaca tulisan2 sdr dengan teliti.
Walaupun saya tidak mengenali sdr tetapi dari tulisan sdr ini saya yakin sdr berpengalaman politik.
Syabas sdr, kerana sdr cuba mengimbas perkara yang sudah dilupai selama ini.
Tulisan sdr lain dari yang lain.
Saya berminat dengan pandangan sdr.

Anonymous said...

Justin

I'm happy to hear your responsible but rather critical comments. Your kind of comments we are willing to listen to. I know you are as concerned about national unity as Aspan and I are.

Please be assured that the comments concerning the Constitution are meant for those who are not aware and are blinded by prejudices. We need to have greater understanding among the various communities.

TDM has his own ways on inspiring the Malays. He even wrote "The Malay Dilemma" a long time ago, suggesting the Malays drop such unhelpful proverbs as "Biar mati anak, jangan mati adat". Education came to the Malays rather late. But we continue struggling.

I disagree when you said, "TDM made many Chinese look down on Malays as they feel that even their leaders look down on their race, so why get angry when other races look down on them." As you yourself said, "He admitted Malays are weak in many fields but he wanted changes immediately." The Chinese therefore have to understand the Malays trying to catch up, having been left behind a lot as the British didn't help them as much as the Chinese during colonial rule.

If the Chinese are unwilling to help, at least don't look down upon the Malays because every community, every civilisation, has its strong and weak points. There is no such thing as a superior race. Hitler tried to promote that concept and he went down as shit in history.

Let's think of one another as fellow Malaysians with our rights protected under the Constitution. Let's urge Aspan to write more of such articles that help bring about greater understanding among us.

Good day to you all.

zainal&gang said...

Syabas,
sdr memperjuangkan kesepakatan dalam perbezaan Bangsa, Ugama, Budaya dan sebagainya.
Itulah yang kita impikan selama ini.
Keikhlasan ini perlu sdr teruskan.

chee said...

The Malays used to fight hard and suffered for their pride and identity.
With Najib's Premiership the Malays and all will just bend to individual greed.
This Malay leader named Najib is a sure person who is going to maim his race and Malaysian as a whole. Bet you on this.

lim said...

Mr Aspan.
I am slowly developing interest in history. Congrats.

Aspan Alias said...

Justin,

If we are open with good intentions in mind, there would do a lot good for the people.
Man like you would be a good and perfect citizen which is nice to get engaged with.
I am happy if there is a way that we meet and discuss all outstanding points. at least for our own use and consumption.
Get in touch if you are free and I am waiting for your response bro.

Anonymous said...

Chee,

Corruption is not the monopoly of only DS Najib, or of UMNO for that matter.

Corruption is a disease that that has afflicted the entire spectrum of the social and political life of the country. Ask anyone old enough to have driven to town or even ridden a rickety old bike. In the kampong they even take RM3 bribe money.

It's such a big menace to society. Rackets going on all over the places. Law and order have sufferred. The rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer with a lot of corruption at play at all levels of society. People feel desperate and it's not conducive to peace and harmony in the country.

Let's campaign against corruption. DSN has said he'd announce his anti-corruption policy at the end of the month. Let's speak loudly against all forms of corruption, all levels of corruption, so that he would start hauling the big guns into court, irrespective of race, creed or colour, occupation,
vocation or position.

chee said...

Dear Anonymous 20.57,
Thanks for your response, and I appreciate that you admit Najib is corrupted.
Thank you.

roland said...

Anonymous,
please come to term that a corrupt PM is the killer for a nation. History tells all.
You are trying to combat corruption but give exception to the PM.
You want your race to be respected but you allow Najib to lead us.
If that is your arguement don't feel sad if my MCA leaders are corrupt. No one among the MCA leaders are going to be the PM.
There are lots of hanging question about Najib. He did not clear his name about the articles written about Altantuya world wide.
If we can't respect Najib do you blame us?

Anonymous said...

Chee,

For the record, I didn't say that DSN is corrupt. I was merely pointing out that corruption is not a monopoly of one man or one party.

I thought I could engage you in a discussion and perhaps a campaign against corruption. But it appears that you have a different agenda.

roland,

While Chee there accuses me of saying DSN is corrupt, you now say I am giving exception to the PM. It looks like we have a problem of perception, of understanding one another.

Then you said, "You want your race to be respected but you allow Najib to lead us. If that is your arguement don't feel sad if my MCA leaders are corrupt."

In response I say this: First, you need to understand the process of his selection as UMNO leader and the arrangement whereby the UMNO leader becomes the BN leader. Secondly, even assuming one leader is corrupt (Chee, note I say "assuming"), it does not justify other leaders to be corrupt. By your argument, everybody can be corrupt simply because one leader is deemed corrupt? It cannot be. It must not be.

If you have evidence that he is corrupt, then I'll join you in calling him to resign or even be prosecuted. But there is no evidence, no proof, is there?

Similarly, it is wrong to conclude that he is guilty of wrong doing on the Altantuya case just because he made no attempt to clear his name. He said he was not involved and therefore there was no need for him to clear his name. It's not like the MCA leader whose sex exploit was filmed.

I'm not a member of any political party and I have no love for DSN. But we must be fair, follow the laws and respect the courts.

You may not respect the man but you need to respect the post he holds. The law says a person is innocent until proven guilty - by the courts.