A Note, on Independence Day, for Myself and for the Reader (Part 1)

31st August 2010 is coming to an end. And our country, Malaysia, is officially 53 years old. I have a thing or two to say about that.

My Views on History

As an history student, I do understand and appreciate the struggle that our forefathers went through the obtain for us independence and recognition as a sovereign country in the world. I respect the neo-left amateur historians for their efforts to put forth new facts in order to enrich our history approaching independence (Fahmi Reza, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Farish A Noor etc.). However, I cannot, in conscious and rational mind, accept their conclusion of forming an alternative view of history (and to them, alternative=truth), of Chin Peng and the Communists are legitimate fighters for independence, and current hatred for UMNO-BN today is biasly projected to the past and our forefathers were ridiculed as puppets for the British imperial-capitalists.

Now, to be fair, the British did wrong in banning the leftist, radical movements who were legitimately nationalist in nature. I'll give the leftists that. No historian would deny that. However, in Fahmi Reza's movie 10 tahun Sebelum Merdeka, it was projected as if the so-called elitist UMNO party pandered to British rule and was handed independence on a silver platter without any blood spilled. In my view, UMNO did demand for independence. But first and foremost, UMNO is a Malay nationalist party. One must first understand the feeling of nationalism among the Malays in 1946. They took it one step at a time. They fought on the platform of Malay nationalism, calling for Malays to have a sound basis in economy, in politics, in administration, in education of women, in education in general. Demand for political consciousness among the locals, and I mean proper consciousness, not a mob, was necessary before independence could be demanded. A similar view of gaining power for one's own community was also espoused by Malcolm X in his call for Black nationalism in the USA in 1965.

It is quite unfair that current neo-leftist history dilettantes, in their hatred for UMNO, push all of this aside and embrace the left-wing 'fighters', and put them in the same group as the Communist terrorists (yes, the communists used terror methods. They killed Malays in kampungs for 'working' with the Japanese; they used the race card and forced the Chinese to supply them in the jungles--even as they were barely surviving on monthly rations; yeah, nice way of fighting for the 'golongan marhaen', Chin Peng.)

One view that got on my nerve, admittedly, is one that states Malaysia as not having true independence because 'blood was not spilled, unlike real independent countries.' Clearly, this statement, coming from the youth of this country, is quite disturbing, not least because it makes one recall the worship and adoration of war deities of old, spilling blood and sacrificing to appease the angry ones. But was blood really not spilled? Not against the British, but certainly against the Communist terrorists. The communists were responsible for the most atrocious crimes against the Malayan citizens at the time, most infamous being the cowardly assault on Bukit Kepong Police Station in Muar in 1950, rightly called the Malayan Alamo (Clearly, this argument could only work if people accepted the crimes of the Malayan Communist Party. However, since most followers of alternative history choose to whitewash Communist history, this argument might get us nowhere).

So let us move to the second and most important question of mine. Is independence by diplomacy really that bad? Did the Malayan delegates to London really went there for a nice trip, to have independence given tothem while they all sip wine and eat steak? Of course, it didn't happen that way. The forefathers did have to prove to the British that the races can work together, and this resulted in the election of 1955 (the multi-racial coalition of the Alliance of UMNO-MCA-MIC, with other equally multi-racial parties, such as Parti Negara and the Labour Party. Only PAS was mono-racial in nature). But diplomacy was not thrown out of the window, as some today would like our independence to have happened: a la trigger-happy rednecks.

If one looks at our neighbour Indonesia, who is so proud that they achieved independence through a bloody revolution, they never outrule diplomacy too. As the bloody revolution rages on, Haji Agus Salim, the Grand Old Man of Indonesia, went on a mission to Western countries as well as Asian countries to recognise Indonesian independence and sovereignty. This worked quite well to convince the US and Britain to change their stance of recognising Dutch rule over the islands. You can;t be independent without recognition from another sovereign state. Indonesia got it through diplomacy, and Malaysia got it through diplomacy.

So if Malaysia could gain independence through peace and diplomacy, and the ability to receive global recognition, then it's all good to me. Ok, I am done with my views here. I do not seek for people to agree with me.

There's a part 2: my views on on the annoying clarion call of 'Are we really independent?' that always comes out of the mouths of the religious folks.

Happy Independence Day, people.

Mea Culpa

Mea Culpa,

As you walk through the halls of the world,

You felt a chill to the bone,

And the core of your soul,

But it's not the cold of the wind that gets to you,

It's the entire view,

That though the road is full, you're still alone,

Why? (Mea Culpa)

You take the higher road, and was smug about it,

To cast the first stone is an amazing feeling,

True, to blame everyone but yourself is a blast,

You gain a few moments of glory,

Ego-feeding,

Building, rising to the heavens,

Before you're ruthlessly brought back down to earth,

Face filled with dirt, burdened

By the sins of the hurt,

You caused, to those that care for you,

Then remorse sets in,

Conscience breathing down on you,

Like the Furies of old, their screeches tormenting you,

You're lost,

And you reach your inner self to find the answer,

And you found it (Mea Culpa)

You have those that love you, and care,

And would try to understand the problems that you bear,

Teaching you that great idea,

Of forgiveness, that would pull you out,

Of that sea called despair,

But you persist in your self -pity,

And view them as the enemy,

And burn them for their (minor) iniquity, to you,

As if the Judgment of the Lord is in Your hands,

That moment of pride, to shame even Lucifer,

Made you bear even his punishment,

Of being cast out,

And you have none to blame,

But you (Mea Culpa)

You expect kindness to beget kindness,

When that is against the whole idea of love,

When you do something without expecting reward,

What is this nonsense of reciprocrity,

An insult to love itself,

Like expecting gratitude from the sun,

For having the honour to warm you,

And throw stones at her, for the fall of rain

Confess. my child

Mea Culpa,

Mea Culpa,

Mea Maxima Culpa.

God's Inspiration, for All Men

Just feel like writing this.

The eminent Indonesian Muslim scholar of the 20th century, Prof. Dr. Hamka wrote a beautiful line short, one-page chapter in his book, 'Kenang-kenangan Hidup', titled 'Ilham' (Inspiration), and it is summed up in these words, "Allah gives inspiration to his greatest creation, Man, and we should take the time to appreciate this beauty."

I like this statement. The beauty that Man produces with his hand should be appreciated by all. It is no sin to appreciate the poetry of Omar Khayyam or Milton, the music of Beethoven and Mozart, the paintings of Leonardo and the medieval Oriental Arts. Even the nude sculptures of Michelangelo's hand are works of art and beauty, and should be approached as such.

The words of the philosophers and prophets, from Moses, Sakuntala, Confucius and the Hundred Flowers, Isaiah, Daniel, Jesus, Muhammad, Augustus, Averroes, Ghazzali, Aquinas, Dante, Locke, Rousseau, Hamzah Fansuri, Voltaire, Tolstoy, Mills, Bertrand Russell...they are men of great minds, producing works emanating from their minds, inspired by something more than themselves--an inspiration given by God Himself.

There should be no question of condemning this or that work, just because the hands and minds that produce them do not share our beliefs and religions. For we cannot compare their minds to ours. It would be an insult.

So let us enjoy the works that they produce. And enjoy the fruits of God's Inspiration. God does not choose whom He wants to bless with Beauty. Why should we?