“The keris is here to stay…so does barbarism, racism and violence

Oh, so the keris is here to stay, is it? (Star, 26 November 2006).

Leader of the pack of wolves – file picture from The Star.

How very nice. So once again, The People’s Paper, has helped the UMNO idiots justify that barbarism, racism and violence is acceptable in Malaysia.� Of course, it is acceptable, only when it is done by them. Or is this MCA’s way of making sure this story achieve its means: fuelling the anger of the Chinese, and giving MCA the opportunity to step in to control the fire? As their UMNO brothers have done.�These days one can never be sure. Bigotry knows not skin color. Or, is it the other way around?

UMNO Youth leader Hishamuddin said:

“What is it about the keris that makes people so uncomfortable? The keris is on the Umno flag. There are two keris on the Umno logo. It is the symbol of Malay culture. It�s not Umno. It�s not Pemuda. You give keris as gifts to non-Malays and non-Malays give them to me at functions. (Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh) Tsu Koon showed me a huge keris during our Penang convention”.

Hello, the Keris can be a very beautiful historical symbol (See Farish Noor’s “Pity the Poor Keris“). When�displayed��in a museum, it can be a sultry, cultural artifact. But when unsheathed,�brought to the lips�and waved in� a crowd by some idiot making threats against others, it is a weapon of war. And that is what exactly happened in the recent UMNO general assembly.

As a leader he wanted to feel “the pulse of the constituency”. But by feeling it, does he have to go and fan the fires further? A good leader would quench the raging fires, and put it to rest by peaceful gestures and reasonable understanding. But no, this one feels the pulse of the nation and then make the pulse race faster…with hatred!

Thank you STAR, and thank you Hishamuddin for the lesson in good leadership. Duh!

Then he turns to the press and�blames it for playing on the Malay pyshce.

“There is also the process of more transparency and freedom of the press. All these played on the Malay psyche. If they had not been allowed to release their feelings in a controlled channel, it could have been even worse. We are in control of the situation”.

Control of the situation? What he meant was he has consolidated his position. It’s not the “keris is here to stay’. It’s “UMNO is here to stay”.

Well,�it’s not that I hate the keris. I don’t. It’s my cultural heritage. I even think its artistic. I just hate it when it is in the hands of UMNO.�

And now I hate it when it is in Hishamuddin’s hands. But does barbarism, racism and violence run in the family? Let me relate you a story. You can decide for yourself if it does.

Here are�some paragraphs from CPM Malay leader Abdullah CD’s memoirs (Chapter 20):

[Translated version].

“When the Japanese fascists surrendered, a section of MPAJA (Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army) troops marched forward and took control of Muar, including the police station and others. At that time, Batu Pahat was not under the control of MPAJA yet. (When this happenned), the Japanese soldiers (present there) dropped their guns and waited for orders to leave for Singapore”.

“When they took over Muar, MPAJA detained a Javanese suspected of inciting an incident (where a pig was thrown into a mosque, incurring the wrath of the Malays, who thought it was�the Chinese from a nearby community who did it), causing�enmity between the races. He was earlier detained in�the police station. But one afternoon,�he�looked as if he had died. The MPAJA soldiers who thought he was reallydead relaxed their guard in the area. The person then seized the opportunity that night, contacted the police station, �and the District Officer for Batu Pahat.

“The District Officer for Batu Pahat (at that time), Dato’ Onn Jaafar (Hishamuddin’s grandpa), immediately ordered about 3,000 members of the long parang gang to attack the Chinese village. The MPAJA troops were along the Muar river at that time. The long parang gang crossed the�Muar river with parangs and torch in their hands…

[what happenned next is that the MPAJA, with the help of Japanese soldiers in their capture – as there were only a few MPAJA soldiers there – opened fire, defeating�the long parang gang].

“Several days later, the MPAJA took over Batu Pahat and the police station, government offices and others, and guarded the safety of the public. Besides this, they proposed a spirit of unity between the races, espacially between the Malays and Chinese. MPAJA had a meeting with Onn Jaafar and explained the policies of CPM and the discipline of MPAJA, which respected the customs and culture of all races and firmly opposed any split between the races. MPAJA told Dato Onn (they knew) of his actions to incite hatred between the Malays and Chinese. (It was then that) Dato Onn was prepared to cooperate and admit what he did…”

What did they say about history repeating itself?� Though perhaps, the late Onn was more willing to admit his mistakes.

2. I wished veteran journalist Joceline Tan (who wrote the STAR report) would ask these questions, and if she had, I wished it had been published, instead of that paragraph about fishing:

a. Is your (Hishamuddin) action a call to return to barbarism, racism and violence within UMNO, within Malaysia…?

b. Don’t you think you have dishonoured the cultural heritage of the keris by turning it into a weapon of war (by your very act of unsheathing it, bringing it close to your lips, and swearing threat -affecting other Malaysians)? Don’t you think you have truly insulted the historical significance of the keris, when you waved it in public, in the midst of an angry crowd of UMNO members, which some described as akin to amok, and brought shame to your country and race?

c. What are you trying to prove, when you say UMNO is now stronger than ever, but your very act of consolidating power shows your insecurity, inadequacy and your extreme fear that you are losing ground, and much worse, losing your power as the Malay youth leader?

d. How do you think your actions has affected other Malaysians, especially Youth, when you are also the country’s Education Minister? Don’t you think you are setting a bad example, when for 22 years, you have been singing the rhetorics of “Leadership by Example?”

e. With all the negative reports now circulationg the world, reports, news and analysis giving out only one message that Malaysia stinks as far as racial unity is concerned, aren’t you ashamed of yourself?

The list goes on…but I’d sooner be dead before any of these questions could be ask…

“Sometimes the most important questions, are the ones you don’t ask” (Edison, 2005).�