What drives you?

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for me and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.Niemöller was an anti-Communist and supported Hitler's rise to power at first. But when Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion, Niemöller became disillusioned. He became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to Hitler. Unlike Niemöller, they gave in to the Nazis' threats. Hitler personally detested Niemöller and in 1937 had him arrested and eventually confined in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. Niemöller was released in 1945 by the Allies. He continued his career in Germany as a clergyman and as a leading voice of penance and reconciliation for the German people after World War II. His statement, sometimes presented as a poem, is well-known, frequently quoted, and is a popular model for describing the dangers of political apathy, as it often begins with specific and targeted fear and hatred which soon escalates out of control.......from Wikipedia.

Why am I writing all of the above? That is because I just completed reading two autographed books of Dr Kua Kia Soong when he presented to us when we invited he and his wife, Anne to join us for dinner at our place a few months back. Actually, I have read his May 13 book based on his research in UK when its Home Ministry declassified some of its earlier documents when Malaysia was in its infancy. The books presented were titled, ' The Patriot Game' and '445 days under ISA'.
I was particularly moved by his second book. He was narrating his day to day account of his experience from the day of arrest (28.10.87) under Operasi Lalang to his release on 14.4.89 and the issues surrounding the dark era at the height of Mahathirism. He also described how Anne and his kids (4 and 6) handled the whole ordeal. I gathered from the book that he must be a caring father and husband.
My mind started wandering, yet again...
Would I do what he did? What drives him to do what he did? The mental capacity and resilience must be exceptionally strong to endure all the separation from family, confinement and abuse by individuals who have hardly half your IQ to stand firm on your ground to prove that a spade is indeed a spade. I can unashamedly admit that I am too chicken-hearted to withstand this journey. I am too lazy to fight for my rights against all odds to prove my point! My answer to people who hurl abuses and accusations would be, "Okay, if you say so!" Everything will find its own steady state - with or without divine intervention. There is no use fighting for anything (following the true teaching of Lao Tze). I am also too chicken-hearted to die for my country. I can only talk, that is all. No, sire, not me, thank you! My answer is an emphatic NO!
During the rehabilitation programme, Dr Kua was advised, "Why do you like to create trouble, why can't you be like Prof Khoo Kay Kim?" To this his reply was, "The country does not two Prof Khoos!" Same would be my reply. Somebody got to do the dirty job. If not the world would not have seen Mahatma Gandhi (who was walking in and out of prison like going to canteen) or Nelson Mandela (who was incarcerated for 27 long years). That is if your struggle and beliefs are appreciated by the masses; if not, you will indeed live and die a miserably frustrating life. Take the example of Chin Peng who, at the twilight age of 80, is still trying to come back to his motherland (Malaysia) to spend his remaining years. The motherland that, being the nationalist that he was, he (via his movement) tried to wrestle from the mighty British Empire. Communism, which was fashionable at the turn of 20th century, was his way of Independence for Malaya. His struggle continued through the Japanese occupation during World War 2, temporarily ruling the country before the British returned to claim stake. Suddenly, Chin Peng and his men were the bad guys and propaganda after propaganda had made them villains many times over! During the heights of the good old days of Socialist/Communist paranoia, the British whose Empire once did not see the sun set decided to hand over helm to what appeared like a non-radical, non-labour minded aristocrats in the form of Alliance Party to govern the new nation and the rest is history as the victors depicted.
I believe that changes starts with the man in the mirror and charity begin at home. If everyone takes the trouble to ensure that things are run well in each own family, the country will run well itself. That is the trouble. Life is not so easy. Managing human is the most difficult kind of management as the needs of various personalities have to be satisfied.
 Let me see what an Australian has to say about Malaysia. I am now reading Dean John's (a blogger regularly featured on Malaysiakini) book, 'Missing Malaysia'. By virtue of being married to a Malaysian, this blogger becomes more than qualified to pen his tongue-in-cheek style of sarcastic two sen's worth of soliloquy of the injustices in Malaysia. Seriously, it is a good read.


http://www.thenutgraph.com/i-do-not-have-an-identity-crisis/

I do not have an identity crisis
By Elizabeth Looi | 15 January 2009

AUTHOR, activist, educationist and ex-politician: Dr Kua Kia Soong firmly believes in fighting for social justice.The former DAP Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya (1990-1995) believes that everyone in this country deserves equal rights. To him, Malaysians are made up of people from different parts of the world.
Kua, 58, hails from Batu Pahat, Johor. The grandson of the founder of the now defunct Batu Pahat Bank, Kua, a Teochew, attended Lim Poon Primary School and Batu Pahat High School before going on to further his studies in Britain. He graduated with a BA and MA in Economics from the University of Manchester, and went on to earn his PhD in Sociology.
Speaking from his office in Dong Jiao Zong’s New Era College in Kajang, Selangor on 16 Dec 2008, Kua shares the history of his family and thoughts about his identity with the The Nut Graph. His term as the principal and academic director of the college ended on 31 Dec 2008.

TNG: Can you trace your ancestry? Where were your parents/ grandparents from? What generation Malaysian are you?

Kua Swee Boon (father)

My grandfather, Kua Kim Pah, came from the Teochew area of China and he came over here just before the turn of the 20th century. He settled in Batu Pahat in Johor, and eventually founded the Batu Pahat Bank. I found out from Prof Khoo Kay Kim that the Batu Pahat bank was actually the first bank outside Kuala Lumpur to be set up.
My grandfather had a wife in China, but she was unable to bear him any children. So he married again, to Goh Gek Lan in 1915, and she bore him 13 children. They moved to Malaya at the turn of the last century. My father, Kua Swee Boon, was the eldest child born in 1918 in Batu Pahat, the year of the Russian Revolution. He was the first president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Batu Pahat. So we mainly grew up in Batu Pahat. I’m the second generation. By the time I was born, my grandfather had already died. I heard more stories from my mother, Weng Soo Keng, who was born in China. My dad went to China to marry my mother. She was married for a week before having to follow my father back here. She was about 18 when she came here.

Kua Kim Pah (grandfather)

What is your strongest memory of the place where you grew up?
It definitely has to be my childhood, when I grew up in the kampung. My strongest memory is the whole combination of my childhood friends, relatives, neighbours and playing in the kampung. And of course, my teachers from Lim Poon Primary School.

What are the stories you hold onto the most from your parents / grandparents / uncles?
My grandfather was quite legendary. He did very well. I heard stories about his experience during World War II, the Japanese occupation, and post-WWII. When I was growing up, it was the Vietnamese war and emergency, all [those stories]. And how there was no polarisation then as compared to now. There was a much more genuine interaction among the communities then.

How do you connect with these stories as a Malaysian?

Family portrait. Kua is in the middle.
(Pic courtesy of Kua Kia Soong)

They were all set in Malaysia. We were rooted in Malaysian earth; Chinese literature was based on Malaysia. Even my grandfather, who was born in China, was a Malaysian.

What aspects of your identity do you struggle with the most as a Malaysian? When I was in England from 1970-1978, my identity was Chinese Malaysian but I could not understand Chinese. My professors were all studying Chinese because China was coming up fast at that time. But I did not know Chinese, I did not understand Chinese, and people asked me why I couldn’t understand Chinese although I’m Chinese. I think that’s the biggest part of my struggle as a Malaysian. But you need to be outside the country to experience it. In Malaysia, I feel totally Malaysian and I do not have any identity crisis.

Describe the kind of Malaysia you would like for yourself and future generations.
The kind of Malaysia I want my children — Hua Ying and Bi Hua — to have? It’s the end of racial discrimination. Discrimination should be based on class and sector, not race. It’s easy and communalist. Why should this be idealistic? If fisherfolk are too poor, why bother if they are Chinese or Malays? Why can’t they be treated better regardless of their race? It is not idealistic at all.