The Malayan People's Independence Struggle
by Kua Kia Soong.
Yet another small nonfiction book from this prolific political scientist who did time in Kamunting. This time around an analysis of a possible alternative pathway our history would have taken if not for the governing circumstances and world ideology then.
It is a very factual book with lots of recommendations for the country, which seem to suggest all the things that KKS has been fighting for most of his post DAP life.
The gist that I digested after I read this book can be summarised as follows....
Malayans have already been unified before Merdeka, thanks to their fellow Asiatic aggressors in World War 2. First and second generation immigrants were already fighting for the country either as British stooge via the legalised Communist Party of Malaya or MPAJA. The Chinese in Malaya had a score to settle with the Japanese for the Nanjing massacre. When the Japs finally retreated, the Britishers returned denying Malayans of self-administration. The escalating tension on the world stage did not want to see communism to hold root in South East Asia. Furthermore, the British's agenda of maximising profits from their colonies was frequently hindered by the growing loud demands of the ever increasing louder voices of the various Workers' Unions as evident by a country-wide strike, Hartal on 20.10.1947. So, the idea of eventually handing self-rule to a unified Malayans with dangerous liaison with the devils that they knew did not make sense. On the contrary, to maintain their hegemony on the country's raw material and safe guard their interests, it was imperative that they have to look for alternatives to the multi-ethnic AMCJA-Putera. It came in the form of elitists of the Malay Royal Family (UMNO) whom they had had dealings since the Pangkor Agreement in 1874 and the capitalistic Chinese businessmen. The British, the masters of divide and rule, saw this communal politics ideal at satisfying the royalty, the Malays with their special status and the Chinese with Malayan citizenship. Communism and workers union were mostly squashed to pulp through Emergency plans and banning unions. After that, it is more than half a decade of communal politics in Malaysia with MCA, MIC and others joining the morass.
Onn Jaafar is portrayed here in the IMP and Partai Negara as an ultra racist colonial slave just out to stir racial sentiments to garner political mileage just like what UMNO Youth used to do in the 80s and PERKASA is doing now. I always thought Onn Jaafar was the good far sighted guy in Malayan politics (at least our textbooks said so) who wanted to open UMNO to non-Malays! He allegedly proposed flooding the country with Indonesian immigrants for racial dominance. Hey, see history repeats itself and perpetrators (today) learn devious techniques from history!
The 'Patriots' referred to in this book are the people who fought and fell for the country in WWII and Emergency. The 'Pretenders' are the members of Alliance Party who were groomed by the British and were handed to rule the country on a silver platter to safeguard their own interests.
**Hurdles in life are like a game of Angry Birds. You think you just managed to cross one level by tooth and nail - and there you have an even higher bar to pass. It only gets more challenging! Anon.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/riflerangeboy/
by Kua Kia Soong.
It is a very factual book with lots of recommendations for the country, which seem to suggest all the things that KKS has been fighting for most of his post DAP life.
The gist that I digested after I read this book can be summarised as follows....
Malayans have already been unified before Merdeka, thanks to their fellow Asiatic aggressors in World War 2. First and second generation immigrants were already fighting for the country either as British stooge via the legalised Communist Party of Malaya or MPAJA. The Chinese in Malaya had a score to settle with the Japanese for the Nanjing massacre. When the Japs finally retreated, the Britishers returned denying Malayans of self-administration. The escalating tension on the world stage did not want to see communism to hold root in South East Asia. Furthermore, the British's agenda of maximising profits from their colonies was frequently hindered by the growing loud demands of the ever increasing louder voices of the various Workers' Unions as evident by a country-wide strike, Hartal on 20.10.1947. So, the idea of eventually handing self-rule to a unified Malayans with dangerous liaison with the devils that they knew did not make sense. On the contrary, to maintain their hegemony on the country's raw material and safe guard their interests, it was imperative that they have to look for alternatives to the multi-ethnic AMCJA-Putera. It came in the form of elitists of the Malay Royal Family (UMNO) whom they had had dealings since the Pangkor Agreement in 1874 and the capitalistic Chinese businessmen. The British, the masters of divide and rule, saw this communal politics ideal at satisfying the royalty, the Malays with their special status and the Chinese with Malayan citizenship. Communism and workers union were mostly squashed to pulp through Emergency plans and banning unions. After that, it is more than half a decade of communal politics in Malaysia with MCA, MIC and others joining the morass.
Onn Jaafar is portrayed here in the IMP and Partai Negara as an ultra racist colonial slave just out to stir racial sentiments to garner political mileage just like what UMNO Youth used to do in the 80s and PERKASA is doing now. I always thought Onn Jaafar was the good far sighted guy in Malayan politics (at least our textbooks said so) who wanted to open UMNO to non-Malays! He allegedly proposed flooding the country with Indonesian immigrants for racial dominance. Hey, see history repeats itself and perpetrators (today) learn devious techniques from history!
The 'Patriots' referred to in this book are the people who fought and fell for the country in WWII and Emergency. The 'Pretenders' are the members of Alliance Party who were groomed by the British and were handed to rule the country on a silver platter to safeguard their own interests.
**Hurdles in life are like a game of Angry Birds. You think you just managed to cross one level by tooth and nail - and there you have an even higher bar to pass. It only gets more challenging! Anon.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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