Kaatu Perumal, Folk Hero of Sungai Siput.
Author: Dave Anthony (2015)
They say many great scriptures of yesteryear started off in the oral tradition. The holy scriptures were written many years after it was told and passed on from ear to ear. If we can accept that, why not the many folklores that are bountiful in our country, especially about common people who never made it to the bibliography of our history books as they were dictated by victors and the powers that be.
This was the basis of this small book. It is a novice attempt to bring alive a supposedly 'Robin Hood' type of an anti-hero around the vicinity of Sungai Siput and a few other northern towns in Perak.
The book comprise interviews with many from the geriatric population and their dependants who were children when all of his activities were allegedly going on. As in many oral narrations after a time lapse, the results proved sometimes contradictory and altered depending from which side of the fence they are looking from, the rubber tapper perspective or the the police.
Perumal is said to be a dashing athletic person who was a state footballer and a keen stage actor who would don female attire to give a good impression of female characters in the estate stage dramas. He had early links with the communist party and would fight for the welfare of the estate rubber tappers whenever they were ill-treated by the estate administration, mandors or clerks.
In one of this encounters, he become a fugitive after he killed a man. In many ambushes, Perumal managed to escape being caught by cross dressing as a female. Of course, word went around that he actually possessed magical powers as he was apparently seen at two places at one time and how he mysteriously escaped every time!
Legend has it that Perumal was shot by his own comrades when he wanted to surrender en-bloc with his comrades to the authorities when Malaya attained independence. Amnesty was offered by the Government and he wanted to give up with his band of 'freedom fighters'. Die hard commies were not too keen on civilian life and they gunned him down.
There are many conflicting accounts on Perumal's activities during the Emergency. The official version is that he was the head of CPM of Perak to recruit Malayan Indians. One witness reiterated that Perumal was not killed but seen in Lenggong, Perak as late as 1994!
We have to remember that Perumal had by then attained a demi-god status and everyone wanted to be like him.
The older generation have many stories of 'he says' and 'she says'. There must a figment of truth in their narrations. They did not have mobile devices to pixelise their every action like now. Oral tradition was the only way then. And many parts of actual event gets altered or lost in translation.
Author: Dave Anthony (2015)
They say many great scriptures of yesteryear started off in the oral tradition. The holy scriptures were written many years after it was told and passed on from ear to ear. If we can accept that, why not the many folklores that are bountiful in our country, especially about common people who never made it to the bibliography of our history books as they were dictated by victors and the powers that be.
This was the basis of this small book. It is a novice attempt to bring alive a supposedly 'Robin Hood' type of an anti-hero around the vicinity of Sungai Siput and a few other northern towns in Perak.
The book comprise interviews with many from the geriatric population and their dependants who were children when all of his activities were allegedly going on. As in many oral narrations after a time lapse, the results proved sometimes contradictory and altered depending from which side of the fence they are looking from, the rubber tapper perspective or the the police.
Perumal is said to be a dashing athletic person who was a state footballer and a keen stage actor who would don female attire to give a good impression of female characters in the estate stage dramas. He had early links with the communist party and would fight for the welfare of the estate rubber tappers whenever they were ill-treated by the estate administration, mandors or clerks.
In one of this encounters, he become a fugitive after he killed a man. In many ambushes, Perumal managed to escape being caught by cross dressing as a female. Of course, word went around that he actually possessed magical powers as he was apparently seen at two places at one time and how he mysteriously escaped every time!
Legend has it that Perumal was shot by his own comrades when he wanted to surrender en-bloc with his comrades to the authorities when Malaya attained independence. Amnesty was offered by the Government and he wanted to give up with his band of 'freedom fighters'. Die hard commies were not too keen on civilian life and they gunned him down.
There are many conflicting accounts on Perumal's activities during the Emergency. The official version is that he was the head of CPM of Perak to recruit Malayan Indians. One witness reiterated that Perumal was not killed but seen in Lenggong, Perak as late as 1994!
We have to remember that Perumal had by then attained a demi-god status and everyone wanted to be like him.
The older generation have many stories of 'he says' and 'she says'. There must a figment of truth in their narrations. They did not have mobile devices to pixelise their every action like now. Oral tradition was the only way then. And many parts of actual event gets altered or lost in translation.
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