To win the mind and heart of the people... This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .
It is all Mimesis
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Confessions. For years I have been going to his house functions only to listen to his stories. All the small talks with the other guests just bore me so quickly; his presence was the motivating factor that drew me there. With his ever-smiling demure and his stories that transport me to a time when my country was a fledgeling confluence of people trying to stand together under the shade of a flag of a country named Malaya, Uncle Kesavan was the reason I was there. Now aged 84 years old, he is still so passionate about his work that he will painstakingly tell every detail of the time when he was almost working like a secret agent, minus the licence to kill. His team, of the Malaysian Royal Police, was the pioneer in the heeding times of the communist insurgency. They were sent to the UK to learn the then-novel way to intercept communists' radio transmissions. From the stories, or rather life experiences, that he narrated, he must be easily thousands of unsung heroe...
In times of tranquillity when your life is charted nicely in front you, you can talk. You would say, this is how one should do things, what is right, what is wrong, what is kosher, what is just and what is humane. The real test of humanity comes when civilisation is on the brink of collapse when law and order are in shambles. At times of emergency when the social order collapses and everyone is hanging on to their dear lives on a thread, decency, common courtesy and even humanity is a misfit. Does it really? Or is it the place where humanity is put to the acid test? Heard over a podcast about an incidence at a hospital during the time Hurrican Katrina hit New Orleans. The medical staff thought they were well prepared to handle the crisis, but they soon realised that panic button was hit when the levee broke on the second day. The hospital was flooded and by the third day, power supply was disconnected after the water reached the crucial areas. Mishandling of rescue s...
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 ar...
My Side of History (@Chin Peng; 2003) A few years ago when Chin Peng's application to return to Malaysia appeared in the local newspapers, I remember discussing with a close friend about the subject. Being a learnt chap who was fair and aged as he was, I was taken aback by his reaction. Hailing from the district of Tanjung Malim, an area listed as a red light for communists activities, he was quite emotional that Chin Peng should not be allowed back at any cost. He had first hand experience of experiencing the violence and atrocities at the hands of people who looked at communism as the saviour of our nation to escape colonisation of their European masters. Now, the question is whether CP was a liberator or a CT (communist terrorist). The question is who decides which, is it the victors of ideology or the historians. The fall of communism just convinced the victors that they were right all along. As in all human endeavours, the fallen would always be suppressed by the strong an...
http://vimeo.com/20993726 Malaya: The Undeclared War from Enemies of the People on Vimeo .