Tit for tat? Eye for an eye?

After 10 years of being placed in a limbo, the suspense was finally put to an end. The lives of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, two young Australians with a supposedly bright future in front of them came to a premature end. They faced the Indonesian firing squad for their crime of being the mastermind and smuggling 18lbs of heroine. Firing squad? Not lethal injections or hanging or electric chamber? It appears primitive and militarised but that is how they do it in Indonesia.

Their sentencing and subsequent execution of sentencing had stirred the sentiments of many, especially Australians and also started the debate on the necessity of having capital punishment.

The opponents of this form of punishment would argue that studies have shown that death have never been shown to be a deterrent for anyone not to commit crime. They also question our place to dispense judgement on one's God-given life, what more to take it away.

On the other hand, there are those who say that ample warning had been plastered all over the place that that is how that country handles its drug problem and despite all that, the perpetrators decided to clash head-on with the legal system by blatantly carrying the merchandise. Hence, they appropriately had to face the full wrath of the long arm of the law. The sympathisers are losing sleep over the two lives but what about the innumerable lives lost, broken families, loss of childhood, wrecked relationships and wanton disappointments that they were privy to. What about the single mothers, the orphans, the loss of father figures and broken homes? Is the nation obligated to maintain such a life that has caused so much destructions on the argument of we cannot take what we cannot give, i.e. life?

10 years, however, is a long time to reflect on matters committed at a tender mindless age with raging hormones and defiance to authority. They were no angels but everyone is entitled a second chance. We all have seen wayward classmates who had turned over a new leaf to turn their lives around to be somebody. In these years, the duo had been exemplary prisoners who had taken steps to improve their own academic standings and of others.

At the end of the day, all the political wrangling and emotional pleading could not reverse the sentence. Justice as they deemed fit was meted. Drug kills!

A war it was not!

The War of the Running Dogs

How Malaya Defeated the Communist Guerrillas 1948-1960

Noel Barber (1971)

A few years ago, when Chin Peng was requesting to the Malaysian Government, my friend PS had firm opinions about not allowing any of the communist henchmen to set their foot on our soil. After he had the first-hand experience enduring the atrocities of self-proclaimed independence fighters of the nation. Their endeavour for a free Malayan nation, of course, predates the return of the British to Malaya after World War 2. The hurried unceremonious exit, some say abandonment, of the colonies, stirred the nationalist spirit of the young nation. Members of CPM were actually British allies fighting the invading Japanese, and even Chin Peng was knighted. Turn of events after the Second World War put the Communist ideology minded 'freedom fighters' as terrorists (CT).

The danger of communist ideology lurking in the society was there but was downplayed by the Chief of Police and the High Commissioner of Malaya then Edward Gent.

A series of daring attacks on English planters in Sungai Siput and adjacent areas made it mandatory for the British for recouping their resources to go all out to wipe out the spread of communist ideology in the country. The problem with fighting against CT is that cooperation from the general public was not forthcoming due to the extreme scare tactics and bloody, brutal, mindless slaying.

In actual terms, this emergency period (1948-60) is a civil war between two ideologies, but due to the escalation of insurance coverage of commercial merchandise, the word 'war' was never used. CTs refer to supporters of British administration as the colonial master's running dog, hence the name of the war.

For his oversight and inactivity, Edward Gent was relieved of his duties and sent home. Unfortunately, he succumbed to an aviation accident as the plane he was flying collided in London. One character who played the pivotal role in the fight against CT, I found through the book was Robert @ Bob Thompson. He was in the background with Henry Gurney and later General Gerald Templer with police operations. Many years later, he was knighted and helped the US in the Vietnam War. He, however, has no relations with Jim Thompson, the planter who disappeared in Cameron Highlands.

Reading through the pages, the author recreates the time when the country was lush green with vegetation, mist and flowers. It also reminisces the times when Coliseum Cafe in Kuala Lumpur was the place to be for stengahs (whisky and soda and water) and steak.

Too Chee Choo AKA C. C. Too

It recollects the time when our Special Branch (SB) of Police was revered for its intelligence and dedication, something wanting more than half a century on. It highlights a certain Irene Lee, a detective in cheongsam who had a personal vendetta with the CT after her husband was killed by them. There was a time when she daringly infiltrated into the communist line to paralyse their courier line. SB went to great lengths to buy over a company, fill up a lorry with pineapple cans genuinely scheduled to be transported from Johore to Penang port and just to puncture in front the CPM clandestine office in Batu Road for SB to explore their office!

Then there is this character, C.C. Too, who is in charge of Psychological Warfare in the fight against CT. Money had always been the root as well as the panacea for all ills. Plush rewards certainly went a long way in persuading CT to turn over to the otherwise.

1951 and 1952 were the best years for Chin Peng and his band of man. With the chance assassination of Sir Henry Gurney at Frasier's Hill, General Gerald Templer was handpicked by Churchill to lead the helm, and it proved to be a turning point. The straight-backed disciplinarian and no-sense guy believed that the communist war was a psychological war. His high-handed method of uprooting villages overnight and cordoning them off in pre-determined areas (New Villages) may not appear humane at present context. We were talking about war times, and its end results justified the means. To lure these tappers and farmers away from their usual abode, they were cajoled with free land. The properties were obtained in the name of national security through the goodwill and excellent negotiating skills of the British from the Sultans of states.

Sir Gerald Templer, featured on the cover of 

TIME magazine, December 15, 1952.

A quote from the book...

After losing food and supplies to CT, a visibly upset Templer was addressing a group of Chinese villagers within the cordoned new village. Angry with them for allowing CT to take their supplies, he told them they were a bunch of cowards. A Chinese translator was by his side to do the needful.

'You are a bunch of bastards,' shouted Templer; and an assistant who spoke Chinese listened carefully as the translator announced without emotion: 'His Excellency informs you that he knows that none of your mothers and fathers was married when you were born.' Templer waited, then pointing the finger at the astonished villagers to show who was the 'tuan', he added, 'You may be bastards, but you'll find out that I can be a bigger one.' Missing the point of the threat entirely, the translator said politely, 'His Excellency does admit, however, that his father was also not married to his mother.' I guess that is a classic case when a message is lost in translation.

Talking about Sultans, the Johore Sultan Abu Bakar was the colonial masters' favourite. They had easy access to the royal grounds at Bukit Serene where many fun-filled parties took place under the auspices of the fun-loving monarch.

Money has always been blamed as the root of all evil. But here, we find that money appeared as a panacea of all worries. Money splurged as a reward was instrumental in luring hundreds of starving and demoralised CTs out of the jungle and even turn turn-coats to expose their so-called comrades. Many joked that reward money awarded was too extravagant, sometimes more than a Government officer's monthly pay-check.

Along the fight against the tyranny of the communist in the countryside, in 1953, Malaya made it to the world headlines. A young communist lass, Lee Meng, was condemned to hang by the Malayan courts. She was defended by DR Sreenivasagam. Her plight was taken up by a young barrister Mrs PG Lim and appeal was made at Privy Council. The Hungarian government offered to swap a British spy for her but bluntly refused by Winston Churchill as he did not want to set a precedent for other communist countries to follow. Lee Meng was freed and exiled to the China. The British spy also was released unceremoniously.

One thing I find perplexing after reading book set in the pre-independence Malaya is the assertion by certain politicians and historians that Malaya was never conquered by the British. We were just assisted by the British. Well, doesn't administration of police, ensuring peace n the country, passing laws to locate and relocate people as is needed by the country, have differential status for professionals of the descendants of colonial master indicate that we were indeed colonised.

In the end, all the Malayans wanted was independence. CPM tried to achieve it via armed struggle whereas the English educated elitists and wealthy businessmen sought to achieve it through rubbing shoulders, a round of whisky and roundtable discussions. When 1957 came, CPM realised that they had lost a psychological war of ideology of which the English were master players!

Unresolved issue: 55 years after the end of Emergency, dependents of the 24 killed in 'Batang Kali massacre' or 'Britain's My Lai' are still seeking closure.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2015/04/22/britains-highest-court-to-hear-msia-massacre-case/

P/S. Our leaders recently threw in a spanner in the works when they toyed the ideas when the British never actually conquered Malaya and we were still 'independent' in the pre-Independent era. Now, what do the regime that controls the police, the legislature, the school system, the healthcare, the finances, devices ways to stimulate the economy for themselves and the country to prosper while creating job opportunities for others including sons of other soils? Hey, déjà vu?

Acceptance, not expectations!

Tokyo Story (1953)
Director: Yasujiro Osu
The Tamil cinema have made tonnes movies with this theme - about the lack of filial piety, the melodramatic depiction of how old parents heartlessly get sidelined by kids or kids-in-law. Well, Tokyo Story also dwells into the same topic but puts in a subtle, neutral and a quiet way without the hullabaloo. And it made its way to BFI's all time best made movie list after 'Citizen Kane' and 'Vertigo'. The feature that makes it different from most family drama is that it is made in a very calm way mimicking the gestures of the Japanese culture with a lot of bows and gentility.

An old couple decide to make a trip down to Tokyo to see their children. The couple have 5 kids, 3 boys and 2 girls - a doctor, a salon owner, a soldier who is presumed deceased as he never returned after the war, a tradesman and an unmarried teacher who is living with them.

In Tokyo, they visit the doctor, the salon owner and the widow of the soldier. They soon realise that their children are too caught up with their own work schedule to be entertaining them. Their daughter-law, however, went beyond her call of duty to care for them. Soon after their home, the wife of the couple dies. This time, the kids make a trip for the final rites.

Even though, the story was written more than half a century ago, it still resonates into our family dynamics even today. The elders doing certain ordained duties as how they are expected to do a smooth passage of their offspring into adulthood expecting reciprocal care when it is their time of need. Unfortunately, changes in social dynamics and structure makes it impossible for the same trend to continue. The various economic commitments and the need to meet their own family demands makes life not so black and white. Histrionic demand for attention would not solve this inconvenience but on the contrary only sour relationships, creating dissatisfaction and sorrow. As the couple in this film did, the next best option is that to believe that they had done their best in raising their own kids given the circumstance and be happy with the outcome calmly. Of course, all these would be easier if your partner-in-crime, your partner in life, be with you in your twilight years.

...or perhaps, with a few good friends with your same mental illness!

P.S. Dedicated to Yuko who safely pushed out her progeny, Kanta! After the many heart wrenching moments... Konnichiwa!

Can freewill ever be free?

Now how often have you heard, "Stop controlling me, let me be free!" "I just want to be me. Me with my own desires." It is actually nothing new. This kind of mantra seems to have been around since the turn of the 20th century for the generation next. Everybody wants to be left alone to do things at their own freewill.

Just like an indoor pet who rushes through the front door whenever it is ajar, human beings (whether they like it or not, they are still animals) always crave for something that they do not have. Without savouring what they already possess, they yearn for the unattainable or the utopia that only exists in their imagination.

Can people really be free? Is freewill really free? Can people ever be free to be and do anything as and when they feel free? Are our thoughts really free?

What dictates our will? Is it not a sum of all the indoctrination given to us via our parents through their upbringing, the teachings that they learnt from their elders who eventually learnt it as the word of the Divine. Our actions, intentions and willpower is determined by the composite of these conditionings. So, from the word go, there is no freewill. What we think is already moulded our years of learning via example. When we make a decision especially in a public domain in view of others to be judged, we would always decide to take the path of the majority or least the path that we know would be supported by a sizeable others.

Even when we are alone, when the decision is not viewed by other to judge, the fear of God and morality dictates what we do. If we were left really free with no responsibilities or no remorse on our actions but only to satisfy our animalistic instincts, our course of actions would only be geared to gratify our real primordial needs, that is cardinal, food and gluttony, sleep and satiety. That is the end point. This human trait, unfortunately manifests under extreme duress or during a mob.

As long as there is life, there is hope

The Theory of Everything (2014)

Professor Stephen Hawking is the living proof that life can never be hopeless. However bad life may seem to be, there is always something you can do and succeed.

Patients with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) generally have short life spans. Their disease deteriorates fast, and they eventually succumb to their affliction within a short time. Hawking defied all odds and had lived with the illness since 1963, even though he was initially given only two years to live. 

Using a speaking aid from the twitching of his buccal muscles, he has gone to theorise ideas about space, time and universe.

In spite of his handicap, he has done so much in his life. In addition to his prolific research into quantum physics, he has authored many bestsellers.

His critiques, however, chide him for not doing so much as to garner sympathy from the public towards the cause of helping his fellow sufferers of ALS and other neurological handicaps. I guess, he is one of the people who does not dwell in sympathy but strive to achieve against all the odds. His final line in the movie says it all - as long there is life, there is hope! 

War and humanity

Apocalypse Now (1979)


This is said to be the all-time best anti-Vietnam war movie ever made. It depicts the senseless actions of the Yankees to steam-roll Charlie (Vietcong) to smithereens without a thought. It just occurred to me that perhaps they were trying out the new experimental bombs and biological agents with all the mighty powerful fleet that they had. Vietnamese civilian lives and civilisation are treated as subhuman and are vaporised to nothing by immature youngsters who are fitted in army fatigues and armed with killing machines but have no clue of its actions and repercussions. Many of them had not even been exposed to the ways of the world and many cracked under pressure in these overwhelmingly extreme conditions.

An Army Captain, Willard (Martin Sheen), who has marital issues back home, is summoned to track down a highly decorated American Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who is said to have gone astray recruiting his army to build his fort to fight Americans and Vietcong!

Capt. Willard's escapade en route to Col. Kurtz's hideout illustrates the foolhardy of GIs in bullying the local population. For some, it is all just a game. Some came prepared with their surfboards to surf in the nearby lake after annihilating a whole Vietnamese village with napalm. Some GIs have big dreams to fulfil after their tour of duty but unfortunately, it never materialised. The film also shows the supposedly disciplined soldiers who are boozing and behaving rowdily. The Army actually flew in scantily clad Playboy playmates to entertain them and to boost their morale.

After finally reaching his destination, Willard discovers Col. Kurtz to be a highly philosophical and poetic soldier who is disillusioned with the purpose of war. He tries to justify his actions via quotes on humanity and civilisation.

Real lessons from reel:
In war, there are no winners, only losers. In modern wars, the real mongers of wars do not get their hands dirty. They orchestrate and cajole plebeians to do their jobs in the name of liberty, freedom, nationalism, ideology and upholding God’s prophecies. The real agenda, however, is business, power and oil! Under the cloak under allegiance to a piece of cloth, a nation, race or religion, many simple minded have been hoodwinked to raise arms against their own kind. Surprisingly, among all of Nature's creations, we are the only creatures on this planet who kills for the pleasure of our leaders. The rest of them kill for food, territory or mate!

Munshi Abdullah

http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_503_2004-12-27.html

Munshi Abdullah a.k.a Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir (b. 1797, Kampong Pali, Malacca - d. October 1854, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia), son of Sheikh Abdul Kadir d. 1820 Malacca). With a very strict Muslim upbringing and scholarly education, Abdullah's abilities made him a language teacher and interpreter proficient in Arabic, Tamil, Hindustani, English and Malay. He wrote the critically acclaimed "Hikayat Abdullah" which in Malay means the "Story of Abdullah". He was the first local to give a written account of everyday life in Malaya, published in 1849. For his early literary contributions, he was given the name, "The Father of Modern Malay Literature."

Early life
Abdullah was born in 1797, in Malacca, the fifth and only surviving child of Sheikh Abdul Kadir, a religious Muslim of Arab-Indian descent. At the age of four, he learnt to scribble on a schoolboy's slate. At the age of six he suffered a severe attack of dysentry. Abdullah could not read the Koran, and while other children chanted their verses, he traced out the written Arabic characters with his pen. He was seven years old, when his strict father, furious at his son's backwardness, sent him to the Kampong Pali Koran School. His father closely monitored, and was careful not to let his son neglect his Koran studies. For writing exercises, for example, he made Abdullah write the Arabic names of all the people he saw at the mosque, and was severely punished for mistakes, until he was word perfect. He had to write the complete Koran, and translate an Arabic text into Malay.

Career
First job
At age eleven with an implanted passion for the written word, Abdullah was earning money writing Koranic texts. By 13, he was teaching religion to mostly Muslim soldiers of the Indian garrison stationed in the Malaccan Fort. From them he learned Hindustani. The soldiers called him Munshi (sometimes spelt munsyi, it is Malay for a "teacher" of language), a title which stuck to him for the rest of his life, and by which he is still known. But his father insisted he get on with his Malay studies which were just beginning, and his first real chance of a secular education. The first big opportunity he had to prove his worth to his parents, was when his father was away from the office, he wrote out the bond, a signed document required for a ship's Captain. As the Captain was leaving with his document, and Abdullah having beeen paid a dollar for his efforts, in walked his father, Abdul-Kadir. Pleased at his son's abilities, Abdullah was allowed to understudy his father in his petition-writing business, and was sent to study under the finest scholars in Malacca. He was an avid reader of all the Malay manuscripts he could lay his hands on, and his inquiring mind gave his teachers no rest until they answered his questions. He went through great lengths to find tutors who could expound to him the intricacies of Malay idiom. He sat at the feet of and impressed learned visitors from other countries. At the age of 13, Abdullah was writing Koranic Texts for the Muslim Soldiers of the Malaccan Garrison. In 1811, when he was merely fourteen years old, he was already considered an accomplished Malay scholar.

Stamford Raffles
In December 1810, Sir Stamford Raffles arrived in Malacca and hired young Abdullah as interpreter to communicate with the native rulers in their language. Abdullah, the youngest employee, was one of the scribes and copyists preserving Malay literature and manuscripts, in the office. In his later book, "Hikayat Abdullah", Abdullah's diary accounts are the only eye-witness records of preparations for the British "1811 Java Invasion" expedition. Raffles had suggested taking him along but his mother refused to part with her only child. They were to meet nine years later in Singapore. He had a very high regard for Sir Stamford Raffles.

Missionary connection
In 1815, Reverend William Milne (b. 1785 - d. 27May 1822 Malacca), a 'London Missionary Society' missionary arrived and started free Bible classes for local children which Abdullah attended, just to learn English. Rev. Milne soon discovered Abdullah's proficiency in Malay, and made him his teacher. Other Western missionaries followed, and Abdullah was kept busy teaching them Malay and translating the Gospels. Another missionary who arrived in September 1815, was a German, Rev. Claudius Henry Thomsen who became Abdullah's lifelong friend. He and Thomsen translated parts of the bible into Malay, and produced lots of other printed material. On 11 November 1818, Abdullah witnessed the foundation-stone laying of the Anglo-Chinese College building by the ex-Resident of Malacca, Major William Farquhar (later Resident of Singapore 1819-1823). Rev. Thomsen left for Singapore on 11 May 1822.


Singapore
Sometime after June 1819, Abdullah came to Singapore to make a living as an interpreter. He taught Malay to Indian soldiers, British and American missionaries, and on occasion, was private secretary to Raffles. Some of the leading merchants like Edward Boustead and the Armstrong Brothers learnt Malay from Abdullah.

In the late 1830s he met assisted Rev. Benjamin Peach Keasberry in his school and Mission Press, and helped Rev. Keasberry to print a large number of books. Abdullah was engaged to assist him in polishing his Malay linguistic skills, and under Keasberry's guidance and encouragement, wrote his own life story. In 1840, he began writing the "Hikayat Abdullah" and continued writing his memoirs until September 1846.

Family
Father : Sheikh Abdul-Kadir (d. 1820)
Mother : a Malacca-born half-Indian, Selama (d. 1826). She was the second wife of Abdul Kadir and they were married in 1785.
Siblings : Abdullah's first four elder brothers all died in infancy. Abdullah was the fifth son, but the first to have survived.
Children : Abdullah had four children from his marriage in 1815 to an unnamed woman (d. 17 May 1840). Towards the end of 1836 his favorite and only daughter died at the age of eight.

Literary worksAbdullah was the first Malay writer to depart from the traditional Malay literary style by writing in the colloquial language. Unlike courtly writing, it was realistic and lively, incorporating many Malay idioms and proverbs. A. E. Cooper, who translated "Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah", says, "his 'direct reporting' acts as a pleasant cool douche after the lushness of Malay romances".

"Hikayat Abdullah" ("Abdullah's Story", translated by John. T. Thomson in 1874), his autobiographical work was written between 1840 and 1843 and published in March 1849. With vignettes of early years of British colonization, it is an important source of the early history of Singapore soon after it was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles. There were two earlier English translations by John Turnbull Thomson and Rev. Dr. William G. Shellabear, but these works are regarded as out-of-date.

"Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke Kelantan" (meaning "The Tale of Abdullah's Voyage to Kelantan), describes his experiences on a 1837 trip from Singapore to Kelantan. For his early literary contributions he is regarded as "Father of Modern Malay Literature".

"Kisah Pelayaran Abdullah ke-Negeri Jeddah" (meaning "The Tale of Abdullah's Voyage to Jeddah"), the last book was published posthumously.

Despite Abdullah's obscurities, misrepresentations of fact and occasional solecisms in his books on his literary and pilgrimage to Mecca, Munshi Abdullah became the first local Malay to have his works published, and thus has gained the title of being the "Father of modern Malay Literature", his writings remain an inspiration for modern Malay literature. His diary was brought back by a friend after Abdullah died, and so his last journey was published posthumously. Munshi Abdullah Avenue is named after him.

Author: Vernon Cornelius-Takahama