Salam and Greetings!
During my stint at Penang Institute, [hari ni last day wehhh~] I was given the task to proofread the Malay version of this book and pen an article centered around this book. I consider this as a privilege (Alhamdulillah) as there are only 780 copies around, thanks to the oppressive Press and Printing Act which limited the number of copies of this book that could be put on print. This book was written by my boss, Senator Dr. Ariffin Omar [DAP] and actually buku ni merupakan embodiment thesis Phd-nya.
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| Hari-hari mengadap mende nih |
This article has been submitted to Penang Monthly and is pending review...tapi tak tau bila keluar. [kalau tak keluar sedih la...hahah]. So, here it is.
What strikes me the most about this book is that how our Sejarah syllabus tells half-truth and once I thought that those who fought for our independence were really sincere but then again.. *sigh*
Oh, tak lupa jugak suara-suara progresif sejak pra-kemerdekaan juga sudah ditekan, sedangkan mereka juga merupakan antara pejuang kemerdekaan. Link untuk download buku ni disediakan di penghujung article. Without further ado, silalah membaca artikel saya yang tak seberapa ni:
THE first
thought that would cross the mind of a reader when they are handed the book ‘Bangsa Melayu: Malay Concepts of Democracy
and Community 1945-1950’ was that of ‘perhaps this is just another Sejarah book, only with greater details
as compared to what was taught back in school’ . Going deep into the contents
of the book, the reader will be surprised with the fact that how they were
wronged by their previous preconception of the book. ‘Bangsa Melayu’ actually aims to tell its
readers about the political ideology of the Malays post-World War II, when the
land in the Malay Archipelago was generally colonized or occupied by foreign
powers namely the Dutch, British and Japanese brief occupation of Malaya.
‘Bangsa
Melayu’ was authored by Dr. Ariffin Omar who taught history at the School of
Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) up until 2006. The book is actually
an embodiment of his doctoral thesis which is now being used as one of the
compulsory text for history and political science majors in foreign
universities such as Australian National University (ANU) and the University of
Tokyo in which besides its contents, they also look at the methodology employed
by the author in assembling the contents together for the book.
The author
currently is trying to publish the Malay version of the book with the aim of reaching
out to a wider audience; especially the Malays since the original English
version was only printed around 780 copies, thanks to the Press and Printing
Act which limits the number of copies that could be put on print. The Malay
version of the book will be published under Penang Institute.
Putting
that story aside, ‘Bangsa Melayu’ is divided into eight chapters, with the
introduction and the conclusion contributed the first and last chapter
respectively. This book envisages the ‘hidden’ part of history that is not told
in the mainstream history syllabus as per the public education system in the
primary and secondary level.
According
to the book jacket, ‘Bangsa Melayu’ is a study of political ideology in two
related but distinct Malay communities in Peninsular Malaya and East Sumatra at
a time of political ferment in the years immediately after the Second World
War.
Prior to
this period, the ‘kerajaan’, or monarchy headed by the sultans, had been
central to the Malay political culture and identity, but with the rise of
nationalism, nation-states and nationality in the Malay Archipelago, new
alternatives were available to the Malays.
In
Peninsular Malaya, ‘bangsa Melayu’ (Malay ethnic identity) emerged as a focus
of loyalty and community, taking precedence over the ‘kerajaan’, while in
Sumatra, the emergence of an all-embracing Indonesian republic led to the
complete destruction of the monarchical system. In this study, the author focuses
on the basic differences in thinking, temperament, and attitude between the two
groups of Malays which led to their differing solutions in finding an
alternative to the ‘kerajaan’.
What
‘Bangsa Melayu’ reveals is the other side of the coin; the untold part of
history of the struggle for independence in Malaya as this book tells a
balanced, objective view from both the left and right wing of the struggle - PKMM
and PEKEMBAR (UMNO) respectively.
The content
presented in ‘Bangsa Melayu’ would be a rude awakening for some as it points out that the various Malay
associations which struggled for independence were actually rooting for the
British to stay and continue their colonialism to protect the various
monarchies and the elites over the peninsular. Of course, it is also pointed
out briefly in the Form five Sejarah text
book that the British had chosen UMNO and the Raja-raja Melayu to negotiate with as both only wanted to reject
the Malayan Union and not to demand independence.
Then there
is The People’s Constitution which was came up by the AMCJA-PUTERA, also shown
in the textbook with one of the point; ‘the people of Malaya shall be called ‘Melayu’, having no further explanation
in it which is misleading and will show that they are not just as mere leftists
but as an agent to divide the people during the volatile period in Malaya.
‘Bangsa Melayu’ rectifies this fact by offering an explanation made by Burhanuddin
and Ishak Haji Mohamed that the citizenship of Malaya will be termed ‘Melayu’ and that they wanted the
non-Malays to become one (Malay) but without any religious implications in
order to foster unity among the Malayan people.
‘Bangsa
Melayu’ shows that even in the early days of the Malayan Federation,
progressive movements and free speech are suppressed as pointed out by the
PKMM, ‘Malay opposition…was considered a threat to law and order’ and that of
‘members of the PKMM were threatened and were warned not to take part in
progressive activities’. The author then pointed out that ‘This shows that
genuine patriotism of the Malays is greatly feared and fake patriotism is
encouraged to cheat the people and to lead them astray.’
The author
also provides to his readers a comparison between the struggle for independence
between the Malays in Indonesia and their counterpart in Malaya where the
former got caught up with Indonesian nationalism (bangsa Indonesia) while the latter clings heavily onto their old
concept of ‘kerajaan’ – where the political system revolves around a raja and
his subjects and Malay rights as they rejected the concept of a ‘Malayan
citizenship’ i.e. equal opportunities for all (sama rasa dan sama rata).
Examining
further on how democracy got its way into the minds and hearts of the Malays in
Malaya, ‘Bangsa Melayu’ shows that after the Japanese occupation, society
viewed equalitarianism as the way forward along with the suggestion that the
Malay monarchies should be replaced with a democratic system that gave the
people some degree of participation in politics. The world trend post-World War
II was moving towards a democratic system and the author had inferred that if
the world had not undergone the change, Malay society too would have remained
as it was. Therefore, the impetus for change arose from an external factor and
not from internal contradictions within Malay society. Even Dato’ Onn Jaafar himself had coined the
slogan ‘Raja Jadi Rakyat dan Rakyat Jadi
Raja’ (the Raja Is the People and the People Are the Raja) as a rallying
point for the Malays at that time.
It is
unfortunate that a proper review for Dr. Ariffin’s work could not be found
locally as it should be as this thesis may provide a new niche in the study of
the Malay political ideology in order to understand them even better in terms
of how they acquire, retain or adapt themselves to new ideologies following the
challenges posed towards them in this globalized world.
All in all, ‘Bangsa Melayu’ provides a good
insight into the political ideology adapted by the Malays in both East Sumatra
and Malaya post-World War II and how the Malays in the now two different
nations cope with the rise of democracy after being colonized for generations.
Ends.
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