Nyah kamu, 13 Mei 1969! 16 May 2009

Saya dilahirkan ke dalam sebuah Malaysia yang aman. Malaysia yang membangun dengan pesat, mengejar modenasasi dan begitu mengidamkan status negara kelas pertama. Saya membesar di dalam sebuah Malaysia yang majmuk dengan pelbagai bangsa dan agama, sebuah Malaysia yang pada dasarnya bertoleransi terhadap kepelbagaian yang ada di kalangan rakyatnya.

Saya lahir selepas tragedi 13 Mei 1969 berlaku. Akan tetapi, walaupun setelah berdekad lamanya, hari tersebut masih dijadikan momok yang kesannya dapat dirasakan sehingga kini.

Tidak ramai yang sebenarnya tahu apa yang sebenarnya berlaku pada hari itu. Apakah pencetus keganasan yang menyebabkan kita menumpahkan darah sesama kita?

Benar, terdapat “versi rasmi” peristiwa tersebut yang terkandung di dalam buku Sejarah sekolah dan diulang oleh para bijak pandai akedemik. Tetapi “versi rasmi” sesuatu peristiwa sejarah hanyalah naratif yang “dihalalkan” oleh mereka yang berkuasa.

Kita tidak dapat menafikan bahawa walaupun kita semua mengetahui kesan akibat peristiwa itu, tidak ramai yang tahu apakah sebenarnya penyebab peristiwa tersebut.

Tetapi dari masa ke semasa, kita diperingatkan akan keganasan yang tercetus akibat rusuhan kaum yang berlaku. Kita sering dibawa kepada suatu masa di mana anak Malaysia membunuh anak Malaysia atas dasar perkauman.

Kita diberitahu, dari masa ke semasa, tentang apa yang akan berlaku sekiranya kita menganggu keharmonian antara kaum yang kononnya begitu rapuh. Sekiranya status quo dipersoalkan maka jalan-jalan Kuala Lumpur akan sekali lagi bermandi darah. Sekiranya tidak ada undang-undang seperti Akta Hasutan dan ISA, maka sudah tentu 13 Mei akan kembali.

Sudah terlalu lama kita ditakutkan dengan peristiwa 13 Mei.

Tidak dinafikan, peristiwa 13 Mei 1969 adalah peristiwa tragis yang tidak harus berulang lagi. Ianya merupakan pengajaran yang penting di dalam kita membina sebuah negara-bangsa untuk tanahair kita yang masih muda ini.

Namun sampai bila harus kita dirantai dan diheret oleh peristiwa silam? Kita harus mara kehadapan dan tidak lagi dibelenggu oleh titik hitam itu.

Kita harus bersatu padu dan menjadi sebuah masyarakat yang berbilang bangsa, berbilang agama dan berbeza ideologi namun meraikan kepelbagaian ini. Perpaduan bukan bermakna kita diasimilasi menjadi sebuah masyarakat homogeni seperti negara lain, kerana asimilasi sebegitu adalah palsu dan sudah tentu akan menerima tentangan. Tidak, perpaduan kita harus dicapai walaupun kita mempunyai kepelbagaian.

Tidak cukup untuk kita hanya melaungkan “toleransi antara kaum” sebagai matlamat kita.

Tidak cukup untuk kita mengatakan bahawa kita bersatu hanya kerana kita mempunyai rakan berlainan bangsa, atau menziarahi rumah terbuka setiap kali musim perayaan.

Perpaduan hanya akan tercapai dengan kepercayaan dan penerimaan.

Setiap di antara kita harus percaya bahawa setiap anak Malaysia mempunyai tempat di bumi bertuah ini.

Setiap di antara kita harus menerima sesama kita tanpa mengambil kira apajua perbezaan yang ada di antara kita.

Kita tidak boleh menafikan tragedi 13 Mei.

Kita juga tidak boleh melupakannya. Tetapi cukuplah ia menghantui kita selama ini. Jangan kita biarkan walau sesiapa menggunakannya lagi untuk memisahkan kita mengikut garis-garis kaum dan agama.

Marilah kita sama-sama berikrar bahawa walau apapun yang berlaku selepas ini, kita tidak akan lagi mencari keganasan sebagai jalan penyelesaian kepada ranjau yang kita tempuhi.

Marilah kita dengan yakin berjanji sesama kita bahawa kita tidak akan lagi mengangkat senjata menitiskan darah antara kita walau apapun jurang perbezaan yang ada di antara kita.

Wahai anak-anak Malaysia, sudah terlalu lama kita memanggil Malaysia sebagai ibu peritwi, terlalu lama kita tinggal bersama, tertawa bersama, menangis bersama, bersorak bersama, marah bersama, sayang bersama, kerja bersama, makan bersama, minum bersama, berjuang bersama dan berjalan menempuhi rintangan yang sama.

Sudah terlalu lama kita bersama sehinggakan kita tidak sanggup lagi melihat peristiwa 13 Mei berulang di tanahair ini, tanah tumpahnya darah kita.

Setelah 40 tahun ia menghantui kita, marilah kita nyahkan momok 13 Mei sejauh mungkin.

*This article first appeared in Loyarburok and can also be found in the Malaysian Insider.

An evening of buka puasa and friendship 5 October 2008

The last rays of sunshine filtered through the glass windows of the Petaling Jaya restaurant. There were not many patrons at the time, yet the waiters were still kept busy, harrying back and forth with orders. It was an upper middle end restaurant and for such establishments, late evenings do not normally witness brisk business. Maybe later the place as the night wore on, will the place crowd up.

In one corner of the restaurant, eight friends waited patiently for the Maghrib, a signal that the Muslims amongst them would be able to break their fast. They were of different races and religions and they were there to buka puasa together. Eight 25-year-olds, each having different careers and coming from different backgrounds. Eight Malaysians who share an alma mater and a bond of friendship.

Their political affiliations differ as widely as their ethnicities and careers. Yet, while most of them do not hold back their opinions, they accept views in good faith. Friendship transcends politics, as it does race and religion.

There were no mosques nearby for them to hear the azan, thus they depended on their watches. They gave an extra few minutes, just to be certain. When it was time, the Muslims broke their fast with relieved gulps of their drinks.

Before long, smoke started billowing from some of them, the day’s abstinence from cigarettes as hard as the abstinence from food and water. The waiters brought their meals one by one, and with energy regained, the chatter of the eight friends became louder and merrier.

They are examples of the young Malays, Chinese and Indians in this multi-cultural nation. Individually, they are no different from the many young professionals and salarymen that dot the landscape of urban Malaysia. They still struggle with having middle-income salaries in the face of rising living costs.

It is not as if they do not see each other as belonging to different ethnicities and religion. They do not sweep under the carpet the fact that there are differences amongst them. Instead, they celebrate these differences. Racial remarks and insults are thrown around at each other, in jest, given in good faith and received in good faith. They do not merely tolerate, they celebrate the fact that they are different.

Throughout the many years of friendship, they discovered that they have more in common than they have in differences. They realized that there is absolutely no reason for a group of Malaysians, different though they may be, cannot be firm friends with each other.

Their buka puasa was not in conjunction with any events or ceremonies. It was not organized with political mileage in mind, to score some points with PR moments in front of the camera. Nor  did they did not meet to discuss business. They were simply eight friends who decided to iftar together.

As day turns into night, and darkness descends upon the land, the eight friends continued their buka puasa gathering. In our muhibbah Malaysia, eight multi-racial young men breaking fast together as friends are supposed to the norm.

Sadly, such instances are a rarity.

Racist: YB Hamidah, UMNO Assemblywoman, part II 1 July 2008

Taken from the Star:

IPOH: Perak Umno and Barisan Nasional have issued an open apology for the racist remarks made by Sungai Rapat assemblyman Hamidah Osman at the recent state assembly.

In a statement, state Umno secretary Datuk Ramly Zahari said the remarks of Hamidah, who is also Gopeng Wanita Umno chief, were regrettable.

“As such, Umno and Barisan apologise to those, especially the Indian community, who felt slighted or offended,” he said Tuesday.

On Friday, Hamidah had asked Speaker V. Sivakumar if he “agreed to disagree” with the well-known fable of whether a snake or an Indian man should be killed first.

The Sungai Rapat assemblyman, who later retracted the derogative remark, not only earned the wrath of the Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen at the state assembly but also sparked protests and police reports had been lodged against her nationwide.

“Although she has retracted her words at the state assembly, it is felt that we should still extend our apologies in order to maintain the good relationship among the races,” Ramly said.

“We hope it will be accepted with open hearts by everyone,” Ramly added.

No, my dear Mr. Ramly, whilst an apology mends the hurt a little, I believe in this instance we need more than that.

I think we need to teach those who utter racist slurs like YB Hamidah a lesson.

What we want, Mr. Ramly, is for UMNO and Barisan Nasional to take disciplinary action against her. Show us that you mean business. Show us that you no longer tolerate racism and racial prejudice in any form.

Racist: YB Hamidah, UMNO assemblywoman 29 June 2008

Taken from the Star:

One by Hamidah Osman (BN-Sungai Rapat) particularly earned the wrath of the Pakatan Rakyat assemblymen when she asked whether Sivakumar “agreed to disagree” with the well-known fable of whether a snake or a man from a certain racial community should be killed first.

She has since apologized. Taken from Malaysiakini:

Sungai Rapat state assemblyperson Hamidah Osman, who caused a furore in the Perak legislative assembly on Friday with her racial slur, has publicly apologised for hurting the Indian community.

At a packed press conference in the Ipoh Country Club this morning, the Barisan Nasional elected representative issued the public apology before newsmen, saying that it was not her intention to hurt the Indian community with a racial slur.

“I have already retracted my statement in the House and now, I am offering my humble and sincere apology here to all Indians for uttering the racist remarks in the heat of the moment.

“I regret for saying that and promise not to repeat it anywhere anymore,” said a visibly moved Hamidah, who plans to embark on a ‘constituency road-show’ to explain and apologise over the incident to electorates in Gopeng, which encompasses Sungai Rapat.

But I’m not going to let her off the hook that easily.

Taken from the Star:

KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional has been urged to take disciplinary action against Sungai Rapat assemblyman Hamidah Osman for insulting the Indian community at the Perak state assembly on Friday.

MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, in making the call, said the party condemned the state assemblyman’s action.

“We urge the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council to take action against her,” he said in a statement here.

Hamidah was reported to have asked Speaker V. Sivakumar if he agreed to disagree with the well-known fable of whether a snake or a man from a certain racial community should be killed first.

For once, I agree with Mr. Samy Vellu.

Was what YB Hamidah said a spur of the moment remark? Or was it a deliberate attempt to insult the Perak assembly Speaker by his ethnicity?

If it’s the former, it shows that she’s a racist who could not control her racism. If it’s the latter, it shows that she’s a racist and a malicious one at that.

Either way, by uttering those hurtful words, YB Hamidah has proven to all Malaysians that she is detrimental to national unity. And that she’s a racist.

We definitely have no place for rascists in the Malaysia that we wish to build.

Do not ever forget what she said come next elections.

“Muhibbah” unity: VK Lingam & friends 17 May 2008

Taken from the Star, May 17 edition:

Cabinet wants Dr M and five others investigated

PUTRAJAYA: The Cabinet has agreed that investigations be conducted into all allegations against former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and five others identified in the Royal Commission of Inquiry report on the V.K. Lingam video clip.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim said the five others were lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and former Chief Justices Tun Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said he would go through the report before announcing whether he would be ordering a probe.

“I will study the recommendations in the report very carefully, after which I will issue a statement at the appropriate time.

“Please give us time to do our job properly,” he said.

Zaid said the six would be investigated for offences under the Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act and the Penal Code, which included obstruction of justice.

“All the recommendations in the report are advisory in nature so we have to have another investigation,” he said, adding that the Government had taken note of the recommendations for judicial reform and the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Commission.

“The Government is in the process of finalising the relevant laws to set up this commission and it will be made known soon,” he said, adding that the Government also proposed to include the recognition of “judicial power” as proposed by the Commission.

He said these moves were vital to help restore the people’s confidence in the judiciary.

The Cabinet, he said, had urged the public, including the media, to allow uninterrupted investigations without undue pressure and prejudice against any individual identified in the report.

“It must be reiterated that in our legal system, an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,” he told reporters at the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department here yesterday.

The Royal Commission was formed to verify the authenticity of the video clip purportedly showing prominent lawyer Lingam on the phone brokering judicial appointments with a senior judge. Twenty-one witnesses testified at the 17-day inquiry which began on Jan 14.

Zaid also said that the Cabinet had agreed for the contents of the report to be released and sold to the public.

The report, which comes in four volumes comprising 2,889 pages, will cost RM541.60; of which the main report costs RM161.40 while the notes of proceedings, statutory declaration and lists of exhibits are priced at RM123.30, RM120 and RM136.90 respectively.

The public can buy the report at the Legal Affairs Division from Tuesday afternoon.

In its report, the commission said that the video clip, made by businessman Loh Gwo Burne, was indeed recorded at Lingam’s house in December 2001.

It said it had no hesitation in finding that the clip to be genuine, real, reliable and trustworthy and its contents true in substance and material particulars.

In examining Lingam and Fairuz’s testimonies, which they described as bare denials, against the direct evidence elicited from the phone conversation as well as the evidence of Gwo Burne and his businessman father Loh Mui Fah, the commission found that it was none other than Fairuz that Lingam was speaking to on the telephone.

The panel also said the evidence showed that Lingam was not intoxicated during the conversations, as he had suggested.

It added that the evidence also militates against Lingam’s other suggestion that he could have been “bullshitting” or bragging.

The commission said that, in the final analysis, there was conceivably an insidious movement by Lingam with the covert assistance of his close friends Tan and Tengku Adnan to involve themselves actively in the appointment of judges, in particular that of Fairuz as Chief judge of Malaya and later Court of Appeal president.

In the process, the panel added that Dr Mahathir was also entangled.

While noting that the group’s ultimate aim could not be ascertained, given the limitation of the terms of reference, the commission said it was reasonable to suggest that it could not be anything but self-serving.

The panel said the collective and cumulative actions of the main characters concerned had the effect of seriously undermining the independence and integrity of the judiciary as a whole.

At long last, that elusive unity that we Malaysians we were looking for has indeed been found. In fact, it has been around for a long time. We just never knew it existed. But this has proven to us that indeed, Malays, Chinese and Indians can work together without prejudice, without racism and without discrimination.

One Malay politician, one Chinese businessman and one Indian lawyer sets the example to all Malaysians on the ‘power’ of unity. In the spirit of the nation they have set aside their racial and religious differences for a common goal: the fixing of the appointment of judges.

Jalur gemilang di bawah naunganmu
Jalur gemilang kami semua bersatu
Perpaduan ketaatan
Amalan murni rakyat Malaysia

Begone, May 13 1969 13 May 2008

I was born into a Malaysia that was peaceful. A Malaysia in 1983 that was growing. In a decade or more, Malaysia would be one of the rising ‘Asian tigers’. I grew up in a multi-cultural Malaysia, a Malaysia that for the most part tolerates and accepts, if not celebrates, the differences between it’s citizens.

I was not around when May 13 1969 occurred. Yet the fear conjured up by May 13 can be felt even today, decades later.

But no one really knows what really happened that fateful day. Yes we’ve heard stories. Yes, there’s the official version of events. But ‘official history’ is a fallacious concept written by those in power. The fact of the matter is, whilst the ‘effect’ of May 13 is quite clear, we don’t quite know it’s ’cause’.

Yet time and time again, I have been told of the atrocities of the racial riots of 1969. A time when Malaysians turned on Malaysians, when countrymen fought on the basis of race. I have been told, time and time again, of what would occur should the fragile balance of the races is tipped. If the status quo is questioned, I have been told that the streets of Kuala Lumpur will once again see blood.

Enough is enough.

May 13 was a tragic time. It was an important lesson on nation-building for our young country. Yet I want to move forward. I do not want to be shackled by the past.

It’s time we as Malaysians come together as one. Not as a homogeneous society, but as a multi-cultural, multi-religious society that celebrates its diversity. Let us accept each other for who they are, regardless of whatever differences they may have compared to us. Each and every Malaysian has a rightful place under the Malaysian sun, and by God, let us defend that rightful place.

No, of course we cannot deny May 13. Nor can we forget it. But let it no longer haunt us. Let no one use the fear of it for their own advantage.

Let us together say that come what may, we will never resort to violence to resolve our sectarian differences. Let us confidently tell each other that the proverbial ‘parang’ will never be used. Far too long have we lived with each other, laughed together, cried together, cheered together, got angry together, loved together, worked together, ate together, drank together, struggled together, traveled together and called each other ‘countrymen’ that we swear that we will never ever let May 13 be repeated on our tanah air. Our tanah tumpahnya darahku.

39 years later, let us together banish the specter of May 13 1969 to the annals of history.