Saturday, November 22, 2008
‘Why so serious?’ --- The Joker, from ‘The Dark Night’
Reading Prof’s notes I come across the following which makes me perform a double-read. Honestly I have never seen such information included in a piece of historical prose but I am sure glad it appears. Such irreverent stuffs (delivered in deadpan fashion) wipes a bit of cold seriousness from academia.
So here are two pieces from the text – they belong to a series of notes compiled by my Prof for our module about decolonisation and thereafter. It’s already in Microsoft Word so I didn’t have to type this. This chapter is about the Communist Insurgency in Malaya (1948-1960). I have highlighted the 'erm' bits in bold.
Above: Chin Peng at various stages of his life.
The first piece centres on the Baling Talks (1955) in which Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaya (Chief Minister at the time of the talks, for the British had only recently ceded Malaya self-government) organised in order to negotiate with Chin Peng (real name: Mr Ong Boon Hua), the Secretary-General of the Malayan Communist Party which was then conducting an armed insurrection against the Malayan government and the British. The Tunku was hoping that the insurgency would come to an end as quick as possible because counterinsurgency matters were raking economic expenditures that could otherwise be channelled towards better purposes in Malaya’s economy.
‘With Chin Peng in the jungle, how did the Malayan government contact him? This was not a problem. During the Japanese Occupation, a British military officer (J L Davis) fought alongside Chin Peng in the guerrilla war against the Japanese. This same officer was sent to establish contact and escort Chin Peng to the Baling English School at Baling, a little town in the north of the state of Kedah, near the border with Thailand. At the school premises, Chin Peng was housed in a separate building. Interestingly enough, he was assigned his own cook so that he and his two colleagues who accompanied him would not fear being poisoned. When Chin Peng arrived for the meeting with the Tunku, he wore a broad smile and appeared to be plump and healthy. Hiding in the jungles since 1948 had not made him thin or weak. His only complaint at Baling was that there were no fans and he did not bring enough underwear to change. (With reference to clothes, the photo session at the Baling talks showed that Chin Peng’s shirt was neatly pressed and not creased as one would expect of a person living in the jungle.)’
Above: Dato Onn Bin Jaafar
This next section talks about an alternative party that Dato Onn Bin Jafaar, the founder of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), set up because the UMNO was heading towards a communal direction (i.e. ethnic community priority) while Dato Onn advocated non-communalism (i.e. advocated policies that were not based on race):
‘Such sentiments led the Malays to think that the Chinese were not willing to serve their country. Even within UMNO, Malay feelings towards the Chinese were so inflamed that Dato Onn resigned to form a non-communal party called the Independence of Malaya party (IMP). The leadership of UMNO was taken over by the earlier mentioned Tunku Abdul Rahman.
‘As a multi-racial party, the IMP was a failure. Dato Onn did not get the support from the Malays. The IMP was also a strange name. Its English meaning was a mischievous spirit. Translated into Malay, it meant hantu (spirit) and few Malays were prepared to join a hantu party. The party was later renamed Party Negara. However, Dato Onn neglected the organizational aspects of the party to the extent that it almost dissolved within a year.’
Reading Prof’s notes I come across the following which makes me perform a double-read. Honestly I have never seen such information included in a piece of historical prose but I am sure glad it appears. Such irreverent stuffs (delivered in deadpan fashion) wipes a bit of cold seriousness from academia.
So here are two pieces from the text – they belong to a series of notes compiled by my Prof for our module about decolonisation and thereafter. It’s already in Microsoft Word so I didn’t have to type this. This chapter is about the Communist Insurgency in Malaya (1948-1960). I have highlighted the 'erm' bits in bold.
Above: Chin Peng at various stages of his life.
The first piece centres on the Baling Talks (1955) in which Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaya (Chief Minister at the time of the talks, for the British had only recently ceded Malaya self-government) organised in order to negotiate with Chin Peng (real name: Mr Ong Boon Hua), the Secretary-General of the Malayan Communist Party which was then conducting an armed insurrection against the Malayan government and the British. The Tunku was hoping that the insurgency would come to an end as quick as possible because counterinsurgency matters were raking economic expenditures that could otherwise be channelled towards better purposes in Malaya’s economy.
‘With Chin Peng in the jungle, how did the Malayan government contact him? This was not a problem. During the Japanese Occupation, a British military officer (J L Davis) fought alongside Chin Peng in the guerrilla war against the Japanese. This same officer was sent to establish contact and escort Chin Peng to the Baling English School at Baling, a little town in the north of the state of Kedah, near the border with Thailand. At the school premises, Chin Peng was housed in a separate building. Interestingly enough, he was assigned his own cook so that he and his two colleagues who accompanied him would not fear being poisoned. When Chin Peng arrived for the meeting with the Tunku, he wore a broad smile and appeared to be plump and healthy. Hiding in the jungles since 1948 had not made him thin or weak. His only complaint at Baling was that there were no fans and he did not bring enough underwear to change. (With reference to clothes, the photo session at the Baling talks showed that Chin Peng’s shirt was neatly pressed and not creased as one would expect of a person living in the jungle.)’
Above: Dato Onn Bin Jaafar
This next section talks about an alternative party that Dato Onn Bin Jafaar, the founder of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), set up because the UMNO was heading towards a communal direction (i.e. ethnic community priority) while Dato Onn advocated non-communalism (i.e. advocated policies that were not based on race):
‘Such sentiments led the Malays to think that the Chinese were not willing to serve their country. Even within UMNO, Malay feelings towards the Chinese were so inflamed that Dato Onn resigned to form a non-communal party called the Independence of Malaya party (IMP). The leadership of UMNO was taken over by the earlier mentioned Tunku Abdul Rahman.
‘As a multi-racial party, the IMP was a failure. Dato Onn did not get the support from the Malays. The IMP was also a strange name. Its English meaning was a mischievous spirit. Translated into Malay, it meant hantu (spirit) and few Malays were prepared to join a hantu party. The party was later renamed Party Negara. However, Dato Onn neglected the organizational aspects of the party to the extent that it almost dissolved within a year.’
