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| Big Ben |
After the short holidays in London, I went back to Miri to work on the oil rigs as an assistant driller. Rose stayed on in Wales to complete her studies. She returned to Rejang Teachers’ College in Binatang with a Master degree in Linguistics and was soon promoted to head of English department. When Rancharan Agas, the headmaster, fell foul of the politicians by supporting PBDS, Rose became acting Head of the college for many years. Agas was sent to the USA to do his Masters degree. It was fashionable during that time to make any Iban dissenters disappear for a few years by awarding them a scholarship to other countries to study either for a master degree or a Ph D! Dissenting MP’s were sent overseas as Malaysian ambassadors to small insignificant countries like New Zealand! Dunstan Endowie and a few Iban politicians disappeared from the political scene after serving their terms as Malaysian ambassadors in Wellington![1] This is how the Malay government disciplined and gagged political dissenters. For other tougher political opponents like Lim Kit Siang and Annuar Ibrahim they used the ISA (Internal Security Act).
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| Taxi |
This act of parliament had its roots during the Malayan emergencies of the 50’s. The British colonial government created ISA and used it very effectively to fight Chin Peng’s communists in the Malayan jungle. It enabled the government of the day to lock up the communists or anyone else in gaol without trial! The new villages in Kuching were the direct result of this act. In the early 60’s the Sarawak government under Stephen Kalong Ningkan was able to round up all the Chinese pepper farmers in the first division and resettled them into compounds where they are locked up after sunset. These new villages near Kuching were in fact run more like refugee camps and detention centres. The people were not all communists; but many of them were sympathisers.
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| Bobbies |
The law of Habeas Corpus is dead in Malaysia today because this act has not been repealed and can still be used by the prime minister any time he wishes. Such extreme measures bred many abuses by the ruling political party. In Malaysia the prime minister holds also the portfolio of the Home minister and he controls internal security. He uses ISA now mostly to silence the opposition party’s voice by arresting their leader, usually just weeks before the general elections!
When the deputy prime minister, Annuar Ibrahim tried to grab power he too disappeared under the ISA! He was badly beaten while in police custody and we have not heard from him for some years! The opposition voice in Malaysia is, to say the least, a little muted at present! Mahathir Mohd is the prime minister for the last 26 years. He has achieved a great deal to improve the conditions of the people as a moderate leader. He once wrote a book: The Malay dilemma. This book has given me an insight and a better understanding of the political situation and the reasons why the
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| Mdm Tussat |
Malays are unhappy in their own country. They are not alone! The aborigines in Australia, the red Indians in the USA, the Fijians in Fiji and the Maoris in New Zealand are just as unhappy today in their own home land for exactly the same reasons. All these indigenous peoples have lost economic and political control of their own countries and do not know how to get it back without starting a revolution like Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. [3]
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| pigeons |
A dangerous situation exists in Fiji today. For the sake of democracy, the indigenous Fijians have again lost the majority in parliament! The Indian immigrants rule over there; mainly because they were politically more mature. The indigenous Fijians have lost both political and economic power. George Speight tried unsuccessfully to put everything right last year by overthrowing the immigrant government and he was tried for treason, convicted and sentenced to death.[4]
The mongrel mob (a bike gang in NZ) appears to have the same idea here; but they lack not only the numbers but also a strong conviction for their cause. New Zealand was a British colony right from the start. The queen of England was here for a visit recently in 2002. Perhaps just to prove this point! Who knows exactly what she was doing here? Are we still a colony or what? To create history, Helen Clark the prime minister of New Zealand was conveniently away on business travels when the queen arrived! Later, she also wore pants to meet the queen. She broke protocol for the third time by not saying grace before dinner and she sat down before the queen did at the banquet table! It was all recorded on national TV! The world is sure changing very fast now; but not fast enough for Prince Charles to make Camellia Parker Bowles the new queen of England! That would be some thing!
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| Thames cruise |
The Chinese and Indian immigrants in Malaysia did very well in spite of the lack of government support and assistance. Together they control the country’s economy and wealth! The Malays have political power under the Barisan form of government which continue to pass more laws to help the Malays to catch up with the non-Malays. Just like the beneficiary system in NZ for the Maori, Malaysia's also did not help to promote better distribution of the country’s wealth among the Malays. The few Malays, who were already rich, grew richer!
In between all these we find the Ibans, Kelabits, Kayans, Kenyahs and Penans. They are not second class citizens like the Chinese and Indians but neither are they, first! In fact on the Sarawak census forms they are classified simply as
others! Again I see the problem there but I do not have the answers. I doubt whether anyone else has either. The government must not continue to
help the indigenous people in this way. It took away their pride, their fighting spirit and motivation to become independent citizens.
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| Piccadilly circus |
Mahathir Mohamed once said on national TV: "good bye to bad rubbish!" He was referring to those of us who migrated to countries like USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand! There was even talk of freezing our assets in Malaysia and not renewing our passports. The trouble is not just the rubbish leaving Malaysia. If you call those who left the country for good, rubbish; I wonder what exactly is left (probaly some thing worse than rubbish!) Mahathir has reasons to worry because he too, does not have all the answers! It is good that he has finally resigned in 2003 and allow his deputy, Ahmad Badawi to show us what he can do.
In Malaysia, land is classified into categories: Native reserves, road reserves, crown land, national parks, agriculture, commercial, industrial, mixed zones and residential etc…The Bumiputras own mostly native reserves. This land can be sold only to another bumi or indigenous native: Iban, Murut or Kelabit. Chinese and Indians cannot buy this land. As a result there is no great demand for this category of land. The bumi ended up with most of the low value real estate in the kampongs in the outskirts of town (hence
balek kampong!). The immigrants own most of the mixed zone prime land around town. The plan has back fired! During public holidays in Malaysia, only the poor balek kampong, not the immigrant Chinese or Indians who live in mansions in the towns!
Amanah Saham National [5] is another scheme started by the government to help the bumiputra grow rich! Needless to say, it also did not work. Only natives were allowed to invest money in this scheme which paid a higher interest rate than the bank. Remember that you got to have money first before you can invest in ASN. It resulted in a few rich Malays getting even richer. The majority in the kampongs and long houses continue to live in poverty!
The Mara loan scheme wasted millions of dollars of tax payers’ money with very little results to show for it. The preferential enrolment system in the country’s universities only resulted in producing poor quality Malay graduates, all illiterate in English. In spite of all this, the Chinese and Indians continue to thrive and do much better without any help from the government. They continued to attend Harvard and Cambridge. Perhaps there is a moral in all this?
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