The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 03 Sep 2011 04:22 PM PDT SEPT 4 — I was a little apprehensive as I entered the small tutorial room. It was my first day attending class in England. In the centre of the unassuming room was an oblong table, around which sat eight post-graduate students of various nationalities. I flashed a timid smile before taking my place amongst them. At the far end of the table, a heavyset man in a worn tweed jacket and polka dotted bowtie cleared his throat. Pushing the thickest glasses I have ever seen up the bridge of his nose, he made a gesture to indicate that the tutorial was about to start. "I assume you've all familiarised yourselves with the required readings for the week?" asked our tutor rhetorically, after early pleasantries and introductions had been done and dealt with. "Now then, let's start with you." It took me a few seconds to realise that he was referring to me. "Er, yes?" I stammered in response. "Go on. Tell us what you think about it." After spending my entire schooling years in the Malaysian national education system, and after having earned a Bachelor's degree in a Malaysian university, I was faced with a grossly unfamiliar situation. For the first time, I was asked for an opinion rather than have one written down on the whiteboard for me to copy. Two memories stand out from my first day at SOAS. First, I had been suddenly thrust into an entirely new concept of study, where opinions mattered, where questioning everything was encouraged and where you were marked according to how you argued a point, no matter how far-fetched it was, and where the notion of "correctness" did not exist. The second memory that I can never forget is my introduction to a cardinal maxim that has stuck in my mind to this very day. To paraphrase the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: "There are no facts, only interpretations." Suddenly, I was blown away. Every belief I had about everything I knew was totally and completely changed. History as taught to me by our KBSM syllabus was now nothing more than the opinion of those who wrote it. And as with every other opinion in the world, it was my choice to accept it or not. My mind had been liberated. From that day on, everything I read or learnt would be tempered with a critical assessment of the source. I began to yearn for alternative interpretations in my hunger for choice. The world was a buffet and I had been fasting for years. And so it is in such a spirit that I approach the recent uproar surrounding Mat Sabu's purported remarks about the Bukit Kepong tragedy. Of course, reports by the Malaysian mainstream media are necessarily suspect and have to be digested with a bagful of salt. That said, I am convinced that there was neither any disparagement of the police nor glorification of the communist aggressors in the PAS deputy president's speech. Any contention to the contrary is merely exaggerated spin-doctoring. More significantly, the Mat Sabu incident has brought to question the wisdom of accepting history as fact, without considering who the authors are and what their motivations may be. This is something we must never forget when we contemplate any kind of information. Like a movie on terrestrial TV, much of our country's official history has been censored for general viewing. It is shaped and presented in such a way as to trumpet the contributions of selected personalities while conveniently snipping out or downplaying the roles of those deemed counter-productive to the political agenda of those in power. From the gradual contraction of Yap Ah Loy's role in the development of Kuala Lumpur to the pitiful passing mention of the ancient Hindu civilisation in Bujang Valley — a historical treasure in any other country — Malaysians are slowly but surely fed a doctrine of half-truths and value judgements passed by politically-motivated authors. And then we have the vilification of the leftist movement, nullifying decades of political and nationalist activism. By this I am talking about anti-Colonial movements such as SABERKAS (officially "Syarikat Berkerjasama Am Saiburi" and secretly "Sayang Akan Bangsa Ertinya Redha Korban Apa Segala"), of which my late father was the founding secretary; Ibrahim Yaacob's Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM); Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmy's Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM), and of course the little-known PUTERA-AMCJA, our country's first multiracial coalition. The coalition had even gone to the lengths of preparing an alternative set of Constitutional proposals in opposition to the Malayan Union. As a result, the "People's Constitution" was adopted and presented in 1947, a good 10 years before Merdeka. The ground-breaking document had proposed, inter alia, equal citizenship rights, protection of Malay customs and religion, as well as the adoption of the moniker "Melayu" as the designation for all citizens of Malaya. Of course, studying and appreciating the above will by no means displace the contributions of other parties and movements such as Umno and the Alliance. Historiography is not a zero-sum game. There is room for more than one interpretation, more than one point of view and certainly more than a few heroes. The key to opening our minds is to first remove our blinders. Thus, whenever presented with history that appears to be his-story, it is probably best that we ask ourselves: exactly whose story is this? * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. |
| Posted: 03 Sep 2011 04:13 PM PDT SEPT 4 — My son has been excited about starting at his new school. To distract him from missing his friends at his previous school, I psyched him up with a trip to the barber's (they use a way cool vacuum cleaner thingy to suck off excess hair from his head and clothes) followed by an ice cream treat. I had also showed him his new school-issued backpack, uniform, name tag, bus tag and teddy bear dressed in a school uniform identical to his. He was especially looking forward to riding the ochre-coloured public school bus, of which he has a die-cast model. We were set. First day of school usually involves nerves about fitting in, excitement about making new friends and meeting new teachers. But here it begins with... hygiene lessons. Disease control is given top priority in high density Hong Kong and as young children are the most susceptible, so teaching proper hygiene is seen as the way forward. With the new school term commencing this week, school staff across the city will be spending more time on teaching Primary One pupils how to maintain personal hygiene. My three-year-old was greeted at his new kindergarten with the sight of the head teacher carrying a low table laden with an automatic antiseptic gel dispenser and paper towels. This was placed at the entrance to the school.  Teddy gets his temperature checked before heading off to school. Next, it is a trek to the shoe-changing corner where students remove their "outdoor" shoes and replace them with their "indoor" shoes which are kept in cubby holes during the school week. The shoes are returned over the weekend to be cleaned. Parents wishing to venture beyond the tiny foyer are required to slip disposable plastic bag covers over their footwear. Finally there is the damp washcloth stuffed into a plastic container which parents have to place in the school bag to be used for wiping the mouth after snack time. Do you suppose they have everything covered? I suppose it makes sense to err on the side of caution, what with the round-the-year health scares we are inundated with. It does make me feel like a hypochondriac at times though, as at the first sign of a blocked nose my brain tells me to keep Ishan out of school. At the close of the last academic year in June, scarlet fever gripped the city as a seven-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy died while more than 600 were infected. The number of cases have dropped over the summer but isolated cases are expected with school reopening. Then there was the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease which saw signs put up in apartment complex elevators reminding users to disinfect their hands and maintain proper hygiene. Now health officials are warning of increased viral respiratory infections with the peak of the flu season expected in two months. The South China Morning Post reported that the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) tends to affect two- to three-year-olds and there is a risk of outbreaks at nurseries and kindergartens. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, sneezing and fever. Infection can lead to pneumonia, bronchitis and even death. Medical jargon used to be so foreign to me but these days they are tossed around like the titles of the latest cartoons. Symptoms roll off my tongue like my weekly grocery list. I suppose this is all part and parcel of being a parent in these times. The meticulous steps taken at Ishan's school to prevent disease outbreak is all new to me; I still question the logic of having a damp hanky inside a box for hours and wearing outdoor shoes halfway through the school before switching to indoor shoes but for now I'll go along with the flow. Going to school used to be a lot easier. I suppose there were far less illnesses 30 years ago too. Back then all I had to worry about was using the stinky school toilet (I still do!). * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. |
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