The rat race part v - the malaysian rat race

[pywong]

THE RAT RACE PART V – THE MALAYSIAN RAT RACE CHAPTER 1

We are recording the count-down to the crisis to see when is the tipping point
Financial Crisis End-game
We expect that it will take place by the end of 2009 with disastrous results for Malaysia. By then UMNO will fall.

Similar articles appear in:
A look at Malaysian history beyond race and religion 25 May 08
and usj.com.my 11 May 08

Chapter 1: Introduction & Review

We hope these articles can help us look beyond race and religion, to truly see ourselves as Rats and to recognize that our problems are class-related. We need to accept the idea that we are Rats caught in a Rat Race. If we cannot, then it is advisable to review the earlier articles or to skip and move on.

We have presented four Parts, I to IV, to explain the Rat Race, our roles, how we are exploited by the Ruling Class at the apex of the Pyramid power structure. We need to consider the situation from a global perspective to learn how to understand our situation within Malaysia. The reasons are:

• Secrecy and misinformation surrounding events here. On a global basis, especially in the US, more information and analysis is available. All Ruling Classes exchange information and techniques for mass control as they are linked to the Global Pyramid. What is used in the US will be used here albeit in a different form. The challenge is to learn to recognize it.

• The opportunity for us to view global events dispassionately. Emotions colour our perception and understanding. Again, looking at the US, what seemed to confuse most Americans, is very obvious to us. Eg. The US Invasion of Iraq.

A quick review of the previous articles in these series:
THE RAT RACE PART I: WE ARE DOING WELL! is just a wake-up call. This was first published in Malaysia-Today on 19 Feb 2008, just before the Mar 08 2008 General Elections.

THE RAT RACE PART II – THE SYSTEM is a description of the Rat Race. Part II appeared in Malaysia-Today on 20 Feb 2008.

RACE PART IIIA - HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS? introduces the concept of mental model no. 1 - The Pyramid and explains how the system works.

THE RAT RACE PART IIIB: MENTAL MODEL NO. 2 – THE CIRCLE explores the Pyramid in more detail, discusses the strategies used by the Exploiter and introduces mental model no. 2 – The Circle. (In Malaysia-Today on 25 Feb 2008.)

The Rat Race Part IV – The Pyramid studies the Pyramid in detail, identifies those at the top of the Global Pyramid (the Financial Class & Ruling Class), the possibility of the existence of a conspiracy to control the world, the concept of money and financial control. This article appeared after the Mar 08 Elections so it is useful to bear that mind while reading it.

To supplement these articles and to flesh out certain principles not covered there, refer to the Finance & Economics Board. A sample list of relevant articles are shown below: (Note: We suggest you read the Rat Race Part V first before exploring the Board as there are quite a lot of material there and it can take a few days to read. We never said it would be easy. :)

We started to alert our readers about the coming crisis here
Financial Crisis from 8 Apr 2008

We tried to explain why the crisis occurred here
Understanding the Financial Crisis

We are recording the count-down to the crisis to see when is the tipping point
Financial Crisis End-game
We expect that it will take place by the end of 2009 with disastrous results for Malaysia. By then UMNO will fall.

We discussed the issue of petrol & diesel prices here:
Petrol & diesel prices
and the issue of the global food crisis here:
Aliran: Global Food Crisis Review

Here is an explanation on what we can do to protect our assets:
Relationship between gold & the USD. The reason this is important is the USD is the global reserve currency and almost every nation have their foreign reserves in USD as a major component.

Here is an explanation on how to buy precious metals to protect ourselves:
How to buy precious metals

Although they appear to be disconnected, economics, finance and geopolitics are vital components of the Rat Race System used by the Ruling Class to exploit us. Readers can refer to the Conspiracy Board for relevant articles.
Conspiracy Theory

Conceptually, as Rats, we are caught in a constant struggle for survival that appeared as a never-ending cycle. We work for pieces of paper called money issued by the Ruling Class who could print any amount at will. For the Ruling Class, money was free but the Rats had to work for it. This is even worse than slavery. At least, slaves were fed and clothed by their masters.

Part V is posted in chapters to provide for discussion and comments. This is going to be the most difficult part of the series because of the emotions associated with race and religion. We hope readers can put aside the lens of race and religion, and look at the issues dispassionately from the perspective of the Rat Race System. For a lot of us, it will be very difficult to let go but unless we do, we will not be able to understand and internalize the concepts. Without that understanding, it will be hard for us to get out of the Rat Race.

**IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE** We are Rats divided by class. Our labels, of race or religion, are irrelevant. Those labels are useful for the Ruling Class to divide us, control us and manipulate us. They apply psychological warfare on our minds to manipulate our emotions, to make us do their bidding, to pit one group of Rats against the other. Part of their strategy is to champion one race or religion and use them against the others. When it comes to rewards, the Ruling Class will keep the bulk, leaving the crumbs for the rest. Such deception can continue indefinitely. It is still ongoing.

The System is neutral and considers every Rat as an economic digit.

The Ruling Class does not operate alone. They have the intelligence services who serve them in spying on and waging psychological warfare against us - attacking our emotional vulnerability. We must recognize the tactics and strategies to understand how it works. The ideas presented below seemed very far fetch when they first appeared but today, many of them are routinely applied:

Please read: 1984
and Animal Farm

Watch: The Matrix
and V for Vendetta

Next - Chapter 2: The Social Contract - How We Got It All Wrong!

[pywong]

THE RAT RACE PART V – THE MALAYSIAN RAT RACE
(A look at Malaysian history beyond race and religion)

Chapter 2: The Social Contract - How We Got It All Wrong!

THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!

For 50 years both sides of the political spectrum believed they were right, blissfully unaware that they were conned as Rats!

We have to break free from the mental cage of race and religion and learn to look at our situation through the concept of class division and as Malaysians. Until we do, we will never be free.

As explained earlier, the Global Rat Race System (GRSS) is an attempt to explain the world around us using a mental model. This mental model consists of several mental sub-models –

Model no. 1 The Pyramid
Model no. 2 The Circle

Within the GRSS there are smaller pyramids within each country that co-exist and support the GRRS, eg The Malaysian RRS (MRRS) and the Malaysian Pyramid.

On the surface it may look complex but once we grasp the principle ideas, it is actually quite easy. The key to the mental model is simplicity and flexibility. And the primary driving forces are greed and fear. The objective is power and wealth. This is achieved by stealing the Rats’ time and state resources. In every situation, always remember the objective of the Ruling Class – power and wealth. Don’t be confused by words or actions.

Also note that there are collaborators of the Ruling Class even among the opposition ranks. The skillful ones are very difficult to detect. We can try to do so by observing the consequences of their actions, not their acts, not their words. At times, they may even appear to be a victim of the Ruling Class, such is their mastery of subterfuge. In case of doubt, assume they are collaborators. It is better to err on the safe side. (09/02/09: The current debacle in Perak should be very enlightening. We can identify easily who are the collaborators.)

From here onwards, we shall try to use the MRRS to explain historical events and see how it fits in. If it can explain more than 70% of the major incidents, we can consider it workable. Bear in mind, it will not be 100% accurate. It cannot be because it behaves as a living organism, able to mutate and change to suit the external environment. To understand inside (Malaysia), we usually look outside (world). The reason is the secrecy that surrounds many government decisions in Malaysia due to the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and Sedition Act.

Royal Professor Dr. Ungku Abdul Aziz said on 12 May 2008: No such thing as social contract. But Mahathir disagreed,
saying:

“Tunku gave one million citizenship to the Chinese, in return, he expected the Chinese would give some support to the demand for independence and to the sharing concept. He didn’t spell it (the contract) out 100 per cent, but there was this understanding, not written,” he said.


Merdeka 1957 tunku abdul rahman

It is good to pause here and ask ourselves: Who is more believable?

The words of Tunku who is no longer around?
The words special position in the Constitution?
The recommendations of the Reid Commission?
Or Mahathir?

Will this be the end of the debate? Absolutely not! People will believe what they want to believe, and If a lie is repeated often enough, eventually people will accept it as the truth. We are seeing the success of mass propaganda at work. The Ruling Class and the secret service attack the Rats’ emotions and senses to make them believe their story. And it has worked successfully for more than 50 years.

There are a few “truths” that the Ruling Class (UMNO) holds true.

1. UMNO believed they inherited Malaya from the British. In other words, they own Malaya.
2. UMNO have been taught by the British to always ensure they retain power, even to the extent of cheating during elections. To them, it is just a strategic procedure.
3. Elections are merely a fig-leaf, held to demonstrate to the world that Malaysia practises democracy.
4. What the Ruling Class fear most is the Rats uniting and turning against them.
5. Among the Ruling Class and their collaborators, we can observe all races and religions co-operating together because they are bound by the common objective of greed.

Once we know these “truths”, UMNO’s behaviour is easily understood. Please refer to the books Animal Farm and 1984. Use them as a manual to interpret UMNO’s actions.

Now, let’s look at a subset of the GRRS – The MRRS. First a short history:

Post WW II, 1947 to 1957 :
The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya by Timothy Norman Harper

The biggest problem facing the British government following the end of World War 2 was the restoration of civil government. Because the Japanese had been removed with violence Malaya had suffered little loss of life or damage to its towns and cities but many of its tin mines and plantations had been destroyed to prevent the Japanese using them, so the Malayan economy was slow to recover after the war. The Japanese occupation had also sown the seeds of future unrest. They had pursued a policy of divide and conquer by favouring the Malays while persecuting the Chinese who were already anti Japanese due to the Japanese actions in China. This resulted in some violence in the period between the Japanese leaving and the British returning. (This is what UMNO had continually played on to frighten the Malays ever since)

Exhausted by WW II, under pressure from the US to dismantle the British Empire, economic costs of fighting the Malayan Communist Party who claimed to be fighting for independence, the British were ready to withdraw from Malaya. During that period, the British were the Ruling Class supported by an expatriate bureaucracy assisted by the local civil service. They controlled the major rubber estates, tin mines, import agencies, business trading houses, banks and Shell, in effect, probably up to 80% of the economy.

In their plans for withdrawal, the British had several considerations:

Transfer of power & protection of their assets:
Old habits die hard. They have been in the colonial game for centuries and had got it down to a fine art. Looting colonies was a very profitable business, much better than slogging in the miserable British climate back home. If they could manage it, they would rather continue to control Malaya, albeit from behind the scenes. Deviousness was an inherent characteristic of the British. All they had to do was to persuade a couple of the top people in UMNO to buy into their scheme. From their perspective as the Ruling Class, they had decided that they could do business with the aristocratic Malays heading the party, notably Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Razak. It was just a matter of “transfer” of power from one class to another.

When they leave, the British would be leaving behind substantial assets that they still wanted to retain control over. From a business point of view, it made sense to maintain those assets and continue to generate wealth from it.

Their Immigrant Rats (coolies) or Pendatang:
What to do with the 2.5 million immigrants they imported from China and India to man their rubber estates and tin mines?

They could send them back to their home countries. But they had just granted independence to India and unfortunately, the natives proceeded to slaughter each other during the partition with Pakistan. So India, being dirt-poor as it is, was not in a position to absorb another half a million repatriated Indians from Malaya. In any case, there was this delicate matter of which country (India or Pakistan) these people really belonged to, after having left India for more than a generation.

Then, there was China, almost destroyed during WW II under Japanese occupation, and now having a civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang. Sending 2 million Malayan Chinese back to a war zone was political suicide.

Repatriation cost:
Next there was the cost of repatriation that would have to be borne by the British, which could amount to a few hundred million dollars. The British, at that time heavily in debt to the US, certainly was in no position to take on such a burden.

Residual management:
Finally, there was the matter of who would help them run their Malayan businesses if all the immigrants left. They could not rely on the locals who were happy staying in the kampongs, planting padi or fishing. In fact, that was the reason why the Chinese and Indians were brought here in the first place. If the immigrants abandoned Malaya, the economy would collapse.

Neo-colonialism:
Their solution was neo-colonialism. They figured that if they offered to hand power over to the Tunku in return for citizenship for the immigrants as a quid pro quo, their dilemma would be solved and they could continue to exercise economic control even after independence.

Getting the Tunku onboard:
The problems related to the immigrants and the advantages of retaining those Rats in Malaya were explained to the Tunku. The Tunku was no fool. Coming from a royal family, he was raised in the shadow of power and had seen how the British built Malaya with the immigrants. He fully appreciated the advantages of having a couple of million of hard-working Rats under his control and helping him run the country. Being of a fun-loving nature, he certainly did not relish the prospect of working his head off trying to build a country with his own people, who were known to be easy-going and laid-back. It was much better getting those immigrant Rats to do the hard work. And they had such low maintenance, being fully self-sufficient. They even built and ran their own schools. Who could ask for more? The clincher was, he did not want to inherit a bankrupt country, which would be the case if the immigrants abandoned the country.

Coming from the aristocratic class, a Rat was a Rat. It did not particularly bother him what colour the Rat was. As the incoming Ruling Class, he quickly saw the advantages of offering citizenship to the immigrants to retain them as Malayan Rats. Naturally, such a deal could not be disclosed to the locals. This had already caused an uproar in 1946 over the issue of citizenship for the immigrants under the Malayan Union. But it was different this time. They were talking about acquiring power and 2.5 million assets (Rats) to go with it. This was a management takeover.

Social Contract:
So the British and the Tunku worked out a deal whereby the immigrants were offered citizenship in exchange for the locals being recognized as having a special position in the Federal Constitution under Article 153. The MCA and the MIC were roped in to convince the immigrants, which they did admirably. The Reid Commission had recommended that a sunset clause of 15 years be included in the constitution on the special position, as a safeguard against abuse. The various parties agreed verbally but due to the sensitivity of the issue, it was not written officially into the Constitution.

Then UMNO went round the countryside selling the idea of independence to the Malays, special rights. UMNO cynically misled the simple folks about what was provided for in the Constitution. The Malays trusted UMNO, accepting them as their protector since UMNO had successfully spear-headed the opposition to the Malayan Union in 1946 leading to its dissolution in 1947. To their minds, therefore special position was special rights. To the immigrants, special position was that described under Article 153. Thus was formed the Federation of Malaya, born of a lie and on which laid the seeds of racial discord that lasted to this day. But everyone forgot that it was just a new Ruling Class taking over from an old Ruling Class.

There was no Social Contract! It was a handover of power from the British Ruling Class to the UMNO Ruling Class. And that is why UMNO believes and behave as if they own the whole country!

For 50 years both sides of the political spectrum believed they were right, blissfully unaware that they were conned as Rats!

We have to break free from the mental cage of race and religion and learn to look at our situation through the concept of class division and as Malaysians. Until we do, we will never be free.

[pywong]

THE RAT RACE PART V – CH. 3: A REVIEW OF MALAYAN HISTORY
3.1: PRE-INDEPENDENCE (BEFORE 31 AUG 1957) – THE EVENTS

During our younger days, we found history deathly boring. We did not realize then that history was a very powerful tool used by the Ruling Class for indoctrination, manipulation, propaganda, misinformation and spreading of lies.

George Santayana (Spanish-born American Philosopher, Poet and Humanist) said:

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

And Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels said:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” Repeated Lies.

Naturally, nowadays, we don’t use such titles anymore. So we have Minister of Information, often supported by the Minister of Home Affairs. Their jobs are to lie to the public to keep them quiescent. Still, Goebbel’s Principles of Propaganda are constantly referred to by those distinguished people.

In studying history, it is not important that we know the names, the precise dates and who did what to whom. What is more important is to understand the sequence of the events, the results and their patterns. That will enable us to create the mental models to process new information and assess the impact on the future.

This is the key point: The mental model enables us to assess new information quickly and to decide whether it is important or relevant to us. If not, we discard it. That way, we reduce our information load. Important information, once it is absorbed into our mental model in a pictorial form, is more easily remembered and retrieved for future reference. That anchors us on a more solid foundation and helps us to resist the manipulation of the politicians.

Later, we will demonstrate how knowledge of history can be used to interpret claims made by politicians based on historical events.

Let us consider four major periods of our past up to Merdeka in 1957. Then we will study the structure of the Malayan Pyramid. For background, please refer to the following:

1. History of Malaysia

2. Rustam A. Sani’s in Social Roots of the Malay Left and Amirmu Blogspot #2 of 60, 9 May 2008

3. Malay Nationalism before UMNO

4. 1947 Hartel. This is an award-winning film that must be viewed by all Malaysians. Download it!

5. British Malaya, 1946 – 1957

6. Aliran Human Right article

7. Emergency Propaganda

8. Malayan Emergency

9. The Penang Story: Secret Societies

But do this later at your leisure as there is quite a fair bit of reading to do. However, if we really wish to understand that period from 1900 to 1957 it will be worthwhile to do so.

Malayan history before the British arrival (pre-1786):

Malaya as an entity did not exist. There were some minor sultanates and kingdoms who ruled their states under a feudal system.

2nd Century AD: Langkasuka was founded in old Kedah.
AD 634: Kedah kingdom founded by Maharaja Derbar Raja of Gemeron, Persia.
AD 1136: Kedah Sultanate founded.
AD 1402: Melaka Sultanate founded by Parameswara.
AD 1511: The Portuguese conquered Melaka. The Sultan’s family fled and eventually set up the Johore Sultanate and the Perak Sultanate.
AD 1528: Johore Sultanate founded.
AD 1641: The Dutch won Melaka from the Portuguese with the help of Johore. Their control was confined solely to Melaka. With the Dutch’s help, Johore established hegemony over Negri Sembilan & Selangor. Perak remained independent. The northern states, Patani, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu were vassals of Siam.

British Colonial History, 1786 - 1942

AD 1786: Kedah turned to the British for protection from the Siamese. To entice the British, the Sultan of Kedah leased Penang and Province Wellesley to them. But still the British did not offer the protection that Kedah sought.

AD 1819: The British governor, Stamford Raffles, acquired Singapore from the Sultan of Johore.

AD 1824: The British took over Melaka from the Dutch under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty in exchange for Sumatra. The Dutch renounced all interest in the Malayan peninsula. The British now had a free hand in Malaya to extend their influence.

AD 1826: Burney Treaty signed between Siam and the British. Siamese claim over Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu was acknowledged. British ownership of Penang was confirmed and given rights to trade with Kelantan and Terengganu.

1861 – 1874: Malay chiefs brought in Chinese Triads to mine tin in Perak. Turf wars started among the various groups for control over the tin. Eventually the British were called in to keep peace.

AD 1873: Negri Sembilan accepted British Resident to enforce peace after a civil war over tin taxes.

AD 1874 Treaty of Pangkor: Perak became a British colony and accepted a British Resident.

AD 1875: Selangor Sultanate accepted British Resident.

AD 1888: Pahang accepted British Resident.

AD 1889: The British established the Federal Council to administer the Federated Malay States, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang were placed under a British Resident-General, making them de-facto colonies.

AD 1909 Anglo – Siam Treaty: Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu taken over by British from Siam. Siam retained Patani, Jala, Satun and Narathiwat.

AD 1914: The Unfederated Malay States, Kedah, Kelatan, Perlis, Terengganu and Johore were governed by the British Residents through the Sultans. The whole peninsula was now under British hegemony.

The Straits Settlement, Penang, Melaka and Singapore were a Crown Colony, ruled by a Governor under the supervision of the Colonial Office in London. All residents, half of them Chinese, were British subjects.

AD 1930: Malayan Communist Party formed to end British colonial rule.

AD 1931: A census showed that the Malays constituted less than 50% of the population in Malaya.

AD 1938: Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) formed from the peasant class. These were led mainly by the Malay-language teachers & journalists with strong socialist affinity.

The British started to incorporate English-educated Malays from the aristocratic class in the bureaucracy.

Japanese occupation of Malaya 1942 - 1945

AD 1942: Japanese over-ran Malaya and Singapore, breaking the myth of the invincibility of the white man. They treated the Malay intellectuals, the Malay civil service and the Sultans relatively well, regarding them as a colonial people whom they had liberated. The KMM leaders were released. So the Malays collaborated with them. The Japanese treated Chinese as enemy aliens and killed 40,000 of them in Malaya and Singapore, resulting in the Chinese supporting the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) to resist the Japanese.

AD 1945: By 1945, the Japanese knew they were losing the war. They planned to grant independence to the Malays of Malaya and Indonesia in Aug 1945. Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan that same month. After that Japan surrendered unconditionally. The independence plan of Malaya & Indonesian was aborted. But the Japanese Command in Malaya still did not wish to give up. They made overtures to Chin Peng, the leader of the MCP, to join up to fight the British. However, Chin Peng refused to take up their offer.

These events are important and have an important impact on our history. Unlike what UMNO would like us to believe, history did not start in 1946 upon the formation of UMNO.

Post-war history until Merdeka, 1945 - 1957

Aug to Sept 1945: Between the surrender of Japan and the return of the British to Malaya, there was a period of lawlessness during which there was a lot of settling of scores, both inter-racial and intra-racial. That gave rise to a lot of bad blood. (In the bigger scheme of things, this is only a minor event in our history. Vengeance after a war is common and we can see it in France, Italy, China and elsewhere after the end of WWII. It has nothing to do with race. But UMNO kept on playing it up as a racial event to divide the people)

Sept 1945: British returned to Malaya to accept the Japanese surrender. Partai Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya (PKMM) set up by ex-leaders of KMM.

1 Apr 1946: Malayan Union formed with 2 basic principles – sultans’ power to be curtailed, jus soli principle , Head of State changed from Sultan to President. Malays opposed vigorously. The Union was abrogated shortly thereafter.

May 1946: UMNO formed by Dato Onn Jaafar in Johore Bahru. They were supportive of the British and not really interested in independence. The leaders were the sons of the aristocratic class and tribal chiefs that the British had taught in English schools from young and were well-known anglophiles.

Dec 1946: Leftist non-Malay political bodies set up AMCJA formed to oppose the Federation of Malaya plan.
.
Aug 1946: MIC formed to fight for Indian independence from the British. After India gained independence, they shifted their focus to fight for independence for Malaya.

Feb 1947: Left wing Malay parties form Pusat Tenaga Rakyat (PUTERA).

AD 1947: PUTERA-AMJCA launched the People’s Constitutional Proposals for Malaya in opposition to the Federation of Malaya agreement. The British ignored them. In response, PUTERA-AMCJA planned a general strike in protest.

20 Oct 1947: Hartal – general strike led by PUTERA-AMCJA

Fahmi Rezas Film on 1947 Hartal.

Download from DVD quality film here: 1947 Hartal

This film demonstrated how the various communities, especially the working class, united in their fight against the British for Independence and clearly showed that there was no racial problems nor was it UMNO who alone fought for Independence. This was what UMNO did not want the public to know.

An indication of the importance of this event is that UMNO has consistently tried to suppress public knowledge of it. Mind you, this happened before UMNO even came to power! Do not miss this show!

1 Feb 1948: The British rode roughshod over all opposition to form the Federation of Malaya with the support of UMNO. By now, the British had decided to use UMNO as their front to continue their control after granting independence to Malaya.

18 Jun 1948: Malayan Emergency declared to fight the MCP. At the same time, the British detained the leaders from the leftist parties such as API, PKMM, Bisbul Muslimin, as well as the unions, to pave the way for UMNO to take power. Many unions were controlled by the MCP and the leftist parties were sympathetic or linked to the unions as well. These unions were used by the MCP to foster strikes that disrupted the economy drastically and were part of the MCP’s campaign to destabilize Malaya in readiness for a takeover.

Feb 1949: MCA formed by Kuomintang members with support from the British.

26 Aug 1951: Dato Onn Jaafar left UMNO to form the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP) to fight on a multi-racial platform. Although the British supported him vigorously, he did not receive much public support. His later Malay-communal Parti Negara was equally unsuccessful.

Tunku Abdul Rahman, a Kedah Prince, took over as President of UMNO with the active encouragement of Abdul Razak.

1951 Winning Hearts and Minds: The British resettled the Chinese to new villages to deny the MCP access to food and logistics support. They further granted the Chinese citizenship and the right to own land to win them over. Malays were provided food and medical aid. Without the support of the Chinese, the MCP effectively lost the war.

1952: UMNO teamed up with MCA to contest Kuala Lumpur municipal elections.

1954: Alliance of MCA, MIC and UMNO formed. State Elections – Alliance won 226 out of 268 seats.

1955: Federal Legislative Council Elections – Alliance won 51 out of 52 seats.
Baling Peace Talks between the Alliance and the Malayan Communist Party – unsuccessful.

Jan 1956: Independence talks in London between the British and the Alliance

1956: Reid Commission to assist in drafting of the Federal of Malaya Constitution.

31 Aug 1957: Merdeka. Political power was handed over to UMNO giving them control of the intelligence services (Special Branch), the police, the army, the bureaucracy in particular the National Registration Department in charge of citizenship. The mantle of “protector” of the Malay rights passed from the British to UMNO. MCA and MIC were retained as junior partners to control the Chinese and the Indians. They were left in charge of the economy. But the real masters were the British who controlled 80% of the economy and had stationed a Commonwealth army to fight the MCP. So, the British found a new formula to continue their control of Malaya with UMNO replacing the sultans as the new figurehead - neocolonialism.

[pywong]

An interesting snippet on Dato Onn Jaafar and his efforts to form a multi-racial party before 1957.

A few points to note:
1. He was a Johor aristocrat and a noted Anglo-phile. As such, the British supported him strongly. It is important to note that the UMNO leaders were from the same stock - aristocrat, educated in English schools and Anglo-philes.

2. The British were very keen to retain the Chinese and Indians in Malaya, hence their efforts to get Dato Onn to open up UMNO to the non-Malays. They were not doing it for altruistic reasons as discussed in Chapter 2, the Social Contract. Rather, they wanted to keep their cheap and reliable labour around. Just like what we are doing with our foreign labour today, because they are cheap, hardworking and reliable. The new "Malaysians" are too lazy to do the dirty work.

3. The British never put all their eggs in one basket. To hedge their bets, they got help from the KuoMinTang to organise some locals to set up the MCA, to counter the Malayan Communist Party.

Coming back to the present, Kadir Jasin is or was an UMNO hack. So we have to read his writings with the proper lens and watch out for his spin.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Dawn Or Dusk For Multiracial Parties?

A Kadir Jasin

The idea of a multiracial party is not new. The first to promote it was the founder president of Umno, Datuk Onn Jaafar, a Johor Malay aristocrat.

He founded Umno in May 1946. In 1951, at the behest of the British, he proposed opening Umno membership to the immigrant races. At that time, the Chinese and Indians, most of whom were indentured labourers, were yet to be accorded Malayan citizenship.

The Malays objected and Onn, being an honourable person, left Umno and Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra took over the fledgling party.

Onn went on to pursue his dream of a multiracial party by forming the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP). The IMP became the first political movement to oppose the concept of Malay dominance.

Ironically, neither the Chinese nor the Indians, despite the promise of equality and citizenship, found the IMP convincing. Instead, the Chinese-based Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and the Indian-based Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) opted to form an alliance with Umno.

In 1952, Umno and the MCA contested the Kuala Lumpur Municipal election and won 11 out of the 12 seats. The Alliance was formalised in time to contest the 1955 Malayan Legislative Council elections with the MIC as a third member. It won 51 out of 52 seats. Pas won a solitary seat.

Undeterred by the dismal failure of IMP, Onn started another multiracial party called Parti Negara in 1953. He found some success among the Malays but again failed to get Chinese and Indian support.

The only parliamentary seat ever won by Parti Negara was by Onn himself in the 1959 general election in Terengganu. With his death in 1962, Parti Negara came to a natural end.

More…

[pywong]

Some useful historical background on the negotiations and events relating to the sultans leading to Merdeka in 1957.

Lessons From The Past
Past experiences have shown that it was rare for the sultans to emerge from these political crises with their reputations enhanced, or the institution of royalty strengthened. Even when the sultans emerged as heroes, they exposed their blemishes. Raja Azlan needs to be extra diligent to make this episode the exception. Thus far it has not been promising.

Consider the Malayan Union fiasco in 1946. The sultans meekly agreed to the British “suggestion” of turning the country into a dominion. Whether it was British perfidy or the sultans’ stupidity, the result was the same. The price tag too was modest: piddling pensions and perfunctory visits to Buckingham Palace for the sultans. As a sweetener, just in case, they were awarded the knighthood of some medieval English order.

Fortunately their subjects, then almost exclusively Malays, were not as meek, or easily hoodwinked and cheaply bought. Under the leadership of the late Datuk Onn Jaafar, the Malay masses, on the pretext of paying homage, descended upon the palace in Kota Baru where the rulers had gathered. They effectively prevented the sultans from leaving the premise to ratify the agreement with the new British governor, effectively scuttling the treaty. Thus ended the brief and naked British power grab.

It was also a devastatingly effective demonstration of the halus (refined) ways of our culture. Fortunately the sultans correctly read the subtle message from their rakyats. Good thing too, for had it not been for those village peasants intervening, our sultans would today be reduced to the status of the Sultan of Sulu. Today’s highflying sultans must be reminded of this – and often – lest they forget, as they are wont to.

Less than a decade later with the Federation of Malaya (replacing the 1946 Malayan Union), and with the sultans securely ensconced in their palaces, this delicate balance between the ruler and the ruled would once again be tested, this time in the negotiations for independence. It turned out that our sultans were less than enthusiastic with the idea, at least initially. Not an unreasonable posture, considering the fate of their brother hereditary rulers in independent India and Indonesia.

Fortunately the sultans again correctly read the rakyats’ mood. After all, the pro-independence Alliance coalition scored a near unanimous victory in the 1955 general elections. Despite that, those rulers did not give in easily. They demanded – and received – assurances that their royal status would be enhanced. Indeed the Reid Commission tasked with drafting a constitution for the new nation codified the role of the sultans beyond their being mere feudal heads of their respective states.

The new constitution provided for a new national body, The Council of Rulers, headed by a “King” to be chosen from among his brother rulers. Unlike real kings however, the new Agong would, apart from being “elected,” have a limited tenure of only five years – unheard of for any royalty anywhere. Further, this Council would have veto authority on legislations passed by the bicameral (House and Senate) Parliament.

Functionally this Council of Rulers would thus be a Third House of Parliament, a miniature House of Lords but with an exclusive membership of only nine sultans. This enhanced status of the sultans also satisfied the Malay masses, feeding their vanity patriotism of Ketuanan Melayu.

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[pywong]

The Orang Asli and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak live off the land. As such, they are not fully in the Rat Race. This is anathema to UMNO and BN. Therefore their strategies through the decades is to marginalize and evict them from the land, by granting the land to loggers and plantation operators.

The PR Perak Govt has taken big steps to rectify the past injustice. But this is likely to be reversed now that BN is back at the helm.

Batang Ai will be an opportunity for the Ibans to show who they want to lead them.

http://www.thenutgraph.com/orang-asli-in-perak-apprehensiveMore…

[pywong]

Farish Noor provides a good theoretical and historical basis to explain how the British developed race-based policies and labelling as a divide-and-rule tactic over the peoples of Malaya. The British used many repressive policies, laws and government instruments such as the police and the army to suppress the locals. These tactics were carried over by the post-colonial inheritors of the British system - namely UMNO.

If we are interested to understand where we went wrong, this is an important article to study.

here and here.

[pywong]

Shades of 1984. Big Brother is still trying desperately to control the thoughts of the Rats. UMNO just won't understand that those are the tactics of the 20th Century and tak pakai in the 21st.

"Allah" in Christian publications not prohibited, court told

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27, 2009): The High Court was told today that the use of the word "Allah" in publications relating to Christianity is no longer prohibited due a new order gazetted by the Home Minister early this year.

Senior federal counsel Nizam Zakaria, for the Attorney-General's Chambers, informed the court that the Home Minister, as the first respondent in the judicial review proceeding initiated by the Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, had gazetted the order dated Jan 21, 2009, entitled 'Internal Security (Prohibition On Use of Specific Words on Document and Publication) Order 2009'.

The gazette says: 'The printing, publishing, sale, issue, circulation and possession of any document and publication relating to Christianity containing the words Allah, Kaabah, Baitullah and Solat are prohibited unless on the front cover of the document and publication are written with the words 'FOR CHRISTIANITY".

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[pywong]

In waging psychological warfare against the Rats, a favourite tool of the Ruling Class through the ages is religion. Only fools will allow themselves to be manipulated that way.

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[pywong]

Discussion of the Social Contract by Mavis Puthucheary and Mahathir here