Fariz Nur Mohammad Bin Ishak

21st century taboos, The Asian point of View.

We live in a world where, for good or ill, certain things have become off-limits. No-go areas. Notional cans of worms. Mentioning these to one other than your self is to invite at the very least a raised eyebrow or pursed lip; at worst, complete social Disgrace Moreover, these affectations are peculiar to our time. A generation or so ago, they were considered normal. Indeed, some of them would be thoroughly welcomed. Now, though, they have become unmentionable, untenable, unacceptable.

They are the 21st century taboos. Have you broken any so far today?

Giving money to beggars

When you see a beggar on a street do you give your spare change to him and her. Once there was no stigma attached to the practice of handing over loose change to somebody asking for money on the street. The equation was clear. They were down on the luck; you could do something about it. Now there's a chaos of moral mazes to look over, all of which inevitably lead to the implied assumption: walk on by. You hear voices in your head are now accustomed to say to yourself: "It only encourages them". "It isn't helping".

"You're only making things worse". "You're adding to the problem, not the

solution" Society today poses a new stereotype to these beggars. Beggar nowadays are seen as drug addicts, gamblers, criminals in general. But what if the voices in your head are wrong? What if these beggars were down on their luck? If the beggars were children, would you think differently? Nowadays its not so much that we as society refuse to give our loose change to the Beggars. However we look at each beggar and selectively choose which ones deserves it or not. However how can one tell if a beggar is genuine or not? Do we judge to easily by looks? But when did giving someone RM1.00 for a cup of tea become an epic ethical problem?

Speaking to a stranger on a bus or train

Despair to the person who dares to essay a conversation with someone they don't know on public transport. Once, such an innocent pastime was considered the height of good manners and to be encouraged. Nowadays such actions are treated as the product of a disturbed mind and someone up to no good. How many stories have you heard of a girl being raped at bus stops? Girls being touched and felt by perverts? People mugged? And how many people do you know that has been pick pocketed in a bus? No wonder why the present time people get suspicious when one would smile at a stranger. They might as well paste up a new poster alongside the no smoking signs: Button Your Lip.

Sex

To the western world, you can hardly find any aspects of Sex to be taboo any more. Sex use to be a celebration of love between a Man and a Woman. Now, huh! It is used in many different ways. Why is it, that Sex are seen as norm in the Western world and Taboo to the Eastern? The society we live today in an Asian country, majority still tries to keep its old values of sex before marriage, originated from each country’s own religion. Do Asian countries hold more value to its roots than the western world? You can see the difference between the two in sexual matters. For example in Television, Malaysia hold a very strict law of what is allowed to be aired on TV, in comparison to USA. In Malaysia, especially in terrestrial TV we are not even allowed to shown a kiss between a Man and a woman. Whereas in USA you can see kisses between a man and a woman or Man to Man and Women to Women. With the sexual activities, they only have a curfew of after 9pm they can show a one bedding another. If this law was to be implemented in all Asian countries, will it bring an uproar or freedom? Everyone know the lust for sex is the temptation that majority wants, or is it not?

The question here really when will it become a norm to Asian countries?

Smoking

Don’t you ever wonder what the world would be like if smoking was illegased? You non-smokers can stand outside waiting for the bus without waving your hand because the person next to you is smoking, with no worries of your future children or younger brothers and sister suffering from second hand smoke? Let’s imagine where a world where smoking is illegal in public spaces… wait … isn’t it happening now?

Smoking hasn’t always been discouraged as it is nowadays. Since the 30s, cigarettes was seen as a positive product. It was always advertised and cigarette companies always had the right to sell their product as they pleased. They would use infants and cartoon characters and amongst other things in their advertising campaigns are to convince the public to smoke!!! … It has been 70 years since then, the opinions of smoking are now are the opposite of what it was. Smoking now are perceived as the bad habit that should not be encouraged. As opposed to selling and promoting cigarettes, the government took action encourage on promoting the health consequences of smoking such as lung cancer, impotency and et cetera.  One of the first countries to abolish smoking in public areas is Singapore, action against smoking in which bans smoking in public spaces…however can smoking be banned all together?

I believe we as the world are slowly moving towards that direction. If cigarettes were to be banned, we still have a long way to go, as it was only a decade ago where the government took action against smoking and over cigarettes. Just look at it this way, Drugs such as LSD, marijuana cocaine et cetera, were once legal drugs; however it took the world over 4 decades to illegalize the products.

Imagine a world without cigarettes…will it make it better or worse? It is better if we never knew it existed in the first place, with knowledge the existence of cigarettes, would it make it worse? Just think the previous drugs that were illegalised; now it is sold in the black market.

By Fariz Nur Mohammad Bin Ishak

Independence of Malaya

 On 31^st August, 1957 the Federation of Malaya became independent. The handover of power from Britain took place at midnight. Thousands of young members of the Malay, Chinese and Indian parties, which form the government, stood in darkness for two minutes at midnight to mark the official handover. The year 2007 marks the 50^th anniversary of Malaya independence. How did Malaya achieve independence on that day itself? Furthermore, what events occurred in leading of the Federation of Malaya to become independent?

In Malaya’s early history, Malaya had its own Kingdom and its own cilivisation. However due to western countries, Malaya found itself to be colonised by different empires, this was the colonial era for Malaya. The colonisation began with the Portuguese in 1511. The Portuguese mainly settle in Malacca and was opposed by the Malays of Malacca. Nonetheless the Portuguese did not leave many traces behind, except in the areas of language (borrowed words) and dance.  The Portuguese reigned for 130 years and ended at 1641.

Subsequently came the Dutch colonisation, in which they reigned for 183 years from 1641 until 1824. Again similarly as the Portuguese, they mainly settled in Malacca and again were opposed by the Malays. They did not leave many traces behind. In 1824 the Dutch handed over Malacca to the British as a result of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty caused a division of Malay Archipelago into two different geo-political areas. The consequence of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty was clear that the Malay Archipelago was split into two spheres of Dutch and British influence. Thus, the Johor-Riau Empire ended as Johor now belonged to the British while the Islands of Riau came under the Dutch. Despite the treaty, due to existing hostility because of trade, Trade rivalry continued to grow in intensity. The effect of the Treaty was the split of the Archipelago into two spheres of influence and the effects of the two different cultures remain even until the present time. This also shows that, at that time foreign forces determined the destiny of this country.

The next three Colonists had a major impact in Malaya, and shaped Malaya to its independence in 1957. The British colonisation came after the Dutch. The British reigned for 130 years, however they’re reigned was split into two phases due to another country’s take over in the Second World War. The British colonised the whole of Peninsula Malaysia. They left behind a significant influence on the way of life of the people, politically, economically and socially. However they were strongly opposed by the country’s population. The British were also the last empire to colonise Malaya. Penang Island was first founded by Francis Light in 1786, and Singapore was founded in 1819 by Stamford Raffles. After the handover of Malacca from the Dutch, Penang Island, Singapore and Malacca were combined into one administrative unit known as the Straits Settlement.  Furthermore through Pangkor Agreement, Perak underwent a British intervention in 1874. In 1888 Pahang undergone a British intervention, thus lead to another unity of administrative unit known as Federated States. The Federated States consists of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang. Along with this in 1841 James Brooke took over Sarawak and The Sultan Of Brunei handed over Sabah to the British in which increase size of the British Colonisation.

Afterward came the Siamese colony, they reigned for 88 years and mostly consist on settling in the northern states of the Malay Peninsula namely, Perlis, Kedah and Kelantan.  Traces of influence in these areas are very evident especially in the areas of religion and art. Then in 1909 the Siamese handed over Kedah, Perlis Kelantan and Terrenganu to the British in which became the Unfederated States.

Then we have the Japanese colonising the entire country in World War Two for 3 and half years. They had great influence on the live of the people, especially in terms of relationships between races. However in the end they were opposed by the whole country thus the end of their reign in which the British took over again, until the independence of Malaya.

The Second World War had brought to the era of new modern political world and permanently changed the relationship between the peoples of Southeast Asia and their colonial masters. Since the successful invasion of the Japanese and how they rapidly took control most of the western colonial countries in the region during WWII, the myth of the white man’s invincibility had been shattered.

The Japanese had used a motto “Asian Asia” as a tool to raise awareness and to challenge those in the colonies to gain their freedom from Western control.  It had encouraged the growth of the nationalism in the region, especially since those nationalist leaders who had been imprisoned or exiled by the West were set free, and often used to recruit native. Under colonisation, the Southeast Asia region has mixture of diversity in religions, languages, cultures and races.  The set the stage for many conflicts and confrontation that were brought about by the different cultures and religions in the community.

The end of Second World War marked a new phase in the distribution of World Power, and the start of the transition of power from western colonial to local government throughout. It also changed the British Empire as it gradually decline and get progressively smaller; the de-colonisation period of the British colonial had been born. The process of transition to a multiracial association of sovereign and equal states to her colonial countries began with India and Pakistan’s independence in 1947.  The trends of decolonisation can be seen in countries like Indonesia who staged confrontation to gain independence from Dutch since 1920s and declared her independent in 1945. Philippines had gained an internal self-government in 1935 from Spanish and formed an independent Republic in 1946. The Indo-china countries namely Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam had seen bloody war in their struggle toward independence from the French in the period of 1945-1953.

When the WWII ended in September 1945, the devastation caused by the war gave many Southeast Asia countries a great desire to be left alone; they were no longer willing to be used as pawn in the conflicts between empires. When the Allies returned to their colonies of the pre-war war era, they found all sorts of social unrest waiting for them.

In Malaya, the British quickly regained power and immediately set to subdue the open inter-communal hostilities that had flared at the war’s end. They had in their hand a massive task of reconstructing the economy along with a set fundamental administrative reform. To overcome the problem of race discrimination, the British government proposed a form of administration called the Malayan Union in April 1948. In that plan, the Straits Settlements which comprised of Singapore, Malacca and Penang were dissolved, both of the latter would combine with all the Malay states in the Peninsula Malaya to be part of Malayan Union. Singapore meanwhile became a separate crown colony and so did both Sarawak and British North Borneo. Labuan was joined to British North Borneo.

The new arrangements uniting administratively the Malay States, Penang and Malacca give all residents equal rights of citizenship. Malays from all states were galvanized by the blithe disregard for states’ right and Malay pre-eminence over the immigrant peoples. 

On October 1945, The British announced a bold decision to end indirect rule in the Malay States by uniting all the states into a Malayan Union under a Governor with executive powers. It proposed to initiate a Malayan form of citizenship, which would give equal rights to those who claim Malaya as their homeland.       

Penang Island and Malacca although parts of the proposed Malayan Union would remained British Settlements. Singapore would remained as a separate colony. The Malayan Union and Singapore would have separate Governors and their individual Executive and Legislative Councils.

In the Malayan Union, the Malay Sultans would be Presidents in his own State, of a Malay Advisory Council, which would be mainly concerned with religious matters. The Malay Sultans would be asked to sign new treaties, which would give the British Government jurisdiction in their states. These constitutional proposals actually represented a complete change of policy by the British Government. The Malay States had never been British territories. They were and always have been protected Malay States.

On October 1945, Sir Harold MacMichael, special envoy to the British Government arrived in Kuala Lumpur to negotiate the new treaties with the Sultans of the Malay States. The Sultans signed under protest and abdicated their sovereign rights and powers to the British Crown.  Political parties and associations were formed all over the country to fight the Malayan Union proposals which were to come into effect on 1 April 1946 when civil government were to be restored.

On 1st March 1946, representatives from the 41 Malay associations and organisations formed the United Malay National Organisation (UMNO). Dato Onn Jaafar was elected as the first President and the Malays at that time could be said to be more united over a single purpose than they were ever before. UMNO provided the spearhead for the deep and spreading Malay opposition to the Malayan Union. The Malay Unity was a new force to the British and also to the Chinese. UMNO passed a resolution declaring that the agreement signed by the Sultans to be null and void. On 31st March 1945, British Military Administration terminated officially.

On 1st April 1946, the Malayan Union came into being and Sir Edward Gent was installed Sir Edward was installed as the Governor of the Malayan Union in Kuala Lumpur. However, UMNO called for the abolishment of the Malayan Union and be replaced by the Federation of Malaya The proposed Federation of Malaya consisting of the nine Malay states and two British settlements would replace the Malayan Union. It was also proposed that a High Commissioner and not a Governor would be the representative of the British crown.

There was strong opposition against the union, the strongest opposition came from the Malays. Malay opposition was both individual and collective. The Individuals voiced out their opposition through mass media. The matters that were mainly opposed were the erosion of the sovereignty and the power of the Malay rulers ant the granting of citizenship to foreigners on principles of jus soli.   Oppositions were collectively organised by Malay unions at state and national level. These unions held demonstrations in various states to show their objections. This showed Malay unity in their opposition against the colonialists. Thus lead to the failure of the Malayan Union and was dissolved in July 1946.

The Federation of Malaya was established in place of the Malayan Union after protracted negotiations with the Malay Rulers, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and other parties concerned. The new Federation consisted of all the nine Malay states of the Peninsula, along with Malacca and Penang Island. The federation of Malaya was under the administration of a federal government in Kuala Lumpur headed by a British High Commissioner.

In the year 1948, the Communist Party Malaya attempted revolution, using guerrilla warfare tactics and drawing on the experience and organisation skills gained during the war in the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) movement. The British declared a state of emergency and developed counter-insurgency policies. By the early 1950s, CPM terrorism had been reduced to a minor problem although emergency regulations were not lifted until 1960. The outcome of the Emergency was a highly centralised federation, the states having relinquished most of their sovereign powers so that the crisis could be handled efficiently.

 During the emergency the British promised self-government for Malaya, though at the time it was not clear how this could be achieved in a way amicable to all the racially divided communities. Attempts to establish multi-racial political parties met with little success. The largest and best-organised party in Malaya, UMNO was exclusively for Malays. Since 1952, a formula for potentially stable self-government was worked out. This was the Alliance, a coalition of three communal based parties. UMNO represented the Malays; Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) represented the Chinese, and Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) represented the Indian community. The Alliance become the dominant political force under the leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman, UMNO leader and first Prime Minister which was gained the enormously victory at national elections in 1955. The overwhelming election result was one of the main tools in pressuring the British to relinquish their sovereignty in August 1957.

Tunku Abdul Rahman, the prime minister-elect, who led the negotiations with the British for handover of power, was hailed as the Father of Independence. Malaya will stay in the Commonwealth - and, as midnight approached, prime ministers of the member countries sent messages recorded in five continents. As the new flag of independence was raised they called "Merdeka" (freedom) seven times.

By Fariz Nur Mohammad Bin Ishak