For Justice, Freedom & Solidarity - aliran.com · Aliran Monthly : Vol.28(10) Page 6 uncontrolled development keep raising public awareness of envi-ronmental concerns? Nor is it feasible

Aliran Monthly : Vol.28(10) Page 1

PP3739/12/2008(007145) ISSN 0127 - 5127 RM4.00 2008:Vol.28No.10

For Justice, Freedom & SolidarityFor Justice, Freedom & SolidarityFor Justice, Freedom & SolidarityFor Justice, Freedom & SolidarityFor Justice, Freedom & Solidarity


ost of us are likely tolook back upon the yearthat’s about to pass en-tirely into memory as a

‘happening year’. Most of the no-table happenings were politicalones, bearing surprises andchanges.

To be honest, it’s difficult to sayanything new or useful aboutthose changes; so much has al-ready been said, written and re-corded of them.

But against some recent shatter-ing events – an ominous tsunamiengulfing the world’s major fi-nancial systems, relentless pro-tests toppling the regime in Thai-land, and a terrible bloodbathstriking Mumbai – it might not becontrived to sift through our no-table domestic developments forsomething inspiring for 2009.

Some of the happenings of 2008were startling for their audacity.Before 8 March, who could havethought that half of the electoratewould rise to break the BarisanNasional’s (BN) ‘two-thirds ma-jority’ stranglehold over Parlia-ment and drive the PakatanRakyat (PR) to power in five states(and, properly speaking, KualaLumpur, too)? Who would haveimagined, six months later, that

KHOO BOO TEIK

The Long 2008The Long 2008The Long 2008The Long 2008The Long 2008The impact of a community of dissent

by Khoo Boo Teik

MMMMM

Past and present


Who could have imagined the election results ofMarch 2008! Khoo Boo Teik looks back at a longyear and reminds us that we must continually turnto our community of dissent. It is only in this com-munity that we can find the unifying hope for mean-ingful social and political change.

Last year, we bade farewell to three leading figuresof the community of dissent in this region – thecountry’s leading public intellectual Rustam Sani,the legendary Singapore opposition leader J BJeyaretnam, and the former Labour Party of Malayaleader Dr M K Rajakumar, who passed away on 22November 2008.

Syed Husin Ali, who knew Rajakumar, well de-scribes him as a role model for Malaysians. Herewas someone who could have been a millionairehad he not chosen to devote his life to promoting thecause of socio-economic justice and later lookinginto their health care needs. We carry tributes by ahost of Rajakumar’s contemporaries and others whoknew him well such as Syed Husin and his brotherSyed Hamid, Ronnie McCoy, Tan Poh Lai, Lim HockSiew, Tan Kai Hee and Agoes Saidin. Tan Kim Honggoes on to trace the history of the Labour Party andits objectives.

Rajakumar has handed over the baton to a new gen-eration of political activists. In the Jerit “Cycle forChange” campaign, Rani Rasiah and Arutchelvandescribe how a young group of Malaysians stun-ningly overcame the odds to highlight the concernsof the working class and marginalised groups. Oneof the cyclists’ demands was for the abolition ofoppressive laws and for better protection of work-ers including a minimum wage. In fact, the ISA hasbeen used not only against opposition politiciansbut also against those championing workers’ rights,as Sai N S Wigneswaran reminds us.

Join us in the struggle for a more just Malaysia inthe coming year.

C O N T E N T S

EDITOR'S NOTE

COVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORY••••• The Long 2008The Long 2008The Long 2008The Long 2008The Long 2008 22222

FEATURESFEATURESFEATURESFEATURESFEATURES••••• A Great Man, A Great FriendA Great Man, A Great FriendA Great Man, A Great FriendA Great Man, A Great FriendA Great Man, A Great Friend 88888

••••• A Passionate Commitment ToA Passionate Commitment ToA Passionate Commitment ToA Passionate Commitment ToA Passionate Commitment To

Equity And Social JusticeEquity And Social JusticeEquity And Social JusticeEquity And Social JusticeEquity And Social Justice 1 21 21 21 21 2

••••• The Passing Of A Mighty ManThe Passing Of A Mighty ManThe Passing Of A Mighty ManThe Passing Of A Mighty ManThe Passing Of A Mighty Man 1 41 41 41 41 4

••••• A Life Devoted To His FellowA Life Devoted To His FellowA Life Devoted To His FellowA Life Devoted To His FellowA Life Devoted To His Fellow

Human BeingsHuman BeingsHuman BeingsHuman BeingsHuman Beings 1 61 61 61 61 6

••••• Pedal PowerPedal PowerPedal PowerPedal PowerPedal Power 1 91 91 91 91 9

••••• Two Dramatic DaysTwo Dramatic DaysTwo Dramatic DaysTwo Dramatic DaysTwo Dramatic Days 2 22 22 22 22 2

••••• A Doctor Who Cared Not For Reward,A Doctor Who Cared Not For Reward,A Doctor Who Cared Not For Reward,A Doctor Who Cared Not For Reward,A Doctor Who Cared Not For Reward,

Only Truth And JusticeOnly Truth And JusticeOnly Truth And JusticeOnly Truth And JusticeOnly Truth And Justice 2 42 42 42 42 4

••••• Remembering Dr M K RajakumarRemembering Dr M K RajakumarRemembering Dr M K RajakumarRemembering Dr M K RajakumarRemembering Dr M K Rajakumar 2 62 62 62 62 6

••••• Driven To ServeDriven To ServeDriven To ServeDriven To ServeDriven To Serve 2 82 82 82 82 8

••••• The Labour Party Of MalayaThe Labour Party Of MalayaThe Labour Party Of MalayaThe Labour Party Of MalayaThe Labour Party Of Malaya

1 9 5 2 - 1 9 7 21 9 5 2 - 1 9 7 21 9 5 2 - 1 9 7 21 9 5 2 - 1 9 7 21 9 5 2 - 1 9 7 2 3 03 03 03 03 0

••••• ISA: A Death Blow To OrganisedISA: A Death Blow To OrganisedISA: A Death Blow To OrganisedISA: A Death Blow To OrganisedISA: A Death Blow To Organised

LabourLabourLabourLabourLabour 3 43 43 43 43 4

••••• Yoga? I Remember Yoga? I Remember Yoga? I Remember Yoga? I Remember Yoga? I Remember ‘Mandi Safar‘‘Mandi Safar‘‘Mandi Safar‘‘Mandi Safar‘‘Mandi Safar‘ 3 83 83 83 83 8

••••• Dr M K Rajakumar: A Man Of TheDr M K Rajakumar: A Man Of TheDr M K Rajakumar: A Man Of TheDr M K Rajakumar: A Man Of TheDr M K Rajakumar: A Man Of The

People (1932-2008)People (1932-2008)People (1932-2008)People (1932-2008)People (1932-2008) 4 04 04 04 04 0

OTHERSOTHERSOTHERSOTHERSOTHERS••••• Subscription FormSubscription FormSubscription FormSubscription FormSubscription Form 1 81 81 81 81 8

ALIRANALIRANALIRANALIRANALIRAN is a Reform Movement dedicated to is a Reform Movement dedicated to is a Reform Movement dedicated to is a Reform Movement dedicated to is a Reform Movement dedicated toJustice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on theJustice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on theJustice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on theJustice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on theJustice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on theroster of the Economic and Social Council of theroster of the Economic and Social Council of theroster of the Economic and Social Council of theroster of the Economic and Social Council of theroster of the Economic and Social Council of theUnited Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran welcomesUnited Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran welcomesUnited Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran welcomesUnited Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran welcomesUnited Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran welcomesall Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contactall Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contactall Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contactall Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contactall Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contactthe Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage.the Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage.the Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage.the Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage.the Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage. Printed by Konway Industries Sdn. Bhd.

Plot 78, Lebuhraya Kampung Jawa, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang

Published byPublished byPublished byPublished byPublished byPersatuan Aliran Kesedaran NegaraPersatuan Aliran Kesedaran NegaraPersatuan Aliran Kesedaran NegaraPersatuan Aliran Kesedaran NegaraPersatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara

(ALIRAN)(ALIRAN)(ALIRAN)(ALIRAN)(ALIRAN)103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong,103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong,103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong,103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong,103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong,

Penang, Malaysia.Penang, Malaysia.Penang, Malaysia.Penang, Malaysia.Penang, Malaysia.Tel: (04) 658 5251 Fax: (04) 658 5197Tel: (04) 658 5251 Fax: (04) 658 5197Tel: (04) 658 5251 Fax: (04) 658 5197Tel: (04) 658 5251 Fax: (04) 658 5197Tel: (04) 658 5251 Fax: (04) 658 5197

Email (Letters to Editor):Email (Letters to Editor):Email (Letters to Editor):Email (Letters to Editor):Email (Letters to Editor):[email protected][email protected][email protected][email protected][email protected]

Email (General): [email protected] (General): [email protected] (General): [email protected] (General): [email protected] (General): [email protected] : http://www.aliran.comHomepage : http://www.aliran.comHomepage : http://www.aliran.comHomepage : http://www.aliran.comHomepage : http://www.aliran.com


so many people earnestly wantedDato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘916’scheme to come true?

Other changes have left unfin-ished repercussions. Can UMNO,unhappily led by Dato’ SeriAbdullah Ahmad Badawi, badlyoutmanoeuvred by Anwar, andfarcically abandoned by Tun DrMahathir Mohamad, survive itsinternal fissures and external pres-sures? Will BN be wrecked by thestorm of bitter recriminations thathave beset a coalition demoralizedby the electoral results?

Still other changes have created astark contrast and, at least for theundecided, a difficult choice.Should we treat PR, promising aNew Dawn, as ‘the angel wedon’t know’? Should we liken BN,or UMNO rather, that won’tbudge from a flaw-fraught statusquo, to the devil we do know?

No matter how we think aboutthese and related matters, theytook place alongside one of themost inspiring changes we’vewitnessed, namely, the expansionand consolidation of a communityof dissent during a ‘Long 2008’.

By ‘Long 2008’, I mean a defini-tive period that may be supposedto have begun at the end of Sep-tember 2007 although the 12thGeneral Election became its focalpoint.

On 26 September 2007, 2,000people, mostly lawyers and NGOactivists, joined the Bar Council’smarch to the ‘Palace of Justice’ toprotest the continuing judicialdegradation that was exposed byLingam-gate.

Two weeks later, on 10 Novem-ber, about 40,000, mostly Malay,supporters of BERSIH rallied todemand the reform of the electoralsystem.

Then came 25 November when theHindu Rights Action Front’s(Hindraf) 30,000-strong demon-stration became one of the mostastonishing political develop-ments to have taken place sinceAnwar Ibrahim’s fall in Septem-ber 1998. (See AM, vol. 27, no. 9,2007: 2–6.)

Tracing the Long 2008 back thisway, one can see that it’s futile forBN’s spin masters to blame the 8March result on an Indian deser-

tion of the BN, or a Chinese swingto the opposition, or Malay absen-teeism from the ballot box. For thatmatter, it’s merely self-serving forsome UMNO leaders, or DrMahathir, to fasten all responsi-bility on Abdullah alone.

Indeed, by the time the campaignof the 12th General Electionpeaked in the first week of March2008, the PR parties were them-selves taken aback by the swell ofmultiethnic oppositionist senti-ment. The PR ceramah were mas-sively attended. Their campaignswere charged with an exuberanturgency as volunteers, bloggersand ‘passive supporters’ contrib-uted time, effort and money.

On 8 March, therefore, it wasn’t

The Long 2008

Worthless spins


just ungrateful Malays, or dis-gruntled Chinese, or unreason-able Indians who wrecked theBN’s hegemony. It was half theelectorate who decided that onlymeaningful political change couldbring a better future.

It was a multiethnic half that chan-nelled the exuberance of the BarCouncil, BERSIH and Hindrafinto the euphoria that greeted thePR’s triumph.

Since then, a community of dis-sent has steadily grown by day,week and month. Its ideas, con-cerns and hopes, whether courte-ously presented, angrily blurtedor even boringly repeated, havetaken root in the social imagina-tion, crucially disseminated viacyberspace and blogosphere.

In the real world, the communityof dissent is made up of the politi-cal parties, legally constitutedNGOs and ad hoc groupings.They energize the communitythrough different modes of mobi-lization.

When they choose to show theirphysical presence at any onepoint, the dissenters vary in num-ber, of course, depending on is-sues, events, organizers, and lo-cations.

In July, August and September2008 respectively, thousands ofpeople were drawn to the PROTESanti-fuel price hike carnival inKelana Jaya, Anwar’s ceramahduring the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign, and the PR’srally, again in Kelana Jaya,against the Internal Security Act(ISA).

After the regimecommitted one ofits biggest blun-ders – detainingRaja PetraK a m a r u d d i n ,Teresa Kok andTan Hoon Chengunder the ISA –hundreds of oldand young citi-zens mountedweekly vigils inKuala Lumpur,George Town andelsewhere toshow their soli-darity with thetrio.

Fewer, naturally,but naturally more energetic, ‘cy-clists’ organized a tour, a nation-wide jerit (yell) against the ISA.The police, helpless against theMat Rempit, harassed JERIT’ssmall band of cyclists as if theywere a new menace. But with thegenerous support of well-wishers,the cyclists maintained their in-ventive protest against the persist-ing practice of detaining withouttrial dissidents of many persua-sions.

At year’s end, there’s no mistak-ing the social depth, geographi-cal spread, technological sophis-tication, ideological diversity, andtransformed character of politicaldissent. In expanding and con-solidating itself, the community ofdissent had recovered an old tra-dition of open protest.

That tradition was practically lostafter 1969 although it put in a briefappearance in Baling, 1974. It wasretrieved in fits and starts with

Reformasi. Now, it’s alive and kick-ing.

Finished, however, are the taboosand bogeys used to contain, pro-hibit and justify assaults on non-violent marches, demonstrationsand rallies.

Today, the regime spokespeopleno longer bother to disapprove of‘dissent for the sake of dissent’.Denigrating dissent in that man-ner was always a silly stance any-way, not unlike branding dissent-ers as being ‘anti-national’, anti-government, or ‘anti-develop-ment’.

How does one hang the ‘anti-na-tional’ tag on protestors who at-tend events organized and to someextent protected by the PR stategovernments? Should one call thedemonstrators and provocateurswho protest against PR state gov-ernments ‘anti-government’?How does one accuse others ofbeing ‘anti-development’ whenlandslides and other disasters of

Rally, vigil and ride

An end to taboos


uncontrolled development keepraising public awareness of envi-ronmental concerns?

Nor is it feasible now, let alonecredible, for the regime-controlledmedia to dismiss open protest asbeing alien to our culture.

The old ‘political culture’ stress-ing deference to authority can nolonger be imposed from above.Why, even in UMNO, that bastionof ampu and bodek practices, theypushed and shoved, raved andranted, demanded and protested– all forms of conduct unquestion-ably kasar by an older etiquette –to terminate Abdullah’s leader-ship.

A novel political culture hasemerged. It’s continually re-shaped by movements betweenthe Street and the Net. It throwsup spirited expressions of dissentthat are reported by netizens,posted on websites, debated atblogs, spread by email, relayed bySMS, and replayed on YouTube.Consequently, politicians have

come under closer and stricterpublic scrutiny than ever before,as PR leaders and governmentsthemselves have realized.

The community of dissent haslittle patience with non-transpar-ent rules, non-accountable eco-nomic management, institutionalatrophy, and brazen displays ofpower. In fact, BN’s ‘post-tsu-nami’ internal dissension meanslittle if not a belated recognitionby UMNO’s subordinate partnersof how counter-productive any‘arrogance of power’ has become.

More and more, the public will notconform to authoritarian rulebased on draconian statutes, ar-bitrary exercises of power, andheavy-handed measures. Andless and less will ordinary voterssurrender to propaganda anddisinformation. As the collapse ofUMNO’s Sodomy II-centred cam-paign in Permatang Pauhshowed, every allegation can bemet with instant rebuttal, everyofficial version of an event under-mined by a ‘leak’.

One would be naïve if not self-de-luding to think that the significantchanges of the Long 2008 presageour certain delivery from manythreats posed by chauvinism,provocation, demonization, andrepression. There have been manybright developments; but manyuseless ways of conducting poli-tics remain.

Accusations and counter-accusa-tions have become wilder as cer-tain politicians grew more desper-ate or reckless. The political sys-tem has yet to institutionalize ac-ceptable and non-repressive ways

to checking the slide into outrightprovocations of the worst kinds.

Instead, the lodging of police re-ports – of alleged sedition over eth-nic and religious matters in par-ticular – and the filing of defama-tion suits seem to have grownfrom occasional practices into athriving legal industry.

Let us be clear. As Teresa Kok’sresponses to Utusan Malaysia andits columnists, and to the unceas-ing threats to her personal repu-tation and safety show, there aretimes when police reports must belodged and legal suits must befiled.

But, just as society has becomeincreasingly watchful of policeand judicial misconduct, whatdoes channelling political dis-putes to the police and the courtsaccomplish other than delay thedismantling of the shackles onfreedom of expression?

And when the Minister of HomeAffairs has remarked that some-one could be detained under ISAfor her own safety, can it be reas-suring to keep turning to the po-

Goodbye to all that?

What culture,whose culture?


lice and the court as the arbitersof political conduct and disputes?

Around the time Dr Mahathir re-signed from UMNO, he warnedthat BN and UMNO had no timeto waste if they wanted to recovertheir lost voters before the nextgeneral election. Other UMNOleaders have parroted that line tojustify dislodging Abdullah asearly as possible.

It’d be realistic to interpret thatargument to mean that UMNOlooks to 2009, after the conclusionof its twice postponed party elec-tion and the planned change inpremiership, to start retrieving thelosses of power, patronage andlargesse that they suffered follow-ing the 8 March election.

But how would BN and UMNOdo so?

Some anti-democratic types inand around UMNO especially,perhaps goaded from the side-lines and pressured by sufferinglower-echelon leaders, might

think that a ‘stronger leader’ –namely, Dato’ Seri Najib TunRazak – and an iron fist – that is,repression by different means –would return the political systemto an UMNO-dominated nor-malcy.

There will always be some, blindto deep-seated disenchantmentwith the regime and its failings,who think that a ‘whiff ofgrapeshot’ would scatter the op-position.

Yet, as the 1998–2000 repressionof Reformasi proves, the short-termpacification of dissent is not along-term solution to deep dissat-isfaction. Ironically, many of theReformasi victims of Dr Mahathir’sresort to ISA in 2000 have nowrelocated from Kamunting to Par-liament.

Politics today also doesn’t meanethnic quarrels and religious mis-understandings only, howevermuch some people may want tochannel disputes in those direc-tions. After the storm of 8 March,

perfect or otherwise, society hasbecome accustomed to the sight of82 PR MPs, experience of rule byfive PR governments, and the ideathat a different Federal govern-ment wouldn’t have to be a disas-ter.

At this juncture, society is unlikelyto tolerate headlong confrontation– between BN and PR, or betweenthe Federal government and the‘Opposition states’. In the face ofglobal recession, new ways of co-operation, not discredited formsof hostility, are crucial to plan andexecute national development.Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah saidas much by calling urgently formultiparty cooperation afterUMNO’s Permatang Pauh de-bacle, although he may not havecome in from the UMNO cold.

We must continually turn to ourcommunity of dissent: only therecan we find the unifying hope formeaningful social and politicalchange that would keep us frombeing distracted by frenzied an-tics or divided by reckless chau-vinism. As the year 2008 comes toa close, that is the deep, deep sig-nificance of the Long 2008.

A stronger UMNOin 2009?

A better societyis possible

Najib: Iron fist and repression?Najib: Iron fist and repression?Najib: Iron fist and repression?Najib: Iron fist and repression?Najib: Iron fist and repression?Tengku Razaleigh: Multiparty cooperation?Tengku Razaleigh: Multiparty cooperation?Tengku Razaleigh: Multiparty cooperation?Tengku Razaleigh: Multiparty cooperation?Tengku Razaleigh: Multiparty cooperation?

q


r M K Rajakumar, fondlycalled Rajan by his kinand Raja by most of hisfriends, passed away on

22 November 2008 at the age of76. On receiving the news at about4.00a.m. from Kiren, his youngerdaughter, while in Ipoh, I felt theterrible loss of a true friend whomI had always regarded as a men-tor. The medical profession haslost a dedicated practitioner andintellectual leader. The nation haslost a great patriot and true Ma-laysian.

Raja was admitted to hospitaltwice this year. During his lastthree weeks at the Kuala LumpurHospital, I managed to visit himthrice. It was sad to see him allwired up and heavily sedated.His children, especially Sunita,patiently kept him company. Hisson Arjuna was at hand. His spe-cialist son-in-law, Dr Jeyaindran,assisted by a host of dedicatednurses, fought hard to save him.But his fate was already sealed.Throughout, I managed to sup-press my shattered feelings. Butafter his cremation, I could nothold back my tears anymore. I felta bit embarrassed because even hischildren were composed.

Raja was always close and dearto me. I enjoyed his wit and sar-casm even when they were at myexpense. He was a serious andthoughtful person, a genuine ac-tivist and principled leaderthroughout his life. Born inMelaka on 25 May 1932, he at-tended the Malacca High Schoolthere. He was an excellent studentand was then already demonstrat-ing his leadership qualities. Heeasily made friends with everyonefrom various ethnic and religiousbackgrounds.

TRIBUTE

In memory of Rajakumar

A great man, a great friendHe deserves to be regarded as the best role model forMalaysians, especially the youths of today

by Dr Syed Husin Ali

DDDDD Leadership qualities

Rajakumar, Usman Awang and Syed HusinRajakumar, Usman Awang and Syed HusinRajakumar, Usman Awang and Syed HusinRajakumar, Usman Awang and Syed HusinRajakumar, Usman Awang and Syed Husin


While studying medicine in theUniversity of Malaya (UM), whichwas then in Singapore, he becameactive in the dominant studentorganisations. He was a Univer-sity of Malaya Students Union(UMSU) council member and oneof the major forces behind the Pan-Malayan Students Federation(PMSF), although he was only acommittee member. Friends in-formed me that he was the driv-ing force behind the PMSF Presi-dent, Philemon Oorjitham.

But Raja concentrated most of hisenergy on the UM Socialist Club,which he helped found with PohSoo Kai, Wang Gangwu, JamesPuthucheary and some other pro-gressive students. He served as itsSecretary and then President. To-gether with seven others in theclub, he was later charged in courtfor publishing the seventh issueof the club’s organ, Fajar. This is-sue of Fajar, entitled “Aggressionin Asia”, was deemed seditiousby the colonial authorities. Withthe radical Queen’s Counsel, D NPritt, as defence lawyer, they wonthe case. Through this trial, Rajabecame acquainted with Lee KuanYew, who had assisted Pritt.

I entered the university a numberof years after that celebrated case.Raja was already in the fourthyear of his medical studies. Hewas active with Samad Ismail inhelping Kuan Yew establish thePeople’s Action Party (PAP). Be-ing always concerned with theplight of workers, he remainedclose to union leaders like LimChin Siong, Sidney Woodhull andJamit Singh.

The first time I saw him was whenhe appeared in a debate held atthe Faculty of Arts lecture theatre

on whether it was necessary tostand when the British anthemwas played. He stood a lean andbespectacled person, constantlygesticulating with his right hand.He was not a fiery or rhetoricalspeaker. But he impressed mewith his measured presentationand rational arguments. Afterthat, I met him on a few brief occa-sions. Even from our casual con-versations, I sensed strongly hisearnestness and humility, whichwere indeed his trade mark.

A few years later, I visited him inMelaka with Abdullah Majid,who had earlier been detained bythe British for his anti-colonialactivities. I was then doing myMasters and Raja was serving asa government doctor at the gen-eral hospital there. We met onenight, sitting on a culvert by theseaside, talking for hours untilalmost midnight. He struck me asan enthusiastic and well-in-formed person, full of ideas. He

was most enthusiastic and pas-sionate when talking about therural poor, among whom he hadworked and done some research.

(Two years ago, when AnwarIbrahim visited him while he wasrecuperating at Pantai MedicalCentre, Raja suggested to Anwarto concentrate on work among thegrassroots as a source of strength.I think he wanted to remindAnwar never to neglect the poor.)

After Melaka, he was transferredto the General Hospital in KualaLumpur where he lived in thenearby San Peng Flats. AbdullahMajid, Agoes Salim and I movedin to squat there. Raja made surewe lived in comfort and were well-fed. Oftentimes, I wonderedwhether he had enough sleep atall, especially when he was oncall. He would be going in and outseveral times to the hospital the

Focal meeting point


whole night. He was dedicated tohis work and caring to patients.He continued to be so till late inhis life.

His spacious flat became a focalmeeting point for all kinds ofpeople on all kinds of occasions.His parents, Mr and Mrs Nair, hersister Sukumari and her husbandB C Sekhar always dropped by.There were frequent visits by hisold university peers and club col-leagues from Singapore like PohSoo Kai and Lim Hock Siew, withtheir wives, particularly whenthey went for holidays to CameronHighlands or elsewhere.

Often, we were joined by ourfriends living in Kuala Lumpurand Petaling Jaya. Among themwere Dr Ungku Omar, PArudsothy, Kassim Ahmad, DavidChai and Dr S S Gill. We enjoyedsitting around the dining table,talking about all kinds of things,exchanging views on interna-tional affairs and discussing lo-cal politics. These were inter-spersed with hearty laughs atjokes cracked. We felt like a bigfamily, closely tied together bycommon ideas and ideals. Rajawould inevitably emerge, leadingthe informal discussions, provid-ing incisive comments and inter-esting views.

During parliamentary sittings, anumber of Socialist Front (SF) MPssuch as Lim Kean Siew, V Davidand Veerapan gathered in the flatfor what often turned out to be al-most like pre-council meetings.Tan Kai Hee joined us when hewas not busy going around thecountry. We discussed and pre-pared questions and speeches forparliament. Tan Chee Khoon sel-dom came. He used to invite hisclose friends and some LabourParty (LPM) leaders to his housefor weekly discussions. Raja andI were often invited to join them.

When the Utusan Melayu striketook place in 1961, its leaders, whoincluded senior members of theeditorial staff like Said Zahari,Usman Awang, Tajudin Kahar,Salim Kajai and Samani Aminquite often came for lunch or tea.Raja made sure they were treatedto tasty Indian cuisine preparedby Ali, his cook who was welltrained by his mother, an accom-plished cook herself. At the sametime, Raja allowed them to takelimited provisions from the shopthat supplied him with groceries.

He was ever charitable. I remem-ber one day he received from thegovernment a cheque worth abouta thousand ringgit, which wasquite a big amount then. Even be-fore he could think of what to dowith it, I asked him if he wouldcontribute some to AhmadBoestamam, who had just beenreleased from ISA detention andneeded some money. To my sur-prise and joy, Raja asked me togive him the whole amount, al-though his own income was justa pittance. No wonder he had onlya few shirts and trousers in thecupboard and the same old pairof shoes to wear.

After he left government service,he opened a private practice inKlang. Later he moved his clinicto a low- cost flat in Jalan LokeYew. Raja was always obsessedwith the idea of helping the poorand that was exactly what he didfrom his Klinik Rakyat there. Themajority of his patients came fromamong the flat occupants, withsome being evicted slum dwellersand displaced peasants. Hehardly charged them anything. Infact, he did not even charge meand my family after I was askedto leave UM as lecturer in 1990being elected Parti Rakyat Malay-sia (PRM) President.

Raja was involved almost full-timein politics as Assistant SecretaryGeneral of LPM and SF. Later hebecame Selangor State Chairmanand acting National Chairman ofthe LPM. Before the 1959 elections,he was most active doing behind-the-scenes negotiations to forge anelectoral understanding betweenthe SF, Pas (Parti Islam) and theUnited Democratic Party (UDP).His main counterparts in thesenegotiations were ZulkifliMohamad and Lim Chong Eu.Their realistic approach and po-litical astuteness impressed him.

At the same time, we were hold-ing meetings to attract two Umnoministers who had sour relationswith Tunku Abdul Rahman. AzizIshak duly left Umno with his fol-lowers, Datuk Kampo Rajo andDahari Ali. They later formed theNational Convention Party(NCP), which I was persuaded, byRaja and Boestamam as well asAziz, to help in establishing. ButSardon Jubir backed out at the last

Full-time politicsand ISA arrest

Ahmad BoestamamAhmad BoestamamAhmad BoestamamAhmad BoestamamAhmad Boestamam


moment. Soon the NCP mergedwith the SF.

On 11 June 1965, Raja was ar-rested under the ISA and incar-cerated in Batu Gajah for abouttwo years. The police brandedhim as pro-communist and thetheoretician of the LPM. In deten-tion, he grew close to DrBurhanuddin Helmy, who wasalso detained there. According toRaja, he learnt a lot from the gooddoctor about the genuine Malaynationalist movement and Islam.He always regretted not havingthe facilities to take notes.

Raja was concerned about theacute ethnic tension that was de-veloping during the campaign forthe 1969 general elections. Asusual, he dreamed about nationalunity and the creation of a Malay-sian nation. A day before the com-munal eruption and carnage of 13May 1969, he dispatched an ur-gent note to Deputy Prime Minis-ter Abdul Razak Hussein (whowas also Home Minister then) ,requesting him to do somethingto avoid a racial conflict. He alsoquickly sent a clear directive to allLPM members, which was broad-cast by Radio Malaya, not to beinvolved in any racial confronta-tion and to understand who theirreal enemies were.

While his political activities werereduced, Raja became increas-ingly active for a number of yearsas an elected Alumni representa-tive in the University of MalayaCouncil. He was well-known andrespected as a dedicated and con-scientious member. He showedconcern not only for the welfareof students and staff but also thegeneral academic standards ofthe university. He thought seri-

ously about student intake andmade proposals to the council andthe Education Ministry on how toincrease the number of Malay stu-dents. He was worried about theethnic imbalance existing in theinstitutions of higher learningwhich, he felt strongly, should becorrected. But his good servicesended with the amendment to theUniversity and University Col-leges Act in 1975 which abolishedthe election of Alumni represen-tatives.

After the LPM decided to “pulldown its shutters” following massarrests of its key leaders and thebanning of some branches, Rajaturned his energy and attentionto the profession he loved. He be-came the President of the Malay-sian Medical Association (1979-80). During his tenure he pub-lished a report The Future of HealthServices in Malaysia, which pro-vided a comprehensive picture ofthe health situation in the coun-try and recommendations for itsimprovement. He was also Presi-dent of the Malaysian ScientificAssociation (1981-83).

Later, from 1986 to 1989, he servedas President of the WorldOrganisation of Family Doctors(WONCA). He was invited to de-liver lectures in many countries,especially on healthcare for thepoor. His views and advice wereconstantly sought by some seniorofficials in the Health Ministry ondifferent issues relating to ruralhealth care and health insurance.But many of them were notadopted by the Barisan Nasional(BN) government. He also servedas an advisor to China on rural

healthcare. It appeared he wasbetter appreciated there.

Raja wrote many articles, some ofwhich were compiled into a book,Family Medicine, Healthcare & So-ciety, which was launched re-cently. His writings demonstrateclearly his deep concern for pro-viding cheap but good medicalservice to the poor. He argued thatmedicine has become too expen-sive, especially after the humanorgans have been divided up anddeemed to require specialist treat-ment at exorbitant fees. For him,the family approach and lookingat the welfare of the human per-son as a whole in the context of amore just social environmentwould ensure better and cheaperhealthcare services.

Many universities locally andoverseas offered professorial po-sitions to Raja. But he decided toremain in his clinic to serve thepeople. Prime Minister MahathirMohamad once nominated Rajafor one of the country’s honorifictitles. It seemed the PrimeMinister’s wife conveyed the mes-sage that her husband was dis-appointed, if not angry, becauseRaja did not accept it. Raja soughtno official position or recognition.Right to the end, he remained amodest and simple man, commit-ted to his ideas and ideals of help-ing the poor and creating a unitedMalaysian nation.

A great man has passed away. Hewas a genuine Malaysian, a truepatriot, a selfless leader and a pub-lic intellectual par excellence. Ihave the fullest admiration forhim. He deserves to be regardedas the best role model for Malay-sians, especially the youths of to-day.

Health carefor the poor

q


ith the passing ofRajakumar, Malaysiahas lost a true patriotwho loved his country

and all its people. The medicalprofession has lost a dedicatedfamily physician, committed toequity and universal health care.His family has lost a tower ofstrength and love. His friends arebereft.

Rajan and I were contemporariesat the University of Malaya in theearly 1950s. I was into sports andstudent union affairs. Rajan wasinto breathing exercises for hisasthma and serious student poli-tics. I was elected to the Students’Council in my first year and Rajan

was notionally elected to the anti-colonial revolutionary studentgroup, which included manymutual friends - James Puthu-cheary, Lim Hock Siew, Poh SooKai, Sidney Woodhull, DollahMajid, Low Wah Lean, WangGungwu, Philomen Oorjitham,Arudsothy.

Rajan read widely and relent-lessly. Although I share a birth-day with Karl Marx, Rajan hadread The Communist Manifestoand Das Kapital long before Iread the latter in 1956, pur-chased at a second-handbookshop in Calcutta, while mymother was being treated forcancer.

It was not long after the founda-tion of the University of Malayain 1949 that a group of studentsformed the University SocialistClub, which produced a studentpublication called Fajar. Rajanwas its editor. Fajar passionatelycalled for the end of British colo-nial rule and made the case for fullindependence for Malaya andSingapore.

It was the Japanese occupation ofMalaya and Singapore and thepost-war liberation movements inChina, India, Indonesia, the Phil-ippines and Vietnam that hadradicalised many young Malay-ans and Singaporeans and ig-nited the freedom movement thatwould eventually lead to indepen-dence for Malaya and Singapore.

The Fajar group, as they came tobe known, were arrested in 1954by the British colonial governmentin Singapore and charged withsedition. I remember cutting lec-tures to follow the proceedings incourt, where they were defendedby Queen’s Counsel D N Pritt, as-sisted by a young lawyer calledLee Kuan Yew. The eight studentswere acquitted.

But subsequently, many of these

TRIBUTE

A passionate commitmentto equity and social justiceThe abolition of the ISA will be the most meaningful tribute toRajakumar and other ISA detainees, past and present

by Dr Ronnie McCoy

WWWWW


good men were arrested at differ-ent times under the Internal Secu-rity Act and detained for varyinglengths of time. St John’s Island,Changi and Kamunting are namesthat will long be remembered, likeRobben’s Island, where NelsonMandela was incarcerated.

The idea of a multicultural, multi-racial Malayan nation appealedto many of us. In 1948, the RafflesCollege Debating Society debatedthe motion that “The Intermar-riage between the Different Racesof Malaya is essential in order toproduce True Malayans”. JamesPuthucheary, J T Christie andHedwig Aroozoo spoke ferventlyfor the motion, but lost it to theEast-West Society by 77 to 94votes. Both James and Hedwigwere evidently carried away bytheir own arguments, as Mavisand Anuar, their respectivespouses, will testify. AlthoughRajan and I were not at the debate,we were later carried away too!

Malaya’s independence camesoon after we graduated. Togetherwith Tan Chee Khoon, we joinedthe Labour Party, which later coa-lesced with Parti Rakyat to formthe Socialist Front. While I at-tended Labour Partymeetings and lent my carduring elections to trans-port voters to polling sta-tions, Rajan was theLabour Party’s ideo-logue and Assistant Sec-retary-General. He even-tually paid the price andwas detained inKamunting from 1965 to1967. The ISA was freelyused to detain withouttrial members of the

Labour Party and the partygradually disintegrated.

Life is an unbroken successionof experiences from which onelearns and discerns the path tothe future. The threat that onecan be deprived of liberty indefi-nitely without being chargedand tried in a court of law mustleave scars. After the indignitiesof Kamunting, Rajan decided todevote his intellectual vigour tomedicine and focused on pri-mary health care, as a way of liv-ing up to his passionate commit-ment to equity and social justice.As presidents of the MalaysianMedical Association (MMA),Rajan and I chaired two MMAcommittees on health reformsand universal health care, basedon primary care and nationalhealth financing. Both reportscontinue to languish in govern-ment files, while health care costsrise and exclude the poor fromquality health care.

We also worked together in theworldwide physicians’ move-ment for the abolition of nuclearweapons, spearheaded by Inter-national Physicians for the Pre-vention of Nuclear War(IPPNW). When I initiated theformation of the Malaysian af-

filiate in 1986, I had Rajan’s fullsupport, although he had con-cluded that it would not attract thesupport of Malaysian doctors, hav-ing attended an IPPNW world con-gress two years earlier. In a way hewas right, but later agreed that theMalaysian affiliate had influencedand strengthened the Malaysiangovernment’s commitment tonuclear abolition.

It would appear that neither of uswill see a health system with afford-able, equitable, universal healthcare in Malaysia nor see a worldfree of nuclear weapons. But somechanges take a very long time tobring about. The challenge is tonever give up trying because allhuman problems have human so-lutions, given the political will.

The government, which has beenin power for 51 years, continues touse the ISA to weaken and destroythe opposition. I recommend foryour reading the six consecutivearticles of the Universal Declara-tion of Human Rights from 6 to 11,which are devoted to the vital ques-tion of the rule of just law. Accord-ing to it, all are entitled to equal pro-tection of the law and no one shallbe subjected to arbitrary arrest, de-tention or exile. Everyone is pre-sumed innocent until proved guilty

according to law and isentitled to a fair andpublic hearing by an in-dependent and impar-tial court of law.

The ISA is a completeviolation of humanrights and must be abol-ished. Its abolition willbe the most meaningfultribute to Rajakumarand other ISA detainees,past and present.

Never give up trying

James Puthucheary, Lim Chin Siong and Sidney WoodhullJames Puthucheary, Lim Chin Siong and Sidney WoodhullJames Puthucheary, Lim Chin Siong and Sidney WoodhullJames Puthucheary, Lim Chin Siong and Sidney WoodhullJames Puthucheary, Lim Chin Siong and Sidney Woodhullq


n 23 November, when Isaw Dr Rajakumar’sobituaries in the papers,a great sadness came

over me. The first thought thatcame to my mind was there are onlya few sons of Malaysia who havewalked the face of this earth that areas good and gentle as Dr Rajakumar.I immediately cut out the obituar-ies and showed them to my chil-dren, telling them that a dearfriend of their Kong Kong (grand-father) had passed away.

Throughout my childhood I knewthat Dr Rajakumar was a closefriend of the family. Being theyoungest of six siblings I was of-ten regarded as a baby and nottaken seriously; so I only knew DrRajakumar by name and hadbarely spoken to him.

But in 1996, when my father DrTan Chee Khoon passed away, Icame to know him much better. Hewas one of my father’s pall bear-ers along with Mr Tan Kai Heeand others. It was only fitting thatthese comrades, whom I nick-named “mighty men”, who hadstruggled together for so long fora better Malaysia, should be theones to carry his coffin to the grave.They belonged to a different erawhere they fought, first through

TRIBUTE

The passing of a mighty manThe passing of a mighty manThe passing of a mighty manThe passing of a mighty manThe passing of a mighty manIt was because men like Dr Rajakumar kept the oppositionflame of high ideals burning even through the darkest hoursthat the present opposition is able to reap the benefits

by Tan Poh Lai

OOOOO

Mr Opposition: Dr Tan Chee KhoonMr Opposition: Dr Tan Chee KhoonMr Opposition: Dr Tan Chee KhoonMr Opposition: Dr Tan Chee KhoonMr Opposition: Dr Tan Chee Khoon

RajakumarRajakumarRajakumarRajakumarRajakumar


the Labour Party thenlater through other ve-hicles for a more just Ma-laysia. Although my fa-ther became a Member ofParliament and later be-came known as “Mr. Op-position”, Dr Rajakumarnever won any seat de-spite being a candidate inmany elections. He madeno mention of hardshipalthough he had been de-tained under the ISA foryears.

On the morning of myfather’s funeral, DrRajakumar was one of thefirst to arrive at my house.He was very emotional.He took a walk alone inthe garden. He told me that thereason why he did not visit myfather more often during the lastthree years that my father was to-tally paralysed and unable tospeak or swallow was that it tookhim days to get over such a visit.It affected him greatly to see sucha previously active man suffer inthat immobilised state.

Over the few months after myfather’s death, I was in constantcontact with Dr Rajakumar as wejointly organised a memorial formy father. I realised that the kin-dred spirit between them, borneof high and lofty ideals, was sostrong they could be described assoul-mates. These mighty men ofhigh ideals spared nothing intheir struggle for a better Malay-sia.

Nowadays, it is often either therich or powerful who receive rec-ognition in this world. DrRajakumar was neither rich nordid he hold any political office,

although his political struggle forhuman rights and the ethics ofjustice and integrity in public lifespanned many decades. But un-like my father he lived to see thereality of 8 March 2008, when theopposition made great gains.

A major factor that led to this re-sounding opposition victory wasthe absence of three-corneredfights. For decades, men like myfather and Dr Rajakumar had val-iantly fought for a united opposi-tion with straight fights in the elec-tions but they seldom succeeded.They were unable to see the fruitsof their labour but it was becausethey kept the flame of the high ide-als of the opposition burning eventhrough the darkest hours that thepresent opposition is able to reapthe benefits.

Sometimes I wonder: what if op-position moderates like DrRajakumar, my father and othermighty men of high ideals wereindeed able to hold office after

1969 and the Gerakanparty had remained in theopposition after capturingPenang? I am sure theywould have been great re-formers even before thecatch word “reformasi”was invented!

The current hot news isno doubt Barack Obama.It is said that he is a greatorator. With due respect toPresident-elect Obama, interms of oratory, DrRajakumar would winhands down. He was amaster of words and usedthem effectively, with pas-sion and conviction.

Dr Rajakumar walked theroad less travelled like many of hisopposition comrades. Heshunned recognition. Once hetold me that he had been offered adatukship for his services to thescientific community. He said,“What for – no need-lah!” My ownfather felt the same way, when hewas offered the Tan Sri award, hesaid, “I’m already half a Tan Srias my name is Tan – no need!”But later he did accept the awardto lend credibility to the newspa-per column which he wroteweekly. The group of people whoare Tuns, Tan Sris, Datuks etc. in-deed belong to an elite group.

But there is a far more elite group:those who do not seek a title butare offered one in recognition ofthe good work that they havedone. But they refuse such an of-fer and prefer to remain as theyare! I count it such an honour tohave known Dr Rajakumar. He isof an extinct species; however, tolive in the hearts that you leavebehind is not to die.

Tan Poh Lai and her parentsTan Poh Lai and her parentsTan Poh Lai and her parentsTan Poh Lai and her parentsTan Poh Lai and her parents

q


o someone who hasbeen very close toRajakumar, it is verydifficult to accept that

he has finally left us.

Two years ago, we were im-mensely relieved when he mi-raculously survived a severebout of pneumonia but regret-tably this time his weakenedconstitution could not with-stand yet another bout of thedisease.

Raja has lived a full and mean-ingful life in the way he has al-ways wanted – a life devotednot to himself but his fellow-men.

Raja was one of the prime mov-ers in the formation of the Uni-versity Socialist Club in 1953and he has always been a lead-ing member of the socialistmovement in our country. Hehad the honour of beingcharged for sedition by theBritish colonial government ofSingapore in 1954. That expe-rience inspired him and his

comrades to greater efforts tofree our country from foreignrule.

Unlike the majority of his con-temporaries at the University,who were mainly occupiedwith securing their own de-grees and their own future,Raja was concerned primarilywith our country and ourpeople – and their future.

I remember those days whenwe discussed, till late into thenight, how to free our countryfrom foreign rule and to estab-lish a united democratic soci-ety where all our people couldlive in peace and harmony in ajust and fair society. It was anobjective for which Raja wasprepared to dedicate and sac-rifice his life. We had no oneto guide us but our conscienceand our love for our fellow-men.

Much has happened in our so-ciety since those days over 50years ago, but much more re-mains to be done. Raja had al-

TRIBUTE

A life devoted to his fellowhuman beingsHe was an outstanding human being who left his markon the history of our people’s struggle for a societyworthy of all human beings

by Dr Lim Hock Siew

TTTTT

Dr Lim Hock SiewDr Lim Hock SiewDr Lim Hock SiewDr Lim Hock SiewDr Lim Hock Siew

JomoJomoJomoJomoJomo


ways maintained a positiveand optimistic attitude towardsour future.

Age had certainly not with-ered his ideals and beliefs. Ifanything, he had become evenmore resolute in his convic-tions. His views and advicewere eagerly sought by thosewho valued his incisive mindand analytical thinking, and heremained to the very enddeeply committed to the wel-fare of the common person.

Raja’s intellectual integrity wasbeyond question. He rejectedall personal awards andhonours, and courageously ex-pressed his views withoutrancour.

Two years ago, even when hewas seriously ill in hospital, hespoke up against the risingwave of racialism in our coun-try and warned of the possi-bility of Malaysia becoming asecond Cyprus.

Raja’s contribution to society

This was a letter sent byThis was a letter sent byThis was a letter sent byThis was a letter sent byThis was a letter sent byDr Lim Hock Siew to DrDr Lim Hock Siew to DrDr Lim Hock Siew to DrDr Lim Hock Siew to DrDr Lim Hock Siew to DrRajakumar’s family on theRajakumar’s family on theRajakumar’s family on theRajakumar’s family on theRajakumar’s family on theoccasion of a memorialoccasion of a memorialoccasion of a memorialoccasion of a memorialoccasion of a memorialservice held on 30 Novem-service held on 30 Novem-service held on 30 Novem-service held on 30 Novem-service held on 30 Novem-ber 2008.ber 2008.ber 2008.ber 2008.ber 2008.

extended beyond the politicalarena. He was an eminent phy-sician and helped to advancethe standard of primary healthcare in our country. He was thePresident of WONCA, an in-ternational organisation of pri-mary care physicians. Besidesbeing invited to the NationalUniversity of Malaya to lectureon primary health care, he wasalso invited to China to adviseon improving health care inthat vast country.

Raja applied to his privatemedical practice his philosophyof life. Although medical prac-tice could be a most lucrativeprofession, Raja decided to fillhis heart and not his pocketwith gold. Thus he became abusy and dedicated doctorwho was financially the poor-est.

Raja has left behind three mostlovable children – Sunita, Kirenand Arjuna. To them, may I saythat your papa has left you notpots of gold but somethingmore valuable than materialwealth – his philosophy of life,his outlook on life that will

bring more meaning and hap-piness to your lives.

You all have a papa whom youcan be very proud of – an out-standing human being who hasleft his mark on the history ofour people’s struggle for a so-ciety that is worthy of all hu-man beings.

Take comfort that your pro-found loss is deeply shared byall of us who had the privilegeof being closely associatedwith your papa.

Please regard me, my wife,Beatrice, and all other closecomrades and friends of yourpapa, people like Soo Kai,Jomo, Syed Husin, Sakti andKok Keong, and many others,as members of your family.

You know we all love you. q

Heart filled with gold

ArjunaArjunaArjunaArjunaArjuna SunitaSunitaSunitaSunitaSunita KirenKirenKirenKirenKiren


Mr./Ms.

Address

Occupation Tel. No.

Email

Subscription (11 issues per year)Subscription (11 issues per year)Subscription (11 issues per year)Subscription (11 issues per year)Subscription (11 issues per year)

1 year 2 years 1 year 2 years 1 year 2 years 1 year 2 years 1 year 2 years

Donation to Aliran ..............................................Donation to Aliran ..............................................Donation to Aliran ..............................................Donation to Aliran ..............................................Donation to Aliran ..............................................

TOTAL Enclosed : Money Order / Postal Order / Cheque

(No. ) payable to: Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara.payable to: Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara.payable to: Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara.payable to: Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara.payable to: Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara.

AM 2008: 28(10)

Please send this gift subscription to :

Mr./Ms.

Address

Occupation Tel. No.

Subscription for 11 issues 1 yearSubscription for 11 issues 1 yearSubscription for 11 issues 1 yearSubscription for 11 issues 1 yearSubscription for 11 issues 1 year 2 years2 years2 years2 years2 years

I enclose money order / postal order / cheque for the above order

amounting to RM payable to:

Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran NegaraPersatuan Aliran Kesedaran NegaraPersatuan Aliran Kesedaran NegaraPersatuan Aliran Kesedaran NegaraPersatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara

This gift subscription is paid for and presented by:

Mr./Ms.

Address

Date Signature

ONE YEARONE YEARONE YEARONE YEARONE YEARRM30S$40

U S $ 3 5US$30US$40US$45

TWO YEARSTWO YEARSTWO YEARSTWO YEARSTWO YEARSRM60S $ 7 5

US$60US$52U S $ 7 1US$82

SUBSCRIPTION RATESCOUNTRYCOUNTRYCOUNTRYCOUNTRYCOUNTRYMALAYSIASINGAPOREJAPAN, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALANDOTHER ASIA PACIFIC COUNTRIESEUROPE, RUSSIA, CENTRAL ASIA, MIDDLE-EASTNORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, AFRICA

GIFT SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORMGIFT SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORMGIFT SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORMGIFT SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORMGIFT SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM

ALIRAN MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION FORM

RM

RM

RM

Be aBe aBe aBe aBe aconcernedconcernedconcernedconcernedconcerned

Malaysian,Malaysian,Malaysian,Malaysian,Malaysian,Subscribe toSubscribe toSubscribe toSubscribe toSubscribe to

AliranMonthly

N O W

“Libertyof thought

means libertyto communicateone's thought.”

Salvador de Madariage1886 - 1973

Spanish diplomat, writer, critic

AM 2008: 28(10)

Send this form and payment to

ALIRAN103, MEDAN PENAGA,

11600 JELUTONG,PENANG, MALAYSIA


t was 11.30 am on 18 De-cember 2008. The 500kmstretch of road leading toParliament was lined on

both sides with the red-shirtedteenage heroes of the Cycle forChange campaign and support-ers. They waited in anticipationas one kilometre away, the ‘Pre-pared to be arrested’ team (Skuadberani kena tahan) of 30 adult cy-clists got ready.

Tense negotiations were takingplace between the police and ourorganisers at the point the roadforked. The order from the DeputyInspector General of Police wasthat absolutely no bicycles -whether cycled, pushed or carried- would be allowed. Three policedistricts were mobilised to ensurehis instructions were met. For theJerit organisers, not cycling to Par-liament to hand over the memo-randum was inconceivable.

Suddenly, the knot of negotiatingpolicemen and organisers brokeup to allow through a stream of12 cyclists pedalling towards Par-liament. Wild applause filled theair as the waiting cyclists andsupporters rejoiced.

To the cyclists and organisers a his-toric 16-day adventure of struggleand fun had come to a successfulend. To the police and their mas-

ters, it seemed as if the biggest threatto the nation had ceased.

Throughout the course of the Cyclefor Change campaign the policehad tried to criminalise the entireprogram by randomly accusing usof breaking all kinds of laws.

First, they wanted us to stop cy-cling, warning that we would beguilty of illegal assembly andholding a procession.

When they could not justify that,in Kulai, Johor, they stopped ourcyclists in broad daylight and is-sued summonses stating that ourbicycles did not have reflectors.

Then they said our leaflets were

in contravention of the laws withregard to printing and publica-tions, as truly we had failed toprint the source of the leaflet. Af-ter we had rectified that, they werestill not happy and kept pounc-ing on our pamphleteering teams.

When we took a break from pam-phleteering, they arrested us forobstructing the police from carry-ing out their duties, in this case,clambering up our bus to intimi-date our cyclists.

Earlier, they had detained our bi-cycles that were being transportedby a lorry to our next stop. I guessthe only illegal thing about thatwas they belonged to the cam-paign.

In all the states the northern and

SOCIAL-ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Pedal powerAs we cycled for change, we found the chains thatshackled us and we were determined to break them

by Rani Rasiah

IIIII

Is it a crime to cycle?


southern teams had been to ear-lier – Kedah, Penang, Perak andJohor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilanrespectively – we had been con-stantly harassed, assaulted, in-timidated and wrongfully ar-rested by the police. Our camerahad been snatched from us andan organiser molested amongvarious incidents.

But the Selangor CPO and theRawang police took the cake - es-pecially the CPO, Khalid AbuBakar. He ordered all the cyclistsand organisers, who were thenseated in a restaurant having teahosted by YB Gan Pei Nei, to bearrested for illegal assembly. Later,he announced to the media thatthe organisers would be chargedunder the Child Act for forcingunwilling under-18s to cycle im-possible distances and withoutconsent from their parents. Heunleashed the FRU on angry Ma-laysians holding candles outsidethe police station to press for theimmediate release of all those de-tained.

Eighty people aged 15 to 50 cy-cling single file from the north andsouth of the peninsula, wearingT-shirts highlighting the main is-sues affecting our working people

– is that a crime? Indeed, therewere no less than 215 arrests anddetentions of cyclists andorganisers in the 16 days!

The red T-shirts worn by the cy-clists carried six demands, all ofwhich were discussed in a memo-randum that was handed over tothe Prime Minister on 18 Decem-ber 2008 at Parliament. The cam-paign, organised by the Op-pressed People’s Network (Jerit),highlighted six main issues:• A minimum wage act• Adequate housing• Repeal of draconian laws such

as the ISA• Control of prices• No privatisation of basic

amenities and services• Local Council elections

Are these demands irksome?Could they be a thorn in the fleshto some? But they are not the re-sult of the creative antics of somebored activists. They are borne outof the real day-to-day hardshipfaced by 60 per cent of the popu-lation who are victims of the lowand no minimum wage policy ofthe government. The recession

and ensuing joblosses, coupledwith the highprices of staplefood items such asrice, have actuallyforced poorpeople to cutdown on theiroverall food in-take. The price ofmilk powder hasresulted in chil-dren drinkingkopi-o and teh-o.

What is so wrong in asking for achange to this situation?

It is unfortunate that in the post-campaign days, the governmentand police, instead of trying tostudy and act on the demands ofthe people, seem bent on identify-ing the ‘mastermind’ behind this‘major crime’, the links to groupslike Hindraf, and laws underwhich we could be charged.Clearly, the Barisan Nasional hasnot learnt from 8 March 2008.

Suddenly the police and theirmasters want to save the children!

They wanted to save our under-18s from being exploited andabused to further the aims of cer-tain groups. So the police orderedthe children into the station,barked orders at them, calledthem in for documentation one byone, separated them from the abus-ers (organisers), lectured themseparately about the illegality ofthe whole campaign and thelikely effect on their future.

Then they roped in the welfareofficers supposedly to protect andhand over the children to theirparents when they arrived. In-stead, these welfare officers beganwriting intelligence reports onthem. All the while the childrenthey wanted to save were left dry-ing in their shirts that had beendrenched when they were madeto walk from the car park of thepolice station to the room wherethey were held for the night.

There were sneaky attempts torecord statements from the chil-dren, and those who refused to

Who will saveour children?

Can ’ t t he poo rdemand change?


cooperate were called devils andyelled at. Some were asked to re-move the offensive red shirts. Onewho said she would not leave thepolice station until all her co-cy-clists and organisers were re-leased was screamed at andthreatened. Finally, after 3.00am,they were given mats and pillowsto sleep on. In so many ways, thepolice tried to save the childrenfrom us.

When the parents arrived the nextday, they gave the police a rudeawakening, demanding reasonsfor detaining their children.

Who are the police trying to fool?It’s not the children they are try-ing to save but their political mas-ters and cronies whose policiesare the cause of the hardshipfaced by people. This campaignwas obviously causing them agreat deal of discomfort and dam-age.

What a sham to say childrenshould not be involved in or ex-posed to the issues of the cam-paign! As a member of a low-in-come household, every injusticeaffecting the parents translatesinto some form of material andemotional deprivation for thechild. When a parent is unable toput three square meals on thetable, there are no saviours to in-tervene and save the children.Children in a low-income homehave to become adults quickly tounderstand their reality, and inmany cases to start working to addto the family income.

Remember the children of planta-tion workers carrying oversizedpails, and walking from tree to treecollecting scrap? They don’t havethe luxury of growing up as chil-

Aliran member RaniAliran member RaniAliran member RaniAliran member RaniAliran member RaniRasiah is a Jerit coordi-Rasiah is a Jerit coordi-Rasiah is a Jerit coordi-Rasiah is a Jerit coordi-Rasiah is a Jerit coordi-nator.nator.nator.nator.nator.

dren. Their parents’ plight is theirplight. Their parents’ struggle be-came their struggle.

What about the children piningfor loved ones under detention inKamunting? If they were sincere,the government could save thechildren by abolishing the ISA!

The entire police force of the coun-try over the 16 days seemed tohave been mobilised to monitorand halt the campaign. At least35 roadblocks invarious districtsfrom Alor Star toRawang in thenorth and fromScudai toBeranang in thesouth - morethan half ofwhich were ledby OCPDs ortheir deputies -were mounted.Many roadblocks were manned byup to 35 policemen. In BaganSerai, the Light Strike Force waswaiting for the cyclists.

The Special Branch followed thewhole campaign in cars with pho-tographers clicking away day andnight, never losing sight of us.Patrol cars and unmarked carshovered around the places wherewe stayed the night (though thisround-the-clock vigil by the policefailed to stop the real criminals,such as the arsonists who burntsix of our bicycles in PermatangPauh). Even a police helicopterwas used around Parliament onthe last day!

The police worked with great zeal,

Use resourcesto fight crime!

even going beyond the call of duty.In Kanthan Baru, they produceda form meant for suspects of se-cret societies (which includedquestions on gang membership)to be filled up by every cyclist!

Why spend so much time, moneyand energy trying to obstruct andstop a peaceful, healthy activityby people exercising their demo-cratic rights in a non-violent man-ner?

The parents waiting outside theRawang police station spoke forall Malaysians when they gave

the police an earful on how pre-cious resources could be used tofight the many crimes plaguingthe nation instead of hounding us.

The great German socialist RosaLuxemburg famously remarkedthat those who do not move do notnotice their chains. The cyclists ofthe Cycle for Change campaignbear testimony to that reality. Weare glad we moved. We are gladwe cycled. As we cycled forchange we found the chains thatbind us and we were determinedto break them. q


17 December 2008 – Memo to17 December 2008 – Memo to17 December 2008 – Memo to17 December 2008 – Memo to17 December 2008 – Memo toSelangor MBSelangor MBSelangor MBSelangor MBSelangor MB

t was the day before theParliament rendezvous.Both teams from northand south were sup-

posed to unite today to pass thememorandum to the SelangorMenteri Besar. The TV and radiocontinued to broadcast, askingpeople not to participate in the 18December handing over of memo-randum at Parliament. The mediasay that it would be an illegalgathering and action would betaken against those who partici-pated.

In the morning, the southern teamleft Kajang towards Shah Alamwhile the northern team left Klangtowards Shah Alam. We plannedto meet up at Bukit Cahaya TamanPertanian, around 4km from theSelangor Mentri Besar’s office. Aswe approached the venue, wewere a bit surprised that there wasno heavy police presence. Noroad-blocks. I was then told byZahir and Nik, both aides of theSelangor MB that they have spo-ken to the CPO of Selangor. He toldthem that they could only allow50 metres of cycling – as a sym-bolic action. The orders not to al-low cycling were clear.

When we reached Bukit Cahaya,

the police presence was minimal.Meanwhile Dr Jeyakumar andJerit national coordinator Kohilawas holding a press conference inParliament house to counter theallegations that Kumar was ex-ploiting the below-18 cyclists andto announce arrangements for thenext day. Meanwhile, in SungaiSiput, around 60 parents turnedup and decided to sue theSelangor Chief Police Office fortheir action in detaining the chil-dren and allegedly manipulatingthe whole issue.

At Shah Alam, I met with the Act-ing OCPD Chandra. He said thathis orders were clear. He wouldarrest cyclists if they were seencycling on public roads. He alsosaid that the most he could allowwas 50 metres of cycling.

I kept telling him that he could notarrest cyclists if they were scat-tered around. He said that his or-ders were clear and that they werefederal-level orders. I told him thatgood OCPDs used their discretion-ary powers.

I then went to Bukit Cahaya. Bythen, both teams had arrived. Wehad a short meeting among theorganisers and decided that wewould break the squad into two.The first would be a squad ofadults totalling around 30. Wecalled this squad “Berani kenatahan” (ready to be arrested). Theywould ride one-by-one with a gapof around 30 metres in between.They would use a new road head-ing towards Dataran Shah Alam.The second group, the rest of thecyclists, would ride from Dataran

SOCIO-ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Two dramatic daysDefying the odds, the Jerit cyclists reached Parliament toachieve a remarkable victory

by Arutchelvan

IIIII


Shah Alam to the state secretariat(SUK).

The OCPD was now very unsure.He did not agree that we couldstart from Dataran Shah Alam.

I told him that we had compro-mised enough and beyond that,we could not agree.

He just nodded. As for the otherteam, he said that if they crossedthe road-block, “I will stop them.”

I told him that he could not stop acyclist if he or she did not breakany rule.

But we did not pass through hisroad block, we used another route.At Dataran Shah Alam, while wereadied to cycle, our comrade ExcoElizabeth Wong arrived. She es-corted us in her official car. Wereached SUK. There was a senseof accomplishment as both teamshad reached their destinationsafely.

Soon we waited for the MB. Wewere concerned that the MBwould not be able to meet us as hewas not feeling well. But it wasnot disappointing as MB Tan SriKhalid appeared. The cyclistswere delighted especially thesouthern team as this was the firsttime a Menteri Besar was greetingthem.

The MB told the cyclists that thiswas part of the struggle and thestate government would try to ful-fill their demands. It was a victoryin Shah Alam.

That evening, Selvam and I had ameeting with the Acting CPODatuk Abu Samah. We met histeam in IPK. The OCPD of Dang

Wangi, Brickfields and Sentul, SB,Crime and Public Order chiefwere present. It was an hour longmeeting.

The CPO said that the orderswere clear. No cycling, not evenone person. We said cycling wasthe theme of the campaign andwe could not compromise onthis. He said no way, though hesympathised with us. He alsosaid all our arrangements inParliament - lunch for 130 cy-clists and the press conferencewas also cancelled. He addedthat only a delegation of 20would be allowed and that theycould facilitate.

It was the final day - a day thatwould determine if the organisersand cyclists end up in Parliamentor in some police lock-up. We hadarranged lunch at the SelangorChinese Assemble Hall, but thenagain, we were unsure and wedecided that maybe weshould just organiselunchboxes.

By 8.00am, our busesstarted to arrive in KualaLumpur. Here we were ini-tially misguided by thepolice. The police hadstarted their manoeuvres.One bus was stopped andtold that it would be takento the Brickfields policestation; another bus wasstopped and told to wait;yet another bus was di-verted and later told that itwould be escorted out ofKuala Lumpur. At this

We kept assuring him that wewould cycle but not break anyrule.

But he said that his orders wereclear.

During the meeting, I received atext message informing me thatour security chief, Sivarajan, hadmet with an accident and hadbeen taken to the University Hos-pital. With this scenario, theorganising team held a meeting tostrategise while the TV and themedia kept broadcasting warn-ings that action would be takenagainst cyclists and those takingpart in the campaign.

time, we had decided that if thebuses were stopped, the partici-pants would just alight and walktowards Parliament. The policewere equally confused. They did

18 December 2008 –Cyclists reach Parliament!

Continued on page 39Continued on page 39Continued on page 39Continued on page 39Continued on page 39


feel very honoured tohave had Dr M KRajakumar as a friend.

In the 40 years I knew him, he wasmy mentor. The first time I becameacquainted with his name wasthrough the 1954 Fajar incident.For provoking the wrath of thecolonialists, Raja and the otherseven members of the Fajar edito-rial board were hauled to court,their celebrated case a harbingerto the anti-colonial movement andstruggle for democratic freedomwhich would shake Singapore

and Malaya.

Raja was a very kind and amiableperson. From the time he joinedthe Labour Party (LPM) in the1960s, he proved himself to be anoutstanding political worker. Asan anti-colonial hero of Fajar fame,he was highly respected by theLeft and the masses; but he pre-ferred to keep a low profile anddeclined high office in the party.All the same, whenever any big

issue cropped up in the party, ev-eryone would immediately thinkof him.

Many policy documents, speechesand press statements weredrafted by him within the short-est time. Whether it was in articu-lating party policies and strategiesat meetings or delivering speechesat rallies, he was always eloquentand lucid, reflecting his wealth ofknowledge and nimble mind.

From the first day I met him tillhis demise, he was the person Iheld in greatest respect in theLPM. His was a life dedicated toupholding truth and justice. Hewas my model. He had alwaysbeen a defender of the socialist ide-als. He did not care for fame orglory, but quietly worked for thepeople. He was poor but had greatmoral integrity, he was nevertempted by money or position. In-stead, he often donated what littlehe had to disaster victims withinand outside the country.

He opened a small clinic in JalanLoke Yew to serve the people there,and had never talked about giv-ing it up. At the same time, a lot ofwell-known and important peoplealso came to him for treatment andcounsel. They sought his viewsand advice, and he never hesi-tated to share with them his

TRIBUTE

A doctor who cared not forA doctor who cared not forA doctor who cared not forA doctor who cared not forA doctor who cared not forreward, only truth and justicereward, only truth and justicereward, only truth and justicereward, only truth and justicereward, only truth and justiceby Tan Kai Hee

IIIIIO u t s t a n d i n g

political worker

Some people are living, but are already deadSome people are living, but are already deadSome people are living, but are already deadSome people are living, but are already deadSome people are living, but are already deadSome people are dead, but they live onSome people are dead, but they live onSome people are dead, but they live onSome people are dead, but they live onSome people are dead, but they live on

~Zang Kejia, “Some People”~Zang Kejia, “Some People”~Zang Kejia, “Some People”~Zang Kejia, “Some People”~Zang Kejia, “Some People”

Rajakumar at a rallyRajakumar at a rallyRajakumar at a rallyRajakumar at a rallyRajakumar at a rallywith Tan Kai Heewith Tan Kai Heewith Tan Kai Heewith Tan Kai Heewith Tan Kai Heesitting on the rightsitting on the rightsitting on the rightsitting on the rightsitting on the right


knowledge and understanding ofcurrent issues and situations.That was the way he was: neverturning anyone away, always giv-ing; all through his life leadingnumerous fighters for justice onto the right path.

All his life, displaying no desirefor eminence or wealth, he quietlymade his contributions to thecountry and the people. He waslike Dr Norman Bethune ofCanada, who went all the way toChina to offer his services in theliberated areas of China to treatand care for the soldiers. He wasalso like Nobel laureate, MotherTeresa, who gave of herself cease-lessly. This kind of selfless inter-nationalist spirit earned Raja theadmiration and respect of theMalaysian people.

In 1965, Raja and I were lockedup together in Block C of the BatuGajah Detention Centre. Sharingour cell were Hasnul,Burhanuddin, Tajudin and NazarNong. Boestamam was next door.We had all struggled for freedom,democracy, genuine indepen-dence and equal rights in thecountry. We were all victims of theISA and passed a long, difficult

and unforgettable period togetherunder detention.

As a highly intellectual doctor, hisfirm stands and unwavering willpower were astounding. His com-mitment in all his undertakingsdeeply impressed me. At that timehe was also my language tutorand mentor in strategicthinking. My later sur-vival and success in thebusiness world owemuch to his tutelage dur-ing those years and hissubsequent counsel.

I am gratified that besidesguiding me in my workand career, he was al-ways concerned aboutmy health and safety,constantly providing mewith advice. Unfortu-nately, he himself fellsick from overwork andhad to go in and out ofhospital numerous timesfor heart surgery. I feltsaddened for not beingable to lighten his suffer-ing. On the other hand,

he remained jovial, greeting every-one with a cheerful smile – neverdwelling on his painful struggleagainst his illness. I was dumb-founded and humbled.

In his final moments, as his fam-ily, Dr Jeya and I watched himpass away in peace, the pain inmy heart was intolerable.

He was a great man at a tumultu-ous era in Malaysian history. Un-fortunately, he lived in an era thatwas not ready for a man like him;otherwise, he would have movedthe world.

Rest in peace, my old friend, myold comrade, my guiding spirit.We will remain true to your ide-als and your dreams and con-tinue down the path you have laidfor us - step by step, generation bygeneration.

(Translated from Chinese by Tan PekLeng)

Rajakumar speaking at the SocialistRajakumar speaking at the SocialistRajakumar speaking at the SocialistRajakumar speaking at the SocialistRajakumar speaking at the SocialistFront rallyFront rallyFront rallyFront rallyFront rally

U n w a v e r i n gwill power

Nazar Nong: Addressing a rallyNazar Nong: Addressing a rallyNazar Nong: Addressing a rallyNazar Nong: Addressing a rallyNazar Nong: Addressing a rally

q


uring the 1960s, I wentthrough a period of deepdepression and almostlost all sense of hope in

life.

After finishing secondary school,I intended to continue my studiesin medicine and was acceptedinto a university in India. But myaspiration came to naught as myfamily’s financial situation didnot allow for it even though theexpenses required then weremuch lower than what they arenow.

I then decided to go to KualaLumpur to join my brother whowas doing his Masters at the Uni-versity of Malaya. Gradually,many friends of my brother, SyedHusin, became my friends as well.One of them was Dr M KRajakumar.

Rajakumar was then a young doc-tor at the Kuala Lumpur GeneralHospital. He showed great con-cern over my problem of not beingable to pursue my studies in thesciences.

One day, he engaged me in a con-versation that was longer thanusual and in the midst of it said tome, “Hamid, I am a doctor and Ihope you can mull over this mat-ter: the addition of one more doc-

tor does not necessarily meanthings are going to change for thebetter for the people.”

“But if you are a policy maker whois honest and truly understandsthe needs of the rakyat, the changewill definitely be great. It does notmatter whether you are a doctoror not,” he added.

That was Rajakumar’s advice tome some 45 years ago.

Initially, I did not understand theactual message behind his words.But when I finally recognised itswisdom, it gradually seeped inand became firmly lodged in mythick skull.

Rajakumar passed away on 22November 2008. The last time I

saw him was when I visited himat a hospital in Petaling Jaya a fewmonths earlier, together with SyedHusin, the PKR deputy president.

He was asleep when we arrivedbut woke up when he heard ustalking quietly with his twodaughters, Kiren and Sunita.

“Been here long…?” he askedwhile thanking the two of us.“How are Sabariah and the chil-dren?”

“Thank you. They all send theirregards,” Syed Husin answeredwhile patting him on his leg.

Anyone witnessing the scenewould have been moved by thedeep and close camaraderie be-tween these two old comrades.

TRIBUTE

Remembering Dr M K RajakumarRemembering Dr M K RajakumarRemembering Dr M K RajakumarRemembering Dr M K RajakumarRemembering Dr M K RajakumarI still remember his message the day before I was smuggled outof the country: “Hamid, have faith in the struggle, keep safe...”

by Syed Hamid Ali

DDDDD

Karam SinghKaram SinghKaram SinghKaram SinghKaram Singh Tajudin KaharTajudin KaharTajudin KaharTajudin KaharTajudin Kahar


Following that, he asked after meand enquired what I was doingthen.

I fully understood his question.But when I was slow in respond-ing, he quickly added, “Hamid, inpolitics people don’t wait to be in-vited…”

I nodded my head in agreement.It was clear to me that the way heviewed politics remained un-changed from that of his youngerdays.

Perhaps there aren’t many amongtoday’s younger generation whoknow about Rajakumar althoughhis demise is a great loss for Ma-laysia.

He was born in Melaka on 25 May1932. From the Malacca HighSchool, he obtained a federalscholarship to study medicine atthe University of Malaya inSingapore. There, he displayed hisgift for leadership. Together witha few progressive students, he setup the Socialist Club and servedas its President for the 1954/55term. Besides that, he was electedas a member of the Students’Council.

The Socialist Club was renownedbecause it uncompromisingly op-posed British colonialism anddemanded independence for Ma-laya. On 28 May 1954, The Britisharrested the eight editors of Fajar,the club’s monthly publication.The authorities claimed that thearticles in that month’s issue,“Aggression in Asia”, were sedi-tious. Rajakumar was one of theaccused; he was also one of the

main writers of the editorial. It wasthrough this trial of the “Fajar-8”that Lee Kuan Yew gained promi-nence – he served as junior coun-sel in the defence team.

After completing his studies,Rajakumar continued his politi-cal involvement through theLabour Party of Malaya (LPM).His stature is similar to other So-cialist Front luminaries such asAhmad Boestamam, Pak Sako, DrTan Chee Khoon, V David, KaramSingh, Hasnul Hadi and TajudinKahar.

From 1965 to 1967, Rajakumarwas detained under the InternalSecurity Act (ISA).

When the LPM was forced to dis-band due to incessant repressionand the detention of its membersby the Alliance government,Rajakumar decided to shift hisattention to scientific knowledgeand health care. He was the Presi-dent of the Malaysian MedicalAssociation (MMA) from 1979 to1980, the President of the Malay-sian Scientific Association from1981 to 1983 and the President ofthe World Organisation of Fam-ily Doctors (WONCA) from 1986to 1989.

I feel very honoured to haveknown Dr M K Rajakumar – apatriot and leading public intel-lectual. Indeed, I feel indebted tohim. Around 1974, when studentleaders, lecturers and politicalleaders were hounded by the ISA,Rajakumar took me in as a highrisk “guest” in his house. For afew weeks I was given the besttreatment – lots of food and lots ofreading material. For 24 hours aday, I filled my time with usefulactivities, never once fearing for

my safety.

When necessary, he himself tookme to places I needed to go evenlate at night. When my appoint-ments were over, he would cometo pick me up. He never handedover this responsibility to any-body else – it was incredible.

In 1976, I was forced to leave thisbeloved homeland due to securityreasons. (For 15 years, I had toseek refuge in foreign lands with-out any travel documents becausemy passport had been im-pounded at Subang before I couldboard a plane to Australia/NewZealand on a trip at the invitationof the student bodies there.)

I still remember the message fromRajakumar the day before I wassmuggled out of the country:“Hamid, have faith in thestruggle, keep safe…” With that,we parted until we met again in1 9 9 1 .

Now, Dr M K Rajakumar has leftus forever. I’ve lost a leader whomI respect and hold in awe. Thecountry has lost a patriot and na-tionalist with few equals.

Nonetheless, we must count ourblessings because this son of thenation had cleared the path andblazed the trail so that we can con-tinue this long and winding jour-ney of struggle.

Thank you Rajakumar, thank youonce again. Your legacy will al-ways remain with us.

(Translated from Bahasa Malaysiaby Tan Pek Leng)

Patriot and leadingpublic intellectual

N a t i o n a l i s twith few equals

q


first met Rajakumar in1954. The occasion wasthe ‘Meet the new stu-dents’ session of the Uni-

versity Socialist Club. I rememberhim well because he was enthusi-astic about the club, its objectivesand its role in the pursuit of inde-pendence from the British. He wasalso attentive toward the new stu-dents and readily answered ourquestions.

We met several times during myundergraduate days in Singaporeat club meetings and activities. Ashe was studying medicine and Iwas pursuing an arts course, weseldom met apart from these oc-casions. He graduated a couple ofyears before I finished my ownstudies. I met up with him againwhen both of us came to KualaLumpur to work.

For maybe six months before Iwent to the United States, I movedinto his quarters. He had invitedSyed Husin and me, two home-less creatures, to share his quar-ters at no cost. Those were the earlydays of Merdeka. Many otherswould come to visit him from timeto time. His brother–in-law B CSekhar would come over fromPetaling Jaya with Sukumari intow and little Jayan too. Our dis-

cussions would always turn tothe political scene. I learnt a lotfrom his observations, his analy-ses and his world view. In manyways he shaped my own worldview.

We had a great time, enjoyingMuniammah’s (the family cook)cooking. We had even better foodwhenever his mother came fromMalacca for a visit. Her cookingwas indeed out of this world.Sukumari tries to reproduce it butit is not quite the same.

Rajan, upon his transfer from theMalacca General Hospital, was inthe surgery department of the

Kuala Lumpur General Hospital,working with A M Ismail (nowTan Sri Majid Ismail) and Dr S MAlhady. From what I know, hewas becoming a top surgeon him-self. But circumstances and per-sonal convictions changed thedirection of his life.

He opted to become a general prac-titioner. He chose to be thepeople’s doctor. He set up prac-tices in Jalan Loke Yew andJinjang, catering more to the low-income people including me,since I did not have to pay him.He even took care of the health ofmy whole family and at no timewould he take any payment.

TRIBUTE

Driven to serveRajakumar’s life was driven by service to others withoutregard to what he might gain in return

by Dr Agoes Salim

IIIII

RajakumarRajakumarRajakumarRajakumarRajakumar Tan Chee KhoonTan Chee KhoonTan Chee KhoonTan Chee KhoonTan Chee Khoon


Rajakumar took no money fromme and he took very little from hisother patients. He could havemade millions but he chose to bepoor himself. He took great delightand satisfaction in treating thepeople who could not afford to goto more expensive clinics. His in-terest in the health of the poor ledhim to devote a lot of time to helpthe government in planning ruralhealth services.

He could have built a mansion forhimself and his family but de-cided to live modestly. In fact, henever had a house to his name.

He had a consummate interest ineducation. He was upset thatthose with the power to transformthe local education system dis-played their lack of interest in bet-tering the school system by send-ing their children overseas.

For several years, he served on theCouncil of the University of Ma-laya. He and the late Tan Sri TanChee Khoon were elected and re-elected by the Guild of Graduates.I had the honour and privilege tobe elected with them for a coupleof terms. Rajakumar would notfail to attend any meeting of theCouncil or the committees onwhich he sat. He took great inter-est not only in the faculty of medi-cine but the entire university. Hiscomments and advice in manyways shaped the university. If hehad had it all his way, the univer-sity would have become the fore-most university in the region.

Rajan was not only interested ineducation for others. He was

equally interested in educatinghimself. He kept up his reading ofmedical books and journals. Moreimportantly, his reading coveredthe whole gamut of knowledge.He read books on philosophy, re-ligion, politics, economics, sociol-ogy, music and the arts and, ofcourse, novels. He was a man whocould carry on a conversation ordiscussion with any notable inany field.

I would like to relate to you an-other incident. Sometime in the1970s, her majesty, the PermaisuriAgong, became the Chancellor ofthe University of Malaya, succeed-ing Tunku Abdul Rahman. TheUniversity of Malaya GraduatesSociety decided to honour the oc-casion by having a grand dinnerwith the new Chancellor as theguest of honor. Rajakumar wasVice-President of the Society andhe worked hard for the dinner.

That night, the committee mem-bers all dressed very well and satat the main table with the Queen.The men had dark suits on, sohad Rajakumar. The differencewas that we had fairly recently-made suits, while Rajakumar’s

20-year-old suit

suit appeared to have been tai-lored some 20 years earlier. Thedifference must have been obviousto everybody, but it did not seemto bother him at all. It did notbother him in the least to be sit-ting by the queen in those raiment.Such was the man! Some otherperson would at least have renteda suit, but not Rajakumar. It’s notthe clothes that maketh the man!There he was carrying on a con-versation with the First Lady ofthe land, clad in a suit some 20years old.

Rajakumar’s life was driven byservice to others without regardto what he might gain in return.He regarded his many contribu-tions in health care at the indi-vidual, national and interna-tional levels as merely doing hisjob. He was oblivious to the acco-lades he received from importantpeople and organisations.

Rajakumar was one of those rarepeople who lived up to his ownhigh ethical principles, sometimesat the expense of those most dearto him. He held true to his social-ist principles to the end of his life.He was totally incorruptible.

Syed HusinSyed HusinSyed HusinSyed HusinSyed Husin B C SekharB C SekharB C SekharB C SekharB C Sekhar

q


he Labour Party of Ma-laya (LPM) was a multi-ethnic socialist party ofthe 1950s and 1960s. Its

political origins lay in the ‘NewTrade Unionism’ of the Cold Warperiod. Before Merdeka, the anti-communist International Confed-eration of Free Trade Unions(ICFTU), with the support of thecolonial government, encouragedthe formation of a non-militanttrade union movement and mod-erate Labour Parties located in dif-ferent regions of the country. Yet,the LPM grew into a mass radicalpolitical party whose rise and fallwere crucially shaped by circum-stances often beyond its control.

The first regional Labour Partiesshared some characteristics of or-ganization and ideology. Theirleaders were English-educatedleaders of the Malayan TradesUnion Congress. Their memberswere largely Indian and Malaymembers of public service unions.The parties were modelled on theBritish Labour Party, havingdemocratic socialism and multi-culturalism as guiding principles.

However, they were different in

policy formulation and execution.The Penang Labour Party spokeearnestly of moulding nationalconsciousness and instituting ad-ministrative reforms to help thedown-trodden. It paid some atten-tion to the issue of self-governmentbut steered away from the corequestion of ending colonial rule.On the other hand, the SelangorLabour Party expressly aimed toachieve independence throughconstitutional means. Its otherimportant objectives were eco-nomic egalitarianism, the social-ization of the means of produc-tion, equitable income and wealthdistribution, and political liberal-ization.

The colonial government tacitlysupported the involvement ofsuch regional Labour Parties inelections but prohibited themfrom expanding beyond their geo-

graphical boundaries. Thus, theLabour Parties operated in re-stricted spaces. Their leaderscould only conduct limited dis-courses with their small member-ship. Besides, it was difficult forthem to transcend existing lan-guage barriers to disseminateideas of social justice and politi-cal equality to the masses.

On 26 June 1952, the Pan-MalayaLabour Party (PMLP) was formedfrom the amalgamated member-ship of the Penang, Selangor andSingapore Labour Parties. WithMohammad Sopiee as its Na-tional Chairman and Osman Siruas his deputy, the PMLP was morea liaison organization than astructured party. The party did notadmit individual members butaccepted all democratic labourand socialist organizations asmembers. Its formation was expe-dient, to take advantage of earlyelectoral politics; yet, it was a pio-neering attempt to galvanizeworkers’ support in impendingmunicipal elections.

The PMLP’s constitution had twomain objectives: to co-ordinatelabour and socialist organizations

POLITICS

The Labour Party of Malaya1 9 5 2 – 1 9 7 2A brief history of its rise and demise

by Tan Kim Hong

TTTTT

Regional LabourP a r t i e s

Pan-Malaya LabourP a r t y


to achieve national independence,social justice, and political, socialand economic emancipation; andto cooperate with labour, social-ist and other organizations inMalaya and elsewhere to promotea higher standard of social andeconomic life for workers.

The PMLP’s first policy statement,Towards a New Malaya, passed inSeptember 1952, laid out much ofits programme which includeddemocratic socialism, workers’participation in industrial policy-making, land for the peasants,and provisions for social welfare,medical and health services, andsocial security and pensionschemes for all. In economic man-agement, the PMLP wanted tocheck industrial and commercialmonopolies, provide agriculturalsubsidies to farmers, enlarge theacreage of rubber small holdings,manage the rubber industry, re-form the salary structure of work-ers, and revamp the taxation sys-tem.

In 1953, sixteen intellectuals in-cluding D.S. Ramanathan, TanPhock Kin, N. Patkunam, Lee KokLiang, C.Y. Choy, Tan Chong Beeand V. Veerapan from the FabianSociety of Penang joined thePMLP. These professionals and

1 . To implement plannedeconomy to fulfill needsof the Malayan people.All exploitation of theworkers should bestopped and all mo-nopolies and inefficientindustries should be na-tionalized;

2. To amend the LabourLaw and the TradeUnion Ordinance. Allunions to enjoy the fullrights of free assembliesand political participa-tion;

3 . To provide the poor withlegal assistance;

4. To solve problems of un-employment, and to en-force minimum wageand parity for womenworkers;

5 . To resolve issues of landindebtedness and to as-sist peasants with land,agricultural coopera-tives, agricultural banksand collective farms;

6. To promote local indus-tries with tariff protec-tion;

7. To establish a CentralBank to regulate circula-tion of money and

8. To implement compul-sory free primary educa-tion, and to develop sec-ondary schools and ter-tiary education.

LPM Manifestofor 1955

Federal Elections

teachers, all social democrats,moved to immerse themselves inpolitics, offering analyses, recom-mendations, and political partici-pation vastly different from thoseof the moderate trade unionistsfavoured by colonial officials. Byearly 1954, the PMLP had come toresemble the British Labour Party,advocating gradual economic na-tionalization and a welfare state.

On 5 June 5 1954, the PMLP tookthe new name of the Labour Partyof Malaya (LPM). With the elec-tion of Lee Moke Sang as its Chair-man, the LPM proclaimed itself apolitical organization to unite theworkers and peasants of Malayaand struggle for a united, inde-pendent and democratic nation.The LPM’s manifesto for the 1955Federal Election was inclined to-wards socialist reforms. (See boxfor details)

On the eve of Merdeka, LPMgained from the Chinese schoolstudents’ movement and the na-tional workers’ movement; the or-ganizational collaboration be-tween an emerging SocialistYouth League and the Pan-Ma-laya Union of General Workers;and cooperation with PartaiRakyat (founded in December1955).

These developments brought LPMvictory in the George Town Mu-nicipal Council election of 1957.The party won five out of the ninecontested seats, a result thatstrengthened the party’s multi-ethnic mass base in Penang, andgave a leading role to the PenangDivision in the LPM’s nationalstructure.

The Labour Party ofM a l a y a

D S RamanathanD S RamanathanD S RamanathanD S RamanathanD S Ramanathan


Merdeka Day was a turning pointin LPM’s history. With PartiRakyat, the LPM formed a coali-tion, the Malayan People’s Social-ist Front (SF), which was the sec-ond legal alliance to transcendcommunal differences. The SF’s1959 policy statement, also namedas Towards a New Malaya, laid outits position on the national lan-guage, art and literature, educa-tion, the Orang Asli, Malay reser-vation land, plantations andmines, fisheries, labour and socialwelfare, and defence and foreignpolicy.

In subsequent local governmentelections, the SF won control of theCity Council of George Town, andthe local councils in Jinjang,Serdang, Tanjung Sepat,Pengkalan Titi and elsewhere. InGeorge Town, the SF fulfilledsome of its campaign promises, forexample, by implementing low-cost housing projects such as thePeople’s Court in Cintra Street andthe Kampong Selut scheme in Je-lutong.

In the 1959 General Election, theSF progressed in mixed constitu-encies in Selangor, Johore andPenang: it gained 34.6 per cent ofthe popular vote cast in the con-stituencies it contested. The SFwas poised to be a non-commu-nal socialist alternative in Ma-layan politics during the 1960s.

The SF confronted a huge politi-cal obstacle, however, in the‘Grand Design’, previously con-ceived by Britain, and promul-gated as ‘Greater Malaysia’ byPrime Minister Tunku Abdul

Rahman in May 1961.

Following a Five-State SocialistConference of the proposed Ma-laysian territories, held in KualaLumpur in January 1962, the LPMmoved to accept Malaysia in prin-ciple at its 9th Annual Conferencein August. The LPM’s new Secre-tary-General, Lim Kean Siew,maintaining that the merger ofSingapore with Malaya was in-evitable, nonetheless warned that‘unless our thinking is radicallychanged and the inconsistenciesof the Malaysian concept are re-moved, ultimate conflict and dis-integration is inevitable.’

However, the party rank and filebecame bitter over the ‘Malaysiaissue’ after the detention underthe Internal Security Act of LimChin Siong and the BarisanSosialis and SATU leaders inSingapore under OperationColdstore in February 1962. Theuse of the ISA there, coupled withthe arrest of Parti Rakyat Chair-man, Ahmad Boestamam in Ma-laya, was seen as a move to repressthe left in Malaya and Singapore.From then on, the SF’s relation-ship with the regime badly dete-riorated.

The SF’s performance in the 1964General Election was adverselyaffected by two major factors. First,allegations had been made fromJune 1963 of malpractices in theCity Council of Georgetown andother SF-controlled local councils.Second, the Alliance, the People’sAction Party, and the UnitedDemocratic Party – respectivelyled by the Tunku, Lee Kuan Yewand Dr. Lim Chong Eu – vehe-mently attacked the SF as the ‘fifth

column’ of Indonesia.

Despite SF’s repeated acceptanceof Malaysia and a 5-Point Plan tosecure a truce between Britain andMalaysia, and Indonesia, the SFand LPM fell victim to the psycho-logical manipulation of voter sen-timents and suffered their worstdefeats, even in their own elec-toral bastions.

It is quite likely that some LPMcadres and functionaries wereconvinced then to adopt a ‘hardline’ vis-à-vis the regime. Soonthey found other reasons to be so.

In the 1960s, the ISA was widelyand indiscriminately used to de-tain hundreds of LPM and SF lead-ers and members in Taiping, BatuGajah and Muar. Repeated repres-sion of this sort undermined theLPM and SF’s organizational ef-fectiveness. The detentions ofIshak bin Hj. Mohammad, AbdulAziz bin Ishak and Datuk KampoRadjo on untried charges of set-ting up a government-in-exileduring Konfrontasi with Indonesiawere attempts to repress the MalayLeft.

In 1965, key SF leaders, such asChairman Hansul bin AbdulHadi, Secretary-General Tajuddin

DatukDatukDatukDatukDatukK a m p oK a m p oK a m p oK a m p oK a m p oR a d j oR a d j oR a d j oR a d j oR a d j o

The Socialist Front

The issue of ‘ M a l a y s i a ’

S F ’ s d e c l i n e


Kahar and Assistant Secretary-General Tan Kai Hee were ar-rested to foil a demonstrationcalled for 13 February, the SF’sHuman Rights Day, to commemo-rate the second anniversary ofAhmad Boestamam’s internment.

The pace of radicalisation inten-sified. The SF’s Perak Divisionhailed the ‘February 13 Incident’in Kuala Lumpur as an epochalevent in the struggle against neo-colonialism, and an instructivelesson in class struggle. The LPMdivision in Perak went on to de-velop a theory of shili douzheng(militant struggle).

A different kind of problem devel-oped after Singapore’s separationfrom Malaysia on 9 August.Within the SF, the LPM and PartiRakyat diverged, principally overthe issue of official language. InDecember, Parti Rakyat resolvedto break away from the SF whileLim Kean Siew announced thatthe coalition would end on 16January 1966. At this juncture, in-ternal quarrels terminated the SF’scontrol of George Town City Coun-cil and LPM lost a most importantpolitical platform.

Between July 1964 and June 1965,

LPM Assistant Secretary-GeneralDr. M K Rajkumar had warnedthe party of the infiltration ofagents provocateur who would cre-ate internal confusion and divi-sion. The Perak Division’s stancewas part of a smear campaignagainst the ‘rightist’ LPM leaders,five of whom resigned in March1966.

An ad hoc Central Secretariat nowled the party towards more stri-dent radicalization in ideologyand tactics with worsening reper-cussions. An Anti-US Imperial-ism Campaign resulted in themass arrests of cadres, membersand supporters. The LPM CentralSecretariat called an Extraordi-nary National Delegates Confer-ence on 24–25 September 1966that resolved to expedite ‘anti-im-perialism, anti-colonialism, anti-feudalism and anti-Malaysia’struggles.’ While combining‘mass struggle’ with ‘constitu-tional struggle’, the Conferenceplaced the former ahead of the lat-ter as a strategy to wrest politicalpower.

In October 1967, the 13th NationalDelegates’ Conference in Penangpassed ‘ultra leftist’ resolutionson such matters as US imperial-ism, Soviet revisionism, the Cul-tural Revolution in China, theVietnam War, ISA, worker-peas-ant united front, mass organiza-tions and revolutionary strate-gies.

The LPM now initiated regularstreet demonstrations all over thecountry which culminated in thePenang hartal of 24 November1967 in response to the unpopu-lar devaluation of the Malaysiancurrency. The regime’s response

was more repression with ISA andother measures. The party wascrippled when divisions inPenang, Johore and Malacca, and36 branches in the country wereproscribed.

The Kedah Division’s call for aboycott of the 1969 General Elec-tion was endorsed on 29 Septem-ber 1968 by an Enlarged CentralCommittee Meeting comprisingthree de jure members and severalother divisional representatives.By the end of the year, in protestagainst another wave of arrests on9 November, LPM councillors atall levels had resigned from theirpositions. And, after ‘May 13’, 17other LPM branches were bannedand over a hundred memberswere detained.

In September 1969, an accord ofunderstanding was reached be-tween LPM’s Lim Kean Siew andDr. Rajakumar and Parti Rakyat’sKassim Ahmad and Syed HusinAli to hold to ‘scientific socialism’,‘working class solidarity’ and ‘theunity of the people of all nation-alities’ against ‘chauvinism andnarrow nationalism’. No stepswere taken to work towards suchobjectives.

Three years later, in September1972, the Registrar of Societiesderegistered the LPM on accountof its failure to submit annual re-ports for several years.

The rise and demise of LPM is animportant experience of socialistpolitics in Malaysia. Mistakeswere made and many leaders andmembers paid a heavy price forthem. Even so, their courage, com-mitment and sacrifices before andafter independence cannot be de-nied a proper historical apprecia-tion.

TanTanTanTanTanPhockPhockPhockPhockPhockK i nK i nK i nK i nK i n

R a d i c a l i z a t i o nunder repression

The end of the LPM

q


liran Monthly has beenthe most ardent critic ofsocial injustice and dic-tatorial tendencies in the

country. The last issue of Aliran,dedicated to exposing the evils ofthe draconian Internal SecurityAct (ISA), is an outstanding ex-ample.

The emphasis all-through hasbeen to highlight the plight andsufferings of the politicians andthe selfless sacrifices of peoplelike the Hindraf Five, incarceratedfor standing up for the rights ofthe downtrodden and themarginalised poorest of the poorin our country.

The devastating effect that the ISAhad on organised workers andtheir organisations has not beenmade known in the right perspec-tive.

The late Bro (Dr) V David was oneof the earliest trade unionist vic-tims of the ISA. He was detainedwithout trial for a record of fourtimes. I visited him a few timeswhile he was in detention and hewould show me the rashes on hisbody caused by gigantic bed bugsand mosquitoes. His main con-cern was his scalp with dandruff

causing severe itchand falling of hair,which in fact ulti-mately made himbald. I managed toget for him someherbal hair oil,which he revealed tome after his releasewas delivered to himin a bottle labelled ascough mixture.

His plight under detention is mi-croscopic when compared to thetragedy that struck thousands ofworkers who were disorganisedas a consequence of the introduc-tion of the amendments to thelabour laws that followed result-ing in the automatic cancellationof the registration of all generalunions along with the strong andpowerful National Union of Fac-tory and General Workers(NUFGW) of which Bro Davidwas the general secretary.

At the time of his detention, TunRazak said that David was not de-tained for trade union activities,but when David was releasedfrom detention the condition forhis release was that he should nottake part in trade union activitiesfor two years. Bro David defied

this condition andbecame the execu-tive secretary of theTransport WorkersUnion (TWU) andchallenged the gov-ernment to arresthim, which it did notdo immediately buthe was subse-quently detained afew times under theISA.

The workers who were membersof the de-registered NUFGW dem-onstrated their solidarity con-fined within the narrow arena ofcrafts and trades such as the RoadTransport Industry. The govern-ment succeeded in further rein-forcing the deliberately calculatedpolicy of the colonial masters byenacting laws that made the tradeunions weak and feeble.

The government through DrMahathir Mohamed, who wasthen the Uumno Labour Bureauleader, tried to disrupt the Trans-port Workers Union by encourag-ing and supporting splinterunions on a racial basis. Hehelped to establish a splinterunion for the workers of the SriJaya Transport Company, who

LABOUR

ISA: A death blow toorganised labourWorkers were made destitute and the dignity of labourtrampled upon by ISA detentions and oppressive labour laws

by Sai N S Wigneswaran

AAAAA


were then members of the TWU.The Registrar Of Trade Unionscarried out a referendum to ascer-tain which Union should repre-sent the workers in the Sri JayaTransport Company. At theCompany’s bus depot where thereferendum was conducted, akenduri was held and a big ban-ner “Malay Employer, Malay Em-ployees, Malay Union” was dis-played.

The workers had the horse senseand voted in favour of the Trans-port Worker Union. Mahathir thenmarched with a few of his sup-porters to see Tun Razak, whoadvised the workers to join theTWU.

The plight of another group ofworkers – the Penang Port Work-ers who were disorganised by thederegistration of the NUFGW wasso tragic that the workers werereduced to the level of destitutes.

At that time I was just posted tothe Penang Federal Audit Depart-ment. This is what I witnessed.About 50 to 100 workers wouldbe registered as residents in ashop-house in King Street andother areas in and around thePenang Port. Most of them spentthe night sleeping on the five footways, Chinese temples and allover the port area. Married work-ers were mostly accommodated indilapidated houses or in RumahHaram in the slums.

There was no guaranteed mini-mum work. Some of them wereorganised into weak fragmentedunions, established with the helpof the Trade Union Advisers De-

partment. The department func-tioned like a factory manufactur-ing unions, which were createdvia orders from London to dis-courage the formation of strongviable national unions. Thispolicy was systematically en-forced by the colonial govern-ment, which when allowing tradeunion rights to the workers in thecolonies also cautiously ensuredthat the unions were not strongand vibrant to challenge their co-lonial might.

A similar policy was covertly car-ried out by our leaders in our in-dependent sovereign nation formore that 50 years. Thegovernment’s denial of registra-tion of a National Union(Nuepacs) to replace the looselyknit Congress of Unions of Em-ployees in the Public and Civil Ser-vices (Cuepacs) is a case in point.

There was one union called theStevedores Union, which had itsaddress at King Street. A few ofthe workers who were active in thenow deregistered NUFGW weremembers of this union. The wagesof the workers were regulated bya lop-sided Wages Council andthere was no proper supervisionfor the enforcement of its deci-sions.

The workers would gather in thewee hours of the morning at thePenang jetty. A commanding fig-ure called “Tendal” (supervisor)would stand on a box and call thenames of workers. He would evencall names of those who were notpresent. Those who were calledwould get into sampans and pro-ceed to the cargo ships anchoredin the harbor to do a 24-hour shift.Those whose names were calledbut who were not present, known

as the privileged class, would jointhe ships later. The majority of theworkers who were not calledwould return disappointed andspend their time in one of themany teh tarik stalls in the vicin-ity of the port or sleep under theshade of the trees. Some wouldplay cards at the five-foot ways,which served as their ‘bedroom’at night.

The criteria for the selection ofthe workers was based onwhether the workers were rela-tives of the tendal, or from his vil-lage in India or if they would givehim commission. The situationwas so desperate that some of theworkers even stooped so low asto offer bribes to get selected forwork.

These workers under the Collec-tive Agreements with the now de-funct NUFGW and the contractorsfor the handling of cargo wereguaranteed a minimum number ofdays work each month and rea-sonable fair wages including mealallowance.

All these Collective Agreementsbecame inoperative and thou-sands of port workers who be-longed to the deregisteredNUFGW were reduced to the levelof destitutes as their leaders weredetained under the ISA andlabour laws were passed by agovernment that continued to wina two-thirds majority for half acentury.

The manner in which the wageswere paid to these ‘slave’ work-ers who were disorganised by thebanning of the NUFGW was ex-ploitation of the worst kind, rarely

D e s t i t u t eport workers

Terrible exploitation


seen elsewhere in the world.

After a 24-four hour shift, the sam-pans would bring the workerswho were weary and half-sleepyback to the jetty.

At the jetty, a number of Chettiarsand Punjabis would be hangingaround. The workers would handtheir wage chits to these shylocks.The chits of varying amounts($12-14) would be cashed afterdeduction of a commission ofabout 30 per cent e.g. a wage chitfor $12 would be cashed for about$9 and a wage chit of $14 wouldbe cashed for $10-11. Sometimes,these workers would only be givena few dollars for meals and thebalance would be set off against aloan the workers had borrowedfrom the shylocks on dry dayswithout work.

The shylocks would cash thesewage chits from the contractors forthe full amount within weeks.

The workers were penniless andhungry. They had to get cash toappease their hunger. Theshylocks would swallow about 30per cent of their earnings to givethem cash immediately. It was acruel world created by the draco-nian laws that hurt organisedlabour more than anybody else.

A few friends of the workers gottogether and established a privatefund by taking credit loans fromthe Co-operative Thrift and LoanSocieties. Under the By-laws of theSocieties, up to 80 per cent of amember’s subscription savingscould be granted as a loan at avery low annual interest with therepayment period spread over amaximum of 36 months in smallmonthly instalments. We were

able to pool a considerableamount to cash the wage chits ofthe workers and save them fromthe clutches of the shylocks whowere deducting almost 30 per centfor cashing the wage chits.

No levy or charge was imposedfor cashing the wage chits. Anundyal (collection box) was placedat the union office for the workersto voluntarily donate whateveramount they wanted to. The say-ing that poor people have gener-ous hearts was proven by the en-couraging amounts found in theundyal

The news of this service spreadand more workers enrolled asmembers. After a few months theprivate fund was able to pay themonthly instalments to those whotook the cooperative loans to es-tablish the Fund and all the loanswere repaid in full.

The union’s finances also im-proved and for the first time theunion was able to organise one-day seminars to provide tradeunion education. The rapport be-tween the union and the employ-ers (contractors) also graduallyimproved.

The workers were provided witha meal (nasi bungkus) for the 24-hour shift in lieu of meal allow-ance which they used to receiveunder the defunct CollectiveAgreements. When we had aseminar at the Chulia Street Chi-nese Temple, I asked a worker tobring a nasi bungkus supplied tothem. I opened the nasi bungkusthat was supplied and said thiswas worse than dog’s food. Eventhe dog would refuse to eat it.There was nothing in the bungkusexcept plain rice and some gravy

with two or three slices of cucum-ber. One of the workers said inTamil, “Ayah, please see howmany stones are there in the rice.”

Retnam, a journalist and a laboursympathiser attached to the StraitsEcho, wrote a story on this and Ihad to pay a price for it. I was ab-sorbed into the permanent estab-lishment of the government alongwith thousands of temporaries asa result of the struggle of the Gov-ernment Temporary OfficersUnion (GTOU) of which I wasone of the founders and its firstgeneral secretary.

Subsequently, I was promoted tothe Audit Service, a closed depart-mental service, as an assistant ex-aminer of accounts and trans-ferred to the Penang branch of thedepartment while I was on a one-yea probation. I was not given myletter of confirmation or incre-ment. I waited for eight monthsand wrote a letter to my headquar-ters enquiring about the delay.

I was given a reply signed by theacting Deputy Auditor General, AB Warrick: “It was found neces-sary to inform the Public ServicesCommission (PSC) that your out-side activities are such as to preju-dice the efficient performance ofyour duties and I am advised toplace you on probation for a fur-ther one year during which timeif I am unable to recommend yourconfirmation action will be takento revert you to your former ser-vice.”

I protested vehemently and de-manded an explanation as to whyI was not informed three months

Persecuted withinthe department


before the due date as required bythe General Orders and given anopportunity to exculpate myself orimprove in my work and only toldof this on enquiry after eight monthsof the due date. There was no replyand I was confirmed in my ap-pointment at the end of one year.All the same I lost one year of myseniority and one increment. Thisis a trifle sacrifice compared to thesacrifices and sufferings of the pio-neers of the workers movement.

There is a British saying that if youwant to kill a dog, first give it abad name and then shoot it. Thisis precisely what happened in mycase. The deferment of my confir-mation and the stoppage of theannual increment of salary hadnothing to do with the alleged lack-ing in the “efficient performanceof my duties” as an audit officer.

Since the inception of my careerin government service in 1953 tillmy retirement, I had remainedwith the Federal Audit Depart-ment. It was from the same depart-ment that I sat for a competitiveexamination to qualify for em-placement in the permanent andpensionable establishment. It isin the same Audit Department thatI was recommended, interviewedby the PSC, and promoted as anassistant examiner of accountsand appointed to the Audit De-partmental Service.

The accusation that “the outsideactivities are prejudicial to the ef-ficient performance of my duties”is not the reason I was penalisedfor. It was the undercurrent of frus-trations among the expatriate of-ficers in the Audit Departmentthat was the real reason.

On being absorbed into the Fed-

eral Audit Service, I took the ini-tiative to form the Audit OfficersUnion (AOU) and was its firstgeneral secretary. I continued tohold an official position in theunion even when I was transferredto Penang.

At that time, the Malaysianisationof the Civil Service was rapidlytaking place in all government de-partments. Fat compensationswere paid to all expatriates whoseposts were replaced by Malay-sians. But the converse was hap-pening in the Audit Department,which was placed under the Para-mount Ruler and not under anyMinistry (to maintain its indepen-dence and impartiality).

While the rest of the civil servicewas being Malaysianised, theAudit Department continued toexpand its expatriate establish-ment. Most of the senior positionsfrom the Auditor General (nowJuru Odit Negara) to senior audi-tors were held by foreigners.

An article captioned “European-isation of the Audit Department”was published in the official organof Cuepacs – “The Cuepacs Bulle-tin”. The article questioned theaudacity of the department in im-porting more and more expatriatesinto the country contrary to theavowed policy of the governmentto Malaysianise all important po-sitions in the administration inkeeping with the aims and aspira-tions of independent Malaysia.

This sent shock waves to the na-tion as the mainstream media alsocarried the article that appearedin the Cuepacs Bulletin. The

Malaysianisation of the AuditService started to move with speedand the import of foreigners cameto an abrupt halt. It should nowbe obvious why I was penalised.

The Stevedores Union was not af-filiated to the MTUC because theyhad no money to pay the affilia-tion fees or send a delegation toKuala Lumpur to participate inthe MTUC Delegates Conference.

The plight of these disorganisedworkers was made known by let-ter to everyone including the ILO,in whose meetings MTUC del-egates participated .Even todaythe worst death blow delivered toorganided workers by the ISA re-main unnoticed. Apart from theworkers in the Penang Port, thou-sands of workers in factories andother industries throughout thecountry who were members of thederegistered NUFGW becamedisorganised and were left in thelurch

There is another incident whichmade the bosses of the ISA relent.Bro Donald Uren, the president ofthe Railwaymen Union of Malaya(RUM) who led the marathon rail-way strike that put an end to theshame and sufferings of the IMGworkers and removed an IIIIInsultperpetrated by the MMMMMalaysianGGGGGovernment by emplacing themin the permanent establishmentand on monthly pay moved up tothe International Transport Fed-eration (ITF).

In the ITF, Uren recorded manyfirsts. In war-torn Vietnam, theport workers were badly exploited

M a l a y s i a n i s a t i o nin reverse

MAS union leadersd e t a i n e d

– and re leased


and they were not allowed tostrike; and the employers were un-reasonable. Uren devised aunique method. He made the portworkers give notices of mass res-ignations which was their inher-ent right. The employers relented,negotiated and amicably settledthe dispute.

In Malaysia, the MAS EmployeesUnion, having exhausted all av-enues, resorted to industrial ac-tion.

The Government as usual in-voked the ISA and arrested theMAS union leaders along withBro Donald Uren of the ITW. Uren

he recent yoga issue hasbrought back fondmemories of my child-hood days. In those days

when our parents were dirt poor,the ultimate fun was to spend aday frolicking in the Kinta Riverwith friends. It cost us nothingbut a sore throat from all the yell-ing and shouting – but it was allworth it.

Mandi safar to us non-Malaysmeant a licence from our parentsto play in the river because wewere taken care of by the Malayfamilies with whom we hadtagged along. It was unadulter-ated fun. Mandi safar was a fam-ily event then, and at the end ofthe day, with heavy hearts as the

Yoga? I remember ‘Yoga? I remember ‘Yoga? I remember ‘Yoga? I remember ‘Yoga? I remember ‘mandi safarmandi safarmandi safarmandi safarmandi safar’’’’’

TTTTT

HEART TO HEART"What comes from the lips reaches the ear,what comes from the heart reaches the heart" - Arab proverb

by Choo Sing Chye

fun for the day drew to a close, wewould all collect sayur paku forour favourite dish – sayur pakusambal was the last leg of our dayat the Kinta River.

The meaning of mandi safarmeant little to us, eight- to ten-year-old boys and in any casewe were too young to have ac-cumulated enough sins to havea thorough cleansing in theriver. Apart from mandi safar,my Malay and Indian friendswould go to the river to swimduring the school holidays.

One year it all ended. There wereno more calls from my two Malayneighbours – “Jom mandi safar.” Inthe subsequent years, our “jom,

mandi sungei” was greeted with“mak, marah”. Later we found outthe real reason and we removedmandi safar and mandi sungai fromour itinerary of fun.

My Malay friends still respondedto our other calls: “jom, mainlayang-layang” or “jom, coun-da-coun-di” (an Indian game)….”

As we recall, mandi safar (derivedfrom a Hindu ritual for the cleans-ing of sins) was just a poor man’spicnic and we had no idea of thereligious reasons attached tomandi safar.

Note: mandi safar, sungei, and coun-da-coun-di are spelled accordingto how they are pronounced.

had a heart ailment and washospitalised. When I went to thehospital I was fortunately able tosee him. He waved to me to gonearer to him. He whispered intomy ears: “This place is bugged.”

I spoke loud and clear all I wantedto say about the draconian ISAand the anti-labour laws of thegovernment so that every wordcould be recorded.

After a couple of days, the MASunion leaders were released alongwith Bro Uren. Everyone won-dered what made the Governmentbenevolent. Certainly it was notmy loud jeers recorded by the se-

cret service at Bro Uren’s hospitalbed.

It was the fear that the Interna-tional Transport Federationwould refuse to service MASflights anywhere in the free worldthat brought about the change ofheart.

Herein lies the answer to the dev-ilish ISA. Workers of the worldunite irrespective of ‘-isms’ andpolitical affiliations to fight injus-tice anywhere and everywhere inthe world. It is the united voice ofthe workers of the world that canemancipate the workers and be-stow dignity to labour. q

q


not get clear instruction and thisresulted in all our buses carryingcyclists managing to reach theLake Gardens, our pre-arrangedlocation.

Now we had two strategies. Wegot our cyclists and supporters toslowly walk up to the gates of Par-liament. The police did not stopthem because their instructionwas to ensure the cycles do notreach Parliament. Once our cy-clists and supporters reached thegate, and as the Parliamentguards were making arrange-ments for 120 cyclists to move intothe multi-purpose hall in Parlia-ment, we embarked on plan B.

Under plan B, we had 30 cyclistscycle one by one to Parliament.The first cyclist was Simon. Hemanaged to start cycling but wasstopped by the police. He thenstarted to push his cycle, but eventhis was stopped by the police. Astand-off with the police ensued.Police could not give any legal ar-gument to justify stopping the cy-clist apart from saying they hadorders. The police wanted to de-clare the cycling an illegal proces-sion but we did not have any cy-clist following the first one. Thiswas our tactical move whichbaffled the police. Amer Hamzarand the lawyers team were alsothere. The poor police held on tothe bicycle as if it was the mostdangerous weapon heading to-wards Parliament.

Soon the police manning the Par-liament were getting restless. Wethen argued with the ground com-mand, Tuan Hamid. He was try-ing to be reasonable but again hesaid he could not allow any cy-

cling as this was his orders. Onceagain, he had nothing legally tostop the cyclists. By this time, DrJeyakumar had led a number ofOpposition MPs to come down tonegotiate with the police.Sivarasa, Gobind, Tian Chua, DrHatta, Manogar, Manikam and afew others came by.

The police now started to panicas they wondered how they weregoing to stop those who had beeninvited to parliament. Then the po-lice chief said that they would al-low one cyclist. He then agreed toallow five. The lorry carrying thecycles then appeared in front ofthe road leading to Parliament.Bicycles were unloaded. Then thepolice got worried and tried stop-ping the bicycles.

By then, some of the MPs startedto ride the bicycles inside. Thepolice were dumb-founded.Twelve bicycles managed to go in.At this time, the police created ascene and arrested one supporterand tried to arrest a few more.

By now, we knew that we hadwon as 12 bicycles did manageto go into Parliament. TheDeputy IGP’s orders had beendefeated. Police from three dis-tricts led by the CPO of Kuala

Lumpur failed to stop bicyclesfrom entering Parliament. It wasa victory and we stopped thereas we did not want more arreststo take place.

The cyclists who managed to en-ter Parliament got tremendoussupport as they rode in. The po-lice looked defeated by all counts.The programme inside Parlia-ment went on without any inci-dent. Speeches, lunch and a pressconference were held. Outside, theremaining crowd dispersed to theChinese Assembly Hall awaitinga victory celebration.

The victory celebration com-menced at 3.00pm when the cy-clists returned. They were givencertificates and medals. Speechesand victory slogans thundered inthe hall. It was a well fought two-week campaign and it ended inParliament. Many cyclists were intears. The organisers were proudthat they had achieved a historicvictory.

The police tried everything – ar-rests, intimidation, and the media.They failed to dampen the team’sspirit. Each day was a struggle,but on the final day, it was Jeritthat recorded a resounding vic-tory. q

Continued from page 23Continued from page 23Continued from page 23Continued from page 23Continued from page 23


Dr M K Rajakumar:A man of the people (1932-2008)

In memoriam

is mission was toserve the people – beit as a politician, a phy-sician, a person. This

selfless dedication stemmedfrom the socialist ideals he hadimbibed from young: witness-ing an Asia swept up in theanti-colonialist storm, goingbeyond being a witness inbringing about the dawn of theindependence era in Malaysia.

In the 1950s, he used his pento condemn British colonialismand call for national liberation.In the 1960s, he used his ora-tory skills to lead the fight forsocial justice, economic equityand political rights. From the1970s, he used his physician’scraft and compassion to carefor his patients, especiallythose from the low-cost flatsand the urban slums. Throughit all, his socialist convictionsnever wavered, only takingdifferent forms and directed todifferent ends.

He was an inspiration to allwho knew him, and a mentorto many. The immediate re-sponse from his friends andpeers to Aliran’s call to con-tribute to this tribute is testi-mony to the high regard theyhave for him. From all these

TRIBUTE

HHHHH

tributes emerge the clear im-age of a man devoted to thevision of a multiracial Malay-sia built upon a commitment tojustice and freedom. That thisvision has not come to fruitionin his life time might have beena source of disappointment.But he was never one to dwellon setbacks. He rejoiced at thereturn of a socialist member toParliament after 40 long years,even if it was only one. As hisold friends and old comradesknow, he would only haveurged them to swell the ranks.

This tribute is therefore dedi-cated to celebrating his rich andfull life and his undauntedspirit. Tributes: See page 8Tributes: See page 8Tributes: See page 8Tributes: See page 8Tributes: See page 8

Documents

For Justice, Freedom & Solidarity - aliran.com · Aliran Monthly : Vol.28(10) Page 6 uncontrolled development keep raising public awareness of envi-ronmental concerns? Nor is it feasible