Interlok : “rambut tidak putus, tepung tidak berselerak”

By Syed Akbar Ali

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Few people realise that Sasterawan Negara Y.Bhg. Datuk Abdullah Hussain wrote the Interlok novel 40 years ago circa 1971. At that time perhaps the most rabidly race centric Malay outfit in existence in Malaysia was the PAS. 1971 was also just a few years before the establishment of race centred ABIM, in its original manifestation.

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That was a time when it was ok for the Tunku to hold a glass of whiskey when meeting the Press and even Government functions served alchohol. Women did not wear tudung, Policemen, school masters and everyone else sensibly wore shorts everywhere without raising any comment. That was another country we lived in. It was not the Malaysia of today. The rise of PAS, ABIM and the other religion (and race) centred opportunists has had significant influence on the nation. Whether that influence is good or bad, I will let you the reader to decide (for today only).

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Fastforwarding to 2011, where there are accusations from some Tamils that the author of Interlok and relevant sections of the Malay (literary) community that supports him were or are racists is a latter day manifestation of what the country has become today. Do note that the Chinese community has not raised any issues over this novel, despite a Chinese being a main character too.

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“Watak Cing Huat digambarkan sebagai seorang anak muda Tionghua yang bekerja keras meneruskan perniagaan bapanya sehingga menjadi kaya raya dan dihormati oleh masyarakat.“

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Also in the novel, the Malay character Seman addresses the Indian character Maniam as “Tuan”.

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“…sebagai penghormatan kepada Maniam, Seman memanggil Maniam dengan panggilan tuan.”

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If the Malay author was racist, it would seem that Cing Huat the Chinese character and Maniam the Indian character escaped his prejudice.

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The Government has gone to some extent to settle this issue. The language used by the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyuddin Yassin in his answer in Parliament has some class by itself :

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”Bagai menarik rambut dalam tepung, rambut tidak putus, tepung tidak berselerak. Dalam menangani isu novel Interlok, Kementerian mengambil langkah yang amat teliti supaya sebarang keputusan yang dibuat adalah rasional, munasabah dan dapat diterima oleh semua pihak.”

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The special Cabinet Appointed Panel had three representatives from the Indian community namely Prof. Dr. NS Rajendran, Encik G. Krishnabahawan and Encik Uthaya Sankar.

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The offending word ”kasta Paria” has been replaced with the phrase ”golongan yang sama”.

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There were 106 other points raised, of which 19 have been adopted. Among the changes include putting the author’s name on the book cover (Why wasn’t that done earlier? As an author the first thing I want on my books is my name)

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The Tamil word ”tali” is to be spelt ”taali”, ”papa” changed to ”appa” and ”cawat” replaced with ”dhoti”.

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I find ‘dhoti’ a little off the mark though. I believe the word ’dhoti’ is Hindustani (please correct me if I am wrong). I don’t think it is Tamil. ‘Cawat’ means loincloth, common garb in India until today and in pre Merdeka Malaya among estate workers.

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As late as the 1960s, I recall the ’coconut pluckers’ who used to go around the houses in Ipoh, some of whom would pakai ’cawat’ when they climbed our coconut trees to pluck coconuts.

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Here is a really fantastic picture of estate coolies on Carey Island in pre war Malaya. They are wearing loincloths or 'cawat' in Malay. I have seen those type of 'kereta lembu' with those huge whels, when I was a small boy in Perak.

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Here is a picture of an Indian dhoti, which is also worn by Brahmins and other castes in India.

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There were other issues raised about cows being holy, Indian wedding rituals that were deemed tiresome (in the book) and stuff.

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What I found more relevant was the insistence by the Tamils that the word ”tuhan” in the Interlok book be changed to ”dewa”. At a time when others are clamoring to share the word ’Allah’ (ostensibly for Ibans and Kadazans who neither understand the Arabic ”Allah” nor grasp fully the Malay ”tuhan”) the Tamil objection here is more honest. They don’t want Hindu Tamil children to get confused by the Malay ”tuhan” which in the Peninsula also indicates ”Allah”. Maybe they are afraid silap-silap nanti 'masuk Melayu' pula.

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As an author I do feel sad that a writer has had his book mangled by politicians. The loudest voices in this affair has come from unemployed politicians. This is just another time wasting political play.