Umno's Armageddon: Malaya not colony, only British acted as if it was, says Dr M

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has joined the fray over whether Malaya was ever a colony of the British.The former Umno president said he agreed with controversial historian Zainal Kling that Malaya was never "technically" colonised, it was just the British that behaved as though it was by giving orders.

“We were technically never colonised. What we did was the Sultans decided to invite the British to come and advise them on how to administer the country. We were not conquered in that sense. Just like Penang, we were paid to give them a kind of trading station. But the fact remains that when the British were here, they operated as if we were colonised. In other words, the British did not advise, they gave orders," the 85-year old Mahathir told a press conference.

Umno cannot afford to lose the Mat Sabu debate

His views conflict with those of other Malay leaders including the 79-year-old PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the 64-year-old Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and PAS president Hadi Awang, who have over the weekend condemned Umno for 're-writing' history to glorify their own party.

“A journalist asked for my view just now about the views of a number of professors who have claimed that the Malay states were never colonised. I answered that this person had long been sleeping in a cave, has just woken up, and in a state of semi-consciousness, is now babbling incoherently, perhaps as a result of being in the womb of the colonialists for so long,” Nik Aziz told reporters in Kota Baru on Monday.

The fact of colonisation has been accepted by Malaysians without question, including Umno, since August 31, 1957. It suddenly became a top national issue which Umno must win over PAS or lose further credibility with the Malay electorate.

Indeed, this is a battle that Umno cannot afford to lose at all costs, as having lost the confidence of the non-Malays, it really needs the Malay vote now. This was why it was accused of stirring up the issue during the recent Raya holidays so as to create Malay animosity against popular PAS deputy president Mat Sabu. It tried to get the grassroots and their core electorate - the army and police veterans - to become disgusted with Mat Sabu and PAS for insisting that alleged "communists" like Mat Indera were heroes in their own right.

But now, Umno leaders including Prime Minister Najib Razak and deputy Muhyiddin Yassin are on the point of being tagged as liars of the first order. By agreeing and insisting on a totally different version of what has long been accepted as the country's history, Umno now stands poised to lose the confidence from the community it relies on the most.

"This will be the last straw for the Malays, the final deceit. They can now see for themselves now how corrupt Umno is. Even in things as sacred as history, it is willing to change, twist and turn the facts. To me, this is the Armageddon for Umno in GE-13. The Malays will desert it for sure," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

Babel

Just days ago, Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin warned the history syllabus for schools will be revised following "new findings" on the nation's past. "We can dig deep into history and we can start not from 1400 but from the very beginning," Khalid told reporters on Friday.

Meanwhile, PAS MP for Parit Buntar Mujahid Yusof Rawa has called on the MPN or the National Professors Council to strip Zainal Kling of his professorship.

"We also demand that he withdraws his statement that Malaysia was never colonised but merely protected by the British," Mujahid told reporters in Penang.

Zainal created the uproar last week, when he argued Malaya was never a colony but only a "protectorate". His motive was simply to prove PAS deputy president Mat Sabu wrong in the debate over whether past Malay freedom fighters such as Mat Indera and Putera-Amcja had fought for independence and would have won, if not for Umno backstabbing them and forcing some to join forces with the Communist Party to fight the British.

Mat Indera is a hero to many Malay old-timers, but labeled as a Communist insurgent by the British because he went against them. Yet to Zainal Kling, only Singapore, Malacca and Penang had been colonised over the past 400 years, with the exception of the period between 1946 and 1947, when Malaya was Bunder Japanese occupation during World War II.

Daylight robbery of the truth

But in the style called 'Bolehland' that he and Umno have become infamous for, Mahathir insisted it was others who were re-writing history.

"I went through this period, from the time under British rule, the Japanese, Thai, then the British military and civilian administration, and then independent Malaysia. I practically observed history moving before my eyes, and I find people making statements that are not really relevant, not really factual. I think it is necessary that they don't invent history and stick to the facts of history,” said Mahathir.

'Bolehland' refers to the brand of politics Mahathir practised during his rule from 1981 to 2003. It takes Malaysians into the surreal, where Mahathir would frequently accuse others or blame others for doing exactly what he was doing or trying to do at the very same time. It is like a bold bid to confuse and fool people, much the same as thieves would stage a 'daylight robbery' of the truth.

- Malaysia Chronicle