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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Zam: James Puthucheary an unsung Malay hero

He was a giant of a man, a great intellectual who saw beyond race and religion.
zan-putuchery
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin took a walk down memory lane in his latest blog posting with a purpose.
He wonders why the late James Puthucheary hasn’t been bestowed any honours, even posthumously, for his great intellectual contribution to the implementation of affirmation action policies in Malaysia to lift the Malays out of poverty. “Puthucheary was a Marxist and did not believe in religion,” recalled Zainuddin. “His thinking was that only through statutory bodies can the Malays be sponsored and helped economically and there can be economic and social justice.”
“He was a giant of a man, a great intellectual who saw beyond race and religion. It’s evident in the poems he left behind.”
Zainuddin recalled proudly that Puthucheary was the subject of his first ceramah on August 15 at the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) to the BA graduates. “Many of the graduates were Indians.”
Zainuddin disclosed that it was Abdul Razak, the second Prime Minister, who took an interest in Puthucheary after reading his book, Ownership and Control in the Malayan Economy, written while he was under detention in the 50s in Singapore. “Abdullah Ahmad, Political Secretary to Razak, presented a list of radical intellectuals to the Prime Minister in the wake of 13 May, 1969.”
“Out of the many names on the list, all Malays except one, Razak was interested in what Puthucheary had to say and contribute. The other names on the list were people like the late journalist A Samad Ismail, Abdullah Majid, Agoes Salim and Ungku Omar. They had all been detained in Singapore for their leftist leanings.”
In Singapore, said Zainuddin, Lee Kuan Yew was worried when Razak was surrounded by Marxists he had detained. Puthucheary was appointed by the Prime Minister as a member of the National Solidarity Council and the National Consultative Council.
Deputy Prime Minister Tun Ismail, in his book The Reluctant Politician, said Zainuddin, had this to say about Puthucheary: “It is difficult to dismiss the claim that Puthucheary exerted a strong influence on the formation of the NEP (New Economic Policy). The thrust of his argument was that state intervention through public corporation was required if the imbalance resulting from the colonial economic structure and their lasting effect on inter-ethnic relations were to be rectified (Page 216).”
Puthucheary accompanied Tun Ismail to Algeria in 1965 and earlier in 1964, he attended the Afro Asia Solidarity Conference in Ghana with Mahathir Mohamad, Musa Hitam, Samad Ismail and Abdullah Ahmad.
Needless to say, said Zainuddin, Lee wasn’t happy with Razak and considered him as somebody who could not be trusted since he allegedly kept changing his mind all the time and bringing up issues that had been settled. “After Razak’s passing, Lee convinced Hussein Onn to lock up Samad Ismail again.”
Mahathir did not believe all the slander against Samad and had him released as soon as he became Prime Minister. “It’s against this background that Mahathir was determined that the crooked bridge linking up Singapore’s half of the causeway should be built as a permanent reminder to the people that they had a neighbour down south who could not be trusted, as they were not straight. Hence, the crooked bridge.”
Zainuddin ends with part of one of Puthucheary’s poems. He suggests that readers get hold of the book, No Cowardly Past, to get the full poem, and other poems and know more about Puthucheary:
II SIRAT UL MUSTAQIN (THE PATH TO TRUTH)
Azan
The muezzin calls the faithful to Subuh prayer
Allah u Akhbar! Allah u Akhbar!
In Prison cells the faithful face the Ka’aba
Bismillah ir Rahman ir Rahim
Men bitter against oppressing men
Yet with faith in the mercies of merciful Go.
God
Timeless yet embodies in time
Nameless yet name and invoked by name
God
Explanation of the inexplicable by thought and time
God
Maker of man yet made by man
A problem without solution
A solution elusive as death to a phoenix
A solution seeking understanding
- See more at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/08/19/zam-james-puthucheary-an-unsung-malay-hero/#sthash.a2Jyb1QJ.dpuf

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