Frail, sickly but still spirited, Cikgu Ali Markom, 71, says it’s not radicalism but nationalism flowing in the blood of Johoreans. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Seth Akmal, December 19, 2015.There must be something about Batu Pahat, Johor, which has birthed or raised many a strident personality in politics. Some even say it’s the birthplace of radicalism in Malaysia.
Datuk Onn Jaafar, Tony Pua of DAP, Teo Nie Ching, Tan Sri Chua Soi Lek, Dr Syed Husin Ali were born or raised here.
The late elder statesman and former prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, went to school here.
Muar and Batu Pahat appear clean and orderly, with well-kept old Malay houses, although Johoreans are well-off, too: mansions rise out from nowhere in the small suburbs around Batu Pahat.
The people are soft-spoken with an old-school Malayness to their demeanour. Conversations are peppered with “…ekk”, a colloquialism particular to Johoreans, and the women are still wearing their baju kebaya from the 1960s, and selendang, instead of the ubiquitous tudung.
Beneath the pristine beauty of Batu Pahat, however, is a history of insurgencies and radicalism.
Could this explain the political activeness of the state and her citizens?
But Johoreans whom The Malaysian Insider met keep their history to heart, making it difficult to prise stories of radicalism out of them.
Batu Pahat police station incident
On October 16, 1980, white-robed men suspected to be members of a religious cult, attacked the Batu Pahat police station.
They were followers of what was later deemed a deviant cult led by Ahmad Nasir Ismail who declared himself as Imam Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule before the Day of Judgment and will rid the world of evil.
The cult had been living in Bukit Payung and practised religious rites and silat, which led them to believe that they were invincible.
Eyewitness Rohayah Rawi had just started working as a clerk at the police station. Recently married then, she said the day of the attack changed her life forever.
“I don’t know what it is that makes people think Johor is the site of radicalism and whether the state spawns radicals.
“What I do feel is that Johor from before has always attracted orang luar (outsiders) who settle down here. We have descendants from Banjar, Java, China, all who are quite hot-headed, and perhaps were very active in their communities back home, and when they came here, they brought along that (kind of activism).”
She also said that Johor attracted many ulama or healers.
At the moment, there’s one known as Ustaz Salam, an Indonesian, reputedly a con, as he had been caught fishing during Friday prayers.
“Kenapa-lah orang Melayu ni cepat terpengaruh? (Why are the Malays so easily influenced?)” she asked.
Syed Hamid Ali led University of Malaya students’ union in the late 1960s and went into hiding after being accused of being a communist. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Seth Akmal, December 19, 2015.Migrant influence
The Banjarese, Bugis and Javanese who settled in Johor have had the reputation for millenarian movements which aspire to a future golden age and have a reputation for belligerence.
Such groups of migrant people were the first to oppose the communist-controlled Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Party (MPAJA) in the area.
The late historian and academic Cheah Boon Kheng had written in “Red Star over Malaya” about the struggles faced by Malayans in Batu Pahat.
In 1945, an inter-racial clash erupted between the Malays, involving the fiercely anti-colonialist order called the Qadirriyah tarekat, and MPAJA.
What seemed like the best way to throw the colonialists and Japanese out of Malaya – an alliance between the Malays and the MPAJA – ended up in bloodshed.
“The offensive behaviour of the Chinese in the MPAJA is said to have taken many forms,” said Cheah.
They imposed burdensome taxes and reportedly insulted and scorned Malay and Chinese villagers.
Women were forced to work in the kitchens of the MPAJA and molested. The MPAJA were also said to have slaughtered pigs in the mosques and Malays who were suspected to be traitors were killed without trial.
Enough was enough, said Kiyai Salleh and members of the tarekat, who were famed among the Malays for their purportedly supernatural powers.
Kiyai, the acknowledged sufi or mystic of the group, was seen as one who could invoke supernatural powers in the cause of Islam.
He possessed knowledge of the soul (ilmu batin), unseen (ilmu ghaib), martial arts and magic to make oneself immune and invincible (ilmu kebal).
Kiyai came into prominence when he successfully led Malay resistance against MPAJA.
Interestingly though, according to locals, the brains behind Kiyai were actually his strong-willed wife, Hajah Esah Haji Abdul Rashid.
It was only when he was at war or planning one with his band of warriors that Kiyai came into his own.
Radicalism or nationalism?
Frail, sickly but still spirited, Cikgu Ali Markom, 71, is a former PKR candidate for the Seri Gading parliamentary seat, and a former member of Persatuan Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya.
He sees himself as a radical citizen and an activist. He began his political life as a member of Umno Youth for 20 years.
“It was a time when it was right and felt good to be in politics. There were men like Cikgu Harun Silat, who was a local hero to many in the kampung. There were many teachers in Umno, who brought it forward.”
Now, he said, politics was about economic power, instead of the people. When asked whether radicalism was in the blood of Johoreans, he smiled.
“Maybe the word is not radicalism. Nationalism.”
Syed Hamid Ali, retired socialist and younger brother to Dr Syed Husin Ali the former PKR deputy president, is a sanguine and modest man.
He led a life as colourful as his older brother, but in a more low-key manner, though a stint in the jungle lasting some 20 years could hardly be called mundane.
“If you want to know the true story, you really should talk to my wife. But only if she wants to tell you and trusts you. I have nothing to say left.”
He was a student activist in University of Malaya, when youth power was thriving in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Syed Hamid was general-secretary the University of Malaya Students’ Union (UMSU) from 1967 to 1969, before he was elected president for the 1969-1970 term.
In the 1970s, Syed Hamid became the secretary-general of Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia.
In the 1970s, Syed Hamid became the secretary-general of Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia.
When former prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman accused him of being a communist, Syed Hamid went into hiding and subsequently joined the underground, to avoid arrest under the Internal Security Act.
Though he gladly recounted his days as a student activist, he found it peculiar that Johor should be considered the birthplace of radicals.
“History is made by man. What’s written in books, they’re not great people. But where are the brilliant ones, like Dr M.K. Rajakumar of Parti Sosialis Malaya? To me, he’s a great man who was an intellectual and a doctor. Why is he not there? But in the end, people will write what they want.
“But radicals? Are there in Johor?” he asked. “I don’t know if there are any.”
- TMI
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