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ABOUT THE BOOK

DIALOG is a major new anthology of Tunku Abdul Rahman’s enduring wit and wisdom, and the response of contemporary Malaysians to it. From politicians to rappers, from young and old, from actors to academics, Tunku’s thoughts, ideas and values continue to resonate, fascinate and illuminate.

DIALOG is a labour of love that has united dozens of Malaysians of all races, ages and walks of life such as artists, photographers, illustrators, writers and others, who have come together to create a book that is a powerful and timely tribute to “Bapa Malaysia”.

M&C Saatchi Malaysia had conceptualised, designed and edited the book with support from organisations such as the One Academy, an art and design college; Projek57, a social enterprise dedicated to keeping Tunku’s values alive; and the Rojak Projek, who had created a spice portrait of Tunku, made up of spices from all of Malaysia’s major races.

M&C Saatchi Malaysia’s chief executive officer and Tunku’s granddaughter, Datin Seri Sharifah Menyalara Hussein, who is the book’s essay contributor, summarised the creation of Dialog as a collaborative “labour of love” across races and religions that would have warmed Tunku’s own heart.  

FEATURING: 

– More than 20 individual essays in response to Tunku’s quotes

– Previously untold anecdotes and recollections, plus rare and unseen photos

– Dozens of original illustrations by The One Academy, a leading art & design college

– Specially-composed tribute lyrics to Tunku by Altimet

– A spice portrait of Tunku, made of spices used by all major Malaysian races

– The views of Malaysians aged 5 to 90 on Tunku’s continuing relevance to Malaysia’s future

ABOUT GERAKBUDAYA

Gerakbudaya is a publisher and distributor of books that embody social awareness, alternative perspectives, and the hidden histories of Malaysia, Southeast Asia & the wider world we live in.

Gerakbudaya is dedicated to the circulation of timely and important books, to breaking down artificial barriers between writers/thinkers and between institutions and the outside world, and generating informed discussions on important issues in Malaysian life by providing different views and fresh insights.

CONTENTS:

PREFACE TO THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

FOREWORD: ‘HIDDEN HANDS’ BY SAID ZAHARI

INTRODUCTION: QUESTIONING OFFICIAL HISTORY

• THE ALLIANCE RACIAL FORMULA
• THE 1969 GENERAL ELECTIONS
• RECORD OF THE RIOTS
• FOREIGN ASSESSMENTS OF THE REGIME CHANGE
• THE NEW UMNO RULING CLASS
• CONCLUSION: TOWARD NATIONAL RECONCILIATION

NOTES

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

“As far as I am concerned, I am not very interested
in politics. I am more interested in administering the
government and looking after the welfare and
the well being of the people and the nation.”

Excerpt from ‘Not your, not my, but our Malaysia’ by Ambiga Sreenevasan

The results of the 9 May 2018 General Election were nothing short of a miracle. Many never imagined seeing the Barisan Nasional government lose power in their lifetime. We must never forget this precious moment in history, achieved after decades of struggle and sacrifice by so many. We now have a functioning democracy and we must cherish this and work hard to ensure we never lose it again.

Much is expected of this new government. We want them to succeed. It is understandable that our leaders are preoccupied with economic issues, tackling corruption and checking abuse of power in the various ministries. Nevertheless, it is also important that this government spends some time focusing on the well-being of all. It was our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, who neatly encapsulated his own “people-first” philosophy in these words:

“As far as I am concerned, I am not very interested in politics. I am more interested in administering the government and looking after the welfare and the wellbeing of the people and the nation.”

After all, the previous government took racism, discrimination, divisiveness and the oppression of marginalised communities to new heights (or depths)! The people expect this government to govern differently. To unite rather than to divide, and to empower rather than to destroy.

How has this government performed in terms of being a government for all? It has been stated that: “The measure of a civilization is how it treats its weakest members”. Indeed, that must be true, for it is not the strong who need protection, but the weak, vulnerable and the marginalised.

In Malaysia, these include our children, abused women, the Orang Asli community, refugees, religious minorities, the poor, the LGBT community and the stateless, to name a few. How the government treats and provides for these groups will demonstrate whether or not they are and can be a government for all.

Again, we can turn for inspiration not just to Tunku’s words, but to his actual deeds. He wanted all citizens to receive fair treatment. It was largely due to his efforts that Malaysian women in the workforce gradually gained an equal footing with men in the post-Merdeka era.

It was during his premiership that we witnessed the first female civil servants and cabinet ministers, as well as the passage of important laws that established women’s pension rights and right to equal pay for equal work.

On a less official, but no less inspiring level, Tunku demonstrated a life-long affinity for those in society

who were marginalised and vulnerable. Well before he became Prime Minister, he helped to rehabilitate over 100 refugees who had fled the infamous Death Railway in Burma during World War Two.

Even when he was out of power in the mid-1970s, it was Tunku’s compassion for the less fortunate which was the prime mover behind Malaysia’s acceptance of close to 10,000 Cham refugees fleeing the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge.

Each era of Malaysia’s history has presented new challenges concerning marginalised or vulnerable groups. In new Malaysia’s first 100 days, we have been confronted with several such issues.

Read more in Dialog: Thoughts on Tunku’s Timeless Thinking

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Suaram adviser Kua Kia Soong has called for the declassification of the official documents on the May 13, 1969 riots. In 2007, Kua had written a book titled “May 13: Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969.” He republished the book this year to commemorate the dark history. The tragic May 13 broke out three days after the 1969 general election where the Chinese-dominated opposition parties DAP and Gerakan had made electoral gains. Official reports claimed a total of 196 were killed, but British diplomats at the time estimated it to be around 800. 

This is the first credible account of the May 13, 1969 racial riots/program in Malaysia using documents recently declassified at the Public Records Office, London after the lapse of the 30-year secrecy rule.

Since local sources remain classified or have been destroyed, these documents provide the only available confidential observations and memoranda by British and other foreign embassy operative. They include dispatches by correspondents which were then banned in Malaysia.

A social scientist, Kua Kia Soong provides a fresh political analysis of this “May 13 Incident”. In his view, the riots were by no means a spontaneous of violence between Malays and Chinese but rather an orchestrated coup d’etat by the ascendant state capitalist class against the Tunku-led aristocracy. He discusses the contradictions of the post-independence Alliance racial formula and traces the rise of the Malay state capitalist class in UMNO which has ruled Malaysia since 1969.

With this publication, the frequently raised “spectre of May 13” by the Barisan Nasional government to deter any challenge to the status quo has been forever put to rest and the political tsunami of 2008 is proof that Malaysians are finally free from the fear of fascism.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Kua Kia Soong is a director of human rights organization SUARAM. He was arrested under the Internal Security Act during “Operation Lalang” in 1987 and detained for 445 days without trial. Upon his release in 1989, he helped to found SUARAM (Suara Rakyat Malaysia), a leading human rights organization in Malaysia. 

Together with other civil rights activists, he joined the Opposition Front in 1990 and was elected Opposition Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya from 1990 to 1995. He was a prisoner of conscience for a second time in 1996 when he spent seven days in prison with other activists for organizing the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor which was disrupted by a mob from the ruling coalition.

He was the Principle of the New Era College, a non-profit tertiary-level institution run by the Chinese education movement (2000-2008); Director of Huazi Research Center set up by the Malaysian Chinese community (1985-90) and Academic Adviser to the Independent Chinese Secondary Schools (1983-85).

Kua received his BA Econ (1975), MA Econ (1976) and PhD in Sociology (1981) from Manchester University, UK. He was a lecturer in sociology at the National University of Singapore in 1978-79.

CONTENTS:

PREFACE TO THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

FOREWORD: ‘HIDDEN HANDS’ BY SAID ZAHARI

INTRODUCTION: QUESTIONING OFFICIAL HISTORY

• THE ALLIANCE RACIAL FORMULA

• THE 1969 GENERAL ELECTIONS

• RECORD OF THE RIOTS

• FOREIGN ASSESSMENTS OF THE REGIME CHANGE

• THE NEW UMNO RULING CLASS

• CONCLUSION: TOWARD NATIONAL RECONCILIATION

NOTES

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE BOOK…

“A day after the book hit the shelves, three senators called for action to be taken against the book and Kua, while Deputy Internal Security Minister Fu Ah Kiow said the ministry was studying the contents to decide on a course of action. Ten copies of the book have already been confiscated for “studying” by the Internal Security Ministry from a major bookstore chain in Kuala Lumpur.”

-Andrew Ong, Malaysiakini 18 May 2007 

“The allegations made in the book could stoke racial sentiments… I have been told that (Kua) named certain leaders as people responsible for the riots. That of course can lead to all kinds of unpredictable responses since the leaders he named were apparently not Chinese but Malay. It creates a difficult situation in our fragile society… Khoo said the authorities should have monitored the progress of the book earlier rather than reacting after the book was published… But then people will be unhappy that such actions curb freedom of speech, which is a very relative thing. People have to be careful in dealing with such matters.”

-Prof Khoo Kay Khim, Malaysiakini 15 May 2007

“Banning a controversial book on the May 13 riots will violate the right to freedom of expression enshrined in the Federal Constitution… In an age where information flows freely, constitutional freedoms must be honoured rather than breached. Laws and regulations which purport to grant power to the state to proscribe publications arbitrarily must only be used under the most exceptional circumstances…The book may indeed be controversial but if the government does not agree with the issues raised, it should refute them in an open and transparent manner…More significantly, banning this book will reinforce its thesis that the May 13 riots were indeed caused by a coup plotted by certain leaders to oust (then premier) Tunku Abdul Rahman.”           

PKR adviser Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysiakini 17 May 2007

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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it is a remote-controlled pilotless aircraft! In recent years, the drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) technology industry in Malaysia has really taken off. Many local companies and organizations are quickly catching up with other international bodies who have been pioneering the industry from the very beginning. However, there is a common misconception that drones are purely for aerial photography enthusiasts or that DroneTech is currently only at a conceptual level. In truth, drones as part of the new wave of technological innovation has many functions ranging from search-and-rescue operations to agricultural usage.

But drones as a piece of hardware alone and in itself can only do so much. In a recent roundtable between DroneTech firms in Malaysia and other industry stakeholders, Kamarul Muhamed, CEO and founder of Aerodyne group mentioned, “To us, AI is the holy grail. It’s not about the physical hardware. Drones are just a platform, it’s all about automating the process”. It is not only the application of the hardware usage of drones that will disrupt numerous industries, it is what the drone’s flying data can be analysed into that will bring a cataclysmic change to how other industries operate.

Based on a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the global market for drone-powered business solutions is currently valued at US$127.3 billion. In Rwanda and Switzerland, UAVs and drones have been used to transport healthcare supplies and specimens to hospitals that are a far distance away from their launch origin. Locally, the industry is getting attention and garnering interests from numerous different industries. In April 2019, the local national mail provider Pos Malaysia and Communications and Multimedia Commission Multimedia (MCMC) recently held two-day Parcel Drone Competition. Not wanting to lose out in the global race for drone adoption, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Minister, YB Gobind Singh Deo is aiming for the adoption of commercial use of drones in the postal and courier industry within five years.

One of the home-grown contributors to the future of Malaysian DroneTech is Jin Xi Cheong, founder and CEO of Poladrone in Malaysia. Poladrone is one of the first in Malaysia to specialise in building custom UAV solutions. They offer services such as training individuals towards licensing, repairing machinery and also providing other businesses access to DroneTech. Sharing insights from his company, Jin Xi Cheong says that Poladrone mainly focuses on serving the agricultural sector in Malaysia where drones help increase crop production and monitor crop growth while reducing labor and also occupational accidents.

Poladrone joins the ranks of many other Malaysian DroneTech firms such as Aerodayne, OFO TECH, Pulsar UAV, IR Technic, Average Drone, Tinjau Mahir, and Syarikat System Consultancy Services Sdn Bhd. Two of these companies have achieved commendable milestones both in Malaysia and abroad; Aerodayne is the only Malaysian company to have made it the top rankings in DRONEII’s 2018 Drone Operator Ranking report at 7^th place and Syarikat System Consultancy Services Sdn Bhd won the main prize in the Parcel Drone Competition held locally here in Malaysia.

Working with these local DroneTech firms by helping them connect with a team of researchers, business owners, and policy makers is Futurise – a Malaysian agency whose mission is to develop an innovation platform that stimulates and accelerates capacity building, innovation and commercialisation of futuristic solutions. Mahadhir Aziz, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Futurise Centre in Cyberjaya, sees the potential in the local drone industry as he claims that the use of drones is prevalent and spreads out between many different fields such as oil and gas, construction and agriculture. Futurise works towards pushing our Malaysian pride in the drone industry into the right direction.

Although these parties are very optimistic about the future of drones in Malaysia, their biggest challenge to date is the lack of exposure and public knowledge of the drone industry. Currently, drone services are mostly exclusive to either big business owners and a handful of hobbyists who utilize drones for individual use such as for photography or racing. It is still a challenge for the Malaysian DroneTech industry to penetrate the public sector.

To overcome that, Futurise and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has joined forces to make sure information about DroneTech, its potential and opportunities, are accessible to the public. Supported by Cyberview and Malaysia Global Innovation and Creative Centre (MaGIC), Futurise and MDEC are organizing Malaysia Drone Expo, MyDroneX, a one-day event which focuses on everything drone related to deliver participants an opportunity to get up close and personal with drones and also the biggest names in DroneTech.

MyDroneX also aims to bust all the misconceptions about DroneTech that the public may have and hopefully garner support from more people so the DroneTech industry in Malaysia could prosper. Speaking on behalf of the GAIN Programme by MDEC, Safuan Zairi says, “Having this event, MyDroneX, provides an opportunity for people to become more aware and from awareness comes adoption. You can expect to learn and unlearn a lot of things about Drone Tech”. The event which will take place on 17 June 2019 will feature forums, workshops, competitions and even a marketplace; welcoming people from all walks of life to see the future Malaysia is flying into with DroneTech.