VOICES OF MALAYA: The Ethnocentric British

Hantu Laut

The film best describe Malaya then. Watch with caution and open mind. Some may not like the racial connotations. 

SYNOPSIS

Film showing Malaya before, during and after the war.

The film shows: how people from many races have settled here; the way that the Malays live; the Chinese and their way of life; the role of the Europeans, the 'white' man, in bringing civilisation to this area; the Indians and the way that they helped to build up Singapore; the way that money was spent - on hospitals, law and government, for example - to turn Malaya into a prosperous and contented country; 1941, when the Japanese overran the country and undid the work of more than a century; the building up of a secret resistance movement; the Japanese surrender; the desolation that faced people as they came back either from hiding or the army; cleaning up the mess that the Japanese had left before real productive work can proceed; disease, and the fact that the Japanese had refused to give medical treatment and many people were a long way from hospital and beyond the reach of ambulances; the shortage of food, which eventually led to stealing; the newspapers that were being produced; more easily available advice, and the idea that now, 'Malaya has changed. New ways grow side by side with the old. In no country is the struggle between traditional ways and the modern world more intense'.

Notes

Production: 'The Crown Film Unit wishes to express its grateful appreciation to the men and women of Malaya and to those organisations - both in Malaya and in Britain - whose whole-hearted cooperation made this film possible. Amongst them are: His Highness Sir Abdul Aziz the Sultan of Perak, the Malayan Film Unit, Malay 

Opera Company, Chinese Opera Company, Malay Tribune, Geographical and Survey Museum, London

CONTEXT

Although released in Britain in 1948, production on Voices of Malayaactually dates back to September 1945, when a detachment of the Crown Film Unit went ashore with the first wave of troops into Malaya. Cameraman Denny Densham explained how the Unit came to be there; ‘We had been standing by with a small flotilla of minesweepers in Southern India awaiting the start of an operation known locally as “Zipper” the invasion of Singapore’. On hearing that the British would take over the occupation of Penang Island on 3 September ‘Ralph Elton and I bribed the skipper of an M.L. to take us ashore, rather against orders, and we were set up on the jetty with our camera ready and waiting for the first official landing party’. Densham explained that after a couple of days, they explored the mainland, cleared themselves with the Japanese military headquarters in Taiping, and then drove south to interview the Sultan of Perak. ‘It was’, Densham added, ‘a great opportunity to put on record the history of a country as it unfolded before our camera; a chance almost unique in documentary film history to make a picture that lived with newsreel realism, yet had a heart so much deeper. We made a request to London for permission to go ahead on the story of a country’s post-war construction, and it was granted’ (Colonial Cinema, June 1948, 38-43).

Ralph Elton, who headed the Unit with a nucleus of four Englishmen and nine Malayans, returned to England with Densham in October 1946 (The Straits Times, 7 October 1946, 3). The crew had shot 250,000 feet of film, and the film was then left to a team in Britain, headed by Terry Trench, to edit. Densham referred to the ‘jungle of tin cans’ found in the cutting rooms and noted the enormity of the task facing the assembly unit back in London (Colonial Cinema, June 1948, 43). Trench and his team were responsible for ‘moulding the film’, developing a narrative and formulating the idea of the ‘Five Voices’, although this in itself is derivative of Alexander Shaw’s 1938 film for the Malayan Government, Five Faces.

It was difficult to complete the film because of the rapidly changing political situation within Malaya. Ralph Elton noted in 1946 that ‘script writing was very difficult. We would anticipate history and find that next week we were hopelessly out of date… it’s all very amusing to read our first rough script’ (The Straits Times, 4 August 1946, 4). Densham also noted that ‘owing to constant political changes in the Far East, it was impossible to shoot to a script… we shot most of the film off director Ralph Elton’s cuff’ (Colonial Cinema, June 1948, 39). The constant changes forced Crown to abandon their initial plans for two separate films – Speed the Parting and Reconstruction in Penang– as Speed the Parting was deemed out of date before completion, so both films merged into Voices of Malaya (INF 6/397).

By the time the film was finally released in 1948, the political shifts were even more pronounced. The Malayan Union, established in April 1946 and the subject of much Malay opposition (as noted by a banner within the film) had been replaced by the Federation Agreement on 1 February 1948, while the Emergency was declared on 18 June 1948. The COI file for the film noted that ‘the end was altered in accordance with the request of the Malayan Government before the film was released’ (INF 6/397). Mary Heathcote explained that the commentary originally hinted that Malaya still faced ‘internal problems’ but the government, claiming that ‘everything in the Garden’s lovely’, was unhappy with this and the commentary was changed. Heathcote suggested that the ending was now likely to be changed back again ‘to be in keeping with current events’ (The Straits Times, 1 August 1948, 9). The version viewed here concluded that ‘Malaya has a long tradition of peace. The goodwill with which all communities have accepted the new Constitution gives confidence that her problems will be solved as the four races build up a common loyalty to Malaya’. However, the script held with the COI file offers a different final line, without direct reference to ‘her problems’: ‘Progress is seldom simple, but Malaya is a naturally rich country with a long tradition of peace. The chances are in her favour. If the four races can build up a common loyalty to Malaya’ (INF 6/397).

Footage from the expedition was also used elsewhere. Densham noted that the filming served ‘mainly for record purposes, while quite a bit of footage was taken and used by the newsreels’. In addition, their material was used in a number of Crown and COI films including This was Japan, Pop Goes the Weasel, The World is Rich and Burma Victory, while subsidiary films were made from the footage includingThis is Malaya, Malay Village, People of Malaya, and Products of Malaya (Colonial Cinema, June 1948, 38, INF 6/397).

Read more and watch film here.http://colonialfilm.org.uk/node/2541

PAS/Pakatan Leaders Should Visit Chin Peng ( National Hero)

Hantu Laut

PAS leaders, particularly, Mat Sabu should visit national hero Chin Peng lying critically ill on his death bed in a hospital in Bangkok.

If Mohmmad Indera is a national hero than Chin Peng must be one even bigger national hero because he was the leader of the CPM that tried to liberate Malaya from British colonial rule and Mohammad Indera came from the same organisation.

In the past some opposition leaders have asked the government to allow Chin Peng to return to Malaysia but to no avail.Maybe, they should appeal for his body to be brought back so he can lie in state for Malaysians to show their last respect to this mass murderer.

Travestying history is their next sophistical project to fool the foolhardy Malaysians.

The Tyranny Of History

Hantu Laut

George Santayana's "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" or George Bernard Shaw's "If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience".

Henry Ford laments "History is more or less bunk( rubbish)", but I say one must learn from history as not to repeat it.We can collated history but once carved in stone we can't change it.

When I was a young man at lower secondary school we learned world's history, history of the British Empire and local history as well.

In one local history we learned about a man called "Mat Salleh" who was branded a pirate and a rebel by the British.For many years the school children of Sabah had been taught to deplore Mat Salleh as a pirate, a rebel and a troublemaker.Read the story here what caused Mat Salleh to rebel against the British.

Now, Mat Salleh is a patriot, a fighter and a hero fighting against unjust (?) British rule.Young Sabahans that have not read the old history book were asked to revere Mat Salleh as a true freedom fighter and a hero.The government even built a fort in Tambunan in his honour that looked more like a church without the cross.




Tambunan was his last stand before he was killed by the British.There is even a folklore that he may return one day to finish the job.

Sabah used to be owned by Brunei whose Sultan later ceded the territory to the Sultan of Sulu, who later ceded the territory by way of a lease to an Austrian, Baron Von Overbeck, who later sold the lease to Alfred Dent who formed the Chartered Company that ruled Sabah from 1881 until 1946 when it became a British crown colony.

There was no central government and no law and order before the Chartered Compay took charge of the country which they called North Borneo and later known as British North Borneo when it became a British colony after World War II.

We all know 16 Sept 1963, when Sabah, Sarawak,Singapore and Malaya became a new nation called Malaysia.Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia two years later. After that as we all know..... the rest is history.

Depending who wrote the history books, historical events can be adjudged according to the prevailing time or manipulated to suit the capricious and often blinkered mood of the person.

Most, if not all, history books that we read and learned from were written by Western writers. The East do not have the resources and education to write their own history books then.

What is history?

In a nutshell, it is a study of past events, particularly in human affairs.History can be the accretion of facts, half-truths or fictions.Why fight tooth and nail over it. Why don't we just leave the tyranny of history behind us and look forward to the future.

Malaysian politicians surely came off the same mould, both sides are over reacting to such useless piece of history.

Malaya gained independence through peaceful means and the wisdom of people like Onn Jaafar,Tengku Abdul Rahman and the ilk, certainly not those idiots who stormed and killed innocent people at the Kepong Police station.

To sum it all up, Malaya gained independence through the wisdom of UMNO leaders,the Chinese and Indian leaders at that time......and as they say "The rest is history".

Mat Sabu's Sword Of Damocles

Hantu Laut

Too much have been said about Mat Sabu's version of the nation's communist chronicle. A mangling of the nation's historical events for political expediency that may turn sour.

Not many Malays would agree with Mat Sabu, be they in UMNO, in PAS or those without any political affiliation.

Communism has always been the enemy of the Western democratic system which we have inherited.There is no nice connotation that can be associated with communism which, more often than not, resorts to armed struggle to bring down elected governments.


Malaysiakini glorifying communism.

The Emergency years in the than British Malaya and later Malaysia was, nonetheless, an armed struggle by communists to takeover power openly backed by the Chinese Communist Party of China.



It is not about chasing out the British for the independence of a democratic nation but rather the installation of communist regimes throughout South East Asia. In furtherance of that cause Malaya and Singapore were chosen as the stepping stones due to the significant Chinese population.



Twisting of the history book and glorifying communism for the sake of political expediency by a top leader of PAS is indeed disturbing to the families of those who lost their lives in defending the nation's freedom and those with anti-communist sentiments.

Mat Sabu is playing the devil's advocate hoping to ride on the Chinese votes for PAS bigger political agenda.Some members of DAP espoused such idea that the communists in CPM (Communist Party Of Malaya) were the true freedom fighters and liberators for independence of Malaya. In the past the Chinese were infidels, today they are comrades of PAS leaders.

Mat Sabu over-hyped the communist insurgency.As far as the Malays are concerned he has hung the sword of Damocles over his head.