British rock legend Rod Stewart was once booked to perform an evening concert in Kuala Lumpur. The planned date was 31 August 1995. Since the date coincided with Malaysia's Independence Day, various sections in the society demanded the event to be cancelled. Many believed to have the concert on such an important occassion is inappropriate and insensitive to the feelings of those who had struggled for the country's independence. After all, Rod Stewart is British, and the British were the oppressive colonizers here.
The concert was eventually cancelled. Being a fan of classic rock music and a bit of a concert-goer at that time, I was extremely disappointed. I remember writing in my log book (I was taking an English language intensive course at the time) about how silly I thought the decision was. My contention was, yes, the concert happened to fall on Merdeka Day, but it was scheduled to be held in the evening, not during the day. All the talk and spirit of patriotism, nationalism etc are normally expressed in the morning. There won't be much anymore by night time so why not let some of us enjoy a good performance from a rock legend?
I must admit my attitude and viewpoints then were bad and immature. Yes, to have a rock concert held on the country's independence day is indeed inappropriate.
Having said that, I still can't accept the rhetoric about Rod Stewart being British and somehow represents the British colonizers and the colonial period. We Malaysians in fact are a strange lot. We talk about oppression under the British and hail our heroes who fought against them but in our day-to-day actions still embrace and adore their tradition and culture.
I have never understood for example why in a very warm climate country like ours, we still emphasise suit-and-tie as the utmost formal attire. If you walk to a departmental store and talk to the sales assistant in English with an immaculate English accent, the sales assistant will treat you like a king and serve you politely. And talking about departmental stores, has anyone thought about the irony of having shops in an independent Malaysia with the name 'East-India Company' and 'British India'? Was not the East-India Company the British company who cheated our sultans and took away many of our lands? Can anyone of Indian decent stomach a shop and clothing brand by the name 'British India'? Of course, this is Malaysia not India. But imagine, if you are a Malaysian visiting India today and you see shops with the name 'British Malaya'? That doesn't sound so nice, does it?
Someone once told me a joke: "if you throw a coin in London's Oxford Street (especially during the end-of-the-year shopping season), one-out-of-four times you will hit a Malay". A slightly different version says you will hit either a 'Datuk' or a 'Datin'. Whichever, the joke demonstrates how Anglo-philic we are despite the often-heard jibes and rhetorics against the British, and Western values and Western culture in general. After all, isn't our flag look conspicuously similar to America's?
8 comments:
Sir,
Is East India Co. the one we learn dlm Sejarah sekolah menengah as KHTI (Koperasi Hindia Timur Inggeris)? I'm from Penang. Kalau tak salah Francis Light tu dtg dari KHTI kan? Memang dia yg tipu Sultan Kedah utk dapatkan Pulau Pinang.
Salam Ziarah, is is true that KHTI is the East India Company (EIC) and yes they were instrumental is capturing Penang and Singapore. You can see them in Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End.
Akhi Zaki, I didn't know you had a blog!! keep up the good work and one of these days we must meet up!
Salam akhi Amir. Thanks for dropping by and answering the question for me. Yes, would love to meet up one of these days.
Mr Zaki,
You're spot on.Actually,there are a lot of anglophiles here in Malaysia but wouldn't dare to express it in the open.
Just take a look at recent football match between our national team and MU,how many among them actually cheered for our boys? which shirt's colour that saw the most in the stadium? Certainly it wasn't yellow or blue.
One thing that puzzled me among our players or athletes is that their propensity to wear sweaters after playing.I can understand if you do that in Europe because it is one way to keep your body warm after playing sports but to do that in scorching heat of Malaysian weather is just plain weird.
If you play sports in weathers like ours,you don't need to put on those jumpers after playing because your body have enough heat.That's why you didn't see any United players wearing jumpers after a match in Malaysia.
By the way Sir, I am not complaining.Just want to emphasize your points.
Dear Anon 9:20 above,
I'm sorry I didn't notice earlier the comments you made.
I agree with your observation. In fact it is equally weird to find some teenagers here immitating rap artists with track-tops and thick jackets walking around the streets of KL under the blazing sun. Someone should do a study on the potential health effects of such behaviour.
Yes, I know you weren't complaining. Thank you for emphasising the point I made.
Salam sir,
"Someone once told me a joke: "if you throw a coin in London's Oxford Street (especially during the end-of-the-year shopping season), one-out-of-four times you will hit a Malay". A slightly different version says you will hit either a 'Datuk' or a 'Datin'."
This joke is definitely one of the classic ones and very very true indeed. Our ministers/ government encouraged Malaysian to buy Malaysian product to create the economic growth. Yet, we see their wives carrying designer's handbags like LV, YSL, Gucci and the endless list goes on. Where do they buy their groceries? Mark & Spencer of course, which originated from the British retailer instead of buying from Kedai Pak Abu or Ong Tai Kim. Where do they buy their clothes and garments? All over the world except from their own country. Why so? bcoz then only they can go around and say "ooo, this one I beli dkt UK" "yang nie I beli dkt Paris"... one word to describe this situation: pathetic. Please practice what you preach. If you can't even convinced your own family to buy Malaysian product, how do u aspect that others will?.
You also mentioned that "We talk about oppression under the British and hail our heroes who fought against them but in our day-to-day actions still embrace and adore their tradition and culute. If you walk to a departmental store and talk to the sales assistant in English with an immaculate English accent, the sales assistant will treat you like a king and serve you politely"
I personally experienced this myself, wait, i think all of us must have experienced this discrimination by the people of your own from your own country that proposed "Cintailah Bahasa Kita". Whether we liked it or not our people value's the British traditions and culture rather than our own. If you speak English u deserve to be treated better than those who speak Malay. "Takde kelas la cakap Melayu nie, cakap English la baru ade kelas". Memang menyedihkan. Ade juga anak muda yang pergi ke gerai makan dan pasar malam pastu berbahasa Inggeris dengan mak cik yang menjual, dah terpinga-pinga mak cik tue dibuatnya. Tak ke memalukan diri sendiri. "masuk kandang kambing mengembek, masuk kandang kerbau menguak ".Yes, it is good that you can conversed in English tapi biarlah bertempat.
I pray that one day our people will be proud of our cultures and tradition and embrace our culture no matter where they go :)
Yes, I see such discrimination all the time. I have a naughty habit of sometimes pretending like I don't know English when I enter a shop. And together with my rather out-of-fashion clothes and appearance, I do get discriminated a lot! I would just smile in reaction but there were times I did react in such a way to embarass them in return.
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