This morning I came across a posting in theantdaily by Christopher Fernandez "Unmasking Tun Abdul Razak and the ugly truths about him" which concluded, among other things, that "Razak was a Malay chauvinist and he was a racist who only had eyes for his own race"
This the writer concluded because at the age of fourteen in 1975, he saw Tun Abdul Razak handed India, the winners of the World Cup Hockey championship, their trophy in a "gruff manner and walked away with a disgusted huff." Then, the writer tells us, Tun Razak went to the runners-up camp, Pakistan to give them their award and "shook hands with each and every player and official and exchanged pleasantries with them"....because they were all Muslims!
With regret I must dispute his recollections of that particular event.
That match was played at the Merdeka Stadium, as Fernandez said, on the 15th of March 1975. Through the wonders of the Internet...you can go to YouTube Link and see the whole match played in its entirety with Rahim Razali distinctive voice doing the commentary.
At the end of the match you can see Tun Razak being escorted by the late Raja Azlan to the dais where the winning Indian team were joyfully celebrating their win to present the Championship trophy to them.
From 1:20:59 of the YouTube clip of the match you can see the start of the presentation ceremony. You can see Tun Razak coming down the stairs from the VIP box escorted by the then Raja Azlan. As he walks towards the dais you see Tun Razak smiling and waving to the people to his left and right and at times acknowledging the crowd....relaxed and enjoying the occasion.
He first handed the trophy (insured for RM$200,000) to the Captain of India, Ajit Pal Singh (who started playing hockey at the age of seven!) and then went on to hand each Indian player their batik wrapped medals making eye contact with the players as he did so surrounded by a melee of officials, security personals the press and an assortment of others all pressing towards Tun Razak and the winning team...making it impossible at times for Tun to move as he was surrounded by the boisterous crowd around him.
And then Tun went on to present the runner up medals to each Pakistani Player...but this time he did shake hands with every player...but only because he had the space and the time to do so.
The crowd around the winning Indian team was overwhelming. There was no such crowd around the Pakistani team....and no, I did not see Tun Razak exchanged pleasantries with the members of the Pakistani team as alleged by Fernandez....Like he did with the Indian players he also made eye contact with each Pakistani players and their officials, handed them their medals and moved on to the next player.
Go click the YouTube link I have given above and see for yourself what I have just told you.
No I am not saying that Fernandez is not telling us the whole truth...he told it as he saw it then....40 years ago. But he was, as he said, a fourteen year old teenager then. And I am sure that he must be sitting in the stands far away from where Tun Razak was seated and far away from the award giving ceremony.
I have seen Tun Razak when he is upset and gruff and nothing in the YouTube clip of the award giving ceremony tells me that Tun Razak was so inclined on the day when he was presenting the Championship Award to India.
I was twenty eight years old then.
Yes even then I had some awareness that as a Malay I could depend on Tun Razak to look after the interest of my race because of what he had done post May 13th 1969 but I knew that he was a fair man with no pretension for personal glory and was only preoccupied with his responsibility as leader of the Malays and of all Malaysians...and of course with his knowledge of his own coming death which he ignored because his work as prime minister was then not yet finished.
And the NEP was needed then or the Malays would never have got to the position we are in now.....at least able to start our attempts to stand at par with other Malaysian. Do not tar Tun Razak's legacy by the abuse of the NEP by Malay leaders who came after him.
Fair is fair....let not the sins of the son cloud the work of his father. Tun Razak had his personal failings but let it not be said by anybody that he took his responsibility as leader of all Malaysians lightly.
And let not the hazy recollections of a 14 year old boy from a Hockey Match played over 40 years ago be the reason to unmask "ugly truths" about the dead.
Enough said!
Razak
was a Malay chauvinist and he was a racist who only had eyes for his
own race. - See more at:
http://www.theantdaily.com/Main/Unmasking-Tun-Abdul-Razak-and-the-ugly-truths-about-him#sthash.joulUmwO.dpuf
No comments:
Post a Comment