Time maybe for a Commission to re-examine Malaysian history...

It is good that we are again looking at the question of 'MERDEKA' - in short, re-evaluating as to who were the ones who should be credited with fighting for the independence of Malaysia.

1) Who were we fighting against to get the independence of Malaya?

The British - that would be the correct answer.

2) Who were the people involved in the struggle for the independence of Malaya?

It was a whole range of people, from the various ethnic religious and cultural groups, and the various different groups used a variety of means to fight for independence - some resorted to arms struggle and others used other means.

3) So what is the problem now?

Well, the problem is that our Malaysian history has failed to give due recognitions to all those different people and groups that were struggling for merdeka. In fact some of these have been painted very negatively in our history books. Now, there is a movement again in search of the truth..the true history of Malaysia

4) Do you consider those who served as police, military, civil defence forces, etc... under the British colonialist government, acting against those who fought the British rule and administration in accordance to the law and policies of the British, before 31/8/1957 persons who were fighting for Malaya's independence or patriots?

Personally, my opinion is that they were not, and the question that we must ask is why the BN government (or the Alliance government) before that have been trying to make us accept these policemen, military personnel,... as patriots...further aggravated by movies...

OK, we may have made a mistake ...and painted a wrong picture in the past - but why is the BN government today still defending this story - not willing to acknowledge the others who fought for the independence of Malaya??

I say let us form a Body...maybe some sort of Commission to do the needful and correct the written history of Malaysia - re-discovering the truth of what really transpired. We may not condone the strategy or methods of some, but let us also acknowledge the part that they played in the struggle for independence of Malaya...

Revision of our nation's history was necessary due to versions yet to be uncovered, but this does not apply to the history of Independence including the Bukit Kepong incident, said the Education Ministry.

Minister of Higher Education Khaled Nordin (right) said this was because the struggle for Independence struggle took place recently and was abundant in points of reference.

"More versions of history need to be unearthed, but this does not mean twisting historical facts like in Bukit Kepong...

"(The Independence struggle) is something which many went through and know about, and there are many writings on it compared to what had happened in the 11th and 12th century," said Khaled at UTM's Kuala Lumpur campus.

Khaled spoke to reporters after the launch of the book 'Historical Facts and Fiction' by estemeed scholar Syed Muhammad Naguib al-Attas, that disputes widely-accepted versions of the historical Islamisation of the Malay world.- Malaysiakini, 9/9/2011, History needs review, excepting Bukit Kepong

I really cannot agree with the Minister - I wonder why he still wants to keep the policemen, who served the British colonialist, as heroes of Malaysia. They were not. This kind of attitude raises the question of whether the current BN leadership is still pro-British... or just agents of the British - still not adopting the reality that Malaysia is indeed now independent - and the fact that we gained our independence by the ousting of the British colonialist from Malaysia. 

Would those who served the Japanese, when they occupied Malaya also heroes of Malaysia?

We should not now blame those who served the British(or the Japanese) in the police, armed forces, civil defence forces and civil service as being 'anti-national' or 'traitors' - for many did so, just because it was a job and a means to earn an income - but, at the same time we should not elevate them as 'heroes' of an independent Malaysia.

Recognizing the police that served in Bukit Kepong as 'heroes' would also means that the British police and armed forces were all the 'heroes' - and this would make all those who fought the British for independence into 'enemies' and 'anti-nationals', would it not.

Members of the police force and the armed forces, only after independence was achieved, who fought for the preservation of independent Malaysia would (or may be) be heroes, and before independence, it is all those who fought the British for independence who are the heroes - the real heroes of Malaysia.

See also an earlier posting:-

Bukit Kepong - would not the persons who attacked a British police station in 1950 be Malaysian freedom fighters - not terrorists.