The son of my father

It had been a hectic and anxious week for me since Wednesday last week. My father, a frail and old man in his 80s, was admitted to hospital again for abnormal parameters of his bodily functions which could take his life within the week if nothing was done to reverse the trend (as told to me by his doctors).

Luckily for him, the doctors managed to reverse the trend (after a couple of days of ICU) and he is back home today recuperating with the parameters within acceptable range for a person of his age and condition. That is until the next time he needs medical intervention again and again until modern medicine can do no more.

The above is meant to explain to my readers for my absence from blogging and also to thank all well-wishers for their kind words of encouragement. During the time I kept my father company in hospital, I did a lot of reading. Whilst I had access to WiFi, I was not in the mood to put thoughts to words so I read and read (actually finished 2 books).

One of the books I read was "May 13 : Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969" by Dr Kua Kia Soong.

This book is based on material uncovered from the Public Records Office, London, after the 30-year secrecy rule had lapsed. The material included dispatches by the British High Commission in KL, stories fielded by foreign correspondents, dispatches by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and press releases by the Malaysian Red Cross Society.

What was particularly interesting from reading these dispatches and reports was that May 13 was not a spontaneous outbreak of racial violence as our government's official version of history would have us believe. Neither was it orchestrated by the Malaysian Communist Party, as continuously proclaimed by the powers-that-were.

My understanding from reading the book is that May 13 was engineered by elements within UMNO, the capitalist Malay ruling class, to overthrow Tunku Abdul Rahman and put in place a government that is Malay-centric and the British, in their pragmatism for a stable region 'helped' them do precisely just that.

The most telling of all is the document from the British Cabinet Office that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had concluded one week after the riots broke out that this was a coup de' tat of sorts engineered by Tun Razak to formalize Malay dominance and 'shelve' Tunku Abdul Rahman.

The book also helped me to understand that the UMNO that fought for Malaysia's independence and formulated the federal constitution is a vastly different creature from the UMNO of the 70s, 80s, 90s and today. From an UMNO that represented Malay rights (with 'fair' space for non-Malay rights) to an UMNO that introduced the Malay agenda, to Malay dominance and now Malay supremacy (which encroached on the rights of non-Malays and Malaysian citizens, no less!).

Lately, we have heard words from our PM-to-be that can be construed as small steps towards reform but how much hope can we place on these words? Can UMNO truly reform and can Najib lead this reform?

There were times over the last week when I watched my father sleep and quiet thoughts if I had failed him as a son crept into my mind. I'm sure I have and the wish that I wanted most was to turn the clock back and not be so at odds with him when our views and beliefs were different. He had been a DAP man all his life and I had been pro-BN until after the 12 GE. There is nothing I would not do now to change our past as I am my father's son and I love him dearly.

With this in mind, I bring my attention to the father-son duo of Razak and Najib. The father who had caused UMNO to morph into the domineering and racist party that it is today and the son, who is soon to take over, saying things which would be against what his father had started.

For me, I have come a full circle. From being anti-establishment in my youth to pro-establishment in my working life and now back to anti-establishment with an expanded outlook of life. My fear is that Najib may one day return to his Malay-centric posturing of his younger years once he assumes the office of PM and consolidates it ...... a full circle.

We are after all the sons of our fathers!