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The Star Review: Absorbing tale

Review by AMY DE KANTER

What could have been very dry academic text is fleshed out with a bountiful crop of oral history.

LAND TO TILL: The Chinese in the Agricultural Economy of Malaysia
By Tan Pek Leng
Publisher: Centre for Malaysian Chinese Studies, 285 pages
ISBN 978-9833908042

CHOOSING to read Land to Till took a bit of deliberation. On the one hand, the book contained a lot of tables with loads of numbers. On the other hand, I knew nothing about the role of the Chinese in Malaysian agriculture, and I like learning about things, anything.

So I made up my mind to plough through this book on agriculture (yes, pun very much intended!), to start at page one and trod determinedly through a few pages a day.

I did not count on author Tan Pek Ling making the subject so interesting. Despite stumbling over and sometimes completely ignoring the tables, Land to Till proved to be a smooth and absorbing tale.
Tan begins each chapter with an overview of some aspect of agriculture in Malaysia. In these chapters she outlines the cultural background, the process (planting, growing, gathering, processing), and even the local and international socio-political events that led to the success of a certain crop.

At the end of each chapter are stories she has gathered about individual workers and landowners. Many of the people she writes about are no longer living, so she interviewed descendants, transcribing oral history that otherwise may have been eventually lost.

Many of the stories are of adventure, risk, struggle and success. A great number are of Chinese people newly-arrived in Malaysia, others of a first generation born in this country. Some are extremely rich today, while others continue to scrape by.

In one of the most riveting stories Tan allows the person involved to speak for himself. She reprints excerpts of Recollections of a Chinese Planter which was originally printed in the Malaysian Estate Owner’s Association’s newsletter and annual report. This was written by a H.L. Tang, who started out as an assistant on a British-owned estate. Although he is both hardworking and experienced, he earns a third of what is offered to British staff who “unless he had visited Kew Gardens, didn’t even know what the rubber tree looked like”. He eventually resigned after being told that even after eight years, he would not earn the same as a newly-disembarked Englishman. His “arrogance” resulted in his being blacklisted from European estates but he persisted, slowly and painfully paving the way to equality. It was a page-turner.

The chapter on research (in which the significant role of women is acknowledged) will have readers swelling with pride at local accomplishments.

Not all stories are so uplifting. Tan’s book is a valuable historical record, an education and also an impassioned plea for those who are in danger of disappearing.

Is it not always the case that we admire those who do well for themselves while those most directly involved in our survival are ignored? One cannot think of the country’s agricultural wealth without making the immediate leap to palm oil and rubber. But the farmers who put fresh, nutritious and affordable grain, fruit and vegetables on our tables work just as hard – for less return and with no secure future.

Tan not only writes about the problems they face (knowing that at any moment they can be kicked off their land is frightening for anyone, especially a farmer), she also outlines solutions to ensure that this most necessary form of farming continues.

Hip hip hurrah for the author! Long may she write.

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/1/24/lifebookshelf/4872870&sec=lifebookshelf

Saturday, 23 January 2010: Sembang-Sembang Forum on Socialist Movement in the Middle East

A former committee member of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Mr Salah Salah will be in town for a short visit. In his own words, he would like to have a dialogue with Malaysians who have experience in the global socialist/leftist movement from the 70s - 80s to the present day. It will also be your chance to find out more about the leftist movement in the Middle East where struggle for liberation is more important than ever!

Date: Saturday, 23 January 2010

Time: 8.00pm - 10.00pm

Venue: SIRD/Gerakbudaya (11 Lorong 11/4E, 46200 Petaling Jaya)

Please see the flyer below for more details about Mr Salah Salah and the PFLP.

For further information, please write to msri@streamyx.com.

15-17 January : 2010 New Year Sale at GB Gerakbudaya

GB Gerakbudaya Enterprise Sdn Bhd invites you to our …

2010 New Year Sale
Friday, 15 January to Sunday, 17 January 2010
9:30 am to 8:00 pm

We have High-quality, Provocative, Controversial, Inspiring Books.

BIG Discounts from 30% to 100%!!

COME and BUY these stimulating books!

Books on Arts and Literature, Current Affairs, Development, Economincs, Environment, Globalization, Indigenous, Labour and Migrant Workers, Memoirs, Oral History, Politics and International Relations, Religions and Cultures, Social Science, Women and Gender Studies, and more

Books from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and other countries.

Please see the following flyer for more information.

Feel free to circulate this notice to your friends and colleagues.

PUBLIC LECTURE by Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram on Wednesday, 16 December 2009

Report of this event by Beh Kay Hieng at FreeMalaysiaToday

Dear Friends,

Strategic Information and Research Development Centre and Youth for Change cordially invite you to a Public Lecture by the well-known public intellectual, Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram of the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Details of the lecture are as follows:

Title: When will we ever learn? Has Malaysia learnt the correct lessons from past crises?
Date: Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Hotel Singgahsana, Persiaran Barat, off Jalan Sultan, 46760 Petaling Jaya (next to Taman Jaya LRT Station)
Admission: FREE

The Topic
The world is still struggling to emerge from the longest and deepest financial crisis in six decades. For every piece of optimistic news about recovery there are stories of setbacks and worsening downturns. Asia has been here before. A decade ago, the Asian financial crisis swept across the region. It not only prompted some rethinking of how to ‘manage’ financial crises but also stimulated some serious rethinking about the character of the development model in Asia. Lessons were learnt and new policy and institutional frameworks were put into place. But the severity of the current crisis begs a question: did politicians and policymakers really learn the right lessons from ten years ago? This is the burning question that is addressed in Jomo’s important public talk.

The Speaker
Jomo is one of the world’s leading thinkers on questions of development — not just development economics but also the policy commitments and institutional frameworks for international cooperation that are necessary to deliver both reform and sustainability. From his position at the United Nations he is able to shape debates and influence their outcomes. At the same time, he remains profoundly committed to building longstanding solutions to the most pressing problems that face the world today - environmental degradation and climate change, financial disorder and continuing uneven development. Come and listen to him offer important reflections on what has gone wrong and what might be done to advance a progressive agenda.

Feel free to circulate this invitation and notice to your colleagues and friends.

新书推介：满楼风雨霹雳天

书名：满楼风雨霹雳天
编者：唐南发
出版：燧人氏
年份：2009年11月
ISBN：978-983-2197-32-4
页数：87
售价：RM 16.00

2009年2月，霹雳州风雨交加，民选政府被推翻，爆发宪政危机，以致纷争迭起，众怨难平。

从议员变节、王室介入、官僚僭越，到官方挡议员、掳议长等事件，国政的夺权过程不但违背民意，而且挑战议会民主、侵蚀宪政根基，更在司法权间僭侵立法机关下破坏三权分立体制，同时民间抗争也屡遭打压，民主化前路可谓风雨如晦。

本书按此主轴收录十位作者的十六篇评论，从多重角度提供不同诠释，并佐以大事纪、大选图表、彩图述事及纪录短片，解说事件前后的风风雨雨，希望能作为政治改革的参考资料，也为我国这重要历史章节留下草稿。

BOOK LAUNCH - The Fajar Generation: The University Socialist Club and the Politics of Postwar Malaya and Singapore

Date: Saturday 28 November 2009
Time: 3.00–6.00 pm
Venue: KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, 1 Jalan Maharajalela, 50150 Kuala Lumpur

敬邀公众出席“跑跑世界，看看民主”讲座与新书发表会

策略资讯研究中心、雪隆理华同学会在2009年9月9日（星期三）举办“跑跑世界，看看民主”讲座会，为《冻土忧思——游履阿拉斯加》举行发表会，同时也播放该书作者旅游阿拉斯加拍摄的风景录影片，与读者分享跨国旅行经验，同时畅谈国外民主状况，以检讨三零八大选以来之政治发展。欢迎各界出席。

本次活动邀请雪隆理华同学会主席廖国华担任推介人，同时也邀请时事评论人唐南发、隆雪华堂民权委员会副主席黄进发、以及文化与古迹保存研究者张集强与读者交流，讨论国外的民主发展与社会现状，看看民主如何影响人民的生活与文化发展，以种种生活化的例子说明民主的实际面貌。以下是活动详情：

Press coverage of “Our Thoughts Are Free” book launch - Malay Mail

TWENTY-TWO years ago today, the government of Singapore began what it called Operation Spectrum. The name was apt as the security operation targeted a spectrum of social and cultural activists.

It effectively “nipped in the bud” the desire for substantive democracy in the city-State. Neutralised, that is, until the trauma of the State repression was again outweighed by an emergent desire on the part of ordinary citizens to claim common ownership of the nation-building project.

It was May 21, 1987 and I had turned the corner on being a minor, only months before. I was 21 years old and for all legal purposes, an adult. Looking back at those events, I am now forced to see it through the prism of the events of 9/11 and the enhancement of national security laws and institutions previously thought to be anathema to democratic societies.

The authoritarian States of Southeast Asia have rarely apologised for trampling on civil liberties or for turning the rule of law on its head. In the aftermath of 9/11, the positions taken by these States were given a “moral” boost when advanced democracies actively and openly curtailed the liberties of their own citizenry on the basis of “national security”.

The US’ wars of vengeance required not only new security apparatuses but also the kind of political and moral justification that authoritarian regimes from the “Free World” side of the Cold War had become expert in articulating. In the hands of sophisticated advocates for the national security State, the arguments are complex. There is no dismissing them out of hand.

But perhaps history allows us a vantage point to begin an exploration of the real dangers in the political logic governments and nations founded this premise. After 22 years, sufficient popular and scholarly analysis strengthens the opinion that the so-called communist conspiracy was nothing more than a political fiction. Whitely Road Detention Centre is Singapore’s Guantanamo Bay, as Kamunting is ours.

This is where the alleged Jemaah Islamiyah operative Mas Selamat spent a couple of years cooling his heals. Twenty-two years ago the lives of a good number of people became entangled in it. They were taken from the homes, their families and their lives for what the government and an uncritical media called a “Marxist Conspiracy”.

The use of the Internal Security Act, detention without trail, and televised confessions substituted due process and the Rule of Law as the mechanism to prove their guilt. A two-part television programme “Tracing the Conspiracy” was shown to those who tuned in.

I was nauseous watching it. Less than a month after the May arrests, a former student leader in exile in the UK who was named in the conspiracy issued a defence, claiming that “the government fabricated the communist conspiracy for partisan ends”.

This is Tan Wah Piow’s “Let the people judge: Confessions of the most wanted person in Singapore”. A year after the first arrests, only the alleged mastermind remained in detention. Then, astonishingly, nine ex-detainees issued a joint statement.

They denied the government accusations against them of being Marxist conspirators; they alleged ill-treatment while under detention; and that their TV confessions had been coerced. They were, consequently, re-arrested. Unfortunately for those in power, disquiet about these arrests persisted through the years, and like little weeds in the cracks of the pavement they are irrepressible.

Last weekend in Kuala Lumpur, former political prisoners from successive generations of dissidents gathered, to share their thoughts – and poems – on a matter of grave concern on both sides of the Causeway: The use of the ISA and its effect on the maturing of our democratic nations. It must be repealed.

● Sharaad Kuttan was born in JB, educated there and in Singapore. And has lived in the Klang Valley for the last 14 years. He would like Malaysia to boast about its human rights record for a change.

Gerakbudaya @ Read Malaysia’ 09 - Last two days!

Dear Authors/Colleagues/Friends/Customers,

Come and chat with some of Malaysia’s most famous authors at our meet and greet session!

You also got the chance to meet up with renowned authors from Malaysia at our  meet and greet session with authors!

Meet us at booth no. E16, MIECC Mines Resort City

Date: 29 May to 7 June 2009

11.00AM to 10.00PM

Gerakbudaya @ KL Alternative Bookfest this week!

ART FOR GRABS

+ KL ALTERNATIVE BOOKFEST

Arts, Crafts & Books Fair

Sat 9 & Sun 10 May, 12pm to 8pm

Presented by The Annexe Gallery & Central Market

Admission Free, except where indicated

Art For Grabs, our arts and crafts bazaar, returns for yet another triumphant round of affordable artsy consumerism in a collision of coolness. That’s over 20 stalls selling art, photography, knick knacks, accessories, etc, all for under RM100 (per item, that is!).

This time we also have KL Alternative Bookfest, featuring over 20 stalls by local indie publishers (not always available at a bookstore near you).

Everytime we host Art For Grabs, we present a fringe program of exciting events. This time around, we have Bilik Panas. Our “hot room” is not literally sauna-like, it’s actually air-conditioned. The “panas” here refers to the artistic, intellectual and emotional heat that will be generated by the performances, lectures and book launches we’ve got planned. See you there!

BILIK PANAS

Admission Free except for Gostan Forward

SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

SATURDAY 9 MAY

12pm

THE CLOTH THAT CUTS: Re-Appraising Batik as a Trans-Cultural Signifier

Public Lecture by Dr Farish Noor

2.15pm

GOSTAN FORWARD – Solo Performance Lecture by Marion D’Cruz (Admission by RM10 donation)

3pm

BEYOND FEMINISM – The Woman as Metaphor for the Colonised

Talk by Chuah Guat Eng

4pm

KLAB Book Launch

TAXI TALES ON A CROOKED BRIDGE by Charlene Rajendran

5pm

KLAB BOOK Launch

NAJIB’S CHALLENGE: Glory or Oblivion? by Barry Wain & UNMASKING NAJIB by Lim Kit Siang

6pm

KLAB BOOK Launch

DEWANGGA SAKTI TERTINGGAL KAPAL ANGKASA DI HARI PELANCARAN BUKU ‘KACIP’ PIPIYAPONG

6.40pm

KLAB BOOK Launch

BERSERONOK DENGAN PEREMPUAN DALAM POKET

Pelancaran buku Puisi Poket 1: Akulah Perempuan Muda itu oleh Shaira Amira

8.30pm

GOSTAN FORWARD

SUNDAY 10 MAY

11am

MEDIA UNDER NAJIB: Hope or Disappointment?

Forum by Centre For Independent Journalism (CIJ)

12.30pm

PENCERAHAN DAN KOSMOPOLITANISME

Talk by Khalid Jaafar, Director of Institut Kajian Dasar (IKD)

2.15pm

GOSTAN FORWARD

4.30pm

READING LOLITA IN KL

Reading by Sisters In Islam (SIS)