When pigs walked upright, wore clothes and...flew

Created On Friday, 10 October 2014 07:00

Published Date

Written By Super User

Category: Columnist

Haris Ibrahim

No criminal action against Ibrahim Ali for calling on Muslims to seize and burn copies of the Holy Bible.

No action against Federal Territories Umno Youth chief, Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafii, for threatening to burn down the DAP headquarters

No action against Petaling Jaya Utara Umno deputy division chief, Mohamad Azli Mohemed Saad, for demanding that all vernacular schools be closed.

All this no-action business takes me back some 37 years to my English Literature class.

George Orwell’s 'Animal Farm' was compulsory reading and would be examinable in our then Malaysian Certificate of Examination (MCE).

The other compulsory reading text for which we would be examined was  'Cry, the Beloved Country' by Alan Paton.

Obviously, Dr Mahathir had not yet the influence then to remove these wonderfully-inspiring and instructive books from the syllabus for young Malaysian minds.

For those unfamiliar with 'Animal Farm', let me say it is a wonderful story of how the animals on a farm revolted, drove out the human owner and took over the farm, renaming it 'Animal Farm'.

The animals adopted the Seven Commandments of Animalism as their constitution of sorts, the most important of which was, "All animals are equal."

Yes, the pigs and the horses and the donkeys, the dogs and the chickens were all equal.

Oh, and contact and dealings with human beings, known as parasites, was forbidden.

For a while, things went well.

Food was aplenty, enough for all.

Then the pigs decided to elevate themselves to a position of pre-eminence.

More and better food for themselves, whilst the other animals were urged to work harder so that they could look forward to better days ahead.

Yes, all animals were equal, but then "Some are more equal than others." became the new mantra.

And, in time, even a hierarchy amongst the pigs began to emerge, with some more equal than others.

In time, the pigs came to take on the ways of the parasite humans, walking upright and clothed.

They had become the new subjugators.

I have looked up the speeches of our beloved Tunku Abdul Rahman, both on the Independence Day of Malaya on 31st August, 1957 and, later, on Malaysia Day on 16th September, 1963.

Nothing in either suggests that we are ever intended to be anything other than a nation of equals.

I have searched through the Federal Constitution.

Again, there is nothing there to sustain any contention that whilst we are all equal, some might be more equal than others.

Article 153?

No.

It does not create rights, but places a duty on the Yang DiPertuan Agung to strike a balance in working out a policy of affirmative action to safeguard the ‘special position’ of the Malays and of the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak, and the "legitimate interests" of the other communities.

So from where do we now discern the much-spoken-of  ‘hak istimewa orang Melayu’ ?

And is this ‘hak istimewa orang Melayu’ why Ibrahim Ali, Mohd Razlan and Mohamad Azli can say what they will, with total impunity?

Wait a minute!

Adam Adli is Malay.

Safwan Anang is Malay.

Azmi Sharom is Malay.

So what gives?

Or…has life imitated art?

Could it be that, like the pigs in Animal Farm, emerging from the fictional and totally baseless ‘hak istimewa orang Melayu' is a more elitist class, the ‘hak istimewa Melayu Umno’ ?

Source: http://rakyattimes.com/index.php/columnist/1376-when-pigs-walked-upright-wore-clothes-and-flew-haris-ibrahim