It has been a few years since I came accross some postings, must be by Chinese bloggers, ’touting’ TALES that the Malay WARRIOR ICON, Hang Tuah, and his four almost equally famous comrades-in-arm, Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir and Lekiu, were Chinese.

At first I thought the TALES were not worth a second look. However, I kept on coming accross such TALES being repeated by other bloggers, giving me the impression that such TALES may have been ‘swallowed’ as TRUTH by the younger Chinese generation. The paradox is, the Malaysian Chinese professor in history, Prof. Khoo Kay KIm, through his recent statement, is of the belief that Hang Tuah was a mythical figure.

I’m not taking on Prof. Khoo Kay Kim here. On this ouspicious Chinese New Year day, its more relaxing to handle the proponents of the belief that Hang Tuah and his ‘cpmrade-in-arms’ were Chinese, based on the following: 1. The name of Ming Emperor’s princess ‘presented’ to the Sultan Iskandar Shah of Malacca was Hang Li Po.  2. Names of Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat and others had THREE consonents, typical of Chinese names. Hence their ‘re-naming Hang Tuah as ‘Hang Too Ah’ and Hang Jebat as ‘Hang Jee Fatt’ and so on.  3. According to them, initial name of ‘Hang’ was never used as a Malay name.

Proponents of the TALES further added that, ‘Hang Too Ah’ and comrades were among the best Chinese Warriors, assigned by the Ming Emperor to safeguard the Princess Hang Li Po in distant land of Malacca. To ‘add spice to the salt’, according to them, certain DNA tests were carried out in ‘America’ of remnants of ‘Hang Too Ah’ dug out from his grave in Malacca proved that he was Chinese.

HAD ‘Hang Too Ah’ been a Chinese, he must have been a DISGRACE to 1 billion over Chinese worldwide, for his willingness to kill his own ‘fellow Chinese’ by the name of ‘Hang Jee Fatt’, for the sake of a Malay Sultan. And the five ‘Chinese bodyguards’ must have discovered how INFERIOR was Chinese Kungfu compared to the Malay SILAT, so much so, they chose to master the Malay Silat, with KERIS as their main weapon, instead of showing off their skills in Kungfu and the use of Chinese sword.. Had they been selected as the bodyguards of Princess Hang Li Po, they must have been top Kungfu masters ‘back home’. It looked like they were not proud of Chinese Kungfu at all.

Howwever, the biggest blow to the proponents of  ‘Hang Too Ah’ was that towards the end of his life, he made his legendary statement TAKKAN MELAYU HILANG DI DUNIA.

THE REAL FACT is, suggestions that Hang Tuah and comrades were Chinese remains a HYPOTHESIS. What do you understand by the term HYPOTHESIS? HYPOTHESIS is a suggestion which is YET TO BE PROVEN. Even the suggestion that Ming Emperor was Muslim carry more weight than the hypothesis that ‘Hang Too Ah’  was Chinese. There were articles written by certain historical writers indicating that there were Ming Dynasty coins with the Arabic inscription ‘La ilaha illa Allah’, meaning ‘There is no god but Allah’.

One of the arguments used by the proponents if ‘Chinese Hang Tuah’ is their observation that the Malay names do not normally carry  a family name which is passed down from the father to the son. Obviously they overlooked the fact that  there are many Malay names with the INITIALS being passed down from father to son. Example we have names beginning with NIK, like in the name NIK Aziz. His son’s name is NIK Abduh, and his daughter’s name NIK Amalina. There are hundreds of other INITIAL names including Daeng, Wan, Yeop, Sheikh, Syed, Dang, Dayang, Awang, Tengku, Teuku, Pangiran, Haji, Lebai and many many others.

And HANG was one of such names. In Sejarah Melayu, there was a character named HANG Nadim, who was persecuted by the rulers of Tumasek(old name of Singapura). This episod of history happened well before the founding of Malacca by Parameswara, or Sultan Iskandar Shah, well before the giving away of Hang Li Po’s hand to the Malacca sultan. It could be just a co-incidence that the INITIAL sounds like a Chinese surname, just like the term TAN in the title TAN SERI.  Whilst’ ‘tuah’ is a Malay word, meaning ‘luck’. Hence the term ‘cabutan nombor berTUAH’.

Most Malays would wonder, what’s the real motive behind attempts by the Malaysian Chinese to ‘re-incarnate’ the ICONIC Malay warrior as Chinese. Are they trying to tell the world that anything ICONIC and GREAT must necessarily be related to the Chinese?

My advice to proponents of ‘Chinese Hang Tuah’ is, do not try to hijack MALAY HEROES to be CHINESE IDIOTS. Why I said that? For a Malay/Muslim Hang Tuah, to be absolutely loyal to a king is a RELIGIOUS DUTY, based on a ‘commandment’ in the Quran, meaning ‘Obey Allah, and obey the Messengger of Allah, and THOSE IN POWER from among you’. For a Malay/Muslim Hang Tuah, to kill Hang Jebat for the sake of Sultan Melayu was an HONOURABLE ACT.

But, for Chinese ‘Hang Too Ah’ to kill his fellow Chinese ‘Hang Jee Fatt’ for the sake of the Sultan Melayu, ‘Hang Too Ah’ maut have been absolute CHINESE IDIOT, and disgrace to the MING EMPEROR.

We can compare such a futile attempt to a person who does not believe in Allah, the God Almighty, yet asking the billions of believers in Allah, the God Almighty, to prove the existence of the One God.

Before we answer Prof(?) Khoo Kay Kim, let him prove to us first that the GREAT WALL of China was built by the Chinese…

Persekutuan Tanah Melayu consisted of 4 Federated Malay States of Selangor, Pahang, Perak and Negri Sembilan, 5 Unfederated Malay States of Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johore, and 2 Straits Settlement States of Malacca and Penang. Persekutuan Tanah Melayu was established in 1948, to replace the British-imposed MALAYAN UNION. Malayan Union was bitterly opposed by the then politically-conscious Malays, who united under UNITED MALAYS NATIONAL ORGANISATION(UMNO) to force the British to rescind it two years after its introduction.

The establishment of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu was the results of intense negotiations involving the British, the Malay Rulers and UMNO, the principle stakeholders to the future of Tanah Melayu states. The other races resident in Persekutuan Tanah Melayu then were mainly IMMIGRANT CHINESE WORKERS working in the tin mines, and IMMIGRANT INDIAN WORKERS working in rubber plantations.

However, the IMMIGRANT CHINESE WORKERS were mainly members and supporters of the Malayan Communist Party(MCP), a branch of the Communist Party of China(CPC). MCP was formed in 1930s, and in the absence of other well-organised societies, had become the MOST SUPPORTED Chinese-based organisation. Prior to the Japanese occupation of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu in 1942,  its principle activities were to recruit more MCP party members, and to collect donations to support war efforts of their MOTHERLAND China in its decades of Sino-Japanese war.

When the Japanese invaded Persekutuan Tanah Melayu in 1942, the Chinese, whose MOTHERLAND China had been at war with Japan, became principle targets of Japanese brutalities. Although the MCP was not involve in real armed battles against the Japanese, they took the side of the British, mainly to get British assistance in terms of money and weapons. Unlike the Malay regiment, whose members fought to their last man and last bullet in the final defense of Singapore, then the administrative capital of British ‘protectorate’ and ‘colonies’ in the Far East, there were no reported similar heroic acts against the Japanese by the members of MCP.

However, the MCP’s ‘flirtation’ with the British just before, during and after the Japanese occupation had allowed  them to gather substantial assortment of arms, including those left behind by the British military when they withdrew to the FORTRESS SINGAPORE. And when the British air-dropped arms to the jungle of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, in their preparation to regain the Federation, the MCP did help themselves by ‘hijacking’ substantial caches of arms for themselves…for future use.

It was NO SURPRISE that during the two-week period after the Japanese surrender and the British ‘re-occupation force’ landing, MCP were swift in their takeover of several major towns in Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, swift in forming ‘local authorities’, and swift in establishing ‘kangaroo courts’ to pass judgements and excutions against their adversaries. Without the landing of ‘British re-occupation force’, MCP were sufficiently armed, to take over the political power in Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, despite the existing political structures with the Malay rulers still in place.

And it was NO SURPRISE that no sooner  Persekutuan Tanah Melayu was established in 1948, with full agreement of the Malay Rulers and UMNO, as a TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT on the road to FULL INDEPENDENCE, the MCP took to the jungle and started ARMED INSURGENCY against the TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, forcing the Government to decree a STATE OF EMERGENCY.

During the 12-year EMERGENCY YEARS from 1948-1960, the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu was in a STATE OF WAR with the mainly IMMIGRANT CHINESE MEMBERS of the MCP. Police stations were attacked and burnt down, power stations were bombed and incapacitated, railway locomotives were derailed, water dams were destroyed and drained off, members of the armed forces and civilians alike were maimed and killed, and hundreds of other atrocities. Due to those atrocities perpetrated, the COMMUNISTS were later known as COMMUNIST TERRORISTS(CTs).

With a combined efforts of the Government,  members of Commonwealth, Malay Regiments and other local security services personnels, and the rakyat alike, the CTs were HEAVILY DEFEATED. By the time Persekutuan Tanah Melayu gained FULL INDEPENDENCE in 1957, the CTS, with their Commander-in-Chief Chin Peng directing operations from China, began to withdraw their units to the jungles bordering southern Thailand. And to avoid further onslaught by the armed forces of independent Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, the CTs were finally ordered to ‘run for their lives’  to southe hilly terrains of southern Thailand. By the year 1960, the Government declared victory over the CTs and ended the state of emergency.

By 1963, Malaysia was officially formed, by the MERGER of 11 states of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, and British former colonies of Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah.

For Malaysians, whenever they talk about INDEPENDENCE DAY, and MALAYSIA DAY, they are infact talking about INDEPENDENT FROM THE BRITISH, and FREEDOM FROM  TERRORIST ACTS OF THE COMMUNISTS.

To ‘add more salt to his injury’, Mat Sabu has made further statements,  indirectly recognising the Malayan Communist Party(MCP), a branch of the Communist Party of Mainland China, led by Chin Peng, as HEROES in the struggles for the independence of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu….and even comparing the COMMUNISTS with other fighters for independence like Dr. Burhanuddin El-helmy, the second President of PAS, Tok Janggut in Kelantan and Abdul Rahman Limbung in Trengganu.

To Mat Sabu, all of them, the COMMUNISTS and Dr. Burhanuddin El-Helmy, Tok Janggut and Abdul Rahman Limbong were all HEROES. To Mat Sabu, whoever who fought against the British colonisers were all HEROES, while those who appeared to him to work alongside the British were all BRITISH OFFICERS. To Mat Sabu, all those who appeared to him to be working along-side the British deserved to be attacked, killed and even burnt down to become ASHES.

However, Mat Sabu is BLIND to one simple HITORICAL FACT that the COMMUNIST TERRORISTS (CTs) attack on the Bukit Kepong police station took place in 1950, two years after the proclamation of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu in 1948 by the British, after the Malays, united under the United Malays National Organisation(UMNO), bitterly opposed the MALAYAN UNION introduced by the British in 1946, months after the Japanese surrender in 1945. WHILST, other REAL MALAY HEROES who fought the British like Tok Janggut of Kelantan, Abdul Rahman Limbong of Trengganu, Mat Kilau and Datuk Bahaman of Pahang, Datuk Maharajalela of Perak and others  fought the British BEFORE 1948.

Mat Sabu is BLIND to the fact that 1948 was a SIGNIFICANT year for the Malays. It was the year the MALAYAN UNION, which would have recognised the then IMMIGRANT RACES as ABSOLUTELY EQUAL TO the INDIGENOUS MALAYS/BUMIPUTRAS, was officially set aside, and the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, negotiated among the British, Raja-Raja Melayu and UMNO were put in its place. The setting up of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, as a transition Government on the road of FULL INDEPENDENCE, was agreed upon by Raja-Raja Melayu and UMNO. It was NO CO-INCIDENCE that immediately after the proclamation of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu in 1948 that the Chin Peng-led MCP started their ARMED INSURGENCE against Persekutuan Tanah Melayu.

Mat Sabu should be sent to KEMUNTING ‘NURSERY’, to reflect on WHY the MCP was so opposed to the setting up of the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, which were agreed upon by UMNO and Raja-Raja Melayu. Mat Sabu should undergo an ‘eye operation’, so that he could see the EARTH AND SKY DIFFERENCE between the genuine struggles of Malay heroes like Tok Janggut, Abdul Rahman Limbong, Mat Kilau, Datuk Bahaman and Datuk Maharajalela, and the futile struggle of the MAINLY IMMIGRANT COMMUNISTS.

However, its NO CO-INCIDENCE that Islam is a religion with a clear message of LIBERATION. Islam liberates human beings from:

1. The enslavement of human beings by other human beings, to the blessings of Allah, the Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe.

2. The ‘smallness’ of this world, to the VASTNESS of the world and the hereafter.

3. The injustices of man-made ideologies, to the justices of Islam.

Hj. Hadi may be correct in calling his Central Committee, with Mat Sabu as Deputy President, as ‘Election Cabinet’. Hj. Hadi has long regarded ELECTIONS as WARS IN TIME OF PEACE. Hj. Hadi even regards political and religious debates as IDEOLOGICAL WAR. And to Hj. Hadi, whatever FORBIDDEEN in times of peace, are PERMITTED during the times of wars, including DECEITS.

Hj. Hadi is fully aware how the election of Mat Sabu as his deputy have LOWERED the prestige of PAS Central Committee.  However, he is equally aware that his NOVICE deputy is quite an EXPERT IN STREET DEMONSTRATION, besides his ‘jual ubat’ CERAMAH POLITIK which can pull certain section of PAS followers.

Apart from being arrested on a bike while making his way to Bersih 2 rally recently, Mat Sabu has not really stamped his mark as a new Deputy President of PAS. He knew his limitations, as a drop-out from ITM. Yet, he has to make certain statements, to attract the attention of the rakyat that Mat Sabu is a worthy Deputy President of PAS.

Two days ago, Mat Sabu SHOCKED the country, including PAS leaders, members and supporters, by proclaiming that the 200 or so COMMUNIST TERRORISTS who attacked and burnt a police station, with all lives within, in Bukit Kepong, Johore, in 1950, during the early EMERGENCY YEARS as ‘national heroes’. His proclamation is not only STUPID, to say the least, but may also  land him in trouble under the country’s Sedition Act.

Mat Sabu must have been too busy  with his ‘selling ubat’ POLITICAL CERAMAH that he had little or no time to read up history, or even consult his colleagues, before making such horrible statement. He must be unaware that the Malayan Communist Party(MCP), to whom the 200 CTs belonged, was then a branch of the Communist Party of People’s Republic of China. And he must be unaware that the the Chin Peng-led MCP started the armed insurgency in 1948, immediately after the British scrapped off the Malayan Union which was BITTERLY OPPOSED by the Malays, and proclaimed PERSEKUTUAN TANAH MELAYU, a transition Malay-led Government, on the road of full independence from the British.

Mat Sabu is Penang-based, and must be desperate to win over the hearts of the Chinese. He may have won the admiration of certain section of his Chinese voters, BUT  Mat Sabu may have overlooked the fact that his STUPID PROCLAMATION will diminish whatever support PAS may still have among the Malays/Muslims.

Pro-Communist statement by Mat Sabu has turned him into INSTANT LIABILITY for PAS, and will make UMNO/BN tasks to return to power in the coming GE much much easier. Najib can now look forward to not only returning to power with over two-third majority for the BN, but with LANDSLIDE VICTORY.

Quite some time ago, PAS surprised the Muslims by ACCEPTING the use of the term ALLAH, instead of TUHAN, in Roman Catholics Malay-version Bible….against the standpoint of overwhelming majority of Muslims in the country.

And, in the most recent development involving JAIS and the Damansara Utama Methodist Church, PAS again have demonstrated their tendency to regard matters AS FUNDAMENTAL AS THE FAITH OF MUSLIMS as secondary, compared to their quest for maintaining the support of non-Muslims/non-Malays in the coming GE. Even the President of PAS, Hj Hadi, who used to be FIREBRAND LEADER of PAS during his earlier days, has put PAS’s most senior EXCO member in Selangor, Dr Hassan Ali into BAD LIGHT, by directing further fact-finding meetings with both JAIS and the Damansara Utama Methodist Church. Politically speaking, PAS top leadership do not trust their former Selangor PAS Chief anymore.

Yesterday, it was the turn of PAS Youth Leader, Nasaruddin Hassan to break away from the rank, by making brave statements in his blog, among others stating that ‘FAITH can not be exchanged with one or two extra Parlimentary or State seats, and FAITH can not be sold for ministerial or state assemblyman posts’. And, in his blog, Nasaruddin indirectly indicated that he was under pressure for taking different stand from top party leadership on the issue….and expressed his sense of being DECEIVED over the whole thing…

Its one of the MOST CRUCIAL times in PAS 60 years history. Its time for the rank-and-file of PAS to reflect back on their past and ponder over the future. Has PAS top leadership being possessed by the CRAZE FOR POWER that they are even willing to be complacent on an issue which have ANGERED the overwhelming majority of Muslims….the attempt by a Christian Church to entice a group of Muslims to Christian faith by giving out material assistance to  ‘soften their hearts’. The plot was too obvious when the function to give out material aids was conducted within the premises of the Church.

Its time for PAS rank-and-file to abandon their TOP LEADERRSHIP who have de-railed the party from their original path. And its time for leaders like Dr Hassan Ali and Nasaruddin Hassan to think of an alternative party for PAS supporters HONEST with their long-held ORIGINAL STRUGGLE…perhaps in the same way Zaid Ibrahim led a breakaway party from PKR.

PAS’s change of slogan and objectives proved to be ‘positive points’ for PAS in the last GE. The decisions had transformed PAS into a MODERATE party….acceptable to DAP, the flag-bearer of SECULARISM in Malaysia, an ideology of separating ‘religious matters’ from that of  ‘administration of state matters’.

What surprised most Malays/Muslims is the fact that PAS has virtually transformed itself BEYOND ALL EXPECTATIONS. The party who used to champion ENJOINING GOODNESS AND FORBIDDING EVILS have turned the opposite way…..now PAS is seen more as a party championing ENJOINING EVILS AND FORBIDDING GOODNESS.

During the early part of PKR/DAP-dominated rule in Selangor, the then PAS party chief of Selangor, Dr Hassan Ali, who is the Selangor State EXCO in-charge of Islamic/Malay Affairs Customes Affairs, was REPRIMANDED by the party’s Disciplinary Sub-Committe,  for opposing the sales of liqour in certain overwhelming Muslims/Malays majority areas of Shah Alam.

While, in the STILL HOT case of ‘raid’ by JAIS officials on a dinner function believed to be attended by certain number of Muslims in Methodist Church of Damansara Utama, PAS Central Committee are again seen not to support Dr Hassan’s action of openly supporting JAIS officials’ actions.

Obviously, PAS has transformed itself far far beyond any expectation of Malays/Muslims. Its only fitting for PAS to change its slogan again….from ‘PAS For All’…..to ‘PAS For DAP’…

However, in politics, we have to be able to read IN-BETWEEN THE LINES. Is Tan Chen Liang really trying to ‘expose’ that DAP is anti-Chinese, and pro-Bumiputra? She got the point…..how could it be that only 0.2% of projects were awarded to non-Bumiputra contractors since DAP took over Penang in 2008….or, is she indirectly trying to win support for DAP among the Malays/Bumiputras????

What a great plot in a ‘Wayang Cina’…..if the MCA leader is selling the idea to the Malays/Bumiputras that their future will be much much better under DAP, than under UMNO/BN. The paradox is, why there is NO NOISE from DAP members….why the noise is coming from a lone MCA leader???

Before we even consider looking into the plots in the ‘Wayang Cina’, let us first see how true is her claim that only 0.2% of projects were awarded to non-Bumiputra since 2008. Where he got the FUNNY-LOOKING figure. Or is she only talking about below RM 200,000 projects meant for Class F contractors, who are all Bumiputra.

Its not impossible, but its MADNESS to believe that only 0.2% of all State Government contracts in Penang were awarded to non-Bumiputra contractors, especially when MERITOCRACY is being practised. And, it must be HUMILIATING for established Chinese contractors….to lose out to a 19-year old BUMIPUTRA, under the system of MEROTOCRACY. To avoid being accused of Chinese ‘shadow play’,  I  challenge the Penang State Government to publish in the newspapers all contracts awarded in Penang since DAP takeover of 2008….and list down the list of contractors who were awarded the contracts.

If the 0.2 % figure is true, I really have GREAT SUSPICION that DAP in Penang is doing like what DAP in Selangor is doing…..USING Bumiputra-status contractors to secure projects….while the true beneficiaries are the Chinese….in order to achieve a POLITICAL MILAGE among Malays/Bumiputras.

And, if the 0.2% figure is true, my far GREATER SUSPICION is, DAP is on with a SHADOW PLAY to win over the hearts and mind of Malays/Bumiputra, in the same way Lim Guan Eng trying to impress the Muslims by comparing his rule with that of Khalifah Omar Abdul Aziz. Its just a MEANS to and END. The END game is to end any affirmative actions in favour of Malays/Bumiputras. Only when the HAK ISTIMEWA MELAYU/BUMIPUTRA is abolished from our system, then only the TRUE CLAWS of Lim Guan Eng and DAP will come out in the open.

The Malays/Bumiputra just have to look across the causeway down south, to witness how the ‘Malays overwhelming the Chinese’ as being portrayed by DAP, and MCA, in Penang. Lim Guan Eng must have cooked a master-stroke SHADOW PLAY for Malays/Bumiputra in Penang and Malaysia too….but as the old Malay proverb goes: ‘Terkilat ikan di air, sudah tahu jantan betinanya”, literally means, by looking at the glitters on the water surface, we would be able to tell whether its a male of female fish.

No thanks Lim Guan Eng for your ‘killing with kindness’ SHADOW PLAY.

Unfortunately, such adoration to the HARIMAU MUDA was taken advantage of by those with BUSINESS INTERESTS. Under the pretext of preparing the team for the World Cup qualification match against Singapore, the team was USED to be fielded against TWO of the top four EPL teams, namely Arsenal and Liverpool, within a space of four days, just a week before their trip to Singapore….for lucrative financial returns.

As a result, our players were DRAINED OF their energy and stamina….and to some extent, their WINNING MENTALITY…after being beaten by both Arsenal and Liverpool.

FAM were definitely NOT WISE to bring Arsenal and Liverpool as sparring partners to prepare our team to face Singapore…knowing so well that Arsenal and Liverpool are good enough to beat any national team in Europe, let alone national teams in Asia. Have they rated Singapore so highly that they have to use Arsenal and Liverpool  for sparring partners in PRACTICE MATCHES?

We have to salute the FAS for preparing their national team better, by not over-stretching them against unnecessarily opponents, keeping them well rested and free from injuries to their key players.

In true spirit of sportsmanship, we have to also salute the Singapore national team for grabbing the opportunity to over-run the much mentally weakened, physically drained off, morally dispirited and utterly exhausted HARIMAU MALAYA.

I truly believe that our HARIMAU MALAYA team are GOOD ENOUGH to qualify for a place in the World Cup…had they not been victims of COMMERCIAL EXPLOITS.