In defence of Tommy Thomas

Steve Oh, Malaysiakini

Writing a historical narrative of Malaysia is no easy task. There are many landmines. However, Tommy Thomas has done a remarkable job of telling it as it happened. It is shameful how some of his detractors would devour him with such voracity.

If readers do not agree with anything in his autobiography, they can always write their own book, refute his story of events in letters, articles, reviews, or in a thousand other ways but not try to get the authorities to throw the book at him.

Banning his book and creating a maelstrom of wild accusations to victimise the country’s former attorney- general are unnecessary, unfair and undemocratic.

Many believe Thomas’ story is true. And it has ruffled feathers. But in a land laden with corruption and abuse of power, even someone who draws cartoons will step on a political landmine let alone a serious expose of questionable conduct in the corridors of power.

Prosecuting the author will result in a repercussion of bad publicity for a country that has yet to account for its litany of public scandals.

Those who are pressuring the government to take action against Thomas are the ones who may be causing disunity and tarnishing the image of their country.

They tell the world they are from a country intolerant of the truth and unable to cope with criticism. They want to control what people write even in their autobiographies.

Those who have nothing to fear have nothing to complain against My Story: Justice in the Wilderness. They ought to understand it is his story, not theirs. And what a story. It is a book every Malaysian and school student should read.

First-hand accounts of what politicians do behind the scenes are rare. What Thomas wrote besides certain situations to which only he is privy and qualified to write on can be corroborated from what is already available on public record.

On Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s role in the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government, others have corroborated Thomas’ account. Some disagree as with his recollection of the late former prime minister Abdul Razak’s indictment in the May 13 riots. But I know who I believe. So far Kua Kia Soong’s book on May 13 is most telling.

And if there is disagreement or alleged defamation of character of anyone, they can sue, as what the former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has done. In the Altantuya Shaariibuu segment in the book, Thomas simplified the facts around her murder that anyone who had followed the reports on her gruesome killing would already have known.

Whether the knowledge is from the public domain or an autobiography, the crucial question still remains: why is the mastermind and puppet-meister behind Altantuya’s evil death – already named by one of Altantuya’s assassins – still allowed to roam free?

So why should anyone be upset at what Thomas documented in his autobiography on a wide range of topics? Many of the subjects are nothing new. It is up to the reading public to concur or contradict Thomas, not for anyone to harass or ridicule him.

The danger in the attack on Thomas because of his book of “revelations” is the assault on the country’s constitution and its provision of freedom of speech. Democracy itself is bludgeoned like the facetious declaration of an “emergency” that silenced Parliament.

It is time the police devote their time to doing real police work. Politicians and pseudo-politicians and their cohorts ought not to tie up limited police resources with their self-vested, of-no-public-value, time-wasting police reports.

Sun not shining brightly

The real value of the autobiography of highly-regarded leaders, someone like Thomas’, is the inside story of their interesting life, encounters and experiences. In this regard, the author provides crucial “basic facts”, in his own words, on events of huge public interest the public otherwise would have never known or worse, handed the fake version.

Ultimately, it boils down to credibility and we know who to believe between Thomas and his haters. Even an article purportedly written by Anwar Ibrahim critiquing the book ironically revolves around the problem of race, rather disappointingly. Anwar playing to a Malay gallery is a double-edged sword.

News is something someone somewhere does not want others – especially the public – to know. Usually, it is an exposé of some questionable act or wrongdoing. You study that in “Journalism 101”. That is why some people take out injunctions to stop publication of a book or article.

If Thomas’ book is banned, it will have the effect of making people think what he wrote about are what the government fears the people will come to know.

Thomas’ book is a history book. A chronicle of one man’s life and certain accounts of his involvement in public life, written honestly, truthfully, to be read in good faith, as it was written and without fear or favour. It is an exciting, edifying and elucidating book to read.

The country has betrayed those who tell the truth and others who have done the right thing have been unjustly persecuted. Hamid Sultan Abu Backer, the judge who was unfairly treated, is one towering Malay unfairly judged. He joins the growing band of good guys in a country hijacked by damnable politics and questionable leaders.

And on justice, as the fourth anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Raymond Koh occurs on Feb 13, let us not forget that the government, in particular Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, has not kept his promise to get to the bottom of it as what was promised to his widow.

For as long as the police keep looking the other way and repeating the mantra “we have no clue” the campaign to secure justice for three other similar victims of state-sponsored abductions, as the Suhakam inquiry found, will go on and destroy Malaysia’s global standing.

It is about the safety of every citizen because enforced disappearances are an act of evil. Spare a thought for the weeping “widows”.

Right now the sun is not shining brightly over a jaded nation despoiled by bad politics, negative news of rising unemployment and a government undermined by its own questionable actions. It does not need more bad press.

Declaring the country already under lockdown with a further lockdown on parliamentary democracy has sent the wrong message to the world.

Letting ministers do a three-day quarantine is abject abuse of power. It shows total disrespect for the science behind the government’s own SOPs which may be renamed something else except it is not a standard operating procedure. One procedure for the public and one for ministers will not do.

Being overtaken by neighbouring countries as the preferred place for foreign investments, with figures showing a drastic drop, is a serious wake-up call. But how do you wake the dead?

STEVE OH is an author and composer of the novel and musical Tiger King of the Golden Jungle. He believes good governance and an engaging civil society are paramount to Malaysia being a unique and successful nation.