British Bumis Rioting Against Their Pendatangs
The current ghastly demonstrations in Britain eerily reminds me of Malaysia’s own May 13, 1969 deadly race riots.
M. Bakri Musa
In terms of property damage and lives lost, the latter was far worse. In Britain hundreds were arrested instead of being killed. However, while the Malaysian “incident” was restricted only to a small enclave of Kuala Lumpur, the current British social cancer has now metastasized. No telling how deadly or far it will escalate.
At its essence both are but manifestations of that ugly primitive “us” versus “them” dynamics, racism being its ugliest version. For Malaysia, the “them” were the pendatangs (non-Malays); with the current British conflict, dark-skinned Muslims, recent arrivals as well as native-born. As with the Malaysian 1969 riots, discussions on the immediate trigger of the current British mess would be meaningless.
The Malaysian riot was controlled in short order, thanks to the decisive leadership of the late Tun Razak. He suspended the newly-elected Parliament and imposed military rule with strict curfews, to the aghast of libertarians at home and abroad. Or per Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of the 1970s, those bleeding-heart liberals.
I mention Trudeau because a year later in October 1970 there was a similar riot between Anglophones and Francophones in Quebec. As with Malaysia earlier, tanks too roamed the streets of Montreal, visuals associated more with a banana republic. Trudeau too successfully nipped that civil disorder in short order by invoking the War Measures Act, unprecedented during peacetime.
Both leaders were aware that the greatest threat to one’s liberty is death and disorder. As per the ancient Muslim wisdom, a night of anarchy is worse than sixty days of tyranny.
In the glut of commentaries on this latest British madness (there had been a similar one in 2011 with the same underlying ugly racial dynamics), I have yet to hear anyone predicting when this one would end or the next level of violence.
Thus far Wales and Scotland are spared. That is no comfort or reassurance. Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first pendatang and non-white First Minister, contemplated publicly about leaving the land of his birth. Rest assured it would not be to his parents’ Pakistan. His anxiety is shared by many of his kind.
If former Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and current Labor Mayor of London Sadiq Khan were to now express similar sentiments, that would play right into the hands of those fascist right-wing demonstrators. What more do these pendatangs want?
Britain has had immigrants from Europe for centuries but they managed to be accepted as British in short order and with minimal hiccups, Irish Catholics possibly excepted. Even Jews and Eastern European immigrants had minimal difficulties despite their very visible “un Anglo Saxon” features and norms. Skin color made all the difference. The paradox is that many are now anti-immigrants. Boris Johnson’s great grandfather was Turkish, yet he (and his fellow Tories) are bedfellows with the current rabid anti-immigrants.
So why do the likes of Humza Yousuf who have scaled the pinnacle of British society still consider themselves as “others?”
That observation also applies to Malaysia. My late father had an astute observation. Those pendatangs who are successful and accepted as “locals” are not those forever dreaming of Balik Tongsan and glorifying their motherland, rather those who are committed to their adopted land by learning the language and being comfortable with local mores. In earlier generations, they were the Tan Siew Sins and Lim Goh Tongs; today, the Anthony Lokes and Hannah Yeohs.
That is true of pendatangs everywhere except perhaps Britain, if you believe Humza Yousef.
The corollary to my father’s observation, and one I take to heart being a pendatang in America, is that only you can decide whether to be “one of them” or remain as “others.” My culture’s wisdom, Di mana bumi di pijak, di situ langit di junjung (lit., you share the same sky as your fellow land dwellers; fig. when in Rome, do as the Romans) is instructive.
Non-white Muslim Brits carry the double burden of having the ‘wrong’ faith and skin color. The supreme irony in the current rioting is that hitherto archenemies–Northern Ireland Catholics and Protestants–are joining forces against their new presumed enemy. Skin color trumps faith!
The issue is less immigration, more ugly racism. ‘Real’ Brits feel that their culture and country are being degraded. The good news is that many do not share that sentiment, as evidenced by the now huge peaceful counter rallies.
This vicious racism virus is not unique to Britain. Witness China and the Uyghurs; Indian Hindus over Muslims, and the latest and most brutal, Israel in Gaza. The difference in Malaysia is merely one of degree, not kind.
As in Malaysia, ambitious leaders and the elites are egging and exploiting the grievances of the natives by blaming the pendatang. More “natives” must speak up and, yes, demonstrate when they see their fellow countrymen being dismissed as being less Malaysian or even less human. That is the lesson from Britain.
The other, and no less pertinent, is that you do not have to resort to military rule or imposition of the War Measures Act to control civil disorders. Disciplined restrained police action, together with the support of ordinary sane citizens, is much more effective.
