The Photo I would Really Like to See
Written by Farish A. Noor Thurs, 12 July 2007

The pranksters have been at it again, though perhaps in the eyes of some,
the latest joke came across as being more of a stunt. We are, of course,
referring to the now-infamous doctored photo of the Deputy Prime Minister
Najib Tun Razak that was intended to remind us of an alleged encounter in
some mysterious faraway locale which others would presumably hope to
forget.
Notwithstanding the ruckus that was sparked by the posting of this photo
on
the internet, the point was made and it was a valid one: If the real photo
exists somewhere out there, we would like to see it, please.

Some have raised the question: Why all the fuss over a photo, real or
fake?
Well, the historian will tell you that photos are of crucial importance
for
any form of socio-political and historical research. For a long time the
documentary worth of photos was downgraded by many scholars. Yet photos do
tell us much about the subjects they contain, and in photos we find
empirical evidence that helps to underscore the points we wish to make.
Take
a walk down memory lane and visit the National Archives if you don't
believe
me: While doing research for my book on the history of the Pan-Malaysian
Islamic party (PAS), for instance, I was struck by the photos of the PAS
general assemblies of the 1960s and 70s. For a start, the few surviving
photos of the Dewan Muslimat (Women's Wing) of PAS dating back then would
show that many of the female members of PAS were quite comfortable wearing
kebayas at the meetings, and some of them didn't even wear tudungs. The
sartorial shifts that took place not long after are a record of the social
changes that took place in Malaysia from the 1980s onwards, which remains
of
historical importance.

Browsing through photos of Malaysia in the 1960s one also sees another
Malaysia that may seem so alien to many of us now: Multi-racial dinner
parties where Malaysians of all races and religions were happily eating,
drinking and dancing the night away - tango and cha-cha being the
favourite
dances then. How quickly everything changed when the conservative elements
of our society came to the fore in the 1980s, and the parties became
decidedly tamer and duller, and the only drinks served in the wine glasses
of the 1960s were fanta and pepsi.

Disappearing photos are another interesting phenomena altogether, and if
any
of you had been browsing through the net during the late 1990s you may
have
noticed an unreported event that was (and remains) of some importance:
Following his dismissal from office and the UMNO party, photos of the
former
Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim were speedily deleted from all the
UMNO
party websites. In a classic case of historical erasure ala Stalin and co.
the memory of Anwar was removed from the public domain with a click, in a
pre-emptive move that foretold of his subsequent arrest and beating by the
security services.

Now back to the current brouhaha over the photos of the Deputy Prime
Minister. As a political historian, I obviously cannot discount the
possibility that the mysterious photo of this equally mysterious encounter
might be out there somewhere. However for now fake pictures - even if they
were intended as a joke - would not suffice.

But there are plenty of other real photos I would like to see. For a start
many of the photos of Kuala Lumpur during and after the 13 May riots of
1969
have mysteriously disappeared. These need to be recovered for the simple
reason that many of the faces we might see on these photos will tell us
who
were really involved in the racial clashes then.

However at the very top of my list of must-see pics is the photo of the
abovementioned politician (and his other UMNO mates) present at a rally of
several thousand Malay ethno-nationalists at the TPCA stadium of Kampung
Baru in Kuala Lumpur in late 1987, a location loaded with symbolic meaning
because the 13 May riots of 1969 began close by. Najib Razak was then
deputy
leader of UMNO Youth, whose members were present in large numbers at the
meeting. You may recall that at the time the ruling UMNO party was in
crisis
(as it always is) following the election of the party leadership and the
break-up of UMNO into the so-called camps A and B. That was also the year
when the UMNO party was declared null and void, and a major political
crisis
ensued. That also happened to be the year when the government faced
another
crisis over the thorny issue of vernacular Chinese education, and when
racial tempers were flaring.

At this rally in Kampung Baru, the politician who is now the Deputy Prime
Minister was seen with the crowd that was already hot-tempered. We will
recall that the banners and slogans shouted then included warnings such as
'May 13 Will Happen Again' and vain boasts such as 'This Keris Will Drink
Chinese Blood'. As a young scholar in England at the time, I recall
watching
televised images of this event where the leaders of the ruling party was
seen standing in the middle of the crowd while all this bloodthirsty
demagoguery was going on. Odd, to say the least, that a man who was
present
at such a racist rally could now occupy such a position of power in the
country. (Or perhaps not so odd, considering the nature of Malaysia's
divisive communitarian racial politics.)

Now if anyone out there has any of these photos, this historian of modern
Malaysian politics would dearly like to have some copies; un-doctored,
thank
you. I would also like to have all the newspaper cuttings of that period
when shortly after the government launched Operation Lalang, that led to
the
arrest and detention of more than a hundred opposition politicians,
academics, human rights activists and religious leaders. In particular I
am
still looking for the newspaper headline where another upcoming UMNO
leader
(then) justified the crackdown and the use of the ISA as a necessary
security measure, ostensibly for the public good. (Despite the fact that
the
1987 crisis, as we all know or should know by now, was really an internal
crisis within UMNO and the ruling BN coalition that finally spilled out
into
the public domain.)

Politicians are public figures and they should be made to remember that
they
are in the glare of the public eye all the time. Yet in Malaysia these
same
individuals seem to think that they can rule the country like the Rajas
and
Dewarajas of old, trampling upon the sensitivities of the public and
abusing
their privileges at whim. Collecting such photographic evidence (along
with
newspaper cuttings, recorded speeches, etc.) is the first step towards
building a people's history of Malaysia and at the same time serves as an
effective means to ensure that politicians do not get away with anything
and
everything under the sun.

So the next time you see one of these hot-headed nationalists brandish his
keris in public and scream about racial supremacy, take a picture and keep
it for posterity's sake. Or better still, send it to us at
www.othermalaysia. org. We should never let politicians get away with
their
mistakes, or allow them to forget them. The public store of common
knowledge
is the bedrock upon which a national history is made and written, and in
the
end it is that national history that will hold these politicians to
account.

Postscript: I am serious about the 1987 photo/s of the nationalist
demonstration in Kampung Baru. If anyone has a copy or copies of the
relevant photos, you know how and where to contact me. As an academic I
cannot pay good money for it, but can offer a signed copy of The Other
Malaysia to any takers! (And maybe lunch.)

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