When You Hoodwink The People And Say It’s A Memoir

By Yuktes Vijay

If I have my way, the headline of this article would read as any of the following:

• WHY NOT HANG TOMMY THOMAS FOR TREASON?
• IT WAS A PROPAGANDA BY TOMMY THOMAS. NOT A MEMOIR.
• TOMMY THOMAS IS NOT FIT TO EVEN TIE THE LACES OF TUN RAZAK’S SHOES

Lucky for me, I guess, our Chief Editor is one careful lady and having worked in various mainstream media organisations, she tries her best not to have to go up and down the courts where possible. She said: Yuktes, we are writing about a former Attorney-General here. Oh, yes, I sometimes tend to forget that the said Tommy Thomas was once helming the topmost position of our legal fraternity, having seen the kind of drivel that we see from his writings.

Former AG Tan Sri Tommy Thomas’ recently released 573-page memoir, ‘My Story: Justice in the Wilderness’ probably holds the world record for having the most number of police reports filed against its content (134 from what I last read!). I do not deny that we have to applaud him for that. Because whenever someone writes a memoir, it is the version of each incident that would be disputed. For example, there are groups that believe that 9/11 is an inside job where else an equal number of them simply believe it was a terrorist attack orchestrated by Osama bin Laden from some cave in Afghanistan. Either way, the fact remains that 9/11 happened and those Twin Towers did go down to ground zero.

In Tommy’s case, those who have been implicated in his book for one reason or another have come forward to deny, dispute and outrightly dismiss whatever Tommy shared in his memoir. In other words, these people have claimed that Tommy’s book is a work of fiction rather than a collection of memoirs like everyone within the ‘Bangsar Bubble’ would like you to believe.

Come on guys. If Anwar Ibrahim himself refutes and disputes your memoirs, and that too despite his criticisms not doing his political ambitions any good, then you know you have actually screwed up. Like, seriously screwed up.

Therefore, I was baffled, in fact also mystified, when the Your Say section of a Malaysian news portal popped up in my timeline. The title read “Instead of investigating the contents of Thomas’ memoir, the authorities are probing him”. Reading that gave birth to #facepalm number 1. Scrolling further down, it was #facepalm number 2 as I read the following: ‘Concerned, frightened, shocked’ by the negativity that permeates us’ (the writer feels all that because authorities want to investigate Tommy Thomas instead of rallying behind him).

If these people actually had another reading material besides the said news portal, they would have learned how to think by now. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case here.

What Tommy needs is not support or for his claims to be investigated. In a perfect world, where righteousness and justice is the guiding light, where truth always prevails, it is Tommy Thomas who needs to be investigated.

If it was up to me, I would hang him to death for treason. Yes, I am not joking.

Rocket Party’s Joseph Goebbels?

On page 27, Tommy alleged that the May 13 racial riots were premeditated and “the evidence points to a coup by Tun Razak” to topple Tunku Abdul Rahman and that was what caused the racial riots to happen. The only investigation that needs to be done here is to see if there is a way we can charge Tommy for treason and hang him to death. That is the most apt punishment one should receive for blatantly insulting Tun Razak, the man who steered the ship after the riots. If there is a man who would and will trigger a racial riot if that would make him Prime Minister, it has to be the man that appointed Tommy Thomas as AG. In fact, Tommy’s former boss played a far more significant role in causing the riots than anyone else associated with UMNO at that material time.

As such, what is the need to bend, manipulate and redesign the narrative of an event that changed this country today? And that too in a memoir about what happened and what he did while being AG. Heck, I want to hear why he dropped Lim Guan Eng’s case. Why he appointed Gopal Sri Ram despite obvious interference in investigations involving Najib Razak from the beginning. I want to know why he doesn’t know how to speak Bahasa Melayu and if he thinks it is cool to claim as such?

I don’t know why would anyone read Tommy Thomas’ book to learn about May 13. Haven’t we all read enough about it for our SPM history paper?

Copycat Tommy Thomas

It only gets more astonishing AND even more annoying when you learn the fact that whatever insults Tommy spewed in his memoirs is nothing but a rehash of what a certain Dr Kua Kia Soong wrote in his book back in 2007. Dr Kua, who was the director of the CIA-funded Suaram, had put forward his “hypothesis” in his book, “Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969”, that the May 13 incident was a ‘coup d’etat’ against Tunku to grab power and establish a new order in the ruling party then.

According to him, the conclusions were based on a three-month research into various sets of foreign dispatches and confidential reports from that time – which were declassified then by the Public Records Office in London after 30 years.

You see, despite having his book called “Declassified Documents on the Malaysian Riots of 1969”, the book was not what the name suggests it to be.

The book is about the views of Dr Kua after going through the declassified documents.

Unsubstantiated, unverified and unreliable views. Views that were conjured not to correct history, but to repaint and refurbish the damaged and maligned image of a certain rocket party.

The True Events of May 13

When Dr Kua’s book was released in 2007, Utusan Group immediately republished the book titled ‘May 13: Before and After’ book to dispel those unfounded conclusions in Dr Kua’s book.. This book was authored by Tunku Abdul Rahman himself. What better way to learn the history of Malaysia than from the words of its founding father, Tunku Abdul Rahman, right?

In the 195-page book, Tunku stated that the reason why May 13 happened was because of “extremists and communists”. According to Tunku, tensions began to rise following the Hartal 1967 economic boycott in Penang. Then there was the death by hanging incident in 1968 which was followed by the DAP-induced election boycott of 1969. And it all led to a bloody racial riot which till today, remains a black mark in our country’s unblemished history.

Can anyone detect the fingerprints of Tun Razak in any of the aforementioned events that triggered May 13. No.

On the other hand, Dr Mahathir who had lost his seat as an UMNO candidate in the 10 May election did all he could to add fuel to the already highly flammable racial tensions. Many even strongly believe that among the “extremists” Tunku refers to, is Dr Mahathir. Remember the Malay Dilemma? The poisoned open letter?

For your kind information Tommy, Tun Razak was in a position to become a dictator back in 1969 with the Emergency being declared and all. But he didn’t. Instead he formed a sub-committee to specifically look into improving racial relations called the National Consultative Council (NCC) and led the NCC by consensus.

Moral Of The Story Here

Whatever Tommy Thomas wrote is not even an original allegation.

What makes Tommy Thomas’ book any different from the rest is the fact that he wrote it in a Churchillian-like fashion. Many millennials would find this English mesmerising and as a matter of fact, I still do since I am old school that way

But, just because someone wrote something in ‘high 5’ English, it does not mean that whatever that someone wrote is the inequivocabile truth (hope Adibah reads this!).

And writing like Churchill does not afford anyone the liberty to insult our former Prime Minister Tun Razak. Insulting him itself is a taboo but doing so via manipulation and distortion of narrative pertaining to May 13 is not only adding salt to an open wound but is an outright xx!!xx (insert bad word of choice here).

The saddest part is Malaysia is worse in terms of racial relations now than ever. And you know what, “my learned friend“, Tommy?You are a big reason for it. Shrugging? Denying?

My one word reply. Adib.

If you’ve conveniently forgotten who is Adib, he is the fireman who succumbed to his injuries for merely performing his duties as a fireman in the Seafield temple incident.

No one insisted for someone to be hung to death for Adib’s murder. But if only you had shown a quarter of the interest you showed in wanting to slyly ratify ICERD, there could have been light at the end of the tunnel for Adib and his family. But you did nothing. Justice in Wilderness? That’s an apt title for the late Adib’s predicament actually. Not yours. – New Malaysia Herald

The views expressed in this article are that of the writer’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the New Malaysia Herald.