Pakatan defends Mat Sabu, flays Utusan

The opposition coalition also condemns Umno for only propogating
a history that doubles up as government propaganda.

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Rakyat has risen to the defence of one of its leaders who has been accused of being a communist-sympathiser for questioning the legitimacy of Malaysia’s history.

Last Saturday PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu was slammed by Utusan Malaysia for allegedly hailing the communists who attacked the Bukit Kepong police station during the Emergency on Feb 23, 1950 as heroes.

Utusan also quoted him as saying that the country’s first premier, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, and Umno’s first president, Onn Jaafar, should not be recognised as freedom fighters because they were British officers.

Mohamad Sabu, known popularly as Mat Sabu, has since denied the accusations and plans to file a lawsuit against the Umno-owned daily over its “distorted” report.  Pakatan Rakyat today stood by Mat Sabu in stating its conviction that he had made no such remarks as claimed by Utusan.

In a statement signed by PKR Seri Setia assemblyman Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, DAP Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong and PAS Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad, the coalition condemned the report as “irresponsible spin-mongering being perpetrated by Umno leaders and the media”.

Pakatan also echoed Mat Sabu’s previous statement that he had never made any mention of communisists and that his attempt to highlight the need to appreciate historical plurality had been taken out of context.

“We hereby firmly attest that we do not question Mat Sabu’s motivations in attempting to raise legitimate doubts about the historical narrative of our country,” it said.

“However we do seriously question the reckless and insidious reporting of Utusan Malaysia which has time and again resorted to fabricating fictitious arguments with malicious intent.”

Mat Sabu had earlier clarified that what he had said was that Merdeka should cease to be an Umno celebration and become a Malaysian celebration by recognising the other people who contributed to the nation’s independence.

Pakatan voiced full agreement with his statement and further questioned the historical narrative as provided by the Umno-BN government.

“We severely criticise the systematic and decades-long effort to “sanitise” Malaysian history so that only the contributions of Umno and its cohorts are recognised while the legitimate contributions of other Malaysian nationalists and freedom fighters are conveniently erased,” it said.

Manipulated for years
Pakatan then demanded to know what place history held for names like Ahmad Boestaman (founder of Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and Dr Buharnuddin al-Helmy (founder of Parti Kebangsaan Melayu Malaya) or organisations like Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM).

“They were effectively the pioneers of organised Malay political activism,” it said. “And then we have the “People’s Constitution” crafted 10 years before Merdeka by the All-Malaya Council of Joint Action (AMCJA) and Pusat Tenaga Rakyat (Putera).”

“The Putera-AMCJA effort was not only momentous in scope and effort, but more importantly our country’s first truly multiracial coalition.”

Pakatan emphasised that the struggle for independence was not a singular effort by the Alliance but one that took place on many different frontiers and spearheaded by many different personalities.

“But Umno leaders will have no part of such a colourful past,” it said. “History according to Umno is a monochrome version that offers no room for dissenting views.”

“Our history textbooks are not only missing a chapter or two, but an entire parallel history that has now been successfully erased from official memory.”

Pakatan pointed out that it was in Umno’s interest to maintain their version of history not only because it upholds their leaders and claim to power, but also because it conceals their “chicanery and Machiavellian machinations”.

“We conclude by stating again that Mat Sabu was not wrong in attempting to contest existing perceptions of history,” it added.

“What is wrong is the fact that Malaysians have been manipulated for years by the propaganda machinery of the Umno-BN government.”

Taken from Free Malaysia Today

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Mat Sabu : Apologise or I will sue

The PAS deputy president says he will file a suit against the police for saying that he lied that a police vehicle rammed into him. The police say he fell when his motocycle hit a divider.

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu has demanded an apology from the police for claiming that he lied about being hit by a police vehicle during the July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally.

“If they continue with this lie, I will not hesitate to take legal action. I have spoken to my lawyer and he has advised me to do so,” he said.

Mohamad said he wanted the police to retract and apologise their false accusation against him.

“Otherwise, I will see those who lie and perhaps any other individuals who repeat that lie, in court,” he said.

Mohamad said that a police report he lodged earlier this week at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters was the true account of what happened.

On Thursday, Public Order and Internal Security Department director Salleh Rashid screened a CCTV recording which claimed to disprove the PAS leader’s earlier accusation that police had rammed a vehicle into a motorcycle he was on.

The video allegedly showed Mohamad falling off his motorcycle after hitting a divider.

The PAS leader, now wheelchair bound, had previously alleged that a police vehicle had deliberately knocked into his motorcycle, causing him to hurt his knee.

The incident caused a torn ligament on his right knee, resulting in an operation where doctors needed to insert a screw.

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