Sulu mystery shaping history

THERE can be no more opportune time than now for advocates of the subject of history to make this uber boring of classroom subjects – as it is widely though wrongly perceived by Malaysian students; alive, interesting and relevant. Why? The unfolding events along the coastline of Sabah is providing enough TNT to rouse interest, though mostly rather explosively incendiary.

At this very moment, three Awanians – cameraman Rizal together with journalists AK and Hakim are on the ground in Sabah to bring to you the latest developments in the armed intrusion by the descendants of the Sultan of Sulu. This is one of those assignments journalists live for – events that affect politics, shape society in which more than just political and historical sovereignty is at stake. More than that, it poses real life-and-death issues – and not just the main protagonists but our reporters’ very own life and limb. So before I proceed, Rizal, AK and Hakim, please please please – be safe.

The trio were directed to drop everything on Sunday evening to fly to KK as the security situation following the flaring up of the Sulu issue with the news of more casualties was announced.

We cannot help but make the connection between the wandering pygmy elephants that were found dead in the Gunung Rara forest reserve in the heartland of the state, and the events two weeks later in Lahad Datu. How a group of armed Suluks decided to establish territorial claim simply by marching in bristling with arms. They chose to make their claim by squatting on their one-time good and accommodative neighbour’s land.

By all accounts, this issue is complicated on the one hand; and maddeningly . juristically simply on the other. Complicated in that history is littered with instances of how the British in the days of the East India Company sent out seafaring explorers to these parts in search of cloves, bounty and adventure. Their mercantile streak enabled them to persuade Sultans and an assortment of local rulers to cede territory for what in those days of shillings and florins, huge sums of money. Should the lure of lucre fail, there was also muskets and cannons with explosive gunpowder as leverage in the bargain.

Simple? A quick perusal of legal documents deposited in museums or sandwiched in between the pages of school history textbooks will show how territories with shared ethnic connections have neat boundaries drawn in red. People speaking the same language end up holding different passports. The rights and wrongs associated with how the delineation came to be are for the courts of justice with supra-national jurisdications. But if past judgments are any guide, any commercial transaction or other acts that results in the ceding of territory would constitute a deed deemed legal in the eyes of the law.

Russia sold Alaska for what today is the equivalent of a few kopecks today. Do you find Vladimir Putin aiming ICBMs at the lawns of the White House or sending Serge Brin complete with bandana and Kalashnikovs to demand its return?

Look at the plight of Armenians or the Kurds in Central Asia. Their diaspora hanker for the day when territory populated by Armenians or Kurdish clans will soon become the independent states of Armenia or the Republic of Kurdistan. Southern Thais with roots to the Patani Kingdom may harbour similar ambitions to re-delineate territory south of Bangkok and north of Alor Setar to become the world’s 221st independent nation.

Israel? Hmm….the very epitome of the land grab run riot! But that is a totally different story anyway. Perhaps the best solution was one of the first mooted during the days of the British mandate in Palestine. The ever so practical Brits mooted the solution for the then non-existent Jewish nation to be established in the broad expense of its colony Down Under – Australia. Just imagine how much less bloodshed there would have been today had that solution been accepted!

Land, therefore is essential ingredient for life. In the case of wildlife, lots of it. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the vast plains of Kenya or the game reserves of South Africa where the lions and leopards laze, the elephants trumpet, the rhinos roam and buffalos graze.

So it is no surprise to hear that rampaging elephants was a key factor that put paid to the grand plans of palm oil growers group – a groundbreaking investment idea initiated by Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew of Country Heights fame.

He had got together a large group of investors who became part-planter in a scheme to grow palm oil in a huge tract of land in Gua Musang, Kelantan. The idea looked fine on paper but reality on the ground put paid to such lofty zeal.

Firstly, the land was too undulating to allow for proper terracing. Then there was the problem posed by a pack of pesky pachyderms. It may come as a surprise to West Malaysians but there are still plenty of elephants still roaming in the wilds in the forests in Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu – in what little forests that are left that is. With their habitat quickly diminishing in size, the elephants ability to forage is curtailed.

The young shoots of the oil palm fronds; standing in neat diamond patterned plots beckoned their hungry bellies like a 24-hour Tesco without Nepali security. The result, young palm shoots never got to sprout beyond their first stages of maturation.

The good Tan Sri, bless his soul, chose not to blast the pesky intruders with shotgun rounds and instead, chose to beat a retreat – he gave up the venture, at great personal cost monetarily. It may have sullied his reputation for business acumen but in many eyes, he has earned plenty of credit in showing concern for elephant welfare.

Where does this all lead? Being higher up the chain, animal welfare lies solely in the hands of humans.

Which brings us to the goings on in Melaka zoo. It is battling a reputation for being a killing ground for its show animals. A sunbear and a horse reported died in mysterious circumstances. Then it was alleged that an audit showed several animals in its inventory were unaccounted for.

Melaka zoo is one of the better zoos in this country. Surely the animals deserve better treatment from their human masters? If only they knew the fate that awaited them way back during the great biblical floods, then perhaps they’d not have chosen their dual berth in Noah’s Ark way back when.

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RAZAK CHIK recalls the Malay proverb seperti Belanda Minta Tanah (literally – Like The Dutch Claiming The Land). It does not refer to their ability to beat back the North Sea with technology, but more to their colonial quests for real estate using the wily ways of the white man!