The second of the books on local history. Finished it in one sitting.
I read this right after "Where Monsoons Meet" and in between Lim Kit Siang's biogThe second of the books on local history. Finished it in one sitting.
I read this right after "Where Monsoons Meet" and in between Lim Kit Siang's biography "Patriot, Leader, Fighter". What I noticed was the amount of research all the authors had undertaken and how the facts collaborated with each other.
Most if not all young people today believe that history is boring. That is not their fault. The fault lies with those responsible for educating them have turned history into a political agenda. This book is the antidote for that error.
I understood more about Malaysia in this one book than all the history books I had in school. And I liked history, and we had some good history teachers then. I would encourage all parents to get one for each home, read together with your children, understand the issues and realities.
Because we tend to lump the country together with its mismanagement by those who rule, we see Malaysia as a failed state. On the contrary, Malaysia is a rich, beautiful, blessed land, situated at a converging point geographically. Why else did all the traders, seafarers, colonisers decide to come here?...more
There is official history, as dictated by the "winners"; there is alternative history as espoused by others; and then there's the people's history - aThere is official history, as dictated by the "winners"; there is alternative history as espoused by others; and then there's the people's history - a story about us from the ground up.
Where Monsoons Meet belongs to the last category. I first read it some 20 years ago, when I was still a single man. In the intervening years, that book disappeared, and I forgot about it until last recently when I had a "renaissance" - to understand my country, why we are who we are.
The book chronicles the years between 1400 up to 1960 in Malaya. It's poignant, it's factual, it's funny. What I learnt was this: However things have changed, they have more or less remained the same. Only the players are different; the time is different. But the stage is the same.
If more Malaysians read this, we would better understand the past, reinterpret the present and plan for a better nation in the future....more
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