apasal keris nak taruh situ?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMmAiQD55w
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note:  apasal keris nak taruh situ? – translated means ‘why should the keris be there?’

this video (direct link) is an extract from fahmi reza’s award-winning film ‘sepuluh tahun sebelum merdeka‘ (10 years before merdeka), in which he interviewed yahya nassim. yahya nassim was talking about the first UMNO general assembly in ipoh in 1946.

hishamuddin, the UMNO youth chief (and also our PM, who, as we expected backed him) should listen to this old man because he still insisted that there’s nothing wrong with waving the keris, and arrogantly told us to get used to his keris waving during every UMNO assembly.

60 years ago, a wise man, yahya nissam had felt that the keris shouldn’t be part of UMNO’s logo because the keris symbolise war. what would he have said now, i wonder, seeing kerismuddin so eager to unsheathed, waved and kissed the keris in the UMNO assembly.

for those who don’t understand bahasa malaysia… er… bahasa melayu… er… bahasa malaysia (what is it now??), i would like to point out 2 extract of what he said to be translated:

"UMNO nak taruh keris dalam merah putih, kami tak mahu, kami keluar" – UMNO wants to put the keris in the red and white (symbol), we don’t want, so we get out"

"keris nak taruh di bendera, buat apa, bukan nak perang" – keris want to be on the flag, whatever for, we are not going to war.

you see?  it is as simple as that. the keris is a weapon. a weapon symbolise fight/war. no matter how or where it is used, when people see the keris, inevitably they will feel threatened.

actually it is not the keris that we non malays fear  but rather it is the person behind the waving of the keris, and also the manner in which it is waved about (with fiery speeches that touch on racial harmony) that made us apprehensive.

the stubborn kerismuddin had said that he will continue to brandish the keris unitl the non malays are de-sensitised to it. really? according to tony pua, the issue here has nothing to do with de-sensitising the non malays but It has everything to do with the contempt the UMNO leaders have for their fellow malaysians. he also said that the fact of the keris being raised and waved about is not really the issue but rather it has more to do with the intent the keris was raised.

yes indeed, yahya nassim felt it…. why put the keris there he asked, "kami bukan perang", so we also wonder what is the intent of them (the UMNOputera) raising the keris DURING the UMNO assembly. (the whom, where… and what).

lim kit siang had also said:

“The issue is not the use of the keris but the context in which the keris was used. When Hishammuddin unsheathed the keris, it was not to unify Malaysians regardless of race but in a confrontational, combative and hostile manner which tramples on the rights and sensitivities of the other communities.

the sad part is, i feel, that the more we talk about how it is not right for kerisumuddin to use the keris during the assembly, the more stubborn he will get and the more he will continue to use it. you see, he and the likes of him have big egos. even if they know maybe in the end, it is not so right to do so, they will not stop doing it because if they do, they will feel that they are losing face, that they are giving in to people like lim kit siang and all the others who were against him brandishing the keris. they are very sombong people who cannot bear to admit they are wrong, who will not give in to the opposition or the rakyat, so do you think after all this, kerismuddin (and the like of him) will stop brandishing the keris? no way! unless………

btw, do you know why our DPM was silent on this keris waving matter? yes, his famous words in 1987 when he waved the keris about!! (i won’t say it but i’m sure you all know).

NOTE: if the video above is very slow in loading, please let me know. i need feedback. this is the first time i put up video on my blog (that’s why to play it safe, also put in the direct link). as i had mentioned about 2 weeks ago, it had been 4 years i have been blogging and still don’t know how to put up video so i asked if anyone can help. no help. finally i guess i need to help myself so i try (again) searching for the wordpress plugin video and found this one (known as coolplayer) which finally works. it works fine when i did a demo (normal loading time).