Hartal: 10 tahun sebelum merdeka, 10 years before independence
By FAHMI REZA
Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka from fahmi reza on Vimeo.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We have published the English translation below. theCICAK would like to encourage intelligent debate and discussion on Fahmi Reza’s latest documentary. Please post your thoughts beneath this post.
Filem dokumentari Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka ini menceritakan tentang satu peristiwa tersembunyi dalam sejarah perjuangan kemerdekaan rakyat, di mana seluruh Malaya telah menyaksikan tindakan politik pertama yang melibatkan penyatuan rakyat pelbagai kaum - Hartal Seluruh Malaya pada 20 Oktober 1947.
Filem ini cuba untuk mengetengahkan satu naratif alternatif kepada “naratif rasmi” sejarah perjuangan kemerdekaan negara kita yang dimonopoli secara ekslusif oleh kepimpinan elit UMNO. Filem ini boleh dilihat sebagai satu proses “recovery of historical memory” dengan menerokai asal-usul gerakan kemerdekaan rakyat di Malaya.
Filem ini juga berperanan untuk memperingati dan mengiktiraf sumbangan yang dimainkan oleh golongan politik kiri dalam perjuangan kemerdekaan negara kita.
Aku berharap supaya cerita ini akan menjadi sejarah permulaan “collective history” yang dapat dikongsi bersama oleh semua rakyat tanpa mengira kaum.
English Translation:
Ten Years Before Merdeka is a documentary about the struggle for independence, in which different races across Malaya united and engaged in political action - Hartal across Malaya on the 20th of October 1947.
This film presents an alternative narrative to the official account of our country’s independence, which is exclusively monopolized by UMNO leaders.
It explores the origins of the people’s independence movement in Malaya.
This film also aims to remember and acknowledge the contributions of left wing political parties in the quest for our country’s independence.
I hope that this story will be a starting point for a “collective history” that everyone can share, regardless of race.
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FAHMI REZA is a contributor for theCICAK.
Fahmi is an arts worker who uses art as an agent for change; to produce new ideas and generate critical thinking. He has worked on visual/graphic design and is currently dabbling in film-making. His first documentary is Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka.
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Remember me mentioning how one of my uncles ended up in “Kamunting”?
He was probably friends with two of those 4 people in the documentary, since he was in Kuala Kangsar as well, and a member of the PKMM. This basically told some of what he fought for, and I am proud to know some of it at least.
He wasn’t a “communist”, he was a socialist. There’s a huge difference.
These were all socialists who were silenced simply because they were putting the needs of the people ahead of the needs of those few on top of the bloody pyramid of economical needs and political power.
This was good. Heck, this was brilliant.
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[…] Hartal: 10 tahun sebelum merdeka, 10 years before independence […]
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Fahmi I thank you for this video, it is SO good. No joke, there even was a point where I had tears in my eyes and (as you might guess from the nickname) I’m not even Malay, I only have friends there.
Watching this video must make any Malay person feel proud to be Malay! Just imaging 99% of the Malay knew there was something that had to be done and they did it without thinking about what the consequence might be. Moreover hartal was a peacefull way of making that known, they didn’t choose the path of revolution.
I salute them.
All Malay people that are alive today descend from those people… That is most of who will be reading this comment. Just remember where you came from and what your (grand)parents did because they stood together as one. They knew their country was their birthright and that it was important that everyone born in a country should have the same rights, no matter what their background was.
Here is hoping watching this video will remind all Malay they have more in common then they realize, if only by sharing this history.
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wow!.. wonderful information.. about the left wing party!..
no thanks to our history book who mention so little about them….and their contributions….. hartal is not even in the national history.. such big event!
thank you for all your contributions to our country..
to all the left wing party!
wow!… now we know the word “communist” is so widlly abuse! by the top and greedy!….
i felt sorry for the time and hardship they have to endure in the jail… for standing for the people of malaya!
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[…] tahun sebelum merdeka (10 years before independence) Now this is worth watching. The truth cannot be […]
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thank you for this, fahmi!
if only we could mobilize malaysians today the way they did. it almost seems like a different country. let’s start with pushing for reforms in the election commission and the judiciary.
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i watched this documentary and had Fahmi personally explained to me and my other fellow CouchSurfian friends about this short film made by him. Good job fahmi!
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27 october 1987 also passed without many realising that it was 20 years since Operasi Lalang.
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thanks for producing this piece. it was informative and well-done. the soundtrack was interesting and appropriate. although the editing could use some work.
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Thanks for the efforts in telling us the reality of the past and how we are still under the wrong path now.
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Terima kasih atas semua komen2 yang anda berikan. Aku baru balik dari 4 sesi tayangan & diskusi filem ini di Penang, Alor Star, Kota Bharu dan Kuala Terengganu. Di setiap sesi diskusi, aku berminat untuk mendapat pandangan penonton tentang mesej politik yang terkandung dalam filem ini.
Jadi kalau boleh, ingin aku lemparkan soalan yang sama di ruangan forum ini. Memang filem ini sebuah filem sejarah, tetapi pada masa yang sama ia juga merupakan sebuah filem politik. Pada pendapat kamu, apa mesej politik yang kamu dapat dari filem ini?
*Kalau ada yang tak boleh baca Bahasa Malaysia, boleh editor tolong terjemahkan. Terima kasih.
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History is written by the victors.
UMNO hijacked the independence agenda from other parties.
UMNO has re-written the historical narrative to suit its own needs.
Not every Malay is an UMNO-putra.
You don’t need a keris to champion a good cause.
Malaysian cinema ada harapan. Macam Amir Muhd’s Big Durian. Bukan semua filem shiok sendiri macam filem Yasmin Ahmad. Ada yg berani explore forgotten stories and narratives.
One more point, history will never fail to repeat itself.. why don’t make a documentary about more contemporary stuff?
- 30 tahun selepas merdeka (PLUS highway-gate / UMNO-declared-illegal, ops lalang, judicial interference)
- 40 tahun selepas merdeka (Anwar dipecat/ dibelasah, reformasi, korupsi/netpotism/cronyism,judicial interference again)
- 50 tahun selepas merdeka (linggam-gate/ squat-gate/ istana-zakaria-gate/ gerbang-selatan-jambatan-bengkok-gate/ mafia-polis-nexus-gate, more corruption/nepotism/cronyism, politik tutup satu mata berleluasa, effects of judicial interference now damn obvious)
A lot of things haven’t changed yah. Same plot, same story.
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i’m just a F5 student who studied 5 years of sejarah but the word “hartal” was never mentioned before.. so when i first saw it on chanlilian.net, i was quite surprised and curious.. i watched the videos on youtube and find it really interesting. the textbook only have a small info corner bout PKMM and a few chapters on UMNO and the penubuhan of PTM and penggabungan M’sia. when i talk to my friends bout hartal, nobody seems to have an idea of what it is.
i think things like this should b revealed to us the students so that we would know what actually happened and how it leads to independence so that we can know our country better. =)
thank you very much to Fahmi Reza who made this documentary and everyone who circulate this video in the net.
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