Whither the white men?

Without prejudice.

I must confess that I am always fascinated by the white people. Maybe I am conditioned so but I do not think so. I remember reading somewhere, maybe in Hikayat Munshi Abdullah, that when the Portuguese first arrived in Malacca, not as conqueror but as traders (disguised?) the local then, mostly Malays I presumed, were so fascinated by them that the local stroke the white mens beard every time they meet them. In fact I remember reading that the Bendahara took some of them to be his 'anak angkat' (adopted children - this is one of the weaknesses of the Malay race, that is they are so friendly that they want to make everyone and anyone their 'anak angkat' not knowing that some of them are 'musuh dalam selimut' or wolf in sheepskin). Probably the white men had more hair on their faces or probably the white men had different coloured hair, maybe blonde, maybe brownish or maybe anything but being Portuguese they were most likely brown (correct me if I am wrong). So such fascination with white men has gone a long way back in history. The local were fascinated but not felt inferior, and I suppose also that I am fascinated but not feel inferior as well. If we think that the white were more civilise, I don't think so, (I take it that the Chinese were more civilised or was it cultured in those earlier centuries?). But I have never felt fascinated towards the Chinese. The Indians? Well I have no feeling. The Arabs? Maybe admiration was and is probably because they are Muslims (at least most of them who came this way) and because they can speak Arabic, the language of the Koraan. For the white I have different fascination. I have always felt that they are smart, or else how come they have conquered almost the whole world. How they did it is another story but they did it showed that they were and still are smart. Even today the people who are most felt by their presence are the whites. The other races are too reclusive in their own territories (the Malays are the worst, they are mostly 'jagoh kampong') but the white are everywhere and doing everything, from being big businessmen to big crimes. Who were the Great Train Robbers? The whites. And recently who invaded Iraq but the white (at least their leaders are) and in the past who 'saved' the world (WW1, WW2) but the whites. So that is why Captain Marvel, Superman, Spiderman, Captain America and even Popeye are whites. OK the white invented them, but does that not show that the whites are more imaginative. And coming to entertainment, who were most exposed then but the whites, the blacks only came later in the footstep of the whites - as far as commercial exposure is concerned. I do not believe for once that the black started the show business anywhere earlier than the white. Bollywood only came very much later also in the footstep of the white, Hollywood.

Of course some Muslims claim that the Arabs were very civilise in the early 6th or 7th Century, in Andalusia and in Northern Africa, in Iraq and Syria but then the whites soon learn from the Arabs and by the early 18th Century have overtaken all the Arabs in all fields. Even the Arabs today depend on the white. So where have the advanced knowledge of the Arabs gone to? To the Chinese? No, they have all gone to the whites. Even the Japanese learned from the whites.

I am very certain that whoever reads my write up here have gone to a whiteness country, Europe, America, Australia or New Zealand. See how organised they are. From a certain perspective they seem all cluttered up but looking at them closely you will find that everything is in place, whether we like to admit it or not. Now take a look at other countries in Asia or Africa (except Japan) you will see the great differences. Have you ever felt how pleasant it was to visit these white men's countries? For others, you tell me.

So my fascination with the whites has got some justification. Not that I want to be a white, I am glad to be what I am today, its just that I think for whatever reason the whites have to be admired for achieving such civilisation as we know it today. Who started it and where the white got their knowledge from, its irrelevant now. Lets face facts and listen to reason and start to admire what the whites have given us. What we do now is another story, but can we move away from the white world?

I wrote the article earlier, I was being very careful then, not to seen as a white lover, I was being very neutral but looking from the perspective of a Malaysian eye. I still maintain that we should look at the situation of 'orang putih' from the Malaysian perspective, but I have now come out from my shell with certain appreciation on what the whites have done for us.
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In Malaya, the white man is known as "Mat Salleh". Since when? I am not sure. The story goes that the native Malays met some white drunken sailors and they called them Mad Sailors. Since then, due to slight aberration of slangs, the white men is known as "Mat Salleh". Rude? Not really, just a name. White men are white men, whatever their race is, they are all "Mat Salleh"..

Malaya had been released to govern itself by the British since 1957. Yet today, it is still the white men's world, white men still overlord us. How do I feel about it? If all level of Malaysian society accepts it, so what?

I believed that the white men were a superior race. This I reasoned by them during the pre-Merdeka days as always looking so smug and smart in their white uniform, white short- sleeved shirt, white shorts, white up to knee stockings and black shiny leather shoes, smoking pipes, talking in whispers to all, and looking so wise and so know all. Some were just fresh Graduates recruited into the Colonial Service then. It was believed that they were told "Not to mix with the natives, don't eat the native food and don't marry the native women". You have to read the book "Out in the Midday Sun" by Margaret Shennan to believe in all these. In fact many Malays then (and others who lived in Malaya as well) wanted to be like them and tried to behave like them. Malays especially tried to wear the same uniform, talked in whispers (with a sort of Oxford English accent), drank gin and tonic at the bar (Malays being Muslim are not supposed to drink liquors, at the bar anyway), played billiards, tennis, go dancing. Of course they could not dance with white people as white only mixed with white. So I thought and believed that the white was a superior race. And we addressed them as "Tuan" (which is translated directly as "Master"), so they must be superior.

And then during then Malayan Emergency period they came in hordes to "save" Malaya. Again they seemed to be so superior and I believed in that. They always wore the Officers uniform and looked so smart. Even the Privates in their army attire were treated with so much respect by the locals that I believed that they were also superior worriers. We still addressed them then as "Tuan", even though they were mere young privates in the Army. I remember then seeing them just young boys, but we still believed that they were superior. My belief had not eroded..

Then I went to a school where there was a mixed group of teachers, locals and white (English mostly). Even the local look up at those teachers who have been trained in England (at Kirkby Teachers Training College - I don't know where that is), the white man country. Everyone wanted to be trained in the white men's country because they were told that over there they were trained in a superior system, so everyone said. My belief system then still maintained the superiority of a white man still being superior. In fact in my school until, even when I went out of the school, in early 60s had white man as the Headmaster.

Then my belief system was a bit eroded when I went to study in England. I also wanted to study in a white men's country. I saw white men at all level. Then I realised and knew that the race is not superior but different. They were more advanced I agreed but not superior. And I slowly became more conscious of the falsehoods of my belief system.

When I started working in Malaysia, most of the white men in the Company (it was a Government Statutory Body) that I worked for have left the Company. Most of the important positions then have been transferred to the locals, and later on all were localised.. But in some other Companies, especially those in the private sector, the white men still reigned supreme. Why not, they owned a big majority of the equity in those Companies. The shock came when Malaysian took over Guthrie and the other large rubber estates and plantations in the country and when most of the tin mines have to be closed. Then Malaysian took over and the white men had to leave Malaysia (Malaya especially).

White men still came back as advisors and technical experts, especially from specilised firms. What happened then the white men so called 'experts' were not really experts, most of them then were almost fresh graduates trying their hands on new jobs in a less developed country called Malaya (Malaysia when you include Sabah and Sarawak). But by then the locals have the experience and have already became the experts in their own fields. So these white men so call expert who are not experts really had to concede that they have inferior knowledge and experience as compared to the local experts. Thus I came into a situation where my belief changed into the white men were no longer the superior as they have been proven by then that they were not really expert. In fact some of the local experts were probably graduates from the same institutions from where these young white men "experts" came from. They soon learn. They reacted by sending in the real experts after that.

But white men still ruled supreme. This I came to realise when I went to work in Sarawak. The Company I worked for was a joint-venture (JV) between the local oil company and a foreign owned oil company. Once again the white men had their men in the key positions in the JV company. I worked with them (you can call it under them really). To those of them who were very experienced I take my hat off. I have seen how professional they were but there were those who were just passengers in the Company. They were there because to them there was no local who could do the job they were doing. When their posts were localised I realised that these posts could easily have been taken over by the locals earlier, and these white men were so reluctant to leave. When they left, I found out later that they had no job to go to back home. Was it originally that they had no job to go to that they were sent to work in Malaysia? This probably was the case. I remember when before I went to work in Sawarak, during the 1987 recession there were many white men taking jobs in Malaysia, Technical people, Architects, Engineers and Pilots mostly. I believe that they came because they could not find jobs in other or their own countries. Of course when the local took over their job, the Company still made profits. But again I must give credit where credit is due. The white men started the Company (and the plants) and they created opportunities for jobs and to make the profits. So to the locals, I must say don't be so proud even if you make profits when you run the Company which the white men had started; probably without them starting the Company you may not even have jobs, what more profits.

Now that I am retired, I must admit that there is a belief among Malaysians that the white men are superior. I remember I was told once that the President and the CEO of a large Company always insisted that the Company must take Consultants consisting of white men. Once a local Malaysian expert, I was told, was recommended to him and he said something like "These local will not add value to our operations, they are only here to learn from us.". If you see in what was said, you at once realise how high the value of the services given by the white men is being considered. Or is it because of the President/CEO has inferiority complex that he said so? I would not know and I dare not ask. Who am I to ask. I have seen some retired white men becoming Advisors in the Company, for which I think there are more experienced and qualified local who may probably do a better job. But that is life and I have accepted the fact.

What is the reality?. Right from the young days, I found that the white men were more professional in their approach to jobs. They have analytical mind and are more dedicated. They do not easily get distracted and very few would put their self interest above the jobs given to them and also never against the organisational interest. There are a few exceptions of course. My Headmasters were all dedicated people, be present at the school early and always there for all the school activities. Later I discovered also that my white class mates in College in the UK were also very dedicated, they may be not as bright though. They have searching minds and they expressed their thoughts and ideas without fear of contradiction. My Lecturers, who were all white men, were also really professional, who knew their jobs and most of them had already hands-on experience on the subjects that they lectured on. They were tireless in trying to teach you the subjects. Same to those whom I worked with in the Company in Sarawak, at least most of them, they were dedicated lot. They worked hard and played hard. Some played not according to local rules, but they were dedicated. Imagine living in a foreign country with very basic facilities as compared to those available in their country back home. Admittedly their pay were much higher than the locals. All in all I feel that the white man deserve the respect, they are professional, dedicated and not easily distracted whilst performing their jobs.

The local?. Well that is a difficult remark to make. I am a local so I probably am reflecting on myself when I make these remarks about the locals. In reality though, except for a few, locals are shallower in their approach, have many "Don'ts" and always on a lookout for guidance. A situation of lack of self confidence. The attitude is like the story of a donkey, a man and a boy seems to prevail. I still believe that most locals have a lot to learn from the white men. We do not want to be ruled directly by the white man, but we need to learn from them. In fact almost all the Management Gurus are white man, not that we do not know the subject that they teach but just that we do not have the same analytical mind that they have, to come out with the solutions. We need to be more dedicated and have to learn to resolve problems without resorting to social pressure or political means.

Our being colonised was not bad really, (that is just my private opinion and I might get shot by the locals for saying so) but being colonised we have lost our identity. The white men were so strong in all aspects, we have almost accepted everything that they brought to this part of the world; their habits, their customs, their laws and even to some their religion. Not to mention our wanting to copy their way of life and to be one of them. How radiculous can one get when one insist to wearing suit and tie in a hot climate like Malaysia.

Whither are the white men? Exceptions being tourist and backpackers.

To shout back, e-mail: mylias@tm.net.my