Is PDRM's identity truly national, patriotic ?
It is a fact that Peninsular Malaya gained its nominal independence on 31 August 1957 and Malaysia was inaugurated on 16 September, 1963. However, in its official website, the Polis DiRaja Malaysia (PDRM) claims and prides itself to have been founded in 1807 and that is why on 25 March, 2006, PDRM celebrated the 199th Police Day.As we know, before 31 August 1957, Peninsular Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak were ruled by the British Empire as colonies and the colonial rule was also interrupted by Japanese fascist reign for 44 months from late 1941 to August 1945. During the 44 months, Kedah, Perlis, Trengganu and Kelantan were separated from other Malayan states and handed over to a Siamese collaborationist regime.
From a truly nationalist and patriotic perspective, it follows logically that the 199-year PDRM is not yet fully Malayan or Malaysian because it still proudly associates or identifies itself with foreign, both imperialist and fascist, rules which caused so much humiliation, oppression and suffering on this piece of land and the ancestors of our people.
If the PDRM can suffer from identity crisis or confusion like this, can we still blame Alis, Ah Bengs, Subramaniams or Mericans for still proudly associating or identifying themselves, openly or secretly, with Indonesia and the Middle East, China, or India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka?
For the purpose of analysis and clarifying the minds, let us ask: What if Robert Mugabee's Zimbabwe invades and occupies Malaysia and compels all of us to fly Zimbabwe's flag tomorrow? Can the police we now know as PDRM still be called or named PDRM?
If not, how can the police force, then flying British and Japanese flags and commanded by the British colonialists and Japanese fascists, be identified with the police force of independent Malaya/Malaysia as one unbroken and undifferentiated institution?
Sejarah Ringkas PDRM
http://www.rmp.gov.my/rmp03/rmp06/mengenai%20kami/sejarah/sjrh.htm
posted by James Wong Wing-On at 4:52 PM
1 Comments:
This is quite common practice in other former colonies, actually. For instance, when I was in Kolkata last year, there were ads promoting the centennial or bicentennial (or was it tricentennial?) of the Kolkata Police, even though India didn't gain independence until the 1940s.
Honestly, of all the things to bash the government about, why bash it on this? There is so much more that's wrong with the police that it hardly matters when they celebrate Police Day. (Incidentally, when would we celebrate Police Day if not on the date that the British formed it? Would we celebrate it on merdeka day? Because I doubt that a new police force was formed after independence -- the PDRM just continued on, as it had been instituted before independence.)
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