DR FAISAL TEHRANI - "AKU, PATRIOT BANGSA MALAYSIA."

[THREAD]

In recent weeks, Dr Faisal Tehrani [ @MohdFaizalMusa1 ] has embarked on a domestic literary excursion to establish a portfolio of socio-political and historical profiles of the major ethnic groups in our country.

A fascinating fusion of fact and fiction, these part short stories, part history lessons offer a vivid insight to the challenges and injustices that pre-Merdeka economic migrants faced under colonial rule, (cont'd below)

and how they not only survived despite the difficulties and dangers via a combination of diligence, tenacity and resourcefulness, but also thrived and eventually established their own communities after deciding to settle in this country.

Each of the five articles symbolically focuses on one of the main groups that make up the the ethnic majorities of post-Merdeka Malaysia - the Malays, Chinese, Indians in the Peninsular, and one non-Malay Bumiputera indigenous tribe each from the two states of East Malaysia.

(Links to threads I have curated for each of the five articles are appended to this thread.)

These five articles are inextricably bound by two recurring themes: 1) every major ethnic group has played its own pivotal role in our nation building process, (cont'd below)

and 2) their initial struggles to adapt and survive as a collective unit resonate with the more universal, heartwarming and inspirational tales of the triumph of humanity in the face of adversity.

Although these articles were published separately, the entire collection is more than the sum of its parts. Taken collectively, these seemingly disparate narrative strands complement each other (cont'd below)

to form a unique, cohesive, didactic and patriotic tapestry of literature that is rich in cultural references, social anecdotes, religious teachings and political commentary.

(Interestingly, these literary vignettes feature the employment of an unusual and arresting conceit of framing the discourse around what is refracted through the lens of a fictional protagonist, who acts as the everyman narrator.)

It is impossible to overestimate or overemphasise the timing and relevance of these articles. They are published at a time when the nation is not only grappling with deteriorating race relations, (cont'd below)

but also contending with an increasingly uncertain and divisive political landscape that is (unfortunately) still dominated by exclusionary identity politics of race and religion.

Also, at a time when the CoVid-19 pandemic has effectively dashed all hopes of revelling in annual Independence Day festivities and we have to be be content with a "muted Merdeka" instead, these articles encourage us to reflect and ponder on (cont'd below)

what it really means to be Malaysian,
and whether we have truly attained a "Merdeka of the mind", when we consciously choose to perpetuate a variant of the "divide and conquer" policy (cont'd below)

that was employed so successfully by British colonialists to keep us segregated from and suspicious of one another.

It is not often that one encounters a weiter who straddles both genres of fiction and non-fiction with such nonchalant ease, especially with the kind of authority and aplomb that Dr Tehrani has displayed in writings.

Particularly noteworthy is the way his prose moves seamlessly from one idea to another with an almost cinematic fluidity, as is his subtle usage of leitmotifs to reinforce a main points in his articles.