Rapuh 7/2020: Kuli

Ketika membelek, Selection from the Selangor Journal (MBRAS Reprint No. 26, 2007) p. 504-505, tertarik hati saya terhadap tulisan seorang yang menggunakan ringkasan nama J.H.M.R. Tulisan bertarikh 20 Mac 1896, berjudul “In school and at work” itu membincangkan peluang pekerjaan orang-orang Melayu dalam perkhidmatan kerajaan.

Pada peringkat awal beliau menulis, “The Malays will send their soldiers to fight shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers of the Queen if occasion ever arise. Then let us cement still further the existing bond of good feeling. And can this be done in any better way than by encouraging the younger generation of Malays to take up subordinate posts in the Government Service, which, as already stated, they are quite willing to fill.......Thirdly, the Government have not taken any particular steps to encourage Malays to enter Government Service ....

.... If a Malay is sufficiently educated to take up the post of Malay writer it is only fair to pay him more than a coolie or uneducated constable. A scheme of this sort would cost a few hundred dollars a year, but what is that to a State like Selangor, and do not the Malays deserve something for the cordiality with which they always treat the white men who govern them? In broaching a subject like this, it is best to deal only with the lowest posts in the service first, expansion and development can and will come with time if the Government policy of the future should happen to be that of always employing Malays where possible in subordinate posts of the service and by appointing some symphathetic officer (the Inspector of Schools, say) to take younger generation of the courteous Malay under his guardian wing at the time of leaving school.”

Dengan membaca petikan ini, jelaslah sebahagian isu dihadapi masyarakat Melayu ketika di bawah ‘perlindungan’ British. Fakta terserlah memancarkan realiti yang kemudian menjadi bahan kajian generasi kemudian.

8Rismayanti Idris, Nor Zatul and 6 others

2 shares

Like

Comment

Share