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Of his youth, Khoo said he would have been content getting a simple job as long as he could have gone on playing soccer competitively even though there was no money in the sport back in the 1950s. […]" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="The Nut Graph" /> <meta property="article:publisher" content="https://www.facebook.com/nutgraph/" /> <meta property="article:published_time" content="2011-10-17T00:00:26+00:00" /> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2011-10-24T01:00:01+00:00" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Khoo-Kay-Kim_LAND2-580x263.png" /> <meta name="author" content="Lainie Yeoh" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@TheNutGraph" /> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@TheNutGraph" /> <meta name="twitter:label1" content="Written by" /> <meta name="twitter:data1" content="Lainie Yeoh" /> <meta name="twitter:label2" content="Est. reading time" /> <meta name="twitter:data2" content="11 minutes" /> <script type="application/ld+json" class="yoast-schema-graph">{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/"},"author":[{"@id":"https://www.thenutgraph.com/#/schema/person/013b001a55b359526aeaa07449bb92ec"}],"headline":"“We were not an ordinary country”","datePublished":"2011-10-17T00:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-24T01:00:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/"},"wordCount":2245,"publisher":{"@id":"https://www.thenutgraph.com/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Khoo-Kay-Kim_LAND2-580x263.png","keywords":["Anwar Ibrahim","British","Deborah Loh","Eddin Khoo","Found in Malaysia","history","Khoo Kay Kim","Lim Keng Yaik","Malaya","Malaysia","Merdeka","Rukun Negara","Teluk Intan","Universiti Malaya"],"articleSection":["Found in Malaysia"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/","url":"https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/","name":"“We were not an ordinary country” - 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class="entry-content"><p>HAD history not intervened, Emeritus Prof Tan Sri Dr <a href="http://pgoh13.com/khoo_kaykim.php" target="_blank">Khoo Kay Kim</a> might have been a footballer. Of his youth, Khoo said he would have been content getting a simple job as long as he could have gone on playing soccer competitively even though there was no money in the sport back in the 1950s.</p> <figure id="attachment_16707" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16707" style="width: 580px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-16707" title="Khoo-Kay-Kim_LAND2" src="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Khoo-Kay-Kim_LAND2-580x263.png" alt="" width="580" height="263" srcset="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Khoo-Kay-Kim_LAND2-580x263.png 580w, https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Khoo-Kay-Kim_LAND2.png 595w" sizes="(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16707" class="wp-caption-text">Khoo at his KDU University College office (all pics below courtesy of Khoo Kay Kim)</figcaption></figure> <p>But Malaya’s independence happened, and uncertainty about the future made him opt for university instead. His obtained his undergraduate degree in history from University of Malaya in Singapore in 1959. His Masters and PhD were done at Universiti Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur, where he began a career in academia. He started out as a tutor and rose through the ranks to become a history professor. He is now Emeritus Professor of the History Department at UM and also KDU University College chancellor.</p> <p>When the bloody race riots of <a href="../../../../../six-words-on-13-may/" target="_blank">1969</a> happened, Khoo was roped in, in the aftermath, to draft the <em><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/13947808/Rukun-Negara" target="_blank">Rukun Negara</a></em>. Today, Khoo is one of Malaysia’s prominent national historians and is still frequently quoted in the media. He is also the father of poet, writer and art curator <a href="../../../../../eddin-khoo-preserving-the-nations-soul/" target="_blank">Eddin Khoo</a>.</p> <p>In an interview at his office at KDU University College in Petaling Jaya on 19 Aug 2011, the senior Khoo recounts the trepidation, instead of joy, that he felt as Malaya approached independence. And how, for his generation which has seen the best of Malaya and Malaysia, things are now “very disappointing”.</p> <p><strong><span style="color: #ff6600;">TNG:</span> Where and when were you born?</strong></p> <p><strong>Khoo Kay Kim:</strong> I was born in Kampar in 1937, when the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/546188/Sino-Japanese-War" target="_blank">Sino-Japanese War</a> broke out.</p> <p><strong>Is Kampar where you grew up?</strong></p> <figure id="attachment_16715" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16715" style="width: 169px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-16715" title="P9151186" src="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/P9151186.png" alt="" width="169" height="300" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16715" class="wp-caption-text">As a student at St Michael’s, Ipoh, in 1954</figcaption></figure> <p>I was born in Kampar because my mother went home to her father’s place to give birth. In those days, the women tended to go back to their own families; they felt safer than with their in-laws.</p> <p>Also, my father was from a very rich family but by the 1930s there was an economic slump. However, my mother’s family was still very well-to-do. My maternal grandfather was a tin miner. He had two American cars before the war.</p> <p>My father was a civil servant. My paternal great-grandfather was also a tin miner. Both he and my mother’s father were in the Kinta Valley. But both my parents were originally from Penang. The families moved to Perak for tin mining.</p> <p><strong>So where did you spend the most time growing up?</strong></p> <p>I spent my primary school days in Teluk Intan which used to be called Teluk Anson. I went to the Methodist Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) there until primary six. Classes in the morning were in English, and Chinese classes were in the afternoon.</p> <p><strong>What are your strongest memories of the place where you grew up?</strong></p> <p>We were so diverse and yet, so close. We grew up together without making serious distinctions among the races. I found that as I grew up, I had no communal feelings. And this is very important to me because when I work on Malaysian history, I can work on all three ethnic groups [that are predominant in the peninsula] unlike most [scholars] who would choose their own ethnic group.</p> <p><strong>What was so significant about your childhood that you felt this way?</strong></p> <p>My friends. My neighbours. My father was a government servant all his life so he stayed in government quarters. And they did not make distinctions there, which is why people who claim that the British practised divide and rule are talking rubbish. If the British did, they would have had one part of the government quarters meant for one particular ethnic group…they never did that. My neighbours were Malay, Indian and Eurasian [Malayans].</p> <p>[The British] could not bring the people together because people preferred to be separate. The British did not deliberately separate them. The British even set up a community liaison committee to bring the people together in 1949. Then MCA president, (Tun) Tan Cheng Lock, in his address to the party in 1949 chose the title “One Country, One People, One Government”. They tried really hard in those days to unite the people.</p> <p>I remember in late 1945, when the Japanese surrendered, there were ethnic clashes in [some] places. Teluk Anson was one of those places but our neighbourhood had no problem. The clashes occurred because for two weeks after the Japanese surrendered and before the British returned, the Communist Party (of Malaya) went around punishing people whom they accused of having worked with the Japanese. So when they did that to the Malays, the Malays retaliated. One Chinese could not be distinguished from the other, and because the majority of communists were Chinese, they (the Malays) felt that any Chinese could be one. But mostly, in many areas, despite the diverse population, there were no clashes.</p> <figure id="attachment_16713" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16713" style="width: 500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-16713" title="P9151182" src="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/P9151182.png" alt="With eldest son Eddin" width="500" height="282" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16713" class="wp-caption-text">With eldest son Eddin</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Do you have any significant memories of childhood friends and what you did together?</strong></p> <p>Most of my friends were footballers, so I was one, too. I won my first football prize on 1 Feb 1949 for an inter-school division three game. In those days, all the schools encouraged sports, now it’s different. And teams were less racialised then.</p> <p>A lot of Chinese [Malaysians] have stopped playing football. Those days, they were very active. One reason why the Chinese ended up playing ping pong and basketball was that many of the Chinese [vernacular] schools had no fields. Whereas government and mission schools always had fields. The British were very particular about encouraging sports. And there was not enough land for Chinese schools. The land was just sufficient to build a basketball or indoor court. So they were forced to concentrate on indoor games.</p> <p><strong>After primary school at ACS, did you stay on in Teluk Anson?</strong></p> <p>No, I went to Ipoh [for] secondary school at St Michael’s. (Tun Dr) <a href="../../../../../lim-keng-yaik-a-malaysia-of-floating-dichotomies/" target="_blank">Lim Keng Yaik</a> was one year my junior. I really enjoyed those years although in Ipoh I was cut off from a lot of Malay friends. But I became very close to the Indian boys because of football. So a lot of my closest friends were Indians. I still had a lot of Chinese friends.</p> <figure id="attachment_16714" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16714" style="width: 500px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-16714" title="P9151184" src="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/P9151184.png" alt="At school in St Michael’s, Ipoh in 1955. Khoo is last on the right" width="500" height="291" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16714" class="wp-caption-text">At school in St Michael’s, Ipoh in 1955. Khoo is last on the right</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Can you trace your ancestry?</strong></p> <p>Back to China would be very difficult. I am about the sixth generation in Malaya. We can trace our ancestry back to the <a href="http://www.khookongsi.com.my/" target="_blank">Khoo kongsi</a> in Penang. My great-grandfather was one of the kongsi founders. I think before he went into tin mining, he was a cook.</p> <p><strong>What about your mother?</strong></p> <p>My mother’s father was a tin miner but he started off as a shop assistant. His father-in-law liked him very much because he was very hardworking, so he allowed him to marry his daughter. [My grandfather] then became a tin miner.</p> <p>My mother’s side was richer than my father’s side when they were about to get married. As I’ve mentioned, my father’s family was affected by the 1930s economic slump. Hokkiens those days had this system whereby in a situation like that, the woman’s family would pay for the wedding. And in my father’s case, the celebration in Kampar lasted three months! They had the Chinese opera perform.</p> <p><strong>What was it like, transitioning from being first a Malayan to a Malaysian?</strong></p> <figure id="attachment_16710" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16710" style="width: 200px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-16710" title="P9151175" src="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/P9151175.png" alt="Khoo with friend and colleague, the late English Literature professor Lloyd Fernando on a hiking trip in the late 1960s" width="200" height="221" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16710" class="wp-caption-text">Khoo with friend and colleague, the late English Literature professor Lloyd Fernando, on a hiking trip in the late 1960s</figcaption></figure> <p>We were very worried. The people of my generation had been quite used to the British administration. By the 1930s, Britain had already shaped up the country and we were doing very well and then the war came, unfortunately. After the war, countries across Asia began talking about freeing themselves from colonial rule, so [Malaya] also followed suit.</p> <p>But the English-educated were very worried. They were not sure what would happen. They read about India and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/50664.stm" target="_blank">Gandhi</a>’s assassination, they read about the resistance movements against the Dutch in <a href="http://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/yr45/findonesia1945.htm" target="_blank">Indonesia</a>. America was of course very quick to lead, hoping to set the example — they freed the <a href="http://www.philippine-history.org/independence-from-americans.htm" target="_blank">Philippines</a> by 1946.</p> <p><strong>So on Merdeka Day, what do you remember feeling?</strong></p> <p>I was with a group of older people, feeling uncertain about what the future would be like. We could not predict [anything] but we were preparing ourselves. That’s when I decided I would go to university because the talk was that we would need to take over the positions vacated by the British. So we felt that we should study hard and obtain high qualifications so that we could fit into these jobs.</p> <p>Otherwise, I had wanted to be a footballer. Footballers in those days would get a job as a clerk, and stay with their parents and get pocket money. It was not a professional sport and as much as my friends and I loved it, we also realised that it had no real future.</p> <p>When I decided that I wanted to go to university, my father didn’t really have enough money to send me. But my luck was such that at that point in time, he had a promotion.</p> <p><strong>And so you embarked on your path as an academician and historian. </strong></p> <figure id="attachment_16709" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16709" style="width: 183px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-16709" title="P9151176" src="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/P9151176.png" alt="Khoo married N Rathimalar in 1966" width="183" height="340" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16709" class="wp-caption-text">Khoo married N Rathimalar in 1966</figcaption></figure> <p>I was appointed lecturer at UM after two years of tutorship in 1967. I was already good in Bahasa Malaysia. By the way, I learnt to speak Malay on my own. It wasn’t taught when I was in primary school. I happened to take a great liking to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0708422/bio" target="_blank">P Ramlee</a> and got hold of all his movies and songs. That’s how I taught myself Malay.</p> <p>[At UM] I could hold tutorials in Malay, and I was the first non-Malay to lecture in Malay. I was unusual in that sense. So I became very close to the Malay students. Once or twice I was called upon to settle problems caused by [<em>chuckles</em>] <a href="http://www.umalumni.my/" target="_blank">Anwar Ibrahim</a> [who] was very much a nationalist when he was a student. One day, he and his friends painted all the English signboards on campus red.</p> <p><strong>How did you get roped into co-authoring the <em>Rukun Negara</em>?</strong></p> <p>It was [Tun] <a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/1/25/nation/5539677&sec=nation" target="_blank">Ghazalie Shafie</a>’s idea. He was inspired by Indonesia’s <em><a href="http://countrystudies.us/indonesia/86.htm" target="_blank">Pancasila</a>. </em>There was a panel of us who were from all walks of life. Ghazalie put the idea to this panel [which] discussed [a] draft and recommended it to the <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com.my/volume11/noc.html" target="_blank">National Operations Council</a>.</p> <p><strong>What was the process of drafting the <em>Rukun Negara</em> like? </strong></p> <p>The panel members got along very well with one another. The elements of the <em>Rukun Negara </em>were given to us; we mainly put it in words. On the first principle, “Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan”, we debated whether somebody who wanted to be an atheist would be allowed to do so or if the law would descend on him [or her]. We felt that this was not likely to be a crisis because in Malaysia, most people had a religion. And sure enough, when the whole thing was announced, there was no opposition. And if a handful of people want to be atheist, so what?</p> <p><strong>How do you feel about the <em>Rukun Negara</em> as it is applied today?</strong></p> <figure id="attachment_16711" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16711" style="width: 215px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-16711" title="P9151178" src="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/P9151178.png" alt="Graduation from University Malaya in Singapore in 1959 " width="215" height="340" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16711" class="wp-caption-text">Graduation from University of Malaya in Singapore in 1959</figcaption></figure> <p>The unfortunate thing is that it was never properly explained to school children. The education system is only concerned with exams and giving the right (textbook) answers.</p> <p>Look at a lot of places, for example, UM. Students of various ethnic groups are not close. Even the lecturers are not close. […] People are uncomfortable with one another because they don’t really understand other people’s culture and religion. We can only reverse this by starting all over again at the school level.</p> <p><strong>Are you hopeful for Malaysia’s future, then?</strong></p> <p>In the early 1950s, when we were still part of the British Empire, our contribution to Britain in terms of revenue was the highest from the region. In early 1949, our badminton players went to London and they brought home the <a href="http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/55law/Article" target="_blank">Thomas Cup</a>. These players dominated badminton at the world level for so many years. Back then, our badminton players went to China to teach them how to play. Now we have to get coaches from China. In 1950, our weightlifters won two gold medals, one silver and one bronze at the <a href="http://www.thecgf.com/games/intro.asp?yr=1950" target="_blank">British Empire Games</a> in Auckland. We invented sepak takraw. Now we can’t even beat <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpMgejTL4EA" target="_blank">Korea or Thailand</a>.</p> <p>For my generation, it is very disappointing. We were not an ordinary country. Unless the schools begin to do something now, [improvements] will not happen. It’s difficult to look into the future. One thing historians are not good at is telling what the future will be like. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5802" title="The Nut Graph" src="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/FAVICON.gif" alt="" width="17" height="16" /></p> <hr /> <p><em></em><em><a href="../../../../../found-in-malaysia-vol-2-is-launched/" target="_blank"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright" title="e-invite" src="https://www.thenutgraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/FIM2_BookCover-580x408.jpg" alt="" width="146" height="103" /></a></em>The book <em><a href="../../../../../found-in-malaysia-vol-2-is-launched/" target="_blank">Found in Malaysia Volume 2</a></em>, which was launched on Malaysia Day 2011, is now available in bookstores for RM50. It features previously unpublished interviews with Asha Gill, Lillian Too, Khairy Jamaluddin and Baru Bian. Volume 1 of <em><a href="../../../../../found-in-malaysia-book-launch/" target="_blank">Found in Malaysia</a></em>, featuring 54 earlier interviews, is currently in its second print run and retailing at RM45.</p> </div><footer class="entry-footer"><p class="entry-meta"><span class="entry-categories">Filed Under: <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/category/interviews/found-in-malaysia/" rel="category tag">Found in Malaysia</a></span> <span class="entry-tags">Tagged With: <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/anwar-ibrahim/" rel="tag">Anwar Ibrahim</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/british/" rel="tag">British</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/deborah-loh/" rel="tag">Deborah Loh</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/eddin-khoo/" rel="tag">Eddin Khoo</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/found-in-malaysia/" rel="tag">Found in Malaysia</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/history/" rel="tag">history</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/khoo-kay-kim/" rel="tag">Khoo Kay Kim</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/lim-keng-yaik/" rel="tag">Lim Keng Yaik</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/malaya/" rel="tag">Malaya</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/malaysia/" rel="tag">Malaysia</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/merdeka/" rel="tag">Merdeka</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/rukun-negara/" rel="tag">Rukun Negara</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/teluk-intan/" rel="tag">Teluk Intan</a>, <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/universiti-malaya/" rel="tag">Universiti Malaya</a></span></p></footer></article><h2 class="screen-reader-text">Reader Interactions</h2><div class="entry-comments" id="comments"><h3>Comments</h3><ol class="comment-list"> <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-22631"> <article id="article-comment-22631"> <header class="comment-header"> <p class="comment-author"> <span class="comment-author-name">Kong Kek Kuat</span> <span class="says">says</span> </p> <p class="comment-meta"><time class="comment-time"><a class="comment-time-link" href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/#comment-22631">October 17, 2011 at 1:46 pm</a></time></p> </header> <div class="comment-content"> <p>Finally, an article which clearly defines the Malaysian context. With the clear distinction of “Malaya” vs. “Malaysia” in the article, I think Sabahans and Sarawakians for once might not feel like they are being belittled by the Malayans.</p> </div> </article> </li> <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-22642"> <article id="article-comment-22642"> <header class="comment-header"> <p class="comment-author"> <span class="comment-author-name">Kenangan Lalu</span> <span class="says">says</span> </p> <p class="comment-meta"><time class="comment-time"><a class="comment-time-link" href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/#comment-22642">October 20, 2011 at 9:07 am</a></time></p> </header> <div class="comment-content"> <p>I’m disappointed you didn’t ask him if Malaya was never colonised!</p> </div> </article> <ul class="children"> <li class="comment even depth-2" id="comment-22729"> <article id="article-comment-22729"> <header class="comment-header"> <p class="comment-author"> <span class="comment-author-name"><a href="http://hotmail" class="comment-author-link" rel="external nofollow">SARAWAK INDEPENDENCE</a></span> <span class="says">says</span> </p> <p class="comment-meta"><time class="comment-time"><a class="comment-time-link" href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/#comment-22729">November 24, 2011 at 1:29 pm</a></time></p> </header> <div class="comment-content"> <p>We are not an “ordinary country” because it’s a neo-colonial creation! </p> <p>I’m also disappointed that the good professor wasn’t asked about the re-colonisation of Sabah and Sarawak by Umno under the Malaysia Plan conspiracy with Britain to consolidate its colonial interests? Doesn’t this beg the question on the title “We are not an ordinary country”?! Obviously the good professor found it easy to transit from being Malayan to Malaysian since he is mentally at one with Umno colonialism. (This is not a personal attack but observation based on your article.)</p> <p>Was any Sabahan or Sarawakian involved with drafting the Rukun Negara, or was it a unilateral effort as much as Sabah and Sarawak were unilaterally forced into “Malaysia”? Not many Sabahan or Sarawakians enjoy being re-colonised unless they belong to the ruling clique and their crony timber tycoons and land-robbing companies.</p> <p>Maybe it would have been better to stay a footballer… which is his expressed wish. </p> <p>Hope you read this reply, Professor.</p> </div> </article> </li> </ul> </li> <li class="comment odd alt thread-even depth-1" id="comment-22649"> <article id="article-comment-22649"> <header class="comment-header"> <p class="comment-author"> <span class="comment-author-name">another senior</span> <span class="says">says</span> </p> <p class="comment-meta"><time class="comment-time"><a class="comment-time-link" href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/#comment-22649">October 24, 2011 at 11:01 pm</a></time></p> </header> <div class="comment-content"> <p>It is a pity that in his twilight years he has allowed himself to be lassoed onto the BN bandwagon. His political statements recently has diminished his credibility. It takes a lot to maintain one’s direction, sometimes against all odds, but KKK has buckled under pressure from the government. What a pity!</p> </div> </article> <ul class="children"> <li class="comment even depth-2" id="comment-22656"> <article id="article-comment-22656"> <header class="comment-header"> <p class="comment-author"> <span class="comment-author-name">Bad Rabbit</span> <span class="says">says</span> </p> <p class="comment-meta"><time class="comment-time"><a class="comment-time-link" href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/khoo-kay-kim-we-were-not-an-ordinary-country/#comment-22656">October 27, 2011 at 4:01 pm</a></time></p> </header> <div class="comment-content"> <p>Dear Another Senior,</p> <p>I cannot agree with you at all on your comments. Khoo Kay Kim has commented consistently and objectively on history in Malaysia. Simply because it does not meet the standards of “what everyone knows” or what “some bloke down the pub said” or “this is what PR said it is” does not make him a BN Stooge. Even if he said some things that the BN declare as true, even a broken clock is right twice a day. The BN has no monopoly on truth, but then again neither does the PR, and to lose sight of historical fact is a terrible thing.</p> <p>Khoo Kay Kim has not done so, he has had the intellectual curiosity and rigour to find out those facts and speak of them. His voice is one of the few in the public domain that retains any credibility on Malaysian history; simply because he does not agree with the PR version of the truth is no reason to besmirch him.</p> </div> </article> </li> </ul> </li> </ol></div></main><aside class="sidebar sidebar-primary widget-area" role="complementary" aria-label="Primary Sidebar" id="genesis-sidebar-primary"><h2 class="genesis-sidebar-title screen-reader-text">Primary Sidebar</h2><section id="search-4" class="widget widget_search"><div class="widget-wrap"><h3 class="widgettitle widget-title">Search</h3> <form class="search-form" method="get" action="https://www.thenutgraph.com/" role="search"><label class="search-form-label screen-reader-text" for="searchform-1">Search the site ...</label><input class="search-form-input" type="search" name="s" id="searchform-1" placeholder="Search the site ..."><input class="search-form-submit" type="submit" value="Search"><meta 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9.4411764705882pt;" aria-label="Found in Quotation (103 items)">Found in Quotation</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/gan-pei-ling/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-30 tag-link-position-14" style="font-size: 9.4411764705882pt;" aria-label="Gan Pei Ling (103 items)">Gan Pei Ling</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/government/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-93 tag-link-position-15" style="font-size: 9.6470588235294pt;" aria-label="government (106 items)">government</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/high-court/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-411 tag-link-position-16" style="font-size: 8.2058823529412pt;" aria-label="high court (91 items)">high court</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/hishammuddin-hussein/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-2955 tag-link-position-17" style="font-size: 8.2058823529412pt;" aria-label="Hishammuddin Hussein (90 items)">Hishammuddin Hussein</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/isa/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-112 tag-link-position-18" style="font-size: 13.764705882353pt;" aria-label="ISA (170 items)">ISA</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/islam/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-266 tag-link-position-19" style="font-size: 17.058823529412pt;" aria-label="islam (242 items)">islam</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/jacqueline-ann-surin/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-31 tag-link-position-20" style="font-size: 11.705882352941pt;" aria-label="Jacqueline Ann Surin (135 items)">Jacqueline Ann Surin</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/khairy-jamaluddin/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-1780 tag-link-position-21" style="font-size: 8pt;" aria-label="Khairy Jamaluddin (88 items)">Khairy Jamaluddin</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/kw-mak/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-3049 tag-link-position-22" style="font-size: 8.6176470588235pt;" aria-label="KW Mak (94 items)">KW Mak</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/lim-guan-eng/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-43 tag-link-position-23" style="font-size: 10.470588235294pt;" aria-label="Lim Guan Eng (116 items)">Lim Guan Eng</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/malaysia/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-67 tag-link-position-24" style="font-size: 18.705882352941pt;" aria-label="Malaysia (296 items)">Malaysia</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/mca/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-518 tag-link-position-25" style="font-size: 9.0294117647059pt;" aria-label="MCA (98 items)">MCA</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/menteri-besar/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-1083 tag-link-position-26" style="font-size: 11.088235294118pt;" aria-label="Menteri Besar (124 items)">Menteri Besar</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/mp-watch/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-12192 tag-link-position-27" style="font-size: 13.558823529412pt;" aria-label="MP Watch (164 items)">MP Watch</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/muhyiddin-yassin/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-547 tag-link-position-28" style="font-size: 9.6470588235294pt;" aria-label="Muhyiddin Yassin (106 items)">Muhyiddin Yassin</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/muslim/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-906 tag-link-position-29" style="font-size: 9.4411764705882pt;" aria-label="muslim (104 items)">muslim</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/najib-razak/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-1021 tag-link-position-30" style="font-size: 20.558823529412pt;" aria-label="Najib Razak (364 items)">Najib Razak</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/pakatan-rakyat/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-553 tag-link-position-31" style="font-size: 21.382352941176pt;" aria-label="Pakatan Rakyat (396 items)">Pakatan Rakyat</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/parliament/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-91 tag-link-position-32" style="font-size: 14.588235294118pt;" aria-label="Parliament (187 items)">Parliament</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/parti-keadilan-rakyat/" 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style="font-size: 18.294117647059pt;" aria-label="police (283 items)">police</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/politics/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-380 tag-link-position-39" style="font-size: 9.6470588235294pt;" aria-label="politics (105 items)">politics</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/prime-minister/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-102 tag-link-position-40" style="font-size: 10.058823529412pt;" aria-label="prime minister (110 items)">prime minister</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/selangor/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-1082 tag-link-position-41" style="font-size: 11.5pt;" aria-label="Selangor (131 items)">Selangor</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/shanon-shah/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-33 tag-link-position-42" style="font-size: 16.647058823529pt;" aria-label="Shanon Shah (231 items)">Shanon Shah</a> <a href="https://www.thenutgraph.com/tag/umno/" class="tag-cloud-link tag-link-66 tag-link-position-43" style="font-size: 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