For Justice, Freedom & Solidarity PP3739/12/2011(026665) ISSN 0127 - 5127 RM4.00 2010:Vol.30No.11 Aliran Monthly : Vol.30(11) Page 1 COVER STORY Where the mind is without fear A tribute to my beloved father by Lilianne Fan Fan with daughter Lilianne by the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok on New Year's Day 2010: ‘He really was happy here in Thailand.’ says Lilianne was at my father’s side from near and far, from my as a father, he was also persis- when he passed away father’s many friends and men tently provocative, incessantly re- III peacefully on 7 Decem- and women whose lives he had minding my sister and me to live ber 2010, at touched through his life. These boldly, to never be afraid of push- Bumrungrad International Hospi- words have brought us comfort ing boundaries in the name of our tal in Bangkok, Thailand. He had through our grief, and for this we principles and dreams. been diagnosed with advanced are deeply grateful. cancer at the same hospital almost Deep humanism exactly a year ago. Finding words My father was a blessing, an in- after the loss of a parent is one of spiration and an absolute joy. He Since we were very young, Papa the hardest things to have to do. was deeply loving and devoted to was our principal source of cul- And yet, our family has been re- our family. While he had a ten- tural exposure and civilisational ceiving a healing river of words dency to sometimes be protective education. He introduced us to the Aliran Monthly : Vol.30(11) Page 2 EDITOR'S NOTE Alas, how often do we only recognise true great- ness in people after they are gone forever. Maybe CONTENTS we are destined to do this over and over again be- cause it is only in the vacuum of loss that we can COVER STORY step back and grasp the full impact of a life lived to COVER STORY ••• Where The Mind Is Without Fear 222 the full. How true - and even more so - that is in the •• Where The Mind Is Without Fear 22 ••• Fan Yew Teng Obituary 777 case of the late Fan Yew Teng. During his memo- ••• Commission Of Courage 121212 rial in Brickfields on 5 January, speaker after ••• Sing To Us, Mama 171717 speaker peeled away so many layers of Fan’s multi- faceted personality. Politicians tried to straight- jacket him but Fan refused to conform and crossed FEATURES many real and artificial boundaries. He didn’t need ••• Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Obituary 181818 the usual trappings of wealth and status to become ••• Tanjung Tokong: From Fishing a towering Malaysian. Village To Concrete Jungle? 191919 ••• Malaysian Housemen Unionist, political activist, dissident writer with Overworked In Hospitals! 232323 his trusty type-writer, global citizen – Fan was ••• The Silent Majority Must Act 242424 well ahead of his time. Long before the Internet ••• Nuclear Malaysia: Red Flag In A Greening Global Economy 2626 shrunk the world into a global village, he was Greening Global Economy 262626 ••• The Law Of Sedition 303030 already a global citizen campaigning against war ••• Soi Lek Heads PPC: Larger Issue and oppression around the world. Long before At StakeStakeAt 343434 our era of climate change, Fan had embraced sim- ••• G Balasundram Obituary 363636 plicity so that his carbon footprint was probably ••• Aristotle Says, “Penang Will Have minimal. In fact, the environmental component Better Public Transport” 404040 of Fan’s Socialist Democratic Party manifesto in the 1980s was much more substantive than those of other contemporary parties. Lilianne Fan and REGULARS P Ramakrishnan give us a glimpse of his remark- ••• Current Concerns 323232 able legacy. Other giants have also passed on. We carry obituaries of activist lawyer G Balasundram and the late Tun Lim Chong Eu. OTHERSOTHERSOTHERS ••• Subscription Form 383838 Back to the the green theme, Ken Yeong takes a ••• Aliran Monthly firm stand against nuclear energy, Angeline Loh No More Street Sales 393939 peers out of her Tanjong Tokong apartment win- dow to see a concrete jungle sprouting skywards Published by while Yap Soo Huey urges us to hop on a bus to Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara reduce congestion. (ALIRAN)(ALIRAN)(ALIRAN) 103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong, Aliran is an organisation for ‘social democratic reform’. We advocate freedom, justice and Penang, Malaysia. solidarity; comment critically on social issues, offer Tel: (04) 658 5251 Fax: (04) 658 5197 analysis and alternative ideas keeping in mind Email (Letters to Editor): the national and global picture based on universal [email protected] human rights and spiritual values. We are listed on the on the roster of the Economic and Social Council of Email (General): [email protected] the United Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran Homepage : http://www.aliran.com welcomes all Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contact the Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage. Printed by Konway Industries Sdn. Bhd. Plot 78, Lebuhraya Kampung Jawa, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang Aliran Monthly : Vol.30(11) Page 3 Fan Yew Teng: Working on The Educator, 19681968, Aliran Monthly : Vol.30(11) Page 4 music of Edith Piaf and Om Kalsom, the writings of Rabindranath Tagore and Hannah Arendt. His mind was epic and encyclopedic, philo- sophical and poetic; his histori- cal memory as impressive as his passion for justice was inextin- guishable. The shelves, tables and floors of his bedroom and study were always overflowing with books, the walls adorned with portraits of his many heroes— Bertrand Russell, Frantz Fanon, Leo Tolstoy, Nelson Mandela. Papa’s deep humanism shaped us from an early age, as did the context into which our lives un- folded. Because he and my mother raised us in a very intellectually-, politically- and socially-engaged household, we were exposed early Papa - The Public Intellectual on both to humanity’s creativity and promise, as well as the reali- ties of oppression and injustice. position of total impartiality. War, to peace and solidarity ac- tivities for Bosnia, East Timor, and Papa was through and through a As we were growing up, we would Sri Lanka. Papa’s tireless solidar- public intellectual. Concepts like spend hours with Papa taking ity with struggles for justice and justice, freedom and democracy long walks around Kuala democracy around the world were not abstract utopian ideals; Lumpur, visiting his favourite sec- deeply influenced my own work rather, they were foundations for ond-hand bookshops and coffee- on peace, human rights and in- the concrete advancement of liv- shops, listening to stories of his ternational humanitarian law, as ing human societies. Like the phi- old schoolmates at Brinsford it was he who taught me that each losophers of Ancient Greece, Papa Lodge, teaching in Kuala Lipis of us has a responsibility to speak believed that the hallmark of the and Tanah Merah, the spirited up against injustice in every mani- citizen was versatility in knowl- years with the DAP, and his epic festation. When I began working edge and a constant striving for land and sea journey from Port with refugees from Aceh in 1999, the advancement of one’s politi- Klang to Madras and New Delhi, Papa was strongly supportive, cal community. He disdained through Afghanistan, Iran, and always ready to participate in a material wealth and believed that, Yugoslavia to join our mother in campaign, or offer strategic advice in the words of the Stoic philoso- Cambridge in 1975. Papa would and lessons in political history, pher Seneca, “it is the mind which often read us drafts of his socio- just as he was when my work later makes men rich”. He was deeply political articles, fresh off the car- took me to Burma and Haiti. concerned with the dilemmas of riage of his beloved manual type- his time, first and foremost in writer, and this was a significant Spiritual side Malaysia, but also internation- source of our education on local ally. He was fiercely independent and international politics. He Even as he mastered the power of and preferred to stand outside of would also involve us in many of the spoken and written word, society’s institutions to raise ethi- his anti-war campaigns, from his Papa also grew increasingly to cal questions and critique from a mobilisation against the Gulf respect the power of the sacred Aliran Monthly : Vol.30(11) Page 5 word and prayer. In this sense, he necessary: honour; to be his daughter, my also became a spiritual mentor, - The mornings when I awoke to greatest joy. It is with profound whose daily practice taught us in find him seated at the garden reverence that we, his children, a very direct way the meaning of table, glowing in the gentle sun- inherit his vision and dreams, and faith. Until his last days he would light, whistling to the birds who assume the responsibility of keep- make sure that he said a prayer of were his constant companions; ing his legacy alive. safe passage for us each time we - Resting my head upon his chest, travelled, even while he was bed- feeling his hand stroke my hair I know it would have been his ridden over the past few months. gently, knowing that we would hope that every one of us to con- protect each other forever; tinue working towards a Malay- Throughout his illness, Papa sian Malaysia, a nation founded would continue to be more con- - Silently watching him each day on justice, democracy, and ac- cerned by the suffering of others with the deepest esteem as he countability to each and every one than his own. One day, just a few would light a tea-candle at the al- of its citizens, compassionate to days after undergoing an opera- tar in our home, lowering his those who seek refuge upon our tion, he told me, “My dearest, I head in prayer for our family and shores, a model of pluralism in an have seen a world with endless for the world.