By Himanshu
Archaeologists last year stumbled upon at least 30 structures from an ancient Indianised civilisation that existed in the region of Kedah as far back as 1,700 years ago.
The lost kingdom of the Bujang Valley was once spread across a vast tract of land that still surrounds majestic Gunung Jerai. Over the last fifty years, a stream of precious artefacts have been unearthed from the area, pointing to the existence of the civilisation called "Kataha" or "Kidaram", with trading links with societies in India and China.
Today, just miles away from where this forgotten kingdom once thrived, a different kind of history is being made. A by-election for the state assembly seat of Bukit Selambau has generated a different kind of excitement as a record number of 15 candidates are vying for the seat.
It is perhaps no surprise that of the fifteen, eight are Indians. This quaint southern part of Kedah, including the districts of Sungai Petani and Kulim, has one of the highest concentrations of Indians in the country today. In Bukit Selambau alone, some 30% of the population are Indians, mostly ethnic Tamils. Half the population is Malay, and about a tenth is Chinese along with a few hundred Siamese.
The unusual multi-cultural configuration here is reflected through a brand of interaction among the people here that seems to have a unique social texture of its own. As it is, an outsider from any other part of the country would find the language used here peculiar.
The Kedah Malay dialect, with its clipped guttural sound and distinctive diction, is an interesting cultural feature that has helped to bring the people here together. And this feature can be seen in the daily ceramah and rallies being held in the area till polling on April 7.
And most of the Indians here possess this same accent when speaking in Malay. It is normal to see crowds of Indians and Malays milling around chatting with each other in the local lingo during political gatherings, as they await leaders to take to the podium.
If anything, the by-election has brought to the notice of the country how Malaysians of different races can be brought together by a common ingrained native identity.
There were reports of lobbying within both the Barisan Nasional (BN) and PKR for Malay candidates to vie in the by-election. But such lobbying was somewhat small. Both parties opted for Indians to represent them, more so because Kedah now does not have a single Indian assemblyman after PKR’s V. Arumugam stepped down, paving the way for this by-election.
Despite the speculations that have floated around, the fact is that most of the Malays here are well at ease with the Indian candidates – as long as they are local. It is this local essence, not the racial identity, that touches the soft spot of the electorate here.
When PKR candidate S. Manikumar, for example, addresses crowds at rallies, people of different ethnicities take to him like a local darling just on hearing the familiar lilt of his native tongue. Manikumar once told reporters that if he were speaking on the phone, a stranger on the other side of the line would think he was a local Malay.
The independents too are not short of appeal. Most are strong local community leaders who have been holding posts in chambers of commerce, community societies, professional associations and charitable groups at level.
Indeed, the level of integration at grassroots level is remarkable. At one ceramah in Bukit Selambau, a multiracial crowd stood and clapped together as an Indian leader spoke in Malay and then at great length in Tamil, without anyone the least bit perturbed. What makes it unique is that this integration has grown organically with communities naturally evolving together over the last few centuries. By and large, the Indian estate workers, Malay farmers and Chinese traders have somehow developed a brand of bonding just by virtue of being local.
With such a level of acceptance and identity, one can say this by-election is certainly making a new history of sorts, just as the ancient predecessors of this land did in a distant civilisation, some two thousand years ago.
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Himanshu is Penang bureau chief of The Sun Daily Mail