To have heroes, we need to have villains so that the heroes can look saintly and angelic in the eyes of public. Unfortunately for us all, some heroes created villains so that they can look heroic.
When it comes to history, how does one determine the real heroes and the real villain? And how does one determine if the villains that have been portrayed in the history books are genuine and not made believe figure or something that has been cooked up by ‘heroes’ to make themselves look good in the eyes of the world?
It is a sad thing isn’t it? One can’t possibly really tell the two apart. There is always two sides of the same story. And like history, same thing happens in life. You can’t always determine who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. There is always a predator in lamb’s clothing, and one must be careful not to be easily swayed and manipulated.
Here’s a rhetoric question from me. As of late, some people and ‘historians’ from certain political claimed that Malaya was never colonized by British. If so why did we still need to ask for independence from British back then? If that’s the case, why are we celebrating 31st August every year as our independence day?
Cleffairy: I wonder how far the undeserving heroes would go to convince the world that they are a true hero? And I wonder how far these people would go to take revenge on people who refused to believe in their claims and punish people who have absolutely different opinions about them?
History is written by man, interpreted by man…and things may look different when viewed from different sides.
Rentap was a pirate, true and true, a thorn in the flesh for Sir Charles Brooke – the 2nd White Rajah…and Rosli Dhoby was an assasin. He was from the nearby kampung and I heard from the old folks that the plot to kill the British governor was because they wanted the Rajahs back…not for independence.
They do get mentioned in the History books – very briefly (shows how much interest the federal people have in Sabah and Sarawak)…and they are proclaimed as heroes – fighting for independence.
Now I hear than Hang Tuah is no longer in the history books, don’t know how true that is. They say he’s related to Hang Li Po… I think this was mentioned in Yasmin Ahmad’s movie, “Sepet”.
True. I can’t say that better myself. Anyway, at the end of the day, winner dictates history.
Hmm… I dun remember much about Mat Rentap. And also the White Rajahs. Looks like it’s time to go back to history books.
I think you’re right about that, the other day a student asked me if Hang Tuah is just a fairy tale hero… I guess he’s no longer in history books. Mebbe I can ask a friend who is a history teacher about it.
As far as history is concerned, I’m quite outdated. Not sure what’s inside the history books and what is not anymore. They changed the syllabus, I heard.
🙁 I just hope people don’t ‘change’ history too much…would hate it if the kids are fed some foolish ideas on how this country was founded!
if you have to convince others you are hero, then you are not truly a hero -booth. bones season 2.
Some people are just sore losers. I wanna see what they will say and do next!