reduced and recycled

Anyone heard about fights and gangsters and blood and such in Johor Bahru? No? Well, let me recount a story I heard - and for this story, I must attach disclaimers. I’m just repeating the story. I do not want to perpetuate lies. I suppose whether you think I’m doing so or not is a matter of opinion.

In any case, let me recount for you the aforementioned story. Some time in mid-July this year, a fight broke out in Kota Masai, Johor Bahru, in which a Malay bloke was beaten up by Indian thugs, who proclaimed Kota Masai “their” hunting ground. These same Indian gangsters, apparently, challenged Malays to step into their territory.

I don’t think Malays like being challenged, especially when they perceive this soil to be theirs and theirs alone. So, as you might expect, all hell broke loose. Some.. people started trickling down from the surrounding environs of Johor Bahru and even from other states, ready to.. “Gempur” is the word, I believe. According to the person telling me this story, it wasn’t long before the gathering flood of Malays forced a konfrantasi.

It sorta happened like this, I’m told. About 2,000 to 3,000 Malays congregated in Kota Masai, Johor Bahru. There were a sea of people was how it was described to me. When the fight finally broke out, it was learned that the Malays who were there dwarfed the Indian gang, of whom there were only 300. So very Thermopylae, don’t you think?

I was told that someone had beaten two Indian men to death. The police, effective protectors of the people and upholders of truth, justice and the Malaysian way arrived at the scene a little too late. And what have the police done since? No one knows. Heck, I don’t even know if the story is true.

But it’s a good gangland sorta story isn’t it?

So, back to the present again: PM Abdullah Badawi says..

Rumours that racial clashes have occurred in Pasir Gudang, Johor, are “lies, lies and nothing more than lies,” said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The Prime Minister said the rumours were an attempt to create an uneasy atmosphere, incite anger and tension among the people.

If at first I was inclined to believe that story above was a lie, now I’m not so sure. For those who aren’t living in Johor Bahru, what you wouldn’t know is that cops from Bukit Aman have been setting up roadblocks, scouring the neighbourhood and such for the past two weeks. They’re doing all of this because, I’m sure, the rumours PM Badawi is alluding to are all lies. Aren’t they?

What’re the rumours, by the way? If you haven’t received the sms about an impending fight on this coming 30th August, you’re among the many. I certainly didn’t receive it, but that’s probably because I make love, not war.

I’ve also heard many versions of this rumour. It’s taken on many iterations: there are rumours that there will be a fight in Taman Cendana, which is like six kilometers from Kota Masai; there are rumours that there will be fights in Danga Bay and Pasir Gudang, and everywhere else in-between.

Then there’s a friend who insists he’s got the story right: that the “original fight” is between drug addicts, just that these drug addicts happen to be Malay and Indian. A disagreement arose between a Malay dude who paid frequent visits to a block of flats somewhere in Tmn Cendana or some such. The Indians at the flats didn’t like it, they beat this Malay dude up. The Malay dude had backing and his “backing” beat up an innocent Indian dude, and so on and so forth.

Whatever the story, it’s now a semi-national incident with the PM in damage control mode. You gotta love this country, man.