Let's 'Belajar Sejarah"

I "balik kampung" over the weekend and found some interesting facts on our nation "sejarah" from a "buku sejarah" entitled "Exploring Sejarah" "Terbitan Oxford Fajar" for "Tingkatan 2 KBSM" written by Zamri Zakaria. It's about Haji Abdul Rhaman bin Abdul Hamid also known as Haji Abdul Rahman Limbong, a religious teacher who spearheaded the farmers' opposition against the British rule in Terengganu between 1921 to 1928. He was known as Haji Abdul Rahman Limbong due to him regularly went to Limbong, Kemaman to "mengajar ugama." In 1921, the British introduced "Pas Kebenaran Membuka Tanah" where any clearance of land for agricultural purpose would be taxed at "50 sen". In 1922, 43 farmers cleared and opened an agricultural land in Kuala Telemong and refused to pay tax to the British. they were arrested and charged in Court. Haji Abdul Rahman Limbong acted as their lawyer and argued in Court that "Tanah adalah milk Allah dan bukan hak negeri" leading him to win the case. In 1925, a group of about 300 to 500 farmers gathered at Kuala Telemong to cultivate on 200 acres of land belonging to Tengku Nik Fatimah and 400 acres of government land. The then Sultan, Sultan Sulaiman was urged by the British to take action against the farmers. In 1928, the British threatened to take action against farmers who refused to pay agricultural land taxes. On hearing this, about 1000 farmers protested in Marang, Kuala Terengganu and Kuala Berang and declared war against the British. In the process, they occupied a police station and government buildings in Kuala Berang and flew red flags. Intense war erupted at Padang Kachong where 12 farmers were killed and Haji Abdul Rahman Limbong and several other Malay leaders were arrested. Haji Abdul Rhaman Limbong was the exiled to Makkah by Sultan Sulaiman, obviously at the advise of the British, on charges of instigating the state of Terengganu's farmers to an act of war against the government. Below is the translation of the exile order: " Perisytiharan Buang Negeri Haji Abdul Rhman Limbong, 12 Zulhijjah 1346, Bilangan 1295, 1346" Ketahuilah sekelian rakyat-rakyat dalam negeri Terngganu dan jajahannya, iaitu dengan hukum dan titah perintah DYMM Sultan Sulaiman Badrul Alam Syah kerajaan Terengganu telah mengeluarkan Haji Abdul Rhaman bin Abdul Hamid (Haji Abdul Rhman Limbong) dari dalam negeri Terengganu dan jajahannya oleh disyakkan dengan sebab-sebab pengajaran Haji Abdul Rahman kepada pihak rakyat-rakyat menubuhkan gerakan menderhaka rakyat-rakyat kepada Raja dan kerajaan Terengganu." Maka bagi sementara Haji Abdul Rahman belayar ke Makkah diserah dia di bawah jagaan kerajaan Selat demikianlah adanya." There you are and Haji Abdul Rhaman Limbong was not the first to be punished due to due to act of war against the British colonial rule then ... In Perak, Raja Ismail was sent into exile to Johor while Sultan Abdullah and Ngah Ibrahim were sent into exile to the Seychelles Island. Meanwhile Dato' Maharaja Lela, Sepuntum (Si Putum), Dato' Sagor and Pandak Indut were hanged in Taiping on 20 June 1877. All because of their role in acting against the British imposition of new tax rules in Perak by killing the Perak First British Resident, J.W.W. Birch. My take on the above and on this "Tingkatan 2 Buku Sejarah" are as below: 1. The Perak incident were led by the "Pembesar_Pembesar Perak" and whether you like it or not, their action was motivated more on "self interest" as opposed to a mere "guru ugama", Haji Abdul Rahman Limbong; 2. The "Buku Sejarah" did make a cursory note on the role of the left wing independence fighters such as Burhanuddin Helmy, Pak Sako and the "Kaum Muda" But most important of all, at least kids nowadays "belajar sejarah" pertaining to local historical events/persons unlike when I "dan teman-teman yang sewaktu" was in the school those days ... We learned about David Livingstone, the Scottish explorer who explored Africa and Alexander the Great (this was when I was in Standard 5 or 6). In the secondary school, we traveled in a time machines almost half the world and got to know with Romulus & Remus, the twin brothers who founded Rome, the Spartans, The Moghuls and to China and met with Shih Huang Ti and the Han clans ,,, no!!! no!!! not Shahrukh Khan or Saif Ali Khan but Genghis Han & Kublai Han. How lucky are kids nowadays ......