Propaganda

It's amazing how much propaganda there is out there. I showed my History students a video on Emergency from Youtube. Gosh! How very pro-British!

Well, I did not manage to watch the whole video before the class as there were many interruptions from colleagues and students. I watched the first half and found it alright and it showed how Communism was fought in Malaya. All good and dandy until.....

....class time. The 2nd half of the video talked about the Briggs Plan and the enforcement by Templer, especially about the separation of the villagers from Communists, winning the hearts and minds of the people. And guess who are these people ....Orang Asli. For 5 minutes they showed snippets of Orang Asli with bare breasts and children hanging from their hips and men smoking and doing nothing. Imagine, that is what the outside world think of Malaya. Filled with orang aslis and that the British helped to civilise them. How colonial!

True, the Orang Asli needed to be separated from the Communist as they could provide them with sustenance and information. But I am sure they could put other rural communities in the videos. Like the Indian planters who live in the jungles and farmers that live far away from towns.

Of course the video was made years ago and to glorify the British and their welfarism in Malaya but I still shudder....