[In character] I’m Raj Veerasamy, the Deputy state leader of the Selangor Malayan Indian Congress (MIC). It was a long and hard struggle to get to that point. My position is given by the community who truly place their trust in their leaders. It was a hard struggle accompanied by a swell of ground support, which put me just below the state leader of the MIC.
I believed during that time I was fighting for a new Malaya, a new federation without any interference of foreign governance. And I believed that every race that had been in Malaya were to be given equal opportunities, standings and rights, because they were all there at the same point of time. They were all brought up in Malaya in different ways as a result of the racial and cultural split made by the foreign governments so I think it is in the best interest of the people of Malaya that this new federation looks at everyone from similar standing, at the very start.
As for my love life, it has been two years since my wife’s passing, which ultimately led me to dive deeper into my work. That is all I can think about. I have been working closely with this Times journalist who came from London. I thought she was a male at first because of her initials, ‘S.I.D Abraham’. But all of that changed as soon as I met her, with this whole swell of emotions coming out of me. I wondered to myself, “Who is this? I’ve never seen this beauty before.” And we did share a moment for a while there. She is very different from everyone else I’ve met. And she slowly, yet persistently gained my trust and confidence until I finally let go, opening my heart, which I have been locking up for so long. All because I thought I finally found someone who knows and understands my struggle and she is putting her career at stake just for me. This made me fall in love with her. And for that, I tried to give her everything.
But being an Indian in Malaya and having a relationship with a foreigner creates this stigma of, “Why, is there no one else here that good enough for you?”
Someone even said to me that I was a freedom fighter who was supposed to fight for independence and yet I gave all of that away by having a relationship with a white woman – a person whose country I was expected to fight against. Everyone looked at me as if I was in denial, and I lost my friends and family because of that. But I didn’t care because at the end of the day what I wanted was her and I love her. I made a lot of sacrifices just to be with her. Although in the end, she penned a goodbye letter to me, in the middle of my speech at Padang Merdeka. I then decided that I did not want this anymore, because of everything that has already happened. Whether or not I’m here, it’s not going to make a big difference. So, I let all of this go and went after my dream, which was to be with Sylvia. But sadly, it was too late. When I said goodbye to Kuala Lumpur, she too waved her goodbye at me and left for London.
MALAYA RELIVED
The second installment of Liver & Lung of immersive musical series, which seeks to unveil the cultural challenges our ancestors had to overcome in their fight for Malayan independence.
Edited by Sydrah M.
