8/27/2024

In praise of Colonialism? Colonialism is so sweet, or so evil!

 Reading history written by the white men that were the colonial masters of the world would make one feel great to be a colonialist, to feel proud of being the subjects of the colonialists, with the privilege of singing God Save the King or the Queen. In reality, the colonialists were the butchers, the murderers, looters, plunders of the colonial people. But this part of their history was whitewashed and only briefly mentioned. They only wrote about how great they were, how they civilised the colonised people, how gracious and generous they were to the poor and uncivilised subjects, the victims of their colonial conquests. And they left behind infrastructure, buildings of govt and an administrative system for the benefit of their subjects.

How many millions were massacred by the colonialists in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, India, China and SE Asia? Where got massacres, where got genocides? The native Americans were sent to the reservations to protect them, to set them free. The African slaves were hunted down to be sent to America to be gainfully employed in the cotton fields with no pay, or as jesters and servants of their colonial masters. Where got massacres in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaya, Indonesia, the southern Pacific Islands? If there were massacres, how come the murderers were invited with open arms back to these countries and pray like great white gods by the descendants of their victims?

In Singapore and Hong Kong, the love affairs of the locals, the subjects of the British Empire, still live on today with many speaking dearly of their beloved queen in England, now their beloved King Charles, everyday praying that they be invited to have tea in Buckingham Palace. Many statues of the colonial masters are re erected in parks to remember them as the kind souls that brought peace and progress to these swamp land of illiterate natives, coolies and fishermen. Without these great white men, they would have no chance to read Shakespears or European poetry and history.

Many streets are still proudly adorned with the names of the colonials masters, bridges with their names carved on them. And scholarships, wow, free money to educate the children of the subjects in top British and European universities to become scholars and WOGs. And the subjects did not know where the money came from? Where the colonialists made their money? Plunders, looting, slavering, banditry, piracy? Without knowing history, or not wanting to know history, they are happy and grateful with the few dollars thrown at them without knowing that the money were robbed from their forefathers by force, by treachery, by stealing their land and resources, by making them slave labour. 

Without knowing the past, it can be tragic for the present generation to worship their great white gods, the colonial masters, that were nothing but robbers, murderers, pirates, racists, slave traders, drug traders, that became rich from robbing and plundering the wealth of the native people and their land.

Should the descendants of colonised people be grateful and hold their former plunders and murderers in awe and respect? I think many will do so, with great pride and humility. Colonialism is so great, so good, so generous, despite the genocides, massacres, plundering, slavery and abuses of human rights, dignity and pride of the subject people...because they did not know what really happened. Well, subjects of empires should not be talking about pride and dignity. They should be grateful to be offered jobs as clerks, cooks, servants and gardeners to serve the great white gods.

Incidentally, would they be charging a fee to visit and pay respect to the statues of the great white gods?

Some would say if not of colonialism and the colonial masters, they would not even have jobs as coolies and clerks. They did not want to know that if there were no colonialism, their forefathers would not have fled their bankrupt fatherland or motherland, invaded, plundered and impoverished by the colonialists.

Without knowing history, they would worship the murderers, rapists and robbers of their forefathers and motherland. Singapore also had Japanese governor during the Japanese colonisation of the island. Now that everyone has forgotten about the brutal massacre of hundreds of thousands of the island's residents, would anyone be dull enough to suggest putting up a few statues of the Japanese colonialists as well? The Japanese were our dear colonial masters too!

From your obedient and humble servant. Only the seniors in their 70s or older would understand what this phrase means. It was the official version of a signing off statement by a British subject or HMS employee after writing his letter/correspondence to his superior.

PS. Cecil Rhodes was a racist, white supremacist that made his money from slavery, selling opium and stolen land. The few dollars he coughed out for scholarships and building universities were pittance from his loot. He had an African state named after him, Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe after the white men were sacked from the stolen land.

6 comments:

  1. Even history is contorted to whitewash the crimes of the Anglo-Saxon Imperialist. The two nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were spun into saving lives by stopping the war. The real historical reality behind it, according to some historical analysts, was the USA wanting to take the spot as the first nuclear power to possess the bomb ahead of the Soviet Union. In case the message was not clear enough, they needed to drop the second bomb. Sacrificing millions just to tell the world that the USA has arrived?

    The USA lost the first man in space title to the Soviet Union, so they faked the moon landing to go one up on the Soviet Union. John F. Kennedy told the country that the USA must go to the moon to regain its prestige, at all costs. Even by fakery?

    History is what was written by those who wants the world to believe in what they wanted the future generations to remember, not the reality, but the fabrication. The first pilgrims landing in North America were touted as wanting to spread the message of God. Or was the intent to commit genocide of the Native American Indians in order to rob their land. What that also a con written into the history books?

    All those Anglo-Saxon discoveries of continents are just hogwash. Who were those already living on those continents and were they not the original discoverers and inhabitants without needing the Anglo-Saxon pirates to add their names into the history books? Marco Polo would have been the discoverer of China, had the Chinese Civilization not already existed thousands of years before him.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Singapore proudly presents many busts of colonial masters and adding more in Fort Canning Park. When are they going to add King Charles or Queen Elizabeth's bust there? Our currency notes and coins used to have Queen Elizabeth and King George's faces on them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Karma works in mysterious ways. 'Con Men Wealth' stolen from colonies did nothing good for the British Empire. It was all blood money. The British Empire collapsed towards the end. Collapsing Empires all suffer the same fate. They rise like the phoenix, strut their feathers, bullied the weak and ended up fighting those they bullied for decades and finally succumbing to fate which they cannot fight against and ended up in the gutters. The USA is going through that final phase.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We have so many parks to plaster or display statues but dunno whose faces to put up. So any faces will do?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Colonialism is like a band of gangsters forcing into a home, killed whoever that resisted, then took over the house and treated everyone as servants, beat them up if they liked it. Everything belonged to the gangsters.

    ReplyDelete
  6. We even have a japanese 1st lady, how wonderful...haha

    ReplyDelete