COMMENT | Colonial roots in law against ganja and ketum

COMMENT | I will not use the scientific name, or even colonial names, for plants which are native to our tropical Malaya. These names are strange, foreign and difficult to spell.

These two plants which are native to tropical Malaya are ganja and ketum (above). 

The Latin terms for ketum and ganja are outrageous. It’s impossible for these two plants to grow naturally on the banks of the Tiber in Rome, Italy, from where the Latin language originated.

In fact, everyone in Malaysia knows that ganja and ketum grow naturally and abundantly behind Pak Usin’s shop in Batu Tujuh, Bendang Raja in Kuala Nerang.

In fact, there are areas in Malaysia where local villagers call ketum leaves biak leaves. This is because the leaves grow abundantly (senang membiak) on this tropical land.

Everyone knows what ganja is. Everyone also knows what ketum is. It’s impossible for someone in Malaysia to say they don’t know what these two plants are.

I am sure everyone who has passed puberty has heard of ganja or ketum at least once in their lives. That said, I am also certain many have never seen these plants. Many, too, wouldn’t know what they’re used for.

If it was up to me, I would suspend the citizenship of any Mamat or Minah who claims they have never heard of ganja or ketum, that is until they learnt what ganja and ketum are.

But you shouldn’t worry or be disappointed with yourself if you have never seen ganja or ketum. Never laying your eyes on these plants is not a crime.

A social construct

I have a clear reason for writing about ketum and ganja. I am not writing this because I got paid by some ganja or ketum dealer. No. I wrote this to open up the minds of people of all races and religions. I want to start a new discourse on ketum and ganja.

I want ganja and ketum to be everyday topics. I want us to talk endlessly about ketum and ganja from a fresh perspective, a perspective that is enlightened and anchored by history and facts.

Finally, I want to ask our parliamentarians to review their anti-ketum and anti-ganja stance. This anti-ketum and anti-ganja stance is widespread. The attitudes against these two plants native to Malaya sprouted through something called legislation that was passed by something called Parliament.

Parliamentarians, including senators - or the people we call "YB" - are responsible for drafting and passing legislation. Law is a social construct empowered by sovereignty. It did not exist from the beginning of time. It is something man-made. It is not natural like a row of petai or a handful or kerdas or a comb of banana.

A social construct is made by human beings just like a house or a chicken coop is made by human beings. But a chicken coop can be touched and seen. A social construct is something abstract yet it exists. It exists for certain agendas and objectives. All social constructs forward an agenda.

In my view, the YBs in Parliament who pass legislation can also amend legislation. Laws are not like how H2O is water - that is, combining two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen makes water. The composition of water, H2O, will never change.

Anti-ganja and anti-ketum legislations are not like that. The fact is, whatever that is made by human beings can be annulled by human beings. Oops ... be careful ... is it factual to say that our YBs are the ones who legislated the anti-ketum and anti-ganja laws?

Oops ... I am mistaken. I made a huge mistake. It was only when I asked the sage, Google, about this act, that I realised what had actually happened. When I researched it further, it became clearer, as clear as noonday.

Jeng jeng jeng. I received enlightenment. I will share with you the enlightenment that arrived in my mind.

Colonial laws

A request. I want you to read all the media reports on ganja and ketum carefully.

Here is one such report. On Monday, Feb 1, the news portal My Metro reported that a truck carrying 4.5 tonnes of ketum was stopped on the way from Baling, Grik, Kedah to the Serambi Mekah (literally ‘Verandah of Mecca’, a term often used to refer to Kelantan).

Police said: “The suspect is remanded until Feb 4 for investigations under Section 30(3) of the Poisons Act 1952.”

Here is another news report:

In June 2020, Berita Harian reported a man, referred to as ‘Mat Tarzan’ from Jalan Datuk Kumbar, Alor Star was detained for growing ganja in his front yard.

Police said: “The case is investigated under Section 6B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 for cultivating ganja and Section 15 (1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.”

Having read those two news clippings, what do you see? You don’t see a ganja leaf or a ketum leaf. What you do see is something which often dips and floats in such news reports but we often miss it.

We miss it because all this while, our eyes are trained to note how many kilogrammes of ganja were seized or how many sacks of ketum were found in a lorry. The news photos of police personnel posing with ketum leaves or ketum drinks often distract us from paying more careful attention.

We miss this - the numbers 1952. One-nine-five-two. Dangerous Drugs Act '1952'. The key here is the number 1-9-5-2. Why do I say this? It’s elementary, bro.

1952 is the year when the law was enacted. In 1952, Malaya didn’t have an independent Parliament. We were still colonised by the British. This means this law is a colonial law. Correct or not?

It wasn’t a law passed by Parliament during Tunku’s time. It wasn’t during Razak’s time. It was during the colonial rule of the British and the Queen of England that this law was enacted. Do you now get it?

The law against ganja and ketum was enacted by the British colonial government. You need to understand this fact before we can move on to the next chapter.

Pirate companies and Tiger Beer

The fact is, British-colonised nations like Malaya were first visited by the agents or relatives of the monarch who came from London through a company called the East India Company.

This was a band of pirates, with the endorsement of the crown. They came to exploit the riches of Malaya. This pirate outfit was deemed a “company” by the monarch and they practised piracy in the name of the British crown.

They were assisted at sea by the crown and even received weapons courtesy of the crown. (It is similar to Najib Abdul Razak taking SRC funds in the name of the Umno - assisted by national facilities - under the guise of helping Malays. Amen.)

This colonial pirate had in 1932 built a beer factory in Singapore called 'Tiger Beer'. In 1933, it built 'Anchor Beer' on the island. These beers are world-famous. They were made using water from the Kallang in Singapore.

(Young people reading this may now be asking why we’re talking about a whole other country, Singapore. Remember, Singapore was once part of Malaya. This island can be seen from Johor Bharu. If we all go to Johor Bahru, bend over and collectively fart in Singapore’s direction, some buildings in Woodlands may fall down. The story of betrayal by that Malay supremacy party - Umno - leading to Singapore’s departure is a different story. It has nothing to do with ganja and ketum.)

The point here is, the British colonial powers enacted a law to ban ketum and ganja in 1952 - 20 years after Tiger and Anchor were launched in Singapore. Do you see where I am going here?

Never poison in the Malay world

The reason for the anti-ganja and anti-ketum laws was to ensure the people would stop smoking ganja and drinking ketum and instead buy the beer produced by a colonial company.

I don’t believe a single jot of argument claiming that the anti-ganja and anti-ketum law was enacted because the Queen wanted to protect the health of her colonial subjects. Podah.

There were never health reasons. The colonial powers came to exploit Malaya. They would take whatever they wanted to take and pirate whatever they wanted to pirate. They extracted, chopped down and sold. This was the reason for their existence.

Don’t forget that cigarettes and tobacco were introduced to Malaya in 1912 - even before Tiger and Anchor. Kelantan, the Verandah of Mecca, was a key district for tobacco growers. Yet, no single anti-cigarette legislation related to health was enacted in Kelantan until 1977.

The people behind the beer companies surely realised that ganja and ketum are plants native to Malaya. They posed as competition to Anchor and Tiger. Viola! And so a law was enacted against ganja and ketum.

Apparently, this was to safeguard the health of colonial subjects and to make sure they don’t consume poison. And so the Poisons Act 1952 was enacted.

Poison? What? Ganja and ketum were never poison in the Malay world. No one was poisoned from consuming them. Ganja and ketum are part of the lives of the farmers, fishermen and labourers in the Malay world.

Yet out of nowhere, this Mat Salleh coloniser comes and declares ganja and ketum as poison. He says ganja and ketum are not good for health. So when you’re resting after labouring in the fields or from catching fish in the sea, reach instead for a bottle of Tiger or Anchor.

Can’t you see why a Malayan tiger and an anchor were used as logos for these beer companies? It was all part of the tactics of the colonial British, leading to the Poisons Act 1952. Don’t believe me? I’ll explain more in my next column.

Tomorrow: The war on drugs

HISHAMUDDIN RAIS is a political activist, writer and film director. The above article was translated into English from the original which can be accessed here.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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