'Don't refute Mat Indera's status without research'

Johor PAS Youth chief Suhaizan Kaiat has questioned historian Khoo Khay Kim’s rebuttal of a claim that the much-maligned Mat Indera is an independence fighter and a hero.

“I don't agree with it, I think it is not right," he told a press conference at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

He argued that, for a historian to challenge the findings of another historian, “you have (to have) your own research to back it up”.

"Does Khoo have his own research on Mat Indera? If he does, we can debate it. If not, how can he refute (the claim)?”

He was replying to Khoo’s statement that Mat Indera was indeed a communist and was not a local but had come from Indonesia.

Suhaizan related that history expert Abu Bakar A Hamid had carried out extensive research before writing the book ‘Pengukir Nama Johor’, in which Mat Indera is described as a hero.

Suhaizan likened the case of Mat Indera to that of another freedom fighter, Tok Janggut, who had been labeled a traitor by the British.

However, he was vindicated and his honour restored after extensive historical research unearthed truths suppressed by the colonial authorities.

'Onus on historians'

Mat Indera's younger brother, an army retiree who was at the press conference, then refuted Khoo's claim that his brother was not born locally.

"He was born in Kampung Gombak, Peserai, Batu Pahat, Johor," said Baharum Shah Indera, 65.

Suhaizan said the onus now is on historians to research the real history of Mat Indera and come up with a clearer picture of his role in the struggle for Independence.

PAS Youth at the state and federal level, he added, will set up a secretariat to work with experts and those with information on Mat Indera, to root out the truth of the matter.

"(Khoo) said he is a historian, he should look into it," Baharum chimed in.