Kuala Lumpur, 06 June 2024 - Datuk Prof Dr Mohd Faiz Abdullah, Chairperson of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, graced the Embassy’s Sentro Rizal inauguration ceremony on 31 May 2024 as Guest of Honor.

 

In his speech, Datuk Prof Faiz underscored how Rizal exhibited heroism by sacrificing his life for the country at the age of 35. He also shared that he is an ardent admirer of Rizal, seeing him more than a Filipino, but a great Malay and a great Southeast Asian whose influence is still felt in the region today.

 

Datuk Prof Faiz added that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim once praised Rizal as the "greatest Malayan and the pride of the Malay race". He recalled that Rizal's "Mi Ultimo Adios"(My Last Farewell) served as a source of strength during the Prime Minister’s days of solitude in prison. He emphasized that Rizal rightfully belongs among the esteemed figures of the Asian Renaissance, as depicted in Prime Minister Anwar's book of the same title.

 

In his closing remarks, Datuk Prof Faiz encouraged the younger generations of Filipinos and Malaysians to seek inspiration from thought leaders of our region, highlighting the universal moral imperatives that should guide how we conduct ourselves as individuals, societies, and nations.

 

The Philippine Embassy, led by Ambassador Maria Angela A. Ponce, expressed gratitude to Datuk Prof Mohd Faiz for his presence during the Sentro Rizal inauguration.

 

Below is the text of his full speech:

 

REMARKS BY DATUK PROF DR MOHD FAIZ ABDULLAH CHAIRMAN, INSTITUTE OF STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, (ISIS), MALAYSIA

At the Opening of the Sentro Rizal Kuala Lumpur

 

First, he was exiled to Dapitan (that’s of course, in Mindanao). Unlike ordinary mortals, who would be moaning and getting depressed, he turned crisis into opportunity, built not just a school and a hospital but an entire water supply system.

 

The revolution broke out and soon after, accused of “inciting rebellion”, he was arrested. That’s why they say the pen is mightier than the sword – his writings could move an entire population!

 

Judgement was passed and at the age of 35, on December 30, 1896, he was executed by firing squad at Bagumbayan outside Manila’s walls. His last words were “consummatum est” (‘It is finished’). These were the very words Christ uttered from the Cross.

 

Yes, blood was, and still remains, on their hands for killing him, but they could not kill his soul, let alone his spirit. For even today, the spirit of José Rizal flies high, soaring above the clouds across the seas from the Philippines to Malaysia, and beyond.

 

Her Excellency Maria Angela A Ponce, Ambassador of the Philippines to Malaysia.

Distinguished guests,

Members of the Filipino community in Malaysia,

Ladies and gentlemen.

 

Magandang gabi sa inyong lahat, and good evening.

 

I am profoundly honoured to be the guest of honour for this evening’s momentous occasion; and being an ardent admirer of José Rizal myself, I feel both humbled and privileged to be given the opportunity to say a few words.

 

Rizal is a great Filipino and a national hero (pambansang bayani), but he was much more than that. He was also a great Malay and a great Southeast Asian, whose life and work contributed enormously to the rich tapestry that is our region today.

 

In fact, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim once called him the “greatest Malayan and the pride of the Malay race”. Anwar himself draws huge inspiration from his life and his works.

 

And that comes as no surprise. There is much to celebrate for the man was a genius! A writer, poet, philosopher, freedom fighter, engineer, farmer, and an ophthalmologist. A polymath, in every sense of the word, and a polyglot par excellence, truly deserving to be placed among the pantheon of luminaries of The Asian Renaissance as portrayed in Anwar Ibrahim’s book.

 

Prime Minister Anwar has said this in the Philippines on more than one occasion, that it was Rizal’s Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell), which were among cornerstones that sustained him through his days of solitude in prison. And I can personally testify to that.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

A cursory examination of the current international order and the multiple crises that we have to grapple with, show that Rizal’s unshakable humanism, and sense of justice is very much relevant today as it was when he penned Noli Me Tángere and El filibusterismo, at the turn of the 19th century.

 

Today, the old prejudices and disregard for the rights of fellow men and women, which once shaped colonial ventures, are very much alive in the blatant double standards applied to a range of injustices and failures of the international system.

 

Indeed, on the subject of justice, I can do no better than to repeat Rizal’s immortal lines that “Justice is the foremost virtue of the civilising races. It subdues the barbarous nations, while injustice arouses the weakest.”

 

In this vein, Rizal also reminds us that as long as reason is held in bondage, as long as blind faith lords over fact, while laws are created out of whim and nations continue to subjugate others, then humanity as a whole is yet to be redeemed.

 

As for redemption, I am reminded of TS Eliot:

 

 

“Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

If all time is eternally present

All time is unredeemable.”

So, as we gather here to celebrate the past and present, let us also look forward to the future. And I see in this future the bright and eager faces of our younger generation.

 

To this younger generation – of Malaysians, of Filipinos, and of the region – I call on you to look to our thought leaders from our region for inspiration of the universal moral imperatives that should guide how we conduct ourselves as individuals, societies, and nations.

 

José Rizal demonstrated that Asian traditions and thoughts are no less important when it comes to defining the dignity and value of man. His life and work, along with the likes of Iqbal, Tagore, Sun Yat-Sen, and many others, could and should be the source of our enlightenment and the force to drive us for this endeavour.

 

Rizal’s wisdom, spirit and tenacity are not just worth preserving and emulating, they are very much in need at a time of tremendous uncertainty and inequity both within and among nations.

 

So, congratulations!

 

It is my earnest hope that this newly inaugurated Sentro Rizal, with the support of the Embassy and likeminded stakeholders both in Malaysia and the Philippines, will continue to carry this torch here, in the city of Kuala Lumpur and beyond.

 

Muli, isang karangalan sa akin,

ang magbahagi ng salita sa inyong lahat,

hanggang sa muli nating pagkikita.

Maraming salamat po at mabuhay tayong lahat.

 

 

 

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