My Odyssey: Revolutionary & Evolutionary is an unusual biography characteristic and reflective of the many dimensional attitudes of the author, Jeyaraj C. Rajarao. It is the sincerest revelation of the various experiences enjoyed and suffered through a life lived with passion and honesty, and sporadically mixed with wittiness and mischief. Hard-hitting, impassioned and critical, the author discusses extensively the political-socio-economic situations that affected and moulded his thoughts and activities, and commitment to social intricacies.
The division of Malaysia being divided by race and religion-imposed policies and how these are destroying unity and affecting the progress of the plural society, and the negative effects of imposed religion were also highlighted through the author’s experiences and thoughts. There is much that can be regarded as controversial and confrontational but that is inevitable when truth is expressed and experiences revealed to substantiate the realities.
This autobiography is the intensely personal experiences of Rajarao who has tried his best to be purpose driven. He has used his knack by giving his readers a sense of purpose, emphasising this objective necessity in today’s deteriorating materialistic world devoid of fundamental values and care for humanity.
Details:
Date: 13 August 2022 (Saturday)
Time: 2.30pm – 4:30pm (Doors open from 2.00pm)
Venue: Penang Institute, 10-12 Brown Road, George Town
Speaker: Dato’ Jeyaraj C. Rajarao
Launch by: Dato’ Seri Dr Anwar Fazal
Moderator: Prof Dato Dr Zulfigar Yasin, Penang Institute
About the Author
Dato’ Jeyaraj C. Rajarao, born in Penang in 1932, was an undergraduate at the University of Malaya in Singapore and proceeded to the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, on a British Council Scholarship in October 1959. In 1960 he was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship though, after clashing with one of his supervisors, he resigned his scholarship and returned home in 1961.
Despite the instructions of the Alliance government not to employ him, J.M.B. Hughes defiantly gave Rajarao a temporary teaching job at Penang Free School where he taught from 1962 to 1964. He was the assistant city secretary for George Town City Council in 1965, but had to leave in 1966 when the council was taken over by the Alliance. He then joined the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia where he retired in 1987 as head of the Publications, Library and Information Division. He writes extensively on the history of socio-economics, and is the author of The Legacy of MARDEC: Origin, Development and Contributions to the Rubber Industry, which was awarded the best book prize on commerce and industry in 2014.
Rajarao continues to pursue his ideals of a just, fully democratic, harmonious and progressive Malaysia, and actively supports many events and undertakes various projects to ensure these ideals are realised.
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS