THE ASIATIC

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 47, Issue 2663, 30 August 1937, Page 3

THE ASIATIC

HIGH COURAGE. PROOF IN ACHIEVEMENT SOME NOTABLE EXAMPLES INFLUENCE OF PATRIOTISM. Within recent years Asia has become politically prominent in the international arena. That effect has had its cause, not so much in the peoples themselves, as in the dynamic supplied by certain persons equipped with a genius for leadership. These latter are, in their gifts, methods and antecedents, widely diverse. But in their achievements they prove that Asiatics not less than Europeans abound in high courage on behalf of their national causes. A pen picture gallery of such leaders has been provided by Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah. In his first published volume, “The Controlling Minds of Asia” (Jenkins, ’5) he purnishes biographical sketches of nine leaders whose influence on their fellow countrymen seems certain to become a landmark in their nation’s history. All are of intense interest, but with some appropriateness the President of the Turkish Republic is given precedence. Kemal Ataturk is known as the “Grey Wolf” and the “Dictator.” He resents the latter. He has had Turkey at his feet, but, his biographer points out, he has been big enough and courageous enough to build constitutionally. To-day he is the bestdressed man in Turkey, but he was reared in poverty. After a scant schooling he worked for two years in his uncle’s cow sheds. The soldier instinct in him was strong, and after he passed the examination into the military college his advancement was rapid. Even then his was a rebel spirit, and for his participation in secret societies he was consigned to a fortress. There came the Great War, and his days were crowded with audacities both in respect of personal bravery and defiance of authorities. The apex of his military success was achieved ■in his determination to carry on the war with Greece. Mr Lloyd George took fright, and proposed to resist. The author describes the position thus: “The close-cropped Kemal stood menacing the long-locked Welshman, and public opinion in England was with this clean-fighting Turk.” By the time the armistice was signed Turkey was practically transformed. All powers were vested in the people; the Sultan’s influence was extinct. In the years since Turkey, instead of being despised among the nations, has risen to high esteem. The face of the country has been radically changed; the old order has passed, and amidst the shoals of post-war diplomacy Turkey has been guided by a sure hand —the hand of Kemal Ataturk. In the pen portrait gallery a prominent place is given to the Aga Khan. It is admitted that in the West people know him mostly as a person who is fortunate on the turf. In the East millions bow in humility before his name. Because he is the lineal descendant of the Prophet, he is regarded with veneration by members of the Islamic faith the world over. Something of that attitude is discernable in the present biographer’s treatment of his subject. Special interest, however, attaches to the account he gives of the mighty finances of the Islamic order which the Aga Khan controls from his home in Bombay. The subscribers to the great co- ' operative society, says the writer, number millions. They are to be found throughout the entire East. Each individual makes periodical contributions, according to his estate, to the Aga Khan and to Moslem finances in general. The money flows into Bombay in one never-ending stream. Only his Highness, and the chief Mukhi know the extent of the finances. But, - says the biographer, the treasury must now hold many millions and bullion. Yet it goes practically unguarded. Guards are unnecessary. No Eastern would dream of touching a half-penny of this enormous wealth. The district Mukhis distribute money to those in need; disbursements are also made for educational, religious and other purposes; reserves are kept to meet the contingency caused by scourge and disease. The author reminds readers that in recent years there have been occasions when the slightest mishandling- would have precipitated a near-Eastern conflagration. Frequently it required only a spark to set millions on the road to religious war. But always, as an influence for moderation and sanity, there has operated the controlling mind of the Aga Khan. The controlling mind of the Maha-

tma Gandhi is also subject to analysis. It is justly observed that never have the critics of this Indian leader been able, even- remotely, to suggest that he had a personal axe to grind in many of the movements which he fostered. He made early acquaintance with poverty when, despite all his legal ability, he had to find material solace in shilling briefs, and fourpence had to be returned to the individual who introduced the client. The numerous phases of passive resistance with which Gandhi has been associated are reviewed not always uncritically. The nobility of the fasts and self-sacrifices he has made on behalf of India’s “untouchables” is acknowledged. But, says the author, it is difficult to get to grips with “the mentality of this idealist with the shaven skull, thick lips and protruding ears.” It is suggested that some partial explanation of Gandhi’s thought and action may be found in his statement : “I am trying to introduce religion into politics.” Certainly, adds the biographer, Gandhi, frail and ascetic, has held sway over millions; he has been reverenced and worshiped as a demi-god. Within the past twenty-five years there has been throughout all Asia constant and intense ferment. Western people have ocasionally noted the areas where trouble seemed specially concentrated, but they have little suspected what terrors were being endured, what tragedies enacted. As the present author deftly limns some of these leaders he tells many a tale of heroic splendour and of incredible savagery. The primitiveness of Asiatic life is in some places still reminiscent of Europe at the worst periods in the Middle Ages. The darkness of the picture is, however, shot through with bright gleams which represent those men whose controlling minds has led their countrymen to a fuller freedom, to a higher political, social level. King Feisal of Irak, King Fuad of Egypt, Sun Yat Sen of China, Ibn Saud of Arabia—the ac|venturous life stories and the abiding national services these and others have rendered are graphically recounted. It is made plain that all they have achieved has been at the price of risks few men would care to take. And each chapter is a thrilling, inspiring disclosure, of what men of every race and creed are prepared to do and to endure for country’s sake. The author is not free from certain prejudices; his persistent depreciation of Mr Lloyd George is conspicuous. But a pleasant crispness of style and colloquial touch’ lighten his pages. And always he fully sustains his thesis that there is much that is worthy of the world’s admiration in the virile mind, the proved courage of the high-spirited patriotic Asiatic.