Patricia Mukhim
I was reading the book on Wycliffe Syiem, the most educated Khasi and qualified engineer of his time (1937 who later rebelled against because the Indian Government and its representative Sardar Vallabhai Patel who went back on the Stand Still Agreement (SSA) signed by the Federation of Khasi States with the Indian Government on August 1947. This was an Agreement that would give the Khasi Syiems a two year period within which they would decide their future as sovereign states and if they did agree to accede to India then they would state the conditions under which they would do so. The SSA was signed on July 14-15 1947 when it was understood that the British would grant independence to India. It must be reminded that the Khasi states were then not formally a part of India. But soon after Independence, on December 15, 1947 in what can be called the Grand Deception, the Khasi Syiems were coerced to sign the Instrument of Accession to the Indian Union. Wycliffe Syiem was personally very upset abpout this and approached the United Nations where he appeared in person to present his case but he was unable to convince the UN at the time that this was an aggression by the Indian state. Wycliffe left the Hima of Nongstoin a bitter man and went off to East Pakistan where he lived until his death in October 1988.
One of the fascinating aspects about Wycliffe Syiem was that he was super intelligent. After his primary school education he went to Shillong for higheer studies but his father expired suddenly so he had to return to Nongstoin. For two years he had dropped out of school but his mother felt that he needed to be educated and sent him back to Shillong. He passed his Matric in 1932 from Calcutta did his ISc that very year and passed his Overseer Engineering in 1933. He then went on to Mumbai for his BE (Civil), completed it in 1937 and later took off for London for a post graduation degree in structural engineering.
Wycliffe was also extraordinary in that he twice bit a dog for barking at him and once while on a road making project from Moreh to Burma under the British, he shot at a dog belonging to Sir H Creed, Superintendent Assam Survey who was also the Corp Commander. Creed was an arrogant man. One day he found that Wycliffe’s portion of the road was completed much before his because of his engineering skills and discipline Creed started finding fault with Wycliffe’s labour force. When Wycliffe heard this he sided with his men and a war of words ensued into a shouting match between Creed and Wycliffe provoking the former’s dog to bark and attack Wycliffe. Here he took out his revolver and shot the dog. Creed was furious. He too took out his revolver and aimed it at Wycliffe. But Wycliffe told Creed, “If you shoot at me or I shoot at you we will both die. Let us have a fair fight instead. On seeing Wycliffe’s spirited response, Creed cooled down. Many years later Creed met Wycliffe in Shillong and reminded him of that incident. Creed told Wycliffe to bury the past and invited him to a feast at his home.
Wycliffe seems to have a sad history with dogs. On two occasions he bit at the dogs that barked at him. Had Wycliffe been alive today he would have made international news because a man biting a dog is the crux of journalism.
Hima Nongstoin is mineral rich and the most important mineral at the time was Sillimanite in the Riangdo-Mawthengkut areas. So much so, that people from outside the Hima and non-tribals called it Sonapahar meaning, ‘The Hill of Gold.’ This name remains to this day. At the time the British started to mine Sillimanite but because there were no Khasis competent in the work of mining, the British brought in people from outside the Khasi Hills to operate the mine. This led to influx and also a host of diseases, common among which was dysentery and diarrhoea. But even more shocking was the spread of Syphilis perhaps due to poor sexual habits of the workers. Wickliffe told his uncle Sib Sing Syiem to issue an order to prevent people working in the British mining company from entering Nongstoin or any other village without a medical certificate declaring them free from disease. In this manner Syphilis was contained until it was eliminated.
The British Government then wanted to construct a road between Mawthengkut and Boko in Assam to facilitate the transportation of Sillimanite. Here too Wickliffe advised his uncle not to grant permission for this road project without a proper agreement between the British Government and the Hima Nongstoin. Hence an agreement was signed between the two with very robust clauses from the side of the Hima Nongstoin wherein the employees of the British company were not allowed to enter any of the Khasi villages without permission.
The efficiency with which Wickliffe conducted the affairs of the Hima earned him the trust of the common people, the myntris in the Dorbar Hima and of his uncle, Sib Sing Syiem. In 1938 Wickliffe was appointed Attorney general of Hima Nongstoin. The first task he undertook was to codify the customary practices and traditions laid down by the ancestors. These included (1) how to conduct the affairs of the Dorbar Hima, Dorbar Raid and Dorbar Shnong (2) how to elect the Syiem, Sordar, Lyngdoh, Basan, Lyngshkor (different levels of ministerial positions) (3) The key principles involved in electing the governing heads of different villages; who is to be elected; how are they to be elected; and who would be the electors.
The Hima Nongstoin also codified the land holding system to identify the important landmarks which are Common Property Resources (CPR) to be owned by the Hima such as the Nongkhnum Hill, the Lake at the top of Niangram Hill, the Mawlong (rock) at Iawnaw, the Lynshiang waterfall which are to be conserved as environmental and national heritage.
The reason for bringing out this story today is to point out the true leadership qualities that marked the leaders of that time. If Wycliffe could excel in his studies despite being from a middle class family, why are our leaders of today so uninformed of real issues? This is evident from the deliberations in the State Assembly which today, courtesy social media, have become the talking points in society and a laughing matter at that. How can these self-proclaimed leaders ever engage with the astute bureaucrats in the state and at the centre who they have to meet from time to time? Do these leaders (?) actually have a vision beyond their constituencies?
The politicians of today are poor role models for our youth but many who aspire to politics also have their priorities all screwed up. It is not for service that they enter politics. It is to serve their private and personal interests first. And why is this allowed to happen? It’s because we as citizens pander to the baser instincts of politicians and fail to hold them to account.
This takes me back to Wycliffe Syiem. Had he been ambitious he would have agreed to abide by the Instrument of Accession and become part of the ruling conglomerate then, along with JJM Nichols Roy. How rich his contributions would have been to the Constituent Assembly and he would have been able to hold his own there. But as a man of principles he chose to live a life of self-imposed exile than partake of the spoils of office from a dishonourable source and for him the sovereignty of the Khasi states was paramount than being part of a democratic nation that did not honour an Agreement.
It is rather sad that the Khasi community does not give due honour to this gentleman who had laid the foundation for good governance much before the Indian Constitution was imposed on us. It is time to teach our young ones of the achievements of Wycliffe Syiem who could not hold the position of Syiemship until his death because his uncle, Sib Sing was the Syiem of Nongstoin and Wycliffe decided to go into exile.
There are many other interesting facets of Wycliffe Syiem’s life that merit narration because he is a true role model for the youth of today in terms of hard work, discipline and the fine art of governance. Let’s keep those for another day.