He was a true independent fighter.

Kenapa pulaklah aku tak ingat kat kau….

Kerja mana sekarang?
Dah berapa orang anak dah?

http://www.malaysia-today.net/books/2005/07/index-malay-nationalism-before-umno.htm

Introduction
This book has been translated from a manuscript written by my father, the late Mustapha Hussain (1910-1987). He was founder Vice President of Malaya’s first Malay political party, Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM, or Young Malays Union), founded in 1938. A true nationalist, he played a colourful role in the political history of Malaya before and after World War II. It was written in 1976 when he was 66 years old and 31 years after World War II ended. Despite his feeble health and long years of silence, these episodes of his life remained vivid in his mind, resulting in these interesting memoirs.

The memoirs begin with Mustapha’s upbringing; Malay society of the time; arrival of Chinese and Indian immigrants into his hometown Matang and Malay and English education (1916-1928) in colonial Malaya. Also he mentions his early interest in Malay patriotism after listening to stories about Malay patriots, Datuk Sagor and Datuk Maharajalela, who were hanged by the British just a few hundred meters from Mustapha’s ancestral home in Matang, Perak. He also writes about Malay poverty then, when he worked as an Agricultural Assistant in Tapah (1931-1933); his anti-colonial feelings, stemming from British disregard for the educational, economic and social advancement of Malays; and his frustration with elite Malay indifference to the fate of the masses.

The book narrates his early introduction to politics; his heightened political awareness upon reading books and his secret political meetings with radical young Malays to discuss the fate of the Malays. This led to the 1938 formation of the first Malay political party, Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM), and his election as its Vice President. As the British disapproved of Malays getting involved in political activities, KMM also meant Kesatuan Malaya Merdeka, or Independent Malaya Union, to these young radical nationalists.

Just before World War II broke out on 8 December 1941, KMM President Ibrahim Yaakub and 150 KMM members from all over Malaya were arrested because the British suspected they would assist the Japanese forces when they invaded Malaya. Mustapha escaped the British dragnet as he was then under treatment in the Malay Hospital of Kuala Lumpur. However, a few weeks later, when he was in his hometown of Matang, a Japanese Intelligence Unit (Fujiwara Kikan) under Major Fujiwara Iwaichi came looking for him as he was the most senior KMM member not in prison. Unknown to Mustapha, Ibrahim Yaakub had promised KMM’s co-operation to the Japanese invaders. Many other KMM members — like Pak Sako, Ahmad Boestamam, Idris Hakim and M.N. Othman — were also unaware of the secret pact made by Ibrahim Yaakub and the Japanese.

Without his family’s knowledge, Mustapha was taken away by the Japanese with just the clothes on his back. From Matang, he was taken to Taiping, then Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, where he and some KMM members witnessed the ‘fall of Singapore’ on 15 February 1942. Accompanying the Japanese forces changed the course of his life. He and many Malay youths (both KMM and non-KMM members) ‘moved’ down the peninsula with the Japanese. His vivid first-hand accounts provide the first detailed narrative of Malay so-called fifth columnist involvement in the war.

While the war raged in January 1942, Mustapha led a KMM delegation in Kuala Lumpur to ask Japanese commanders to declare Malaya’s independence. Thus, he was the first Malay to ask for independence for his homeland, as confirmed in Dr Cheah Boon Kheng’s book Red Star Over Malaya: “In fact, in January 1942, after the Japanese forces had entered Kuala Lumpur, a conflict of aims had arisen when Mustapha Hussain asked the Japanese commanders to back a proclamation of Malayan independence, citing Japan’s promise to liberate Malaya from British rule. But the request was turned down.” Mustapha quoted the Japanese commander’s symbolic answer: “Let the Japanese be the father. Malay, Chinese and Indian be the children. However, if the Malay child is thin, we will give him more milk.”

While in Kuala Lumpur, Mustapha saved the lives of about 10 Malay Intelligence Officers from sure death at the hands of the Japanese. They included the late Raja Datuk Seri Ahmed Hisham bin Raja Abdul Malik, then the highest ranking Malay Police Officer in the colonial police force and later third in line to the Perak throne. This has been substantiated by letters of appreciation from Raja Ahmed Hisham and his assistant, Jalaluddin Abu Bakar.

Mustapha landed in Singapore with Fujiwara Kikan two days before fall of Singapore. There, he saved the lives of hundreds of Malay soldiers, again substantiated by many letters of appreciation. One soldier, Sgt Haji Harun Musa, was saved from a heap of dead bodies.

Mustapha helped many more soldiers by sending out word that Malay fighting men should not report to Farrer Park, as ordered by the Japanese, as he feared they would thus become prisoners of war. But, despite this effort, several hundred Malay fighting men went there. So, on a visit to Farrer Park, he advised Captain Raja Aman Shah (brother-in-law of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s first Prime Minister) and Lt Ariffin bin Haji Sulaiman on how to handle the new regime. He also sent food (he knew where the Japanese kept supplies) to detained Malay soldiers.

After many negotiations between KMM and the Japanese commanders, hundreds of Malay soldiers escaped death or being detained as POWs, except for six Malay officers who were killed. Although Mustapha managed to save thousand of lives, his biggest regret in life was not being able to save six Malay officers, including Captain Raja Aman Shah and Lt Ariffin, whom the Japanese suspected were left behind by the British to organize resistance to the Japanese.

Mustapha also provided food and money to hundreds of soldiers and their families hiding in Istana Kampung Gelam, Singapore. He later arranged for the issue of Japanese passes to Malay soldiers to enable them to return home safely on the peninsula.

Disillusioned with both the Japanese and KMM President Ibrahim Yaakub, Mustapha returned to Matang weeks after the fall of Singapore. In 1943, he was again ‘pulled up’ by the Japanese, this time to go to Singapore to form a pro-Japanese Malay Volunteer Force, Malai Giyu Gun or Pembela Tanah Air (PETA). He soon left the Japanese administration and returned to Malaya to become a farmer in Batu 20, Perak. An interesting account of village life during the Japanese Occupation follows.

Towards the end of the Japanese Occupation, when the Japanese were losing ground, they set up HODOSHO (Help-and-Guide People Office) and KRIS (Kekuatan Rakyat Istimewa Semenanjung). After Dr Burhanuddin (Malay Officer-in-charge of Islam and Malay Customs under the Japanese Military Administration) pleaded with Mustapha to help with efforts to gain Malaya’s independence, Mustapha secretly worked in a room in Taiping’s St George’s School to draw up a Malaya Merdeka Constitution to be discussed at KRIS Conference in Kuala Lumpur in mid-August 1945. Malaya would then be declared independent on 17 August 1945. Unfortunately, Malaya could not be declared independent because the Japanese surrendered just 48 hours before the proclamation date. Consequently, the British ruled Malaya for another twelve years!

Contrary to Ibrahim Yaakub’s claims, Mustapha — who had worked on the Malaya Merdeka Constitution — maintained that Malayan Independence was not to be as part of Indonesia Raya. Malaya was to declare its independence on the same date, but separately. Not unlike Ho Chi Minh’s declaration of Vietnamese independence at around the same time, the Malaya Merdeka Constitution that Mustapha drafted was inspired by the American Declaration of Independence of 1776.

After the Japanese surrender, Mustapha was hunted by the Bintang Tiga and Force 136. So, he went to see Colonel Peter Dobree, who led Force 136, to explain his position as KMM leader. Mustapha was immediately arrested and imprisoned. The memoir contains a sad, but interesting account of Mustapha’s experience as a political detainee in British prisons and lock-ups.

He was released almost a year later in 1946, when 400 soldiers whom he had saved, directly or indirectly, from being killed by the Japanese in Singapore sent a petition with 400 signatures to the British Field Security Service Officer. This is confirmed in the book Red Star Over Malaya: “Mustapha Hussain was subsequently taken into custody, but several months later after petitions were made to the British Military Administration from former members of the Malay Regiment whose lives he had saved from the Japanese, he was released.”

He was unlawfully dismissed by the British from his pensionable job at the School of Agriculture in Serdang and was forbidden from participation in politics and trade unions for five years. But soon, he was involved again in PKMM (Malay Nationalist Party) as a secret advisor to PKMM leader, Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmi. Together, they toured Malaya’s West Coast and then participated in the historic PUTERA-AMCJA conference, involving the Malay Pusat Tenaga Rakyat (Centre of People’s Forces) and the multi-ethnic All-Malayan Council for Joint Action, which declared a People’s Constitution for an independent Malaya in 1947, well before UMNO adopted Merdeka (Independence) as its slogan in 1951.

Having lost his colonial government job, he was forced to hawk food, and later run a restaurant in Pasar Minggu, Kuala Lumpur. In 1951, while running the Tengah Restaurant, he was nominated to replace Dato’ Onn who had resigned as UMNO President. A month later, Tunku Abdul Rahman‘s name came up. At UMNO Youth’s Third Annual Conference on 28 July 1951, Mustapha lost the nomination for the presidency to Tunku Abdul Rahman by one vote. For the deputy president’s post, he garnered the same number of votes as his opponent, Tun Abdul Razak, but Chairman Tan Sri Haji Mohd Noah bin Omar gave his casting vote to Tun Abdul Razak, his son in law. Mustapha was made (the sole) vice president, but did not accept.

In 1954, he was nominated by UMNO Perak to take over Tun Dr Ismail’s position when Tun Dr Ismail was named Malaya’s Representative to the UN, but his nomination was blocked when UMNO introduced a rule requiring five years membership to qualify for nomination. Nevertheless, Mustapha continued to be active in UMNO Larut and Matang, campaigned for the Alliance and was elected a Taiping Municipal Councillor.

One obvious theme running through the volume is the pronounced difference in motivation between Mustapha and KMM President Ibrahim Yaakub. Mustapha questions some claims in books written by Ibrahim Yaakub after fleeing to Indonesia in 1945. His story also involved much personal tragedy. His family suffered considerably, especially his wife, Hajah Mariah, who stood by him with patience and faith in his nationalist struggle. He also lost two brothers (Alli and Yahaya) to the MPAJA (Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army).

This book not only provides an unusual political account of pre-war and pre-independent Malaya, but also offers social commentary on life and the Malay thinking in colonial Malaya from the 1920s. Mustapha’s observations are detailed, colourful, fascinating and sometimes amusing. It also provides interesting personal insights on personalities like Ibrahim Yaakub, Pak Sako, Ahmad Boestamam, Abdul Kadir Adabi, Dr Burhanuddin al-Helmi and Japanese Occupation Officers. For Mustapha, the truth must be told.

Translated by Insun Mustapha
Edited by Jomo K. S.