THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

Teaching at Serdang 109
was interned as a POW (prisoner-of-war) for the entire Occupation of
Malaya (three years and eight months), during which time he was totally
cut off from his wife Edith and two children, Doreen and Peter, who
were luckily in England when World War II broke out. After British reestablishment
in Malaya, he returned to England a very different man.
War does many things.
For 35 long years after I last saw him in Serdang, I was reluctant to
write to him although I longed to know what had happened to him. I was
not sure what his feelings were towards me, a former colleague involved
in World War II on the Japanese side. I thought it unwise to write to him
unless I first knew his feelings for me. It was impossible for him not to
have heard something about my co-operation with the enemy forces. If
he did some recalling, he must surely remember some of my activities at
the School. I was suspected of leaking the information that the School
was going to reduce the number of Malay students on scholarship. He
knew that I taught politics in class, a violation of the ‘General Orders’.
A few days before the outbreak of World War II, a team of British
Police had rushed to the School to pick me up. I was then Vice President
of the Young Malay Union (KMM). Many KMM members all over
Malaya were arrested at about the same time. Luckily, by then, I had left
Serdang to return to my parent’s home in Matang. Did he feel that he
had misplaced his trust in me? This would be impossible for someone
from a renowned colonising lot. I could not answer these questions. I felt
many things would be unresolved until we met again. Unfortunately, I
was unable to travel to England as I was only making ends meet. And
then in 1976, former student Enchik Mahmud bin Yaacub of Kelantan
came to visit me with a letter from Mr Mann enquiring about me:
Can you please give me any information on Enchik Mustapha, a member of
the teaching staff at Serdang till the beginning of World War II? He suffered a
nervous disorder because of the Director of Agriculture then. I wanted Mustapha
to be promoted as a Junior Lecturer, but the Director of Agriculture who hated
me lashed out against Mustapha in order to spite me.
Encouraged by the query, I wrote to him about my family and the
not-so-good old-age life that I was leading. His reply on 21 April 1976
was my most precious letter, from a boss and a friend of so long ago: 2
Dear Enchik Mustapha,
I was very surprised, and most of all delighted, to get your letter of 15 th April
yesterday. It is such a long time since the days I last saw you and spoke to you
at Serdang. I shall never forget those days – or forgive Belgrave (now long since
dead). Belgrave hated me, for a number of reasons, and when he found a chance
to hurt me by hurting you, he did not hesitate to do so. I reported the circumstances
fully to the Colonial Office in London when I returned to England after
internment, but had no acknowledgement.