THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

148 Memoirs of Mustapha Hussain
I replied that I had travelled hundreds of miles by car and on foot
from Taiping to Singapore in a rain of bullets to free him (Ibrahim) from
prison. Was this his way of thanking me? As for torturing Rahim Kajai,
I was not responsible for such a heinous crime. I had not even met the
man! As for Raja Ahmed Hisham, I did not arrest or torture him. In fact,
I was the one who saved his life. Raja Ahmed Hisham was later second
in line to the throne of Perak State. His story follows. I knew who had
fabricated these lies. So, I asked Ibrahim to investigate the matter before
making false allegations against me. I was a responsible lecturer, not a
thief or a pirate. After that conflict, my relationship with Ibrahim and
Onan began to worsen.
Section 3, page 11 of Ibrahim Yaakub’s letter to me stated, “The
KMM leadership was revamped in April, 1942, with me as President,
Onan as Vice President, with Dr Burhanuddin (new) and others.” This
is untrue; two weeks after the fall of Singapore, an order was issued to
dissolve KMM, and to replace it with a cultural body. It was Ishak Haji
Muhammad and I who sat down to write the new cultural body’s
constitution.
Section 1 of page 12 of Ibrahim’s letter stated,
But in July 1942, Japan forbade the extension of KMM – some of us were
given employment at Malai-Sumatra Gunseikanbu (Japanese Military
Administration for Malaya and Sumatra), 13 others in Warta Malaya, while
three others were sent to Japan. Enchik Yusoff Ahmad in Nara, Enchik Othman
Mohd Noor and Enchik Abdullah Kamil were posted to Tokyo…. In 1943,
the Japanese Volunteer Army, Malai Giyu Gun (Pembela Tanah Air, or PETA,
in Malay), was formed. You (Mustapha Hussain) were unwilling to continue.
But behind the Malai Giyu Gun mask, we moved to motivate the underground
to counter Japan by contacting the MPAJA (Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese
Army), INA (Indian National Army), Chandra Bose and Col Naga, with
Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta, PUSA-Acheh, underground groups in West Sumatra
and others.
I will write later about why I was not willing to join the Japanese
Volunteer Army, Malai Giyu Gun. But Ibrahim’s claim to have activated
an extensive anti-Japanese underground movement was incredible. Was
it possible for Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Yaakub in the Japanese Volunteer
Army Malai Giyu Gun, numbering several hundreds, to send messages
to Chandra Bose, Indian leader and Chief of the IIL (Indian Independence
League)? To Colonel Naga? To Soekarno and Hatta in Indonesia? And
then contact PUSA (Acheh Pan-Religious Association) in Acheh? How
could he do all that when every communication channel was absolutely
controlled by the Japanese?