THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

Ibrahim Yaakub’s Secret Deal 169
Chik Ahmad’s plea, the Japanese officers in the room grew red in the
face. One of them snarled, “What! Just to go to Ipoh, you must tell your
wife first?”
Taken to Ipoh
It turned out that Major Fujiwara was waiting for some others in Taiping,
including a group of Achehnese who had promised to form a Japanese
Fifth Column. When they did not arrive on time, we left in trucks and
cars. The KMM group consisted of Onan, Pak Chik Ahmad, Chikgu
Mohd Isa Sulaiman, 9 Othman Hamzah, Ahmad Shafiq and several others.
Othman Hamzah and Ahmad Shafiq were ‘presented’ to me by Ustaz
Abu Bakar Al-Baqir (founder of the religious institution Maahad Il-Ehya
As-Syariff in Gunung Semanggul) as ‘offerings’ to the ‘Asia for the
Asians’ war.
Everything happened so swiftly and under such great pressure that
my wife and family were unaware of my departure. Travelling south
towards Kuala Kangsar, there was not a soul or even a crippled animal
to be seen. Everyone and everything had bolted into the countryside, away
from the aggressive Japanese reach. The items most popular with Japanese
soldiers were bicycles, torch-lights, watches, fountain pens, chicken
and eggs. Should one resist, a tight smack would land on one’s face.
Kuala Kangsar
The Japanese considered the Perak River the main obstacle in their
advance south. This river, spanned by a road and a railway bridge, was
Malaya’s widest. When we arrived at the road-bridge in Enggor, it had
already been destroyed by British troops, either by digging holes or by
using small explosives. Japanese sappers were seen scurrying up and
down, busily repairing it with speed and efficiency. The railway bridge
was also severely damaged, with the broken railway track in the middle
of the river pointing towards heaven. I noticed Japanese sappers repairing
it with rubber trees found in abundance on the riverbank. After the railway
track was slightly repaired, I saw Japanese soldiers taking off the rubber
tyres of their trucks. I wondered what they were up to. The next thing I
knew, the tyre-less trucks were on the railway track. Lo and behold, the
trucks were moving on the one-metre-gauge rail line, hauling supplies.
After that the tyres were re-attached.
As both bridges were out of commission, we turned towards Manong
with the hope of using the Tanjung Blanja pontoon bridge. At this point,