THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

Saving Soldiers and Freeing KMM Members 225
2. Singapore slipped from our hands.
3. Sergeant Shaari’s statement recorded not only his own narrow escape, but also the
position of the soldiers under Sergeant Major Mohd Noor who was billeted in a
nearby building (Mustapha Hussain, 1999: Appendix 11, p. 603).
Translator’s note: In 1988, I interviewed Sergeant Shaari on tape at his home. He
was initially calm, but as soon as he recalled the steel-cold samurai sword perched
on his neck, he broke down sobbing. He said he would have been killed a moment
later.
4. Narrated in an appendix to my Malay language memoirs (Mustapha Hussain, 1999:
Appendix 24, pp. 637-46).
5. Times and dates of events in the war cannot be stated in exact terms. Everything
happened so fast and in such chaos.
6. These are my words, and not Ibrahim Yaakub’s, as he claims on page 96 of Sedjarah,
by I.K. Agastya.
7. I think this is the date. Please see Mustapha Hussain (1999: Appendix 12, pp. 605-
12). Also article ‘Bravery that Must be Appreciated’ in Mingguan Bumi 13 August
1983.