THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

Drafting a Constitution for Malaya 269
action was unwarranted, even as a temporary measure to facilitate
smoother administration. As a Malay nationalist, I was happy with what
Allah had bestowed on the Malays, Tanah Melayu (The Malay Land),
and did not hanker to become a new colonial power. What would happen
to Indonesia minus its big island Sumatra? How about Java with its more
than one hundred million people?
Prof. Itagaki commented that “Furthermore, on the occasion of the
declaration of future independence for Indonesia made by Prime Minister
Koiso on September 7, 1944, the Malays of Singapore attempted to hold
celebration meetings and to form an Indonesian Association, which,
however, was not permitted by the Japanese Authority.” My comment:
There was not a single difference between Singapore Malays and Peninsular
Malays who came from the same stock, except that Singapore
Malays still spoke Malay with an Indonesian accent and continued to
maintain ties with their motherland.
Prof. Itagaki continued, “What was more important might have been
the fact that the desperate decrease in Malay population after the cession
of four northern Malay States (Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu)
to Thailand in October 1943, the increasing difficulties in living conditions
due to the rising prices, and the accumulation of discontent and disappointment
in the Japanese Military Administration, were causing it to
lose the support of Malays.” The Japanese hoped to galvanise Malays to
oppose the Allied Forces when they invaded Malaya, as they expected.
My comment: Japanese reading of Malay ‘disappointments and discontents’
could not be more accurate. But it was too late.
What Other People Say About Me
I played an active role in KRIS and in drafting the Independent Malaya
Constitution in July and August 1945. Before I relate relevant events, let
me quote what other people say about me, so you, kind reader, will know
my efforts to gain independence for my beloved motherland.
On 24 August 1973, historian Dr Anthony Reid of the Australian
National University interviewed Prof. Itagaki (then with Hitotsubashi
University) on KRIS. An excerpt of Dr Reid’s letter to history researcher
Halinah Bhamadaj reads:
Major General Umezu, then Somubucho (Chief) of the Malaya-Sumatra
Military Administration approached Prof. Yoichi Itagaki, as about the only
person with some knowledge about (Malaya) nationalism, to do something
about encouraging Malay nationalism. Itagaki therefore went from his Kuala
Lumpur base down to Singapore to see Ibrahim Yaakub, who was still active