THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

Continuing the Political Struggle 349
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Kuala Lumpur (1947-52):
Continuing the Political Struggle
I moved to Kuala Lumpur in 1947 to continue my perjuangan (political
struggle) for Independence. Due to conditions imposed on me by the
British Government, I decided to surreptitiously carry on as private
secretary and adviser to Dr Burhanuddin. During MNP’s tour of North
Malaya, I had felt the palpable lack of educated Malays in the party. Dr
Burhanuddin was a solo locomotive engine pulling too many coaches; a
second engine would certainly help.
While attending the PUTERA-AMCJA Conference in Kuala Lumpur,
I had left some money with Ibrahim Karim (Secretary-General of API,
later banned by the British) as a down payment on the house he was
about to vacate. The sum also included some money to assist his return
to Batu Gajah. This answers Ahmad Boestamam’s question, “Where did
Ibrahim Karim get the money to return home to his village?” which had
previously appeared in a press article. Ibrahim had in fact sold the party’s
typewriter but it was still insufficient for his family’s return fare.
I left Matang 1 for Kuala Lumpur with $250, several battered suitcases
containing worn-out clothes, a wife, three daughters and a son. Not
a single item we wore or carried was new. While many Government
Servants were celebrating their back pay, I had been languishing in a
British prison, and later dismissed from my job. While travelling in a third
class coach, I felt hopelessly sorry for my four children who were forced
to move, their schooling once again interrupted. They were indeed the
innocent victims of my political struggles. But I buried my feelings, in
the hope that their future would be less bleak in a ‘free’ Malaya.
An ugly incident occurred upon our arrival at the Kuala Lumpur
Railway Station. While negotiating the cost of ferrying my family to
Kampung Baru with a Malay trishaw-puller, a burly Sikh taxi driver
intervened. I told myself, “A taxi ride would be faster and safer; Kampung
Baru was quite a distance. Further, we would need three trishaws and
my children were tired and restless.” While I was thinking, the two men