THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

368 Memoirs of Mustapha Hussain
One day, Bahrum came with a truly sad story of a young Indonesian,
Lieutenant Zulkifli, living on the third floor of a Batu Road building. The
Selangor Police was to deport him to Indonesia. He was, in fact, waiting
for a ship in Port Swettenham, but his wife and children were without
any food and milk. I cycled all over Kampung Baru to collect donations
from friends, for Bahrum to pass on to the poor family.
As I was a mere citizen, I brought the matter to the attention of my
cousin Aziz Ishak, then a member of the Federal Council and close to
Malaya’s High Commissioner, Sir Gerald Templer. Aziz did not waste any
time. He left in his car to meet with the Selangor Chief Police Officer. I
don’t know if he spoke to Templer. However, we managed to appeal to
the British to let the young lieutenant be reunited with his family and to
repatriate them together. Both Aziz and Bahrum should be commended
for their kindness.
Changing UMNO’s Slogan in Early 1951
Two Special Branch groups kept watch on my stall. The first was supposed
to protect me, and the other to destroy me, convinced as they were
that they were on to something. In the meantime, I continued to run my
stall and serve my loyal customers. It was already 1951, yet no signs
indicated UMNO under the leadership of Datuk Onn was heading towards
Independence. My friends and I knew it was time the sacred word
‘Merdeka’ be entrenched in the hearts of Malays who aspired to gain
their liberation from British rule. The late Hamzah Alang, Kuala Lumpur
UMNO Division Secretary and a Member of Parliament for Kapar in
Selangor, agreed with me that UMNO’s slogan be changed from Hidup
Melayu (Long Live the Malays) to Merdeka (Independence). An UMNO
ship with a new engine could sail into the ‘Harbour of Independence’,
but would the skippers want to change the slogan? That was a major
question. I told Hamzah Alang and his friends, “If the skipper is not
willing, what then?” Hamzah replied, “We leave him and look for another
skipper!” They were determined.
Not long after, my loyal follower, Garieb Raof (a Johore UMNO
Youth leader) told me he was leaving for Indonesia to take the UMNO
struggle there. I appealed to him to delay his departure so he could
propose the new slogan at UMNO’s twice-yearly General Assembly in
March 1951, two months away. A fiery speaker, much like President
Soekarno of Indonesia, Garieb agreed to campaign in the South, while
Hamzah would handle the North. As a result, the ‘Merdeka’ slogan was
received with thunderous applause 2 which reached my stall not far from