THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

394 Memoirs of Mustapha Hussain
reached $100, several months’ rent was overdue, the machines were
broken and wages were owed to employees, some of whom had deserted
the company for other printers. I was stunned. Pak Chik Ahmad once
vowed he would not part with the company except with his life. I then
asked who had authorised him to manage the company. He replied, “Dr
Burhanuddin, Ishak Haji Muhammad and Ustaz Abu Bakar.” I felt good,
hearing those names.
The other four people at the meeting, all loyal left-wing Malay
politicians, then expressed their confidence that I could turn the company
around, and asked me to take over. Not wanting to disappoint them, I
said I would only agree if Dr Burhanuddin, Ishak, and Ustaz Abu Bakar
himself would approve of this move. Ustaz Abu Bakar then explained
that he represented the other two names and wanted me to take over
the ailing company. I recalled the eleven months I had sacrificed, at the
expense of a lucrative insurance business, to revive a Malay transport
company. Was it time for me to make another sacrifice for another Malay
company?
Realising the importance of a printing press to our left nationalist
movement and unwilling to lose the company to a right-wing faction
ready to buy over the company, I promised to consider the proposition.
As usual, my nationalistic sentiments overwhelmed everything else, including
logic. The company was vital to our struggle; it could be used to
publish a ‘people’s newspaper’. A people without their own printing press
would be handicapped. Therefore, I agreed to revive yet another drowning
Malay company.
I felt sorry for Pak Chik Ahmad, but he was happy to have the burden
off his shoulders. The five visitors left my house at midnight with a load
off their chests. But it was now all mine to bear. How would this drama
end? All five had also agreed to my suggestion that Chikgu Mohd Isa
Sulaiman, a former teacher, be appointed manager. Although experienced
in printing, he had been unemployed since his release from British detention
under the Emergency laws. I was happy to help this man who had
suffered a lot because of his nationalist struggle.
Later, Chikgu Aziz Zaman, Yusuf, Basir, Ariffin, Ustaz Abu Bakar,
Pak Chik Ahmad and I left for Penang to offer Chikgu Mohd Isa the
position. When Chikgu Yusuf asked, “Would you be willing to return to
Perak to run the Rakyat Trading Company?”, he did not answer right
away. Instead, he asked, “How big are the ulcers now suffered by the
Company?” When asked why he had asked that question, he said, “I
guess I knew the previous manager!” We answered in unison, “It is bad,
but not so bad that it cannot be remedied”.