THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

396 Memoirs of Mustapha Hussain
owner and general manager of Bank Pertiwi. Haji Yahaya carried a letter
written by Chikgu Mohd Isa Sulaiman and me, urging Ibrahim to assist
Rakyat Trading Company by providing some books for sale.
We also advised Ibrahim not to send us any more of his articles and
documents calling for a revolutionary government in Malaya. 4 If the
British police were to find such documents on the Rakyat Trading Company
premises, our business would be closed down. I wrote, “Please do
not harm our small business. You know that Chikgu Mohd Isa was only
recently released from a British detention camp.”
I was not surprised when Haji Yahaya came back empty-handed, just
like Dr Burhanuddin, who had previously sought out Ibrahim Yaakub. Haji
Yahaya also disclosed how difficult it was to meet with Ibrahim. When
Haji Yahaya appealed to Ibrahim for some support in the form of money
or books for Rakyat Trading Company to sustain the Malay struggle
Ibrahim once believed in, he had shown Haji Yahaya the catalogue for a
car he was interested in buying. It was to be his third car.
After this big slap in the face, Haji Yahaya left this Malay man, now
an Indonesian citizen. I asked Haji Yahaya if he had seen a metal tortoise
made of thirteen blocks (KMM’s secret symbol). Haji Yahaya said he had
seen it in Ibrahim’s bathroom. I told myself, “If Ibrahim had the time to
bring the heavy tortoise over to Indonesia when he fled after the Japanese
surrendered, I am sure he was able to get away with many treasures.”
Rakyat Trading Company’s Progress
Sale of our new shares was poor. Ishak Haji Muhammad brought $200,
a gift from Badrillah, another nationalist in Kuala Lumpur. Chikgu Yusuf
brought $2,000, which I repaid in a month because he had borrowed it
from a money-lender. My good friend, Chikgu Aziz Zaman brought $500,
but I declined, fearing it would be lost in no time. Ustaz Abu Bakar tried
to bring in a little. In other words, almost every one of my friends tried
to help inject some funds, but it was not enough. Not many people wanted
to invest in Malay companies, which were rapidly vanishing.
But out of the blue, Chikgu Mohd Isa and I managed to influence a
Malay man to loan us money to buy a modern and noiseless Mercedes
printing machine costing $12,000. This brought an end to the heavy
clanking sounds that the neighbours complained about when we worked
at night. This kind man even bought some shares, which allowed us to
buy new typesets, paper cutters and some tools. His only message, “Make
sure the Rakyat Trading Company signboard in front of the shop is not
taken down.” So in addition to taking orders for printing cards, booklets,