By Shahidan Said

The 18^th of May was the 80th birthday of Said Zahari. A political legend and renaissance man in the widest sense of the word, he gave an impromptu speech at a birthday bash in a hotel in KL organized by his friends, comrades and well wishers. His speech was delivered in Bahasa, English and Mandarin.

Said Zahari represents the link in a chain of anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist resistance heroes stretching to the very onset of colonial intrusion in the region. Every country in the region has produced its own unsung anti-colonial heroes, Said Zahari is ours. He is the antithesis of the colonial and imperial collaborators who shamelessly accepted material rewards and ego boosting accolades for their role in enhancing empire’s objectives. He represents the spirit that the American historian Howard Zinn refers to when he discusses the almost instinctual thrust for freedom for which humanity strives. Zinn makes the observation that, “…History of human behavior shows this desire for freedom, shows that whenever people have been living under tyranny, people would rebel against that.”

One day after being elected leader of Parti Rakyat Singapura, he was detained by the government of Singapore and subsequently held for 17 years without trial. He holds the distinction of being the second longest serving political detainee held under the ISA after Chia Thye Poh, the trade union leader, who was detained for 26 years by the ‘democrat’ Lee Kuan Yew. Said Zahari and his comrades who were picked up under the notorious ‘Operation Cold Store’ were an expression of that humanity Zinn speaks about.

Prior to his detention and expulsion to Singapore, Said Zahari was editor of Utusan Melayu and led a three month long journalists' strike against the takeover of the newspaper by United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). His was not an act of merely paying lip service for an independent media. He was a journalist in the 50s and 60s always championing a press free, free from the shackles of the powers that be representing corporate interests. In risking his career and a secure future, he proved he was a committed democrat. Neither did his democratic impulse spring from theoretical political tracts.

Deprived of a formal education, he went to university at age 68. Professor Rahman Embong describes Said’s journey into the academic world thus: “Pak Said never went to any university to obtain higher education. But the Changi Prisons and Ubin Island, as well as the struggle at Utusan, were the real “university” from which he “graduated” with distinction. It was only in 1996, at the age of 68 and after suffering a stroke, that Pak Said first officially stepped foot into a university. By this time, he was not a student, but a Guest Writer in the Department of Communications at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. It was this sojourn which resulted in this historically significant memoir.” 

Power fears such committed intellectuals and activists who swim against the tide to voice the aspirations of the masses.   

Said Zahari was picked up during the notorious Operation Cold Store on 2^nd February 1963, a joint Malaysian and Singaporean operation to silence 117 opposition and union and student leaders under the Internal Security Act.

His books, Dark Clouds at Dawn: A Political Memoir and The Long Nightmare, are available in English, Malay and Mandarin. A documentary by the Singaporean film maker, Martyn See, which gives Said an opportunity to discuss his years in detention was banned in April 2007 by the Singapore governmant.

His first autobiographical work is best described by Professor Rahman Embong during its launch: “The launching of this book today is a sweet moment for Pak Said, his family, and comrades, some of whom are unnamed and unknown. It is also a testament to his role in the history of press freedom and the political history of Malaysia and Singapore more generally. His story, as captured in this memoir, is the crystallization of the intense resolve of an extraordinary figure in an extraordinary time that has now been recorded for our historical nourishment. It is eternally dedicated to all those who gave of themselves in the struggle for freedom, justice, and humanity.” 

Rahman Embong also adds: “Pak Said never went to any university to obtain higher education. But the Changi Prisons and Ubin Island, as well as the struggle at Utusan, were the real “university” from which he “graduated” with distinction. It was only in 1996, at the age of 68 and after suffering a stroke, that Pak Said first officially stepped foot into a university. By this time, he was not a student, but a Guest Writer in the Department of Communications at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. It was thier sojourn which resulted in this historically significant memoir. UKM deserves commendation for its efforts to establish a Memoir Series under the auspices of UKM Press and for making possible the writing of this memoir. And Utusan deserves credit for publishing it.”

Lily Zubaidah Rahim observes in her review of The Long Nightmare, ” Said's moral courage, intellectual integrity, irrepressible spirit and multiracial ethos provide us with the inspiration to work towards a truly democratic Singaporean society. In this era of the so-called 'war on terror', which has enabled governments to resuscitate the existence of, and draw up even more, draconian laws, Said's plea that "these outdated, restricted laws such as the ISA are abolished" is particularly salient. Terima kasih Pak Said for showing us the way!”

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