A PREMIER’S HOMECOMING

A PREMIER’S HOMECOMING


Nineteen seventy-six was the year
when we turned on the TV to hear
Hussein Onn in Parliament as he wiped away a tear
announcing the premature demise of Abdul Razak our second premier
in London , succumbing to leukaemia.

Stunned disbelieve
giving away to grief.

Abdul Razak's homecoming from Heathrow to Subang was delayed
there was nothing we could do but wait.
It gave us time to contemplate.
In God's hands lies Man's fate.
Abdul Razak became premier for less than a decade.

He started as number two in Tunku's government.
His heart's work in rural development.
Rural modernization with urgent dynamism
utilizing government linked mechanism,
to reduce poverty by narrowing the rural-urban chasm.

In the aftermath of the nineteen sixty-nine post election lunacy
he became the director of the NOC
with Abdullah Badawi as its' secretary.
The NOC ruled by decree
to restore this nation's sanity by degree.
With a few selected men
who had the police and the army in hand
(and the opposition in a defensive corner )
Abdul Razak could have ruled with absolute power.

By invitation, there was multi-ethnic representation
in a Council of National Consultation.
In the immediate Chinese backlash
from Malay commerce the Chinese withheld their cash
boycotting Malay driven cabs
for the satay and durian sellers, business was bad.
In Muhibbah parties, durians were the main feature
to smoothen thorny relations and heal the racial fracture.

A state of Emergency had been declared
freedom of movement became bad.
We were kept indoors by a night time curfew
arrested for being outdoors at night were more than a few
including those caught sleeping in stationary cars.
With slow cars and narrow roads, we could not travel very far.

And when the time was right
to end our darkest night
he restored our parliamentary rights.

To make us think and talk with tact
he enforced the Sedition Act.
The Universities and University Colleges Act of emasculation
cutting off student demonstration in higher education.
The New Economic Policy to bring about market parity
(there is great sensitivity over the NEP longevity).
The NEP aims to correct economic imbalance associated with race
so that future racial disturbances we do not have to face.
The Rukun Negara to mould good citizenship
to steer us through troubled waters he needed a very tight ship.

He displayed foreign policy pragmatism
by shaking hands with Mao, the Chairman of Chinese Communism.
This is a little known fact
which he handled with good humour and tact.
He advised a group of privileged kaum ibu to take care of their own family
and not to interfere in royal matrimony.

Photocopies of Mahathir's private letter calling for the Tunku to step down
was widely circulated in town.
The Tunku was infuriated.
Mahathir's UMNO carrier Ayah terminated.
When Razak became premier, Mahathir’s political life Razak resuscitated.

When the time and date became known
of Abdul Razak’s last journey home
my wife to be and I made our way
to the EPF junction along the Federal Highway.
There were Chinese, Indians, Malays and others too.
Nobody told us to
we came of our own volition
to await the return of our fellow Malaysian.
We were strangers to one another
but as a nation we waited together.

A late afternoon sumatra had blew in the rain clouds.
Though the weather was in doubt
it did not deter us the waiting crowd.
We bowed our heads to Tun Rahah Noah as the motorcade came by.
Tun Abdul Razak bin Dato’ Hussein was eight weeks short of fifty-five
when we bade him our final goodbye.


Printed in Balai Ikhtisas Malaysia Professiona Bulletin July 2010