![]() Third, the mammoth demonstration had certainly left an impact and what’s even more far-reaching is something I will not divulge. First, I felt that I had lost favour with the Tun and my political future, then and there, was dashed! Second, I learnt from the Tun that Anwar was a one hundred per cent purpose-driven individual whom Tun described as “recalcitrant”. Three things emerged in my mind after that memorable meeting with the Tun. READ MORE: Election 2022: Zahid could lead Umno into the political wilderness What actually transpired in my meeting with the Tun is a secret best kept to myself. As usual the late Tun never displayed his anger, no matter how angry he was, a very rare quality that even the late Tun Ghafar Baba confessed that he feared the Tun even more because of this trait. The late Tun gave me more than half an hour of his precious time to talk exclusively about Anwar. He lowered his window screen, smiled broadly and said, “Political problems?” “Yes, “I replied, and he disappered. As I entered the gate of Sri Taman, the young and handsome Najib was driving to go to work. I was restless for a few days, until I made an appointment to see Tun Razak at his official residence in Sri Taman. For that, I was pulled up by the then Home Affairs Minister, Ghazali Shafie (later made a Tun), who was told by the then Prime Minister, the late Tun Abdul Razak, that I was defending this maverick Anwar, despite me being a government backbencher (I was the MP for Maran, Pahang.) Tun Ghazali was sombre and I was even more sombre. I next met him in 1974 as his friend and defence counsel when he was first arrested for unlawful assembly (the mammoth Baling Demonstration involving hundreds of university students) and later charged under the ISA. Lean and with a gaunt face, the un-pretentious and affable celebrated student leader struck me as one humble and modest and down-to-earth individual – a portrait of one among equals. I first met Anwar 40 years ago at Malaysia Hall in London. Inside the courthouse, they are like slaves thrown into the lions’ arena of the ancient Roman Coliseum, with prosecutors enjoying control of the Court albeit using dubious charges. Outside, their lives hinge on the barrel of a gun. Social and political reformers are never safe inside or outside the courthouse. Anwar was incarcerated in Kamunting in 1974 and later imprisoned in Sungai Buloh for more than six years. ![]() Abdul Kadir Audah and Hassan Al Banna of Egypt were hanged and shot in the street respectively under Gamal Abdul Nasser’s regime. ![]() Martin Luther King and Malcolm X of the United States were both shot in public. The revered Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi, was shot at point blank range. To give a few examples: Benigno Aquino (Ninoy) of the Philippines was shot on the tarmac of Manila Airport as soon as he embarked from self exile in the US. Tel: 04-658 5251 email: Īnwar is a reformist and reformists everywhere seem to share the same fate.
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