Ex-ISA detainee & former Utusan Melayu newspaper editor Said Zahari passes away in Malaysia

Former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainee Said Zahari, who was the second-longest-held political detainee in Singapore, on Tuesday afternoon passed away aged 88, reported various Malaysian media.

They cited this Facebook post from his son, Norman Said:

Innalillah. Ayah saya, Said Zahari, telah kembali ke rahmatullah pukul 12.30 tengahari tadi…

Posted by Norman Said on Monday, 11 April 2016

He was, alongside the late Dr Lim Hock Siew, detained for roughly 17 years — including roughly a year in a hut in the middle of Pulau Ubin — second only to Chia Thye Poh, who was held for 32 years.

All three were taken in by the Internal Security Department in February 1963, among more than 100 others as part of the controversial Operation Coldstore.

 

Champion for press freedom and independence

Said is remembered most for being a champion of press freedom, and for his stint as the editor-in-chief of the nationalist Malay language newspaper, the Utusan Melayu.

He started out as a reporter for the paper in 1951, before being moved to the Kuala Lumpur office, where he said he reported on peasant issues, foreign affairs and other social issues, often representing the underprivileged and the poorest of Malay citizens.

The Malayan government, then under the leadership of Tunku Abdul Rahman, attempted to take control of the paper, which at the time Singapore’s first president Yusof Ishak was at the helm of (he also founded the newspaper) — after Yusof rebuffed UMNO (the Malayan ruling party)’s moves and resigned in protest in 1959, Said took over, and ended up staging a 93-day strike with his editorial staff in 1961 — this was the first press freedom strike in Malaysia’s history.

 

Involvement in politics and arrest under Operation Coldstore

Said was soon banned from returning to Malaysia, citing security concerns because he was a Singapore citizen (he remained one all his life, although in his later years he obtained Malaysian permanent residency). He continued to support his striking employees from Singapore, canvassing donations for them and also speaking at trade union and student union meetings, but it ended with UMNO taking control of the paper.

It was during the strike that Said got to know leaders of several left-wing parties in Singapore, like Lim Chin Siong, Poh Soo Kai, Dominic Puthucheary (yep, Pasir Ris-Punggol MP Janil’s dad) and the leaders of Partai Rakyat Singapura (PRS), a party aligned with the Barisan Sosialis.

He was invited by Lim to join Barisan, but ended up joining — and was elected to be president — of the PRS, just a day before he was arrested under Operation Coldstore alongside Lim, Poh, Puthucheary and many others.

In a 48-minute banned documentary by filmmaker Martyn See, Said relates much of his story and experience in prison under the ISA. Here are some excerpts of what he shared:

1. How he was arrested

Said shared that six Special Branch officers knocked on his door at 4:30am on the day of February 2, 1963. He was about to leave for Jakarta for a conference that very day, and the officers ransacked his room, seizing his passport and other items his wife had packed for him to bring to Jakarta.

“(There were) jeeploads of Gurkha soldiers that surrounded my house; stupidly thinking I wanted to run away you know? … I kept asking what are you doing? And they kept quiet… they handcuffed me and took me to the car. Midway from Geylang to Outram, the inspector said, ‘Cik Said, you’ll be big news tomorrow’. I said why am I arrested, why should it be big news? (He then told me about) Operation Coldstore… hundreds of people were arrested, and I was one of them.”

2. His cell at Central Police Station — his first 3 months in prison

He described it, one of the “first category” cells in a block on the third floor of the four-storey building, which he said was reserved for the solitary confinement of political detainees.

“(It was) very small, dark, very dirty, you lose your sense of time because there is (only) a very small very dim light in the ceiling. (There was also) a small peep hole… (the) Gurkha police guarding us could look at us from outside through the spy hole. We don’t know who they are… (the) room is bare, cement, one bed on the side. (It had a) coconut husk mattress. torn here and there, very old. (One of my first thoughts was) how can I sleep like this?”

Said added that was the toughest period of his 17-year detention — the interrogation and torture was the most intense, but he, unlike others who went through physical torture, was subjected to mental abuse.

“Mental torture was much more serious, much more damaging. But somehow I managed to go through it, I managed to face this… perhaps I had some knowledge about it through reading, through experiences of other detainees from all over the world so I sort of expected that kind of treatment they would give.

In solitary confinement particularly, you will go through a very very tough time. You have no one to talk to, you have nothing to read, no one will come and talk to you. When they put the food they just open (the door) a little bit, put the food and close again. And when you call them and try to talk to them they just pretend that they don’t hear you and just (go) off.

I went through this for some time, you know, and it was very tough, so much so that (at one point) I tried to talk to myself. I just shouted things. I sang songs and things like that, just to release some feeling… and it turned out to be okay.”

He said he only felt like his life was in danger once, when then-ISD deputy director Ahmad Khan planted the idea in his head that he and his team could “release (him) in the middle of the night, and as (he was) walking on the road (they) can push (him) from behind, and shoot (him)”. At that time, his guard would check on him in his cell every 50 minutes, and so every time his door opened, he thought it was Ahmad coming for him with his men.

3. How he learned Mandarin while in detention

Said shared that he picked up Mandarin in order to better-converse on political issues with his fellow detainees, many of whom were Chinese-educated. He taught them Malay and English, while they guided him in Mandarin, he explained in Chinese so fluent it will put most of us to shame (don’t believe us? Watch the clip below from the 18 and a half minute mark).

Throughout his time in detention, he had four or five different tutors as they were arrested and released, he added.

In 2013, the 50th anniversary of Operation Coldstore, Said penned a note rebutting the charges he was arrested for.

He spent his final years living in Malaysia with his family, and worked as a fellow at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, where he penned two memoirs.

You can watch the full documentary film here:

Said leaves behind four children — two boys and two girls — and grandchildren.

 

Top photo: Screenshot from YouTube video

 

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- Jeanette Tan