KUALA LUMPUR: HE is the last surviving member of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics’ national hockey team.
And he survived at least four assassination attempts at the height of the Emergency (1948-1960) and Communist insurgency (1968-1989).
He eventually became Selangor’s top cop in 1977. He not only has a street named after him, but a hockey tournament too.
These are some of the dazzling chapters in the book of Tan Sri P. Alagendra’s life, who turns 90 on July 23, that he has yet to pen.
The soon-to-be nonagenarian recounted the trying times in his career as a police officer, where he had to be vigilant at all times.
“So much so, my wife bundled my four daughters off to study at a convent in India to ensure their safety,” said Alagendra, fondly referred to as Aly by his close friends.
One of them was the late sultan of Perak Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, with whom Alagendra shared a special liaison that lasted seven decades.
LIFE IN THE POLICE FORCE
Alagendra’s career as a crimebuster began soon after he joined the police force on July 1, 1950, as a Probationary Asian Inspector.
“The British administration had created the post to differentiate us from their officers and others, like the police lieutenants in Palestine,” said Alagendra, the third child in a family of four to schoolteacher K. Ponnudurai and housewife K. Tangapakiam.
Alagendra recalled how, as an assistant district police chief in Malacca, he was summoned to accompany British high commissioner and operations director General Sir Gerald Templer and first MCA president Tun Tan Cheng Lock in 1953.
“All three of us sat in a tightly escorted Rolls Royce and headed to Alor Gajah to declare the first ‘White Area’ (cleared of insurgents),” said Alagendra, when met at his home in Taman Titiwangsa here.
Alagendra is the only Malaysian to have won the “Baton of Honour” as the most outstanding student from the Hendon Police College in England in 1963.
He was given a two-week attachment with Sussex police before sailing home on the MS Oranje (later renamed Angelina Lauro), a Dutch passenger liner.
“I felt very much at home during my three-week voyage.
“All the crew were Indonesians, so we could easily communicate in Malay. Furthermore, their food was similar to ours,” he said.
ENCOUNTER WITH CRIMINALS
Alagendra was tasked with heading many special assignments against crime, including nabbing the most-wanted robber Wong Swee Chin aka Botak Chin.
Wong was not bald (botak) and was referred to as Bo Tak Chin because he was unemployed (jobless in Hokkien).
“I remember during one of the many encounters, we had cornered six robbers at a goldsmith shop in Jalan Ipoh.
“Realising they could not escape, the robbers holed themselves up in a bedroom on the first storey of the shophouse.
“They literally sat in a circle, with their loot atop the mattress, and waited for our ambush.
“They simply wanted to die ‘gloriously’, surrounded by the jewellery. They eventually shot each other dead,” he added.
Alagendra also recounted a harrowing attempt on his life as the Police Field Force (now General Operations Force) central brigade commander.
“I had just arrived in my official car for morning duty at the brigade headquarters in Jalan Pekeliling.
“Some of my men had gathered for a quick chat with me at the entrance when suddenly I was alerted by my orderly to an important phone call.
“As I rushed into the office, a hand grenade was tossed into our compound from outside the fence (by a hidden communist terrorist). I escaped in the nick of time, but five of my men were killed,” he said.
BONDS WITH LUMINARIES
Alagendra’s friendship with the late Sultan Azlan Shah began at Ipoh Padang in Perak during a friendly hockey match.
Alagendra, who was studying at King George V secondary school in Seremban, Negri Sembilan, was one of three students selected to play for the state against Perak.
Sultan Azlan Shah, then studying at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, was playing with the host team.
He said just before bully-off, a very stylish opposing centre-forward approached him with an extended hand, saying: “Hi, I am Lan.”
Alagendra responded by shaking his opponent’s hand and said: “I am Aly.”
”Only much later I learnt who he was and it was the start of a very long friendship which I cherished,” he said.
Alagendra also shared great moments with the late Sultan of Selangor Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, the country’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and current Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He revealed that Sultan Salahuddin had a personal liking for him when he was the state police chief, and often invited him to all his official functions.
He added that he also shared a special bond with Tunku.
One day, Alagendra said Tunku had asked him if he could accompany him somewhere, and he immediately replied in the affirmative.
Alagendra said Tunku then ticked him off by saying: “I have not even told you where and you have already said ‘yes’!”
It turned out that Tunku had wanted him as a personal escort to the 1966 World Cup in London.
FOND OF HIS DRIVER
Alagendra also shared a close relationship with his personal driver, who, during breakfast one day, confided that he was very happy working for the former.
“He told me that not only I was concerned about his welfare, but I also did not hammer his head with my commander’s baton if I did not like his driving — unlike what his previous bosses did!” Alagendra chuckled.
He said he was proud to see his driver’s son graduate as a doctor, who now runs Kajang Plaza Medical Centre with his wife.
LIFE AFTER RETIREMENT
Looking back, Alagendra, who retired as a deputy commissioner on July 23, 1984, said he had enjoyed a colourful life for almost nine decades.
“I have always wanted to record my experiences in a book, but just haven’t put the thoughts into action.”
After retiring as the Selangor police chief, Alagendra continued to be a hockey official until the death of Sultan Azlan Shah in 2005.
“I figured that the time had come for me to take a back seat, especially so without the able leadership of his majesty.
“Also, there were many younger and capable officials with newer ideas,” said Alagendra, who still finds the energy to pop into his office in Jalan Sultan Ismail here.
Alagendra shares an office with his wife, prominent criminal lawyer Puan Sri N. Saraswathy Devi, and their daughters, Raja Rajesvari, Anna Poorani and Venkateswari, who are also all lawyers.
His youngest daughter, Datuk Shyamala Devi, serves as a defence lawyer at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands, and is based with the United Nations in Kenya.
To commemorate his legacy, Alagendra has set up a personal museum at the 36-unit Kajang Plaza shophouses in Jalan Dato’ Seri P. Alagendra, a street named after him in his hometown of Kajang, Selangor.
Named “Aly’s Gallery”, it showcases his police and sports paraphernalia.
ALY’S HOCKEY WORLD
Alagendra was thankful to former inspector-general of police Tan Sri Sir Claude Harry Fenner for firmly supporting his hockey dreams.
He eventually made it to Malaya’s team for his inaugural appearance in the Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956.
“But the icing on the cake came when I was chosen by Dr Mahathir during his first premiership as chef-de-mission of the Malaysian contingent to the 2000 Sydney Olympics in Australia.
“That was 44 years after I first represented Malaysia as a sportsman in the same host country (the 1956 Melbourne Olympics),” said Alagendra.