LONDON: COME Aug 31 and my memory takes me back to meetings with people and events which have made a more colourful picture of the historic event 57 years ago. These have given me a fuller and a more interesting picture of events surrounding Merdeka!
Throughout my 34 years in the country that once colonised Malaya, I have met many former Malayan Civil Service (MCS) officers who served in the country before and during Independence, British veterans who made the country their home and British ex-servicemen who fought the communists in the Malayan jungles.
It is memories of meeting with former MCS officer-turned-novelist, Frederick Lees, that were etched deeply in my mind. Lees was sent to Malaya, in his own words, “to prepare the country for independence”.
Lees had served as a Settlement Officer during the Emergency and was also the Secretary of the Election Commission. I met him at his home in Rye eight years ago, where he narrated events building up to the historical event at the newly-built Merdeka Stadium, as if it happened yesterday.
Indeed, Lees, who died in August 2012, could remember most things as he was in charge of planning the event and in fact, had in his possession, a book with meticulous recording of the programme.
So, we know about the pomp and ceremony attended by thousands at the stadium. We know and had seen photographs of our beloved Tunku Abdul Rahman walking with the Duke of Gloucester to take their seats in the stadium. But, we never heard about Lees’ role in that historic occasion.
Lees was in the control room with Syed Jaafar Albar when Tunku and the Duke walked past. Tunku, he said, was known to act on impulse. He popped his head into the control room and said, “Albar, when we are walking back after the ceremony, shout ‘Merdeka’ into the microphone”, which, of course, Syed Jaafar did, that is, until he lost his voice. Thus, the responsibility fell on to the young MCS officer, that was Lees.
He said in that joyous atmosphere, no one knew any better whose voice it was that shouted ‘Merdeka’ into the microphone. He would go down in history as the Englishman who shouted Merdeka! Indeed, he still had in his possession the recording.
He spoke about incidents that nearly ruined the programme for the day, such as a school bus that crashed into the monsoon drain near the stadium, delaying the event by an hour.
There is, of course, Datin Peggy Taylor, who was a socialite and a close friend of our former leaders from Tunku to Tun Abdul Razak Hussein to Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman. She had made Malaya her home until her husband, Datuk Eric Taylor, who was then an architect with the Kuala Lumpur Municipal Council, died.
They went to Malaya in 1953 and they were Malayanised. Peggy was standing on the Padang when the Malayan flag was raised. The lady, who was also instrumental in the running of the short-lived political party, Alliance Direct Membership Organisation, narrated stories of her friendship with Tunku, who had consulted her on the use of the bunga raya as the national flower.
She also remembered her first meeting with Tunku when she drove the then chief minister of Singapore to the train station to meet the Tunku before their historic meeting with Chin Peng. But most of all, of course, Peggy remembered Tunku and his favourite ronggeng at the Lake Club.
These are beautiful stories, which were added to my archives of tales told by ex-servicemen who served in Malaya. Some told me stories about the celebrations they had, playing football with the locals while the celebration was in full swing in the capital.
The ex-servicemen remembered Malaya fondly — one still treasures the pantun that he learnt and memorised behind sandbags while waiting for communist attacks, another showed me his vast collection of medals and badges, used by the armed forces in Malaysia with interesting stories accompanying the collection.
When Malaysia celebrated her 50th independence day, I was invited to Lancaster House, where a celebration was held to mark the occasion. Indeed, it was there that the Tunku and his entourage tirelessly negotiated the independence, and it was there too that the treaty that proclaimed the declaration of the independence was signed.
Brief as it was to be in that place of grandeur that witnessed the birth of so many new nations, somehow, to be there meant so much to me.
These are stories and events that had helped paint a fuller picture of my country.