TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library

M. SARAVANAMUTTU
Kedah once told Rahman that he was knocking his head against a
brick wall. Promptly came back the reply, "I will break it down
(meaning the brick wall) with my head."
The Japanese invasion of Malaya followed soon after and poor
Ozair had a difficult time in Denmark cut off from the source of
funds in Malaya, but that invasion gave an opportunity to Tunku
Abdul Rahman to display again that same independent spirit as well
as a true appreciation of one's proper responsibility that makes him
the ideal Prime Minister. T refer to his now famous "kidnapping"
of his father, the late Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah of Kedah.
Even now one shudders when one remembers the speed with
which the invader overran the country. Tn less than a week Kedah
had fallen; Penang was evacuated in eight days and three days later.
the Japanese had occupied the island. In that nightmarish period, a
British official thought - rightly from his point of view - that if the
Sultans were evacuated the Japanese would rule during their occupation
only de facto. If, however, the rulers were left beind and
were made under duress to consent to the Japanese regime, there
might be legal complications later on. So the order was given to
evacuate all the Sultans starting from Perlis and Kedah. The motorcade
was to start from Alor Star with the old Sultan, his household,
and the Raja Muda Badlishah.
Tunku Abdul Rahman at the time was District Officer at Kulim.
I have read a version that he intercepted the motorcade at the junction
of the branch road to Kulim and persuaded his father to leave
the procession and go with him to his house at Kulim. It seems unlikely
however that the others would have stood by and allowed him
to upset their plans in this manner. According to Tunku, this is how
it happened.
The previous night when he was on duty at the Kulim
A.R.p. Headquarters, he received a message from his brother-inlaw,
Syed Omar Shahabuddin, who is now Mentri Besar of
Kedah, that the British were going to evacuate the Sultan at
dawn. That same night, he made up his mind to prevent them
taking his father away at all costs, so he armed himself and to •