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