TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library
TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library
TRIBUTE ABDUL - Perdana Library
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<strong>TRIBUTE</strong> TO TUNKU <strong>ABDUL</strong> RAHMAN<br />
people who flee daily across the border are genuine political refugees.<br />
They keep a watch too for agents who may be planted by the Communists,<br />
and also for criminals with major records. It is not sufficient<br />
merely to be dissatisfied with conditions in East Germany; you<br />
have to prove to the satisfaction of the Commission that you are<br />
genuinely suffering from political oppression contrary to your basic<br />
beliefs. And it is no use trying to hoodwink the Commission, as the<br />
members have been through it all, and know the answers, and their<br />
interrogation does not take place until each case has been investgated.<br />
Seated next to the Tunku was one of the best interpreters in<br />
Germany, who whispered in his ear every question and answer as<br />
the human drama of interrogation went on. But it was hardly<br />
necessary to know German; the crisis was written on the faces<br />
of the farmer and his wife. He was 53, a lean sinewy man of the<br />
soil, with alert blue eyes; she was a little plump red-faced dumpling<br />
of a woman, dressed in her Sunday best, a prim hat on her head<br />
and gloves on her anxious hands.<br />
Briefly the story he told was this: He had a family farm of a<br />
hundred acres, and when the threat of collectivisation first came,<br />
he divided his farm and gave one half to his sons. For various<br />
personal reasons the two sons and a daughter stole away at different<br />
times to the West, leaving their parents alone. There came a second<br />
demand for immediate collectivisation. He protested it was midseason;<br />
couldn't they wait till October? He was threatened with<br />
arrest if he did not agree at once, and he learned later that the immediacy<br />
was due to the fact that the local Committee wanted to report<br />
the best possible figures. He told a friend he would rather leave his<br />
farm than surrender it, as from his experience collective management<br />
ruined farms. The friend said he would help but he must be ready<br />
to go when asked.<br />
At mid-night next day there was a knock on the door. A<br />
man said he was a taxi driver from East Berlin and he would take<br />
them there. So at dead of night they left their farm where the<br />
family had lived for generations, putting all their faith and trust in