The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.
– Che Guevara, Argentine revolutionary and a major figure of the Cuban Revolution
IF my father were alive today, he would be exactly 108 years old!
A posthumous child of a First World War (WWI) Scotsman and Thai-Chinese mother, Johnny Ritchie was Malaysia’s first local Sarawak Constabulary commissioner.
Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had sent my father to Kuching and told him: “John, keep an eye on Ahmad Zaidi who is a key person …”
The Tunku had good reason to make this remark because Zaidi, Malaysia’s most sought-after anti-Malaysia politician, was on the run.
Even though Zaidi was the most qualified bumiputera student holding a masters’ degree from Robert Gordon Technical College from Aberdeen, he had joined the Indonesian revolution after the WWI.
The adopted son of Wan Adruce and Sharifah Mai, the daughter of the renowned nationalist Sharif Mashor who had been exiled to Singapore, he was a brilliant student.
At the age of five, he studied at the Mandarin-medium Chung Hua Primary School and Abang Ali in Sibu and by 12 had passed his standard seven exams at St Thomas’ in Kuching.
After his Junior Cambridge, the 15-year-old left for the Anglo-Chinese school in Singapore where he was the only Sarawak Malay to pass the Senior Cambridge School Certificate examination.
In 1940 he was sent to Sultan Idris Teachers College in Tanjong Malim where he was among the youngest students.
His adventure started after this; he returned to Japanese-occupied Singapore and was indoctrinated by a Malay nationalist, Pahang’s Ibrahim Yakub, who was the head of the Malayan Kesatuan Muda Melayu (KMM).
I had the opportunity to pen Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce’s memoir — ‘Son of Sarawak’ — the fifth Governor of Sarawak.
My journey to Kuching started in 1967 after I completed my senior Cambridge exams at Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Alor Setar.
During my time, the Cambridge exams results were based on six subjects and I enrolled in St Thomas’ with flying colours — three distinctions and three credits with a total aggregate of 17 units — not bad for a form 5D student who was destined to fail!
I arrived during the tumultuous era when Sarawakians were divided on the issue of whether their leaders had made the correct decision to become part of the Malaysian Federation.
A socialist and political idealist, Zaidi led one faction that was opposed to the formation of Malaysia.
A Sibu Melanau of poor farmers, Zaidi was the son of Muhammed Noor and Siti Sadiah. He was born in a sampan as his pregnant mother was being rushed across the Rajang River to the home of a ‘bidan’ (midwife).
Given away for adoption, his foster father was Wan Adruce — who was married to Sharifah Mai — father of the legendary rebel Sharif Mashor who was banished to Singapore by James Brooke.
After the Japanese occupied Malaya, Zaidi left for Java to study at Buitenzorg Veterinary College in Bogor.
Only 20, Zaidi was caught up in Indonesia’s Independence struggle against the Dutch in August 17, 1945, where his peers included President Sukarno, Indonesia’s first vice president Mohammad Hatta and army chief General Radin Sudirman.
On January 24, 1948, after his two years as a seasoned revolutionary who fought against the Dutch, he returned to Sarawak and became one of first six teaching pioneers at Batu Lintang college in Kuching under M. G. Dickson.
A year later, he attended Robert Gordons College in Aberdeen before returning to Kuching in 1955 to join the Education Department.
In 1956, he joined the anti-British struggle of Barisan Pemuda Sarawak (BPS).
Zaidi was among the first Sarawakians to hold talks on the formation of Malaysia with the Tunku and Home Minister Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie, in Sibu.
On the anti-cession movement assassination of Sir Duncan Stewart, he said: “I told Robert Jitam (one of the BPS vice presidents) that the anti-cession movement was not the right vehicle for the Independence …
“There was no difference being ruled by the Brooke family or the British government because they were both neo-colonialists.”
Initially Zaidi agreed to the formation of Malaysia but circumstances led to his abhorrence of colonists such as the Brooke family who usurped Sarawak from the Sultan of Brunei.
However, Zaidi was opposed to armed struggle, having been involved in the bitter Indonesian revolution as a young man.
On June 30, 1957, the newly-elected BPS president Zaidi spoke about the impending communist threat and the British plan to amalgamate the Borneo states with Malaya into a federation.
He realised a large majority of the educated elite in Sarawak were pro-British and the only way to protect the natives from the Malaysia plan was to team up with Indonesia because the people shared a common border and culture.
He said: “If the more affluent communist-influenced Chinese took control, I fear it would be a matter of time before there was a bumiputera uprising.
“Even though these groups (of communists) were also fighting for Independence, their new society meant switching from British imperialism to Chinese communism.”
On January 3, 1963, he heard news that the government had framed charges against him as the Special Branch kept a close watch on his movements.
In early September 1963, he received news that Indonesian Defence Minister General Haris Nasution had organised a rescue plan for him to leave Sarawak for Jakarta.
At dusk on the eve of Malaysia Day, a group of armed Indonesian volunteers arrived at his hideout in Telok Simpor and ushered him to a creek.
He met a Chinese friend, Heng Hua fisherman Lim Poh Leong, who owned a ‘kotak’ boat and they left for Pontianak together.
As the ‘kotak’ weaved through the maze of mangroves and nipah palms to the open sea, they merged with other Heng Hua fishermen in dozens of boats waiting to send their respected VIP friend to Indonesia.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
