"And never did Razak flinch from his chosen mission of standing up for the poor, the oppressed and the voiceless in society. So many times he could have taken the easy road and given up the struggle. But he was always true to his conscience right till the end. And he never told you about his sufferings. He never hinted at the sacrifices he had made for what he thought to be right."
From Allah we come and to Allah is our return.
I would like to thank the MBW for his dedication to his job and for informing us of this sad event so quickly after it happened.
Yeo Yang Poh is absolutely spot on in his assessment of Razak.
In 1966 I was in my 2nd year law at the University of Singapore. I was with others in my class waiting for a lecture to begin in NLT 1. It was election time for USSU. So, we were not too surprised when a few election candidates came into the lecture hall to canvass for votes. Among them was Chan Kean Hin, 3rd Year Law, Gurdial Singh Nijar, 2nd Year Law, Peter Yip, then an Economics student, and Abdul Razak Ahmad, Final Year Law.
Now, in those days the SU Law Faculty had a fearsome slaughter rate in its various exams. Razak was one of those rare birds, a student from "The Federation" as up–country Malayans were then known, and he was in the Final Year Law without having had to repeat any year!
So, while we could understand people like Nijar or Kean Hin standing for the Students Union no way could we see Razak risking his Finals for the sake of serving his fellow students! We put it to him, we brave 2nd years taking on a lofty Final Year student, "Aaaiy Razak, come onlah, you not going to sacrifice your Final Year for the Union, what?" (As you can see we hardly spoke the English of Lee Kuan Yew!) And Razak silenced us by saying, "Yes, I am prepared to sacrifice my Final Year if that is what is needed to serve you properly!"
And so we voted them in......Nijar, Kean Hin, Peter and Razak.
And that year, D.P Vijendran, big gun in the Union, had returned from a State Department sponsored stay in the USA and he came back full of enthusiasm over the US Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King and, yes, "WE Shall Overcome!" DP introduced that song to the Union and he persuaded the Union to go on a campaign to restore University Autonomy. So, persuaded by DP's practised advocacy the students marched around the Bukit Timah campus singing, "We shall overcome!" and then went back to their books convinced that they had done enough.
But according to the Singapore Government authorities Peter, Nijar, Kean Hin and Razak had gone on to stir the Nanyang students and others and there was a massive protest outside City Hall where Kuan Yew's office was with students demanding autonomy.
The Singapore Govt's re–action was dramatic and drastic; Kean Hin, Razak, Nijar and Peter were banished from Singapore. All of them were academically quite bright. And what a sacrifice! Shortly thereafter the Home Affairs Ministry in Singapore discovered that Chan Kean Hin, unlike the other 3, was a Singapore citizen and so his banishment was revoked. He went on to pass all his exams and get called to the Singapore Bar only to die tragically in Malaysia when the helicopter he was in crashed returning from Genting.
Peter and Nijar were not allowed back to sit for their exams. They then went to London and qualified at the English Bar.
Razak was not allowed back for his Final Year lectures. But he was allowed in to sit for his Finals. He had studied on his own. And he passed.
And never in the 41 years since did I hear Razak or Peter or Nijar say one word against anyone who had not stood by them in their hour of need.
And never did Razak flinch from his chosen mission of standing up for the poor, the oppressed and the voiceless in society. So many times he could have taken the easy road and given up the struggle. But he was always true to his conscience right till the end. And he never told you about his sufferings. He never hinted at the sacrifices he had made for what he thought to be right.
I could have written all this while he was alive in reply to the Bar Website interview with him. But I knew that his innate modesty would have flinched at all I have to say.
And now he has gone and I can say it. Farewell, my friend. I salute you and your sacrifices. Yes, you have shown a batch of 2nd year kids you meant every word you said about sacrifice. And you showed it every day of your life after that! Forgive us. Thank you, Razak, Allah bika.