©New Straits Times (Used by
permission)
by Siti Nurbaiyah Nadzmi and Chuah Bee Kim
JOHOR BARU: One of Johor’s best–known opposition politicians, Abdul Razak
Ahmad, died at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital yesterday after he was admitted for
pain in the back and chest.
The 68–year–old lawyer, who has contested in virtually every
general election since the 1970s, except the 1978 polls, was admitted at 4am
yesterday. He became unconscious about 11am and died at 1.10pm.
Fatimah Mohd Tahir, 61, an aunt by marriage, who was at his house in Jalan Rubi,
said Razak complained of severe backache at 2am, but was reluctant to go to the
hospital.
Razak, who has a cult–like following in Johor, was the leading figure behind the
now defunct Parti Sosialis Rakyat Malaysia (PSRM), which later became Parti
Rakyat Malaysia (PRM).
According to Liew Shun Kheong, a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Senai branch chief,
Razak had attended a party meeting on Saturday.
"The meeting started at 3pm and by 8pm, Razak said he was very tired. He was
elected by members to head the PKR, following the merger of Parti Keadilan
Nasional and PRM, in June.
"Razak was reluctant to helm the party, but he was a favourite among party
members," Liew said.
Despite his tenacity, Razak never tasted success in the polls. The closest he
came to winning a seat was in 1986 when he lost to a Barisan Nasional candidate
in the Tanjung Puteri state constituency by a mere 22 votes.
He later sued the Election Commission for irregularities and the High Court
ordered a re–election. But he was again defeated by 30–odd votes.
The radical streak in him was evident even in his younger years when Singapore
banished him in 1966 for allegedly inciting student riots at the then University
of Singapore, where he was reading law.
In 1975, he was detained for two months under the Internal Security Act for
being a subversive. This came after he led what was described as an uprising of
the people against the state government in 1974.
He camped with 200 squatters outside the government building here. When the 83
squatters were arrested for rioting, he defended them in court.
Then, for two years, he was placed under restriction orders. He had to stay
indoors from 8am to 6am.
In November 1986, he again caused a stir when he laid on the railway track in
Johor Baru in an attempt to stop a Singapore–bound train in protest against the
visit of then Israeli president Chaim Herzog to Singapore.
Razak, who was a vocal critic of Singapore although he insisted that he was not
anti–Singapore, was again in the public eye in 1997 when he exposed remarks by
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew about Johor in an affidavit against former Workers
Party member Tang Liang Hong.
In the court document, Lee had described Johor as "notorious for shootings,
muggings and carjacking".
The remarks sparked strong reactions on this side of the Causeway.
Yasterday, PKR party adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was here to attend a
dialogue organised by the party, visited Razak’s family.
Razak was buried at the Jalan Mahmoodiah Muslim cemetery.