By Dr Sajad Hussein Kamarally
The year was 1974 — a period marked by strong student activism and political tension in Malaysia.
One morning in September that year, students at the MARA College in Jalan Othman staged a protest rally against the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA). The situation soon turned violent, with students going on a rampage and vandalising university property. Police were called in to calm the situation.
At that time, I was a young reporter with Bernama. I was instructed to follow up on the incident and obtain comments from Mahathir Mohamad, who was then serving as Education Minister.
The Ministry of Education was then housed at Federal House near what is today Dataran Merdeka. When I arrived, several reporters from other newspapers were already waiting outside.
We waited anxiously.Then Tun Mahathir walked in confidently.Although nervous, I gathered enough courage to introduce myself.
“I am from Bernama,” I said softly, before asking whether he could comment on the situation at the MARA College.
To my surprise, he smiled warmly, looked directly into my eyes and replied calmly:“So, what do you want me to say?”
For a moment, I was speechless. I was in awe of such a towering personality.
Sensing my nervousness, he immediately put me at ease and began speaking calmly about the government’s plans to bring the situation under control. He explained in detail what had happened and why the unrest had occurred.
What struck me most was his composure.He never raised his voice. There was pin-drop silence as reporters hurriedly took down notes while he spoke. Before entering his office, he advised journalists to report cautiously because, as he said, “we do not want to give the enemies of the nation any opportunity to exploit the situation.”
At that time, Malaysia was still facing threats from communist insurgents, and national stability was a sensitive matter.He spoke for about ten minutes.
For me, it was an exhilarating experience — my very first face-to-face encounter with Tun Dr Mahathir.Little did I know then that this would become a prelude to many future encounters with him over the decades.
As fate would have it, I later met Tun Mahathir on countless occasions during press conferences, parliamentary sittings, forums, conferences and official events.
One particularly memorable period was in 1976 when he chaired the Cabinet Committee on Salaries Reform for the civil service. Since I was covering the labour front at the time, I frequently interacted with both government officials and trade union leaders.I was fortunate to have good contacts on both sides.
Through my reporting work, I came to know leaders of Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (CUEPACS), including prominent figures such as T. Narendran and A. Ragunathan. I also developed contacts within the Public Services Department, whose insights often gave me a clearer understanding of ongoing negotiations and policy developments.
Eventually, the Cabinet Committee Report (CCR) was implemented, although many anomalies still remained. To address grievances, Tun Mahathir later established a Public Services Tribunal headed by Abdul Hamid Omar, who was then a High Court judge.
Over the years, I continued covering Tun Mahathir in various capacities. In all my encounters with him, I consistently found him polite, soft-spoken and thoughtful. He always paused before answering questions. He never ridiculed or scolded reporters.To me, he was very much a gentleman politician.
A particularly meaningful moment came on September 2, 2014, when Tun Mahathir launched a book I had authored on prominent CUEPACS leader A. Ragunathan. The 173-page book, titled My Way, chronicled three decades of industrial relations development within Malaysia’s civil service from the 1960s through the 1990s. It documented the sacrifices and dedication of Ragunathan in fighting for the welfare and rights of civil servants.
By then, Ragunathan had forged a close working relationship with Tun Mahathir.During the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, Ragunathan played an important role in helping the government encourage civil servants to work harder, moderate demands and assist national recovery efforts during the economic turmoil.
Similarly, in the private sector, the government sought assistance from Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), the umbrella body representing private sector workers. At that time, MTUC was led by veteran trade unionist Zainal Rampak.He too was one of my close contacts and friends.
In fact, my Master’s dissertation focused on his life history and achievements as a trade union leader. Tan Sri Zainal Rampak made history as the first trade unionist to receive the Tan Sri title from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. He also served as a Senator representing workers’ interests.
Over the years, I had the privilege of working closely with many trade union leaders while also covering Tun Mahathir on numerous occasions.
Looking back today, I realise that my first encounter with him in 1974 was not merely a brief interview assignment. It was the beginning of a long professional journey that gave me a front-row seat to some of the most important political, labour and national developments in modern Malaysian history.
Dr Sajad H Kamarally (sajadhk05@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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