Anwar will be PM, ex-police interrogator says
Then a corporal with the force’s Special Branch unit, Abdul Kudus who is today the division chairman for PKR Tanjung Karang, was tasked with interrogating the young student leader Anwar, who had been detained — for the first time — under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for rallying against rural poverty and hunger.
By Clara Chooi, The Malaysian Insider
At 70, Abdul Kudus Omar, even with his thinning shock of white hair, cuts a slim, trim and youthful figure.
His eyes, now crinkled at the corners, tell of stories long past and experiences that, although sometimes bitter, have also become the potion of life that has kept him fuelled throughout the years.
To Abdul Kudus, it is not the number of years in one’s life that matters — it is how much life one injects into those years that really counts. And for the grandfather of 11, the very essence of that life was his unfaltering faith and belief in the struggles of one man — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Ironically, Abdul Kudus’ friendship with the fiery opposition leader, dating as far back as 1974, had sparked off from a rather bizarre setting — in the interrogation room of the Bukit Aman police headquarters.
Then a corporal with the force’s Special Branch unit, Abdul Kudus who is today the division chairman for PKR Tanjung Karang, was tasked with interrogating the young student leader Anwar, who had been detained — for the first time — under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for rallying against rural poverty and hunger.
“It was a 60-day long interrogation. I was assigned to the duty with two others but I did most of the questioning for the others often found ways to get out of it,” Abdul Kudus told The Malaysian Insider in an exclusive interview here this week.
The septuagenarian gestured energetically as he recalled the details of his early friendship with Anwar and looked right at home in the tiny coffee shop nestled at the fringes of Desa Maju, Kampung Sungai Tengi. Despite his advanced years, the pint-sized activist commutes at least one hour daily to the village, known to be an Umno stronghold, to spearhead activities for his party’s campaign in the Hulu Selangor by-election on April 25.
“I had already known of Anwar before, as the leader of Abim (Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement), but we only met when he got arrested. It was too bad that he got arrested. At the time, the Home Ministry claimed that his actions had been under the influence and instigation of Parti Komunis Malaya — they were trying to implicate him with the communist party.
“Anwar was placed under solitary confinement for his involvement in the protests and my job was to speak with him every day for 60 days, to determine if he was indeed a threat to national security,” said Abdul Kudus.
In the 60 days, he said, his admiration for the young Anwar grew.
“He was co-operative, there was no exchange of harsh words or violence. We discussed things; education policies, politics, everything,” he said.
It was during that time, said Abdul Kudus, that he “fell in love” with Anwar’s courage and powerful convictions.
“There was something inside this guy, something in his style that told me: this man will be the prime minister of Malaysia one day,” he said.
