BELASUNGKAWA:SELAMAT JALAN PAK KUDUS

Memang 2-3 hari ini saya menerima berita perkhabaran tentang kesihatan Pak Kudus yang kian merudum.Didalam facebook,teman dari Selangor tag foto Pak Kudus yang terlantar di katil IJN dengan wayar berselirat.

Dek kerana tuntutan tugas saya tidak dapat mengziarahi beliau di IJN.Hanya doa dan salam yang saya dapat titipkan dari Temerloh.Dan pagi ini,Jumaat 1/10/2010 saya menerima khabar duka akan kembalinya Pak Kudus di jemput al-Khalik di katil IJN.

Saya mula mengenali Pak Kudus sekitar tahun 1999.Parti KeADILan Nasional baru sahaja di tubuhkan.Bahang gerakan Reformasi sedang memuncak dengan tuntutan DSAI dibebaskan.Saya dan teman-teman di Temerloh baru belajar berjinak-jinak dengan dunia politik opposisi yang mencabar.Tentunya sebagai anak muda yang masih hijau dengan sepak terajang politik banyak yang perlu di pelajari.

Dan Pak Kudus antara individu yang saya kira punya stamina menjelajah seluruh pelusuk Tanahair berceramah dan bertemu dengan ahli-ahli parti.Di sekitar Pahang Tengah-ketika itu Parlimen Temerloh,Mentakab dan Maran-hampir setiap bulan Pak Kudus akan turun berceramah.Tanah-tanah rancangan FELDA dijelajahinya berceramah menuntut pembelaan dan keadilan kepada DSAI.

Malah oleh kerana kerapnya Almarhum turun disekitar Temerloh dan Maran,saya pernah dalam suatu perbualan dengan seorang Pegawai Kanan Polis,bekas Pegawai Special Branch,meminta saya menyampaikan kepada Pak Kudus agar 'tone down' isi ceramahnya.Apabila saya memberitahu Pak Kudus 'permintaan' pegawai polis tersebut,Pak Kudus ketawa besar sambil memberitahu pegawai tersebut merupakan anak muridnya di Cawangan Khas.

Sewaktu PRK Parlimen Teluk Kemang saya telah berkenalan dengan Ketua Dewan Ulamak PAS Negeri Sembilan Allahyarham Pak Ali Hanapiah (jika saya tidak silap nama).Pak Ali bercerita sewaktu Operasi Lalang beliau turut di tangkap dan IO ialah Pak Kudus.Yang menariknya,tidak ada langsung perkataan buruk yang keluar dari mulut Pak Ali mengenai Pak Kudus,pegawai Special Branch yang 'melanyaknya' sewaktu di tahan 60 hari di bawah ISA.Malah Pak Ali memuji Pak Kudus yang dianggapnya professional dan baik.Setelah tamat 60 hari dan dibebaskan,Pak Kudus yang menghantar Pak Ali pulang ke rumah di Negeri Sembilan dengan keretanya sendiri.

Pak Kudus juga mempunyai rasa hormat yang besar terhadap DSAI.Pernah Allahyarham memberitahu saya bahawa sewaktu DSAI di tahan dibawah ISA tahun 1974,telah terserlah daya kepimpinan dan prinsip DSAI.Malah Allahyarham Pak Kudus mempunyai keyakinan yang besar bahawa DSAI memimpin negara sebagai PM suatu hari nanti.

Dan hari ini pemimpin yang berjiwa besar ini telah kembali ke Rahmatullah.Memang perjuangan ini akan merasa kehilangan beliau.Jasa dan baktinya kepada perjuangan rakyat selama ini tentunya tidak ternilai dan tentunya juga tidak terbalas.Pemergian Pak Kudus sesungguhnya sukar dicari ganti.

Bagi pihak keluarga dan seluruh anggota KEADILAN Temerloh,saya mengucapkan takziah kepada keluarga Allahyarham serta bersabar menghadapi ujian ini.Semoga Allah Azzawajalla menghimpunkan seluruh amal baik Allahyarham dan mengampunkan dosa-dosanya;semoga Allah Maha Pengasih dan Penyayang menempatkan roh Allahyarham dikalangan orang-orang yang soleh,amin.Al-Fatihah.

Sila baca temuramah Allahyarham Pak Kudus dengan The MalaysiaInsider:

“Anwar will be PM”

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.

Abdul Kudus said that although Anwar was sent to serve a 20-month sentence at the Kamunting detention camp, his friendship with him never wavered.

“We stayed in touch and when he was released, we would meet up, sometimes as often as once a week. We spoke extensively about the future of Islam, the wellbeing of the people and the future of the country,” he said.

Abdul Kudus added that he had initially been opposed to the idea of Anwar joining Umno. “I do not know what it was, I just felt something was not good. At the time, it was (former prime minister Tun) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad) who invited him in. He called Anwar’s father-in-law, Datuk Wan Ismail and said that he wanted Anwar to join his Cabinet,” he said.

Despite his uneasiness at the proposition, Abdul Kudus said his support for Anwar continued throughout the years, until the leader reached the pinnacle of his career in the Federal Government — he had become the country’s second-in-line to the premiership as the deputy prime minister.

Anwar’s steady climb to the top came to an abrupt stop, however, when he was suddenly sacked in 1998 over allegations of sodomy and corruption, and subsequently sent to jail until 2004.

“In Sept 2, 1998, I was in Seremban visiting my children when I heard the news — Anwar had been removed. I knew immediately he had been framed. I knew it without a doubt.

“Since that day, I joined the reformasi (reformation) movement and never looked back,” he said.
Abdul Kudus admitted that although his faith in Anwar had already become an impenetrable fortress, it had not been an easy transition to move from his cushy life as a pro-establishment supporter to the opposition camp.

“I had joined Umno in 1996 already. I was in the party as a member for almost two years when Anwar was removed. But it mattered little for I knew, and I strongly believed, that this man had been framed,” he said.

In Sept 16, 1998, Abdul Kudus organised a mammoth rally for Anwar at his home in Tanjung Karang, giving the leader the platform to explain his predicament to the people.

“Thousands gathered to hear him. It was surreal,” he said.

On Sept 20, Anwar was arrested. A few days later, Abdul Kudus, and many of his family members were sacked from Umno.

“Anyone with the ‘bin Omar’ name was sacked. But it was funny — we laughed until our stomachs exploded,” he said.

Abdul Kudus went on to explain that even his contract for an excavator service business that he had just started at the time, was also taken away.

“They took everything from us, from me. Even my brother, who was not an Umno member, was apparently sacked from Umno. Do not ask me how, we received the letters and we just laughed,” he said.

The losses, however, never once dampened Abdul Kudus’ resolve to stand strong for the reformasi movement, and his blind faith in Anwar even withstood the test of whopping offers of gifts and monetary rewards.

“I am quite somebody in Selangor. And they (Umno) knew that. I am very valuable to them because the people of Selangor know me,” he said.

He claimed that he had been approached with contract offers and cash rewards in exchange for his return to Umno and his departure from the reformasi movement.

“They asked me — how many million ringgit worth of contract do you want? I was asked also to hand over my membership form to Umno to a prominent politician onstage during one function and when I descended from the stage, I was to receive RM5 million upfront,” he said, smiling coyly.

Abdul Kudus claimed he politely declined the offers.

“After 34 years of clean service with the force… I never once accepted corrupt offers… and now, when I am old and decrepit, why should I sacrifice all those years?” he said.
Instead, Abdul Kudus said he chose to follow his heart.

“And I had already, from years before, fallen in love with Anwar’s fight. What Anwar is preaching is the very value I admire… I fall in love with people who preach the universal values of mankind — that mankind is equal, that we are all one people.

“I see that he is not only a leader to his family, to the people but also, he is a leader of the world. When Anwar speaks, everyone listens — the Muslims, the Christians, the Buddhists, everyone,” he said.

Abdul Kudus expressed disgust at leaders who ruled only for the sake of holding on to power and not to use that power to improve society.

“They do not care, they would do anything to stay up on that pedestal,” he said.

He noted that Anwar, however, had not only gone to the far corners of power but had also been dragged mercilessly from the throne and thrown into the dark recesses of incarceration.

Even then, he said, the now 62-year-old leader had still emerged upholding the very same principles he had admired in the young student leader whom he met in 1974.

It was this determination, concluded Abdul Kudus, that would make his prediction, made within the four walls of the dank interrogation room at Bukit Aman more than 30 years ago, come true.

“Anwar will become the prime minister of Malaysia one day.”