Kim Quek's identity

For several years between 1998 and 2004, the name Kim Quek appeared in many Reformasi websites and alternative media as an mysterious but tough-minded and intelligent critic of ex-Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's mercantilist political economy as well as the persecution of former Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Kim Quek's prolific writings had kept many Malaysians, including this blogger, sane or psychologically healthy during those years when the war-like propaganda - black, gray and white - churned out by the Umno-dominated regime and its many mouthpieces nearly succeeded in turning black white and white, black. In other words, Kim Quek has provided us with a powerful antidote to the anti-Anwar propaganda.

Of course, Kim Quek wrote with intellectual conviction and clarity of mind.

This blogger was fortunate to be able to meet up Kim Quek for dinner and a very intellectual conversation session in a Chinese restaurant in the Mid Valley shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur.

To my surprise, Kim Quek is not an angry young man as I once imagined. He is a retired Chinese Malaysian accountant in his 60s. He speaks English and Chinese very well. Kim Quek is also very well-verse in world and regional politics.

Well-mannered and socially conservative, Kim Quek is also socially very experienced. He is a staunch supporter of Anwar Ibrahim but his support stems from shared intellectual conviction and moral passion, not cari-makan or political opportunism.

According to Kim Quek, the Umno-dominated government is now a " blundering and plundering regime ".

He is from Johor Baru. We were able to meet up in Kuala Lumpur because he came to make arrangments with his publisher to have his articles compiled into a book.

I am glad that he has finally published Where to, Malaysia? A Future with Anwar's Reformasi or Back to Mahathirism? (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2005) with a forward written by none other than Anwar Ibrahim himself. In his forward to Kim Quek's book, Anwar also reiterates his call for the suspension of the race-based affirmative programme, namely the New Economic Policy (NEP).

May be Kim Quek should have Where to, Malaysia: A Future with Anwar's Reformasi or Back to Mahathirism? translated into Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese for the intellectual benefit of more Malaysians.

Of course, I must also express my gratitude to Kim Quek for asking his publisher to give me a complimentary copy of Where to, Malaysia: A Future with Anwar's Reformasi or Back to Mahathirism?.

Dr. Kua Kia Soong's new book

The principal of the Kajang-based New Era College, Dr. Kua Kia Soong has published his new book New Era Education (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2005). It is a collection of his speeches and writings in the period between 1995 to 2005. From 1990 to 1995, he was the DAP Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara.

Dr. Kua is one of the few originally English-educated intellectuals in Malaysia who has finally re-discovered the value of mastering his mother-tongue, namely Chinese. Of course, he is also conversant with Bahasa Malaysia.

New Era Education is written in simple English and easy-to-follow reasoning. However, the book also reflects the educational philosophy of the British-trained sociologist and former opposition politician who is also interested in history and political science.

Dr. Kua Kia Soong was also one of the 106 Malaysians detained under the infamous Internal Security Act (ISA) during the 1987 Operasi Lalang.

My first English book

Finally, I have published my first English book, namely From Pacific War to Merdeka -Reminiscenes of Abdullah CD, Rashid Maidin, Suriani Abdullah & Abu Samah (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2005). It is also published in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War, the defeat of Fascism and the Liberation of Malaya and Singapore.

The book is dedicated, first and foremost, to the memory of my grandmother and father who first told me some of those 'subversive' stories at No.24, Clare Street, Ipoh when I was just a child. Of course, it is also dedicated to my dear mother.

Why Clare Street?

I have finally decided to create a personal blog named Clare Street. My column in the Chinese edition of malaysiakini is also titled Clare Street in the Chinese language. Why Clare Street?

Simply, Clare Street (now renamed Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri )in Ipoh's New Town was where I grew up. My family's coffee shop was once housed at No.24, Clare Street. It was a typically Chinese coffee shop which started business in the late 1920s but according to grandmother's stories, the shop was a silent witness to many episodes in the modern history of Malaya/Malaysia, including the secret underground resistance to Japanese occupation.

Unfortunately, the business was closed down after my father passed away in mid-1980s when I was still in Australia studying in Monash University. The shop was also sold later.

So, naming this blog and my Chinese column in malaysiakini Clare Street is meant to forever remember all my ancestors in Malaya and relatives as well as those good old neighbours who strived to preserve a safe environment for me to grow up to finally become an educated and tough-minded man.

I am also forever grateful to all freedom fighters like Ong Boon Hua @ Chin Peng, Eng Ming Ching @ Suriani Abdullah, Che Dat bin Anjang Abdullah @ Abdullah CD, Rashid Maidin and the late Tu Lung Shan@ Lai Raifel, RG Balan as well as Sybil Kathigasu who fought the Japanese occupation in Perak and finally liberated Ipoh and Clare Street.