Veteran journalist Said Zahari who lost his laptop to burglars who broke into his house on Christmas eve has made an unusual plea to get back his computer. He is willing to buy it back from the burglars!

"I don't mind buying back my laptop from them (the burglars)," said the 77-year-old former Utusan Melayu editor-in-chief when contacted by malaysiakini today.

"I don't have anything valuable at home except for my laptop. I have a lot of books but they were not interested, so if I asked for my laptop to be returned, they might get angry," he added.

Said was holidaying with his family in beach town Port Dickson in Negeri Sembilan when his house in Subang Jaya was broken into on Sunday night. He stays with his daughter and grandchildren.

Said, still in Port Dickson, said his grandson had gone to inspect the losses and lodged a police report yesterday.

The veteran journalist said nothing but for his laptop was taken away.

"There might be a few hundred ringgit in my drawer which was taken away too but I am unable to confirm since I will only be back at home later today from Port Dickson," he said.

No back-up

Said said that the laptop was invaluable to him as it contained his manuscript for his third political memoir. Some of his important correspondences are also stored in his laptop without any back-up.

"I have been using this Acer laptop for four years. Some of things inside I have back-up but for most of them I don't have any back-ups because I thought it is best to save them inside the hard-disk," he said.

He said he was hopeful of recovering the manuscripts for his third political memoirs, of which about a quarter of the work is done.

The book, which is scheduled to finish by June 2008, is the last in a trilogy of his memoirs.

Previously, he had published Meniti Lautan Gelora (Dark Clouds at Dawn) in 2001 and Dalam Ribuan Mimpi Gelisah in March this year.

Said was one of the longest detained political prisoner in Singapore after having spent 17 years under detention without trial in the island-state from the age of 34 to 51.

Prior to his detention, Said led a three-month strike by journalists to oppose the takeover of Utusan Melayu by Umno in 1961, which led to him being ordered back to Singapore and banned from entering Malaya.