COMMENT My old friend is going to jail, and not for the first time. His name is Hishamuddin Rais.

We were born in the same year, but in different places. Hisham was born in Jelebu, Negri Sembilan, and I was born 350km away, in Joo Chiat, Singapore.

For a short two years, we were singing the same national anthem, the Negara-Ku, in our respective schools until the separation of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965.