The Umno youth leader was very upset that Malaysian students overseas dared to demonstrate against the prime minister during the latter's trip to Cambridge recently. No sooner had he labelled them as traitors than letters started pouring in, letting him know how mistaken he had been in varying tones of displeasure.

For the past two years there has been much soul-searching among concerned Malaysians as to the deteriorating state of democracy in this country, demanding that the ruling BN government shed its paternalistic attitudes and be truly accountable to the people.

Amid this backdrop of heightened political awareness, it is simply quite amazing that such Orwellian notions of patriotism still hold sway within the ranks of Umno leadership. There is no need for me to repeat the views on what love of one's nation truly means in the flurry of letters that followed the Umno youth leader's rhetorics-loaded turn of phrase.

Last week's The Sun on Sunday magazine carried a feature on Goenawan Mohamad, editor of Tempo, an Indonesian weekly that had once been proscribed by the Suharto regime for being too critical of it.

In the interview, Goenawan articulated his views on the role of the intellectual which are among others, "to elevate the quality of debate", "of holding power accountable to itself" and "to be present to confront the might of power".

These views in themselves are of course nothing new, but within the context of Indonesia's recent history, from Sukarno's old order to Suharto's new order, the unwavering commitment to truth and freedom of a significant section of the country's intelligentsia has been instrumental in bringing to an end authoritarian misrule that had robbed its people their dignity.

Throughout humanity's modern history there is no shortage of exemplary intellectual and moral courage by independent thinking individuals in the defence of truth and freedom against prevailing national sentiments or governments of the day, to the point that they were at times denounced as traitors by their fellow countrymen.

Towering figure

For those who may not be familiar with the French literary world, mile Zola is one of its towering figures. Of his many works, I have only read La Bte humaine and Germinal , both belonging to the Rougon-Macquart cycle of 20 novels.

I found the former too dark and violent but I loved Germinal for its brilliant evocation of the human condition in the lives of people in a depressed coal-mining community in the north of France in the 1860s. The latter perhaps is also better known to the English reading public because it has been made into a film a few years ago by Claude Berri.

But for many admirers of Zola, he is perhaps best known as the writer of J'accuse (I accuse), an open letter to the President of France published in the newspaper L'Aurore in January 1898 in which he defended the innocence of a Jewish army officer, Capitaine Dreyfus who had been convicted for treason in 1894 by a secret military court for allegedly selling military secrets to the Germans (based on hand written notes discovered in a wastepaper basket at the German military attach).

Two years after Dreyfus was convicted and sent to Devil's Island, Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart was appointed chief of army intelligence. Picquart, after examining the evidence and investigating the affair in greater detail, concluded that the guilty officer was a major of Hungarian origin, Walsin Esterhazy, a depraved and debt laden man.

Picquart soon discovered however that the army was more concerned about preserving its image then rectifying its error, and when he persisted in trying to reopen the case, he was transferred to Tunisia. A military court later acquitted Esterhazy. Never mind that an innocent man is ruined as long as the military's prestige remains intact seemed to be the attitude of the generals.

Knowing Zola's stature in French society and his commitment to justice, Dreyfus' friends appealed to him for help. After studying the case, Zola was equally convinced of Dreyfus' innocence and wrote to his wife, Alexandrine "This Dreyfus affair has thrown me into such anger that my hands tremble... I will enlarge the debate and turn this into a grand affair for humanity and justice...".

And thus J'accuse , in which he accused high ranking military officers, many of whom were anti-Semitic, of cover up and conspiracy, and hand-writing experts of meddling with the truth...

"J'accuse le lieutenant-colonel du Paty de Clam... J'accuse le gnral Mercier... J'accuse le gnral de Boissdeffre... J'accuse...".

In making these accusations Zola well knew that he opened himself to a libel suit by the French army but he did not expect that his letter would arouse inflamed political passions within French society. He was vilified by the anti-Dreyfus camp in the newspapers who had with them the majority of public opinion and in the streets all manner of abuses were hurled at him, of having sold off to the Jews and Germans (France was defeated in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 and lost Alsace-Lorraine).

The left were initially hesitant to support Zola whereas the political right, monarchists, nationalists and the Catholic Church threw their weight behind the army. Fellow writers, artists and intellectuals like Anatole France, Marcl Proust and Claude Monet rallied behind him.

At is daily arrivals for the defamation trial at the Palais de Justice, Zola was pelted with rocks and rotten tomatoes. Strangely reminiscent of the recent corruption trial of the former deputy prime minister, all defence witnesses were forbidden from making any reference to Dreyfus which was considered irrelevant to the case. He was easily found guilty and was sentenced to one year in prison and fined more than 15,000 francs in fines and damages.

To avoid prison sentence, Zola went into exile to London and returned to France a year later after an amnesty. His enemies continued to harass and abuse him via anonymous letters and some even threatened him with physical harm.

Carbon monoxide poisoning

He died in September 1902 of carbon monoxide poisoning under suspicious circumstances when it was discovered that his chimney was blocked by rubble. Even in death his detractors continue to snigger and hurl abuses at him as his cortge slowly headed to the Montmatre cemetery.

At the funeral, fellow writer Anatole France gave a moving eulogy to Zola, "...Devant rappeler la lutte entreprise par Zola pour la justice et la verit, m'est-il possible de garder le silence sur ces hommes acharns a la ruine d'un innocent? il a honor la patrie et le monde par une oeuvre immense et par un grand acte. Il fut un moment de la conscience humaine".

(In remembrance of his struggle for justice and the truth, is it possible for me to maintain my silence on those bent on destroying an innocent man...? He has honoured the nation and the world by an immense sacrifice and a grand act ... he was a moment in the conscience of man).

I have retained the original French knowing that my pedestrian translation would not do justice to its beauty.

To cut the story short, truth and justice eventually prevailed despite the cover-ups, conspiracy and propaganda. Dreyfus was pardoned by the President of France in 1899, thus allowing him to return to Paris but he was only exonerated of the charges in 1906 after which he was restored to his former military rank.

The Dreyfus affair in which Zola had paid a heavy personal price had notable long term consequences for French society and politics. The status and inter-relationships of institutions such as the Catholic Church, the army and the government were questioned and redefined, and the judiciary had to establish more rigorous standards. Of significance, the Ligue pour la Defense des Droits de l'Homme (League for the Defence of Human Rights) was founded during Zola's trial in February 1898.

Today, Zola would have been proud of the Malaysian students in Cambridge and Manchester. In December 1897, before J'accuse, Zola wrote a pamphlet dedicated to the young, appealing to them to join him in the struggle for the truth:

"Jeunesse, Jeunesse! Sois humaine, sois genereux ... Qui donc, si ce n'est toi, tentera la sublime aventure, se lancera dans une cause dangereuse et superbe, tiendra tte a un peuple, au nom de l'idal de justice? N'es-tu pas honteuse enfin que ce soient des ains, des vieux, qui se passionent, qui fassent aujourd'hui ta besogne de genereux folie".

(Youth, Youth! Be human, be generous ... who else, if not you who will attempt this sublime adventure, throwing yourself into this noble but dangerous cause, for the people, in the name of justice? Are you not ashamed that it is your elders who passionately undertake your noble duty?)

To be continued on my next outing.

DR MAZENI ALWI is a medical practitioner who takes care of sick children.