Veteran journalist Said Zahari said that newspapers should be free to analyse, debate and defend the truth in order to fight the rot in the political system, not only within the government, but in all quarters.

Speaking at Universiti Malaya last night during an event held in his honour, the 73-year-old poet and writer added that unless mainstream papers are allowed to do so, their credibility will be compromised and the people's trust in them will erode.

"However, I believe that the people's trust will return if things revert to the way they were before the 1960s," he said drawing on his experience as the chief editor of Utusan Melayu from 1956 to 1961.

Said was one of the key leaders of the three-month Utusan strike in 1961 to protest Umno's takeover of the newspaper.

Following the strike, Said was exiled to Singapore where he served as leader of the Singapore People's Party for only one day before he was arrested under the city state's Internal Security Act on Feb 2, 1963.

He was detained for 17 years on accusations that he was a 'communist' before being released in August 1979.

Political memoirs

Said explained that he had written his political memoirs titled Dark clouds at dawn to relate his experiences during the developments leading up to the Utusan strike.

"I was given this opportunity when I was appointed by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia as its guest writer," related Said who has been involved in the university's programme since 1996.

His memoirs were also written in reply to the accusations and allegations that had been used to justify his long period of detention.

Said maintained that he was never a communist, but few questioned it once he was declared as such by then Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

"Until today, Lee never answered any of the challenges that I posed in my memoirs for him to provide proof that I had been involved in communist activities," he said.

Said pointed out that all his assertions can be verified from recently declassified documents from that period which are now available at the record office in London.

When asked, Said said his memoirs were well received by former Malayan Communist Party chairperson Chin Peng, whose conversation with Said in Bangkok in the early 1990s was documented in the book.

Although Chin Peng felt that the interpretation in the book was too "accusatory", he acknowledged that his collaboration with Lee had led to the collapse of the leftist movement in Singapore, Said revealed.

Said also said he regretted missing the opportunity to clarify certain issues with former Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra to whom the Singapore government had attributed his arrest.

Two books to come

For the future, Said is planning two other books for publication.

The writer said that while the first was on political issues, the second will focus on human rights, particularly in relation to the ISA.

"I will talk about the 17 years I spent in jail and the torture and sufferings of political detainees," he added.

Said revealed that his third book may be a joint effort between him and his wife, Salamah Abdul Wahab, to talk about the difficulties that the family had to endure while he was jailed.

Earlier, Salamah was invited to speak on her experiences as the wife of a political detainee.

However, she explained tearfully that she could only speak briefly as she did not want to delve too much into the past.

"I kept my pledge to continue to fight on even though he was on the inside and I was on the outside," said Salamah who had to raise four of their children as a single mother after Said's arrest.

"However, despite all the bitterness, I do not regret his actions and I am proud that he had championed so hard for the people and the country," she added.

The event, called 'A night with Said Zahari', was organised by the Malaysian Social Science Association and UM Academic Staff Association.

Poems by Said and the late Usman Awang were also recited. Usman, who was to have graced the evening, passed away last November from heart failure.

About 100 people attended the event which started with a dinner.