Veteran Malay journalist Said Zahari has published the second part of his memoirs entitled 'The Long Nightmare - My 17 Years as a Political Prisoner' in English.

This is a translation of the Malay-language Dalam Ribuan Mimpi Gelisah - Memoir Said Zahari . Both versions are published by the Utusan Publications & Distribution in Kuala Lumpur.

In 'The Long Nightmare' Said recalls in detail the national and regional circumstances leading to his detention as well as the physical and psychological torture he and other political detainees suffered. In some cases, this resulted in suicide attempts and severe psychological disorder.

Said also recounts how the Carter administration of the United States helped to raise the issue of his detention with the international community.

Professor Anuar Nik Mahmud of UKM and Tan Jing Quee, a former fellow detainee in Singapore, have written a foreword to the publication.

Singapore-born Said was editor-in-chief of Utusan Melayu from 1959-1961. He led a three-month journalists' and workers' strike to oppose the takeover of the newspaper by Umno in 1961.

He was later ordered by then prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman to return to Singapore where he was subsequently detained without trial for 17 years by premier Lee Kuan Yew's government for allegedly being a "communist" and "Indonesian agent".

Said covered the historic 1955 Baling Talks between the Tunku and Communist Party of Malaya leaders Chin Peng, Rashid Maidin and Chen Tian.

Part 1 of the memoirs, 'Dark Clouds at Dawn', was published in Malay and Chinese in 2001.

Late last year, the third part stored in a computer was stolen from his house in Subang Jaya while he was on vacation in Port Dickson. These have not been recovered.