Pak Rashid in his no-nonsense moment

Although Pak Rashid was born into a very poor family in colonial Malaya when there was no New Economic Policy, he struggled hard for self-improvement and to make himself a fuller man.

While working as child labouerer, he learnt English from a Mat Salleh Christian missionary in Tapah and then through a Jakarta-based distance learning programme. He also mastered enough Chinese to socialise with his Chinese fellow workers in tin-mines and underground comrades.

Of course, he later learnt to play violin.

His knowledge and skills of electrical works were recognised by certificate he obtained after passing examination in Ipoh.

Besides representing the Communist Party of Malaya at the 1955 Peace Talk, Pak Rashid also went to London with fellow communist Wu Tien Wang and R.G. Balan in 1947 to attend the British Empire Communist Parties' Conference. He is also a signatory to the 1989 Peace Accords between the Communist Party of Malaya and the Government of Malaysia.