My socialist friends were there too

In the 2005 Congress of Parti KeADILan Rakyat held today in Kuala Lumpur's 5-star Hotel Istana, I also met Dr. Mohamad Nasir Hashim (left) and S. Arutchelvan (right) who are the chairman and secretary-general of the pro-tem committee of the Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM). I first knew Dr. Nasir in the late 1980s as a professor of food technology in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Later, he was detained with trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Operasi Lalang in October 1987.

Dr. Nasir has never changed his secularly austere lifestyle since I first met and knew him as a professor of secular science and technology. Those who are interested in the works of Antonio Gramsci, please look for him for more in-depth enlightenment and critical debate.