Not a 'ghost story'

That a violin-playing Rashid Maidin could appear and disappear in crowds here and there without being detected by mata-mata gelap during the 'Emergency' was certainly a cerita hantu but what is absolutely true is that Pak Rashid learned to play violin, speak Chinese and English and also qualify himself as a first-class electrical chargeman through strict examinations even when he was a poor kampong youth without the benefit of any preferential treatment or affirmative action programme implemented by any government in 1930s.

In his 104-page memoirs Daripada Perjuangan Bersenjata Kepada Perdamaian (Kuala Lumpur, SIRD, 2005), he reveals that he could even sing The Internationale in Mandarin or Guozi Ge ( p.49). He also pays tribute to martyr Toh Lung San as his "true teacher" in politics (p.15) and "the best son of the people of Malaya" (p. 14).