Source: Sunday Star
October 22,1989, pg, 7
By Lim Swee Bin
Kuala Lumpur, Saturday - A Malaysian who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima has called on parents to teach their children to hate war and love peace.
"War is a terrible thing. It must be avoided at all costs and children must be taught to hate conflicts of any kind," Haji Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid said when giving a talk on his experience in Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, when the US dropped the bomb to force Japan to surrender during World War Two.
The Ceramah Tun Dr Ismail, attended by 400 teachers and pupils, was organised by the Federal Territory branch of the Malaysian Historical Society as part of a series of talks by local personalities.
Haji Razak, now 64 and was diagnosed to be radioactivity-free by Japanese doctors last year, said his Hiroshima experience had shown him the "terror and horror of war."
"I have felt the terror of war and I want to save others from the folly," he said, adding that his three children and seven granchildren had been taught to love peace.
Haji Razak, believed to be the sole Malaysian to have survived the Hiroshima bombing, had given many talks on his experience since returning home three-and-a-half months after the bombing.
Haji Razak, now a co-ordinator of the Japanese language intensive course at ITM, was sent to Hiroshima in 1944 with two other Malayans to pursue a degree in education in a university there. The other two were killed in the holocaust. Nik Yusuf Nik Ali, of Kelantan, died on the spot while Johorean Syed Omar Alsagoff [SIC] died a month later from radiation exposure.
To spread the message of peace, Haji Razak has written Debu Hiroshima (Ashes of Hiroshima) with the help of University Kebangsaan Malaysia lecturer Othman Puteh. The book was published by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka two years ago and some 40,000 copies have been sold.
Haji Razak has also help the NHK television network in Japan to do a documentary on Japan in My Mind (Heart) which re-enacts the events of the fateful day through the eyes of the survivors.
