Areca Books: books 25

The Sara Saga

The decades from the 1930s to the 1960s were hugely important in the making of modern Asia. They saw the tumultuous transition from colonial rule through the travails of war to the eventual attainment of independent nationhood. Manicasothy Saravanamuttu – ‘Sara’ to all and sundry – was a truly remarkable witness to and participant in these events. From his origins as the son of one of Ceylon’s most prominent political families this gripping memoir traces a remarkable journey: cricket-loving student at Oxford during the Great War, fearless editor of Penang’s English-language newspaper The Straits Echo, resilient internee during the Japanese Occupation, influential diplomat-at-large during the height of the Cold War, and trustworthy confidant to the great and the good. Written with great panache this revised edition of The Sara Saga offers a unique glimpse into history in the making. And more than this, it crystallises Sara’s singular character– a true ‘global soul’.

‘This is a very pleasing book …. It draws a candid, full length, real life pen picture of its characterful author … [and] it describes many of the important historic events which have occurred … as seen through the eyes of an always shrewd observer of the drama’. – MALCOLM MACDONALD.

Contents

List of Illustrations vi
Acknowledgements viii
Acknowledgements to the Original Edition xi
Foreword by Malcolm MacDonald xiii
Foreword to New Edition by Manicam Saravanamuttu and
Johan Saravanamuttu vx
Preface xix

I Early Days 1
II At Oxford 17
III London Interlude 33
IV "The Old Lady of Baillie Street" 45
V Progress in Penang 55
VI Penang Personalities 79
VII War Breaks Out 99
VIII In Japanese Prison 119
IX Under Japanese Rule 135
X The Liberation 151
XI As Ceylon Commissioner 169
XII The Midnight Sun 185
XIII The Bandung Story 197
XIV Malayan Independence 213
XV Singapore's Troubles 231
XVI Ceylon's Full Cycle 247
XVII Three Score Years and Ten 253
Index 274

Sara (second from left) in a group photograph with Tan Siew Sin (third from right), who became the Finance Minister of independent Malaya.

Tan Sri C.M. Hashim (left) and Puan Hashim with the author and F.g. Hammett, President of the Penang Municipal Council, at the British Malayan Association dinner in London in 1954.

Sara's speech has Malcolm MacDonald and wife, E.E.C. Thuraisingham and wife and others at the VIP table in stitches, at an event probably in Kuala Lumpur, ca. late 1940s.