It was also a time when the communist insurgency, through the Malayan National Liberation Army, was gaining a strong foothold in the country, especially in Perak and Selangor.

The year was 1952, Malaya was under Emergency then and the one place which exemplified the ongoing battle for public support, among the British and the communists was undoubtedly Sungai Siput, Perak.

Living in an estate a few kilometres away from Sungai Siput, 11-year-old Asi (not his real name) was always impressed by two things: the manner with which the communists got the better of the British and the way an Indian gentleman called Perumal propagated an independent nation.