Zaini Ahmad

Haji Zaini bin Haji Ahmad (born 21 January 1935) is a Bruneian politician, civil servant and writer who served on the Partai Rakyat Brunei's (PRB) Executive Committee and founding the anti-government newspaper Suara Bakti, he was detained in Brunei, escaped to Malaysia in 1974, participated in the PRB's UN Mission in 1976, and was considered the A. M. Azahari's personal assistant. He and Azahari headed the PRB when the Brunei revolt erupted in December 1962.

Early life and education
Zaini bin Haji Ahmad was born at Kampong Sumbiling on 21 January 1935, the son of Pehin Orang Kaya Syahbandar Haji Ahmad bin Daud, who served in the Sultan's constitutional delegation to London for the 1959 Brunei Negotiations as well as the State Council. The grandpa of his father was an Indian Muslim who immigrated to Borneo and settled in North Borneo-Labuan. His parents were Sunni Muslims, and while my mother was deeply religious, his father did not become particularly devout until he was elderly.

Zaini received his early education at a number of establishments including the Roman Catholic English School in Brunei Town, at Victoria School in Singapore, at St. Thomas in Kuching, at the London School of Economics from 1958 to 1960.

Political career
Among Zaini's positions as a government civil servant were those of clerk at the Brunei Immigration Department from 1954 to 1955, administrative officer at the State Government Secretariat's Economic Development Unit, and labor office in Kuala Belait from 1960 to 1961. He also wrote for Malaya Raya, a Malay journal edited by Harun Aminurrashid and published in Singapore. He was an active with the Barisan Pemuda (BARIP) during the 1940s.

Brunei People's Party
Zaini's father made an unsuccessful attempt to dissuade him from being involved with the PRB. From 1956 until February 1958, Zaini was a member of the PRB's executive committee. The PRB newsletter was edited by him and debuted on 5 January 1957. In 1957, he took part in the PRB's Merdeka Mission to London. He started his own weekly newspaper, Suara Bakti, upon his return from London in 1960. However, by the end of 1961, the government had forced it to cease due to its anti-government attitude. He chose to rejoin the PRB after making an attempt to start his own political party in December 1961, followed by being elected to the position of District Councillor in August 1962. As part of the proposed North Borneo Federation, Azahari named him as Minister of Economics, Commerce and Industry. When the Brunei revolt began in 1962, he was in Manila as part of the A. M. Azahari mission to the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City, supporting the Malaysia Agreement.

Revolt and exile
Following the failed revolt attempt, Zaini betrayed his commitment to his leader, A. M. Azahari, and applied for political refuge in British Hong Kong with the British government in 1963. Expecting to be treated with mercy. Instead, in early 1963, he was sent back to Brunei, he was imprisoned for more than 10 years in Jerudong Prison and held without charge or trial. Amnesty International, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and the Commonwealth Relations Office in London all made unsuccessful attempts to secure his release. Later, it was said that in 1966, he volunteered to give up his Bruneian citizenship in exchange for being permitted to go into exile, and that in 1968, he was granted political asylum in Malaysia. However, the Bruneian government chose not to reply.

On 12 July 1973, the day of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien's birthday, Zaini and six other senior PRB detainees of the Berakas Detention Camp, including Yassin Affandi, escaped by sea to nearby Limbang in Sarawak, thanks to an operation led by the nephew and brother of PRB leader Azahari, Sheikh Saleh Sheikh Mahmud. Reportedly, Ghazali Shafie, then Malaysia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, covertly supported the escape, reflecting Malaysia's dissatisfaction with the Sultan's refusal to join the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 and the treatment of Malaysian civil servants in Brunei. This support for freeing Zaini and others likely served as a warning to the Sultan to adopt more liberal policies or face potential consequences. According to a report published by Utusan Malaysia on the 27, ten Bruneians (including Zaini) who had fled to Malaysia were given political refuge by the Malaysian government, as soon as they arrived.

Zaini successfully made his way into Malaysia in the middle of 1974. His travel was restricted since he was a political refugee in Malaysia and was unable to get a Malaysian passport. However, in 1974, he actively reorganised the PRB in exile alongside Azahari and used international organisations, with Malaysia's backing, to push for Brunei's elections. In exile in Malaysia, Zaini and a few other PRB members who fled with him revived the party and carried on with their political activities, calling for Brunei's independence and appealing to various international bodies and nations, including the United Nations (March 1975, July 1975, November 1975, and October 1977), the Commonwealth (March 1975), the Non-Aligned Movement Summit (July 1976), and the Muslim Foreign Ministers' Conference in Kuala Lumpur (1974). In response, the United Nations enacted UN Resolution 3424 (1975).

Zaini also finished a Master of Arts thesis on Brunei nationalism at National University of Malaysia, which was published in 1984 and reissued in 1989. In 1985, he was employed by Pertubuhan Kebajikan Islam Malaysia (PERKIM), the Muslim Welfare Association of Malaysia, and in charge of the dormitory for Sabah students in Jalan Ampang.

The Malaysian government supported the PRB's revival in Limbang, but protests called for Brunei's sovereignty restoration. Zaini sought to help Brunei's Ministry of Foreign Affairs post-independence in 1984 but was deterred by the lack of assurances from Brunei officials and former Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III's opposition. After the Sultan's death on 7 September 1986, he likely saw a clearer path for his return to Brunei. He was discouraged from pursuing his goal of earning a higher degree in international relations. After the former Sultan passed away on 7 September 1986, he probably believed the biggest obstacle to his homecoming had been eliminated. After being prevented from pursuing his dream of earning a doctorate abroad, Zaini enrolled at the University of Malaya in 1988 to work under Khoo Kay Kim on a dissertation about the history of the PRB.

Return to Brunei
Zaini returned to Brunei on 1 April 1993 to request a pardon from the current sultan, and spent more than two years in detention until his release on 19 July 1995. He had a stroke in 1997. After his recovery, he lived in a peaceful retirement in Bandar Seri Begawan with his oldest son and family, working at the Brunei History Centre to prepare his PhD thesis for publication. He received his PhD from the University of Malaya in 2001. He presented his updated thesis, "Brunei Merdeka: sejarah dan budaya politik," published in 2003 and certified by Brunei's Special Branch, which provides him a small pension, when he was last seen in 2008.

Books
Isa bin Ibrahim, the Minister of Home Affairs, issued an order in 1990 forbidding the importation, sale, or distribution of Pertumbuhan Nationalisme Di Brunei (1939–1962) and Triwarna, two of Zaini's works.