Kuala Lampur, Jan. 15 -- "Jangan sampai bangsaku tiada negara." Mat Kilau allegedly said this before he died in 1970.

A centenarian by then certainly since the Pahang uprising ended in 1895. Raised in Jerantut's Pulau Tawar, he raided a Kuala Lipis British facility in 1892.

Don't let my people turn stateless. (Or should it be race instead is today's hopefully vibrant discussion.)

Plastered on a shoplot's side wall, along with a drawing of Mat Kilau and possibly Datuk Bahaman, by the main thoroughfare Jalan Besar in Kuantan. I'm seated in a cafe opposite and Menara Kuantan 118, the town's main attraction is perpendicular to the wall. The past and present converge without ceremony.

On a fine breezy day, when all of Umno Pahang leadershi...