Din Merican presented me two books on the South American revolutionary icon, Che Guevara recently. One of them that I have finished reading is Cuba: By Korda, an overview of Korda’s extraordinary camerawork, from his first work as a fashion photographer to “The Quixote of the Lamp Post”, a Cuban peasant sitting on a lamp post above a sea of people during a mass rally. It includes other somewhat quirky and less well-known photographs, such as Castro warily eyeing a tiger at the Bronx zoo and Guevara playing golf.
Another book on Guevara that Mr. Merican gave me is the Self Potrait: Che Guevara, edited by Victor Casaus. It is a remarkable photographic and literary memoir, drawing on the rich seam of diaries, letters, poems, journalism and short stories Che Guevara left behind him in Cuba. Unique among the many books about Guevara, this book has been compiled in close collaboration with Guevara’s family, using exclusive material from his family’s private archives. Revealed for the first time is Che Guevara’s personal world, unveiling his extraordinary candor, irony, dry humour and passion.
Mr. Merican, a veteran radical who recently have been trusted with the responsibility to lead and coordinate operations at Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur is a voracious reader. He remains youthful and rebellious although he is pushing to 69 this year. And today, he is a very updated blogger. How impressive!