REMEMBRANCE SERIES 3 - MONTANA BIKES

The Montana bikes waiting patiently for their owners to come back during the next school holidays

After searching high and low along the road from Bukit Pinang to Telaga Mas, we finally managed to locate the Montana Bicycle Factory outlet that my son, Shiwar was searching for the past three months. It was quite a big warehouse complex in the middle of nowhere. Once we were inside, I was surprised at the array of bicycles of different types that were displayed all over the warehouse . The bicycles were all imported CKD bicycles from Europe and China. The imported bicycles from China would then be re distributed to Europe. The remaining bicycles would be ditributed to the retailed outlets throughout the country. I was very amazed at the level of lingkages that a back door warehouse has acquired.

In the warehouse, I met a gentleman who introduced himself as the Assistant Director of Kedah Domestic Trade and Cosumer Affairs. He then introduced to us his wife which he referred as 'pacal pondok patik'. Straight away I knew that he must has attended my lecture on 'palace protocol'. Sure enough, he confirmed that my guess was correct.

As a bicycle enthusiast, he frequented the warehouse during his free times. That evening, he was looking for suitable bicycles for his two grand children i.e a boy aged six and a girl aged five. Both of the kids were very busy trying all kinds of bicycles. Looking admirably at the kids' behaviour, my wife whispered to me that she would like to give a treat if ever our grand children would come back to Alor Setar during the next school hoildays. She has already put aside a special fund for the purpose from her proceeds of the kutu scheme that she has participated with her cousins and auntie, Mak Chik Sayang.

Luckily enough for us, our daughter Nana and her entire family did came back to Alor Setar on Saturday, 14th. March 2009. It was indeed an honourable gesture on the part of Nana in bringing her family back home to Alor Setar during the school holidays since I was not be abled to travel the long distance journey to Kuala Lumpur due to my irritating back pain.

Nana arrived at Alor Setar approximately at 3.00 p.m.. Just immediately after the Asar prayer, her mother insisted her to bring her family along to the Montana Bicycle Outlet at Bukit Pinang. Her mother wanted to suprise her grand children. Since my son in law, Jim is a vivid bicycle enthusiast himself, then he would be able to guide us on the brand and prices of the bicycles that we should buy.

We were lucky because when we arrived at the warehouse at 5.30.p.m. the warehouse workers were busy closing the warehouse. After our persistent haggling, the owner agreed to our request to reopen the warehouse for business. Since Jim was also a bicycle expert, in no time he was successful in forging a closed rapport with warehouse owner. Our three grand children, Aisyah aged 8, Alia aged 6 and Afiq aged 5 looked very surprised indeed when we asked them to try any bicycle that they like from the array of bicycles displayed.

Initially, Alia was quite shy to ride the bicycle. However after much coxing, she enjoyed cycling on her chosen bicycle all over the warehouse. Aisyah was also enjoying her rides too. Both of them were fast to adapt to the braking system of the German Imported bicycles. Afiq was very choosy since he could not adapt to the new bicycle braking system whereby you have to back pedal to put the bicycle to a stop. He would prefer any bicycle that has the traditional version of the braking system. The warehouse owner has to open three CKD boxes before Afiq would agree to the cheaper Chinese imported bike.

When Jim reaffirmed that the bicycles would cost double in Kuala Lumpur, my wife readily agreed to buy the three bicycles that my 3 grandchildren seemed to enjoy namely:
1. Aisyah - German Imported Piranha 20' wheel which cost RM 180.00.
2. Alia - German Imported Piranha 16' wheel which cost RM 150.00.
3. Afiq - China Imported Agogo 16' wheel which cost only RM 120.00.

My wife and I were very satisfied with the purchase when we looked at the bewildered and astonished faces of our grand children when we told them that they could bring back home their chosen bicycles. With the proceeds from her kutu scheme, it was in fact a small sum to pay the happiness of our grand children.

On the way back, Alia was very agitated with her uncle and auntie when we have to detour off our original route to Pumpong. We have to detour to Kuala Kedah to fetch my youngest son who was coming back from Langkawi. With the detour route, surely there would not be ample time for my grand children to ride their bicycle in Pumpong that very evening.

Alia got more agitated when my youngest son when we could not locate him at the Kuala Kedah Jetty. It seemed that my wife has wrongly comprehended the message she has received from our. However, judging by the smiling satisfying looks of my wife, I am certain that my grand children would get more treats from their grand mother in the future, Insya Allah.

SIBLINGS SERIES 1 – ABANG

Today the title Abang is synonym with the yearly birthday greetings being send to their eldest brother, Dato’ Shamsul Bahari Salleh Khir by his bother and sisters. One wonder from where the greeting titled Abang came into existence.

The yearly birthday greetings to Abang started in the year 2004 when Zam found a prediction written by the late Mr. Ibrahim on Shamsul Bahari in 1948 or a the age of two. The late Mr. Ibrahim was a teacher to Zam’s father, Mohd. Salleh Khir at Sultan Abdul Hamid College, Alor Setar. The late Mr. Ibrahim had a special ability as a magician and also as an astrologer. When we read the predictions, we found out that there were almost perfect as to what Shamsul Bahari is today.

Zam was very anxious about this findings and wanted straight away to send it to Shamsul Bahari. We argued that since it was on the eve of his birthday, we suggested that the predictions should be sent together with the birthday greetings of his 58^th birthday. Combined the two, it would create more impact and feelings to Sahmsul Bahari in remembering his siblings. Thus the birthday greetings entitled ABANG came into existence.

Why was there the urge to send birthday greetings to Shamsul Bahari when with the present modern communication technology we could easily send a SMS greetings. It is more efficient and does not cost much in term of financial and efforts. However his siblings realized that although Abang is physically far away from them but yet he is closed to their hearts. He will be there when his siblings need him most. Although he is very stingy with his time, yet he will be there in person when there is a matter of life and death amongst his immediate family. Abang at Alun's wedding

One of Abang’s caring and magnanimous personality was his willingness to sponsor Haji Yaacob’s Yearly Family Breaking Fast at Holiday Villa, Alor Setar during the fasting month. The response from his relatives was also spontaneous and very encouraging as even with short notice, about 160 Haji Yaacob’s anak cucu would be at the yearly gatherings. These yearly gatherings was very significant to us as we became more acquainted with our relatives which we have not met before. As I was the designated Master of Ceremony, naturally the descendants of Haji Yaacob know me more than Zam.

Abang and his siblings at one of our raya gatherings at Holiday Villa, Alor Setar

Banana leaf lunch at Abang's mansion in Ipoh
Abang would be very much delighted if ever any of his siblings would stop over at his house in Ipoh. Abang would be down hearted if ever one his siblings just pass through Ipoh without giving him a call. If you do visit him, then he would always make sure you would be served with the best food in Ipoh. Ipoh mali food would include the famous Ipoh Banana Leaf or the Chicken Implanted Berayani.

Apart from that, Abang is also graciously footing the bimonthly medical bills for his youngest sister, Nooraini whom we fondly refer as Mek Tet at Subang Jaya Medical Centre. Abang would also contribute to his nephew and nieces’ weddings. Taking into accounts all the good deeds of Abang, our birthday greetings to Abang symbolizes our small token of gratitude for the kind hearted Abang.

In 2005, we did not deliver his birthday greetings as we celebrated his birthday at his mansion in Ipoh. However we produced a simple poem or sajak narrated by his nephew Wan Mohd. Fazli. In 2006, we continued with our tradition of sending birthday greetings to Shamsul Bahari with the established title Abang. The theme of the 2006 greetings was ‘wise’. Initially we did prepare a birthday greetings in Bahasa Malaysia with ‘excellence’ as the greetings theme..

In 2007, Zam suggested that we should send the traditional birthday greetings accompanied with Abang’s favourite Malay delicacy i.e embraced glutinous rice or pulut dakap. We knew that embraced glutinous rice is Abang’s favourite delicacy and yet it was very hard to find it in Ipoh. Furthermore Kak Sham was still the best chef in preparing these pulut dakap which is far more superior in taste of Ipoh Mali pulut dakap. The idea of sending these pulut dakap was to coincide with his Nami’s (thirst youngest sister) return to Alor Setar after her return from USA. The theme of the 2007 greetings was ‘cordiality’.

Unfortunately as it was the normal trait of her husband, Bang Mat, Nami could not make it to Alor Setar in the last final minute. As such the pulut dakap ended its short journey at my house in Pumpong. As there was not aan mple time to send the birthday greetings, a short birthday greetings was sent through SMS. We could not send the original birthday greetings which described the delicacy as accompanying the greetings. Without the embraced glutinous rice, then the greetings was useless without any intrinsic value.

Finally in 2008, we again managed this year’s birthday greetings on time. We continued to maintain the title of the greetings as Abang. The theme of the 2008 greetings was the ‘personality’ of Abang. Although Abang’s personality has both sides of the coin, yet his positive personality outweighs his negative personality. With Allah’s grace, we hope to continue sending birthday greetings to Abang until the last breath of the sender or the receiver. Insya Allah.

SIBLINGS SERIES 2- ABANG: 58

ABANG

Seven months

After you were born

Your fate was made known.

The year was 1947

Your root number was 97

If you dare to look then

Then you will realize the perfection

On almost all the predictions.

You are ambitious

Resolute and courageous

Enterprising with a strong will power

A constructive mind of your own

You are fond of action

power and also opposition.

You are progressive

Pushful and enthusiastic

With a desire for publicity and notice

You are really fantastic.

How fortunate and lucky we are

To have you as our brother

Always there when ever

We need to lean on your shoulder.

Our dearest brother

That is what you are

Our greatest brother

Forever and ever,

You are really very fortunate

To reach the age of fifty eight

Please ponder on your fate

That was predicted before 1948.

Happy birthday and may God bless you.

From Adik, Nami, Nari, Ani & Tet

19^th July 2004

SIBLINGS SERIES 3 : ABANG - 60

Abang

Wishing you a happy 60^th Birthday,

This fragrance yellow rice

Symbolizes four fifth of your journey in life

Life blessed by virtue and happiness

Life of a man who fear neither the light or the dark

A happy man who is not he who seems to others

But who seems thus to himself.

Abang

With the grace of Allah

You have planned your life wisely

For thinking well is wise

And planning well more wiser

While doing well is wisest and best of all

Abang

Wishing you a very happy birthday

From your brother and sisters

Who are more wiser today

Than we were yesterday

Happy birthday Abang

From your brother and sisters

19^th July 2006

SIBLINGS SERIES 4 : ABANG - 62

ABANG

You are patient,

You are kind,

You do not envy,

You do not boast,

You are not proud,

You are not rude,

You are not self seeking,

Although you are easily angered,

Yet you keep no record of wrongs,

You do not delight in evil,

You rejoice in the truth,

You always protect your siblings,

Without any thought or even a winkling,

To you, we place our trusts,

To you, we preserve our hopes,

Our hopes that you will always be you,

The abang that we always know,

The abang that always render our hearts aglow,

The abang that age does not show,

Although you have reached the age of sixty two,

Happy birthday to you,

May Allah bless both of you,

Together with all your anak cucu.

From your brother and sisters, 19^th. July 2008

SAHOCA 3 – Into The World of Malay Literature

My interest in Malay literature started when I was in Form IV at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in 1962. It was the year that the subject of Malay Literature was introduced in our Malaya Certificate Of Examination. Our first Malay Literature teacher was Che Gu Shahnon Ahmad who hailed from Sik. He was also a former Collegian and it was also his first outing as a teacher.

We were dumb founded when he started the class by saying “ Boys, welcome to the subject of Malay Literature. First of all, I would like to teach you about drawing.” We were astonished with his opening remarks as we were wondering to the question of what was drawing had got to do with Malay Literature. We were thinking whether we were in the wrong class or the teacher himself was in the wrong class. When he began to explain further about his opening remarks, then the correct interpretation of the term drawing sunk into our heads.

Che Gu Shahnon told us that you must possess a strong power of imagination if you want to be a good writer or for you to produce a good piece of literature. Then he began to teach us about the power of imagination which he termed as drawing. The process of imagination he was teaching us was actually the process of mind mapping. At that time, Che Gu Shahnon was already a budding short story writer. His writings were published almost every other months in the weekly edition of Berita Harian or Utusan Melayu. In those days you were paid between $50.00 to $75.00 for a piece of your literary works that were published in the weekly editions of Malay newspapers.

We were in fact carried away with the concept of imagination or drawing that was initiated by Che Gu Shahnon. We were actually entranced by his ability of imaginations or story telling. We were indeed captivated by his story lines. We also began to emulate Che Gu Shahnon’s style of writings which comprised of short sentences when we wrote our essays. Every week, we would produce our own writings for our class assignments which were highly acknowledged by Che Gu Shahnon.

An amusing incidence happened when one of our classmates got carried away with one the drawing exercises. Our classmate Ismail Bakar was so impressed with one of the drawings of Che Gu Shahnon to the extend that he produced a short story wholly based on Che Gu Shahnon’s story telling. Ismail Bakar then sent his master piece to Utusan Melayu. Luckily enough, his master piece was published in its weekly edition in the following month. He was paid $50.00 for his efforts. He was so delighted with this surprised bounty so much so that he spent his rewards by celebrating with us at the College tuck shop.. We skipped our normal lunch that day by having nasi mee telok Mamak which was the top choice cuisine at the canteen.

One month later, to our surprise we found out that Che Gu Sahnon was having problems with his short story publisher. He was accused of plagiarism as his short story was a duplicate copy of Ismail Bakar’ short story that was published a month earlier. It was indeed an embarrassing situation for Che Gu Shahnon as he was already an established writer in the Malay literary world. It did effected his reputation as a prolific writer. With that embarrassing episode, then we realized that Che Gu Shahnon’s story telling was in fact his way of pursuing his mental exercise on his proposed story lines before he actually start writing on his next short story.

Realising his unintended mistake, Ismail Bakar opologised to Che Gu Shahnon on the embarrassing incidence. To solve that matter amicably, Ismail Bakar also wrote to the newspaper publisher explaining his predicament. Luckily for Ismail Bakar, he was not penalized and he was very delighted because he could still keep his honorarium. Che Gu Shahnon’s controversial short story was also published in the next month’s edition without anybody realizing about the furor attributed to it. It was lucky for us too or otherwise we would have to pay back our meal of nasi mee telok Mamak.

With this amusing episode, Che Gu Shahnon stopped his practice of telling us his drawings. We really missed his drawings because since then we have to endure forty five minutes of solid lesson on Malay Literature. However Che Gu Shahnon’s efforts on drawings has proved its worth as it was already entrenched in our line of thinking in wanting to produce the highest quality of literary products.

I was really infatuated with Che Gu Shahnon’s style of teaching and writings. I began to indulge myself in reading literary works of Malaysian and Indonesian writers. As there were not much Malay books available then, I used to borrow Indonesian books from my late uncle-in-law Syed Hamid Syed Ali. My style of writings was also influenced by Che Gu Shahnon and sometimes also by the Indonesian writers.

Due to the effective teaching of Che Gu Shahnon, most of us rose to the occasion whereby many of us scored As in our Malay Literature subject in the following year Cambridge School Certificate Examination. With my attitude of over confidence, I could only scrapped through in Malay Literature. Ismail Bakar also scored an A for his Malay Literature and proceeded to become a Malay Language Teacher in Sungai Petani. Apart from that, he also excelled in football whereby he was one the prominent football referees in the state.

A few of us who were lovers of Malay Literature such as Shuib Din and Mohd. Daud Hamzah excelled in their academic endeavours by becoming professors. Prof. Mohd. Daud Hamzah even joined the academic staff of USM together with our Che Gu Shahnon. Kudos to Che Gu Shahnon who is our beacon of literary excellence in which he is a National Laureate as well as an Emeritus Professor of USM.

12^th August 2008, Dietitian Clinic, Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital.

ON HIS MAJESTY SERVICE: 55

My final punch out from the State Financial Office, at 4.15 pm on 27 August 2001
From left: Me, Haji Khazali Din, Dato' Haji Hassan Taib, Haji Halim Hassan, Mohd. Asri Redza, Haji Ahmad Abdullah, Dato' Haji Wan Mustaffa and Abdul Bari.

LIMA PULUH LIMA

Mulai 1 Oktober 2001, mana-mana pegawai yang bersara selepas 1 Oktober 2001 boleh lah membuat pilihan sama ada hendak bersara pada umur 55 tahun atau pada 56 tahun. Oleh kerana saya bersara pada 27 Ogos 2001, maka tidak adalah pilihan bagi saya melainkan bersara pada 28 Ogos 2001. Pada malam 27 Ogos 2001, Majlis Sukan Negeri Kedah yang diterajui oleh Muhammad Che Nai telah menganjurkan majlis perpisahan untuk saya bertempat di Tingkat 9, Holiday Villa, Alor Setar.

Untuk majlis itu, saya perlu berucap dan ucapan ini melambangkan perasaan sedih dan pilu saya hendak meninggalkan perkhidmatan dan kawan-kawan selama 33 tahun yang berlalu. Kenangan paling nostalgik bersama Zam di ambang persaraan saya pada jam 11.00 malam, 27 Ogos 2001. Saya menulis ucapan ini terus dari sudut hati saya yang sayu dan pilu untuk meninggalkan 33 tahun kehidupan saya dalam KCS. Saya mengambil masa 30 minit untuk menghasilkan cetusan hati ini.

Di sinilah bermulanya kreativiti menulis nukilan cetusan hati. Sehingga ke hari ini, Zam masih mengatakan inilah ucapan saya paling menusuk hati pendengar. Dato’ Syed Azizan MADA tidak yakin bahawa saya mampu menukilkan cetusan hati seperti ini. Namun dia dan keluarganya tidak tahu bahawa saya ini adalah anak murid Che Gu Shahnon.

LIMA PULUH LIMA

Lima puluh lima,

Angka keramat untuk kita semua,

Di depan lima,

Di belakang pun lima,

Kalau dikalih semua,

Angkanya masih sama,

Lima puluh lima.

Lima puluh lima,

Amat sukar hati nak terima,

Bahawa kita sudah lima puluh lima,

Walau rambut dah pun tukar warna,

Kulit pun dah kerdot macam buah kurma,

Kepala hanya diliputi rambut di sini sana,

Namun, hati masih berat juga nak terima,

Bahawa kita sudah lima puluh lima.

Lima puluh lima,

Sebelum satu Oktober 2001,

Angka keramat untuk pegawai Kerajaan Malaysia,

28 Ogos 2001 tidak lagi diambil kira,

30 minit lagi genaplah lima puluh lima,

Kini saya sudah berada di ambang senja,

Sudah tiba masanya untuk bersara,

Untuk terus meniti hidup ke ambang pusara.

Namun saya tetap bersyukur lega,

Kepada Allah yang maha esa,

Walau pun saya selalu mudah lupa,

Hanya ingat apabila bencana menimpa,

Namun Allah sentiasa tak lupa,

Mencucuri rahmat yang tak terhingga,

Kepada diri saya dan juga keluarga,

Merestui saya mengharungi samudera,

Samudera perkhidmatan untuk Negara,

Seterusnya mengizinkan saya pula,

Mampu berkhidmat hingga ke muara.

Kini saya sudah berada di penghujung titi,

Pangkat kedudukan sudah tidak lagi,

Cuma yang tinggal hanyalah maruah dan harga diri,

Serta tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sahabat sejati,

Aduh, amat sukar untuk menerima realiti,

Bahawa dunia dah menghambat pergi-pergi,

Pusara pula mula menggamit mari-mari kemari,

Justru itu kita semua haruslah insaf diri,

Bahawa kita semua adalah nobody,

Bahawa kita semua hanyalah makluk illahi,

Bahawa setiap denyutan jantung dan nadi,

Bukanlah suatu yang hakiki,

Bukanlah suatu yang abadi,

Tetapi Allah jua yang memberkati,

Pandai-pandailah membawa diri,

Sentiasalah mengamal resmi padi,

Makin menunduk makin berisi,

Sentiasa bersyukur memohon restu Illahi,

Di akhir persimpangan,

Jutaan terima kasih saya dan isteri ucapkan,

Kepada tuan-puan para hadirin sekalian,

Yang sudi meraikan kami semalamam,

Dengan sambutan yang begitu mengkagumkan,

Di atas sebarang kekurangan atau kecacatan,

Saya dan isteri memohon sejuta keampunan,

Sememangnya jasa anda sekalian,

Tidak mungkin dapat kami balaskan,

Hanya Allah jua yang membalaskan.

Segala baik budi tuan dan puan,

Akan sentiasa berada di ingatan.

Oleh yang demikian,

Para hadirin sekalian,

Marilah kita sama-sama mendoakan,

Agar majlis ini dikurniakan Allah penuh keberkatan,

Dan perpisahan kita kemudian,

Perpisahan yang terpelihara oleh Tuhan.

Ucapan Perpisahan kepada Majlis anjuran Majlis Sukan Negeri Kedah, pada 27hb Ogos 2001 bertempat di Holiday Villa Alor Setar

SAHOCA 2 - ENGLISH CONVERSATION

As we were from Malay School background, it was really very difficult for us to converse in English even as we entered the secondary school. Even when we were in Form One, we were still not very fluent in our English. There were a instances whereby our comprehension on the English language became a joke to our selves.

Scene One

There was an instance when we were following the Physical Exercise (P.E.) session under our teacher, the late Mr. Pak Looi. As one of our classmates, Wan Min Wan Din was not doing his exercise properly, Pak Looi knocked his head with a relay baton. Suddenly blood soothed out from Wan Min’s head.

Pak Looi was bewldered by saying, “I hardly knocked his head”.

Another student answered Pak Looi’s question by saying, “No Sir, it was not your fault. He tenggalung buah setoi, Sir”.

“What is tenggalong”, Pak Looi enquired

“Punggai, Sir”, the student answered.

“What is punggai, my boy” Pak Looi continued to ask.

“Baling, Sir”. came the reply.

“Thank you very much, I give up”, Pak Looi’s exasperation.

Scene 2

After concluding his lecture on Biology, Mr. Edgar Augustine asked the class,

"Do you have any doubt, class.?"

"Yes sir, my name is Daud" my friend Daud Dali responded.

"Daud, sit down." Mr. Edgar blasted.

Scene 3

"Class, can you make a sentence with the conjunction so that."

"Sodek is made of wood, sir."

Scene 4

Teacher: "Why do you come late to class"

Student: "Sorry sir, my bus was dead at Anak Bukit."

Teacher: 'Where did you bury the bus'

Student: ?

Scene 5

In the hostel dining room, one student was asking his friend for additional rice "Excuse me, can you plus my rice,"

His friend also understood his request,"How many rice do you want to plus?"

Scene 6

1966 Six Form Orientation:

Senior: "Miss, go and ask Halim Abdullah for a date."

Junior Sixth Form Girl: " Mr Halim , what is the today's date?"

Senior: I give up.

Scene 7

Teacher : 'Is your mother a house wife?.'

Student: 'Nor Sir, my mother is my father's wife'.

SAHOCA 1 - INTO THE WORLD OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

STANDARD 6 - ISKANDAR SCHOOL (SAHC PRIMARY SCHOOL) 1958

Journey To Sultan Abdul Hamid College

Pak Awang, the taxi owner cum driver brought us straight to the main building of the Sultan Abdul Hamid College. Pak Awang has been to the College almost every month since there were a few Collegeians from Jeniang. For my father and I, it was it was our first visit to the College. Compared to my former school at Jeniang, the College looked very awesome indeed. The students of the College also looked smart in their white shirts and khaki trousers.

As specified by the letter of admission to the College, we went up straight up to the first floor. There were already a few parents and students who were queing before us. When our turn came, after perusing over my relevant papers, the school clerk advised my father that I should be enrolled next year that is in 1957 as my age was considered very young. The clerk went on to explain that for the 1956 enrolment, preference were given to much more older candidates. We were very confused as we have come from so far and also spending a lot of money for my preparations. My father then went to sit beside window looking very dejected.

With Allah’s grace, one of the clerks went to my father and introduced himself as Syed Kassim (Dato’ Paduka Syed Mansor Barakbak’s father). Tuan Syed Kassim advised my father to seek an audience with the Chairman of the College Entrance Selection Committee that was Che Mohd. Akib Yaacob, who was the Kota Setar District Officer. The late Tuan Syed Kassim gave my father a few important tips. As Pak Awang also knew the location of the District Office of Kota Setar, he brought us straight to the District Office. The Distict Office was in fact a row of double storey shop lots just across the present Cathay Theater.


Meeting With The Kota Setar District Officer

We were ushered into the District Officer’s office. The District Officer looked very fearsome with his thick mustache. I did not know the looks of other District Officers as I have not seen any of them. After the formal introductions, my father proceeded to present my case. After hearing our plea, the District Officer was still very adamant that I should enroll next year. Equipped with the advise from Tuan Syed Kassim, my father told the District Officer that he would agree to the suggestion if ever the District Officer would give us the undertaking that I should be accepted into the College for the next year automatically without having to sit for the SMC examination. Since he would not be able to give us the undertaking, the District Officer then agreed to accept me as a Special Malay Class I pupil at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College Primary School for the year 1956.


My Father Unfulfilled Dream

My father was flabbergasted and very exited with the District Officer’s decision. Later on, I came to know that he was very excited because I have managed to fulfill his unfulfilled dream of 1941. My father has passed the Special Malay Class One Entrance Examination in 1940 at Sekolah Melayu Jitra. As the Second World War erupted in 1941, the Japanese put a halt to the schooling sessions in the College. As such he could not make it to the College.

He was instead ordered by the Japanese to continue schooling in Standard V at Sekolah Melayu Jitra. A new subject was introduced that was the Japanese language. As he was quick to adapt into the new environment, my father passed his Teachers’ Training Entrance Examination in 1943. He then proceeded to continue his studies for the Japanese Teacher’s Qualification Training at Istana Pelamin, Alor Setar. After training for three months at the Teachers’ Training Centre, he passed his examination with distinction. My father was then ordered by the Japanese to teach Japanese Language at Sekolah Melayu Jitra. His stint as a Japanese Language Teacher lasted three years that was from 1943 to 1945.

After the Japanese surrender, my father was jobless and continued to tap rubber trees at his village, Kampong Kelubi. He has got to earn a living as he was already a married man. At the end of 1945, my father married my mother, who was his cousin. My father’s marriage was in fact an act of escapism from any forced labour to the Death Railway that might befell him. On the other hand, as a married man after the war, my father could not continue his studies at the College although he was instructed to do so. His classmates, Dato’ Dr. Haji Ahmad Adnan and Tunku Kudin continued their studies at the Special Malay Class One at the SAHC Primary School.


Hostelite

With the District Officer’s decision, we went back to the College and registered my enrolment as a pupil of Special Malay Class One at the SAHC Primary School. The name of SAHC Primary School was changed to Iskandar Primary School after the country achieved independence in 1957. After the registration, we went straight to the College Hostel for another round of registration. I was to be admitted to the Putra Wing of the hostel. My father then brought my belongings to my bed at the first floor of the Putra Wing. He helped me to put up my bed as I did not know how to do it. It was my first experience in sleeping on a single mattress bed.

After giving me some money for my personal use and for the school fees, my father then bade farewell to me and headed straight home to Jeniang. Before parting off, he advised me to study hard to achieve success in pursuing his unfulfilled dream. I shed a few tears as I was only nine years old and was feeling scary because I was lonely without any friend.

In those days, there was no such thing as orientation committee and so on. Ragging were the norms of the day. As a new fresh boarder, I was fooled around when I asked the seniors for direction to the dining hall. Instead of showing me to the proper dining hall, they showed me the quarters of the Hostel Master. Foolishly I entered the quarters with my new friend Ismail Yaacob whose nick name was Pak Choy from Yan. We were very startled and confused as we were then chased out by the ever fierce Mr. Radzi Puteh, the Hostel Master.

Later on in the evening, I met a few friends who hailed from various places in the northern part of Kedah. There were Syed Sheh from Sik, . Ismail Shafie (Pak Kaduk) from Jerlun, the late Abdullah Salleh from Pendang, Abu Bakar Yaacob from Alor Belat, Yahaya Ahmad (Pak Ya Kalut) from Pokok Sena, Shuib Din from Jeram, the late Wahab Musa, the late Mohd. Nor Taib and Halim Mat Ninggal from Tunjang, the late Yusoff Hamid (Little Boy) from Sungai Limau and Shamsuddin Hussein (Din Dongga) from Jitra. After our lunch, the new hostelites were briefed by the Hostel Head Prefect, Hashim bin Wahab who hailed from the Island of Langkawi.


Special Malay Class

Our Special Malay Class One commenced in the afternoon session. Our class was situated at the far end of a single storey school of Sultan Abdul Hamid College Primary School. The school building was located south of the College across the second College playing field. After breakfast and before the class commenced in the afternoon, we had a field day the second College field. As it was a very beautiful field to us from the kampungs, we did really make use of the field to the fullest. Rain or shine, we would always played football on the field before going to the school in the afternoon.

Our class teacher was the late Mr. Omar Kasa while the headmaster was Mr. Lim Swee Hoe.
The first lesson was that we learned in school was that we must always converse only in English from day one in school. Whoever spoke any word other than English at the school, he would be fined $0.10 per word. We were told not to be inferior even if you were from the rural areas. Special Malay Class programs were designed specially for Malay Medium Primary School pupils to pursue their education in the English Medium Schools. We were in fact the chosen ones and we should not put to waste that golden opportunity as well as the hopes of our parents. He then introduced to us our first English text book, “Look and Read”. He even encouraged us to write about daily happenings that we experienced in our diary.

From that day onwards, we try our hearts out to converse in English. During those days, bilingual dictionaries were not available. The only dictionaries available were the English Language Dictionaries and it made us more confusing because of the description of any difficult words were only explained in English.

Lost for words was the phenomena for the day. Once it happened to me when I came late to the school. The reason of my lateness was because the school bus broke down half way on our journey to school. When the teacher asked for my reason in coming late, I was lost for words. My answer was “The bus was dead, Sir”. Amidst the laughter from the whole class yet the teacher let me go without any fine because I have tried my best to speak in English. That was my first dose of learning the foreign language properly.


Kampung Mentality

For some of us, English Education did not mean anything as we still pursued our hobbies even in our different new environment. For my classmate, the late Wahab Musa, he continued his hobby of trapping pigeons or ‘mala kerbau’ birds around the hostel and school compounds. As he was quite a big tough guy, he bullied us the small size boys to search for dragon flies which was the staple food of the birds. Apart from that, we used to play marbles among ourselves and our pockets were always full of marbles. We were also fond of playing cigarette boxes which were designated with certain score numbers.

Wahab Musa

The late Wahab Musa was so consumed with his hobbies that he failed miserably in his Standard Six Examination. When he failed to be promoted to Form One at the College, he went back to Pulau Kechik, Tunjang and helped his mother in tapping rubber trees. His father was an artisan at the District Public Work Department at Jitra. While we were in form three at the College, we were informed that he has got married.

When I was transferred as the District Officer of Kubang Pasu in 1989, my former SMI 1956 classmates assigned me the task of looking for Wahab Musa and subsequently inform them about Wahab Musa’s latest status quo. One fine day, when I arrived at his house with the local Penghulu, Wahab Musa took quite a while to come out from his house. When he did came out, we were totally surprised that our mighty Wahab Musa came out carrying his grand daughter. He looked so docile contrasting to our vision of a big tough bully boy when he was at the College Hostel. Sheepishly he told us that he was baby sitting for his daughter who was teaching.

Apart from his composure, it was not a surprise to me as Wahab Musa was still Wahab Musa, the birdman. His house compound was also full of bird cages of various species. After thirty one years, Wahab Musa was as strong as ever in pursuing his hobbies of birds rearing. We were laughing our hearts out when I told this incidence to our classmates. After my visit to his house , we renewed our acquaintance until his last breath. Three years later, Wahab Musa passed away at his house due to heart failure. When I acquired from the Penghulu about the birds, I was informed that all the birds were disposed of to other bird lovers in the vicinity. May Allah bless his soul.


Other Tunjang Boys

The late of Wahab Musa was a classic example of a personal failure in the fulfilling the objective of the formation of the Special Malay Classes. There were five of us from the Tunjang area i.e. the late Wahab Musa, the late Mohd. Noor Taib, Halim Mat Ninggal, Shuib Din and myself. Halim Mat Ninggal was also a big size boy and we were always his victims. Halim Mat Ninggal continued his secondary school education in the Derma English School, Kangar when he failed to continue his schooling at the College. He then joined the Malaysian Royal Navy. He came to our first reunion lunch 25 years ago at the Alor Setar Rest House wearing a very wide belt. When we enquired him about the big size belt, he told us jokingly that it was for self defense if ever we would retaliate towards him for his bullying days. He was not surprised to see us, his bullying victims were now much bigger than him. He is now suffering from Parkinson disease and resides in his Kuala Kedah home.

Career Development

The late Mohd. Noor Taib, Shuib Din and myself continued our secondary education at the College. Shuib Din is now the Professor of Psychology at Sabah University. The late Mohd. Noor Taib became a teacher but unfortunately he passed away at quite an early age because of kidney failure. When we heard about his kidney ailment , our SMI 1956 classmates passed the hat around for the purpose of buying a homeo dialysis machine. At that time, the dialysis machine was not available at the Alor Setar General Hospita. Unfortunately for us, Mohd. Noor Taib passed away prematurely just as we have collected enough money to buy the dialysis machine for him.

Apart from the late Wahab Musa, all our former SMI 1956 classmates did not go back to the kampungs even after their failure to continue their secondary education at the College. In those days, the entry qualification for any post as an office boy or its equivalents at any Government offices was only a pass in standard six. From there, you could move up the ladder to become a clerk if you have a pass in Lower Certificate of Education Examination. Even with a Lower Certificate of Education Examination, you could still become a teacher by entering the Day Training Centre institutes. One of our classmates, Haji Muhammad Endut was a graduate of the DTC which was in the College compound. He has a successful career as a teacher and he has retired as a Primary School Headmaster in Pokok Sena.

We were very thankful indeed for the Special Malay Classes programs as we were exposed to the new world of English Education that have successfully carved out our career development. Occasionally, we used to organize gatherings of our SMI 1956 surviving classmates whereby each gathering was a very interesting and a very hilarious affair.

SIBLINGS 5 - THE KAFTAN LADY

KAFTAN LADY

Che Gu Hasinah Mohd. Nor was the eldest of the Haji Yaacob,s 28 grand children. The second eldest is my brother in law, Dato' Shamsul Bahari Salleh Khir. My wife, Zamzam Khirani Salleh Khir is the third eldest. Che Gu Hasinah was the eldest daughter of Mohd. Nor, the eldest son Haji Yaacob of Lorong Kelompang, Bakar Bata. She was born on 25^th April 1946, the same year as my brother in law, Dato' Shamsul Bahari. Both Che Gu Hasinah and my brother in law shares the same breast feeding or saudara menyusu and as such, she was very close to my brother in law.

Che Gu Hasinah was a teacher specializing in domestic home science. It was not surprising that she was a very good cook and we always used to enjoy her cooking artisty. She was also a very jovial person but at the same time, she inherited her father's sickness that was diabetic. Although she was on dialysis treatment for the last four years or so, yet it did not prevent her from enjoying her life to the fullest until her very last day. It also did not prevent her from taking care of her husband, children and her siblings' welfare diligently.

Although she was more often on the road, yet with Allah's blessing, she passed away in front of her house at Ulu Langat, Selangor on 14^th December 2008 after visiting her youngest sister, Alaina Hassani in Kelana Jaya. Her demise was the first among Haji Yaacob's grand children and as such it left a very deep impact on her cousins especially my brother in law. Che Gu Hasinah's favourite attire was the kaftan and on behalf of all her cousins, I would like to dedicate this Kaftan Lady to her.

In Memory of the Kaftan Lady

She did not look for any glamour,

She did not seek any honour,

She did not fancy Chanel or Christin Dior,

She did not care whether it was silk or Cashmere,

She would always prefer her kaftan more,

Kaftan made her feel mightier,

As if she owned the whole hemisphere.

With her kaftan , she would not care,

What others might think of her,

She would be at ease anywhere

Without feeling any err.

With her kaftan attire,

She has assumed the role of a protector,

For she was always very protective of her care,

Her children, her siblings and what more,

She would always place her care above the altar,

Whereas she would place herself on the second tier,

She would be with her siblings wherever they were,

She would be there whenever they needed her.

Although she was fragile

and her sight began to blur,

But her determination made her stronger,

She would always make herself healthier,

For distance was not an obstacle to her,

She would drive her car,

As if playing a game of solitaire.

Today, the great kaftan
lady has gone forever,

She was called by the Almightier,

For Allah loves her more,

At the end of her final life chapter,

We would not know how much she suffer,

We would not know about her despair,

But we knew she was thrilled when Bang Ali showered her with care,

We knew she has spend her life more in her car,

She even ended her final journey in her beloved car.

We really miss all the good deeds she would offer,

Her delicious cooking for our supper,

Her sharp bashes she would deliver,

The ever ending of her famous banter,

Which even depicted her as the CNN slayer,

But she did not make us suffer,

For she would always make our gatherings merrier.

Deep in our hearts with the feelings of tender,

We would always keep her memories alive more fonder,

We do really, really miss her,

For she was our gem, our sapphire,

The kaftan lady we all fondly admire,

Our beloved Kak Nah in her kaftan attire.

May Allah bless her

and Alfatihah to her.