ON HIS MAJESTY SERVICE 3 : SIK

This picture was taken on my second day in Sik i.e 5th. April 1971

Pondering about my future after one month at Sik

After two years as an Assistan Land Officer of Kota Setar, I was transferred to the District of Sik as an Assistant District Officer (Land) on the 4th. April 1971. The District Officer was the late Dato' Ahmad Rashid. I was allocated a quarters just behind the Sik District Office but it was facing the main road Gurun/Nami. Although it was a huge bungalow but it has only two bed rooms. Its kitchen was at the back of the house joined by a walkway. There was also a servant quarters adjoining the kitchen.

Regarding my food and other domestic chores, I was at a total lost when I arrived at the quarters. I was a good eater but not a good cook or an effecient laundry man. Realising my predicament, my late grand mother, Sharifah Som volunteered to stay with me just for temporary duration. I was very relieved when my grand mother came to stay with me. I need only to replenish the daily raw materials for our food. I was then getting more chubby as I did really the foods that my late grand mother prepared.

This picture was taken in the late 1971 when we have finished building a sepak takraw court. From left: Rahman Pak Kiew (clerk), Radzi (Settlement Officer), Halim (Pak Hassan's nephew), me and the late Haji Shamsuddin, Penghulu of Mukim Sik.

As I was having a lot of free time in the evening, I initiated the building of a Sepak Takraw court located beside the District Office canteen. As some of my officers have the expertise to do concreting, so we built the court by our own hands. The raw materials for the cement floor, we used the sand from Sik River where Dato' Omar Mohamed (Sik local boy) used to play truants during his primary school days. After much coxing, we managed to form a team comprised of the District Office staffs.

I really enjoyed my stay in Sik as there were a lot of other activities such as hunting mouse deers and fishing. Every week, I would join with my SettIement Officer, Radzi and other locals for hunting expeditions in the jungles surrounding the Sik District. In no time I was already very well verse with the topography of Sik. When the Director of Land and Mines, the late Dato' Syed Noh came for a suprised inspection, he was impressed with my knowledge of the District. He must have thought that I must be working very hard indeed. Little did he knew that it was the result of my hunting expeditions rather than my actual official efforts. Immediately, he instructed me to report for duty as The Collector of Land Revenue in Pendang Sub District. on 1st January 1973. .I really missed the exitements in the two year period of stay in the District of Sik.