From left: Me and Haji Wahid of Siaran Printing PressOn Wednesday, 21.10.2009 while waiting for my medical examination at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, I received a call from a Department Director asking for my assistance in determining the mosque that the first Prime Minister has performed the official opening ceremony. The mosque which was located in Alor Setar was named as Ar Rahmah Mosque and the official opening ceremony was on 23.08.1961. The Kedah Religious Department could not furnish the information required by the department. As I was considered as an elderly resource person by the department, my service was required to assist the department in providing the clue to the jig saw puzzle. So the next morning, the Director’s deputy came to my house accompanied by the retired former director. After giving a treat of Tose at Pokok Cherry Restaurant , we started our discovery journey to find ArRahmah Mosque.
From the start, my sixth sense pointed me to the Alor Merah Mosque and so we started our discovery journey to the Alor Merah Mosque. The mosque failed to provide us with any valuable clue. Our second recourse person was Dato’ Sheikh Majid but he was not at home at Kampung Suka Menanti. Our next resource person was Dato’ Shaari Daud whom we met at his daily meeting place i.e. Gerai Pulut Udang at Bakar Bata. Dato’ Shaari did remember that he did accompany the First Prime Minister together with the first elected Kedah Menteri Besar, Dato’ Syed Omar to perform the mosque official ceremony. However, he could not remember the exact mosque.
Lastly we tried our luck with Tuan Haji Wahid who is the owner of Siaran Printing Press. As Siaran Printing Press is the sole Jawi Printing in the state, definitely Haji Wahid was actively associated with the official openings of any mosque in the state. Haji Wahid obliged us by looking at the photograph of the souvenir given to the First Prime Minister which was inscribed with the Jawi character. By using a magnifying glass, Haji Wahid could identify the wordings which was actually written as ‘Masjid Alor Merah’ and not as ‘Masjid ArRahmah’ which was transcribed by the department. So ended our merry go round with red faces. We were chided by Haji Wahid for not going to the basic of the whole problem and as such we have created unnecessary problem of our own making.
From the start, my sixth sense pointed me to the Alor Merah Mosque and so we started our discovery journey to the Alor Merah Mosque. The mosque failed to provide us with any valuable clue. Our second recourse person was Dato’ Sheikh Majid but he was not at home at Kampung Suka Menanti. Our next resource person was Dato’ Shaari Daud whom we met at his daily meeting place i.e. Gerai Pulut Udang at Bakar Bata. Dato’ Shaari did remember that he did accompany the First Prime Minister together with the first elected Kedah Menteri Besar, Dato’ Syed Omar to perform the mosque official ceremony. However, he could not remember the exact mosque.
Lastly we tried our luck with Tuan Haji Wahid who is the owner of Siaran Printing Press. As Siaran Printing Press is the sole Jawi Printing in the state, definitely Haji Wahid was actively associated with the official openings of any mosque in the state. Haji Wahid obliged us by looking at the photograph of the souvenir given to the First Prime Minister which was inscribed with the Jawi character. By using a magnifying glass, Haji Wahid could identify the wordings which was actually written as ‘Masjid Alor Merah’ and not as ‘Masjid ArRahmah’ which was transcribed by the department. So ended our merry go round with red faces. We were chided by Haji Wahid for not going to the basic of the whole problem and as such we have created unnecessary problem of our own making.
No comments:
Post a Comment