REMEMBRANCE 106: STALWART FADES AWAY

When we spend the night at Nana's rented house within the vicinity of her own house in Persada Damai, Enstek, Labu, Negeri Sembilan, on 8th. December 2011, I was very touched when Aisyah asked me innocently , "Bila Tok Lid nak sihat." However her innocent comment did not touch my feeling at all and neither it made me sad. I knew deep in her heart, she was very concerned about me. I have to use a walking stick for my balancing of both of my feet and my physical condition was worsened because of my gout and osteoarthritis. I could not sit continuously and as such I spend most of my free time on the bed pursuing my reading hobby.



Aisyah might have compared my physical condition with that of her paternal grand father, Saill @ Yop. Although Yop and me are of the same age range, Yop was far more active than me. He could still play futsal and took part in bicycle echo challenge and could finish the challenge within the stipulated time. Apart from that, his physical prowess was proven when he able to accompany his nephew in trekking up the Himalayas in late November 2011. The journey to trek up the snow capped mountains with the height of more than 4,000 meters took them 7 days while the journey down took another 5 days. It really need a maximum physical endurance to trail the journey up the mountain in the adverse condition of the weather. From the photographs that Yong showed me, Yob's trekking prowess was solely based on his own leg power without even the assistance of a mountain trekking supports.

After returning from his successful venture up the Himalayas, Yob was warded at the Pantai Hospital, Ipoh complaining of diarrhea. After diagnosing his ailment, his family was informed about his actual ailment that was the dreaded Big C of his liver which was already at the advance stage level. He was warded for the second time at the Ipoh Hospital when his condition worsened. By then, his wife, Yong has decided to bring him home.


Based on the sad experience of my late friends such as Shariff Nuraini and Penghulu Mohd. Khir who has suffered the same Big C, unless blessed by Allah S.W.T. I strongly believed that the time for Yob was not that far away. As I was not being able to drive the distance to Ipoh, I have got to wait for Shiwar's free time. Luckily Shiwar was free on Tuesday, 24th. January 2012, Zam, Nana and myself made our journey south to Ipoh with Shiwar at the wheel. Yop who used to be very physically fit, looked very frail supinely on the bed. He understood our conversation but he hasn't got the energy to converse with me.



I was very grateful to Allah S.W.T. for giving me the chance to visit my in law for deep in my heart, I believed that was my last encounter with Yop. Sure enough, with the blessing of Allah S.W.T. Yop has passed away peacefully at 8.25 pm. on Sunday, 29th. January 2012. Due to my health impediment, I could not pay my last respect to Yop in Ipoh but Zam, Mak Chik, Mek Tet with Shiwar at the wheel managed to travel down to Ipoh for Yop's last rite. We all do sincerely pray for the blessing of Allah S.W.T. to place the soul of the late Yob amongst the faithfuls.



However on Thursday, 2nd February, i received another surprise about the late Yop when I met Dato' Abdul Aziz Ghani, the District Officer of Kuala Muda when he inquired about my absence at the funeral of Yop @ Saill at Ipoh . I was very surprised by Dato' Aziz's question since I did not have any inkling on his relationship with the late Yob @ Saill. I was even more surprised when he told me that the late Saill was the maternal uncle of his wife, Datin Norlela. When I asked for more details about their relationship with the late Yop, he informed me that Saill was his wife's (Datin Norlela Mohamad) maternal uncle or the younger brother of her mother. In fact, her elder brother Shaziman Mohamad who has just retired from Exxon Mobil was in fact the nephew that accompanied and sponsored Yob @ Saill for the Himalayas trip.


What a small world indeed .... for I failed to realise that Datin Norlela is in fact the first cousin of my son in law, Nazim @ Jim for the last 13 years of marriage with Nana.

SAHOCA 29: THOSE WERE THE DAYS

Zam admiring the innovated motor cycles at the Kedah
Pusat Giat Mara exhibition at the ground floor of the Giant.




The magnificent innovated Honda Cup 65


With our newly acquired motor bikes in 1967 , we went around
in a convoy on our motor bikes enjoying ourselves at the
Parliament round about.
The self proclaimed King of the Road, Wan Min Wan Din on
his Honda 90 with Hashim Mohd. Noor as the pillion rider .
Halim Abdullah on Osman Ramlee's Honda 90 with Osman
himself standing piilion.

Two days before Christmas 2011, Zam and I came across an Innovation Day Exhibition of the Kedah Pusat Giat Mara held at the ground floor of the Giant at Jalan Tun Razak, Alor Setar. To my astonishment, I came across a splendid innovation on the Honda Cup 65 c.c. done by one the Giat Mara students. I was very impressed with the innovation as it reminisced me on my first Honda Cup 65 c.c. which was introduced in 1967. My motor bike registeration number was KB 18 which I sold it to Che Gu Shukri in 1970 when I needed the money for the down payment of my first car, Volkswagen with the registration number KB 7080.

Nalin told me that the original Honda Cup 65 is much sought after by antique collectors nowadays as compared to Honda 70 or Honda 90. The asking price of the original Honda 65 without any added make over fetches around RM 2,000.00 per bike as compared to the original price of RM 700.00 in 1967.

My association with my motor bike KB 18 stretched back to 1966 when I enrolled at the University Malaya for my tertiary education in 1966. When we enrolled at the University of Malaya in 1966, most of our classmates in Sultan Abdul Hamid College who were non boarders at the University Colleges were boarders at the newly built NUPW Hostel at Section 14, Petaling Jaya. The hostel was built by the National Union of Plantation Workers for the benefits of the plantation workers’ children on the initiative of its famous president the late P.P. Narayanan. The NUPW Hostel has since been demolished to make way for a luxurious condominium. As the number of the estates’ children was small at that time, the hostel’s administration under the chairmanship of the late Dr. Rama Subbiah offered the places for other students from non estates background.

If I am not mistaken, some of my SAHC mates who stayed at the NUPW Hostel were Abdul Halim Abdullah, Abdul Habib Mansur, Adlan Abdul, Mohd. Daud Hamzah and Wan Min Wan Din. As the distance to the UM Campus was almost 10 kilometers, we used to take a ride on Sri Jaya staged buses and continued walking up the campus for another two kilometers. The strenuous journey to the campus for the lectures and tutorials took its toll when we found that we could not cope up the tight schedules by riding on the buses. At the end of the year, we decided to buy second hand motor cycles from the money saved from our scholarships.

Wan Min bought a Honda 90 while Halim, Adlan and Daud Hamzah bought Honda Cups 50 c.c. Compared to my other friends, I was very lucky as my late father insisted on buying a brand new motor bike which cost around RM 700.00. As my late father who himself owned a Honda Dream 250 c.c. bought for me a new Honda Cup 65 c.c. with the money he borrowed from the Kubang Pasu Thrift and Loan Society. The borrowing process was shortened in two days as it was facilitated by his younger brother Syed Salleh who was the then Honorary Secretary. We all took our driving test at the Road Transport Department located at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kuala Lumpur.

As we were very confident with the prowess of our motor cycles together with our own physical abilities, we decided to ride our journey home to Kedah on our bikes during our yearly break in 1968. It took us two solid days to reach our kampongs in Kedah since we have got to rest for every two hours journey for the purpose of cooling off our motor bikes engines.

Heavy rains also hampered our journey as the road surfaces were were slippery and the road visibility was also reduced. During those days, motor cyclists were not compelled to wear helmets and it was indeed a treacherous journey home on our small machines with our bare heads. The roads then were narrow and winding and we were always facing the danger of the falling small woods that were used as pegs to tighten the logs on a timber lorries. We put the night at the Bukit Gantang Mosque, Perak when it was already late in the evening when we arrived at the mosque. The kind hearted Imam invited us to a home cooked dinner at his house. With the blessings of Allah, we all survived the journey back to Kedah the next day.

However, one of our NUPW Hostel mates, the late Mr Markali who joined us during the early stage of the journey met with an accident at Kepong. In the hazy early hours of the morning, Mr. Markali who rode a Ducati motor bike landed with a braced neck when he accidentally knocked against the Railway Crossing gate at Kepong. Nevertheless, Mr Markali the grand child of Saudagar Din of Alor Setar eventually passed away before reaching fifty due to kidney failure.

We have to rest our bettered body for a few days when we arrived at our homes in Kedah. We have learned our lessons well from the journey as our motor bikes then took a ride themselves on the Malayan Railway coaches on the return journey to Kuala Lumpur for our final academic year at UM. Among our group, Halim Abdullah graduated to ride super bike during our working years where as the others including myself were happy to ride on four wheels.