REMEMBRANCE SERIES 1: TUNJANG

ANTIDOTE 1 – TUNJANG

My Birth Place

I was born on Wednesday, 28^th. August 1946 at Kampong Hutan Setali, Mukim Padang Perahu, Jitra. The house that I was born belonged to my maternal grand father, Syed Hassan bin Syed Ahmad whom we called Tok Wan. Tok Wan died on 13^th. March 1950 and was buried at Kampong Hutan Setali cemetery. Tok Wan was the only one that was buried there as Tok (my maternal grandmother), Mak (my mother), Lid (my father), Bi Bedah (my father's elder sister) and Ha (my cousin) were buried at Pulau Maharaja cemetery. As Tok Wan was the only one buried at Hutan Setali Cemetery, I have never visited Tok Wan's grave and I do not even know the location of Tok Wan's grave.

Mak used to say that Tok Wan was a very strict person who seldom joked with his family. Mak told us that when Tok Wan was in the living room, no body would dare to walk across the living room. On the other hand, Lid told us that Tok Wan was very nice to him. With this, I came to the conclusion that Tok Wan has a dual personality that was stricter towards his own children but in the same breath was nicer to his in laws and his grand children. Although he was very strict with his wife and children, yet he was at ease with his son in law and his grand children i.e. Kak Nab, Bang Mud and me. I still fondly remember that I used to play joyously on his lap.

When Lid married Mak, he was only 17 years old. When I was born, Lid's age was 18 years old as compared to Mak's age which was 17 years old. We were very poor when I was born. As Mak was undernourished, I was breast fed by Lid's elder sister, Sharifah Bedah who has given birth to my cousin, Syed Mahmud on 21^st. May 1946. I used to have only one dress for the day and Mak used to wash my dress every night so that I could wear it the next day. During the night, Mak used to wrap me with a sarong. Mak also has got only two dresses which she used to wash them on alternate days so that she could wear the dress every other day.

Tok Ku's Move to Tunjang

When the Second World War ended in 1945, Lid's stint as a Japanese Language teacher also ended. As he was already a married man, Lid then turned to rubber tapping as the source of income to support his family. After the Second World War, my paternal grand father, Syed Ahmad bin Syed Abdul Kadir whom we called Tok Ku was offered a job as the Supervisor of a rubber estate at Tunjang which belonged to a chettiar.. Tok Ku was an literate person where he could write and read Romanized Malay as well as Jawi scripts. Apart from that, he could also speak fluently in the Tamil language.

When Lid went to work at Jeniang in November 1946, Mak and I continued staying at Tok Ku's house in Tunjang. Mak wanted to go back to her house in Kampung Hutan Setali but Tok Wan was adamantly against the idea. Tok Wan's principle was that when your daughter got married, you must follow your husband at whatever the cost. Apart from looking after me, Mak was also responsible towards the whole household chores.

Mak used to tell me that as Lid was only a labourer as compared to his elder brother who was a teacher, I was automatically being sidelined. When we do went back to Kampung Kelubi for any religious or cultural activities, Mak used to carry me solely by herself from Jitra to Kampung Kelubi which is about 6 kilometers distance. Nobody would offer any helping hand to Mak in reducing the burden of carrying me while walking all the way to Kelubi. On the other hand, they would offer their helping hands to my cousin who is the daughter of a teacher. These unequal treatments of me has a very deep impact on Mak's attitude towards my aunties and Mak's negative attitudes towards them was carried even to her grave.

My Friend Monen

Apart from Tok Ku's quarters in the rubber estate, there was another quarters which was occupied by my friend's grand father. My friend's name was Subramaniam whom we called Monen. Monen's grand father was an assistant to Tok Ku and he was in charge of processing the rubber sheets. I was very close to Monen so much so that both of us used to share our food together. Even we used to share one chocolate by alternating it between us. Monen also used to address our family as what I used to address them. He used to address my father as Lid, my uncles as Ami and my aunties as Bi. Monen continued with our friendship although To Ku has moved back to Manggul Rubber Estate at Malau. Monen used to regularly visit my uncles and aunties who were still staying in Jitra.

When I joined the Kedah Civil Service in 1969, I bumped into Monen when he was a voluntary Fire Fighter at Jitra Fire Station. A few years later, Monen joined the Securicor Company as an officer. When I moved to my present house at Pumpong in 1978, he used to come over to my house to chat about our younger days. When I last met him a few years ago, he was already wearing three pips with a pistol at his hip. I did not meet him after I retired from the government service on 28^th. August 2001. Monen also stopped coming to my house.

In 2002, I met with his brother in law, Aru who is the driver of Tan Sri Osman Aroff at Pokok Cherry Restaurant. When I enquired about Monen, he told me that Monen has passed away a few months back because of cancer. Then Aru told me that Monen was asking for 'Zen' during his final breath. His family was clueless to whom Monen was mentioning. Since he knew that I was Monen's friend, Aru then asked me whether I knew the person 'Zen' that Monen has mentioned. Aru was very surprised when I told him that I was the 'Zen' that Monen has mentioned on his death bed. Aru said that he hasn't got any clue about 'Zen' being me because all this while, he only knew me only as 'Pak Tuan'.

Tok Ku's Friends

Tok Ku was a natural born leader. Apart from his ability as a public speaker, Tok Ku also has the ability as a shaman or traditional faith healer (bomoh). As such, his house at the Tunjang Estate quarters was frequented by people seeking Tok Ku's expertise in traditional medicine. Tok Ku also involved himself in various local social activities. He was also one of the founding members of Tunjang Dry Market Cooperative Society. He was also a member of the Tunjang School's governing board. Every evening, Tok Ku's friends would converge at Tok Ku's house for chit chatting.

I used to remember Tok Ku's friends such as the late Che Gu Ariffin (the school headmaster), the late Pak Basha (Dato' Bisharuddin's father), the late Pak Haji Ali (Tan Sri Halim's father) and others who used to visit Tok Ku's every other day. During these visits, Dato' Haji Hanafi Ramli, the adopted son of Che Gu Ariffin used to run errands buying cookies or traditional cake for Tok Ku's guests. I did not realized that Tok Ku's relationship with them was an hidden asset to me when I was appointed as the District Officer of Kubang Pasu in 1986.

In 1987, the Ministry of Entrepreneurship offered an allocation for the redevelopment of Tunjang Town dry market. As the management of the Dry Market Cooperative Society was controlled by the opposition party chaired by the late Tuan Haji Ali, it was very difficult for the district office to induce the society to accept the Ministry's financial offer. The society's administrators were very skeptical about the offer. During my first encounter with the society, I introduced myself as the grand child of Tok Ku to the late Tuan Haji Ali. My credential as a grand child of Tok Ku softened the heart of the late Tuan Haji Ali and consequently, the redevelopment of the Tunjang Dry Market could get off the ground.

My Day at School

Luck was with Lid when on the 20^th. August 1949 Lid was offered a post as a Forest Guard at the District Forest Office at Sungai Petani. As a Forrest Guard, Lid was provided with a one room Forest Quarters at Bakar Kapur, Sungai Petani. Lid then brought Mak and me to stay at the Bakar Kapur's Quarters. As the quarters was near to the river. I used to enjoy boating and fishing with Lid's staffs. In January 1952, when I was 5 years 2 months old, Lid enrolled me as standard one pupil at Sekolah Melayu Sungai Petani which was situated just across the road in front of Masjid Al-Rahman, Sungai Petani. As I was very young, the headmaster accepted me on the condition that if I could not make the grade, I would be retained in standard one in the following year.

I went to school riding pillion on the bicycle of our neighbour, the late singer, S. Ahmad. As his main hobby was singing, the late S.Ahmad used to sing all the way to the school. When I met him thirty seven years later in London, I was surprised that he could still remember me as his pillion rider to the school in Sungai Petani. My sister, Sharifah Hindon was born in Sungai Petani on 16^th. July 1952.

On the 1^st. January 1953, Lid was offered a place to pursue a one year forestry certificate course at the Forest Research Institute in Kepong, Selangor. The three of us, Mak, Hindon and myself followed Lid to Kepong. In Kepong, I continued my schooling as a standard two pupil at the Sekolah Melayu Kepong. The distance from our house to the school was about two kilometers. I used to walk to the school in a group with my new found friends who were also the children of other trainees at the Institute.

As we have a very limited financial resources, Mak used to prepare steamed rice mixed with ghee for my snacks in school. I still vividly remember when I was asked to go back home after I unintentionally passed motion in my trousers in the class. It was a scary experience for me as I have to go back alone to our house. I was very terrified with the aborigines that were always lurking by the roadside on the way home. The aborigines frequented that area daily looking for their daily food from the forests. When I was appointed as one of the FRIM board member in 1994, I visited the Forest Research Institute in Kepong and it rekindled my fond memories of my stay in Kepong.