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
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 58th 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.
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
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
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.
Assalamualaikum Pak Tuan and readers,
ReplyDeleteI wish to share a few anecdotes about the personality mentioned in this post. Dato' Shamsul Bahri might not know me personally, perhaps he oes not even know of my existence. But Allah has blessed me with a chance of knowing him through a few pages in the history of my life.
1. Nalen (Mohd Nasreen Khir)was my student in KSAH. He always has good words of his favourite (only paternal one) uncle.
2. My son, Noor Anwar Hadi (anakazman.blogspot.com) was honoured with Anugerah Salleh Khir for his excellence in 2007 SPM. The prize was sponsored by Dato' Shamsul Bahri.
3. In 2001, SAHOCA had a joint Council Meeting at one of the hotel in Kuala Lumpur. At the end of the meeting, Dato' Shamsul brought us to Mandarin Oriental for buffet dinner. This was the time that I witnessed the bus drivers taking a sip of fruit juice and a plate of roti canai for fear of the full meal might cost the person paying (not realizing that those simple food would cost just the same RM183 nett per head for this was an all-you-can-eat buffet).
4. And this is the best example of his philanthropic ways of life. My Kedah Under 19 Rugby team was supposed to be representing the state in National 7s Rugby at the Ipoh Padang. The budget approved by the association at that time was RM1,000 ("cukup hangpa pi, tak cukup hangpa toksah pi" said Dato' Amer). That should cover food, transport and players' general welfare. Knowing that we might not be able to make it to the tournament with that kind of budget, I just tried my luck to ask from Dato' Shamsul. He willingly sponsored 6 rooms for 2 nights for us smack in the middle of Ipoh.
5. I was in Ipoh during one of the holidays. I met Nari (Nalen's father)whom is a golfing friend previously in Royal Kedah Club. He asked me if I would like to try Meru Valley course. I said sure. A phone call after that, a local friend (a cikgu from STAR, Ipoh) and I were treated like VVIP at Meru Valley Golf and Country Club for a free round of golf, breakfast and goodies.
For all those instances, I might forgotten or failed to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH Dato' Shamsul Bahri. May Allah bless you always.