SIBLING SERIES 8 : PAK SU

Pak Su Eeq's last kenduri on 25 May 1999
From left: Syed Izhar (my cousin),Syed Jaafar (my brother in law),

Haji Muhammad (Zam's brother in law) and Omar Yaacob (Pak Su).

Omar bin Yaacob was the youngest of the Haji Yaacob bin Haji Yunus six children. His comical jovial behaviour has made him the favourite among his siblings and his nephews and nieces. He was very close to Abang and Idrus as their ages were very close to each other. So naturally they shared the same interest and hobbies. If he was around in any family gathering, he would surely be the star attraction and thus making the gathering more merrier.

His grand nephews and grand nieces used to call him Tok Su Eeq as he used to play comical jokes on his grand nephews by making their private parts which he referred as 'naga' to disappear. So when they saw him coming, they would try to evade from him so as to avoid their nagas being snatched away by their favourite Tok Su Eeq. In one incident, when one of Mak Ngah grand children naga was snatched by Tok Su, innocently he tried to replace his naga by snatching away Tok Teh Khalid's naga. Pity him, as Tok Teh Khalid was not that of a happy go lucky chap, he was instead given a showering inferno by Tok Teh.

Pak Su Eeq has a lot of stories to tell. He used to tell us that when he was the radiography assistant in Kulim Hospital, he was always assigned to fetch their monthly salaries from their headquarters in Alor Setar. As there was no other transport available, their mode of transport was usually one of the hospital's ambulance. With the ambulance, their journey to Alor Setar and back was speedier than normal. All the way through, they would switch on the ambulance siren. As such, all the other motorists on the road would make way to them and subsequently they would get their pay much faster.

On working days, he would dress in his official attire which was white bush jacket and trousers. On one occasion, when he found out that some road side workers were very jittery while doing their jobs, with his skill of impersonation, did gave them a feiry scolding. The workers were shivering when answering to his queries as they thought that he was from the Municipality. To avoid more harrassment from Tok Su, the unsuspecting workers gave him RM 50.00 for him to take his lunch. Pak Su was laughing all his way through to the Pokok Cherry Restaurant.

Pak Su also liked to play practical jokes on his siblings or even to his late father, Haji Yaacob. He even placed a rope that looked similar as a snake in front of the footsteps of their house in Lorong Kelompang. He started laughing when Tok Wan was frightened and started jumping aimlessly. When Mak Ngah was frighten of the monkey, Moon, Pak Su would suddenly grab Mak Ngah's leg from behind. He was very satisfied when Mak Ngah started to shreik.

When he was short of cash, he would usher his neighbours' bullocks or goats into the compound of Tok Wan's house. Then he would threaten their owners who were his neighbours that he would report to the police about their livestocks trespassing into Tok Wan's compound. Succumbing to Pak Su's threats, the livestock owners would pay Pak Su some money as a settlement without going to the police. Pak Su would then gleefully let the livestocks go after getting his ransom payment.

Pak Su and Idrus were classmates at SMI, Alor Setar. Pak Su was an ordinary prefect while Idrus was the Head Prefect. Their private policy in prefecting was 'it takes a thief to catch another thief'. Both of them were body builders enthusiasts but Pak Su's body frame was much bigger than Idrus. Both of them liked to wear sarongs in their free times. So when there were any girl that happened to pass by in front of Tok Wan's house, Pak Su would suddenly grab Idrus by the legs and hold him upside down beside the window. Naturally his sarong would come down covering Idrus upper part of the body but simultaneously would expose his lower part of the body including his private parts. What could Idrus do except to shout at the top of his voice just to camouflage his utmost shame of being bared to the ladies passing by. The girls would also run for their lives afraid of the flasher.

Pak Su did not show any change in his normal behaviour when he attended our pre-preparations for our daughter's wedding in May 1999. One week before the wedding, he used to drop by at our house daily. He would always be bringing some goodies for his grand nephews and nieces. Family members of mine would also become closer to Pak Su with his entertaining ways.

One day before the wedding ceremony, my house was hilarious when Pak Su met with his childhood friends, Idrus, Abang and all the other immediate family members that converged to give their helping hands to the wedding preparations. As usual, Pak Su jokingly told Idrus that according to his horoscope, he would live much longer than Idrus. He told Idrus that with Allah's blessing, he would live up to 99 years far beyond Idrus death. Idrus instead chided him by saying that Pak Su would live up to only at the end of the year (1999).

True to the prophesy of Idrus, Pak Su Eeq did passed away peacefully on 31 May 1999, seven months before the end of 1999. Idrus could not hold his tears when I informed him about the sudden demise of Pak Su. He was in England and he was crest fallen when he could not attend Pak Su's funeral and he really regretted tremendously that his prophesy really came true. From that day onwards, Idrus never played his words around on the prophesy of death among his friends.

As Pak Su was the favourite of Haji Yaacob's descendants, all his grand nephews and nieces from far and near came down to pay their final respects to their beloved Tok Su Eeq. Even on the day of his funeral, his nephews and grand nephews still managed to laugh when somebody started narrating Pak Su's antics to them. Although Pak Su has left us nearly 10 years ago, yet deep in our hearts, we do really miss Pak Su with his comical jokes and expressions as compared to our only surviving uncle who is a straight forward simple minded guy. We will continue to cherish fond memories of Pak Su forever and ever. May Allah bless Pak Su and place him among the faithfuls. Alfatihah.