REMEMBRANCE 87: BYGONE YEARS

Mr. Lai Seng (82 years)


A new hairdresser beside Nasi Pokok Cherry









Mr Kuppusamy (80 years) still cutting hairs
Mr. Kuppusamy has moved his hair dressing shop to the new
location at the Darul Aman Stadium in 1998 when his shop
was acquired for the widening of the Lebuh Darul Aman







The new Rainbow Hair Saloon located at the Darul Aman Stadium

The former site of the Rainbow Hair Dressing Saloon at Lebuh Darul Aman

REMEMEMBRANCE 86: QUAGMIRE OF PARANORMAL

REMEMBRANCE 85: FOR THE GRAND KIDS

Boy kitten

Girl kitten

Girl kitten

Girl kitten

REMEMBRANCE 84: FALLEN YOUTH STALWART

From left: Dato' Halim Hassan and myself at the far right

From left: Dato' Pak Long Hashim LL and Dato' Halim Hassan

From left: Dato' Halim R notable pantun specialist and Pak Sheikh, former Kedah Secretariat OA

From left: Che Gu Hassan Mat and Panghulu Mohd. Akib, MAYC veterans

On the morning of Saturday, 7 May 2011, I received an SMS message from my former KCS brother officer and MAYC veteran member, Pak Long Hashim LL that one of our MAYC members, Othman Yaacob has passed away. Apart from being an MAYC compatriot, the late Othman Yaacob was also my staff at the Kedah Director of Land Office in the late eighties. His wife, Azizah was also my staff at the Registrar of Land Titles in the late seventies while his daughter, Hasmah is one of the staffs of INSPIN.


Since the late Othman was very active in the youth movement in his younger years, I was very fortunate indeed to have the opportunity to strengthen my acquaintanceship with my former MAYC compatriots who thronged his residence before the burial rite. Dato' Halim R., Che Gu Hassan Mad, Pak Long Hashim LL, Penghulu Mat Akib were some of the compatriots that visited the late Othman.


Coincidentally when I observed the late Othman's house address number of 3067, it came to my mind about the golden quotation of Tok Guru Haji Hanafi, Dato' Wan Musatffa's father in law which says: "Whatever you do, you must always remember the magical figure of 367 which denotes your last resting place (3 feet x 6 feet x 7 feet) or other wise you might go astray."

The late Othman was also known as a computer savvy whereby he computer skill was already at the advance stage when computerization was introduced to the land management. The Kedah Land Administration owes the late Othman a lot on his contribution to the enhancement of computerization in the Land Administration before the administration enlisted professionals such as system analysts and programmers. We sincerely pray for the blessings of Allah SWT to place the late Otman among the faithfuls.

REMEMBRANCE 83: DWINDLING THIRD GENERATION

The late Ku Baharum (seated third from left) in the photograph taken during our first family get together in the late eighties

The late Mak Long Lah (standing seventh from right)
and her son, Ku Bahadur (standing fourth from left)

On 25^th April 2011, when I attended the Investiture Ceremony at Istana Anak Bukit, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement that my second cousin, Ku Bahadur Ku Baharum @ Dot received the medal of Pingat Jasa Kebaktian (PJK). It was the second time that my immediate relative was honoured with a medal from HRH the Sultan. The first one was my first cousin, Syed Izhar @ Ad who received the SDK medal a few years ago. The three of us are fourth generation Kelubians who happen to be the products of Sultan Abdul Hamid College.

The first generation Kelubians were the personalities that opened up the village of Kelubi, Jitra 120 years ago. My great grand father, the late Syed Abdul Kadir were among the first generation Kelubians. Then followed by the second generation Kelubians which consisted of my grand father, Syed Mohamed. My late father, Syed Abdullah was in the third generation Kelubian group. The three of us Ad, Dot and myself are the fourth generation Kelubians.

With the objective of cementing a closer bonding between our family members, our family managed to organise a family do sponsored by Ad in the late eighties at Kelubi itself. The response from the family members were very encouraging whereby our prominent Kelubian, former Menteri Besar Tan Sri Osman Aroff @ Mat Daud graced the momentous occasion. Sadly to say it happened to be our first and last family gathering because due to financial as well time constraints among the fourth and fifth generation Kelubians. The prospect of having another gathering of such nature faces a very grim future indeed as most of the fourth and fifth generation Kelubians are residing in Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere. .

When durians were in abundance coupled with the magnanimous attitudes of the owners, the second and third generation Kelubians used to organise yearly durians feast at the Kelubi cemetery. The purpose of these yearly durian feast or festival was to show our gratefulness to the blessings of Allah SWT for the abundant yields as well as to forge the spirit of togetherness among the Kelubians. After our obligatory religious rituals and enjoying the king of fruits, collectively we used to spruce up the unkempt surroundings of the cemetery with the hope that the cleanliness would survive until the next durian feast. Unfortunately since durians has commanded a higher price together with the vanishing generousness of the Kelubians, the practice of our annual durians feast or festival has gone to the winds.

Apart from that, as the land status in Kelubi are freehold, the landscapes of Kelubi has changed tremendously with more business complexes of non-bumis taking over the the rural kampong landscape of the original Kelubi. With the fast rate of squeezing in of development projects around Kelubi, the scenario of original Kelubi would not be the same as when we used to tenggalung buah setol and doing our long jumps into the buffalo's pitches during our youthful days. Because of the lure of development and quick gains, gone are the old trees of setoi, sete, petai, genuak, remia and famous species of durian such as Jantung and Kacang Hijau.

In contrast to the excitement on 25.04.2011, I received a sad news from Dot that his mother Mak Long Ramlah has passed away at 9.30 pm at the Jitra Hospital. Zam and I paid our last respect to the late Mak Long Lah in the early morning of Monday, 02.05.2011. The late Mak Long Lah was laid to rest at the Kelubi cemetery beside her late husband. . We pray for the blessing of Allah SWT to place Mak Long Lah among the faithfuls.

The late Mak Long Lah was a third generation imported Kelubian (she hailed from Sungai Korok, Jitra) when she married my late father’s cousin, Ku Baharum in the early fifties. They were blessed with five children namely Ku Bahadur, Ku Kassim, Ku Ahmad, Ku Asma and Ku Azmi. Sadly to say that it was fated that her favourite only daughter, Ku Asma and her youngest son, Ku Azmi were in Indonesia when the late Mak Long Lah met her last breath, Ku Kassim the second boy has passed away in Ipoh a few years ago due to liver cancer and he was buried at the Kelubi Cemetery. Mak Long Lah also leaved behind her family house in Kelubi empty since all her children has migrated to Sik, Bandar Darul Aman and Kuala Lumpur.

With the demise of Mak Long Lah, the surviving third generation Kelubians from our family could be counted by the fingers of one palm. We are indeed blessed by Allah SWT whereby we could still enjoy the company of our third generation Kelubian family elders namely:

1. Ami In @ Syed Ibrahim residing in Kampung Hutan Setali, Jitra.

2. Caq Intan @ Sharifah Intan residing in Kelubi, Jitra

3. Ami Leh @ Syed Salleh residing in Putrajaya

4. Ami Daud @ Syed Ahmad residing in Kangar, Perlis

However we are thankful to Allah for blessing us with the only surviving second generation Kelubian, 100 years old Tok Su Eshah who still resides in Kelubi.