A translator

I think my father’s strong point was his good command of English. I believe that he studied at Penang Free School (PFS) in late 1800s, and later became a teacher there in early 1900s. On my visit to the school recently, I discovered a congratulatory note in an old PFS magazine dating back to 1911 which read as follows:

“Congratulations to Mr. M. I. Merican on his appointment as Headmaster of the Kedah English School. Mr. Merican lent his hand in several issues of the Magazine, for which he has our thanks.”

- The Free School Magazine, Penang, July 1911

I’m very indebted to the principal, Encik Jalil bin Saad, and Puan Sakinah, the teacher in charge of the school archives, for allowing me to have access to relevant documents in the archives.

   I believe that my father started the work of translating enactments (“menterjemah undang-undang”) in 1923 when he was working as office assistant at the Office of Legal Adviser, and the activity went on for several years. This is indicated by several documents relating to the matter.

My father

In his own handwriting, my father wrote his name as “Md. Ismail Merican”. His first marriage was to one Che Chik binti Hassan who passed away following an illness. I’m not sure whether he had any other marriage(s) before he got married to my mother, Che Gayah binti Abdul Rahman. I was born in 1947, so they might have got married in 1946 or earlier. Their other children are my younger siblings: Mohd Hussin Marikan and Che Aminah. My father had no children from his previous marriage(s).

   My father passed away in 1957 when I was 10 years old. He left us no fortune (except for a few ringgit in his savings account) which definitely broke my mother’s heart. However the poor woman managed to raise the three of us through hardship and saw us through our schooling until we are able to find decent jobs. 

   After my father’s death, family connection with his side of the family had broken off completely. My mother was quite indifferent when I asked her about my father. So what memories I have about my father are childhood memories – a tired old man sitting in his armchair smoking his cigar, or taking his usual strides across the hall after lunch or dinner, or being massaged nightly by his wife in bed. His large portrait in official uniform hung on the wall.

   As I grew older (after his death) I began to realize that my father was “somebody” in the state. I heard elderly kampong folks said: “dia yang buat undang-undang negeri Kedah” (he was the one who made the laws of the state). Even at that time I knew that their notion was misleading. Then I read from somewhere that he used to serve as superintendant of education and legal adviser. It seemed that he was also one of the earliest headmaster of the first English school ever established in Alor Star.

   Only lately, after my own children showed a keen interest to investigate about their grandfather, we began to spend time in the archives to dig out some facts. Thanks to the archives clerks, we were able to access several documents which contain records about the old man’s career in Kedah.

   Md. Ismail Merican came over from Penang and started his career in KCS as the headmaster of Government English School in 1911. For some time he was senior auditor (1913-1915). He was a high court registrar (1917-1922), and served in the office of legal adviser (1922-?). He retired in 1937, after which he served as an unofficial member in the State Executive Council and State Council (1947-1954).

To be continued...

What's in a name?

Searching through old documents in the archives, I found out several variations by which my father’s name was written/printed and/or spelt. Here are some that I’ve managed to jot down:

 1. Che Ismail Merican bin Bapu Merican (State Council file)
 2. Che Md. Ismail bin Bapu Merican (Secretariat (Kedah) file)
 3. Che Ismail Merican bin Bapu Merican Noordin (Government of Kedah. Warrant. Justice of the Peace)
 4. Che Mohamed Ismail bin Bapu Merican (heading from his speech)
 5. Che Muhammad Ismail bin Bapu Marikan (engraving on a silver salver in Jawi)
 6. Md. Ismail Merican (from a list in his own handwriting)
 7. Che Ismail bin Bapu Merican (leave certificate)
 8. Che Ismail Merican bin Vapoo Merican (return from leave memo)

I guess “che” was a courtesy title used at that time in official matters. My father wrote his name as “Md. Ismail Merican” (no. (6) above). His signed his name with the initials M. I. and the surname “merican” (M.I.merican). In my birth certificate his name was written as “Md Ismail Marikan bin Vapoo Marikan Nordin”. In many documents I found that “Vapoo” was spelt “Bapu”. But on a gravestone I found in a graveyard in the compou
thus – ﻮ ﭫ ﺍ ﺐ [ba alif pa wau].nd of Kapitan Kling Mosque, George Town, and which I strongly believe to be my grandfather’s – was engraved the name “Wapu Marikan Mohamad Nordin” in Jawi:  ﻮ  ﻮ ﺍ ﭫ[wau alif pa wau]ﻦ ﻚ ﻱ ﺮ ﻡ [mim ra ya kaf nun] ﺪ ﻡ ﺡ ﻡ [mim ha mim dal] ﻦ ﻱ ﺪ ﺮ ﻮ ﻦ [nun wau ra dal ya nun]. Most of the official documents I found in the archives were in Jawi and spelt “Vapoo” thus – ﻮ ﭫ ﺍ ﺐ [ba alif pa wau].

Jawi is an Arabic alphabet for writing Malay etc. in Southeast Asia.