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...