138 years ago

1. My father was born on 14 February at Church Street, George Town, Penang, about 138 years ago. Thenceforth began his much obscure life journey that would end 74 years later away from his hometown in the village of Alor Merah where he was laid to rest at a cemetery in the vicinity of a local mosque.

2. He lost his father at an early age of two and was then placed under the guardianship of his uncle who was responsible for giving him proper education. His alma mater the Penang Free School was where he started his early career as a teacher before leaving his home town to move on to greener pastures.

3. He took a chance on joining the KCS in Alor Star, the capital town of mainland Kedah. His first appointment dated 6 February 1911 was as headmaster of a newly founded English school, the Government English School. However, on the following day he was entrusted to carry out the job of Chief Clerk Census Office, so the school was closed for about two months until the census was taken.

4. He was headmaster for two years, and subsequently became acting superintendent of education, senior auditor, high court registrar, registrar and acting sheriff, assistant superintendent monopolies and custom, and assistant legal adviser. He was acting under secretary II before retiring on 24 September, 1937.

5. I believe he stayed on the ball and apparently regarded as a safe pair of hands, hence his appointment to various jobs that he carried out so well especially the herculean tasks of translating hundreds of enactments in English into Malay during his time as assistant legal adviser. In this regard his role was highlighted in a newspaper article. The writer wrote inter alia:

“… He (M.I. Merican) is the soul of the Translation Committee and is really the translator of the English version into Malay. His work is not paste and scissors but putting every English word in the laws into intelligible Malay.”

6. In a tribute to him another writer sang the praises of his achievement in the civil service. Among other things, he wrote:

“Mr. Merican made his mark and reputation not only in the teaching profession but also in the Kedah Civil Service of which he was a star of the first magnitude. As Auditor, Registrar of the High Court and Legal Adviser, he proved himself an able and capable officer with his usual thoroughness. He was the first Malay in this country to become Legal Adviser.

“There can be no question that Mr. Merican was not only a great teacher in English education but also a great Civil Servant of the best traditions of the Civil Service.”

7. Little is known about his personal life. He probably got married for the first time sometime in the 1920s and after his wife passed away in mid-1930s he got married again probably in late 1930s. Apparently after the war his second wife died of oedema and thereafter he married my mother. He had no children from earlier marriages.

8. During the war he was recalled to service by the Kedah government to head the Department of Justice. He was appointed a member of the State Council and held the post of Legal Adviser and Public Prosecutor for Kedah and Perlis until the end of the war.

9. In 1946 at the age of 64 he retired again after continuing to serve in the Office of the Legal Adviser through the British Military Administration and subsequently under the Civil Administration (Malayan Union). Later he served as unofficial member of Executive Council and Council of State from 1948 to 1955. May he rest in peace.