Of rights and inheritance

1. I am 70 and sixty years have passed since my father died in 1956. After his death, ties with his side of the family died out as well. As a matter of fact, during a period of nine years or so living with my father, such ties never came to pass. There were occasional visits to his family members in Penang during my childhood days that I still vaguely remember, but that soon passed as my father got older and was over the hill.

2. My mother was from a simple family. She was a naïve and a quiet woman, a shrinking violet by nature. On account of her nature, one can only imagine how she fared in putting herself across to her aged husband regarding the future of their children. Like any loving and caring mother she had high hopes for her children. That I knew for certain.

3. At the time my father was on his last legs, my mother must have expected that she would come into a generous sum of money upon his decease with which to bring up the three of us and to give us proper education. But surprisingly, he left us with only a few cents in his bank account.

4. My mother was broken-hearted for some time, but despite her seemingly timid personality she was a strong and determined woman for our sake. She brought up the three of us with great hardship and self-sacrifice. By virtue of that we fared fairly well in our education and career.

5. It is misleading to assume that my father had failed to carry out his duty to the last. He must have been very proud to have the three of us hence publicizing each and every one of our births in the newspaper. I still remember my father taking me on my first day to school in 1954. He was 72 then, just two years before he died. Therefore, the unexplained sum of a mere pittance in his bank account would indefinitely remain a mystery.

6. After my father’s death, aside from my childhood memories of him, there was nothing much that I knew about his career and his genealogy. By the time I reached my teens I began to realize that my father was somebody during his lifetime. A few village elders I talked to spoke highly of him. And then there was an impressive volume of books that he left behind.

7. It was not until a few years after I retired from the government service that my children started to inquire about their grandfather, Mohamad Ismail Merican. It was then that we decided to research the man that has remained obscure in our family. Until now, after putting in long hours at the library and the archive, we have discovered numerous facts and figures pertaining to the man, his career and his genealogy.

8. Briefly, my father was a scion of a wealthy family, the patriarch of which was his famous grandfather, Mohamad Merican Noodin. He lost his father at the age of two and was brought up by his uncle. He went to Penang Free School and was considered ‘the best English educated of the Noordin’s family’. He began his career as a teacher at his alma mater and later moved to Alor Star in 1911 to become headmaster of a newly founded English school. He then joined the Kedah Civil Service and retired in 1937. In 1940, he was appointed as Justice of the Peace. During the Japanese occupation he was recalled to duty by the Kedah State Council and assumed the post of Legal Adviser. He retired again in 1946.

9. The above summary should suffice to show that my father was an educated and sensible person. For that reason, my children and their cousins do not believe that their grandfather would leave his wife and children entirely to fate. They believe that he had thought about their future after his decease and that he had planned ahead as befitted a sensible person. Coming from a well-to-do family, they believe that he had received a legacy by way of inheritance.  

10. Consequently, there were speculations about money and property. Indeed in the past there had been rumours that my father had allocated a generous sum of money for the education of his children. Whatever happened to the money nobody knew but some pinned it on to the doing of my father’s trustee(s) whoever he or they might be.

11. Then there was this story that my mother used to tell time and again. It seems that my father had purchased a piece of land in Penang for $30,000, but without a shred of evidence to support the claim, it would be like a wild-goose chase to look for the “property” if indeed it exists.  

12. A few years back circa 2014, there seems to be a concerted effort to obscure the identity of my father’s heir. This was in the form of altering certain particulars in the birth registration. Whoever was behind this unlawful act or for what purpose it transpired is not known.

13. My nephews and nieces as well as my children strongly believe that their grandfather had left a legacy that might have been badly executed in the absence rightful heirs. A lawyer friend of my niece told her that when it comes to inheritance, there is no question of attributing greed to someone who says that they have a right to something that belonged to someone who has died. The lawyer stressed that in Islam a person who protects what is rightfully theirs or who lays claim to something that is rightfully and legally theirs is considered as observing jihad.

14. Reflecting upon the lawyer’s words, I have to admit that all along I have been most indifferent about my rights and inheritance. On the other hand, my children and their cousins are determined to look for the bequest left by their grandfather. They are not willing to lose out to unscrupulous individuals. I believe that the truth will prevail.