Bits and pieces worthy of note

1. It’s gratifying how bits and pieces of facts and figures about my father gathered from libraries, archives and the internet has proved to be worthy of note. Prior to uncovering the treasure trove of information we all knew so little about him. If we were not determined to research him in the first place then we wouldn’t have been able to build up a picture of M. I. Merican.

2. My wife and I supported by our children began our search about seven years ago around the middle of 2013. We made time usually at weekends to do our search in the archives and libraries often putting in long hours scanning through long lists of official documents or pages of bound old newspapers for relevant information pertaining to my father.

3. Formerly our knowledge of his career in the Kedah Civil Service (KCS) was rather sketchy. Ever since my teens I knew he used to work as a high court registrar and assistant legal adviser. I learned about this from the inside of his book covers where he put down his signature and job title below. I couldn’t remember when I first came across his name in the list of members of the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS). In the list for 1930 I learned that he worked at the legal adviser’s office. Years later I came across his picture in official uniform in a periodical issued by Kedah State Museum that featured several past figures in the state. Apart from his name, the caption stated that he was formerly a superintendent of education and a legal adviser.

His signatures on the inside of his book covers.

Cutting from list of members, JMBRAS 1930.

 4. We only got a better picture of his career after getting hold of his retirement file which was one of our early discoveries. We found the file in the Kedah and Perlis Branch of the National Archives Malaysia in Alor Merah. It contained his record of service and other documents such as forms regarding leaves and pension calculations as well as official correspondence.

5. The record of service listed his appointments throughout his time in the KCS which included jobs as headmaster, chief clerk census office, 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.

6. At that time I noticed that his jobs as mentioned in the periodical were not consistent with that recorded in his record of service. And I thought it might be editorial errors until we made our second important discovery. It was a letter to the editor penned by LCL to the Straits Echo. In his tribute to my father the writer mentioned that “he was the first Malay in this country to become Legal Adviser.” And I wondered then why wasn’t it recorded in his record of service.

7. As I recall, vital documents, such as his death certificate and marriage certificate, were long gone with the passing of time. Attempts to get copies of those from respective departments were futile for want of actual dates. It was a stroke of luck that my wife found a very informative news report on his death in a fat volume of bound old newspaper at the Penang public library.

8. A lot of useful facts and figures about my father had emerged from that one article alone. At long last we learned things of note such as his actual dates of birth and death, place of birth, where he went to school and what his work was before he came over to Alor Star. The actual date of his death had facilitated the search for his death certificate. And for the first time we learned that he was recalled to service during the war.

9. Later on to our great delight we found his retirement “again” file in the Archives. The file mostly contained official correspondence including several of his letters. The letters shed light on his recall to service by the government of Kedah during the Japanese occupation. He was made head of Judicial Department hence his appointment as legal adviser and public prosecutor for Kedah and Perlis. That explained the confusion I had before about his appointment as legal adviser.

10. Our search had brought us as far as the capital city where we visited the National Archives and the National Library a few times to gather more information.  At the Archives we found several files regarding my father’s activities as a special translator of enactments for which he received remuneration. At the Library we found old government gazettes in which we discovered further information about his work.

11. The internet and digitization have actually facilitated our search for information. I first learned that my father was “a scion of a well-to-do family” from a site on the internet. This was later supported by an article on the history of the Noordin’s family from another blog.

12. We also obtained bits and pieces of facts and figures by virtue of digitized printed materials. For instance, we got hold of one otherwise buried article on the internet that carried remarks regarding the role played by my father in the translation committee entrusted with the herculean task of translating hundreds of enactments from English into Malay.

13. The story about my father’s involvement in the 1911 census taking in Kedah was also found on the internet. It explained the anomalous situation in which he was appointed headmaster on 26 February and chief clerk of census office on the following day.

14. The demise of his uncle, Habib, in 1909 and of his only brother, M. H. M. Noordin, whose funeral he attended was also discovered on the internet. So was the marriage of his brother’s only daughter, Kulsoom Bebe, to a local politician in 1929.

15. His climb to success could actually be traced in the occasional brief “Kedah” column of local newspapers where appointments of government servants were publicised. He began as a headmaster and worked his way up to become one of the important figures in the Kedah government service in the 1930s through his retirement period in the 40s and 50s. His importance was most evident in his recall to service during the war. Even in his later period of retirement his two cents worth still found space in local newspapers.

16. Lastly, we would never ever forget the contributory factor without which all this couldn’t have been possible. The librarians at the Penang library, archives officials at the national archives and the clerks of both institutions were very supportive of our search. Thank you all.