A loan of 500 rial

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1. I still have a very vague memory of occasional car ride with my father on his way to work and then his driver would drive me to the market place to buy some pancakes. I remember that it was a black car but I could never tell what make of car it was until recently.

2. It was a Chrysler 6. Its number plate was K 285. Its engine number was 19922. These details were obtained from a document that I had retrieved from the Archives.

3. According to a letter dated 28 Muharram 1356 (9 April, 1937) addressed to the Under Secretary of Kedah State Government, my father bought the car while he was holding the post of Acting Superintendant of Education and paid for it out of his own savings.

4. He wrote in the letter that he had an outstanding amount of 500 rial(= ringgit) to pay for the car insurance. So he asked a loan of that amount from the Government and the payback would be monthly deductions of 100 rial(= ringgit) from his salary until the loan were settled.

5. There was a remark I’d read in an article that my father was ‘a scion of a well-to-do family’ but I believe my father was a self-made man. In her book The Chulia in Penang (2014), Khoo Salma Nasution wrote:

“Vapoo’s eldest Mahomed Hussain Merican Noordin (M. H. M. Noordin) became a municipal commissioner, while his second son Mahomed Ismail Merican Noordin (M. I. M. Noordin) made his own career instead of relying on the family estate.”

6. If he had not detached himself from the family estate, his financial position would have been better off. His father had passed away when he was two years old and he was taken care of by his uncle. Whether he had received an inheritance or not you never can tell ...

A small river

1. There was a small river just a few yards behind my grandma’s house. It was one of the many tributaries of the Kedah River which had its estuary in Kuala Kedah and flowed northward through the state capital, Alor Setar. I started bathing and swimming and playing in the river since a small boy.

2. Eventually I acquired a rather good swimming skill. I still recall during my teachers college days, our swimming instructor would ask me to demonstrate the breaststroke, the backstroke or the butterfly to the other trainees because I could execute them quite flawlessly.

3. The river kept memories of my childhood days. Once, my big cousin asked me to come along for a dip. I thought it was going to be a relaxing occasion, but then as soon as we got into the water my big cousin started to immerse me underwater by pressing my head with his hand. I struggled to get to the surface for some air but gulped in water instead.

4. After a while he let me go and warned me not to be a busybody. Only then did I recall telling my uncle a little secret about my big cousin: that the latter was smoking behind his back. My big cousin made me swallow my anger. That was for minding other people’s business.

5. The majority of inhabitants along the small river were Malays, mainly rice farmers. One Chinese grocer’s shops and two Indian’s cater for the whole community along the small river. There was a Chinese family living far upstream where the river eventually narrowed into the paddy fields.

6. Back then the river was a means of transport. Boatmen would paddle along the river hawking mussels. Occasionally, a long boat belonging to the Chinese family living upstream would pass by, carrying either a full load of smelly pigswill upstream or a full load of full-grown pigs downstream.

7. Sometimes the long boat carrying its cargo passed by while we kids were having fun in the river. We loathed it very much. We would curse and spit every time it passed by our way.

8. After six decades had gone by; I still wonder how ridiculous it was then that the kampong people had turned a blind eye to the rearing of pigs in their community. Back then I suppose they were very tolerant of other races …

In brief

M. I. MERICAN

Born	Mohamed Ismail Merican bin Vapoo Merican Noordin
	14 February 1882
	Church Street (now Lebuh Gereja), Penang
Died	24 November 1956 (aged 74)
	Alor Merah, Alor Setar, Kedah
Resting place	Alor Merah, Alor Setar
Nationality	Malayan
Also known as	M. I. Merican, M. I. M. Noordin, Md. Ismail Merican, Ismail Merican
Race	Malay
Education	Elementary and secondary education
Alma mater	Penang Free School, Penang
Occupation	Teacher (1904?-1911), Civil Servant (1911-1937) served as Headmaster, Senior Auditor, High Court Registrar, Assistant Legal Adviser, Acting Superintendent of Education, Acting Legal Adviser, and Acting Under Secretary, served as Unofficial Member of Kedah Executive Council and the Council of State of Kedah (1947-1954), took up private business after retirement.
Years active	1908–1954
Known for	His translation of hundreds of enactments which constitute the laws of Kedah (1920s – 1930s)
Religion	Islam
Spouse(s)	1. Chik binti Hassan (1930s) 2. Chah binti ? (1930s – 1040s?) 3. Gayah binti Abdul Rahman (m. 1946? – his death in 1956)
Children	Mohd. Sharif Marikan (1947 - ) Mohd Hussin Marikan (1948 - 2013) Che Aminah (1950 - )
Parents	Vapoo Merican Noordin (father) ? (mother)
Signature