The thief of time

1. Having procrastinated much too long, I finally decided to carry on with my application to correct errors in my birth register. The last time I went to the registration office last October I was given forms to fill in, including a statutory declaration form. It was not until January that I started to make a move.

2. Apart from the applicant, the statutory declaration form must include a near relative to jointly make a declaration pertaining to the matters of the application. So I made an appointment with my sister for that purpose and we met at the high court complex in Alor Setar to make the declaration and have it certified by a commissioner for oaths.39/63

3. While in Alor Setar I got all the necessary documents from my sister such as her birth certificate and a copy of her identity card and from my sister-in-law who lives in Titi Gajah, I got a copy of my brother’s death certificate.

4. Having got the necessary documents and the forms filled in and the declaration letter ready, there was a lapse of another two months before I went to the registration office to submit my application. The clerk who attended to me went through all the forms and checked all copies of the supporting documents against the originals that I showed him.

5. I was assured by the clerk that my application would normally take six months to process. After paying the application fee I left the office and walked to my car. Along the way my phone rang. It was the clerk. He informed me that I must submit a certified copy of my sister’s identity card. I told him I would submit it later.

6. My sister had refused to give me her identity card the last time I asked for it, but gave me a photocopy instead. I’d overlooked the matter of getting it certified before submitting it along with my application.

7. I immediately called my sister and it was a stroke of luck that she was in Penang that day. She promised she’d stop in Sungai Petani and hand me a certified copy of her identity card. So I had it submitted to the registration office the following day.

8. It was March then and the country was slowly affected by the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China. By mid-April government departments were closed down on account of the Movement Control Order. It meant that my application would take longer to be processed. As the saying goes: “Procrastination is the thief of time.”

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.

On their way

1. My firstborn and her husband are blessed with two children; Umar aged 6 and Nuraina aged 5. Early last December, they were preparing to send the children on their first step along the road to formal education.

2. My wife and I were excited to see how the children would behave on their first day in a kindergarten, so we stayed for three days at their house in Simpang Ampat, Seberang Prai which is about 60 kilometres from Sungai Petani where we live.

3. On the awaited day of 16 December, my daughter woke her children up round about 6.30 in the morning and then helped them to shower and dress. Umar and Nuraina seemed cheerful and excited to go to school for the first time.

4. My wife and I accompanied the parents to send the siblings to participate in a five-day orientation programme called “Holiday Camp” at the kindergarten. It was on level one at the northern end of a commercial block.

5. I staggered up a flight of rather long stairs after the children and their parents to a crowded reception area. Through the partial glass partition, I noticed the adjacent room was already alive with children seated around circular tables doing various activities under the guidance of several teachers.

6. Umar and Nuraina were ushered by their mother into the room and led to one of the attending teachers. That was when Nuraina suddenly burst into tears and cried uncontrollably. The teacher promptly began to console her without any effect.

7. By the look on his face, it seemed that Umar was affected and near to tears, but another teacher quickly consoled him and upon being ushered to an empty seat at a table he called out to his mom to stay put in the reception where he could see her through the glass partition.

8. The other teacher took his crying sister in her arms and carried her somewhere out of sight. In a while Umar was quite settled and began to play with some bricks. At that time I was aware that the piteous sound of Nuraina crying had subsided.

9. Later that day, a teacher shared photos of the siblings on their mom’s smartphone and she shared them with us. Umar seemed contented and happy, but Nuraina hadn’t fully recovered from sadness. Her mom was curious to know why she burst out on her first day in school and Nuraina put it simply, “I tried to prevent my tears from flowing, but my tears flowed anyway.”

Nuraina's first day blue

10. She burst out again on the second day and later after school she confided her feelings to her mother, “I pity you, mama. You’re all alone at home. Who will take care of you?” On the third day, she was on the verge of tears but one of the teachers quickly calmed her down and involved her in an activity. That prevented her from crying.

Keeping busy

11. Every day they would bring home simple items they did in class. We complimented them and felt happy for them. At the end of the third day upon leaving for home we told the children to love school. I thanked the breadwinner for his hospitality.

Items they brought home

12. He is a hard-working man and I believe that he would keep his nose to the grindstone to make ends meet. The monthly fee for the kindergarten is RM330 per head and that would slice a significant amount from his monthly salary. Nuraina is fortunate because one of her mother’s siblings is willing to pay for her monthly fee on account of latter’s fondness for her.

13. On the second last day of the “Holiday Camp” my daughter waited for quite a while before the siblings came down the stairs accompanied by their teacher. Halfway down Umar called out to her saying he went to the toilet. It was obvious to her noticing the back pocket of his trousers turned to the front.

14. The orientation programme lasted until December 20. After a lapse of nearly two weeks the kindergarten session for 2020 started in early January. We wondered if Nuraina would burst out again as she did before. A morning photo shared by her mother before they left for school showed Nuraina and Umar in happy mood and we took heart from that. 

 

In happy mood

15. However, later that day we learned that Nuraina burst out again upon joining class. Her teacher shared a photo of her in class with a trace of sadness in her eyes. By contrast, Umar was a picture of content. 

Umar contented, Nuraina still sad.

16. The first three or four days were trying for Nuraina. She sulked and started complaining to her mother when she came to fetch them. She’d expected to be in the same class as her brother, but was put in a different class. She thought her brother was ignoring her because he was busying himself making new friends.

17. Not a week later my daughter shared an unlikely quip from Nuraina who happened to have soft flyaway hair. Her mother spends a few minutes every morning to do her hair using cute, colourful hair clips to keep it tidy. My daughter wearies of monotony, so she does different hairdos for her daughter every day such as messy buns, braid, tied mini ponytail and palm-leaves bunches. For that Nuraina complimented her mother candidly, “You do my hair so nicely, Mama. The girls won’t like me for sure, because I look cute.”

Nuraina's hairdos

18. By the second week, Nuraina gradually settled in at the kindergarten and adjusted herself to its routine. She made friends with the kids and knew them by names. Every day she would talk to her mother about her friends and what she did in class.

19. We were glad to learn that Umar and Nuraina loved school and they were doing quite well in their learning. Umar told her mother that his teacher asked him to count. So he counted up to hundred in English and the teacher patted him on the back. The following day positive comments about Umar came from his teacher who told his mother that he was so good on account of being able to write, read and count.

20. Sometimes the unexpected happened. The children were supposed to take off their socks in class for obvious reasons. One day while checking the siblings’ school bags, my daughter found extra pairs of socks in Nuraina’s bag. She told her mother that the boys asked her to keep their socks. Thus, on the very next day my daughter duly made a move to straighten things out.

21. It seemed that Nuraina was diligent whereas Umar got bored easily with his homework. Despite his careless way, teachers liked him. His teacher sent a WhatsApp message to my daughter: 

“All teachers give good comments about Umar. Although this is his first time in school, he has all the basic skills and he can follow the class like other children. Thanks to you for training him up at home.”

Pandora's box

From right: M.I. Merican, Darus (seated) and
Abdul Hamid. The child is Mohd Noor.

1. I wouldn’t dream of opening a Pandora’s box. So, I would be careful with my words.

2. My father was surrounded by family members related to him by marriage long before he married my mother. His first wife was Chik binti Hassan who had a nephew named Darus bin Samaun. In his youth, Darus might have lived with my father.

3. As he had no children of his own, my father adopted Abdul Hamid who was probably another one of Chik’s nephews. Apparently, he loved Abdul Hamid dearly hence putting Abdul Hamid’s bin after his name.

4. Abdul Hamid died young leaving a wife and two children. His wife, Hamisah, was married to Darus who took over guardianship of Abdul Hamid’s children; a daughter, Maimunah, and a son, Mohd Noor. Later, Darus and Hamisah settled down at Jalan Kaki Bukit outside of Kangar and were blessed with six of their own children.

5. When Chik passed away, my father married a widow named Che Chah. I have no knowledge as to whether her widowhood was a consequence of a breakup with her husband, Che Daim, or by reason of his death.

6. Che Chah had a son named Che Omar who got married to his cousin, Che Tom who was a daughter of Zainuddin, Che Daim’s elder brother. Apparently, Zainuddin and my father were great friends.

7. Even before his retirement in 1937, my father had already made a name for himself as an outstanding civil servant under the Kedah state government. He was recalled to service by the Kedah government during the Japanese occupation to head the Department of Justice. He held the post of Legal Adviser and Public Prosecutor for Kedah and Perlis until the end of the war.

8. My father’s grandchildren by marriage, that is, the children of Abdul Hamid and Darus and especially the children of Che Omar revered him greatly and referred to him as tuk wan (grandpa).

9. It happened that my father’s stepdaughter-in-law had a younger brother who would become a very successful and influential man in his later life. Apparently, he had an above average IQ and attended a premiere school in Alor Star.

10. I am not interested in his life’s pursuit or his climb to success but instead I would like to speculate upon his attitude towards family relationship. He was about 10 years old when I was born in 1947. So, being a bright young boy I believe that he knew about his father’s friendship with my father who was in fact his co-uncle by marriage.

11. One other thing that interests me most was his close ties with the Darus’ family. One of the latter’s daughter admitted that in the past he used to visit them and they referred to him as “pak uda” (=uncle). Apparently, this might have come to pass on account of Maimunah and Mohd Noor. Both of them were almost his peers. Maybe they grew up together while Abdul Hamid was still living at home in Alor Star. Thus, it seemed very likely that “pak uda” was also aware of the “patriarch” of the family.

12. Now, comes the intriguing part of this anecdote. Recently my daughter accompanied her husband and in-laws to a reception thrown by a VVIP. It happened that “pak uda” also attended the reception. During the occasion my daughter’s father-in-law introduced her to the latter mentioning that she was her daughter-in-law and a granddaughter of “Mohamed Ismail Merican.”  

13. Alas, the name didn’t ring a bell at all. “Pak uda’s” response seemed evasive: “I’ve not gone back to Kedah for so long.” How he could ever forget the name would remain a mystery indefinitely.

14. In passing, my sister, accompanied by her daughter and I had a golden opportunity of meeting another great Kedahan a few years back. He is at least ten years older than “pak uda,” but he definitely remembered my father very well.

Where there's smoke

1. Recently a young employee had made a statutory declaration alleging that his boss attempted to sexually assault him. I found it hard to believe that the boss would face the same situation again that in the past had him charged, tried and found guilty of sexual assaults on two occasions. What is mind-boggling is that the boss is an eminent political figure in the country. In the following account I will refer to him as “the pied piper.”

2. In my youth, I used to idolise the pied piper, a charismatic figure, and saw in him a promising future leader for the country, but it was not until 1975 that for the first time I heard someone made derogatory remark about his behaviour. The remark came from a colleague of mine who became a close friend during a one-year specialist course in art education that we attended at STTI, Cheras. It was a coincidence that the pied piper was his peer at a prestigious elite school in Kuala Kangsar, Perak.

3. Later in 1979 I went for my first degree at the oldest university in the country where I saw disgusting name-calling scribbled at the back of toilet doors that was directed at the pied piper. That brought to mind my colleague’s remark about his behaviour four years back. Consequently, I began to wonder if there could be smoke without fire.

4. During the outbreak of political unrest in September 1998, the controversy of a political decision made by the then prime minister became the ubiquitous topic of conversation across the country. It was at that time that a friend related an account that had happened in the early 1970s when he was working in Baling. It happened that one day he was listening to the pied piper delivering a fiery speech to a crowd in an open place hitting out at the ruling government. As he listened intently, a friend came up to him and said if it were worthwhile listening to one who had a darker side to his character. The friend of my friend, also a peer of the pied piper, went to the same above-mentioned school in Perak.

5. There are other accounts including comments on social media relating to the strange behaviour of the pied piper that undoubtedly have proven detrimental to his public image, but curiously enough not challenged in court. At present the pied piper is still fighting for his survival on the political scene in spite of the controversies shrouding his image.
6. In certain countries politicians readily step down at the slightest hint of corruption or wrongdoing. So I wonder why the pied piper is so intent in pursuing his course of action. Does he really believe or want people to believe that he is the victim of slander? There do seem to be some grounds to suspect his honesty because he remains evasive about his strange behaviour. The story of the pied piper is a tragedy in itself. He puts the general public in a great dilemma. The people are in limbo while waiting what might come next. I for one believe that it is unethical to have a hypocrite for a leader.