Hang Tuah, and his detractors

                                                Hang Tuah's mural in Muzium Negara

I knew about the story of Hang Tuah when I began to read Utusan Kanak Kanak, the children's paper which was circulated by Utusan Melayu during my early schooling years. Then a play on Hang Tuah was put up at the Lake Gardens in Seremban where my late uncle Hashim Amir Hamzah who was actively involved in its production, and I presumed that made Mubin Sheppard who was then the British Adviser in Negri Sembilan gave him a good recommendation for a job as a radio announcer in the then Radio Malaya at Singapore.
So I just cannot understand the fuss over Khoo Kay Kim's notion that Hang Tuah did not exist. Of what importance did he now bring up the subject-matter is a mystery to many. Just because he is the chairman of the committee which reviews the history syllabus for our schools does not confer on him the right to disturb the authenticity of his contributions to his ruler, Sultan Mansur Shah. He could well be just a myth, but to the Malays he is more than that. Hang Tuah is part of the Malay cultural heritage as pointed out by my ex-residential college mate in University Malaya, Prof. Ghouse Nasaruddin.
If Mubin Sheppard had his way, he probably wanted Hang Tuah's bust be put up in front of Muzium Negara and not just his mural, when he was heading  the museum. He would be turning in his grave if he reads on the statements now made by Hang Tuah's detractors   including  those who said that Hang Tuah was a Chinese.
This is what happens when we are not proud of our past. After all not everything of importance need to be proven by empirical evidence and facts, because for all we know if we were to dig for them, they are buried deep under the Straits of Malacca, one of the busiest sea-lanes in the world. That is perhaps the reason why our treasure hunters have quietly carted away many of the artifacts found off our shores because they could well disguised their ships as a passing vessel. It is better for us to keep the legend as it is, because it is already a museum piece.

Muhammad Zarrif Shah, a new addition to the family.

                                                        Muhammad Zarrif Shah

 

Last Sunday 08 January 2012 at 4.59 p.m. saw the arrival of Muhammad Zarrif Shah, my fifth grandchild and the third child from my son Husni and daughter-in-law Chik Laynnia Zamir. Alhamdulillah both of them, the baby and mother are already discharged from SJMC in Subang. But since the doctor recommended a longer light therapy for the baby's jaundice, he is admitted closer to their home at Tropicana Medical Centre in Kota Damansara.
As a grandfather, I am quite relieved to welcome the new addition to the family after a few false alarms where the doctor told Laynnia that if the baby is not born by Thursday 12 January, then he has to induce the birth, but Alhamdulillah he arrives earlier.
I am grateful to ALLAH S.W.T. for fulfilling my prayer that both of them are well. Now it is the time for us to lend a hand in helping out whenever required since they do not have a helper at home.

Kampong Yayasan Al-Jenderami

                                           Masjid Kg.Yayasan Al-Jenderami


On Sunday 18 December 2011, I was invited by a cousin of mine, whom I called Zai for short to a maulid at his new house in Jenderam Hilir near Dengkil, Selangor. He told me on a few occasions about his dakwah centre in Jenderam Hilir and said that I should know his Chairman of the Al-Jenderami Foundation because he is also a retired senior civil servant.
As Allah S.W.T. wills it, I finally made my way to Jenderam Hilir using my GPS and thus on that Sunday I found the location of his kampong without difficulty.
As the route to Putrajaya and Cyberjaya is familiar to me, the drive only took me just slightly less than an hour as the sunday traffic is fairly clear along the way. Now many taxis going to KLIA are plying through that route as it avoids the toll to the airport.
When I arrived at the Kampong, it does not look like the traditional village but saw many of the houses are fairly new and built around a mosque which is shown in the picture above. The dakwah centre is situated adjacent to the mosque and the terrain is generally undulating.The road within the Kampong is typically narrow, just fit for a car to pass by.
As I approached Zai's house which is near a steep enbankment, I was directed to turn into the left sharp turn descending into his house lot and saw him at the entrance guiding me to the temporary parking next to his house lot which is empty.
The maulid has started at about half-an hour earlier and I met my cousin Cikgu Nordin, the elder sibling of Zai seated at the porch entrance on a mat. So I joined him and followed the group who are mostly dressed in the jubah and serban in reciting the maulid-rasul. It was accompanied by the arab drum and sounded much louder than the ordinary one which we see used by the kompang group.It was an experience because the normal maulid that I used to follow in Rasah more than 40 years ago was without the accompaniment of the arabic drum even though the leader then was the late Habib Omar Al-Attas who originated from Hadramaut.
After the maulid was over, the congregation was invited for lunch and after that I met the Chairman of the Al-Jenderami Foundation who was in PM's Department together with me, but he was the Secretary to the Cabinet Division and I was in the Legal Affairs Division. He seemed to be well connected with the place and told me that he is learning from a Tuan Guru at the centre the rudiments of Tauhid,Feqah and Tassawuf all over again. He has sold his house in Petaling Jaya and shifted to Kajang so that he is nearer to Jenderam.
It is good to see him being involved in going back to be learning the basics from the 'kitab kuning' direct from a Tuan Guru which is a rare thing nowadays.

Radio Pencen

As an ardent fan of Radio Pencen which is singularly managed online by a colleague of mine who is a diehard broadcaster and once served with me at the Unit Penyelarasan Pelaksanaan in PM's Department in the late 90's, I feel it would be doing him justice to highlight his yeoman's service in still entertaining his audience of mainly pensioners and friends.
Tengku Ali Bustaman a.k.a. as Pokku had been a veteran broadcaster with RTM and of late he has not been in the best of health but despite that he never stopped this online radio. You could listen by going to the website, http:radiopencenfm.listen2myradio.com/ and it goes on air daily from 9.00 am till midnight with short breaks for meals and prayers. You can also make requests on your favourite oldies,especially after 9.00 pm for your easy listening.
So please enjoy Radio Pencen.

Wedding Feasts

It is the norm that when the school is closed for the long holiday at the end of the year, I receive a good number of invitations and sometimes I have to it a miss owing to the clash with some other important commitment.
But there is one which shall remain in my memory because I almost go to the wrong one due to the close proximity.
My classmate during my schooldays in KGV Seremban invited me to his son's wedding feast which was held in an open field right in front of his late mother's house. I would normally come early especially during this rainy spell. However I found that many had the same idea and what made it worse there was an IT festival held at the Sports complex nearby which made the road to his house very congested. I parked my car at quite a distance and walked to his function.
As I was walking towards the rows of tents near the house, I realised that they are not situated at the open space but smack in front of the terrace houses. My son called me and said "Abah, you going to a different person's function" and pointed out to the sign which showed a different name. My wife also laughed at my mistake,which was averted in time.
When I arrived at the friend's function I related the story to my sister who was there earlier helping out the host. Otherwise I would have wondered why the faces of the hosts looked different. Then I later learned that they were supposed to have the feast not at the same time to avoid the confusion because of the close proximity but somehow the neighbour decided to have it at the same time so as to avoid the rainy spell.

Lady of the Lamp

                                              
                                                     Lady of the Lamp
By Courtesy of Google

                  Stillness in the night


                 She walked her ward rounds with care


                 With light in her hand


I was in lower school of the King George V in Seremban and my teacher Mrs Mc Coy read us the poetry on the Lady of the Lamp which I remember to this day.

The Rambutan

                                                                          Rambutan


      Garden rambutan

     
     Is now ripe and hanging low


     To pluck when they come


I planted the tree when my first grandson was born eleven years ago. It began to bear fruit when he was about five or six years old and every time it fruits I tell him that the tree is to remind me how old is he. Now I wait for my grandchildren to come and pluck them.

Wan My Grandma

During my childhood days, I used to sit on the 'mengkuang' mat in front of my maternal grandmother whom I called 'Wan' in the still of the night at my Kampong in Terachi, Kuala Pilah. She also weaved the mat from the mengkuang leaves which had been cut in long strips and dried.
In silence of nights
By the flicker of oil lamp
Sat the urn on mat

Thunder and Lightning

Last monday my automatic gate refused to open when I pressed the remote after a heavy downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning. I smelt something like a burnt plastic coming from the control box and guessed that it had been knocked out by the lightning which was followed by a booming thunder which caused my circuit breaker to trip and all my electrical lights went off.
Of late the Klang Valley has seen a lot of thunderstorms which caused havoc in certain parts like Subang Jaya being hit by hailstones and strong winds which caused trees to be uprooted and falling on a few vehicles. I attended a wedding function recently in my neighbourhood and commented to the guy who was seated at the same table with me that the day looks bright as it was midday, but he cautioned me that it would change very fast soon, and sure enough by 3.30 pm a heavy downpour came as usual. So the pattern is that a bright sunny first half would be followed by a heavy thunderstorm by the afternoon. Recent warnings by the Meteorological Department has been issued to residents that flash floods and strong winds are to be expected from now until March next year. The whole country is bracing up for the bad weather which has caused flooding in neighbouring Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We are told that the supply of rice would be curtailed as many areas which have been the suppliers of our rice have suffered greatly from the overflowing rivers straddling those countries. Not only that we are now facing shortages of vegetables and greens and the price of red chillies has sky rocketed to RM20.00 a kilogram.
Hence I pen down a haiku as follows;
Thunder and lightning
Light up the sky and booming
Sign of Almighty

Hank's Rainbow

My good friend Hank just phoned me this morning urging me to continue writing the short poem known as Haiku. I had written one earlier and he took the trouble to revise it so that it conforms to the strict 5-7-5 or 7-5-7 syllables for each line. He added that with my standard of English, it would go to waste if I did not continue to contribute in writing the short poems.
I appreciate very much Hank's untiring effort in encouraging me to join him in this healthy exercise. Another friend on this list, Pak Cik Hassan wished me well in his earlier comment on my first effort in writing a haiku. Hank's reason for egging me on is to motivate me to continue updating my blog. In fact he asked me to open another blog just to accommodate poems. But for the time being I just stick to one. So here is my second attempt at haiku poem.
Day of Sacrifice
In piety for the Hajj rites
For Humanity