2018

Sunday, January 1, 2018.

2018 is here!

We should all look forward to a "better" new year, and for that I'd received, and sent, several best wishes yesterday, the last day of 2017. I'd also won from Ismail Yassin 5 out of the 9 holes we played yesterday, also the last day of my 2017 golfing calendar. And that was with giving him 5 strokes! But I must add here, he's 6 years older. Not a whole lot older, but older, he he.

But "the future's looking dim" Cliff Richard says in his song.

We're all enclosed in an economic situation, like it or not. And that, in turn, is affected by the political situation, also like it or not. If the politics are well-managed, the economy would be, too. That seems like a truism. 

Which is why we all should pray hard that the walls crumbling around us are somehow stopped by a strong and wise government intent on saving our souls. But right now, that is not, to borrow from golf, a "given".

From the day the present government came to political power, things have been going from bad to worse. The price of goods and services, the two things closest to all of us, have gone out of control. We all know this, we are experiencing it, and I need no further illustration. The values we are taught from school - respect for elders, respect for race and religion, respect for integrity and respect for truth and all good values - are all thrown out of the window by the political leaders we had willingly or by default put into office in 2013. Scandals after huge scandals, mind-boggling in their sheer size and incredible wantoness, are exposed almost on a monthly regularity since  2013. The latest one thrown into our faces is the loss of ownership by Felda of not one, but three pieces of prime land with a commercial value of 1 billion. Having worked there for 21 years, I feel an extra pain. Older statesmen who chide the incompetence of leaders are not just shoved aside. They are not just blasted, blamed and belittled. Why, they even get their very ancestry, truthfully or made-up,  dug up, dirtied and denigrated. Never mind if one had served long and well. Never mind if you are no. 2 now. Which is a warning to current minor sycophants. If a past leader gets shit treatment now for differing opinion, what future do you have ? 

And forget about democratic values ( yes, they talk about these, and holy Islamic teachings, too, but talk, as they say, is cheap, and talking is not doing, or to use the popular parlance, "cakap tak serupa bikin"!). Criticism,  constructive or otherwise, is rejected. Parliament cannot parley. Reports are locked up. The police and the AG are servants of the leader, not the Constitution. In fact, the Constitution itself can be discarded. 

Not a very rosy 2018 outlook.

But things can be different. We all can make the difference. If we choose to.

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Melang vs Merak Kayangan & Tg, Malim revisited.

Monday December 11, 2017.

The school holidays mean lots and lots of weddings to attend. But when family members are involved, the choice is limited.

Ati's daughter, Husna, got married on Saturday 2nd December, at Melang Inn Hotel, KP.  Bok's daughter was married that night in KL at Merak Kayangan. Ati's must be attended, of course, but Bok is also family, and he'd pleaded that I  come.  He even got the plane ticket for Idah to go to Kota Bharu on 8th. for the"menyalang" there. Just a couple of days before that, Idah felt she should, instead of Kota Bharu, join me to Kuala Kangsar for Husna's "menyalang" there. 

It appeared at first Melang Inn won't be in the same class as Merak Kayangan. How can it be, "Paradise" against Melang, the former rubbish dump  of Kuala Pilah town ?  In the end, Melang Inn turned out  nicer than Merak Kayangan.

A lot of money must have gone for Bok's reception. Why, even his RSVP invitation card outweighed Ati's by about 100 times. But Melang Inn turned out quite tasteful and so much more family. Merak Kayangan's sit down dinner had its trappings of selected dignitaries, "silat" and live music, with numbered tables and domed dishes. Melang Inn was "buffet style" and Minus-1 karaoke music. Bok's was stiff and too long, and Ati's cosy, noisy and long enough. And surely Ati's table was tastier and the desserts so much more varied and enjoyable. And after all the pleas to come, Bok didn't even come to my table. He was too concerned with his VIP guests, and I know they are of very recent origins.  He may be a millionaire many times over to-day, but he shouldn't forget that he was put on his first million by me, when he was struggling for work in 1985. Now I shouldn't forget about Soo Pin's 20K for my 1995 campaign that never reached me going through him. 

On the 9th. about 5 car-loads of us, Ati's siblings, trooped to Kuala Kangsar for the return ceremony. Hadi had booked for us a home-stay close to his house in Kampong Jamuan. The double-storey bungalow easily housed all of us, with room to spare. I had also alternatively booked a hotel room in Kuala Kangsar town, just in case,  but decided to stay at the relatively comfortable home-stay.

But before Kuala Kangsar, we had decided to make a detour to Tanjong Malim. The incredibly bad traffic made that decision easier, and it was a good decision. 

From 1951 to 1956 we stayed in Tanjong Malim. That's 61 long years ago !

Dad was a lecturer at the then Sultan Idris Training College. I attended Std. 1 to Std. 4 at Sekolah Latihan Tanjung Malim, and SMC 1 & 2 at the nearby Methodist English School until 1956. Yan was born here, a breach-birth that caused her learning difficulties later because of oxygen deprivation. I showed her the location of the old hospital. They have  moved. 

Much earlier, when talking about this Kuala Kangsar trip when Husna got engaged, I had mentioned of the daun pisang Indian shop in Tanjung Malim. Calit remembered and mentioned it just before we left on Saturday. But we couldn't find the stall, and Calit inquired at a couple of eating shops, and was told "no daun pisang shop, only Indian eating shops".  So we ended up at the famous  Yik Mun pau shop on the Slim River road at the end of what was the old town main road. It's now a large junction pointing north-south to the highway.  We  had  yong tau foo and mee curry. And some paus, after that.

Sunday, before the "jamuan" at Kampong Jamuan, the three of us, Calit, Din Pendek & I went for a ride to Kati town and around KK. Actually, we got a bit lost in the process, but because of that I ended up at the KK Golf Club that I didn't know existed. If I knew, I would have brought my clubs, because definitely there was time for a quick round in that 9-hole flat course. While driving, Conen called, and we waited for him in front of the mosque opposite MCKK, and led him to our home stay, but not before losing our way one more time. 

We had a "baca Yasin" at Hadi's house the night before. The Sunday reception was standard and ok, and we all left for home around half-past two. Just like the coming trip, the return journey also had its traffic jam, only worse, and with intermittent rain for flavour. All the rest areas we tried to stop at were choked  with cars trying to do the same thing. We finally stopped at Tapah, and even then waited forever for a van to vacate a spot. The driver and his passengers had got into the vehicle for 10 minutes. He probably fiddled with his phone or purposely wanted to irritate us.  Then another stop for satay at Dengkil.  It was 10.30 when we reached the house. Whew!

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73

Tuesday December 5, 2017.

73 !

This morning Ahmeng  arranged for a foursome, celebrating my birthday. The fourth guy was Richard, but he refused  the 3-per- hole wager.  So I only managed to make money from Ahmeng  and Ahman. Considering Ahmeng carries a 12 handicap and Ahman a former Club Medalist, that was no mean feat.

Other well-wishes also came on whatsapp and fb, from both family and some very old friends. Thank you, all.

This 73 carries many thoughts.

It marks 50 years since I earned my first salary.

That was October 1968, in Alor Gajah, Melaka. I had graduated that year from MU, and this was my first job. I only stayed 5-and-a half months,and bought my first brand-new car there, bought in Melaka town, but registered in Seremban town - NC 8157. It cost me 5,300. 5,000 from the Government loan, which I had to pay back, and 300 from my late mother, which I didn't. It was from my first  month's pay. Today a Proton would cost  at least 3 years pay !

Then off to KL I moved.Then to back to Seremban. Then back to KL again.  Then back to Seremban. Then KL. Then Port Kelang. Then PJ. And finally back to Seremban for the last time, and drew my last pay here end of 1999. That's 31 years, and about a dozen different positions in five different organizations. I averaged about 3 years per job. That, and the repeated house moves, made me almost a rolling stone.

Then the retirement years and all kinds of personal forays into little businesses, for the next 18 years. 

That's a  50-year saga of sorts.

Then there is the family. 

My marriage at 27, and the four children coming over the next 17 years. The first 3 were planned 5 years apart. The last one came after 2 years, after the haj.  That's understandable. The haji couldn't wait 3 more years. It was fortunate. After 4  Idah said "enough !"

The kids had to be sent to kindergarten,  to primary and secondry schools, to  different universities, both local and abroad. The first went to Hawaii, the second Sydney, and  the remaining two to Melaka first, then No. 4 to Shah Alam and No. 3 KL. All made it. There's great satisfaction in their scholastic successes, in their stable marriages. Their  careers seem ok, so far. They now have  their own offsprings ( 10 of them, to be exact ).  

There was the distance travelling. Alone, with friends, and with the whole family. Several long flights. For studies; for holidays; for work, but a lot  just for golf, discovered late at 43, but completely hooked  till now, 73. 

The first plane and helicopter flights was much earlier, whilst in second year at the university in 1966. That was to Brunei for 3 months in a Geography Department's survey assignment. Kota Kinabalu was still Jesselton, and the connecting flight from there to Brunei was in a Dakota aircraft, with the small rear wheels and you walk uphill through the aisle when boarding. And would you believe it, the co-pilot was an ex college mate from RMC. Wonder where he landed after retirement. The helicopter hop was to a rumah panjang.

Flying to attend the 6-month management course at Birmingham University in 1974 was the longest flight ever at that point of time, with stop-over in an undeveloped Dubai airport. Wales was part of the study area. Another 6-month study was at the AIM, Manila, in early 1980. Only 6 months, but a Filipino girl wanted to follow me home. Longer, the mother might have.

Work took me to London, Rotterdam, and Wurth in Germany, and Gottenberg in Sweden. In 1997 an NS State study visit took me to Mauritius ( played some golf),  Johannesberg, South Africa, Sun City(watched some golf) and India (no golf, they play cricket).  I  visited the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. We stayed in both Bombay and New Delhi. 

A business trip  took me by air to Melbourne, and a long  trip by road to Canberra, then up the end of the Great Dividing Range where we even had snow, down east to Sydney where we rested, saw some buskers at the harbour side, went to the night-club district before taking the 8-hour flight home. 

There were family holidays -  in Malaga, Spain, visiting "al Hambra" in Granada, in London, England, with trips to the Harrods, the West End area and Soho, Tower of London etc. We took the fast hovercraft from Dover to Calais and stayed in Paris and went up the Eiffel Tower, and I scratched Kak Mah's name on the steel girder. We went to Disney World in Orlando, and that was one long flight, about 30 hours of it. Cik Ani and Tajri tagged along. We visited No.1 Son in Hawaii in his second year at HPU. On the flight back in the half-empty MAS flight, we were upgraded to business class. Wow ! Both ways we stopped in Tokyo and saw that bit of Japan with  overnight stays. But the first US trip, alone, was to attend Calit's commencement in Madison, Wisconsin in the dead of winter. We visited the late Karim Md. Nor from Bukit Temensu, doing his Education PhD, who had his whole family with him, and if you didn't see the children, you'd think they were American kids, with their "awesome" and so forth. Calit and I stopped over in L.A. and went to Disneyland.  We also attended No. 2 Son's graduation in Sydney, together with Bang Piei and Cik Ani. And there were road trips to Singpore, and flights to Sabah and Sarawak, also.

There was also my "Lone Ranger" ferry trip from Melaka to Dumai, Sumatra. I travelled overland to Pekan Baru and Bukit Tinggi, visited the Pagar Ruyong Palace, and ended up in coastal Padang, but couldn't find any "nasi Padang"!

Of course a big chunk of the flying was for golf.

We flew to Bangkok several times, to play there, and in Pattaya, and up north in Chiengmai. We flew to Phuket many times, when there were only two  courses there. We flew to Perth more than once, and to Melbourne. We went to Jakarta and Bali and Bandung for golf. But the ultimate golf experience was to play at the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland. En route we stopped over in Istanbul and visited several tourist spots like the Blue Mosque and Topkapi, and saw live belly-dancing. Over one dinner our Arab friends from Bahrin ordered beer. "It's not allowed back home" they casually said.

Not to forget the Pilgrimage to Mekah. I did mine at 39, back in 1983. Alone. It was a "haji Akbar" (for those who know), the stay or "wukuf" in Arafah being  Friday 16.9.1983, plus it was "haji Ifrad"(again for those who know). 1983 was the last "mua'sasah" year (for those who follow). I stayed in an apartment just across the road from the Holy Mosque, and I could see Baitullah down below from my window. Idah performed her haj 27 years later. Alone.

And the houses we stayed.

In Ampang Jaya, KL(twice, 2 different houses) Murugesu Garden, Seremban(twice, 2 different houses) Damansara Utama, and Taman Shahbandar, Seremban (twice, 2 different houses).  The Damansara house was the first house I bought in 1977. In 1995 I bought the present Taman Shahbandar house.

And of course all this time the family  expanded, and the circle of friends grew.

Not a remarkable 73 years, but pleasant enough.

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