As for the the "state of the UK government", I think I have nowt to add. The UK's media, electronic and print, will be a better source than me. I only know the cost of heating this winter will go through the roof. But then, everything's gone up, hasn't it?
A dear Leicester friend signed off his recent email to us with "kujdesuni" and the spouse replied "faleminderit". Why? With 40,000 Albanians arriving as refugees(?), illegal immigrants(?), asylum seekers (?) in Britain this year from across the Channel in their dinghies, the Brits will have to start looking for Albanian-speaking interpreters. Unlike the case of minorities in Malaya, they will not be provided Albanian-language schools. But certainly words like "take care" and "thank you" (translation of the words above) will have to be part of the repertoire in schools, hospitals, job centres, social service providers etc. etc. in UK in the very near future.
BRITANNIA (DOES NOT) RULE THE WAVES!
Economically, Malaysia is perhaps faring better, despite the constant whingeing of the moaners and doom-mongers. And we always have them, don't we?
With regards to Rishi Sunak (Rashi Sanuk/Sunuk, according to Joe Biden), well, he's brought a lot of joy and pride to the hearts of India's PM Modi and many of its people. Even Indians in Malaysia (and local "other" liberals) are toying with the sentiment, "why can't we achieve the same, here in Malaysia?"
May I recommend this article by Pankaj Mishra in the Guardian? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/28/rishi-sunak-britain-first-hindu-prime-minister-destroying-tories-pitiful-vision-of-diversity
and by Mihir Bose https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/26/rishi-sunak-tory-hindu-labour-conservative
Just for a little quirky peek at the nature of democracy in UK (Malaysia, USA or anywhere else where "Democracy Rules OK") this image below symbolises the great reality of democracy.
Okay, Zelda Supreme, that should answer your queries.
Now to the nub of today's posting.
Years ago - as soon as I started blogging - Rockybru, a former student of mine, coined the acronym AsH from my moniker "anaksihamid". Since then, commentators and readers of my Blog, and even friends, have referred to me as simply AsH. At times - and I feel quite chuffed - I am 'Kakak' or Auntie. Especially touching is when one of my readers, a professor, calls me "Cikgu". All we have in common is Leicester, my place of abode and where she spent some time as a post-grad student - and I never had the pride or pleasure of being her teacher! My former students from Singapore, including Rockybru, know me as "Miss Hamid." It should be Miss Maznoor, but then that's Singapore.
Hamid, of course, is my father's name, and AnaksiHamid means the "Child of Hamid".
Now Zelda Supreme addresses me with " Hi Si hamid " - the first time ever that moniker has been used. Well....perhaps I should clarify a couple of issues to some of my non-Malay readers and perhaps some Malays who have lost touch with the nomenclature of their mother tongue.
Firstly, this comment addressed to "Si hamid" will certainly get nowhere, because it is directed to my beloved late father!
Secondly, I think this will be an opportunity to narrate the reasons for my choice of this name for my Blog.
(A caveat: This is not AsH making a mountain out of a molehill. Most of my readers for the last 6-7 years - just over 90% - are not from Malaysia.. So, for them, I hope the following might shed a little light on Malay names and titles in the Semenanjung. Of course, a few Malaysians, too, might benefit!)
Why AnaksiHamid?
Why did I choose the name AnaksiHamid? After all, 'Grumpy old Woman' (GOW), or 'Wicked Witch of the East' (WWE) suits me to a T. But I am the daughter of my mother Kamisah and Abdul Hamid my father. My father has always been the example that I try to live up to and who imparted to me the fortitude and the guts to be what I am today, what I have made of myself yesterday and what I might be tomorrow, InsyaAllah.
However, in Malay culture 'si' is not a nice or kind word. It can be very dismissive of the the person referred to - it's almost a form of denigration and a term often used by a superior to an inferior. Basically, it means "that so and so", someone of little or no significance. At its best, it might bring an air of familiarity and perhaps a teeny-weeny bit of affection. But that is stretching its usage too far.
The impact of the word 'si' can be illustrated from a little story of two visits to my paternal grandfather's house at Sungai Buloh. That first was in the late 1950s, maybe 1958. We were in our teens when Abah (father) took us to Paya Jaras, Sungai Buloh to visit his late father's house. It was a huge, sturdy kampung house, on such high stilts that our family car could be easily parked under the house. We had a great time playing under the house and roaming about the sawah and the coconut holdings with our cousins. And I remember a kitchen which had a unique built-in waist-level rack for drying plates and other kitchen utensils. It was constructed in such a way that the run-off water would trickle onto the ground outside. I wished we'd had something like that in our Pasir Panjang (Singapore) kampung house - leaving no messy drips on the kitchen floor.
But I recall something else very vividly. In a group photograph on the wall of my Abah's father's house, I pointed to a man who looked very familiar to me. I asked, "Abah, is that you? He replied, "No, that's your grandfather". I gasped and said nothing.
We also met Macik S (Auntie S) and her family who were living in the house. They were not well-off and her husband, if I recall correctly, had no waged full-time job. They led a self-sufficient hand-to-mouth existence - a common condition of the Malays in the kampungs in the Semenanjung during the 1950s and even later in the 60s and perhaps to the seventies. Their condition was very unlike the sojourners in the urban areas who had the benefits of education, housing and health facilities, as well as opportunities for a stable, salaried employment. All we knew about Macik S was this ; she was adopted as a child from a Chinese family by my grandfather. Being his 'sister', she called my Abah 'Abang Hamid', a respected and affectionate term.
On our way back to Kuala Lumpur, Abah made a stopover at our grandfather's grave. The graveyard, unlike our graveyards today, was overgrown and uncared for. It was here that Abah instructed all four of his children not to make any claim on his father's house, land, padi and coconut fields; although he had also apportioned part of the land for "Tanah Wakaf" (land donated for religious use - for cemeteries, building of mosques, etc).
The second visit was made by my sister and her husband in the early 1990s, about 30 years later. When the two of them retired from teaching, they decided to use the time available to re-connect with long-lost friends and relatives - to foster the spirit of tali siratul-rahim (bond of good-will). They managed, after a lot of queries and searching to locate the site of our grandfather's house.
But the kampung house was no more. It was now a typical rumah batu (brick house) with fencing around it. Maznah and Haron stood at the gate and called out Salaam Alaikum. No response. They called again because they could see there was someone in the house. Another Salaam Alaikum and finally an elderly lady came out, reluctantly, to the gate.
My sister introduced herself and asked "Boleh saya tumpang tanya? Ini rumah Puan S? Saya anak Abdul Hamid dan ingin berjumpa dengan adik angkat Abah saya, Macik S..(May I make a little query? Is this the house of Puan S? I am Abdul Hamid's daughter and would like to meet my father's adopted sister, Macik S)."
Her brittle reply was " Kan si Hamid dah mati! (Isn't that Hamid dead?)"
It was now 'si Hamid' and not 'Abang Hamid'.
What did she fear to make her so contemptuous and hostile? We were not interested in the property and the land although we did wonder what happened to the land that Abah had set aside for Tanah Wakaf. Today Sungai Buloh, a thriving adjunct of Kuala Lumpur, has become prime land.
So that's the story behind the name of my Blog; of why I chose AnaksiHamid. This title is to reinstate the pedigree of a man who shunned his inheritance and decided to work, to struggle and to make his own way in life, for himself and his family.
His legacy to his two sons and two daughters was simple : "I cannot leave you land, money and property when I go. I can only provide you with the best education you can get. It will be completely yours and no one can take that away from you."
And Maznah, Maznoor, Mustapha and arwah Mustakim (in the baby buggy) are very fortunate and proud to be the children of si hamid.
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| Kamisah and Hamid's Four - 691 Pasir Panjang Road 1949. |
Finally, to Zelda Supreme and others who may mis-name AsH, for whatever reasons; I hope this little tale would serve as a reminder to be accurate.
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I reckon President's Biden's comrades and most American citizens must have been quite embarrased when he congratulated the PM of UK and mispronounced the name of the PM as Rashi Sanuk/Sunuk!
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