Aisha - Al Fatiha

After a long illness, which she bore with  fortitude,  Aisha passed away early this morning . She left behind a 22 year old son Hafiz  and a bereft husband Osman.  Her daughter died at 16, about 7 years ago  from cervical cancer which the authorities failed to diagnose.

Many a time 'Man would sit near our gate, (while waiting for Iain to drive him home) and talk about how he misses her.   Jangan makan sepinggan.  Nanti tak tahan rindu" .  'Man's mother-in-law always cautioned him about this habit of theirs, but they did not take it seriously.

He had to stay and work in KL while Aisha was lying ill in their kampung house at Kampung Air Kuning, near Kampar.  He would go home almost every weekend - a journey of nearly five hours each way - to be with her and look after her while he can.

Initially, when she was taken ill nearly 3 years ago,  'Man would do her job as well as his so that they could keep her wages going.  He would start work at 4.30 am cleaning the streets which covered both his patch and hers.  He managed to upkeep that exhausting schedule up to a year ago, when the management explained to 'Man that they could not maintain the "arrangement" and Aishah would have to "give up her job".

'Man himself is not 100 per cent fit.  He had a hernia operation about 8 months ago.  He could and maybe should be classified as an OKU because he limps very badly because of his gammy right leg.  But he persists - limping while sweeping Setiawangsa's streets and pushing his trolley.

This is a posting in loving memory of a tiny lady with a big heart - of a Malay kampung girl from a poor family - who started her working life at the age of 15 as a coolie on  Chinese vegetable farms in Cameron Highlands.  She would talk to her husband about how poor they were; when Aisha would share a plate of rice and fish and vegetables with her 3 siblings.  And by the way,  Aishah was born in 1957 - the year when Persekutuan Tanah Melayu became Merdeka!!

So don't tell me the Malays are indolent, lazy and survive only by depending on handouts from the Government!!

There's more to relate about the hard life of Osman and Aisha - about their plucky grit to get on with their life without depending on others. But my heart is too full of grief for her passing and the loving husband and son she left behind.

For both Iain  and I, Aisha and Osman are the most dignified couple we have ever met  since we moved to Setiawangsa in 2007.  We have enormous respect and love for them and they symbolize for  us the faces of the honourable Malay gentleman and Malay lady.  A very rare breed in these days and times.

  Read http://anaksihamid.blogspot.my/2013/06/atap-genting-atap-rumbia-kak.html

This is how I shall remember Aisha.

Aisha at work - with her stray cats.

Lunch break with her abang.

What the kampung girl left behind in and around our garden - we shall always look after them in her memory.

Pokok inai (henna)

Belimbing buluh (averrhoa bilimbi)

Pandan

Daun Kesum

Finally, from the cats she loved and who loved her so:

Comot

Rusty and  Socks.

Aisha and Osman forever.

"Terima kasih 'bang, terima kasih kak".   We hear that so often from Aisha  and 'Man.

From us and the cats - the strays and the house cats : Terima Kasih Aisha for being a dear friend.

Alfatihah. Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat keatas roh nya.

OKA (ORANG KURANG AKAL ) rules okay in Malaysia

A month is but a short time in the life of a septuagenarian - a month ago I pondered on the joy of rainy days.  Since then it hath raineth almost every day and the thoughts of AsH got stuck in this
room .....

Room with a view

........ observing the bulbul and flowerpecker enjoying their breakfast from our senduduk (the wild variety)  tree.

Senduduk flower and berries - not the garden nursery variety.

Flower of the wild Senduduk - from Pickled Herring aka Lely

Burung Merbah / Bulbul

But sometimes, AsH indulges herself with happy memories of picnics in the past.

Picnic in the Peak District 

Picnic just outside the gates of Sandringham.

Picnic (sort of) with Mus and family in the late 1990s, on the road somewhere between Scotland and Leicester!

2008 picnic along the canal in Saddington, Leicestershire with Lely.

But life is no picnic, innit?!!


Read this piece of news yesterday and it set off several buzzers.

Is Ng Pei Ven a Chinese National?  

According to a Malaysian blogger :

.......  Ng Pei Ven suffers from a learning disability.  MENCAP, a UK based charity, describes learning disability as "a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities - for example household tasks, socialising or managing money - which affects someone for their whole life"  They also "tend to take longer to learn and may need support to develop new skills, understand complicated information and interact with other people".


In Malaysia, people with such handicaps are classified as OKU (Orang Kurang Upaya) and they are allowed by law to hold a driving licence.

Read : http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/six-myths-about-learning-disabilities-and-okus


But it takes more than a valid driving licence to enable people to jump on to a motorbike or to get into a car and be let loose on the highways and byways.

Psychologists tend to explain errant teenage drivers as youngsters who are prone to 'risky' behaviour.  Not only that, this ego-ridden tendency is the fault of their "low self-esteem(!!) or immature thinking". Their distracted driving can also be "caused by substance abuse".  Perhaps, though the 'substance abuse' has become a fad and fashion  in the late 20th and 21st century.

However I must add a caveat here. It's not just teenage drivers who take risks with their lives and that of other innocent lives.  They cut across the age, gender, socio-economic and racial groups in Malaysia.  I've been driving here for the last 10 years and each day on the road you have to grit your teeth as you put your life and limbs in the hands (and brains) of  cretins and neanderthals.

Here's one example from our middle-class suburbia.

Very,very frequently drivers would take an immature and illegal shortcut (which runs against oncoming traffic)  to get to Jalan Setiawangsa 21 [see box in the map] instead of using the traffic light [see the tip of the arrow in the map].

One day, one fine day a dreadful accident will happen at the red triangle marked in the photo above.  More innocents will pay the price for the asinine behaviour of others.

A few days ago it was an OKU wot did it.  But the OKA  (ORANG KURANG AKAL) in Malaysia have been having a field day on many a time and many a day!

In Malaysia the OKA rules okay.


Hush, this curmudgeon had better stop.  Shall return to my retreat and look out for the birds and the tree shrew.  Might as well throw in this nostalgic song from the 70s.

Must keep soldiering on - and dream of more picnics.

Rainy Days and Mondays

It's been a funny old day - pelting rain followed by the gentle drip, drip drip of a a smoochy lazy morning.

We ponteng  (played truant) our usual Monday appointment at Tung Shin Hospital because we could not bear to face KL traffic on a morning like this and it seemed like a better idea to go to Diva Restaurant up the hill for breakfast and watch the rain falling while scoffing our roti canai, roti telur, teh tarik and kopi susu.

Even our three cats chose to stay at home on this melancholy day.

A melancholy cat, TC (That Cat) passing the time of day on a melancholy morning

As kids, we used to hate rainy Monday mornings.  The bed says 'stay!' while Mak is yelling "Bangun, pegi sekolah!"    It's such a palaver getting to school - you have to keep your spanking clean and white Monday shoes in the school bag and trudge in squelching slippers for about half a mile to get to Pasir Panjang Primary School from Kampung Abu Kassim.

No rucksacks  during our school days! I do believe our right arms grew to be longer than the left because of the weight we carried.

On rainy days, - other than our reluctant selves - our shoes and schoolbag, have to be kept dry.  It was quite an acrobatic feat to tuck your schoolbag under your raincoat and carry on walking to school.  And so, your mind wanders to all the other wonderful fun you could have on such a rainy day.

.... you could play in it, if you wanted to, from morning to night.

No,we're both too old to play in the rain.  We could do it I suppose.  But we have just got over our infection and we'll be courting trouble if  we misbehave in this wonderful rain.

So we decided to do something daring.  We bought a newspaper!!  This news of a JOHOR HOUSING SCAM was on the front page.

However I would not describe this as simply a scam.  'SCAM' is such a lightweight word to describe  fraud, thievery, deceit , robbery, rapacity, swindle, dishonesty, cheating and larceny.   As a Malay, I would label the  participation of  the Malays in this crime as  treachery, betrayal, treason and downright DOSA.   Perhaps I should delete the last noun as I am just a former teacher and cannot claim sufficient knowledge of the definition and delineations of  DOSA ,  or PAHALA  - for that matter

Other than despairing at the fate of my Abah's Tanah Pusaka ;

..... perhaps I can contribute these little gems to illustrate the Malays' (some)  shameless Ways and Purpose  with the hope that in the future. the PAGAR will not MAKAN  the PADI.

Raffles had no doubt about the predicament of the Malays.  Being the "kind and urbane" man that he was, he made the Malays - who were like possums transfixed in the glare of a headlight - sign an affidavit validating the occupation of Singapura,  with their consent.  (Extract from Raffles of Singapore by Reginald  Coupland)

The consequence is this : -
Kata sahibu 'lhikayat, Singapura/Tumasik  menjadi Singapore.  And the anak Nusantara were re- categorised as immigrants.  Compare the spouse's England:it's the equivalent of labelling the English in Northumberland ( whose ancestors were Vikings) as immigrants - and no different from the Asian and the East European latecomers....

However, today's modern Malays are more sophisticated - just look at their spoils of treachery - fat bank accounts, Mercedes Benz, Bentleys, Porsches, property at home and overseas, luxury handbags and gold watches.  What can you get with an annual income of 5,000 Spanish dollars, at today's prices?  (Extract from Raffles of Singapore by Reginald Coupland) 

But no matter what shape it takes, this is still pork barrel for their benefit and their clients'.

At this present rate, it won't take too long ....

Spoilt for choice.  (From Punch Diary 1973)

.... for our elites, professionals, and ruling class to bleed this country dry and  turn the Malays into a bunch of Putras without the Bumi!

Drip, drip. drip.  It is a melancholy old day.

Hacking Away

Since we got back about 4 weeks ago, a persistent infection that we picked up on the plane has resulted in a hacking cough that could not be shifted, even after two bouts of antibiotics.  We have become as a result, quite antisocial and unproductive in Kuala Lumpur.

Under such circumstances I could only resort to my usual tactic of tidying and sorting out the junk in my work-room.  This never fails to bring some light - some discovery - to a hacker's life.

This I found, tucked in an old brown envelope - a set of sketches on paper now brittle with age - sketches drawn by the spouse in the mid-1970s - way,way before fate threw us together.

Cautious the Cat

This was part of a young dad's foray into story telling at bedtime for his young son.  Each night Keith would listen intently to the adventures of Cautious the Cat. It was not read from a book, his dad Iain would just create the stories as they come into his head.  Little Keith somehow managed to drift away into dreamland by the end of each adventure.  The next night, he would ask and get another exciting story of Cautious the Cat scouting the streets and dustbins, the riverbanks and food centres for food to feed his family.  Lucky Keith!

We were lucky too in our Abah.  In the late 1940s and 1950s, each evening after dinner we would gather in the sitting room (bilik depan)  under the light of a single pressure lamp (lampu pam), reading our books and comics that Abah had got together for us.  It was also the usual time for getting our homework done at the family dining table.  Abah would be reading the newspaper or a book,  Mak would be busy with her sewing and mending .  And in the background could be heard the dulcet voice of a singer on the radio.

Bedtime was at nine or half-past nine.  We would shuffle off into our beds and only the youngest Akim, would give a goodnight kiss to Abah.  There were times when Abah was entertaining visitors and Akim would be nodding his head, half awake and half in slumber waiting for Abah to appear for the  goodnight peck.  None of us dared to approach Abah to inform him that Akim was waiting.  Children were to be seen and not heard!!  It may sound strict, but it never hurt us - especially now when I observe the precocious and rude children that surround present day family life.

But for Keith and Cautious the Cat, dad's story was not just one of fun and games.  Life is more complicated than that and stories should always carry a meaning, a lesson or a moral for young and old alike.  But preaching and finger-pointing morality does not make for a good story either.

Cautious lived in a world where the cards are stacked against him - where the need to feed his family sometimes makes for a dangerous and frantic existence. But, he's cautious, hardworking and honest - traits that every child should be brought up with.

Cautious was a hungry cat, who lived at the bottom end of town.

.......... where even the dustbins were empty.

...... for at the bottom end of town, everyone was hungry

..... and dogs, too  -  just as hungry - and bigger ... and fiercer.

But Cautious and all his mates, who were facing the same fate as him, were aware of other dustbins, bins that were located in the upper end of town.

...... the dustbins must certainly be fuller at the top end of town.

I suppose this fictional representation of a cat's life sketched in a child's story in the 1970s is replicated today in the life of humans ...  some humans .... some humans from some countries.


And like in the nursery rhyme The Crooked Man - there are many out there, men and women who are crooked, who do not walk and live the straight and narrow ..... though they are not confined just to the mature and elderly.

The crooked (Malay) man and more especially after Merdeka in 1957.

But the poor and the destitute - and deplorables (according to Hilary Clinton) will always be with us.

In the same vein, the rich and liberals, the self-serving elites and others who are somehow not-so-deplorable will retain their secured places in society.  What hope is there as envisaged by Mrs Obama during her husband's presidency ....

..... when hope is but a rotting carrot dangled in the face of the deplorables as in Madrid ..

.... or in Obama's home patch in Chicago ..

..... while he cavorts with the super rich.

In our home patch, it has been reported that DBKL employees and Malaysian policemen are deeply in debt trying to emulate the lifestyle of those who can afford such indulgences ...

Would Cautious the Cat, if he lived in these times be able to maintain his probity and dignity?

When times were really hard at the bottom end of town, even the people looked through each other's dustbins .....

....... and Cautious got nothing, at all ...... nor did his friends, and nor did the dogs ......

You see, Cautious who dwells on the surface is quite ignorant about the wiles and connivings of those who live above the ground - those in the higher echelons.  Cats have nothing to do with the monkey business at the top end of the town.

NB  Why are the sketches peppered with copyright labels? Read http://anaksihamid.blogspot.my/2016/05/a-malay-malady-episode-2.html