Cast From The Herd Excerpt #87: Bucking The Entrenched Trend

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt # 87:  Bucking The Entrenched Trend

A few of us new Six Formers refused to submit to this culture of academic mediocrity now entrenched at Malay College. We resolved to defy this destructive anti-intellectual ambience, and do so not by pontificating but through our personal examples. We would show them that we were not at all embarrassed in studying hard, or “mugging.” We did not care less if we were to be branded as not being gifted. 

            Ramli related a conversation he overheard among the fifth-formers who were about to sit for their Sixth Form Entrance Examination, the ordeal Ramli and I went through a year earlier. Noting that their earlier schoolmates had managed to secure at best only Cs, they wondered whether there were any As and Bs given out. To them those were imaginary scores, unattainable. Ramli stunned them when he said that our old school, TMS, had produced many. 

            Part of our strategy was to study in the open, in libraries, our dorms, and at prep time regardless of the ridicule that would be hurled our way. We would not hide the fact that we were studious, or “nerdy” in today’s parlance. We promised to support each other when we felt that we were being mocked, and developed a strategy to rescue each other. Were someone to intrude, interfere, or in any way distract anyone of us, we would rescue him on the pretext of asking something related to our school work, anything that would interrupt and discourage the social chatter. I could not tell whether our “veteran” classmates noticed what we were up to, but it worked. We could study without being interrupted or teased. I must admit that there were times when I too wanted to take things easy.

            The college was capable of academic excellence. When J.D.R. Howell was headmaster (1953-58), he instituted and emphasized daily “prep” in the afternoons and evenings. That was the only time the college excelled. However, nobody subsequently made the crucial connection. That was the tragedy of Malay College. 

            The deteriorating academic standard concerned the teachers, as expected. It reflected on their professionalism. At that time I did not think they could do much beyond urging the students to “study hard.” Little did I know that the academic staff had initiated some radical changes! The setting up of the science stream at Form Four that year was one. There was another significant but more subtle initiative. Elucidating that requires some major digression, and I will put that aside for now. 

            Teachers at Malay College had duties beyond that of their colleagues at day schools. Through their other duties they interacted with and knew their students well and thus could influence them. Earlier I related Mr. Norton’s and Ryan’s critical roles in dissuading Noramly Muslim not to abandon his Sixth Form. My encounter with Mr. Chen during that expedition up Maxwell Hill was another example. The benefits of such encounters flowed both ways. 

            Once Mr. Brown was in a philosophical mood and did away with his didactic presentation. It was the first day of the second term; we had yet to settle down. He had spent that holiday, his first in Malaysia, on the east coast with the family of one of his students. That part of the country was the poorest; he must have been jarred by the appalling poverty. Indeed, boys from that part of the country were referred to as Patikans, ancient, as with Pithecanthropus (Java man), a term both endearing and contemptuous depending on the context. 

Brown started out rather benignly by asking us what we wanted to be. As usual, we were a modest lot for fear of being ridiculed. He asked Abu Hassan, and he replied – what else? – a teacher. 

“Really!” Brown was not at all pleased or flattered. Abu Hassan was the top student in mathematics. Brown again asked just to be sure, and again Abu wiggled his way out with his put-on modesty. Brown was at first incredulous and then he got mad; his face flushed, the blood vessels on his scalp throbbed. I thought they would explode. He asked another student, trying hard to suppress his rising voice and exasperation, and again the same modest aspiration. 

            He became even more agitated, pacing back and forth. At that point we thought it would be best for us to be honest. We were hoping that the next student would rescue us by aspiring higher, like being a professor. Nope, the same lowly goal, except this time being a civil servant, working for the government.

            On hearing that Brown exploded and hurled his chalk across the room. It whizzed by like a bullet to splatter on the back wall. We were stunned by this uncharacteristic physical display of fury. “Damn it!” he yelled. “Don’t you guys have any ambition?” 

            We all cowered down, afraid to look up. 

            “There’s no point my teaching you calculus,” he berated us, “if all you want to be is a teacher or civil servant.” He went on and on, pacing the floor. We still had twenty minutes of class to go. How are we going to endure if not contain this raging Canadian bull? He was livid. 

            “No wonder you people are backward,” he thundered. Wow, he was now hitting us low. “You’ll continue to be backward a hundred years hence. You don’t have any drive. No ambition!” His wild tirade went on and on, harsher and harsher. We were saved only by the bell. After he left, still in a rage, we regrouped. Hadi was the first to speak, suggesting that we should be honest with our teacher as he was trying to help us. Someone sneered and challenged Hadi what he would have said instead. 

            “I’d tell him I want to be a vet,” replied Hadi. “I’m not embarrassed. I’m telling you now.” 

            We all knew that, just like everyone knew that Nik and I both wanted to be doctors. At the end nothing was resolved. One thing was certain; we had enraged our favorite teacher and we did not know what to do.

Next:  Excerpt # 88:  Corralling A Raging Canadian Bull

Cast From The Herd Excerpt # 86: Stunting Young Malay Minds

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt # 86:  Stunting Young Malay Minds

This myopic intellectual outlook was expressed in other more profound and destructive ways. In September of my first year I was stunned that the top student in the Upper Six Science class would be leaving for further studies in England. Normally that would be a cause for celebration, except that he would be attending Brighton Technical College under the National Electricity Board (NEB) scholarship. Both Mr. Norton and Mr. Malhotra begged Ahmad Said not to abandon his Sixth Form. He was only a few months away from his Higher School Certificate examination, and from there he could go on to a “real” university instead of settling for a provincial British technical college. As Norton pointed out, Ahmad Said should instead aspire for MIT or Imperial College. He was diligent and intelligent. 

            Mr. Norton literally cried when he failed to dissuade Ahmad. In desperation, Norton then approached Abu Hassan and me to try and change Ahmad Said’s decision. Abu Hassan and Ahmad Said were both from Melaka and aspiring engineers. Why I too was included I did not know. Perhaps because Abu Hassan and I frequently studied together and behaved in atypical college style. Both of us, like Ahmad Said, joined the college at Lower Six. 

            Abu Hassan and I came out straight, telling Ahmad that he was being stupid. We were not the persuasive type, and that did not go well with him. He started to brag about how he was personally sought out by the head of the National Electricity Board (NEB), one Tan Sri Abu Zarim, and that he was invited on a special trip to Kuala Lumpur to meet this top honcho. We were not at all impressed and told Ahmad that. Apparently, the certainty of going abroad now and not a year later was too great a temptation for him. 

            A year later my classmate Mat Lias also fell for the same trap. He too aspired to be an engineer but did not take physics because he “could not stand Malhotra.” By taking the NEB scholarship, also to Brighton, Lias could achieve his dream and at the same time thumb his nose at Malhotra. 

            Malhotra was aware of that, and like Norton earlier with Ahmad Said, asked Abu Hassan, Mohammad Yusof, and me to dissuade Mat Lias. We were again unsuccessful, and devastated by his decision. What a waste of talent! 

            Ahmad Said’s classmate Noramly Muslim too was similarly tempted to abandon his Sixth Form. He was recruited to be among the first group of Malay Cadet Planters by the British-owned Golden Plantations. However, Norton and Headmaster Ryan refused to sign Noramly’s application, and Noramly’s aspiration was aborted. Imagine, it took two non-Malaysian expatriate teachers to save a smart young Malay from wasting his talent. Noramly did complete his Sixth Form and later excelled, obtaining an Australian PhD and becoming Dean of Science at the National University followed by being the first director of the Tun Ismail Atomic Research Center (PUSPATI).

            Later in the year I read NEB’s Annual Report. Its chairman, the same Abu Zarim, an “old boy” who also went to Brighton, bragged of his “successes” in recruiting bright young Malay boys like Ahmad Said and Mat Lias to go to Brighton. That was the prevailing intellectual milieu and academic culture at Malay College then where acceptance into a provincial British technical college was the highest academic aspiration. Few thought to aspire higher. As for Abu Zarim’s motive? Kickbacks from Brighton? Latent insecurity in seeing bright young Malays possibly exceeding him in achievements? That is, dimming future bright candles to ensure that yours would still be seen as dazzling? As for the latter, my heart breaks on seeing so many sparkling Malay minds being wasted at such campuses as Ulu Oklahoma State U. No wonder they have a warped impression of America.

            Ahmad Said’s tragedy did not end there. Two decades later he killed himself by jumping off LLN’s Tower (successor to the National Electricity Board).

            The irony does not escape me. Malhotra, Norton, and Ryan were non-Malays and foreigners to boot, yet they did more to nurture Malay talents. Abu Zarim on the other hand was a fellow native (he was from my state of Negri Sembilan) but he destroyed more Malay talents or made them underachievers, yet he was lauded with a Tan Sri. Malhotra’s later plea to me of “What’s wrong with your people?” again raising its ugly specter.

            Neither the irony nor the tragedy ended there. Fast forward to a decade and a half later, as a young surgeon in Malaysia I saw so many young Malay talents stunted in their professional development because they were seduced into accepting glorified administrative positions at the expense of their professional expertise.

            That is the microcosm of the so-called Malay problem. It was true then and much more so today, only the scale a quantum leap worse. Today Malay leaders think that they are helping the community by selling state land to their family members at deeply discounted prices as the Chief Minister of Terengganu did recently. Even when they sport engineering PhDs they are still dumb, or think the masses are dumb. Others are busy fighting such futile causes as wanting Penang to be returned to Kedah without thinking how would that help the rice farmers in Kubang Pasu.

Next:  Excerpt # 87:  Bucking The Entrenched Trend

Cast From The Herd: Excerpt # 85: No Eton of the East

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt # 85: No Eton Of The East

By late February of my first year at Malay College the results of the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination held the previous November for the just-graduated Upper Six class (1960) were released. They were appalling; more than half of the class did not secure their full certificate because they failed the critical General Paper. I was shocked. Here was the country’s premier school that took in the best young Malay minds, yet the aggregate results were atrocious. 

            That worried me. I had worked so hard to be in Sixth Form and gone through the foolish disciplinary problem in the last quarter of my Fifth Form because I was bored. I was not about to let the chance of furthering my studies slip by me now. Whatever those College boys ahead of me were doing, I was determined not to follow in their disastrous footsteps. 

            A month later the results of the Cambridge School Certificate (CSC) Examination (taken at Form Five) that we sat for during the previous November were released. This time the college did better. A few from that class like Atan Aziz and Ismail Hamzah who did not pass their Sixth Form Entrance Examination but did well in their CSC were invited to join us in Lower Six. My old TMS class also did well. I scored Grade One, as did eleven of my former classmates. We exceeded the performance of the previous year’s class, the one that our physics teacher Mr. Pritam pronounced to be the brightest to have passed through the school. So much for his assessment! 

            My old TMS produced as many first graders as Malay College. While I was proud of my old school, I thought the college’s performance was underwhelming. That combined with the disastrous HSC results announced a month earlier made me nervous of putting my future with this “school of kings, king of schools.” The results mocked its “Eton of the East” moniker. I questioned my earlier decision to come to Kuala Kangsar. I had mistaken the glint of a pebble for the sparkle of a diamond. I should have stuck with the de facto decision to continue my Sixth Form at KGV Seremban. Without the prestige I knew I would have to work hard there to excel. Now that I was at supposedly ‘elite’ Malay College, I was in danger of succumbing to its culture of mediocrity. 

            A few of my new fellow Sixth Formers, Yusof Sidek, my tennis partner, Abu Hassan Nikmat from Malacca, and Ramli, shared my anxiety. All of us except for Abu aspired to be doctors. He was a budding engineer; he was brilliant in mathematics. We committed ourselves to avoid the fate of those before us, of being slaughtered come examination time. We were determined to buck the trend. 

            Ramli crystallized the problem well. Malay College boys had been praised once too often, and that had gotten to their heads. They had been told – and way too often – by their parents, teachers, girlfriends, and everyone else that they were the crème de la crème, the best that the Malay race could produce. Thus they need not prove themselves anymore. Getting into Malay College was the pinnacle of their achievement. There was nothing else to prove beyond that. If they did not succeed in any subsequent academic or other endeavor, then the fault must not be with them. 

            Studying hard or in any way exerting intellectual effort was for those less gifted. To be fair, this affliction was not unique to Malay College. This was the early sixties. In America, the Ivy League was still the preserve of children of the WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) elite where a gentleman’s C was the aspired grade. Forgive my pretension in comparing Malay College to the Ivy League. 

            Over time a pernicious culture developed. Studying and other intellectual strivings were seen not as exemplary rather the contrary. If you were really smart you did not have to study. That was the prevailing mindset. The idolized character was the fella who scored all As without seemingly putting any effort. The operative word there is “seemingly.” That bred some bizarre behaviors. Once I woke up late at night to go to the bathroom and was surprised to see those boys surreptitiously studying in the stalls just to protect their image of not being a “mugger.” Pathetic! 

            It was significant that the top student in the Arts stream at Malay College at that time who would have been joining us at Sixth Form that year instead opted to leave in favor of doing it at Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur. The year after that when I was in Upper Sixth two other top students in Form Five also opted to leave the college to pursue their Sixth Form elsewhere.

            Within a decade of my leaving Malay College in 1962, now under local leadership, it decided to give up its Sixth Form entirely, satisfied with its status as a glorified Middle School. Beyond that, it dropped its emphasis on STEM. In 2011 after decades of planning, it resurrected its Sixth Form under the International Baccalaureate Program. In its initial few years (or even today) Malay College had difficulty filling the slots with its own students, reminiscent of my Sixth Form days there in the early 1960s.

Next:  Excerpt # 86:  Stunted Malay Minds

Islam In Label, But Not Content - Follies of Islamic Economics

 Islam In Label, But Not Content

M. Bakri Musa

 

Second Of Two Parts:  Follies Of Islamic Economics

 

June 27, 2023

 

Islamic economics imposes a heavy and unneeded burden on the ummah. Like its much earlier version during pre-partition India, Islamic economics is more a rallying cry for cohesion, self-respect, and differentiation. More to insulate the ummah from foreign influence, less on improving their lives. Perversely by ignoring time-tested modern economic insights, Muslims remain marginalized today, just as they were during colonial India.

 

            The Iraqi Baqir Al Sadr’s Iktisaduna (Our Economics), in tandem with Naguib’s Islamization of Knowledge (IOK) movement, reignited the fad. Al Sadr’s two-volume tome criticized both capitalism and socialism. He offered a third – Islamic – alternative. He did not live to see today’s myriad Islamic economics as he was executed by the Saddam regime. From the tone of his Iktisaduna, I am uncertain whether he would approve of the current flood of fanciful, complicated, and expensive Islamic financial products.

 

            Not having lived under socialism I cannot comment on Sadr’s take on that system. However, his exposition on capitalism was more a caricature, and of the raw exploitative version of Dicken’s era. Sadr was ignorant of modern market economy’s role in emancipating society as well as its elaborate protections, as with bankruptcy and pro-competitive laws. As for his much-quoted Islamic third path, I have yet to see any Muslim nation adopting it.

 

            Islamic economics fails to address much less untangle four key problematic areas. First, ribaa. It is simplistically translated as “interest” without analyzing and discerning its operational meaning, then and now. Second, complex Islamic inheritance laws that prevent enterprises surviving the death of their founders and the consequent fragmentation of estates, quite apart from trapping assets under prolonged probates. Third, failure to leverage zakat mal (Islamic tax on wealth). Fourth, lack of instruments like the modern corporation so enterprises could survive their owners’ demise as well as provide them liability protection.

 

            Waqaf (trusts), first used during the Prophet’s time but not mentioned in the Qur’an, could be that vital fourth instrument, as Benedikt Koehler noted in his Early Islam And The Birth Of Capitalism. Distracted by IOK however, Islamic economists have failed to develop it. It took Western capitalists to evolve that concept into today’s trusts and limited liability corporations. Waqaf is instructive on another level – the ability of ancient Muslims to be inspired but not limited by the Qur’an. They could have dismissed waqaf or bidaah (adulteration of the faith) as haram since it was not revealed.

 

            Muslim economists are trapped by terminology. Consider ribaa, with its evil connotation. Substitute “cost of capital,” which is what it is, or in Malay harga modal and not bunga, rental on money. As for the exploitative and punitive aspects of non-repayments of loans, as with indentured servitude during the Prophet’s era, I have yet to see borrowers in capitalist countries being jailed let alone enslaved for not repaying their loans.

 

            The late Ungku Aziz understood this essential difference between operational concept and mere label. He created Tabung Haji, leveraging the religious “Haji” and kampung tabung (storage device), and called the earnings faedah (dividends). With that he unleashed hitherto trapped Malay capital. The tragedy is that today’s Islamic economists have not carried the ball forward, as with making Tabung Haji the Muslim’s equivalent of Citibank as well as the biggest operator of hotels and charter aircrafts. Instead, Tabung Haji is plagued with corruption and mismanagement.

 

            As for equal sharing of risks, a stipulation of syariah, I am unconcerned with Petronas raising sukukbonds as they have their accountants and lawyers to protect their interests. Not so with Auntie Rahmah’s mortgage with the local branch of Bank Islam. It would take considerable “concept stretching” (to quote Geertz) to view that as equal sharing of risks.

 

            Mortgages in capitalist America are non-recourse loans. If the bank forecloses on you and sells your house at a loss, it cannot go after you for the balance. Not so with Islamic mortgages. Worse, they are invariably more expensive, up to 200 basis points more. Nor could you prepay your principle. Clearly unjust, and as such cannot be Islamic, label notwithstanding.

 

            Ungku Aziz, Duke’s Timur Kuran, and former Rice’s Mahmoud El-Gamal have done more than all these IOK economists to unravel the challenges of Muslim societies. Emulate them; master current “Western” economics to emancipate the ummah. Instead, Muslim scholars are busy getting rich certifying financial products and slaughtering houses as “Syariah compliant.” Pure rent-seeking activities, Islamic variants of “Approved Permits.”

 

            The ultimate test for Islamic economics – and syariah generally – is its ability to elevate the conditions of the ummah. Merely hyping Islamic economics is meaningless, and not without costs. As per Erdogan’s wisdom with respect to Islamic political movements, failures of Islamic economics would then be viewed as that of the faith itself. What a colossal tragedy that would be for Malays and Muslims. More fruitful to emulate Deng Xiaoping’s wisdom and pragmatism. If “Western” economic insights could uplift the ummah, then those by definition are Islamic and Syariah-compliant (maqasid Syariah).

Hajj 2023

Today (28 June 2023) is Aidiladha celebration in Saudi Arabia. Malaysia celebrates it tomorrow (29 June 2023).

Weather can be checked on the Internet at MSN, Bing and many weather websites.

Hajj 2023 is during hot weather, with temperatures soaring between 41C and 44C, and cooling off at night between 26C and 31C. The highest recorded temperature was 45C.

Madinah is hotter than Makkah.

Hajj pilgrims have to be prepared for hot weather for Hajj 2023.

Saudi Arabia has annual and monthly temperatures recorded since the 1950s. This makes it possible to study the Hajj rites and weather-related health outcomes since that time.

Death during the Hajj or after the Hajj rites can be due to high temperatures (heat stroke) and other causes including getting lost, extreme exhaustion and stampede. There may be other causes.

Deaths are accounted for and reported by the various countries who lost their Hajj pilgrims. It is therefore important to trace each Hajj pilgrim during and after each Hajj.

Malaysia is lucky because it has a good setup for managing its Hajj pilgrims. Malaysia sends about 3,000 Hajj pilgrims annually except during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021. Malaysians continued to perform the Hajj from 2022 onward.

There are private Malaysian companies that manage Hajj pilgrims from Malaysia for the annual Hajj. They include about 20 companies. These companies provide better hotels and treatment for their clients. However, the tents in Mina are limited and are distributed among the many Hajj travel agents and can be more congested with bulky furniture compared to empty tents provided by Tabung Haji (TH). Sometimes, men and women share the same tent under the private companies.

The price of a Hajj package differs between TH and the private companies. A first-time Hajj pilgrim may pay less than RM10,00 while a second-time Hajj Pilgrim may pay RM30,000 under TH. The prices are much higher for Hajj packages offered by the private companies.

QEII Stamps

Stamps were issued and used during the 70-year reign of QEII (1952-2022).

A 1962 envelope sent from England to Malaya.

Saddling Mahmoud for The Derby 1936.

40th Anniversary of QEII's reign, 1952-1992.

British stamps from a child's stamp collection in Malaysia.

QEII Coronation

A Coronation Ball was jointly held by the Malayan Students' Union and The Malay Society of Great Britain at the Dorchester Hotel on 29 June 1953.

Images from the collection of Abdul Rashid bin Mohd Yusope.

Malayan Students' Union and The Malay Society of Great Britain.

Coronation Ball

The Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, W.1.

Monday, 29 June 1953

Coronation Ball Committee

Chairman - Che Jamal bin Abdul Latiff -- this is the son of Dr Abdul Latiff bin Abdul Razak, the first Malay doctor.

Committee:

Miss Rennie Chew

Miss LT Lim

Wan Daud bin Wan Ibrahim

Che Abdul Aziz bin Zain

Che Abdul Halim bin Rasip

Mr George Dourado

Hon Secretary - Wan Ahmad bin Wan Omar

Reception Committee:

Rt Hon'ble Alan Lennox-Boyd, P.C., M.P.

President, Malayan Students' Union

President, Malay Society of Great Britain

Chairman, Coronation Ball Committee

------------------------------------

The Dorchester

Combined Malayan Societies Of Great Britain

Dinner Dance

29 June 1953

------------------------------

Office Bearers

Malayan Students' Union

President - Mr HG Gan

Vice-President - Che Halim bin A Rasip

Hon Treasurer - Che Abdul Manaf Ghows -- this is the son of Dr Ismail Ghows, an early Malay doctor in Taiping.

Hon Sports Secretary - Mr Carl Schubert

Hon Social Secretary - Mr George Dourado

Hon Asst Secretary - Mr HW Tan

Other Committee Members:

Miss Rennie Chew

Miss LT Lim

Miss CS Cheah

Miss Zubaidah Ghows

----------------------------------

Office Bearers

Malay Society of  Great Britain

President - Che Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman

Vice-President - Wan Daud bin Wan Ibrahim

Hon Secretary - Wan Ahmad bin Wan Omar

Hon Treasurer - Che M Zain

Hon Asst Secretary - Che Aminuddin bin Baki

Hon Sports Secretary - Che Salim bin Osman

Hon Social Secretary - Che Kadir bin Hj Yusoff

Other Committee Members:

Che Lily Majeed -- this is the eldest sibling of Dr Ruby Abdul Majeed. Dr Ruby was an early Malay doctor.

Raja Mohar bin Raja Badiozaman

------------------------------------

Signatures:

Gladys Robinson

A. Lopez

D. Cornelius

Bindih?

Th...?

? Struthers?

? Struthers?

Miriam K. Walters

Alex Wadlers?

Ozue?

Abdul Rashid (Jawi) -- this is my father

---------------------------

Menu

Le Cantaloup Rafraichi (iced fresh cantaloupe)

Le Filet de Sole Mexicaine (Mexican sole filet)

La Dinde et Langue en Aspic (turkey and tongue in clear jelly)

La Salade de Saison (seasonal salad)

Le Vacherin aux Framboises (raspberry vacherin meringue)

Le Cafe (coffee)

QEII Coronation 1953

The Coronation Celebrations were held by the Malayan students who were attending the Malayan Teachers' Training College at Kirkby, England. 

Card from the collection of Abdul Rashid bin Mohd Yusope.

Programme of Coronation Celebrations.

Malayan Teachers' Training College

26 May 1953

Programme of Celebrations

In Honour of The Coronation of

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Students' signatures:

Abdul Rashid (Jawi) --- this is my father

Tarlochan Singh Sachdev

Dorothea E. Ohisters

David Raman

Lee See Loy

Raji Haji Ali

Ong Lim Neo

Ding Siao Giong

Dr Inayat Hussain Amir Mohammad 1928-1975

Dr Inayat Hussain Amir Mohammad
(b.1928-d.1975)

Dr Inayat Hussain was born on 25 May 1928 in the town of Bundi, in Rajasthan state, in Uttar Pradesh Province, India. He grew up and was educated in Bundi, Rajasthan. He attended the King George's Medical College, University of Lucknow, UP, where he studied for his MBBS degree (1947-1953). He graduated with MBBS degree from King George's Medical College, University of Lucknow, India in 1953. He continued to pursue postgraduate studies at the same university and then worked in Kashmir.

Dr Inayat Hussain received a job offer from the District Hospital in Kemaman, Terengganu. He first married and then came to work in Terengganu. He served at District Hospital Kemaman, General Hospital Kuala Terengganu and District Hospital Dungun.

Dr Inayat Hussain was a member of the Malaysian Medical Mission to Makkah, along with Dr Che Lah bin Md Joonos (Penang) and Dr Haji Ahmad (Kedah). Dr Inayat Hussain was a Hajj doctor for 4 Hajj pilgrimages (1963, 1964, 1966 and 968). He brought along his wife for their Hajj in 1964.

Dr Inayat and wife have 5 children, 3 boys and 2 girls. 

More info can be obtained from his son, Prof. Salmaan Hussain in KL.

Letter to TH 1 Oct 2021

Faridah Abdul Rashid
To: TH-info@lth.gov.my
1 Oktober 2021 Kepada:           Tuan Yang Berbahagia,                       Bahagian Kesihatan,                                             Lembaga Tabung Haji.                                       \ Daripada: Prof. Faridah Abdul Rashid Penulis buku dan blog “The Early Malay Doctors” Assalamu’alaikum, MEMOHON SENARAI AHLI ROMBONGAN  PERUBATAN KA MEKAH BAGI HAJI TAHUN 1962-1969 Perbualan saya hari ini dengan Encik Mohd Faisal bin Mokhtar, TH Contact Centre, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, adalah dirujuk, ekoran komen saya pada posting TH Menyambut Ulangtahun ke-58. Saya ingin mendapatkan Senarai Ahli Rombongan Perubatan ke Makkah bagi Haji tahun 1962 hingga 1969. Saya, Profesor Faridah Abdul Rashid (MyKad: ####-##-####),  telah berpencen dari mengajar selama 36 tahun di School of  Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, di Kampus  Kesihatan di Kubang Kerian, Kelantan. Saya kini menetap  di rumah di Kelantan. Saya sedang meneruskan usaha penyelidikan terdahulu  secara persendirian and penulisan buku sejarah ilmiah  berbentuk biografi dan bertemakan, The Early Malay Doctors  Malaya and Singapore 1900-1957. Semua perbelanjaan  penulisan dan penerbitan adalah ditanggung saya sendiri.  Dua buah buku telah pun diterbitkan pada 2012 dan boleh  diperolehi dalam talian. Dalam penyelidikan saya, saya menemui sebuah passport Haji  1963, tiket kapal Haji 1963, dan gambar Haji kepunyaan arwah  datuk saya iaitu Dr Haji Che Lah bin Md. Joonos  (Kad pengenalan: 2518843 (biru)). Ia bertugas sebagai Doktor Haji  sebanyak 7 kali iaitu bagi tahun 1962-1969, bersama isterinya,  Matron Hajah Mariah Che Lah @ Mary Chong Nyet Lin,  yang mengerjakan tugas sebagai Jururawat Haji sebanyak 5 kali.  Kedua-dua arwah datuk dan nenek saya menetap di rumah 219 Bukit Glugor,  Penang, semasa mengerjakan Haji 1963. Mereka kemudian  berpindah ke rumah 355-A Lengkok Pemancar, Bukit Glugor,  Penang, bagi Haji seterusnya.[Sila rujuk YouTube video  "Retrospektif: Seruan Suchi (1965)" untuk lihat Haji Dr Che Lah  mengiringi DYMM SPB YDP Agong di klinik di Makkah pada tahun 1965.] Menurut salah seorang jemaah Haji pada tahun 1964, Shaikhah Musbah Mattar  (anak bongsu Dr Shaik Taha Mattar, Singapura), terdapat dua orang doktor  tambahan dari Pakistan di atas kapal Haji Kuala Lumpur pada tahun 1964,  iaitu Dr Munir Azmi dan Dr Barney. Saya tidak dapat mengesan mereka atau  keluarga mereka. Selain Matron Hajah Mariah Che Lah, jururawat lain yang berkhidmat dalam  Rombongan Perubatan ke Makkah pada 1962-1969 ialah Hafsah, Nik Zaleha,  dan Rabiah (menurut catatan di belakang gambar). Nama mereka yang lengkap  dan negara/negeri asal mereka tidak diketahui. Nik Zaleha berasal dari Kelantan  dan kini berusia 70-80 tahun dan menetap di Arab Saudi. Menurut Shaikhah  Musbah Mattar, ada juga jururawat yang berasal dari Singapura semasa  ia mengerjakan Haji pada 1964. … Dengan penerangan saya di atas, saya ingin memohon kepada Lembaga  Tabung Haji untuk mendapatkan Senarai Ahli Rombongan Perubatan ke Makkah  bagi Haji tahun 1962 hingga 1969. Senarai ini akan membantu saya cam mereka  dalam gambar yang ada dalam simpanan saya dan membetulkan teks berkenaan  Haji dalam penulisan saya (buku dan juga blog). In sya Allah. Sekian, terimah kasih. Yang benar, Prof. Faridah Abdul Rashid (Penulis) ##################### 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan Hp: ###########      Email: ######### Blog: https://theearlymalaydoctors.blogspot.com/ YouTube video: Retrospektif: Seruan Suchi (1965): https://youtu.be/duozxVXBfkE 5 attachments B-TEMD 2012.jpg 56K R-TEMD 2012.jpg 51K Seruan Suchi by FINAS 23 July 2021 (Hajj 1965).png 677K DR CHE LAH BIN MOHD JOONOS.pdf 5695K

Book - Datuk Ann Majeed (2016)

 A Towering Figure in Social Welfare Work in Malaysia.

Datuk Ann Majeed - A Towering Figure in Social Welfare Work in Malaysia.
by Sharifah Mariam Syed Mansor Al-Idrus.
Printed by Tun Suffian Foundation Inc., 2016
Softcover, 166 pages
ISBN 9789674353063


Enquiries:
www.arecabooks.com

Book - Reflections: Dr Mohd Said (2021)

 

Reflections: Dr Mohd Said
by Halimah Mohd Said
Published by UPSI, Tanjong Malim, Perak. 2021
Hardcover, 298 pages
ISBN 978-967-2908-55-5

Book is available online from Shopee
https://shopee.com.my/REFLECTIONS-DR-MOHD-SAID-i.238273030.11923703157

Cast From The Herd: Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

 

Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt # 6:  Mandul Leaders

Continuing on with his intriguing analysis of Chairul Anwar’s Aku poem, Cikgu Noh dismissed Malay leaders and sultans as manduls. We pupils remained quiet; another metaphor!

I knew what mandul meant, foreman, the one who barked orders to the already tired coolies ordering them to move even faster in the heat of the day. Chairil was agitating his people to defy their mandul so they would be spared from the slaughterhouse.

“Cast yourself from the herd,” Noh exhorted. “Defy your mandul if they are mandul.” 

Another poetic play on words! Seeing our puzzled looks, he asked what ranchers do with their mandul bulls. “Sell or slaughter them,” he answered himself. “They can’t breed!”

That sure was a circuitous and devastating explanation of the other meaning of mandul. What? Slaughter our mandul leaders? That would be treason; we would end up being slaughtered. Noh was exhorting us to defy our leaders, including presumably him. We dared not defy this champion boxer, not even a former one. Besides, he had already captured our imagination; we would follow him. This boxer of a bull was a fine specimen; he was far from being mandul.

“Read that last line again,” he commanded. We were about to commence our group murmuring when he read it aloud himself, as he had intended to do anyway. “I want to live for a thousand years, no less!” 

He clinched his lips and paused, displaying an unexpected caution. “Our faith tells us that our time on this earth is but temporary.” After an uncharacteristic but noticeable hesitation, “We are told to welcome death, to not be afraid of it.” 

He was now into religion; this could be a minefield. He paced back and forth. Then, “Is Chairil afraid of death when he asserted that he wanted to live for a thousand years?” Without waiting for our reply, “Was he afraid to face his Maker? Was he being blasphemous?”

Boom! Boom! Boom! Three devastating punches in quick succession. We had not yet recovered from the first and he already fired his next, and then the third. This was how he must be in the ring. Pity his opponent! By this time I knew he was not expecting an answer from us. Surely such lofty philosophical ponderings were above our grade level. 

I was right, for he continued. “Ladies and gentlemen, if we blindly follow our mandul leaders, we too would end up being slaughtered.”

We remained silent, unaccustomed to being addressed with such formality. This was a heavy load, and so early in the day and year.

“Remember this wisdom of our elders,” he wagged his finger. “Even the dumbest buffalo, once it had escaped, would not be easy to corral again.” He paused. “The first thing that critter would do is pace the perimeter, test its strength, and search for gaps. Your world would be irreversibly changed once you have cast yourself from your herd.”

This was not a cry for freedom. Far from it! Chairil was asserting–no, demanding–his right to it. He challenged us to defy our leaders if they were to tread on our freedom. Substituting one oppressor for another–Japanese occupiers for Dutch colonialists–was no freedom. Nor the promise of later freedom justified curtailing the current meager one, as the Japanese did to Malays. As Chairil Anwar warned, our leaders were just as likely to trample on our freedoms as those colonialists and occupiers.

This young poet was a rebel, but with a noble cause–the emancipation of his people from their own leaders, the liberation of docile peasants from their imperious sultans. A rebel with a cause! Where had I heard that phrase before?

No, I had not. That matinee I saw a while back starring James Dean was “Rebel Without A Cause.” Chairil Anwar was a James Dean with a cause. No! Dean was a Chairil Anwar without a cause. Chairul’s was an arrogant assertion of rugged individualism and fearless break from stifling traditions. Even his poetry broke conventional forms. The brutal Japanese could not intimidate him, and he was contemptuous of his own feudal leaders. No wonder he wanted to live for a thousand years and bear the stings of bullets and pains of wounds. His cause will remain so long as humans fear to stray from their herd or take on their leaders. His would take a thousand years, and more!

I too now wanted to cast myself from my herd, to seek my own pasture even if it would take me a thousand years. My hero would not be some battle-scarred old warrior lionized in our hagiographies like Hang Tuah but a young poet–Chairil Anwar. My mission was to change my destiny that had been defined by my birth and culture, and to break the constraints forced upon me by my leaders.

Emboldened, I felt like a newly-commissioned officer tasked with a critical battle that could alter the course of the war. It did not escape me that Chairil Anwar’s immortal poem was penned in the year of my birth–1943–and that he was from my Minangkabau tribe. Propitious! 

Chairil’s stirring lines reverberated in me. Only the ringing of the school bell interrupted the pounding in my chest. As the class stood up to say our customary “Thank you, teacher!” there was again a collective hesitation. Should we instead say, “Terima kasih, Cikgu?” 

That awkward silence did not faze him. “Terima kasih kerana sudi mendengar!” (Thank you for being so kind to listen!) 

Wow, a teacher thanking us! How weird, and a substitute teacher at that! 

I had anticipated a lazy drift downstream led by a lackadaisical substitute skipper. Instead I had one who was very much engaged; he steered us through the rapids without even a whimper of protest from us. In truth, we dared not. 

Yes, there were many white-knuckle moments but I was invigorated by the sprays and bumps. On to more whitewater runs! Oh God, let not what I had just been through be a wispy illusion, or worse, a cruel tease. I remembered only too well how meek my grandfather’s bull buffalo was long after I had freed the rope from its nose-ring. The huge critter behaved as if it was still tethered. 

I wanted to be challenged, to take leave of my herd, and to seek new pastures. I yearned to be freed from the tiring chores and petty squabbles that defined my village life. Liberate me from the stifling constraints of my feudal traditions where my destiny was defined at and by my birth. Unshackle me from the numbing mindless rote memorization that passed for learning at my school. I was now intolerant of those constraints. 

Chairul Anwar’s powerful words had jolted me out of my comfortable adolescent fantasy world. My coconut shell had been toppled, and I yearned to explore the now wide open world. Chairul Anwar had ignited the fire of freedom and merantau (wanderlust) in me. I was determined to keep it burning, and burning bright. The good news that morning was not my getting a substitute teacher, rather that he had brought Chairil Anwar’s immortal poem to my world. 

Next:  Excerpt # 7:  At Last, In Long Pants!