Rahman Tahir

Sat 25 Jan 2020.

I'd been thinking of visiting "Rahman 'Ol" for a few days. I'd called him a month or so ago - I got the number from Jay, his sister, who I often meet at the golf club. She was the one who told me that her brother has not been feeling well. But this wasn't the real reason for this wanting to see him again. We go back to 1969, when we were housemates in Kampong Baru. The old memory was rekindled when Jay mentioned his name. And the last few days I'd been doing other things than golf, and got to thinking about my old friend again.

Today being Chinese New Year, I thought the highway would be less congested, and a good time for the  drive to Sg. Ramal Luar, Kajang, where Rahman stays. In fact the traffic northward to KL wasn't bad, but the opposite way was worse than normal. I told myself the Lekas highway would have less traffic, and I should take it on the return journey. I was wrong!

Over the years, whenever I drove back to Seremban from KL, whenever I passed the Kajang junction, I'd always think of stopping over at Rahman's house. Each time I'd look at my watch and decided to do it next time. On a few occasions I did turn to get to his house, but had always missed the turn off the new Kajang-Semenyih highway and ended up missing the visit altogether. One time I even turned, by mistake, to Sg. Ramal Dalam, which is the opposite direction, and lost my way deep in that congested settlement.

I know the house is near the Sg. Ramal mosque. I'd been to the old wooden house of Rahman's mother-in-law once. I'd been to the new brick house that replaced that wooden house when I came to his daughter's wedding. But then the area was not as highly built up as it is now, and I've lost the sense of direction. So this morning I thought I'd get company before venturing forth, and called Hank about 9. "I'm washing the dishes" was his answer. He couldn't come, anyway. "Got to go to Melaka for a wedding." So I drove solo.

When I moved to KL from Alor Gajah in 1969, Padir and I stayed on the top floor of Shuib's house in Kampong Baru that was rented out. I can't remember how we got there, but we ended up sharing  quarters with  Aziz Kadir (later becoming RRI Director, after his PhD from USA) and Rahman, Shuib's younger brother.

We were there when the May 13 Riots happened, right there in Kampong Baru. We had no choice but to eat with Shuib and his family during the curfew, and under those circumstances got to be close with Rahman. That he's from Seremban, and had worked in KP, also helped foster the closeness. 

In fact Rahman gave me Jay's phone number when I asked for it, after seeing her photo wearing dark glasses, which Aziz had picked up from Rahman's table and asked "Jay ke, Man?" Aziz knows the Hj. Tahir family. Later I did call Jay and spoke to her. "10,000 if you want her" Rahman replied when I jokingly asked if I could marry Jay. 10,000 in 1969 was huge. A semi-detached bungalow in Ampang Jaya at that time only cost 15,000. A 144 Volvo 8,000."Her clitoris is made of diamond ah?" I retorted. I never followed up on the call. Ahmad Salleh, a university lecturer from Terengganu came in, and married Jay. So when I tell the golf club marshalls  about Jay "laki dia mat salleh", they are  awed. "Yo ko?" Mat salleh is the jargon for "White man" - a Caucasian. I wasn't lying.

We did many things together, Rahman and I, before I moved house to Ampamg Jaya. He even took me to his Rasah house, near the Rasah mosque. The house is now demolished. I met his father. Rahman said he was an fierce PAS supporter, and each time the PM Tunku Abdul Rahman came on tv, his father would put his foot on the screen ! We often went out together, and Rahman would provide the female partners - "Chom", "Yati" and others. He also introduced me to a widow working in one of the carpet shops in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, and even took me to her rented room near the GH. 

The Kampong Baru house was next to another one where some nurses were renting out. Since we were on the top floor, our windows overlooked the rented rooms next door. At night Rahman would climb our closed window sill and peeped over the top glass pane. I caught him doing it late one night, and decided to join in ! 

Then I moved house, but once in a while, before my first transfer out of KL, I'd meet him at the PM's Department. Those days you could drive across town for lunch and still get back to office before 2. Then I moved to Seremban and lost contact. 

Rahman got married, then got posted to  Belgrade for 2-3 years, before the breakup of Yugoslavia. In fact my family and I did stop over in Belgrade when on holiday to London and took  "Yat" airline that stopped there for the Singapore-London flight. I told Rahman just now, had I known he was in Belgrade then, I'd have stopped over.

Rahman came to some of my children's wedding, he recalled today. I had met him once at the Kajang bazaar a long time ago, after his retirement. He ran a stall there for a short while. We had a few phone contacts through the years.

His daughters have done well, scholastically and professionally. All are engineers, all foreign-trained, all apparently successful. One has been posted by her employers to Singapore for many years now, and Rahman often stayed there when he was much stronger.

Rahman is 81 now. His lean frame has not changed much, nor his countenance. But he says he has aches all over the place, and his eyesight prevents him from driving. I said the aches are normal, as are the midnight bathroom breaks. I said take daily walks to improve the blood circulation. I play golf everyday instead, I said.

So this morning I drove to Sg. Ramal Luar, and made at least 2 false turns before I decided to take a break at the Sg. Ramal mosque, where I took a leak, and was surprised to see a roti canai stall operating in the mosque compound.  I stopped and had a teh o kosong and roti canai, which it turned out later was paid for by two young guys who were there earlier. I sat at the table occupied by a lone old man and asked about Rahman, whom he knew, and he then gave me directions. The house is just 100m from the mosque. I also called Rahman, and he gave me the same instructions, but not before answering tersely "mano den tau !" when I asked if he knew who was calling. He knew, but it was just Rahman !

I couldn't help being emotional when I took leave from Rahman and Aishah. I saw that Aishah had tears, too. Rahman seemed steady. "I don't know when we'll meet again" I said.

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