BERSATU: from Ampangan to Putrajaya.

Saturday Feb 29, 2020 (Leap Year).

While Bersatu is in huge turmoil in Putrajaya, its Ampangan branch has had its own little turmoil in Seremban.

After one too many changes of dates,  the Ampangan branch finally held its shaky first official elections at half-past three today, one-and a half hours late. To the very end, even this was in confusion, because only three days ago Jefri, the acting Divisional Head had told me that the scheduled 29th elections had been postponed because the MB had cancelled the approval for the use of the hall in Gedung Lalang. This proved false, because today the guy ahead of me had the keys to the gate, and the meeting eventually proceeded as fixed.

Everybody knows what's going on in Putrajaya. 

Last Saturday hell broke loose when Mahathir resigned as PM, and soon afterwards as Chairman of Bersatu. The President of Bersatu, Muhyiddin then pulled out of the PH, causing the pact to disintegrate. PKR earlier had sacked Azmin and Zuraidah, both members of the PH Cabinet. They joined the Bersatu-UMNO-PAS pact. And all this one day after Mahathir announced that PH had given him the right to decide when to hand over the PMship to Anwar Ibrahim.

Ai had been appointed the interim Branch Head by  Jefri after several meetings over the last one year, even before Yunus Rahmat jumped into the branch from nowhere. In the last few months, the agreement was that Ai would go for the official Branch Head post, plus a seat in the Seremban Division. Yunus was to go for Head of Division. Even the incumbent PKR ADUN for Ampangan knew this, because he told me. 

After the nomination process last month, there appeared to be contests at both Branch and Division levels.  Jefri wanted to contest the Branch post, although Ai's position was done through him and the many meetings held. Yunus registered for the Head of Division. Then he asked Ai to withdraw from the Branch contest, which Ai refused.  Today Ai was nowhere to be seen. Phone calls went unanswered. Then Ari said he had pulled out. Yunus said the same thing later. Then Jefri pulled out of the Head of Division contest, going instead for the Deputy post. And today, before I left the meeting before even casting my vote, it appeared that Yunus was withdrawing, too.

The PH promise of Mahathir passing the baton to Anwar is known by everybody. This issue, lately loudly demanded  by Anwar's supporters, was settled.  But it is also widely known that there is deep antipathy in the country for Anwar being PM. From the beginning of the formation of the PH government, many had predicted that Anwar would never be the 8th. PM. Many reasons were offered, but underlining them was just the dislike for him.  Many are aware of the bottomlessness of his political war chest, evidenced by the funding of the entire PKR when in opposition, and the buying of the State seat of Kajang soon after  GE13, and the Parliamentry seat of PD soon after  GE14. So even as I write, when Muhyiddin has already been announced on tv and radio as the PM-elect by Istana Negara, Anwar's camp is still feared, with Sarawak and Sabah the targets. Muhyiddin is said to only have 114 MPs behind him, against the 222 total. GPS Sarawak (18), Warisan Sabah (8), and the mosquito parties plus 1 independent (7), plus Mahathir's loose ardent sympathisers among the MP's  can still cause havoc to the Agong's choice announced today. In fact right now Mahathir claims to have 112 -114 support for PM, with Anwar again changing stance and giving deference to the Old Man. Mukhriz also says 6 Bersatu MPs support his father. And Sarawak & Sabah say they're watching closely. Istana Negara notwithstanding, it may boil down to a vote in Parliament next week. If that takes place.

The attendance in Ampangan today was sparse, an indication of the interest shown. There were 11 Armada members, when the constitutional minimum requirement is 9, fortunately. The Srikandi members present was even smaller, and having the same requirement, I wonder if the qurom was met, because I left ahead of the voting. As to the ordinary members, to which the Armada and Srikandi numbers are added, I doubt if the qurom of 30 % of the full membership would have been met. But they can always play with that. Or simply cheat, like in UMNO branch meetings. Even running the meeting had an unresolved problem when I left. They couldn't find a someone to be the Permanent Chairman. The candidate for the Divisional Head came to me without even  introducing himself, trying to get me to do it. Yunus also tried to get me to agree. I rebuffed them both. This was the main reason I left early. The whole thing was shoddy. If Bersatu cannot interest people at the party's elections, how can they interest the voters at the next GE ? There's already rising frustration with PH everywhere. 

This "National Pact" PN government concocted by UMNO and PAS is understandable. They are the biggest  losers in Parliament. Something desparately needed to be done to get their claws in, or lose all. UMNO has only 39 seats now, and would have lost more to Bersatu if Mahathir had not slowed down in accepting the fleeing MP's because of Anwar's and DAP's caution, which is understandable. Bersatu stands to become the largest single party in Parliament despite starting with only 13. It's 36 now, a jump of almost 300% !. And without going to the polls ! Playing the racial issue in order to get the Malay support seems the natural and easy game to play for UMNO & PAS. They have to resort to the dirtiest tactics necessary before they lose more Malay support in the next GE. The last GE, and the 5 bye-elections , especially Parliament Tg. Piai, have shown that the Chinese choose race over other things. Only the Malays are broken up into pieces of UMNO, PKR, Bersatu, PAS, Amanah and Warisan. That's 6 pieces ! The only thing holding the Chinese back is their total 27% of the electoral roll, and their concentration in the urban areas.

Bersatu was born because of Najib alone, let's face it. He sacked Muhyiddin ( I hope he's not forgotten that),  Shafiee and Mukhriz.  Mahathir resigned. All because of 1MDB. Not the corruption. That came later. UMNO's DNA is in Bersatu. Playing the race card easily influence the MP's. It's not the rakyat at this point, as claimed by Mat Hasan. ( The PH government was the rakyat's voice at the polls in GE14, Mat !) It's only you desparate buggers in Parliament casting principles aside to save your skins ! Don't bring the rakyat in. Their job would be at the next polls ! And  DAP, never having tasted Government, got carried away and pushed things too hard, too fast. There was the Chinese script issue on official bulletin, the noises about Jawi in school, Guan Eng presiding the TH meetings and other race- and religion-related matters. Small matters, maybe, but irritating. For 6 decades they accepted such matters without losing anything material, and now in their first taste at national government they can't wait to paint everything red ! Now they're about to become the opposition again!

At the back of my mind, however, I think what has happened this last several days has to do with   Anwar.  

Anwar as PM is intelorable to many Malays except the 39 PKR divisions. Mahathir resigned not at a time of leadership crisis. His Parliamentry support is comfortable. UMNO is at its weakest. PAS remains small  at national level. Pesky, but small.  PH had just given Mahathir additional oomph at that Friday meeting last week. But at the back of Mahathir's mind must be the handing over to Anwar in November, the new deadline.

This afternoon I met Mustapha after maybe 20 years. He was with the State Secretariat when I was ADUN. He came because his friend, another retiree and a Bersatu member, invited him to the meeting. They tried to get him to chair the meeting after I rejected them.(I whispered to him to not accept, and he followed my advice.) "Don't ask for trouble" I said as he accompanied me out, while Armada was in their meeting. Just come and observe, and offer advice if asked, I said as I took my leave.

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Ramlee's son second wedding.

Fri 28 Feb 2020.

22.02.2020 seemed a special date for the 2nd wedding of Ramlee's son. See all the "2's".

Ramlee Husain was my Operations Manager in MISC Haulage Sdn. Bhd  when I was the GM there 1991-1994. We have not met often since, but Ramlee invited me to three wedding receptions of his, visited me once in Seremban, and even gave me a "petai" seedling, which I gave to Bang Dek and has now borne fruit.

After all these years, it's always good to meet up again with old acquintances. They bring back old memories and surely rekindle old friendships that lie dormant because of separation.

In this case, the North Port years three decades ago store great memories,  of setting up the ambitious plans of the haulage operations in a brand new site, and for me, of a brand new venture quite unlike what I had got used to before.

Ramlee was one of three of the first personnel of that fledgeling company. The other two were Husein Othman, my Administration & Finance Manager, and of course, yours truly, the General Manager, fresh out of  21 years of Felda. The late Osman Abdul joined us soon after, as my Marketing Manager. 

Starting from scratch,  in the little corner office with three tables at MISC HQ in Jalan Conlay, KL, we soon moved into makeshift container boxes on  borrowed site on MISC property at the Port Kelang North Port, and later into the temporary one-floor building close by, and would you believe it, next to the Port Kelang Golf Club!   Later we moved into a spanking office and operations yard in 5 acres of land at the "Taiwan Village"  officiated by the PM, Dr. Mahathir. 

Together, the four of us built up the staff and equipment, and we even went to Sweden, Holland , London, Bangkok and Singapore  for machinery and operational studies and purchases. It was the most cherished sojourn in my entire working career. 

Osman was the star player in the marketing forays that made our presence felt in the haulage industry. Great things were planned and discussed in our weekly meetings. Sadly, I had to leave after four and a-half years, and not much later all the three pioneer managers also left the company. The rich dreams were unfulfilled, and even the company was later scuttled by the new owners, who had other priorities.

I met many of the old drivers during the wedding, and some of the other staff, including the still fetching Sa'diah, the Chinese-speaking operations clerk and a Ramlee-favourite. Too many names are lost to me, and faces no longer recognized. But they still remember me, and we took photos together. I wish someone would pass them on line to me.

I had arranged for Sam to pick me up from the Blue Wave Hotel at 8 p.m. Misrun was supposed to come with him, but the 2 wives (yes, 2) wanted to come, so Sam came alone.

The venue was the Selangor Youth & Sports Complex, Shah Alam.

This was the second wedding of this son, because the first wife succumbed to cancer only a few months after marriage. I attended the first reception, too. I pray the special date would bring happiness and long life to Ramlee's son's  second marriage. 

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Padir at IJN

Fri 21 Feb 2020.

Wednesday I happened to glance at my whatsapp after my usual morning golf and saw an unregistered number and opened it anyway. Good thing I did. It was Umi, about Padir's admission to IJN, yesterday. I collected Idah and later Calit, and by about half-past-two were at A411, Block A, 4th. floor, and found Fikri and Faiz with Padir in bed, eyes closed.

Umi had given the info about the procedure at 12 that day, and by the time we were at IJN, obviously it was completed and Padir was back in his assigned room.

He looked ok, not sick or anything. He opened his eyes as I approached his bed. He didn't have to explain at length what happened, because in the next 15 minutes the nurse, and then Dr. Ahmad himself came, and explained everything, showing the photos. Padir had 2 blocked arteries, one 100% and the other 95%. A stem had been inserted in one. Further review would be made on the second one for the next procedure. As I understood it then, Padir could be released in the next few days and wait about 2 months for the next step. In fact I received news just now that Padir would be leaving the hospital today.

About 30 years ago he had an angioplasty at the Pantai Hospital, I think. So, all things considered, that first one was well done. He said he had felt discomfort and breathing issues a few months ago, but hitherto all the checkups had not revealed anything untoward. Even this time around it was Umi who insisted that he come here for a full check up. Which goes to show that if you have a history of heart problems, get a full check up the moment you experience any breathing difficulty. If he had come months earlier, the condition could have been much better.

Umi had said that she hadn't inform anyone else yet, not even Calit. I just asked him to come along. IJN is no joke. At this age, we should worry, and not just feel sorry. There are facilities available.

Shortly afterwards Fahmi "vel, vel, vel" also came. Padir later said this was the first time for some time that all three sons are together. Idah was moved. Well, we all see the same thing. The kids have their lives, too. Fine, if they come around together now and then. If not, we understand.

I took the opportunity to chide at "vel,vel,vel", I asked for your 'phone number at Aizat's reception and still haven't got it. He said he's meeting YAB Amin, the Negri MB. I told him to mention me, in MUBARAK NS. We've been trying to get an appointment. I personally want to pass to him my paper on the ADUN's allowance review. NS ranks low, compared to the other States. The PH State Government should do something while they can. The next GE might see the return of BN.

When early in Felda days I also had a medical checkup with one of Felda's panel of doctors, and they said I had a heart "murmur". I remember reading about the late Muhammad Ali, the American boxer, who also had a heart murmur. He went on to do great stuff. I went on without following up on my murmrur. Until now I feel great. Hopefully my daily regimen and supplements would keep me on my feet for some years yet.

I told Padir to try the two folk medicines, okra and ginger juices, I have taken for a couple of years now. I don't know if they're any good, because my 3-month regular medical check-ups don't say anything different from before. But overall, my heart, kidneys, BP, diabetes and eyes are "normal". I have my regular diabetes pills, and BP and cholesterol drugs, and I watch my sugar intake, getting a controlled reading of around 6.9, which the doctors say is acceptible. But there's no harm in trying these home remedies, as long as you abide by the doctors' orders also.

We took our leave at about six. On the way out, I did my Asr prayers in the surau I saw on the floor. Lucky I did. I was thinking I'd pray at the R&R somewhere. Because it took us 2 hours to reach Sg. Besi. The jam on the Jalan Tun Razak was unbelievable. After some food at the Serdang fruit stalls, we finally reached home at 10 p.m.

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Prayers for the late mother-in-law.

Sun Feb 16, 2020.

Yesterday the surviving "Induks" of the Ujang-Banun clan met for lunch at the "Ayam Guling" on the Paroi-Senawang road. We were joined by Ai "Ci-o-ledi", Kamal, Mastura, and "Usop"and husband and son "Awe Donde". It was the fourth such meeting for the group. Hopefully we'd continue this for as long as possible. The next one is Ari's, to be at his house, followed by Klemot or me, maybe after Ramadan. This arrangement was jointly thought of in memory of the late Hj. Ujang and Hajjah Banun, our parents and my father/ mother-in-law. That's how my memory played back on my late M.I.L.

She was a "dukun". Idah has many stories that support that claim. In fact  Hajjah Banun's children have stories that support their belief in her dukunship. Their stories have that touch of eerieness, that a bystander may find hard to grasp. To this day, decades after the passing of the couple, Idah is scared to be alone in the old house, now tranferred to Bal, Pak Ijoi's widow. Idah admires Bal's bravery, being alone at night in the house, when Kamil is away.

I have my own stories. This is not to embellish the dukunship claim, but they court some thoughts of the super-natural.

Since I was a very young boy I often went to my aunt's house in Kuala Jempol. On one such visit, I remember meeting my future M.I.L there (it would be another 15 years before I married Idah !).  They were discussing about locating a water source to dig a well. Those were the days when the kampongs had no running water and electricity, maybe around 1956. My future M.I.L. picked a spot close to the front of the stilted house, and indeed they found water there when they dug it up. I learned even at that time that she had this ability !

When we were in Tanjong Malim together, my mother often sought her future besan's home-made remedies.

In Fortune Garden (later renamed Taman Dato' Shahbandar) where she stayed with her son, Ustaz Ahmad sought her help, because after many years of marriage, his wife could not concieve. After her treatment, an only son was born.

When I got married in 1971, the Lonek house had no running water and no electricity, and the kampong road was a laterite track. If it rained, you'd be stuck. The house is a few km from the Bahau road, and only Malays live there to this day.

Very late one night when I was sleeping in the front part of the stilted house, I heard some noises from the "rumah tangga" - the porch on the front steps. On opening the front door, I was surprised to see a yellow dog standing on the porch. Seeing me, it moved out. I closed the door, and only related the sighting at breakfast the next day. Everybody at the table said there were no dogs in the village. My M.I.L just chuckled. What they were claiming, I caught on later, was that it was no dog ! What was it then ? 

When Ari moved to his present house, he had an Indonesian maid at one time. She has returned to Indonesia a long time ago. But she would ask a few times who was the Malay lady in the tudung who would always stand outside the front gate very early in the morning, when the maid would go out to do some early morning chores. Nobody could give an answer, because no one else had seen her. One day she was going through the family photo album when she exclaimed "this is her !" It was the photo of my M.I.L. ! She had died several years earlier !

Ari's first daughter and my only daughter are fair-skinned and small. My late M.I.L. was like that. Ari and his brothers ( four have since passed on) are a good size for a Malay. My 3 sons are around 5' 8"

I pray for Hajjah Banun's blessing and forgiveness by the Almighty, Amin !

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Idris Ajit III

Sat 8 Feb 2020.

The "III" because this is the third time I'm heading the delegates to ask for the girl's hand in marriage for Idris, also the III son of Mashitok. The first time was in Rembang Panas, where the whole thing didn't even get to the "aqad" stage. It was something about "wang hantaran" or something like that. The second time was in Rompin, to the Imam's daughter, no less. But the marriage lasted all of two months, and as far as I can gather, it was never consummated. That break-up is now officially final and would pose no danger for the new arrangement, in as far as the Religious Department is concerned ( they can be unbelievably sticky) but as was discussed in the car just now, Idris must get rid of the old tenant's belongings before the new tenant checks into the Wangsa Maju house. The third bethrotal  this morning at the Mutiara Gombak Flats involves a 28-year old divorcee, "Adal", a receptionist at a KL hotel (Chow Kit Road, she said). As I also said over "teh C" and "roti bakar" at the Serdang rest area on the journey home, let's hope this one lasts longer. 

We had left S 2 early, at 8 a.m., it being Thaipusam and we were bracing for the expected monster jam in KL. In the end it wasn't as bad, maybe because we took the MRR2 and entered Gombak from the north, rather than Jalan Pahang through Gombak Setia past Acam's house. The problem was the apartment is on the 4th floor and the flat has no lift. Yah can hardly walk, even with a cane, and Idah has no cane but finds walking hard. So imagine climbing the stairs up 4 floors!

I found Adal friendly and humourous. Her present job may be responsible for that. I'm a sucker for those with a sense of humour. I hissed to Idris from the corner of my mouth "I like this one". That I never ever spoke to the first two may also contribute to this present bias. I told her "my son also works in a hotel. Maybe you can join him later. It's owned by Petronas."

I took the opportunity to lecture a bit, when the host urged for a start of discussion for the morning's mission. I said I only found out about today's visit 1 week ago, by 'phone. Normally I ignore telephone invitations, and the more serious the affair, the more particular I become. A nephew asking for help in a big event like this one necessitates a personal visit. A short notice demeans, and makes it worse.  Idris deserves to be ignored by me ! I explained that I chose to take the higher ground, accept his short, impersonal request, and present myself today here. I put on the songkok, and donned my best batik shirt, to show respect for the occassion. I saw Idris starting to utter something, but I shut him up by saying I invite no arguments here. I'm just stating my feelings plainly, so that Idris and "Adal" won't repeat this sort of thing in their future together. 

We were served meehoon goreng and iced orange drink. I took a bit of the meehoon, and asked for plain water. Only half -an-hour earlier we had stopped on the highway and had nasi lemak and telor pindang, and so were still full.

On the way back, we stopped again on the highway for refreshments. So when Yah said to stop for lunch at S2, I said no thanks, maybe next time.

The wedding is to take place in 3 weeks' time. Rushed? No, a good thing should be carried out to completion as soon as necessary. Only this time the story, hopefully,  would last, and not finish prematurely. God Willing, Amin !

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Simpol the Garden of Love.

Mon 3 Feb 2020.

Just to get that date - 2.02.2020 - Timah's daughter got to postpone the wedding reception of her daughter (Timah's granddaughter) to yesterday, Sunday, of that particular calendar date. The aqad nikah was last month !

I was invited, by sms. I took it in good spirits. What to do, this is how the youngsters behave nowadays. I pulled Idah along, although she complained of aches in her legs. As Calit later remarked "they don't even bother to wear all these songket-songket stuff nowadays." In fact the couple looked comfortable in their plain Malay costume and plain gown.

We left Seremban at 9, although the reception was scheduled for 12, because I had no idea where this "Simpol the Garden of Love" was in Rawang, and I didn't want to lose time caught in the jam looking for it "..off Taman Tun Teja, Kampong Sg. Samak" sounded mysterious and forboding. I set the Waze on and drove one-handed, holding the 'phone with my left hand from the point after the Sg. Buloh Jejantas rest area. It turned out the danged place was just after Templer Park, if I had taken the old Federal road to Ipoh. So at half-past 10 we were the very first guests to arrive, so early in fact, the groom was still in his pyjamas  and no one else was around !  One of Timah's daughters later said "uncle arrived first, must leave last !"

If this Simpol ("knot") is anywhere near Seremban, I'd recommend it to all my friends. The entry off the Taman Tun Teja, a housing estate, is so inconspicuos that I missed it the first time, and Waze asked me to turn around after another 800 meters, and the second time I saw the sign "Simpol" - just one word. Entering the very small, half-hidden dirt road, I saw a large rubbish dump, and a pot-holed track up the hill. Only when I reached the top did we see the buildings. Entering the compound, I was astonished by the venue. It's a very nice place for this lovely purpose. No wonder they call it the Garden of Love. It's hardly an exaggeration. If only we have a cooler climate, it would truly be heavenly, if I'm allowed an exaggeration. 

Apparently Timah & family wanted a smallish reception, of about 500 only. So only my family, the Yunus clan, was invited other than Timah daughter's friends. Padir, Acam, Dekma and Calit came. Karim, despite staying in Gombak, missed the turn and ended up in Rawang town, where he used to stay, before turning back. Dekma was returning from Penang.

I don't know much of Timah's daughters' families. Mahmud was a close first cousin. I felt his loss when talking about him to his son-in-law. Peah, Mahmud's younger sister is having some psychological problems. The surviving sisters, including the 2 half-sisters, I have met a long time ago, but they,too, are not in the best of health, I'm told. But Calit seemed to know Timah's sons-in-law - I noticed them chatting away like old chums.

Calit was supposed to come with me, but he had to be in KL Saturday, and he moved from Gombak on Sunday. He came with Karim. Padir came later from Antara Gapi with Umi, who came bare-headed, and I asked "where's your tudung?"

We stopped at Padir's house in Antara Gapi afterwards. I had meehun goreng and black coffee. Idah got a plant to take home and replant. I saw Umi passing some cash to Idah, and held out me hand for a share. She motioned to Padir, but he "make donno" only.

We took the Batu Caves route home, and ended, unintentionally, on the Lekas highway. I only realized it as we were passing the Taman Midah MRT station. It was already 6 p.m. and Idah wanted to stop 

for some food at Man Tomyam, on the Pantai-Jelebu road, and who did we meet there if not Dekna and brood ! I had wanted Idah to use the money Umi gave for Man Tomyam. Instead it was Haniff who picked the tab ! So that was a good 10 hours, but time well-spent, I guess.

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