Sunday 30 August 2020.
I'm 19 days late, posting this piece. Too many things came, these 2-3 weeks. No golf today, so here I am.
When I told Tok Sleman I was going to Nyalas (which is what it says on the map, and what I've heard pronounced before) he corrected me and said "Nyaleh". He's right.
Although Nyaleh is in Melaka, it's on the NS border, just next to Air Kuning, in the Gemas sub-district. So Nyalehans speak Negri and practice Adat Perpateh. Ulu Jasin also does this.
Burkhan is very proud of his Minangkabau roots, and he has photos of his visits, with Nyaleh family members, to Pagar Ruyong family members. There were pictures of return visits. Everybody seemed to enjoy the gatherings depicted.
Burkhan is also very proud of his current farming roots here in his birthplace, Nyaleh. And of his goats in his high pen, complete with plastic artesian drinking spouts, and oil-palm frond feeding hangers down below. A visit to the goats is always part of the tour. But this time there was no calls of "Hamdan, Hamdan !". There was a "Hamzah!" though. I know. I called out, and one looked up from eating. I thought the hair looked similiar.
Burkhan turned his back to a very senior position in the Ministry of Trade, to find his apparently final worldly retreat here in Nyaleh. On Tuesday August 11, using "waze", driving in my old jalopy, finding Burkhan's place was easy. Except for the final turn into the sanctury along the easily missed little side road. Halim & son were already in Burkhan's peaceful looking bungalow. I can get used to this hideout. That's what it is. The comfortable house in the shades of the rubber and oil palm, far from the hustle-and-bustle of town and traffic, breathing the clean air, drinking unchlorinated ground water, and being one's own boss. Burkhan seems content.
Burkhan is also very proud of his efforts at his "talian hayat" (his words), the tahfiz complex on his estate, A beautifully architectured school, a hostel, kitchen and a fish pond on a hill dominate the scenery. More work is in obvious progress. Burkhan's penchant for artesian wells is displayed again here. That's how the fish pond is located on the hill, and the ablution has powerful water taps. He said donations finance his tahfiz, and are welcome. But I think there is more to it. That he has "wakafed" part of his 25-acre estate to the religious undertaking is an amazing fact. He has not, in my mind, turned his back to the world. He has embraced his world to life here on earth and to what he can physically do for something worthwhile in the eyes of his Islamic belief, in this case the spread of the knowledge of the holy book, the Quran.
The fantastic thing is, this current tahfiz school on the hill, is not the only one he has done. There is another large piece of land further inside the estate that Burkhan has wakafed to an organization to build a tahfiz school. Unfortunately, that walled area has to date not been developed by the trustees. Burkhan said he has done his part and doesn't want to know how it's handled further. A remarkable act of piety.
I had suggested that Burkhan contact Tan Sri Rashid Hussin of the RHB fame. He said he knows him, but wouldn't personally approach him. I wonder if anyone of the OP's can do that. Rashid Husin built the beautiful Husin mosque in Seremban 2, and also the incredible 100-million Sri Sendayan mosque. He wouldn't mind chipping in a couple of millions here in Nyaleh, I think.
Burkhan and lovely wife gave us a fantastic Minangkabau / asam pedas Melaka lunch with jeruk limau and fried brasil sprouts and local and imported fruit. I'm a sparing eater, but Hank, Halim & son had second helpings. After lunch all of us bought a few bottles of fresh VCO's. Burkhan gave us a discount, of course.
Recently Burkhan uploaded a picture of a truckload of freshly collected coconuts. Hank said we should go back to Nyaleh in September to replenish our stock of VCO. I agreed.
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