Hidup Seorang ABAH... Part 1

Aku copy paste kan dari facebook Zaahirah Mohammad. Nice one!




As I’ve posted an entry about mak yesterday, I think it will only be fair if I write about abah too :p alamak, where to start??

Okay, abah is from Kuala Berang, Terengganu. mak comes from a well off family tokwan on mak’s side was a Nazir sekolah(who planned and opened so many school in Tanah melayu), he was a respected man, educated , can speak good English etc. however, abah came from a very small, remote village in Terengganu(near Kenyir lake) and toki was a carpenter . life at that time was not easy as to’ki couldn’t afford to send some of his daughters to school. They were so poor that during hari Raya the only new clothes they had was their school uniform, so abah and his siblings wore school uniforms as their baju raya huhu..

Abah and his brothers were lucky because they had a chance to further their studies in boarding schools. Their friends who stayed in the village did not do well, most of them doing odd jobs or become security guards etc.. abah went to STAR Ipoh, Pakde went to Sekolah Jenan in Kedah and Pak Him went to MRSM Kuala Terengganu .

In high school, abah was a prefect but die penah kantoi hisap rokok atas bumbung ekekekeke... abah told me every month to’ki sent him RM15 only, some months to’ki didn’t send money at all.. I remember 1 story , abah was helping his teacher to paint a wall@mural (cant remember exactly, but he was painting) and then his naughty friends splashed the paint on his school uniform( bdk2 laki kan nakal huhu) and abah cried because he had no money to buy a new uniform.. his teacher knew that abah came from a very poor family, so he bought him a new shirt ..

Abah was in STAR for 5 years 1974- 1978, but he only went back to celebrate Hari Raya 2@ 3 times only.. first the journey to go back to Terengganu was long and it was quite expensive..imagine , being in Malaysia but unable to celebrate Hari Raya with his family.. now I find another reason of being in Malaysia and unable to celebrate hari Raya- if you are a doctor and u r oncall on Hari Raya uwaaa!!!

eventhough abah came from a poor family, all abah’s siblings did well in their studies.. toki (eventhough poor) was a respected man in the village.. if im not mistaken, toki was the UMNO founder in the village.. but in 1999 to’ki voted PAS hahaha (alamak lari topic sudahh)..

Abah did well in his SPM that he got an offer to do his A-levels in UK.. oh I forgot to mention about abah’s mother – tok.. I have never met her as she passed away before I was born. But I heard that abah was the apple of her eyes. Abah slept on her arms til abah was in standard 6. and when abah got an offer to UK, she cried . first because she was happy, second because UK was so far far far away and third because she was worried abah would end up marrying a minah saleh ;p abah was the first person to go oversea to further his studies in the whole village, and everyone was so proud of him.. all his family members tried their best to send him off to the airport.

Abah rarely told us his story about tok. all the stories I know are from my aunties. At the airport, tok asked him to give her RM 10. at that time, abah only had rm 50 in his wallet ..kesian kan? Imagine to go to a new place with RM50 only.. abah was in dilemma, he wanted to give tok the rm10 but if he didn’t have enough money to survive in London then how? So he promised her that he would send her money once JPA gave him the allowance..

He went to UK with a broken heart because he couldn’t give tok the rm10. In UK once he got his scholarship( I think around 188 pound a month) he immediately sent money to Tok. Tok was illiterate so pakde, mak cik and pak him would be the one who will be writing letters to abah.. their only mean of communication was through letters. everytime he sent them letters, they would replied saying that everyone back home was well, all the normal stuffs etc.

Then, tok’s health deteriorated. Up until now, I don’t really know tok’s exact illness.. some said colon cancer, some said diabetes mellitus.. but tok passed away in December 1979, WITHOUT ABAH KNOWING IT. They sent letters to each other as usual.. when asked why they kept it a secret, they told me they didn’t tell abah because abah was sitting for his A-level exams, they didn’t want him to be sad and worried. So abah didn’t know about tok’s passing til 6 months later when he came back for his summer holidays.

Abah missed his family and country so so much but due to financial contstraint he only managed to go back after 2 years in UK. His family in Terengganu didn’t pick him up in KL, only his cousin in KL (she’s now a Matron in Hospital Klang) went to fetch him. Abah tumpang tido for 1 night I think. In his sleep, he dreamt of tok, and he said ‘mak mak mak’. His cousin( mak ndah) couldn’t help but felt pity and ended up crying as abah still didn’t know about tok’s passing huhu the next day he went back to Terengganu, he was so eager to meet his family members..

Everyone waited for him, except his beloved mother. He was quite frustrated. Then he asked ‘ mak mana?’ to which no one answered. He thought maybe tok went to kebun or something but it’s impossible, tok knew he was coming back.. then he asked again, still no answer. The third time he asked, his youngest brother ( at that time pak him was around 11 years old ) answered ‘mak takdok’ . ‘mak pi mana?? ‘ then pak him answered ‘ mak dah meninggal’

Imagine his frustration and sadness, even typing this entry brought tears to my eyes.. imagine your mother was gone forever for 6 months already, and you just knew it? Well that’s abah’s story.. he was so angry to his family members that he went and locked up himself in his room. Thank God he brought back so many chocolates from UK , chocolate2 tuhla die makan bila lapar ms tgh merajuk dlm bilik. You see, other villagers in abah’s kampong are technically our relatives, so many of them came and tried to talk to him.. finally abah came out from the room and he went to his mother’s grave. He was devastated..No more hands to kiss, no more person that u can call ‘mak’.. she was gone, forever ..


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