You know, while overseeing Arif assembles his new ARF radio-controlled aircraft, I was also watching another-one-more-anugerah-so-that-everybody-will-at-least-get-one award ceremony on TV3 last night. Not that I care much about it or who won or lose in this far-too-many awards for our tiny-dead-and-boring entertainment industry (hey, our new movies are lousy and our new songs suck, big time!), but a tribute to P Ramlee – with Ramlah Ram and co. singing his song “Inang Baru” which won him the best song in a film at an Asian Film Festival in the 50s, caught my attention when Ogy mentioned his name "Tan Sri P Ramlee".
I brought this up in the NST in 1990 in a letter to the editor, which was published but was of course edited out, so the message was lost. P Ramlee was awarded an AMN in his lifetime and posthumously awarded the title Tan Sri by our Yang Di Pertuan Agong (the current Sultan Perak) in 1990. Yes, I was pleased; he deserves it. But I will ask the same question again 16 years on – why couldn’t the power-that-be confer him the title Tun?
I don’t think I am exaggerating if I were to say that we Malaysians live and breathe on his films, and songs. Where would we be if not for him? My siblings and I cycled to our nenek's house on the other side of Aulong every Friday night, so that we could watch his movies in the 70s - I think I told you we had no TV then. We laugh at his antics in Ali Baba, Labu Labi, and Bujang Lapok, we cry with him in many of his movies. To us, he was Amran, the trishaw man (Penarik Beca), Hassan the orphan (Anakku Sazali) and Kassim Selamat, the saxophone player (Ibu Mertuaku) and we can relate with their characters and predicaments. Our hearts are tinged with sadness whenever we listen to “Dimanakan ku cari ganti” or “Dendang Perantau” and the many hundreds of his songs.
My kids are all hooked on with his movies – three generations apart. Which kid does not, anyway? My North American friends were asking me last week if I could get them the movies on DVD – when I took them to Saloma’s Bistro at Jalan Ampang for dinner.
Now tell me, how many politicians, and businessmen carry the title Tan Sri? Can we said in the same breath that these people - with due respect to them, that they are P Ramlee’s equals (in whatever field that they are/were in)? Or if they have done more that what P Ramlee has done to the common folks of Malaysia? One veteran singer I like has a Tan Sri title. Great, rightly so too, but again, is he anywhere in the league of P Ramlee?
I wonder if Malaysians, young or old, know anything about the other Tan Sris that we have? From Wikipedia, I am told that there can be 325 living Tan Sris and only 25 living Tuns at any one time. (For some reasons, I believe we have more.) 325 living Tan Sris? How many living and dead Tan Sris do we have and tell me how many are up there with P Ramlee in our nation 50-year history?
Don’t get me wrong. Whatever the reasons a Tan Sri is given to anyone, it is not for me to question it - at least not in this blog. (That my friends, deserves another full fledge treatment on its own.) But P Ramlee deserves the highest honour our small nation can give to her most treasured and illustrious son.
We mention his name at every award we organize. Many singer would do a cover version of P Ramlee’s songs at one time or another. Some singers, like Sheila Majid, would even do a full tribute. But I think that’s not good enough.
Yes, he is in the people’s hearts, but as a nation, we need to show that he is above the many politicians and businessmen with Tan Sris that we have. He should be Tun P Ramlee. Period!
By the way, Rita (Rudaini), I do have a moustache. In fact I will do one better – I have a moustache and a goatie!
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