The day I was a Pembawa Tombak

In my lifetime, I have seen a few royal burials.

And I was personally involved in one!

Seeing the last telecast of the burial of the Yang diPertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, I am reminded of the many royal burials that I have seen - mainly on telly, I must say. Sultan Perak's (almarhum Sultan Idris) burial in 1983 if I am not mistaken was live one that I saw; I was back for the holiday and living in Bukit Chandan, in the royal town Kuala Kangsar, I could not escape it.

The royal burial of the Yang DiPertuan Agong (almarhum Sultan Salahuddin), quite recently; I remember watching it on the tele, though I could not remember (without surfing) the exact year.

But of course the special one would be the royal burial of an incumbent Yang diPertuan Agong, Sultan Yahya Petra, the Sultan of Kelantan in 1979; it is something this blogger was personally involved.

I remember that night, the principal (MRSM KB) came to our dorm and asked us to assemble around 20 of us to be part of the Pembawa Tombak Jajahan who would accompany the hearse from Balai Besar in Kota Bharu to the royal mouseleum in Lundang(??), and this blogger carried the Tombak Jajahan Pasir Putih.

We were asked to wear light coloured baju melayu for the occasion.

The blogger with the tom-tom-bak! He is 3rd from the left and other MRSM friends behind him. The front two in the pics are soldiers from the PPH Pengkalan Chepa - our neighbour, I think. Li, maso ni aku lebih tinggi dari mu, hehehe...jadik aku dok kat depan sekali, depan mu.

I remember queueing and the march to the mouseleum. We thought we would have to follow the footstep march of the army personnel carrying the hearse and of course it was ackward for us for we were not trained. Later on, one officer told us to march 'normally'.

Certainly I don't remember how far was the march, but I thought it was a good few kilometres, and of course it was televised live on TV. I am sure I was in it, but of course I didn't get to see myself on telly!

As part of the official entourage, we were allowed quite close to the grave actually, if my memory serves me right.

Looking at the royal burial of the head of Negeri Sembilan, I could not help but wonder how we could be involved in the royal burial of an incumbent Yang DiPertuan Agong in 1979 (31 March to be exact). To me it was an honour, and as a schoolboy to be part of the royal hearse is something I would remember for the rest of my life.

Of course, I must say the next 40 days was difficult as it was official mourning period for Kelantan. No music at all; quite painfully for us teens then, and mind you, we don't have the private radio stations then as alternative.

At the end of the mourning period, we were all invited to a majlis tahlil at the Balai Besar and were treated to sumptuous dinner. I remember meeting and shaking hands with the then MB who conveyed the royal thanks to us.

Moga Allah mencucuri rahmatNya keatas ruh almarhum Tuanku Jaafar dan almarhum Sultan Yahya Petra, dan seluruh muslimin. Amin.