Oh burung Pungguk....

Prologue

Yesterday morning (Sunday) while I was jogging near my apartment in Kerteh, I came across this creature. At first glance, I thought it was a small ugly monkey. Upon closer inspection, it looks like a burung punggok, tho I am not very sure as I always thot that normally Punggok has wide round eyes.

It didn't fly away when I went close to it to inspect. (Luckily my former PDA phone - now with only PDA functionality - has a camera. It is only a 1.3 MP camera, so it is not that clear.)

This bird ain't afraid of no human. It stares back at me when I close in on him. "Hey you, why stare stare? I may be ugly but you think you are so handsome yourself?" the bird seems to be saying to me. But it sure has very nice batik-like feathers.

Never mind, punggok or no punggok, I remember this old song - a remake by Sharifah Aini. I love this song. It is different from the normal love song - in both the melody and lyrics. Well, it still is a love song (albeit one on unrequited love), but it is more subtle and full of idioms (this time starring the owl). The backing orchestra also did a fine job with the song, for it is a difficult song to accompany - it has at least 4 different tempo (unlike normal song which normally would have two, in my amateur opinion). I can't find the lyric on the net, so I am writing it down as I remember it. I do have this song in my collection, but away in KL.

(Click here to listen to this beautiful song)

Burung Pungguk

Oh burung pungguk
Malang nasibmu
Rupamu buruk
tak siapa yang mahu

Bila malam telah tiba
Dilangit bulan bercahaya
kau berbunyi berhiba-hiba
merindukan bulan purnama
Sungguh suara mu menawan hati
kedengaran dipohon kayu
bagaikan bintang dikasihi

Tetapi wahai pungguk
Kau tak diacuhkan
Walaupun kau merajuk
Maratapi diri
Bulan hanya bagai mengatakan
Oh kasihan

Malangnya nasibmu wahai si burung pungguk
Tidak seperti burung Nuri didalam sangkar
dikasihi lelaki dan perempuan
untuk menghibur hati yang rawan

EPILOGUE

This entry was originally posted at Time in a Bottle
Monday May 28, 2007 - 09:43am (MYT)

The Perak Man and I could have shared the same Alma Mater
You all know the Perak man, right? No, not me lah. I am a Perakian, but not the Perak Man. He was prehistoric, lived 10,000 years ago in Gua Gunung Runtuh near Bukit Kepala Gajah which is right at the edge of Lenggong town. He was found buried in 1991 by Prof Dr Zuraina of USM. My point is if the Perak man is still alive, I am sure he would have gone to the same school I attended to in the 70s – SRJK (I) Lenggong. If he was born in the 60s we could have been classmates – after all he died in his 40s. Our house in Lenggong was only a few hundred meters from Bukit Kepala Gajah. We used to wonder about the hill when we were kids while walking to our mengaji place in the nearby kampung. Although we didn’t know its name then, we nicknamed it Bukit Gajah since it resembles gajah. (Little did we know it is really known as Bukit Kepala Gajah!) We reckoned then that it was the work of Sang Kelembai who ‘sumpah’ the gajah to become batu. For what reason, we do not know.

For that I would claim that that school must be the oldest school in Malaysia!
Cikgu Faridah (Std 3)

I recently went to a wedding in Taman Tun. That was the second invites I got from the host. The first time I was seated next to a UKM lecturer and while we were having our small chat, he asked me about my relationship with the host. I said, “Well, I was bride’s mother’s Std 3 student!” He was surprised, “And you all still keep in touch?”

(Hey, I am not that old you know! ;-) )

Yeah, we do. Cikgu Faridah and her husband Cikgu Hizam are family friends of my parents, and the first three of us kids were, at one time or another, taught by one of them. In my case, cikgu Faridah was my class teacher for Std 3 in SRJK (I) Lenggong in 1972. A nice teacher eventhough I didn’t do too well then because of the eye-sight problem that I have that year, so I had to move from the back of the classroom (I was the biggest boy obviously) to the front of the class, next to a girl (Sarah was her name), so my study suffered! Hahaha, joking only mah! She kept on reminding me how my study had deteriorated, but there was little I could do without glasses.
The second time we got invited to another of their daughter’s wedding, the Hariri’s family was allocated a table of our own. And just two tables away was a group of their teacher’s friends from Lenggong. And obviously their teacher friends had to be our teachers too!
Cikgu Laily (Std 2)

So that’s how I met again my Std 2 (1971) teacher Cikgu Laily. I would have to say she was perhaps one of my favourite teachers, if not the favourite teacher. I couldn’t recognize her to be honest, and I must say that I didn’t realize that how far we had gone through time. Whatever memory I had of her, that’s not how I remember her. I remember a very fair, good looking - make that pretty - teacher. I believe the feeling was mutual, in the sense in front of her at that time is not the innocent 8-year old rural town boy, but a 40-something father of two, all burnt out from life’s pressures. She is still soft spoken I must admit.

I guess it is different with Cikgu Faridah and Cikgu Hizam. We probably met every few years, so the changes are more gradual. As for Cikgu Laily, well that was the first time I saw her again after leaving Lenggong for Taiping at the end of 1972; that’s more than 35 years ago. But I have fond memories of her. I excelled under her tutelage and was untouchable then – it helped, of course, that the smartest girl in school was no longer around. (More of her later.) I really enjoyed her class and her presence as a teacher. I remember that year well, for she had given me the task of ‘memorising’ the Rukun Negara (for a competition I think) when it was first introduced (you know that…Maka kami, rakyat Malaysia berikrar….keluhuran perlembagaan…) and I guess she was confident I would win it (or at least that’s how I remember it). But I was sick when the day arrived and hence didn’t compete.

Cikgu Laily, I especially remember the subject “Berita” where we had to write a short story or news and present it to the class. At one time I wrote a story along this line; “Yesterday I saw a beggar who was all wet by the rain. He went into an old barn and light up a fire to heat up his body’” and of course complete with a drawing of someone lighting up a fire next to a cow, or something resembling someone and a cow. OK OK I am no Picasso or Latif Mohidin!

I guess it must have been so real that she had to ask me if that was a true story! I didn’t answer her; I just smiled. (Of course I made that up. I was quite imaginative then.) Oh, BTW I learned that song Senjakala in her class.
Cikgu Ainon (Std 1)

Another teacher during those years was cikgu Ainon; my Std 1 teacher of 1970. She was the only teacher who would dare caning an anak Hariri. Well it was my fault really and if bapak were to read this I am sure he would applaud Cikgu Ainon for that. Since I was a big-sized boy for my age, I would normally have to sit at the back . Back then I had a good friend, Fazidah who is the daughter of bapak’s boss at the Pejabat Tanah (the ADO), so at every opportunity I would chit-chat with her. Well, when we were in the same class, I had to play second fiddle to her – she definitely was smarter.

So during one of those rare lull periods, Cikgu Ainon would ask us to do our own reading, while she was marking the books or something along the line. I had other ideas then. So like all hyper-active Std 1 boys, I would sneak to Fazidah’s desk – hiding behind rows of tables, for another chit-chat session. I guess we were engrossed in our chats – God knows what seven year olds would talk about - that we didn’t realize that Cikgu Ainon was right behind me and all of the sudden I heard a swooshing sound and felt an excruciating pain on my back. She had hit me with a rotan! Take that for defying her order.

But I guess that didn’t devalue me in her eyes. Many a times, she would ask Fazidah and me to do the honour and ‘ring’ the bell for the break. The first time she asked us, we had difficulty finding it. By the time we found it after asking around, Cikgu Ainon had beaten us to the bell! I guess we must have taken so long a time, or may be she thought we had abandoned the search and gone to the canteen ourselves!
I had my revenge of sort (well, not really actually) in Std 3, when one day I stopped her and told her that an uncle of mine kirim salam to her. I am sure that he was just pulling my leg, thinking that I would not dare telling Cikgu Ainon, but I did! As I have said, in SRJK(I) Lenggong, I was a much different person and untouchable! Hahaha...I can't quite remember her reaction, but most likely she took it in her stride. Luckily for me, she didn't marry him. If she did, then he would not have been my uncle! (For he was an uncle by marriage. He is also the most talented artist that I had ever met - he used to paint the murals on the Taiping Zoo entrance arch. But like many talented people, he died young - at 36 in 1982; one of the three saddest years of my life in the 80s, all on a trot.)

Unfortunately like the abode of the Perak man, the school is in ruin. Like many rural schools, it was built using timber, so it didn’t last that long. It’s a pity. The building is no longer in use and the school has been relocated to another site. I was told recently by an ex-classmate, who took the trouble to look for me through Ansara KB, that many of us are doing quite well. We have a couple of engineers (ehem ehem), a doctor, a couple of professors, many teachers, many businessmen/women etc in our midst. Quite an achievement for a school in a town quite remote, where in the 60s you would have to pass by a couple of army posts to get to town. Communist insurgency was not the only problem then, it was so remote that when one night we had a car breakdown in the middle of nowhere on our return to Lenggong (from Taiping), bapak told us to wind up all the windows while he went out to check on the engine. It was pitch black outside. Mr Rimau was the problem in the 70s!

The view of the main entrance of the school. One could see the padang where we had our scout jamboree in 1972 and all the sport activities. The blue building in the background is the Balai Raya where it used to host my kindergarten class. The hibiscus flower in the middle the building is still there. It was at this Padang that we watched our first public screening of a cowboy-red indian movie. We didnt buy any drink or food there as we were warned about possible 'santau'. Despite that, we had our fun in the moonlight!
Then again, I am not surprised by my exclassmates’ achievement. The Lenggong Valley is the prehistoric capital of Malaysia and we were right in the middle of it. There must be a reason why our prehistoric ancestors chose Lenggong Valley for their abode. I am sure it rubbed off to us kids during those days.
Of course we had a strong foundation set by our teachers then. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Sungai Mekong

Circa 1979-1980:

I do enjoy a bit of poetry, though I guess most likely it was after the disaster with the self-learning guitar lessons. By then, I had memorized this poem by Latif Mohidin (for no apparent reason actually). I love the elegiac wordings of this poem (kan kuhanyutkan hatiku ke kalimu, namaku ke muara, suaraku ke gunung etc etc). To me, Latiff Mohidin is a charismatic, multi-talented person, as beyond being a well-known poet, he’s also an accomplished artist, writer and thinker. Unfortunately he is not in the mainstream entertainment business, or else he would be a popular as M.Nasir. Well, that's our loss actually!

I remember too that one day our BM teacher, Cikgu Nik Man, asked us to write our own poetry. Huh, me writing poems? He must be joking, right? What do we know about writing poems? So I contemplated plagiarizing - against my better judgment, this poem by Latif Mohideen. But luckily I consulted our in-house poet Zai, who advised me against it (‘It’s too well known”, he said). That was his way of saying I should not do it.

I don’t remember what I came up with. I am sure it was no masterpiece, but at least it was original. But this Sungai Mekong poem will always be in my heart. I have traversed the Saigon River from Saigon to Vung Tau many times (even when there were few foreigners around in the mid-90s), but Sungai Mekong has eluded me so far in my travel.

Sungai Mekong

Sungai Mekong

kupilih namamu

kerana aku begitu sepi

kan kubenamkan dadaku

ke dasarmu

kaki kananku ke bulan

kaki kiriku ke matari

kan kuhanyutkan hatiku

ke kalimu

namaku ke muara

suaraku ke gunung

Sungai Mekong

nafasmu begitu tenang

lenggangmu begitu lapang

di tebingmu

ada ibu bersuara sayu

mencari suara puteranya yang hilang

waktu ia merebahkan wajahnya

ke wajahmu

kau masih bisa senyum senang

Sungai Mekong

akhirilah tarisiang riakmu

kulihat di dasarmu

kuntum-kuntum berdarah

batu-batu luka

malam ini

ribut dari utara akan tiba

tebingmu akan pecah

airmu akan merah

dan arusmu akan lebih keras

dari Niagara

(Latif Mohidin - Vientianne 1 Feb 1966)

Yahoo.360.com Archive - Part 1

Wan Empuk dan Wan Malini dari Bukit Siguntang– Are they for real?

No lah, bukan bekas gefren2 saya la, ex-schoolmates pun bukan, tho classmate dulu ada lah sorang nama wan. Tapi tu Wan Amizah. Dua-dua Nek Wan ni sebenarnya asalnya dari Bukit Siguntang and hidup lebih 700 tahun dulu, too long before my time lah. Dulu masa kecik-kecik, I used to read the story of Wan Empuk and Wan Malini, possibly from a manuscript of Sejarah Melayu; ntahla, tak ingat sangat. Masa tu mana ada Doraemon, Dooms pun takder to be keep me occupied. Internet lagi la jangan harap. So Wan Empuk ngan Wan Malini lah yang buat budak ni dok rumah.

Pada malam itu, dipandang oleh Wan Empuk dan Wan Malini dari rumah mereka, di Bukit Siguntang bernyala-nyala seperti api. Maka kata Wan Empuk,”Cahaya apa gerangan bernyala-nyala itu? Takut pula beta melihat dia.” Maka kata Wan Malini, “Jangan kita ingar-ingar; kalau-kalau gemala naga besar gerangan itu.” (Kisah Raja-raja Melayu Singapura, Agus Salim, Edisi Kedua, 2004)

Hehehe, asyik dengan gerangan je! Yalah, bahasa dulu-dulu, kan brother?

Kalau ikut citer Tun Sri Lanang, padi huma yang ditanam oleh Wan Malini dan Wan Empuk ni tiba-tiba berbuah emas, berdaun perak dan batangnya dari tembaga suasa, bila tiga mamat dari India datang ke Bukit Si Guntang. Tiga mamat ni bukan sebarang mamat. Depa ni anak-anak Raja Suran (Maharaja Hindi; anak dia dengan Permaisuri Mahtabul Bahari dari Amdan Negara, yang kononnya generasi ke tiga belas dari Iskandar Zulkarnain dengan bini India dia (bollywood lah tu!), Puteri Shahrul Bariah), datang ke Bukit Siguntang naik Lembu Putih (sure berkilat punya la brother).

• Sang Nila Pahlawan - kawin Wan Empuk. Nila Pahlawan became ruler of the Minagkabau lands in Sumatra Barat

• Krishna Pendita - kawin Wan Malini, ruled Tanjung Pura in Sumatra Utara

• Nila Utama – kawin Wan Sendari, became ruler of Palembang, dapat anak Sang Nila Utama

Ha, si Parameswara yang kemudiannya dikenali sebagai Megat Iskandar Shah, tu keturunan Nila Utama la. Anak Nila Utama, Sang Nila Utama tu yang bukak Temasek/Singapore and memerintah dari 1299 ke 1347. Bukan Sir Stamford Raffles, dik oooi. Engko belajar kat mana tu, nak? Dari depa ni lah salasilah keturunan raja-raja melayu ni datang, notably kesultanan Melaka, and kesultanan Perak.

Tapi teman heran jugak, apase kena putera2 Hindi tu nak mai Bukit Siguntang? I guess masa dulu, we looked up to India, yalah masa tu I guess orang2 ugama Hindu kan and tamaddun depa besar. Tapi takder ke pemuda-pemuda hencem dari Ampang ke yang pegi ke Bukit Siguntang ngorat Wan Empuk ngan Wan Malini yang keturunan mereka nanti akan memerintah dari masyrik ke magrib kepulauan Melayu ni? Yalah kut-kut Panjang anak Bulat yang mai naik sampan dari Kukup sampai Palembang ikut Sungai Musi. (Waduh-waduh, nggak glamer pak Rahman, harus dari Bollywood ini! Tapi kalau Shah Rukh Khan datang, baru ngetop.) Habih la the two ladies got swept off their feet. Ni macam budak-budak pompuan sekarang, baru mamat Bangla datang dah terbeliak bijik mata! Hahaha, nothing against the MatBanglas la brother. Saja suka-suka nak ngutuk je.

Palembang in the old days

Teman dah pegi Palembang banyak kali – in fact my first ever trip to Indonesia was to Palembang. Tak der la apa nak citer sangat Palembang ni. Sungai Musi ni memang besar lah, bukan macam sungai Kelang yang macam longkang tu, tapi the town proper is a bit non-descript (maaf lah Pak Irvan (Airlangga), saya suka juga pergi ke kilang bapak di Plaju, tapi nggak ada sebarang untuk saya liburan di Palembang). I tried venturing out on foot to see if there were old museums or palaces or what-ever remnant of them. Habuk pun tak der. I can’t see anything to say that this was the place where the old Raja-raja Melayu originates. Betui ke ni Tun Sri Lanang apa yang engko citer ni? Padi huma kat Bukit Siguntang pun orang tak tanam. As one writer (Nisah Haron Online) from Negeri Sembilan puts it, “mungkin kita sudah terlalu dikhayalkan dengan kisah-kisah Wan Empuk dan Wan Malini dan keturunan Raja-raja Melayu yang kononnya berasal dari sini.” Atau kita sebenarnya asyik dilagukan oleh Si Oh Fatimah, (lagu A Ramli) yang juga berasal dari Palembang jugak (Oh Fatimah, gadis Palembang, pinggangnya ramping, leher jinjang…). Hmmm, may be that was the description of Wan Empuk and Wan Malini, sampai 3 putera raja ni tak balik2 dah ke India.

Palembang from the air with the Ampera Bridge and the Sungai Musi dominating the view. I used to walk along the riverbank with my then boss Weimin, a Chinese American. We came across a market; so Weimin asked me to buy him a papaya since I can speak the local language hence I can esaily bargain. So I approached the old lady selling papaya, "Bu, berapa ya betik ini?" I asked her. "200 rupiah, nak," she replied. (it was 20 Malaysian cents) I looked at Wemin, telling him that under no circumstances I will bargain with the old lady. In fact I gave her extra. Life was difficult there.

Ntah ler. Saya bukan sejarahwan, ahli arkeologi pun tak. Dulu masa F1 ada ler berangan nk jadi ahli arkeologi, tapi masa F5, tak nampak pun kursus arkeologi untuk pegi luar negeri, so kensel la. Hahaha, tapi to be honest I am not too worried if our sultans were from Palembang, unlike Nisah Haron. If so, so be it. Kalau tak pun, sowwhat? Kalau dulu depa boleh bangunkan Empayar Sri Wijaya, then they must have done something right. I am more concerns about the claims that they were descendent of Raja Suran, and that Raja Suran were descendent of Alexander the great and his Indian wife! Ni kena study lagi. First, sapa Raja Suran ni? Wujud ke dalam sejarah India? Tak famous pun, must be an obscure Raja. Babur ke Jahangir ke, tau lah jugak teman; Shah Jahan ngan Akbar tu tak tau saja la. Lagipun, the kurun in question, India diperintah oleh Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526) dah citer Nek Wan kiter ni around that time frame la, so India dah Islam dah masa tu. Tapi setau kiter bila Parameswara masuk Islam baru orang melayu masuk Islam!

Lagi satu, empayar Iskandar Zulkarnain memang lah sampai ke Punjab, but from my quick search only two names were mentioned as his wife; Roxana and a daughter of Darius III, the Persian king he defeated. Then again, he spent 5 continous years on the Indian campaign. Kalau dia amik bini Bollywood pun sapa heran, ni maharaja segala maharaja.

May be ler macam ni ler the Sultans in those days justified their existence and impose their wills on the Malays. “Beta keturunan Raja Suran, cucu cicit Iskandar Zulkarnain”, nama yang disebut dalam Quran and keturunan Nabi Sulaiman Alaihissalam! Phuh, sure kecut perut orang-orang Melayu masa tu. Kalau teman pun sure main ikut je ler, macamaner nak dispute? Tak berani teman, silap-silap kena pancung, tak pun kena sula. ISA memang la tak der masa tu. But how would Tun Sri Lanang know that masa dia tulis Sejarah Melayu pada tahun 1614? Setahun je pulak tu. Even in the era of internet, I doubt it if anyone can write a book, or even complete his research for PhD on this topic in one year. Tapi TSL boleh. Cuma dia tak kena viva je. Dah ler tu, typewriter pun tak der, inikan pulak computer. Ish ish, prolific sungguh, ni macam sapa tu, syed husin alatas?

Tapi cuba fikir, in 1614, he has an understanding of Raja Suran and Iskandar Zulkarnain, tokoh-tokoh penting dalam sejarah dunia purba. Not bad, eh? Internet takder, Wikipedia hmmm…jauh sekali.

I would love to think that Sejarah Melayu is a real historical manuscript and not just an epic fiction, based on historical facts. Nonetheless, even if the story of Wan Empuk and Wan Malini is not true, it sure is a classical epic of the days gone by. A story of how our ancestors lead their lives in the olden days – at the very least we have one that could rival Ramayana and Iliad and Odyssey.

Tapi tak kisah la brother. It makes no difference to me anyway either way. Jom lah kiter enjoy nilai-nilai cerita dan sejarah dalam sejarah Melayu. I mean anak-anak kiter la, but if you have not read them yourself, do yourself a favour and visit a DBP bookstore. It has to read to be enjoyed. Anak-anak kita belum cukup dikhayalkan dengan Wan Empuk dan Wan Malini! Just ask them if they knew these names at all. I am sure the response would be a shrug.

Epilogue

This piece is published in conjunction with the Sultan of Perak’s 79^th birthday tho a day late. Supposedly the Perak Sultanate is genealogically linked to the story above. The current Sultan Perak is perhaps the only Sultan I admire having been the Lord President (now Chief Justice) and the fact that his children are very well educated. The way he ascended the Perak throne is nothing but a series of improbable events that left me wondering if he was indeed from the above lineage. I had thought that not in a million years he would be the Sultan of Perak, but he did, and I am glad he did. The above piece is not meant to belittle the institution, especially him.

Tags: folklore

Friday April 20, 2007 - 11:19am (SGT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments

The Search for Bapak Maryoso

I will be rewriting the article on bapak below (possibly in Bahasa Indoensia) so that it can be used as a flyer that will distributed at Kantor Pendidikan Pekalongan at the end of this month. To be honest, beyond the grainy picture above, I don't have much to go on. I do have faith though that I can pull this off, with your help. The details are fading fast, beyond the fact that he was adored by many.

If you have any info (stories, pictures, ancedotes, encounter), be it personal or in a group, please do let me know (any story and info on Bp Mappa and Muljadi is also appreciated). You can leave a note here in the commentary section or if you prefer, you can email me personally at dynsim_technology@yahoo.com. All assistance, and info, are much appreciated.

Tags: maryoso, pekalongan

Tuesday April 17, 2007 - 09:08am (SGT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments

Bapak & My Three Other Bapaks

Bapak died in 1984, when I was in 3^rd year at Monash, and my youngest sister, at 8 months, still in the craddle. I was watching the LA Olympic marathon on the telly while he was struggling with his life at Taiping DH. I didn’t know anything about it till late that night, only after Rainey (now Dr) managed to track me to the basement of the Engineering Library to relay the message that came through Sydney (that basement was filled with archives of journals dating back to the 1800s, so it was pretty quiet and it was my favourite place to disappear from everybody aka study). I took the next flight out the next day but it was too late by then for me to pay my last respect for him.

When I got married, I found it awkward to call my father-in-law, bapak. I always thought that I have only one bapak and he died long before I got married. So the thought of calling someone else bapak, it seems to me at that time, preposterous and blasphemous to his memory. But the difficulty was that everybody including my wife would call him bapak too, so I dont have any choice I guess.

But I didn’t realize how wrong I was. Actually I did have 3 other bapaks in the 70s. We would always call them bapak, and to be honest, then I had no hesitancy to call them bapak, eventhough my real bapak was very well alive.

I guess in the 70s we had shortage of trained teachers especially in the field of science and math and the government of the day knew that in order to progress, we need to put emphasis on education, so trained teachers from the US (the American Peace Corp) and Indonesia were brought in to help educate Malaysian childrens in science and mathematics in our schools. A Indonesian friend and a client, one Ricky Riswandi from Pertamina in Dumai Sumatra lamented to me one day (in the mid 90s) how in the 70s Indonesia were ahead than Malaysia in economics development and that the reverse was true by the 90s. That in part was due to the three bapaks!

The teachers in 1978(??). I remember many of them fondly, but since this blog is about the bapaks, I won't mentioned the others here individually. (Pic courtesy of Shema)

One bapak was my homeroom ‘P’ advisor, Bapak Muljadi, a Javanese for sure and no, he was not the singer of the song Rindu (Rindu, mengapa rindu hatiku, tiada tertahan, kau tinggalkan aku seorang…that’s Mus Muljadi). Of course initially we were calling him Mul-jadi instead of Mulyadi, not knowing the old spelling of bahasa Indonesia. He was the one who give the name Perintis to the homeroom when the word was not that well known. He can be a serious guy, this bapak Muljadi, but a very smart math wizard with multiples math workbooks to his name. He would hold math class for us, his homeroomates. He would also check on us at prep at night, and at one time, if my memory serves me right would tell those kuaci eaters (Razin??) at prep to pick up (kuteep, kuteep…..) every single kulit kuaci on the floor! No one dares to play the fool with bapak Muljadi.

And ohh, he used to try and motivate us by comparing us with Jenny; may be because he can see that she was more dilligent than many of us. He was getting into the spirit of the NEP, eh? Thanks Bapak for the many motivational talks.

Another bapak was Bapak Mappangara, who hails from Sulawesi, taught science while we were in F3 and later on taught Physics at F4. Man, he was on hell of a teacher. He definitely worked harder than us and I am glad we did very well in SRP for his sake.

For sure, everybody remembers his Hari Raya open house with all the Indonesian dishes and that tasty kicap manis! Bless you bapak for feeding us all that day. I don’t know how you and Ibu did it, I am sure you didn’t cater for that open house. I don’t know if I can handle over a 100 hungry students so used to the tasteless nasik kawah, and would devour the delicious (Indonesian) home cook as if the Dewan Makan had been closed for 2 days (sorry ladies, am referring to the guys here).

This picture, thanks to the KB76 ladies, gives me my lasting impression of Bapak Mappa. He was such a nice person beyond being a dedicated teacher (most of my teachers were). One can't help but notice how happy they were at this lebaran open house. (Pic courtesy of La)

Both bapaks were with us till we left maktab after SPM’80. But Bapak Maryoso left us for home in 1977, and home in his case is Pekalongan in Jawa Tengah. How we all wish then that he would continue teaching us, and I believe he gave us his reasons for returning home and I guess that reasons would have eluded me at this moment. But beyond that how I wish I had kept his Pekalongan address until this day.

While I don’t remember the details, to be honest, but the farewell dinner that was held in his honour is something that will live in my mind. Tears were freely flowing that night. I was reminded by Shema recently how many cried (she did, and so too Matraman) especially when the PRamlee’s song Dimanakan Ku Cari Ganti was aired. I would readily admit that I too cried that night. I believe he was the gentlest of teachers for us to feel so strongly that night. He probably was one teacher who didn't know the meaning of the word angry or upset.

This is the only picture I have of bapak Maryoso and even this one was found floating in the internet. I ma really fond of him though I don't remember any detail beyond the farewell dinner. One may notice the many (American) Peace Corps in this pictures. I also have no recollection of his physical presence. Shema mentioned in an email that she thought he was of bigger built, and that he resembles the keroncong singing bapaks of Indonesia. What a description of bapak, but to be honest, I have no reason to doubt their singing abilities. Come to think of it, you may be right about the size! (Pic courtesy of Kb73 site)

I have traversed Pulau Jawa quite a bit while on business in the past 15 years and on two occasions I passed by Pekalongan, a town very well known in Indonesia for its batik. At that point, I looked out the train’s window and wished that I have Bapak Maryoso’s address. I definitely would have visited him. A Javanese friend Tjipto told me a few times to write to the newspaper so that he can be traced, but that was years ago and I have not gotten around to doing it.

Pekalongan and batik Pekalongan. Click on the map for a clearer view of the location of Pekalongan.

Last night my brother offered to contact his teacher friends in Java to locate bapak. May be I should be contacting my own teachers here in Malaysia if anyone knew his whereabout. In fact if anyone knows the whereabout of my three bapaks, please let me know. I would love to meet up with them again.

Unfortunately I don’t have any picture taken with them. Cameras were hard to come by in those days. And whenever one was available, normally we would always take pictures just amongst us, and non-living buildings, rather than with our teachers. Well, that was the selfish side of us then, not realizing that our teachers are an important part of our treasured past!

Tags: bapak, mappa, maryoso, muljadi, teacher

Friday April 13, 2007 - 09:35am (SGT) Permanent Link | 6 Comments

From Peasants to International Traders?

Prologue

I remember writing an article as an assignment by Cikgu Nik Man while we were in Pasteur 4. It is titled “Faktor-faktor Kemunduran Orang-orang Melayu”. In this paper I had included a climatic factor as a reason for the above topic. I guess this was the first paper I did that was properly researched and carefully referenced, complete with bibliography. I found that during the Malacca Sultanate, the Malays were not merely peasants, but were traders themselves. I asked for it back after it was marked by him but unfortunately the paper was lost.

I did a paper on the ethics of the affirmative actions in my MBA's Ethics class in 2004, not knowing of what else to write obviously. (Another topic that I was interested in my younger days was the Malay psyche - why the Malays really love to enjoy ourselves. Just look at the fiesta, and jomheboh concerts etc etc. and how many articles I have on music and songs!)

This paper written by the former rector of Institut Teknologi Bandung (the most prestigious of all of Indonesians tertiary education and I am sure ITB has no plan to change its name to Universitas Teknologi Bandung which would surely be done if it were in Malaysia) caught my attention years ago. I read this paper more than 12 years ago and the paper is still kept in my files after all these years. I thought I had said something similar twenty five years ago, but Prof Alisjahbana went one step further in noting that in a simulated environment of high-rise air-conditioned office that we have now, people everywhere are the same and nothing should stop the tropic people from being the global men. That, I believe differentiates between a real professor and a pretender!

Affirmative Action for Indonesia? – Prof Iskandar Alisjahbana, former Rector of ITB (1995, Asia Inc)

I USED TO WONDER why our part of the world was less developed than temperate climes. Finally I realized that it's because the Malay Archipelago is peopled by tropical men whose behavior is dictated by environment. The Europeans and Chinese had to fight for survival, but here the climate is fantastic. Nobody has to 'save for 'next winter; there's all the food you want.

Tropical men couldn't compete when Chinese immigrant arrived. They were self selectedfew – people of imagination, spirit and diligence – who had the courage to leave their villages. During the colonial period, the Dutch used the Chinese to divide and exploit Indonesians. Chinese got the promotions and development opportunities because they were more clever and as they became richer, our hatred of them grew.

When independence came in 1949, the government vowed to end discrimination, but change comes slowly. After a decade of sovereignty, roughly half the final year students at the Bandung Institute of Technology were Chinese. So it was not surprising when on May 10, 1963, a riot swept the campus. Chinese were beaten and their motorcycles burned.

At that time, every student wanted to fight for the nation; nobody ever said he wanted to become rich. But the way to prevent another riot was to make the indigenous Indonesians as rich as Chinese Indonesians. Indonesian’s tropical men had to become capitalists.

Because American universities are good at creating leaders, I searched there until I found a company that gave achievement motivation training to black businessmen so they could compete with whites. I liked the bidea, so with financial backing from the chief executive officer of an Indonesian bank, I hired them to help me start similar training here.

I wanted to the ITB from a place that turned out degree conscious intellectuals into an institution that produced capitalists who could create employment and make others rich.

When I became dean of the university I tried to get the other departments involved, but the oppositions was intense. Javanese think it’s rude to talk about money.

Today the ITB students who benefited from economic motivational training wnad who took calculated risk are rich. Minister Transmigration Siswono Yudosodo was one of the student leaders during the riots. Former ITB students Fadel Mohammad manufactures much of Indonesia’s airport facilities. Dedy Panigoro own hotels and is president of his own oil company.

I feel that Indonesia needs a US-style affirmative action program. This is the kind of positive discrimination Malaysia initiated with its New Economic Policy. When Mahathir Mohamad published The Malay Dilemma, he was criticized, but he knew some racial discrimination would necessary to level the playing field. Chinese already owned Singapore. If things continued apace they’d own Malaysia, too. The government subsidies upset Chinese, but if it hadn’t increased the Malay share of corporate wealth, there would have been riots.

There’s no difference in human stimulation anymore between Munich winter and a Jakarta summer. Inside an insulated high-rise office building, people are all the same. With the right training and proper motivation, the tropical man of today can be the global man of tomorrow.

Tags: malay, affirmativeactions, indonesia, alisjahbana, itb

Saturday April 7, 2007 - 10:44pm (SGT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments

So you want to do a PhD?

While I was working in Houston some years back, I have a good friend by the name of Dr Saby Sen. He had just joined the Houston office when I were there. Saby and I got along just fine. Funny guy this Dr Sen – when he introduced himself for the first time, he mentioned that he has a sister by the name of Sushmita (Sen and I am sure you Bollywood fans would know her well). I knew he was pulling my leg, but I went along with it.

So last year when he emailed me after losing contact for nearly 7 years, I jokingly asked him about his sister Sushmita. He replied, “Rahman, I have a confession. Sushmita isn’t really my sister.” He must have thought that I had fallen for his joke. I didn’t actually. Of course I knew all along he didn’t have her as his sister (at least not the Sushmita we all knew) eventhough they share the same surname. Otherwise I would have asked him to introduce me to her! On the same breathe, someone in the Houston office asked me if I am related to (the late) Rafiq Hariri, then the Lebanese Prime Minister. My response was simple, “If I am related to him, chances are that I may not be working for this company and we may not have this conversation!” Hah, someway to strike a conversation with your new colleagues, right? Of course I enjoyed my tenure at Hyprotech and I thought it was one of the best run small company in the world, but you know me and my convoluted way of answering a simple question!

The sister that never was for Saby (Left) and the relative that never was for me (right). On second thought, just may be that Dad has slight resemblance to Rafik Hariri, if only in size. But then again, most likely not. We don't have any blood from the Middle East at all. May be a little bit Indian (the bulk from Pagar Ruyung & Aceh - in fact I believe the Indian blood came from the Aceh side), but definitely not from Middle Eastern for our family.There is a better chance that I am related to Sushmita than to Rafik Hariri!

Actually that was not the reason why I wrote this piece. One day I asked him,”Saby, do you think I can do a PhD?” His response was straight forward. “Rahman, anyone can do PhD, if they are willing to take poverty!” He went on telling me what he went through while doing his PhD.

I smiled while listening intently to his story. I know what he was talking about. In the US there is no PTPTN or MARA and is not easy to get government scholarship (you can get loans tho). You would probably need to supplement your income by teaching or tutoring. You can forget the luxury of life while you are doing your PhD.

Matjepun has been pushing me to do my PhD. "You should," he told me, "it is easy and I am sure in 2 years you will have the title in front of your name." “Give me half an hour of your time, I will explain all that you need to do to get your PhD,” he added, while we were both seeping teh tarik at the cafe in Bank Negara. I am sure it is nice to have that title in front of my name. Dr Rahman Hariri..hmmm, there is a nice ring to it. It would surely be nice to see that on my credit card, right? Then again, may be not. I can’t afford poverty. In which case, I will not have a credit card to begin with! I might as well settle for the title Pak Guru from my clients and students from Pertamina! That is good enough I guess.

So recently I had a chat with my partner-cum-advisor-cum-friend, Peter. This guy has two masters degree – in Math and in Chemical Engineering, and and he used to teach at Institute Of Gas Technology in Chicago and currently like me, semi-retired, and he is old enough to be like a father figure. Being American, of course he is biased towards the American PhD compared to say British. But he has his points. If I were to consider doing it, I am more inclined to the American system, to be honest. I have read the book So You Want to get a PH.D. by Dr Kamarul Zaman Ahmad. (The book is not convincing to be honest. For a book written by a PhD graduate (a UM lecturer at that) for prospective PhD students, it is not scientific and based too much on hearsay.)

But in any case, he did explain the difference between UK PhD and US PhD, noting that UK PhD is more unstructured. In the US there are several taught subjects and students have to sit for exams for those subjects. Anyway, I think more highly of the US PhD and I think it is more suitable for me and is the way to go for Malaysians thinking of doing PhD.

Anyway back to getting PhD - what does it take to get one? Peter categorized them in three different types:

1. PhD in History, Literature, social sciences etc – you need perseverance. Keep pounding on it, write a book and you should be getting your PhD. In the US you have 7 years to complete, and if you are taking PhD in these areas, you will get your PhD.
2. PhD in Engineering – what I am targeting. Now this one is very dependent on your professor. If he can get you the funds to buy the equipment that will enable you to measure and get all the data you need for your research, then you should be ok. If not, it will be a long wait.
3. PhD in Mathematics – this is the most difficult. You may have an inspiration and you may be able to solve the theorem in a flash and in 6 months you should get your PhD. But you may be staring at it, and pound at it for for 6 years and have nothing to show for it.

He quoted an example. I think most of us know how to solve for the roots for quadratic equation, right? Do I hear someone groaning somewhere? Hahaha, I don’t blame you for feeling that way. In any case the roots for a second order polynomials (ax² + bx + c = 0), solving for x, one would get

Simple stuff for F3 and may be F4 for sure. This is old stuff. This solution was known by the people of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt circa 2160-1700 BC.

The same goes for cubic equation – the polynomials of the 3^rd order (ax³ +bx² + Cx + d = 0). One can find the solution to this albeit it is more convoluted, but definitely doable. But it is too lengthy for this blog. Visit this site to know more.

My point is, mathematicians have found the roots up to the polynomial of the 4^th order (quartic equation). However, scholars including PHD students had been working hard at solving for the roots for the 5^th order polynomials, the quintic equation. Afterall, if there are roots from second to fourth order polynomials, surely it was a matter of time before someone break the code for the quintic, right? Well, for 350 years they tried and if we were one of the PhD students hoping to solve it for our PhD, well, bad luck my friends.

Quintic equation can’t be solved algebraically. It took Abel’s Impossibility Theorem (1826) ( and also by Galois independently) to prove that it can’t be solved and I guess one can be awarded a PhD for proving wrong what was thought for 350 years to be solvable! But for the rest of us mere mortals, well, you have just 'wasted' 7 years of your life!

Ah well, I don't have 350 years to get this title. I Think I will settle for the simple En Rahman/Pakcik Man/Abgman. Or better still just call me Rahman.

Tags: phd, polynomials, sushmita

Tuesday March 27, 2007 - 10:02pm (SGT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments