Rosli Dhoby & Sibu

'Panggilan Mu yang Suchi'

Wahai Pemuda harapan bangsa,
Segeralah bangun membuat-kan jasa,
Kebangunan mu menyedar kan Melayu bangsa,
Ka-haluan kemajuan Aman Sentosa,
Wahai pemuda ber-chita suchi,
Kenal-kan Sarawak Negara kita yang Asli,
Meskipun bagai-mana anchaman akan terjadi,
Hendak lah sa-hidup sa-mati,
Mengibar-kan bendera menggambar kan hati,
Menunjok-kan rupa bangsa dan Negri,
Mengenal-kan hak di-tanahayer sendiri,
Wahai pemuda yang ber-semangat kan gelisah,
Insap-lah pada perjuangan bangsa,
Lambat bangat di-takdzir Allah,
Bangsa dan tanahayer tetap Merdeka.

Oleh : Lidros (Rosli Dhoby) Utusan Sarawak 28 Februari 1949

Who is Rosli Dhoby?

No, he's not the pioneer entrepreneur of laundry shops (aka Kedai Dobi). Neither photo above is the 'jambu boy' who alleged he has been sodomized by a prominent politician.

In fact, Rosli Dhoby (1932-March 2, 1950) was a Malay Melanau Sarawakian nationalist from Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia during the British crown colony era in that state.

He was a member leader of the Rukun 13 organization, a secret cell organization which carried out assassinations of British colonial officers in Sarawak - Damn, that's cool!

Rosli Dhobi was the one responsible for the assassination of Sir Duncan George Stewart, the 2nd governor of colonial Sarawak in 1949 using a poisoned dagger (badik) - He was a teacher & just turned 17 years old at that time!

The price paid for his fight for the freedom of his beloved country? Rosli Dhoby was hanged to death at Kuching Central Prison on 2nd March 1950 & his body was buried in an unmarked grave.

Only after Sarawak gained independence & joined Malaysia in 1963 a tombstone was put on his grave.

In 1996, his remains (& 3 other heroes) were re-interred in Sarawak's Heroes Mausoleum near Sibu Town Mosque, his hometown & were given State Funeral - However, according to some accounts, Rosli's remains were mysteriously nowhere to be found.

His former tombstone in Kuching is now on display at Sarawak Islamic Museum.

Today, don't you think we are still ruled by the next-gen of British dogs?... It's now up to the Sibu people to decide & live up the fight of Rosli Dhoby this weekend.

12.11.1946 - 18.03.2010 (Part 3)

Ma, how are you in the next life?

Ma, how does it feel over there? How are you doing?

Ma, your body is lying alone in your tomb. Are you feeling lonely as much as we do?

Ma, I'm confident that you're doing just fine.

Ma, I'm having faith & pray that

1. your good deeds when you're alive
   
2. your sacrifices giving birth to us & raised us
3. your sacrifices helping Abah feeds us
4. your generosity towards the orphans
5. your generosity towards people less fortunate than us
6. your gesture to honor all guests
   
7. your sacrifices in taking care of grandma
8. your teaching for half of your age

will be rewarded accordingly by Allah & will accompany, widen & light up your tomb.

Furthermore, we will never stop providing you with our prayers so that your tomb is one of the gardens of Eden... Ameen.

Ma, did I tell you that when we were lowering your body down to your tomb - we were blessed with beautiful sprinkle from heaven?

12.11.1946 - 18.03.2010 (Part 2)

Ma, today is the 3rd day.

Ma, the 1st night was the hardest. I could barely slept.

Ma, I knew this moment would come. I just didn't expect it was so soon.

Ma, no matter how much we love you, God loves you more. At least I'm relieved with that.

Ma, we're still grieving on your departure. Not that we can't accept it but only because we're missing you so much.

Ma, I think I understand why Abah refused my offer to accompany him sleeping - 'coz sometimes we need to cry our heart out thus need a moment alone.

Ma, Allah is truly The Greatest. Out of 63 years of your life He only took 3 months of your health. And out of the 3 months, He only took you less than 1 month from home due to hospitalization. And He only took 1 week of your strength.

And finally Ma, He took your life away in a very calm & peaceful second. Though I'm a bit regret that I wasn't there, at least I'm relieved to hear that from Abah. And everything follows run unbelievably smooth...

12.11.1946 - 18.03.2010

Career Advice

A long time ago,
In a company far, far away:

One peaceful morning in a Manager's office:

Boss: "Amir, an unmarried guy like you should come to office latest by 7.45am, go back home at 7.00pm & continue to do some works at home. It's not like you have anything else important to do..."

Me: (Smiling, nodding & thinking: WTF?)

One afternoon, I come to the Manager's office only to find he's sleeping & snoring...

The Night of Power

In the name of God, the Benevolent, the Merciful.
1 Lo! We revealed it on the Night of Predestination.
2 Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Night of Power is!
3 The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.
4 The angels and the Spirit descend therein, by the permission of their Lord, with all decrees.
5 (The night is) Peace until the rising of the dawn.

A night between last night to 30th night of Ramadhan, lies a special night for Muslims which is the Laylat al-Qadr - the Night of Power or Night of Decree or Night of Measures. It is a night when all good deeds will be rewarded with more than 1000 months of the same deed performed continuously.

What interesting is Malays have their 'special' (read: superstitious) signs to hunt for Laylat al-Qadr. As far as I can remember these are some of the list:

1. Trees will bend down as they 'sujud'.

2. Water in wells & rivers will be frozen. Of course we're talking about here in Malaysia OK.

3. Light up as many oil lamp as we can, to guide the Angels of prosperity to our house.

And the most extreme sign of all:

4. Laylat al-Qadr will 'henshin'(lit: transform) in the form of a bearded old man with with white robe & turban. If we accidentally stumble upon him, we must not hesitate to hug him & ask anything. Then all our wishes will be granted. WTF...

That's all I can remember. Maybe there's more of them.

Luckily nowadays, people are more educated & these khurafat things are no longer heard (Oppsss... I didn't mean to revive them btw!). People are now really hunting for Laylat al-Qadr in the right way.

To all Laylat al-Qadr Hunters, I hereby wish:

"Good Hunting!"

Bercakap Dengan Jin

I'm sure many of us have read or at least heard about Bercakap Dengan Jin (Talking to Djinn) series (later compiled onto serial novels) by Tamar Jalis. The novels were extremely popular in the 80s to the extend that it were sold more than 1 million copies.

The series were first published in the magazine Variasari, a popular mystery magazine just like Mastika today. In fact it was a huge phenomenon at that time causing dozens of other mystery novels with various titles & authors followed it's style.

I personally owed to the novels as at that time I was started learning to read and Bercakap Dengan Jin was my favourite novel.

The story followed the author's true supernatural experience (with some exagerations as he claimed) with his grandfather, a bomoh (spiritual healer) centered around Perak but also travelled to most of peninsular Malaysia and even to Sumatera in solving other people's out-of-this-world problems. I have to admit that his story was one of the reason I attracted to Perak, the state where I currently reside & work.

The author's experience & story revolved around normal traditional Malay's belief such as marriage with bunian (elf maybe?), keeping ghosts (hantu raya, toyol etc) as aid, crying graveyard, santau (voodoo-like magic), pontianak (vampires), keeping supernatural tigers as pets and so on... even the bigfoots!

Adding excitement & higher sense of realism to the stories was the author's detailed but natural writing style & his reference with hystorical events.

And currently in my parents house I can't resist to take a peek at my collection of the novels...

I wonder to do some Jejak Bercakap Dengan Jin, the location of the stories of course not the experiences... Kusss semangat...

Pak Abu's Song

When I was around 7-8 yrs old, 1 of my cousin sang this song (anybody heard it before?):

Di suatu petang yg sepi... pipipi
Pak Abu jual topi
Topinya koyak... yakyakyak
Pak Abu jual tempoyak
Tempoyaknya basi... sisisi
Pak Abu jual nasi
Nasinya mentah... tahtahtah
Pak Abu jual getah
Getahnya putus... tustustus
Pak Abu terus mampus!

When I asked him why Pak Abu mampus (died), he replied that is becoz all of Pak Abu's businesses failed. We then laughed out loud...


However this morning, the song popped out in my head when I woke up.

And in the shower I was thinking:

Did Pak Abu committed suicide?
If yes then he must be a real loser & a man with zero hope...

or

Did Pak Abu died of heart attack due to excessive stress?
If yes then he must had a very unhealthy lifestyle...

Either way,

I concluded that this is a BAD song that can corrupt the minds of our youngsters (& even us) to think negative on entrepreniurship & business and kill our creativities & dreams.

Raja Kamarul Bahrin, A Revisit

Tomorrow is 4th March - public holiday in Terengganu Darul Iman as it is the Anniversary of Coronation of Sultan of Terengganu.

Speaking about the Royalties of Terengganu is quite impossible not to remember how Raja Bahrin (a royalty from Terengganu) 'smuggled' his kids from Australia in 1992 after he divorced his Australian wife, Jacqueline Pascarl. Actually I didn't like the word 'smuggle' since he did it to protect the kids' faith - Jacqueline murtad after the divorce. At that time he did not reveal to the press how he struggled bringing them by boat from Australia to Indonesia and later to Malaysia, claiming only that it was "the will of Allah".

It's heart-touching how Raja Bahrin raised his kids without poisoning their mind to hate their mother & 14 yrs later allowed them to seek her in Australia.

However at the same period of time, Jacqueline demonized Raja Bahrin (Australian press dubbed him 'The Snatcher'), interesting enough American press said that she did for the sake of popularizing her books.

By the way, Raja Bahrin is now a well known architect & his kids (Shahirah & Iddin) has grown well... Too well, bcoz Shahirah is heavenly pretty... to the extent that she visited her mother in 2006 partly because she (Shahirah) was under stress.

The reasons for her stress?
1) She had an accident &
2) One of her univ lecturer tried to seduce her...

If I know who that motherf**king lecturer is, I'm gonna fry his ass!

Bottomline: I just pray for their happiness...

Note: salute to ktemoc.blogspot.com