Family Affair

Ram and I had just returned from Kerteh when I received a call from mum in Johore Bahru. She asked me when I plan to come down to JB as she wanted to call a meeting of the family. (I am the Chairman of the family association, by default of course, being the eldest sibling!!). So it was, that Ram and I decided to go down to JB by bus. It is better than having to drive for 4 to 5 hours on the highway, more so after having just driven from Kerteh to Petaling Jaya, a journey that also took about 5 hours.

Meanwhile, I received an eMail from a distant cyber acquaintance, a family living halfway around the globe and whose night time is my daylight hours. This friend enquired if I know of a long lost friend of theirs who happened to come from the same hometown as mine, Johore Bahru. I know this family well, the mother especially, as she was a very active politician, an activist, an educationist, and a well known figure at that time. Everyone called her Ibu Zain. My mum sat with her in various committees, political as well as social organizations. That was how I came to know of Ibu Zain. I was a small boy then, barely into my teens and often followed my mum or dad to their political functions and dos. I used to wonder at how eloquent the activists of the time were, how fiery their speeches were, my mum and dad too, how hard they worked towards gaining independence for the country, from the ‘clutches’ of the foreign powers, from the British and their divide and rule supremacy specifically.

The coincidental eMail I received from my distant friend sets my memories racing back to the 50’s and 60’s. It has been a long time. But the memories linger on and I imagined the possibilities of my writing a part of history from my own perspective. My mum and dad were also activists, heavily involved in politics of the time, and perhaps had in some way influenced the way I look at life now. I mentioned this to mum when I was with her and she was delighted. She was happy to note that someone from the other side of the globe had shown much interest in our country. She was delighted that I have given thought to putting on paper the happenings of those difficult years, not that it has not been written already, but that it is going to be written from our family perspective. I hope and pray I can live up to her expectations. You can see her face brightening up when we talked of those bygone years, years that have left an indelible mark in her life, and certainly mine too.

The enthusiasm mum and I and some other siblings of mine, especially the older ones, have on our family association is borne out of the experiences we went through over the difficult years I mentioned above. Thus, it was not difficult to get our family members to agree on some of the things we propose to do for the association. The meeting that mum requested went as planned and most committee members showed high commitments to the activities of our association. That makes my job as chairman very much easier. Now it is to convince the general members of our association on the decisions that the committee had taken at the recent meeting and I do not envisage any problem in getting all round agreement. We propagate changes for the association and we look for ways to improve, as delegated by the general membership to the main committee, and it is the aim of the committee members to deliver. Some strategies have been worked out to achieve this and it is my fervent hope to bring our association to a higher level, in the way of the Almighty and also recognized by society. A lot of work needs to be done but I am sure they will lead to the association achieving its objectives and set targets. We seek, as always, guidance from the Almighty and the strength and perseverance to pursue these aims. For His blessing we pray………..

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya