Mother 1 - The Early Days

This is an attempt to relate what I can recall of the early days and the happenings in the lives of my parents, Hj Ismail bin Md Yassin and Hjh Kalthum binti Ali. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the facts I put through but from memory recall its the best I can do. I stand corrected if any of my readers would care to straighten the facts. These thoughts will be posted here in installments, and as and when feasible.

Hjh Kalthum binti Ali was the eldest child of my maternal grandparents Ali bin Hj Budin and Dara binti Yaakob.  She has thirteen siblings one of whom, the third child, passed away in infancy and another, the fourth child, while studying at University Malaya, located in Singapore at that time. I met all, although memories of some of them are just vague, except the one who died in infancy. Eight of my Mother's younger brothers and sisters are still alive now.

Mother grew up in Muar and attended a religious school that was close to the house she stayed in. She, and a few of her younger siblings (I think there were three of them then) were looked after by her paternal Uncle, Hj Abdul Rahim bin Budin, the eldest brother of Ali bin Hj Budin. Grandpa Ali, the seventh of eight siblings, was then working in Pagoh and only came back to Muar occassionally.  When Grandpa got himself transferred to Muar, he built a house on a piece of land that he bought within the Muar township. Mother stayed in this house and continued her schooling in the religious school and then went on to become a religious teacher. I do not know whether she had any teaching training but a teacher she became.

Father, meanwhile attended Muar High School, an English school, and also the same religious school that Mother attended. That was where they knew each other. He went to work in the police depot in Johore Bahru in the early years of 1940s, possibily in 1940 itself, as a non-uniformed staff and later, presumably after he had saved enough money, married Mother. Mother, to be close to Father after they got married, got herself transferred to another religious school in Johore Bahru, continuing as a teacher and later went on to become the headmistress of the school.

1940's was when Malaya (it was not Malaysia yet then) was under Japanese occupation, in the midst of the 2nd world war. I was told that times were hard then. There were not enough food, freedom of movements were curtailed, and the Japanese were tyranical slave masters. One of my uncles, Father's younger brother, Abdul Jalil, died at the hands of the Japanese when he was in his late teens. I came along in the midst of the Japanese occupation. I was initially left in the care of my grandparents in Muar until I was about two years old when Mother brought me along with her to Johore Bahru. When she goes to teach in school I was left with a neighbour who babysits me and a little later my sister as well. A couple of years later Father was given a Government staff quarters to live in and by then Mother managed to arrange for a live-in maid to look after us little kids! Several years later we moved into another quarters which was much bigger and just as well, since the family had grown bigger. All my ten siblings were born between these two Government quarters.

As a result of the war, and the running of the country, first by the Japanese and later the British, coupled with insurgency of the communists and anti-British movements, times continued to be hard. You all would have read these in history books in school, and if not books on them are available in the library. Food were rationed, especially rice and each family had to keep food ration cards, There were curfew hours and there were restricted residents areas. All these had incited the locals to fight for their rights of freedom. They moved towards obtaining self rule and independence from the British which was obtained after much effort from all locals irrespective of race and religion. I grew up in this era. The era of activists, strong political inclinations, to the right or to the left, and my parents were deep into the thick of things. They fought, together with other activists of the time, the formation of the Malayan Union, a British attempt at further dividing the people and ruling them!!, They continued to be active through the years after that in politics.

As a small boy, from pre-school and through primary school, I often followed my Father and Mother or one of them at a time, to their political meetings and gatherings. I used to listen to the speeches, some fiery, some hard-hitting the British (and I think the pro-British locals as well!!) and some thought provoking on the future of the nation. I used to bring along my school work and home work with me when I followed them. I knew almost all the political leaders of the time and listened to their speeches, their ideas, ideals and what they fought for. Coupled with what I saw in terms of various developments, the happenings around us, the transformation of the country into an independent state, formed the basis of my own political thinking and ideals. My Father and Mother were my role models then. They showed me the way, I may not agree totally with them then, but they showed me the way, and I took it all to be what I am today, physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually. May Allah bless them for all their sacrifices, and for giving their hands guiding us, their children, to be who we are today. May Allah be pleased.....

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Petaling Jaya