Thursday, May 29, 2008

29th May 1988


Today is my 20th wedding anniversary. At first I wanted to write something about my life with my beloved husband but I decided I wouldn't be able to do it justice. I will just mess it up. So I decided to put up this song which is our favorite love song.

Abang, thank you for being there for me always. You are my dearest love, my best friend, and companion. There is no one on earth who understands me like you do. Not one single person. I love you with all my heart and soul.

Happy Anniversary, Abang.


Monday, May 26, 2008

My Sweet L.A.


“I have terminal cervical cancer. The doctor said it’s already in Stage 5.”

I was trying very hard not to let her hear me on the other side of the line. I was already sobbing. But my friend sounded so strong. She was trying to be brave.

I met her about a year ago. A petit, sweet natured Kadazan lady. I immediately liked her. We talked on that first day over lunch like two old friends. We came from the same East Malaysian state so I guess being far from home made us feel a kind of belonging with each other. She told me she had found a new faith, and it won’t be long until she takes the big step. We parted promising to keep in touch.

A few months after that she SMSed me, “Assalammualaikum, my sister. Saya selamat diislamkan on 30.7.07….”

We contacted each other on and off. The last time she called, she said she’s coming over to my house and she has very good news for me. She had found a nice man and they got married. I was so happy for her. When she came to my house she was already wearing a tudung.

I still can’t believe it. No. I do. But it’s really difficult when it’s someone you know so dearly. She has gone through so much, when her ex-husband left her and took her three children. She moved to Semenanjung to get away from the heartache and she found Allah. Actually she found Allah long ago when she decided that a prophet is not a God. Every time she prayed, she told me, she was praying to the One God. And Allah heard her.

Ya Allah, please keep her safe and give her strength.
Dear readers, please also pray for my friend.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Adi

Entri ini dibuat setelah membaca entri pada blog Prof Kamil tentang ‘Anak yang kita kasihi’. Saya serta-merta teringat Adi.

Bukan, ini bukan cerita anak saya lagi walaupun nama timangannya sama. Adi yang satu ini ialah bekas pelajar saya, sekitar lewat 90an dulu. Dia batch terawal di dalam program Pengurusan Perniagaan.

Adi macam biskut, sekejap ada sekejap tiada. Saya pernah mencarinya.
“Siapa kenal Adi? Kalau kamu berjumpa dengan dia suruh dia datang berjumpa dengan saya!” Adi tak pernah muncul.

Sekali sekala saya nampak dia di Mahkota Parade, bukan melepak atau shopping. Dia bekerja. Saya hairan,” Adi ni mahu belajarkah mahu bekerja?”

Beberapa tahun berlalu. Adi sepatutnya sudah 'graduate'.

Suatu hari di pejabat fakulti saya nampak seorang pakcik tua datang berjumpa dengan penolong pengarah. Setelah pakcik itu beredar saya tanya kerani, ‘Apa urusan pakcik itu?” (Anda kenalah faham, saya ini ada sikit busy body kadang-kadang. Lagipun air muka pakcik itu kelihatan sedih. Saya curious.)

“Dia dapat surat dari kita. Dia terkejut apabila dapat tahu anaknya digantung sekolah. Dia datang jauh dari Perak.“

“Siapa nama pelajar kita itu?” Kerani menyebut nama penuh Adi.

“Eh, itu bekas pelajar saya . Saya baru terserempak dengannya di Tesco beberapa bulan lepas. Kenapa dia tak beritahu ayahnya?”

Aduh. Beginilah kisah yang sering kita dengar. Anak tidak minat belajar. Ibubapa tidak tahu khabar sebenar anaknya di negeri orang. Agaknya Adi tidak sampai hati memberitahu ayahnya.

Adi masih bekerja di Melaka. Sekarang dia bekerja di Jusco Ayer Keroh. Dia kenal saya. Saya selalu menegurnya, bertanya khabar.

“Ayah apa khabar? Tak balik raya?” Saya sebenarnya kesian dengan Adi. Dia rajin bekerja. Dia tidak kisah bekerja kuat. Cuma dia tidak mahu belajar.

Dan rupanya Adi sudah berumahtangga. Hari tu saya nampak dia dan isteri menolak kereta sorong bayi. Saya hanya melihat dari jauh, Adi dan keluarga kecilnya. Saya doakan Adi bahagia dengan kehidupan yang dia pilih.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Anak

Friday, May 9, 2008

Hong Teck Soon

Rumah sewa kami yang pertama di Melaka ialah di Taman Bukit Beruang, berjiran dengan ramai keluarga berbangsa Cina. Di rumah sebelah ada seorang budak lelaki bernama Hong Teck Soon. Peristiwa ini terjadi beberapa bulan setelah kami berpindah ke sana. Anak sulong saya baru dalam darjah satu pada masa itu.

Dari sebelah tembok kedengaran suara budak lelaki Cina itu, “Juwaidi makan ta**!” Beberapa hari perkara ini berlanjutan.

“Ma, budak sebelah cakap tak eloklah pada Abang.”

Saya kata jangan balas dengan kata-kata serupa sebaliknya balas dengan kata-kata baik-baik.


“Juwaidi gila! Juwaidi makan ta**!” Pekat telo Cina budak itu.

“Hong Teck Soon makan aiskrim! Hong Teck Soon makan pizza!” Juwaidi membalas dari sebelah sini.

Senyap.

Beberapa minggu kemudian.

“Assalammualaikum, Juwaidi!”

“Waalaikummussalam, Hong Teck Soon!”


Don’t ask me. I don’t know what happened.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Hikmah

Saya lambat mengambil anak perempuan saya di sekolah petang tadi. Saya lupa dia ada perjumpaan kelab setiap Isnin.

Saya lewat lebih satu jam setengah. Sampai di sekolah tinggal Oci dan Zeri sahaja. Zeri memang selalu tumpang kereta saya. Rumahnya di taman yang sama. Di tepi jalan dekat pondok jaga seorang kanak-kanak lelaki sedang menangis. Bersamanya seorang budak perempuan, kecil dan comel. Mereka dari sekolah agama yang menumpang sekolah menengah itu pada waktu petang. Mereka sudah menunggu hampir 45 minit.

“Dek, kenapa dia menangis?”

“Ayah dia belum datang lagi!”

Aduh! Saya memang tak tahan melihat anak-anak kecil menangis begitu. Sayu hati saya. Saya suruh budak perempuan itu menelefon ibunya dengan handphone saya. Saya kata saya akan tunggu sampai ayahnya datang.

“Mak! Ayah tak datang ambil kita lagi! ... Ada, ada orang tunggu.”

Sambil duduk menunggu saya berbual-bual kosong dengan mereka, cuba menghiburkan hati. Saya kira kalau ayah mereka tak dapat datang sanggup sahaja saya menghantar mereka balik ke rumah di Kolej Yayasan Saad (yup, I interviewed them. You know me, Makcik Kepoh Si Mesra Alam!).

Mereka berdua baru dalam darjah dua. Kembar kah, tanya saya. Bukan, jawab yang perempuan. Dia mula bercerita … rahsia ya!

“Ayah kita selalu lambat!” Si Mustakim yang menangis tadi mula mengomel. Dia mengesat air hidungnya dengan lengan baju. Luruh lagi hati saya …

“Ayah bukan lupa tu. Mungkin boss dia tak bagi keluar. Tak kanlah dia lupa kan?” Saya menggoreng cerita. Tidak mahu pula ada gambaran di otaknya yang ayahnya sering lupa mengambil mereka. Trauma kang budak-budak ni.

“Ha’ah,” jawab Si Liyana. “Kalau ayah boleh keluar sudah tentu dia dah datang ambil, kan?” Dia bersetuju dengan saya dan cuba memberi penjelasan logikal kelewatan ayahnya. Sangat murni hati kanak-kanak kan? Saya tidak berani membayangkan sekiranya ….

Baru saja saya hendak berpesan, lain kali bawa duit lebih untuk telefon, sebuah kereta datang menjemput. Saya lega. Saya fikir sudah diaturNya saya lambat. Kalau tidak mereka berdua yang keluar kelas satu jam lebih lewat daripada anak saya sudah pasti kering menunggu hampa sehingga maghrib. Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah.

Surat daripada Cikgu

E-mail ini diterima daripada bekas guru Bahasa Inggeris kami di MRSM Kuantan.

>>
I am sending this letter to several of the press. The home ministry and the ministry of women, family and community. Could you send one to the kuatagh group and anywhere else u think would bring some meaning. I heard Azli has a forum. Please let me know. Thanks.

Letter to the Editor/Relevant Authorities

On the night of 29 April, my dear sister was brutally murdered in her bedroom; she had sustained head injuries, her internal organs severely ruptured. What would the last moments have been for her before she died? Did she expect the blow to come from someone she trusted and took into the safety of her own home? How she must have put up a fight, worrying for our aged mother, blissfully unaware of the gruesome murder taking place in the next room .My sister was found the next day sprawling in a pool of blood . She was 62 and lived with my mother, 84 years of age and an Indonesian maid. There was no sign of forced entry. The Indonesian maid had disappeared, leaving her bloodstained clothes behind. From the evidence, according to police, the maid is the prime suspect.

How can I describe the essence that was my sister Habnah? The newspaper reports only describe her as a victim, maybe just another one of many that we read about so often in the papers over tea or coffee, or while waiting to catch the bus. That victim, my sister was so much more. She was generous as she was kind. It took her sudden death for us to realize how much she gave of herself, to each member of our very large, close knit family and especially to my aged mother-making sure she took her daily supplements, reminding her of her meals, her rest, managing the repairs of the house, groceries, my mother’s daily meals, finances, medical health, as well as the 1001 things that a loving and dutiful daughter does every day for a much beloved mother. How could this have happened?

Could it be possible that a person we had let into our home to take care of two elderly women was the perpetrator of this heinous crime? My late sister was always careful to lock all doors and windows as precautions for security. But what precautions can one take when the criminal is locked in? We had engaged the maid from an authorized agency, had complied with all the procedures, made the requisite payments. Do we not have a right to expect that the maids we employ had at least been vetted to ensure that we are not letting into our homes psychotic, deranged persons who commit unspeakable acts of violence? Much fuss is made when foreign maids are allegedly abused or ill treated by employers, and Indonesian and Malaysian authorities are quick to jump in to render protection and justice. But what justice is rendered to my late sister? What protection is afforded to employers and their charges against the wrath of psychotic, deranged or violent foreign maids? I have been told that the chances of apprehending the prime suspect-the Indonesian maid is extremely slim, because of the ease with which she is able to slip out of the country undetected. What is even more fearful is that she could slip back into the country still undetected to take employment in another unsuspecting household, under another name. Such is possible because of the serious lack of mechanisms of proper identification of foreign maids. There is not even a thumbprint, and sometimes not even a signature nor even a surname for proper identification. Are background checks conducted to ensure the foreign maids we bring in have no criminal records or mental history? What procedures are in place to ensure there is no recurrence of this tragedy? The answer is- there are none.

I cannot bring my sister back to life, and nothing will alleviate the pain, grief and shock of losing a beloved sister in such cruel circumstances. But I write this even as I grieve, in the hope that no one would have to go through what my family members and I are going through. I know there are many households in Malaysia where foreign maids are left to take charge of vulnerable and defenseless persons – the elderly and incapacitated as well as young children. There is a critical and urgent need to address all the weaknesses and deficiencies in our existing system relating to the employment of foreign maids. Procedures and mechanisms of proper identification, stringent vetting of backgrounds, a tracking mechanism to ensure blacklisted foreign maids are denied entry will ensure a much needed measure of protection to employers and their charges. This is especially crucial in the case of foreign maids, because unlike other categories of foreign workers, they are brought to live into our homes and therein lies our vulnerability. My sister would not have suffered such an unspeakable fate had there been such procedures in place.

So who should bear responsibility for her cruel death? The ‘prime suspect’ who wielded the death blows or the authorities for their lackadaisical attitude in perpetuating a ‘system’ that gives scant if any protection to employers by allowing such ‘persons’ to take employment in our households ? It is too late to save my sister, but not for other vulnerable households. I implore all Malaysians to join me in appealing to the relevant authorities, particularly Immigration, and the Home Ministry to take urgent action to protect our households. Let us not delay any further for inaction or apathy on our parts may cost the loss of another beloved life or lives.

In conclusion let me ask a chilling question? How sure are you that the new foreign maid you are bringing into your home is not the abovementioned ‘prime suspect’ or someone like her? Sleep on it -- that is, if you can.


Rahmah Sahamid

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Hari Pekerja

Lebih kurang jam 11 pagi di Lebuh Ayer Keroh kawasan Ayer Keroh Heights. Popular nau Bandar Melaka ni...

Pekerja Nepal lawan bola tampar. Mesti perlawanan akhir Liga Nepal ni. Ramai penonton datang. Saya ambil gambar dari dalam kereta sahaja. Takut mereka lari bertempiaran fikir saya pegawai imigresen datang cek pas.

Hmm...rasa nak makan kek coklat. Resepi cemplung-cemplungan saja ni.

Wala!


Nak tengok mangga gergasi?

Happy Labour Day!