pakdoktergolfblog: More on pakdokter's mother and father.....

Last year, pakdokter had posted short write-ups on pakdokter's mother as well as on pakdokter's father in conjunction with the 'Mother's Day' and the Father's Day' respectively. Being the youngest son ( the 10th from 11 siblings) and having lost both parents quite young in pakdokter's life, pakdokter actually knew quite little about them.

The recent Hari Raya gatherings provided pakdokter the opportunity to meet up with some of the elder siblings and a chance to enquire some facts about pakdokter's parents.

Pakdokter's mother was the youngest child, coming from a family in the Bukit Merah/Gunung Semanggol district of Northern Perak. Pakdokter is not quite sure how many siblings she had. Her mother died during childbirth, and her step-mother treated her badly that her aunt had to adopt her to be spared from the ill treatment. This was the aunt that pakdokter remembers living with us in Petaling Jaya when pakdokter was small and who pakdokter addressed as "Nek" ( grandma).

Pakdokter's maternal grand-father was of the Banjar clan, a community originating from ?Banjarmasin in Indonesian Borneo and pakdokter's maternal grand-mother was of Thai origin, coming from the district of Pattani in Southern Thailand.

"Nek" had one son who worked as an aircraft technician at the Singapore airport. "Nek" lived in the kampung with pakdokter's eldest sister until pakdokter's mother brought her down to live with the family in Petaling Jaya as she became older and started to suffer 'senile dementia'. She shared the bedroom with pakdokter and an elder brother, and although pakdokter could not remember much of that time, pakdokter was told that "Nek" was quite a difficult person to look after in her old age. She was always asking to be sent to her own son in Singapore and finally pakdokter's parents consented to her wish and drove her to be with his son in Singapore where she died quite soon after that.

Pakdokter's mother died of Breast Cancer when pakdokter was in Form 2 at a boarding school in Ipoh.

pakdokter's mother, Jamiah Ali.......

pakdokter's "Nek", the grandma who was actually a

grand-aunt who adopted pakdokter's mother to spare

her from ill-treatment by her step-mother...

Pakdokter's father came from Kampung Kedah, Parit Buntar, also in Northern Perak. This is the 'kampung' which pakdokter's family considers as our 'kampung'. Pakdokter's paternal grand-father was of the Bugis extract (originating from the Indonesian island of Moluccas) and the paternal grandmother's side was of the Banjar extract.

In the write-up last year, pakdokter had written that pakdokter thought that pakdokter's father did not have much schooling. How wrong was pakdokter actually. Pakdokter's brother told pakdokter that he had completed Malay primary schooling and went on, after that, to a 'trade school' in Taiping where he learnt 'topographical survey'. He worked with British surveyors, plotting and drawing maps of different districts of the country which at different times took him away from the family for a period of time.

And some time during his career with the Survey Department, he was even awarded a 'Colombo Plan' scholarship for a short training in Topographical Survey in New Zealand where he had even invested in and bought a piece land!

During the times when he was posted for work in Perlis and later also in Brunei, he had apparently married a local lady at each location respectively. The wife in Perlis was divorced after he completed his rounds there and he probably did the same to his wife in Brunei. He did not have any children with both these two wives and these two ladies have also passed away many years ago.

These facts came into light when pakdokter's elder brother had to manage his estates after his death and all these infromation was given to pakdokter's brother to ensure that he did not miss out on any half-siblings who would rightly deserve a share of the estate.

Pakdokter's father suffered from Brochial Asthma, and he died from Brocho-pneumonia just a few weeks before pakdokter's university convocation. At least he knew that pakdokter was successful in becoming a doctor!

He was about 7o years old when he died.

pakdokter' father, Man@ Othman@ Che Man bin Din ...