Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mother, Mahani Abdul Razak.. I love you very much. Semoga panjang umur, sihat sentiasa, murah rezeki...amin.

When The Goings Get Tough..The Tough Get Going

I listened to the all times favourite song on the radio yesterday evening by Billy Ocean...



When the goings get tough

The tough get going, tough, tough

When the going gets tough, the tough get ready



I got something to tell you

I got something to say

I'm gonna put this dream in motion

Never let nothing stand in my way

When the going gets tough

The tough get going



...lalala...



This reminds me of my yester years...

Life was not so kind in early days. Yan worked in LKTS (in the oil palm estate) as a store keeper and later a store clerk...

Yan and Mak are the toughest human being. I really admired them. Living in the staff quarters those days, very far from the Miri town (now Miri city).

One day I went with Yan to the stream nearby to catch fish. That was my first time fishing. After a long wait, we got nothing but a small fish. We went back and Mak fried the fish for my dinner.

Yan worked with LKTS until end of 1981 (when Ina was born). Then we moved to Bintulu.. At that time Yan was jobless. With not much cash, Yan opened up a company, Syarikat Jasa Bumi. According to Yan, Jasa meant "Jasmin, Asri, Sapura, Azlina".

Yan was very brave to run the business at that time..with only the support from his arwah Awang Ismail (Yan's long-distance uncle), Yan managed to secure a bank loan of RM10K.

In Bintulu, we stayed at Nenek Ulu's house (Mak's foster mother) until Yan finally built a house behind Wan's house in Kpg Mesjid in 1982.

Yan and Mak did a lot to survive... opened up a small shop at Nenek Ulu's house, supplied and processed Halal chicken, apart from doing other small contract works.

Poy and I used to walk around the kampung to sell kuih... and help out in processing the chicken. Whilst most children will play around after school...but I will take care of the shop..
My siblings after Poy will never experience this..

Today, Yan and Mak reaped the success through their hardship..

Zaman Jepun

Arwah Nenek suka bercerita. One of her stories was life during Japanese Occupation. After Sarawak was ruled by the Brookes family for about 100 years, Sarawak was later handed over to British and became a British colony in January 1941. Japanese invaded Sarawak later in the year until 1945. The Japanese regime overran Sarawak within several days.

This photo was taken way back...During the Japanese occupation, the brother of Japanese Emperor, Prince Maida flew to Bintulu and the plane crashed off the coast of Tanjung Batu. The Japanese erected a memorial in memory of Prince Maida. It was made from the world's best wood (only found in Borneo), Belian. The memorial was later taken back to Japan by the family of the late prince.

According to arwah Nenek, during the Japanese occupation, the whole family ran away from their home. It was when Nenek gave birth to Yan. The hardship during that time was unbearable. Nothing much to eat, children became malnutritious. One thing Nenek could remember well was when she was hidden by her mother in law, Dayang Sapura in a roll of mattress to avoid being seen by Japanese soldiers. Everyone had to learn Japanese language. Arwah Wan was taught to speak Japanese and sing the Japanese anthem.

In 1945, the Australian force freed Sarawak from the Japanese and remained a British colony until 1963.

My arwah Wan and Nenek

My grandfather, Awang Hj Hamzani bin Pengiran Abil (whom I called him Wan) and grandmother, Bibi Sekinah binti Akbar Khan (whom I called Nenek) sudah kembali ke rahmatullah but always in my heart.

Arwah Wan meninggal dunia in 1994. Arwah Nenek pulak in 2007. I have a lot of beautiful memories with them.

Al-fatihah. Semoga rohnya dicucuri rahmat.