Then....there was this Vespa Piaggio 150cc scooter

Folks....

By now I could afford a brand new scooter. A Vespa Piaggio 150cc with Trengganu plate number TA 2135. It has a rotary valve engine, with 4 speed gear transmission, can travel top speed 85 KPH or 50 MPH. I bought it out of necessity. I have no other choice. Ideally I should help myself with a Ducati Motorcycle. A sporty and rugged piece of machine. Ducati Motorcycle was the statement of the time. Norton or Triumph motorbikes once ruled the road had lost their appeal for ‘the young & the wild one’ like us.
Why then, I offted for a Vespa Piagio 150cc. Am I out of my mind or lack of cash?
Firstly the prize of a 350cc Ducati was a bit too stiff. Secondly as a youth, I was of ‘the tame type’, not the ‘the wild ones’. Thirdly I bought the Vespa out of necessity because of its economic nature and the need to travel to and from school along Kuala Trengganu - Ulu Trengganu trunk road, a distant of 60 plus miles daily. The cost of public transport and bicycle daily rental were burning holes into my pockets. The bus ride from Kuala Trengganu to Wakaf Tapai alone would cost 60 cents one way. Then there was the need to hire a bicycle for kampong journey from Wakaf Tapai to Kampung Tanggol – a distant of not less than 7 miles, through rubber plantations and rice fields. That’s another 60 cents. Totalling a RM1.80 travelling budget per day. The only light and economical transport that I could think off was a 150cc scooter. Vespa Scooter could take the rough journeys, with minimum petrol consumption. A full tank petrol costing RM2.50, more than enough for a couple of days trip from Kuala Trengganu right to my school in the rural of Ulu Trengganu.
It was early 1963. I was on my first year teaching after graduating from College. With a mere RM250.00 monthly basic salary, and being posted in the far corner of the East Coast Malaysia, I need all the cash I could earn to support my hungry family I left behind in the Lower Perak District on The West Coast as well my daily expenditures away from home.
So Vespa Piaggio 150cc was a good alternative.
For a couple of years later the Vespa Piagio was my prized possession. Another was my portable Olympia Typewriter. Both were bought on my 2nd months in Trengganu. Both served me well, as a teacher and a freelance writer. A strange combination: true to the fact that I soon found my niche in creative writings positioning myself as a radio playwright hailed from the East Coast Malaysia that ruled the airwaves of Radio Singapura (1963-1966). I owed my early success to the slow cruising scooter drive to my place of work daily, and the humble typewriter faithfully waiting for me on my writing desk at home.
A scooter drive, normally smooth and leisure. At any time you hardly touch the maximum speed of 50 MPH. Vespa Scooter was not built for hell driving. Less manly, but comfortable. The 30 plus odd miles travel would take around 60+ minutes, each way cruising along the scenic Terengganu road.
Riding the scooter maked my idle mind positively encroached into thinking and watching lives went by around you. The bare bodied farmers ploughing their padi fields, the rubber tapers, the fisherman idled by the Monsoon Torrential Rain, the oddjob labourers, the petty traders, the land owners, women in the marketplaces, bystanders, loafers and gamblers gambling their daily earnings …..these are characters on the landscapes I passed through everyday. Their way of life indirectly influenced me, in my writings.
I wrote weekly radio plays for Radio Singapura, and periodically contributed short stories and articles for DBP, Utusan Malaysia & Berita Harian publications. It was a lucrative undertakings, as well fullfilled my burning desires in creative writings.
The Vespa Piaggio 150cc has been faithful to me. Undeterred, during school term holidays I rode the machine for a daylong distant journey from Kuala Trengganu, through Kuantan, Bentung, to Kuala Lumpur, then through Kuala Selangor along the costal road to Hutan Melintang and arriving at my village Tanjung Bayan, Hilir Perak some 14 to 16 hours later. Never once the engine breakdown, except that, I need to change the sparks plug anytime it got stalled in the yearly monsoon floods of the East Coast Malaysia.All along I made thousands scooter hours riding my Vespa Piaggio 150cc. By Allah’s grace, I was never involved in accident. So Vespa Piaggio 150cc was a good choice
for 'the young ones' like me. I never regret owing one.....though I got this crazy feeling of abandoning it for a more powerful machines, every time a Ducati 350cc overtook me. But then again, there were other considerations binding me.

...Of 'Basikal', 'Kereta Lembu', 'Sampan Kotak' and Motosikal BSA 350cc

Needless to say bicycle was the only mechanized transportation in my village before Merdeka. Although the kampong roads could fit in any kind of motor vehicle, the only heavy vehicle ever to be seen was a bullock cart, plying from the main road for the mile long journey carrying loads of sands, cements and pebbles, to Sekolah Melayu Sungai Pulau.

It was in 1951, the year Sekolah Melayu Sungai Pulau got an annex building with 4 classrooms, to fit in its growing pupil population. I was a 10 year old and was in Standard 3 then. It was a pity sight, seeing the bulls pulling the heavy laden cart through the unlabeled lane (Jalan Kampung) of Parit-15 to Sekolah Melayu Sungai Pulau.

I could smell the sweat, and out of pity, I choose not to stare at the weeping eyes, suffering from the strains of the heavy burden and the hot sun. Every now and then, their thin bellys got a few hard lashes from the handler, for the bulls to pull the cart forward every time the wheels caught in the muddy pools. The bulls groaned and pulled harder. The handler let go a few more lashes. The cart then moved forward – slowly - inch by inch.......

Of course the affordable few had bicycles for their daily transportation. Owing a bicycle means a lifelong luxury. A newly bought bicycle would normally be prominently parked at places of leisure or mosque for people to admire. The newly wed would cycled around the kampong visiting family members or a weekly visit to Pasar Minggu. A status symbol, yearned by most.

For the industrious few, bicycles were used to carry heavy burdens, or running daily errands. My father bought me a bicycle for my travels to school. He himself did not own any.

For his retails business buying and selling coconuts and copra he needed a much bigger means of transportation. He had a barge that can ply the monsoon drains carrying loads. The barge made of planks like a ‘sampan’, oblong in shape, 16 feet long 4 feet wide at both end, with an extra 2 feet width at the belly -(the Chinese called it ‘Tongkang’ while the Malays called it ‘Sampan Kotak’ because of its oblong shape). The barge about three feet high, could take around a dozen gunnysack of copra stacked together. The monsoon drains were built and managed by the then British Malaya Administration, lauded by the locals as the most comprehensive drainage system for the Malay Reserve Lands. The monsoon drains built with multipurpose role, not only to drain excess rain water to avoid excessive flooding, but also meant as suitable water transportation system for the villages. The barge would be pulled by workers using ropes and bamboo poles along the banks to ferry the load to the main road, where the copra are transported by lorry to the mills. Besides barges, there are also dugout canoes, normally used as water taxi by the residents.

A couple of years later in 1953, my father could effort a BSA 350cc motorbike. It was the pride of our family. Alas, he hardly rode it twice, as on the first try itself he rode through a roadblock and ditched into the monsoon drain. Luckily, though he escaped unscratched, but was reprimanded by Sergeant Md Dom, a friendly OCS (Officer In charge) Police Station, Simpang Empat. For some times after the incident, the BSA 350 cc motorcycle was parked untouched in the storeroom waiting for a potential buyer.

From then on my father choose to travel by foot, and by available public transport: bus, lorry, taxi, rickshaw or water taxi.

My Passion For Cars

It was a passion. Right from the time when I was a small kid, I loved cars, though at that tender age I hardly realised that we were too poor to have one. My parents could only provide me with a proper education in an English Medium School. My parents could only effort a bicycle for me to travel to and from school. Although there was a regular public transport, but the cost for the monthly season pass was stiff for daily earner like them.

So silly me, for my expensive passion for cars.

But then my Tok Anjang had a 6 cylinder Opel Kapitan rarely used, parked and covered with a ‘mosquito net’ under his house. It’s a blue saloon with white top. In school, my class teacher Mr.P.H.Nesarathnam had an MG Sport. Those are the two classy cars that I was earlier exposed to, and really adored. How I wished
Tok Anjang give me a ride in a manner Mr.Nesaratnam used to drive us home after a game of Hockey, Football or Rugby. It was so thrilling to be driven in his open hood MG sport with the evening wind gushing on our face.

So come school holidays my priority was to hang around my Tok Anjang’s house. I knew, I was one of his favorite. And I hoped that one fine evening he would take me for a ride in his Opel Kapitan, least knowing that Tok Anjang did not have a driving license.

Then who cares? Who need a driving license for a drive around our kampong. Surely Tok Anjang did not mind, and loves to give me the honour.

Least did I knew that the car has been parked unmoved underneath the house for a couple of months. Tok Anjang only used it whenever he needs to take his family for vacation in Penang, or visiting Pakchik Kanik studying at Al-Mashoor. I later learnt that he had a vacation bungalow in Tanjung Bunga, George Town, Penang and visited the Island regularly. Only for that purpose, he used the Opel Kapitan. He would engaged a freelance driver for a couple of week for that purpose. And then the car would again be parked in its present place underneath his Rumah Kotai covered with clothes.

Mak Yah told me that Tok Anjang was too scared even to be at the driver’s seat. He owns the car, but never drove it. What a pity.

“Driving a car looks easy. It’s easier than riding a bicycle or a motorcycle. You’re lucky if you can drive it. He may engaged you to drive him to Penang one of these days,” Mak Yah gave me the encouragement, least did she knew that one need a Driving License and a long period of apprenticeship tutored by a licensed driver to be one.

Now, there was this sudden compulsion in wanting to drive my Tok Anjang's Opel Kapitan. Mak Yah gave me the encouragement. I agreed driving a four wheel vehicle look easier than riding a two wheeled bicycle, I thought. If only I could influence my Tok Anjang to give me a try driving the Opel Kapitan. If I succeed that, the next would be driving it on to the kampong road.

Now I really need Mak Yah’s recommendation for that.

To my surprised, permission granted. And there was me seating at the driver’s seat. The engine ignited and a soft purring sound fills the air. Tok Anjang steped aside giving way for me to drive the car out to the compound.

Confidently, I pushed the clutch pedal with my left leg, and engaged the gear. Easy than I thought. Slowly I released the handbrake, and step hard on the paddle. So far so good. We're in business.

Then hell broke loose. The 6 cylinder engine gave a very strong jerk. The car jumped forward, nearly knocking the ‘tiang seri’ – main pillar of the Rumah Kotai.

Tok Anjang shouted at the top of his voice, asking me to be careful. He later jocked, that he was more worried of his prized car than me.

Luckily though the engine immediately stalled and nothing happened to me or the car.
I got the biggest shock of my life.

From that day on, I wowed never to drive other people car,
the discipline lasted till today.

I bought my first sedan a Borgward Erabella on my first teaching job in Ulu Trengganu way back in 1964.

And the passion never stops till the present day: Hillman, Ford, Honda, Proton, Volvo, & Benz. These are among my favorite and affordable brands

MALAY WEDDING BLITZ

When a couple decides to tie the knot a wedding aura suddenly fills the air. This goes without saying. The feeling of sensation quickly take charge especially to those close to the couple. Now; what was supposed to be the decision of the two has become the responsibility of many: parents, relatives and close associates. What was supposed to be a simple ceremony has become an intricate family undertakings. What was supposed to be a simple religious obligations, has developed to an ecstasy of family merriments. That was the way most Malay weddings were before, and that is still the way it is today.

Present day, school term breaks saw lots of Malay Wedding receptions full of traditions, pomps and styles. Needless to say that, the present Malays are getting more affluent and extravagan. These are reflected in most present day wedding ceremonies. Each family wanted to excel for the best.

Come school breaks, most of us would be bombarded with specially custom designed invitation cards. As one travels around the country signboards with colourful ‘bunga manggar’ displayed on most road junctions easilly catch the eyes. Even the Road Traffic Lights are not spared from being posted with these signboards.

It’s a phenomenon, and is constantly renewed with new trappings.

Nowadays Malay weddings befitting an up-market industry. In the like of The Rich and The Famous, The Upper and The Middle Class communities, wedding celebrations readilly command on an average of between RM50, 000.00 to RM100,000.00 per event. Some surpass the amount to a couple of million ringgits.These facts are true, though hard to believe to be real. But in the true sense that is what Malay Weddings are all about. The Mas Kahwin, The Hantaran, The Wedding Ring, The wedding dresses, the accompanying assessories ( mostly of branded items ) alone would cost to an average amount of between RM25,000.00 to RM50,000.00. Then the Akad Nikah reception and The Bersanding receptions both at the family house and at the dewan or the banquet halls of 4 to 5 star hotels for an average guest lists of 500 invitees for each.

Even the ordinary simple traditional village wedding ceremony would cost not less than RM40,000.00 per event.

There was this saying in Sabah: in a Bajau community the hantaran for the brides hand is by the number of Buffalo the groom must fulfill to be decided on the numbers of pillars there is in her ancestral home. Most rich bride come from a big ancestral house, with lots of pillar, and hence the family would demand more buffalo as the hantaran. To the Bajau the nature of the hantaran from the groom should always befitting the status of the bride’s family. And so wil the wedding receptions. If this is true for the Bajaus, then the same goes with other Malay etnics. Only the form, the nature, and the formula of how the hantaran to be, differs.

Weddings are blissful occasions. A Historical and auspicious moments especially for those dearly involved. Normally each occasion meticulously planned and executed by all concern. Marriage merriments blitz often surpass its limit. The plan, fluid but complex, largely influence by each ethnic's version of ‘Adat Perkahwinan’.

Even, way back in the Fifties and the Sixties when most kampong Malays were hardcore poor, rural Malay weddings still befitting the lustrous occasion it intended to be, resulting with the family having to bear the brunt of accumulated debts.

In Malay community, each and everyone positioned themselves as creative lots, when planning wedding events. Each wanted to include his or her own fair share in incoporating the ‘Adat Perkahwinan’. Some with minimum knowledge on the ‘Adat Perkahwinan' or having bare knowledge on how to design an event, still confidently position themselves as event managers. They ardently proved themselves as to be resourceful, experienced and creative with new innovations among their peers. This was so because wedding preparation those days directly involved close relatives, neighbors and friends. Family synergy reign high; and normally the practice was for them to senergized their effort befitting the Malay Saying: “Bulat Air Kerana Pembetung, Bulat Manusia Kerana Mufakat.”

Firstly the collective decision on the auspicious day. The chosen dates for the ‘Akad Nikah’ and ‘The Bersanding Ceremonies’ in close reference the Muslim Lunar Calender and in consultation with the local elders, Mualim or Imam. The announcement would be done during the ‘Bertunang’ or Betrothal Ceremony, a tradition still practiced today.

Most engagement would last for years. There were instances where couple was symbolically engaged right after birth. Pity though: they have to undergo a long wait from 15 to 20 years for the matrimony.

The checklist for a Malay Wedding event was common. Firstly relatives, family members were booked (invited) months in advance. The congregation of families from far and near for the events beginning a couple of weeks earlier. Together they plotted and planned the occasion. As usual the elders expected to be consulted on all matters pertaining to adat or tradition. Each likens their very own version, concepts and interpretation of the adat on the Family Traditions & Practices. Families from inter marriages sometimes loggerheads on the way of the Adat to follow. For example, Negeri Sembilan Malays The Minangkabau, and The Johore Malays The Bugis from Riau have their own set of well guarded matrimony customs & traditions.

Planning complexities at time caused resentments amongst relatives and family members. So are to the Perak Malays, Kedah Malays, Kelantan,Terengganu and Pahang Malays. Each Malay community is entitled to implement their own Adat Perkahwinan.

When close family congregate family gossips rules the day. Family squabble always put the host in awkward position. They are not expected to side any party as not to offend them. They abstained - have no say, except only to agree. The option the have was only to pray to Allah that all will be well on the D-day.

I remember in 1950 the Marriage ceremony of my Auntie Yah to her cousin, the 1st university graduate from our clan. Tok Anjang had to give way to the wishes of Opah Zaharah his elder sister that the groom would be brought in an air plane (model) for the Akad Nikah and The Bersanding ceremony befitting the groom status a graduate from Al Azhar, Mesir. Opah Zaharah insisted that the wedding procession to take place all the way from the groom’s residence about 2 miles away to Tok Anjang house. She claimed as The Godmother to the bride, she had the right to the decision. So a set of protocol for the agenda was to be planned, incorporating the wish of Opah Zaharah, plus additional wishes of other unties and uncles.

According to the plan the procession would be led by Pasukan Silat, Pasukan Kompang,Pasukan Pengiring, Pasukan Pembawa Hantaran, lead by Pasukan Pembawa Bunga Manggar with The Groom in the air plane in tow, to be followed behind by the Groom’s Family, relatives, neighbours and friends.

I was 9 then and was really looking forward to the occasion. I don’t mind the daylong journey down Bernam River by sampan from Tanjung Bayan to Bagan Sungai Tiang and the 3 miles long walk to Kampung Sungai Lancang.

We were a week early for the event. The tradition was that, a week before the ceremony, all close relatives far and near would converge for the Mengantung Ceremony, an occasion no close family members could abstain from. For that I had to skip class, (of course) this time with my parents’ permission. The school authority was duly informed. Permission granted as it was the end of final term.

May uncle Pak Long Ismail was to model and construct the airplane The plan was that; the mainframe of the airplane was to be constructed from materials of bamboo and areca nut trunk to withstand the weight of the groom (a physically sturdy 35 years old man). A chair was carefully tugged into the cockpit, meant only for the groom. It’s a one seater-airplane.

PakLong Ismail roped me into his committee. It was a proud moment for me. My role (with the help of my other uncle, Pak Pendek – we’re of the same age) was to trap alive as many Kumbang Hitam (a type of wasp with poisonous sting) we could. The technique was simple. A few Kumbang Hitam would be loosely wrapped into a piece of thin clothes. An empty can would be placed over them. By nature the wasp wings vibrate under the weight of the empty can. The vibrations would produced a droning sound like the sound of the distant plane. The empty can amplified the droning sound. How much the wasp suffered being sandwiched under those big cans nobody bothers.The louder the sound they produced the better.

Each wasp would last for some ten to fifteen minutes and need to be replaced.

The airplane model was completed in time. Tok Anjang and Opah Zaharah laud the result as a genius feat by Pak Long Ismail and his co-workers.

For the procession a few selected members from the Pasukan Silat was to carry the airplane life size model on their shoulders for the 2 miles journey from the Groom’s house to the bride’s place. As agreed Pak Long Ismail was to deliver the airplane to the Groom’s house before noon on the wedding day. Only then to discover that some basic thing was overlook by Pak Long Ismail and his builders.on the dimension and the size of the airplane. The model just could not be moved out from Tok Anjang’s house, that served as its hanger. The plane had a wing span around 20 feet long on each side. Tok Anjang’s house was situated right in the middle of coconut plantation. The rows of coconut palms that lined the path from Tok Anjang’s house to the main road are causing obstacles. It took them a couple of hours negotiating every palm tree for the 500 yards journey to the main road.

Luck was on their side. The processions did take place on time as planned, only that the airplane run short of proper runways at Tok Anjang’s compound. It landed some distant away. From there the groom have to be carried on the shoulder to complete his journey.

That was what I remember on Untie Yah’s wedding blitz before Merdeka, more than 50 years ago.

Then there was this incident a few years ago ( this time after Merdeka ) where an elaborate wedding procession became sour. This time the Groom had to ride on a decorated buffalo. The mishap happen at the bride’s house in a Melaka Village bordering Negeri Sembilan.The groom was from a nearby village in Negeri Sembilan. The two parties are of Minangkabau descendent. More so both parents were bosom buddies serving in the Malayan Police Force in Pahang during the Emergency. The bride and the groom grew up together in the police barracts and attended the same school in Temerloh District. They later pursue their University Education overseas. Both came back to Malaysia and became successful partners of a consultant firm. Their parents had by now retired. They resides in the respective kampongs, in Negeri Sembilan and Melaka.

Their bonds of friendship thicken with times, and what was just colleague in the force then now considered each other as close kin. More so their 2 kids were once ‘simbolicly betrotal ’(engaged ) as a symbol of their long lasting friendship.

There was no hitch on the long standing engagements for the couple. They took it as fated and Godsend (takdir Allah). On their own convictions they only plan to tie the knot after completing their studies abroad. It’s going to be a simple ‘akad nikah’ceremony, in a mosque and a small kenduri.

But during those long years of waiting, their parents had planned otherwise. They had put aside a big chunk of their savings for the wedding blitz. Each plan to host sumptuous wedding together with traditional trippings to be remember by relatives and friends. It’s going to be pageantry occasions, uplifting The Minangkabau family traditional cultures, values & customs with it pomp and grandeur.

The decision was; the groom to ride a ‘buffalo’ procession, the way wedding processions done some 50 years ago. Both parent wish must be fulfilled at whatever cost, though the groom and the bride argued otherwise. It’s their long standing wait for the auspicious event they have long dream of.

The reception at the bride’s house was full of pomp and colours. The event was accompanied by Dondang Sayang Party. The air was fills with oldies bringing back nostalgic feeling to the host as well the guests. The ambience war right. Everyone ready to party. There was also some foreign tourist in the crowd with their cameras covering the event.

As the groom arrived riding on a decorated buffalo, the bride was escorted to the main door to receive him. There were exchanges of Pantun from both sides. All went well as planned. The exchange of Pantun with stanzas well befitting both bride and the groom.

Suddenly there was this loud explosion of fire crackers as the climax to herald the procession. The buffalo jumped in shock, quickly released its burden before running into the padi field. Although, the groom’s best man was in tow, he was quite a distant behind the bull buffalo. Though he managed to grab the groom from falling down, but then the path to the house was slippery due to a shower earlier. Both the groom and the best man landed in a muddy pool.