Monday, September 25, 2017

(2004) Portraying the real Yap Ah Loy

Filmmakers interested in producing a TV series on Yap Ah Loy have been urged by one of his descendants to do adequate research so that the true story can be portrayed, writes K.W. MAK.


PROUD DESCENDANT: Tam showing a portrait of Yap Ah Loy from the book The Story of Kuala Lumpur (1857-1939) by J.M. Gullick.

SOME people might call Yap Ah Loy a “gangster”, but to great-granddaughter Irene Tam Mun Choong, he was a national hero who helped build a nation and was a good man.

Tam, who is a direct descendant of Yap Ah Loy’s first son, Hon Chin, said she wants to speak up about her great-grandfather because of the recent interest by filmmakers in making a TV series on him.

“I don’t want all these people to make a film about my great-grandfather without doing research and making a movie that’s more about entertainment than history,” said Tam, a former teacher at La Salle Primary School in Sentul.

“I never knew him personally, but my mother, Yap Nyet Foong, used to tell me all sorts of stories about him.”

Tam said the filmmakers couldn’t get someone like Chow Yuen Fatt to play Yap Ah Loy because he was “a man of medium height”.

“My mother said he possessed a powerful and commanding voice and that he was so strong he could support a sack of rice on the palms of his outstretched hands.

“His hands were supposed to be very long, too, almost to his knees when he stood up.”

Yap Ah Loy married a Malacca Chinese girl and had three sons and a daughter, said Tam. The first son was Hon Chin and the second Loong Chin.

Tam doesn’t know who the third son was but the fourth was a daughter named Kim Neo. There was a fifth child, who was adopted, according to Tam.

“There was a story about my grandfather Hon Chin. When he was born, Yap Ah Loy had his fortune read by mediums and was told that this son would squander his fortune away,” said Tam.

“Great-grandfather was actually contemplating on shooting his own son because of this omen but, luckily for grandfather and myself, the wife got some men to kidnap Hon Chin and hide him in Malacca, where she was from.

“The predictions came true, though. Hon Chin really did squander the fortune away, spending lavishly on women.

“I remember I had many step-grandmothers, one of whom was Japanese and who was very, very kind to me.


Photograph of Tam's grandmother, Yap Nyet Foong.

“My late mother later told me that my Japanese step-grandmother sent most of the money and gifts that grandfather gave her to Japan so she could have a comfortable life should my grandfather leave her,” said Tam, who guessed that the woman eventually did return to Japan.

To illustrate just how much was squandered, Tam said that at one time, Yap Ah Loy owned 12,000 acres of land along the road between Damansara and Kuala Lumpur.

“A fraction of this was used to plant tapioca and he (Yap Ah Loy) engaged an English engineer to run his tapioca flour factory.”

Continuing the story of Hon Chin, Tam said he had two children, a son, Yap Swee Lin, and Yap Nyet Foong, Tam’s mother. She said Swee Lin had three wives.

“This is the lesson that all men should learn – stay monogamous! I know that I can still claim to be a direct descendant of Yap Ah Loy because my mother was the daughter and not the son who took many wives and concubines.”

Tam, whose real name is Hue Kim Yen (her father's name was Hue Fon Lim), said she took her husband’s name after a frustrating encounter with bank staff who refused to honour cheques cashed to “Mrs Tam Mun Choong”.

“The name has been in my IC ever since,” said Tam.

Tam recalled that one of the only heirlooms to remain with the family was a giant portrait of Yap Ah Loy. But with the extended family being so large, she said, she has lost track of many of her relatives and who had the portrait now or if it still existed.

“I recall a time when I saw two boys fighting by the roadside only to have the parents show up and reveal that the two were cousins,” said Tam, to illustrate just how far apart the extended family had grown.

On the “gangster” label that some quarters tagged him with, Tam said such people should refer to the Oxford Dictionary before they slapped it on a great man like Yap Ah Loy.

“He helped build a jail and imposed punishment on criminals. This denotes that he was a law-abiding person.”

Tam said Yap Ah Loy, who was the founder of Kuala Lumpur, hardly had anything left to help future generations remember the great man he was except for a short road named after him, and the Sin Sze Sin Ya temple in Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, which houses a statue of him.

“I hope the film will eventually give him the recognition he rightly deserves,” she said.

(Star Online, Sunday, 6 Jun 2004)

Sunday, September 24, 2017

(1946) Japs killed 1,654 people in Pudu Jail

JAPS KILLED 1,654 PEOPLE IN PUDU GAOL IN 2½ YEARS

Everybody has probably heard enough of horror statistics under the Japanese regime - but it may be of interest to bring to light one cold fact hitherto unpublished.

From 12th April, 1943 to 15th Sept. 1945 - 1,654 people died in Pudu Gaol including 281 who were hanged.

(Indian Daily Mail, 7 June 1946)

Thursday, September 21, 2017

(1989) Pondok Pak Ya Tragedy

Razed school in Kedah 'put up illegally'

ALL the 17 buildings of a religious school in Kedah where 27 girls were burned to death recently were put up illegally.

The Star reported today that the Sekolah Menengah Ugama Taufiqiah Khairiah al"Halimiah in Padang Lumut did not submit any plans for the buildings.

Some of them were put up in 1971, the newspaper quoted Mr Zulkifli Haji Ismail, president of the Yan District Council in Alor Star, as saying.

He said the private school should have submitted proper building plans by architects and consultants to the council.

The 17 buildings included the eight hostel blocks that were gutted by the fire on Friday, a kitchen and some classrooms.

School principal Mr Abdul Manan Yahya said a student's candle light caused the fire. She was believed to have lit the candle to do some reading.

(New Paper, 25 September 1989)


'Abah ingin mati syahid'

NURUL FATIHAH SULAINI


YAN - ”Jika ada ruang, abah ingin mati syahid seperti kakak-kakak yang sudah menjadi syuhada,” kata Abdul Muin Abdul Manan tentang luahan hati arwah ayahnya, Abdul Manan Yahya, 61, yang pernah menjadi mudir Sekolah Menengah Agama (SMA) Taufikiah Khairiah

Al-Halimiah atau lebih dikenali Pondok Pak Ya di Padang Lumat, di sini, sebelum meninggal dunia.

Abdul Muin, 33, berkata, Allahyarham antara individu yang paling terkesan dengan peristiwa tragis pada 22 September 1989, apabila berlaku kebakaran di asrama puteri hingga mengorbankan 27 nyawa kerana menjadi mudir semasa tragedi itu berlaku.

“Abah menjadi mudir sejak 1984 sehingga 2007 dan selepas itu tetap meneruskan tugas sebagai tenaga pengajar di madrasah ini serta dilantik sebagai ahli jawatankuasa lembaga tadbir sekolah.

“Jika diikutkan, abah seorang yang tegas terutamanya dalam soal pelajaran. Arwah kerap kali berpesan kepada anak serta anak didik supaya menghormati ulama dan sekiranya tidak tahu tentang sesuatu perlu belajar,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, arwah bapanya meninggal dunia jam 11.35 malam semalam di kediaman keluarganya setelah beberapa bulan tidak sihat.

“Abah mula dimasukkan ke Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah (HSB) pada 28 Ogos lalu dan ditahan beberapa hari.

“Bagaimanapun sejak dua minggu lalu dia sekali lagi ditahan di wad. Disebabkan kesihatannya makin merosot, kami buat keputusan bawanya pulang ke rumah,” katanya.

Abdul Muin berkata, arwah bapanya baru sahaja dilantik menjadi imam di Masjid Al Ubudiah, Padang Lumat pada September lalu dan sempat berkhidmat dalam tempoh dua bulan sahaja.

Dalam pada itu, Allahyarham anak ketujuh dari 11 beradik yang juga anak kepada bekas mudir pondok berkenaan iaitu Tuan Guru Haji Yahya Al Junaid.

Arwah meninggalkan 11 anak dan balu, Che Intan Abu Bakar, 54.

(SINAR ONLINE, 26 NOVEMBER 2015)

(1894) There is buried here a wild elephant who in defence of his herd

THE ELEPHANT AND THE RAILWAY TRAIN.

CURIOUS COLLISION IN PERAK.

"BAAD FOR THE COO!"


It is communicated to the Singapore Free Press from the Colonial Secretary's office that on the night of the 17th a train from Tapah came into collision with an elephant on the line. The engine and one carriage left the rails. The elephant, which was a tusker, was killed. No one in the train was injured.

It will require two days work to reestablish traffic on the line.

(The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 19 September 1894)





ACCIDENT ON THE KINTA VALLEY RAILWAY.

A TRAIN COLLIDES WITH AN ELEPHANT.


The train that left Tapah for Teluk Anson on Monday afternoon last ran into a full grown elephant close to the third mile. The engine and tender were thrown off the rails and the elephant was killed. Fortunately the passengers escaped without injury. The elephant was a fine old "tusker" and we learn that his skull and tusks will eventually adorn the Museum. This was probably one of the three animale that escaped during the recent elephant drive at Chanderiang.

Pioneer.

(Daily Advertiser, 25 September 1894)

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

(1968) Tun Razak's twenty-five day trip

A switch from Commonwealth

Trip in search of new allies


46-year old Tun Abdul Razak Hussein and Tun Rahah Noah visits Juliana of the Netherlands

By Felix Abisheganaden

KUALA LUMPUR, Monday

Tun Abdul Razak's 25-day trip to five European nations beginning tomorrow will mark the beginning of a gradual decline in Malaysia's reliance on Commonwealth countries alone.

He said today: "In the past we have been dependent on Commonwealth countries. We have now to depend on other countries; our needs have grown."

Besides economic assistance, Tun Razak will examine modern European weapons for the Malaysian armed forces. He is taking his Chief of Staff, Brigadier Ismail bin Ibrahim with him.

Talks in India

The Deputy Prime Minister will visit Germany, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Denmark before going on to Britain.

On his way out, Tun Razak will stop in New Delhi for talks with the Indian President, Dr. Zakir Hussein, and the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

At an eye-of-departure press conference, Tun Razak confirmed that the five-power talks on defence would begin here on June 10.

He will discuss this topic with Britain's Defence Minister, Mr. Denis Healey, and speak generally with the Commonwealth Secretary, Mr. George Thomson.

Johari acting

During his absence, Inche Khir Johari will take on the additional portfolio of Defence, Senator Ghafar Baba, the Ministry of Rural Development, and Inche Hamzah bin Dato Abu Samah (assistant Minister), the Ministry of Home Affairs.

At the start of the conference, Tun Razak thanked all members of the Aid Malaysia Club for their past assistance to Malaysia.

"We thank them for the help they have given us in our economic development," he said.

One of the main objects of his trip was to impress upon European leaders Malaysia's economic and other requirements and seek further aid.

"Up to now," he said, "Our main sources of aid have always been Britain, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries and more recently the U.S.

"Now we have to look for aid - and closer friendship - with other countries."

Malaysia's foreign policy, he stressed had always been one of friendliness with "those who wish to be friendly with us."

To push through Malaysia's economic and development plans the country would have to get more assistance from as many different sources as possible.

Tun Razak will call on President Luebke of Germany, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, President De Gaulle, Prince Albert of Belgium, and Denmark's Prime Minister, Mr. Hilmar Baunsgaard.

On his flight from Delhi to Copenhagen, Tun Razak will stop over for an hour in the Soviet town of Tashkent.

Tun Razak said he had several "specific projects" in mind for discussion.

Invitations

One of these was a commercial dockyard which he would like to see established at Port Swettenham. He will study possibilities in Germany and Britain.

In reply to a question, he said plans for his tour had been drawn up long ago and had nothing to do with the accelerated British withdrawal from here.

The invitations had come one by one. He decided to cover all the countries in one tour instead of several.

His wife, Toh Puan Raha, who will accompany him, will have her own programme. She will meet members of social welfare and women's organisations.

This evening Wisma Putra announced that a meeting of officials would precede the June 10 defence talks.

"In the meantime," the statement added, "consultations will continue at diplomatic level regarding arrangements for the conference."

(The Straits Times, 30 April 1968)

Bilateral 'blue' ties


Blue signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice in the American flag and blue symbolise the unity of the Malaysian people in our Jalur Gemilang. 

Najib: Positive and friendly meeting at White House with Trump


Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is greeted by US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington September 12, 2017. — Bernama pic

WASHINGTON, Sept 13 ― Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has described his discussions with President Donald Trump at the White House yesterday afternoon as a “positive and friendly meeting”.

Both leaders were jovial and seen shaking hands several times, while grabbing each other’s forearms as they were walking in and out of the West Wing meeting room.

“The last time we met (was), some years ago, we teamed up to play golf. That was a successful meeting for us as our team won.

“And our discussions this afternoon were very much about how our two great nations can continue winning by working closely together,” Najib said at a dinner hosted by the US-Asean Business Council and US Chamber of Commerce at the St Regis hotel here.

Najib arrived at the White House at 11.45am and was greeted by President Trump at the entrance of the West Wing building.

Najib and Trump held bilateral talks with their respective senior top ministers and advisers before both leaders had a four-eyed meeting at the Oval Office.

Najib's visit to the White House, which lasted over an hour, was at the invitation of President Trump.

An official who was at the White House said, after the meeting, Trump accompanied Najib to the door to send him off, instead of them departing at the main floor where the president would normally send-off visiting leaders.

“Trump was reminded by one of his officers of this, but he (president) told him that he will accompany PM Najib downstairs to depart. Trump said ‘he (PM) is my friend’,” according to the official.

At the dinner, the Prime Minister said last year’s trade between Malaysia and the US amounted to nearly US$33 billion (RM138 billion).

“We need to regain that level of interaction as there are huge opportunities for our two countries to explore, and great benefits to come from closer trade and investment ties,” he said.

Najib said that last year alone, American companies brought in RM5 billion, or more than US$1 billion, of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Malaysia.

The US is the fifth largest foreign investor in Malaysia, with a total of RM36 billion, or US$8.5 billion, worth of FDI stock.

Present were US-Asean Business Council president and chief executive officer Alexander Feldman, senior vice-president for Asia at the US Chamber of Commerce Tami Overby and US Ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir. ― Bernama

(Malay Mail Online, Wednesday September 13, 2017)