Now let's go back at last to my stories. I suppose when you were young you never knew of jealousy hatred envious treachery and other human failings. You grew into it. Your life and your views will be influence by your surroundings. For me, being left alone most of the time, my surroundings were those within me, I grew up loving those Hollywood movies of yarn like Andy Hardies series (Mickey Rooney) or James Stewart in Mr Deeds goes to town or Mr Smiths goes to Washington. Yes, I more in love with James Cagney in his Yankee Doodle Dandy, Henry Fonda and who could forget the irreplaceable Spencer Tracy. Yes those musicals were wonderful the dancing by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and the enchanting Rita Hayworth. It was a make believe world where one could dance and be happy and a guy who is sick like me it gave an opportunity for me to dream the impossible. I live like this, this was my world, my sanctuary, where I could find peace and understand the world as I know, in black and white movies. But as i said before things started to change when my father got married. I do not harbour any ill feelings for what have happen but I can't deny the truth, my world as I know,will be no more. As I have always been, I welcome my Mom with open arms but I was a spoilt child and it is not easy to deal with me. I try but I guess I don't get along with her although she is Mum, the only one I know of, until she dies. This exuberance in welcoming people, I know, should be curtail but I can't. I love opening my home to others, it is a trait that is me. I remember when I was working in Pahang, I welcome a person to stay in my house and the next thing I knew, he has taken over the entire house as his! When my father remarried at the end of 1967 by that time we already move to Federal Hill to the bungalow built by the government for division 1 officer. We were staying previously in Jalan Templer PJ in one of those single story detached house. My Grandma by that time has retired and she was staying with us. When my father house was completed in Taiping a bungalow in 1968 she would move there. She stays there until my father past away in the house in 1994 before moving to his youngest son house and dying in 1998. She was brought back to the house and buried with my brother and father at the cemetery 500 metres away. That is where I perhaps like to be buried and although it sound morbid but it is where my father is. My Mom is buried in town, the plot there has been fill up so it is OK. I remember the house in Federal Hill well. In Jalan Gasing I really can't recall much, bit and pieces, although that is where my Mom would met her fate. At the bungalow in Federal Hill, there was no highway then passing through the place, now there is this huge Jalan Tun Razak passing through it in the process certain bungalows were destroy not my house that I stay in, it still is standing. My neighbours were the Director General of Civil Defence, the late Encik Rahman whose son is married to Tho Puan Mahani's daughter, a socialite. Encik Rahman was a widower and he married a joget girl, Puan Razmah. They have 4 children and plus 3 with Encik Rahman previous marriage. He past away in 2003. He was residing at Damansara Height when he retired. They was Syed whom later in life I would met. His father was in the public works department. He got a sister and my brother Put and I would spend time together with them bicycling and sometime swimming in the monsoon drain. That time Kuala Lumpur's drain was not dirty. And since the drain leads to the lake gardens which was nearby, there were fishes in the drain. Put always catch fish, the cat fish. That time that fish were considered a low class of fish so people don't eat it. Now it is very popular, 'ikan keli' fish is cook and sold abundantly in the market. Put has always been a leader,trying new things. we got a photograph of him putting his hand in bobby's mouth, a mix breed of Alsatian dog which we use to keep in PJ. That bobby would die after being knife by the robbers in Petaling Jaya(PJ). That was the first time I remember about death, her listless body lying on the ground, by the swing. Yes, we kept a dog too at Federal Hill her name was bobby too. Yes, Tun Suffian the former lord president also stay at Federal Hill in the bigger bungalow. Her wife, Toh Puan Bunny Suffian use to take her dogs for walks there. She was white thus we look at her as one of those Maam or Memsaheeb as the Indians would call them. Tun Suffian was from Kuala Kangsar, Perak the son of a Kadi or Muslim judge in Perak. He studied in Malay College, the Eton of Malaya, and was a brilliant chap. He went to England took up law and during the war years he got himself stranded in India. Contracted Malaria and the nurse at the hospital was Bunny. She nurse him and that's how he fall in love. She was a Jew and they have no children. Why I mention her religion because it would be a point of conflict with his family and the Malays in general. We somehow always blame the Woman. He was an anglophile all the way, he embraces the white's way and love their culture, nothing to do with the wife whether or not she was a Jew. A Judge must always remain aloof far from the maddening crowd, so that his judgement is fair and not coloured by his surroundings. This is an ideal situation and Tun Suffian portray that type of Judge. It offends the Malays so much because to them he was not humble but to me it was his profession and he embrace it like a good servant of the nation should. I think they were also angry that a white woman has snarl a virtuous Malay Man. I wish someone would snarl me!
http://www.malaysia.net/lists/sangkancil/2000-10/frm00071.html http://pemantau.tripod.com/artikel/28Sept-prm.html are articles on Tun Suffian please do read. I have to go now so much to tell so little time. I need to add Puan Bunny died as a christian in 1997, of Cancer she was to be cremated but stop by Suffian own brother. Tun later would also has cancer and died three years later. He was taken care of by the niece of Tunku, Tunku Sofiah Jewa whom he regarded as his daughter http://www.au.malaysia.net/lists/sangkancil/1997-10/frm00383.html http://www.au.malaysia.net/lists/sangkancil/1997-10/frm00402.html please also go to http://www.freeanwar.net/news/tun_suffian.html