The Real ‘Si Tenggang’ In Tok Mat’s Clan : Voodoo & Black Magic!

Black magic. Santau. Voodoo. I’d never thought my family would possibly be facing these kind of thing but today, a sudden incident may prove to be the otherwise. All because of heirlooms patrimonies a.k.a harta pusaka. My mother’s side boasted 6 siblings where my mom is the fourth. My grandfather was a so-called self-made noveau riche ( he is not even rich. Just so happened that he has a few bucks he made by selling a few small lands he had!).

A real Tanggang statue @ Indonesia. This could be Pak Cik Mat Yee!!

Since my family moved to Jitra nearly five years ago from the island of Penang sebab Ayah pun dah pencen masa tu, we constantly visited Tok (grandmother) dan Wan (grandfather). Lagipun rumah bukanlah jauh. Adik-beradik mak yang lain samada tak ada masa kerana kekangan waktu atau pun tak ada yang peduli walaupun duduk berdekatan. Well, none of our concern actually! Apa yang kami tahu tanggungjawab sebagai anak bila duduk berdekatan ialah mengambil tahu kebajikan mereka lah, kan? Since Mak pun dah pencen dari pekerjaan as a nurse, keraplah dia melawat mereka; ada sahja buah tangan atau barang keperluan (meja, kerusi, dll) yang Mak bagi. Ayah plak memang naturally someone who likes to help others selalu menjenguk Wan dan Tok; Ayah memang well-known among the neighborhood tak kira di Penang atau Jitra – he is very popular for being so generous in helping others! Apatah lagi terhadap mak dan bapak mertua dia kan?

Mak ada adik paling bongsu yang kami panggil Pak Cik Mat Yee. Dia ni boleh dikatakan ‘the black goat’ of the family. Dah banyak masalah yang dia buat tapi the family always forgive him. Maklumlah anak bongsu- Wan dengan Tok memang sangat sayangkan dia.. Pernah Mak berkecil hati bila Mak dapat tahu Tok menggadaikan gelang emas yang dia bagi untuk Pak Cik Mat Yee. Sebagai seorang anak yang taat, takkah kecik hati kalau mak bapak tak appreciate pemberiannya, bukan? OK, fine..that isn’t the ultimatum. Setelah Pak Cik MatYee yang bercerai kali ke-2 tu takdak rumah, dia terus menumpang duduk dengan Wan dan Tok selama 10 tahun bersama anak dia. Kami pun menerima dia seadanya sebab it’s blood ties, aite?

Drama bermula sejak tahun lepas. Masa tu saya masih lagi berkerja di Bank. Kerana ketamakan, Pak Cik Mat Yee mengambil kesempatan mengeluarkan duit simpanan Wan yang pada masa itu dalam keadaan nyanyuk (gone senile!). Pak Cik Mat Yee bersepakat dengan seorang kawan dia kerani Bank di Maybank cawangan Jitra membuat buku akaun pendua untuk mengaburi mata Wan. Buku pertama mencatatkan jumlah wang yang masih banyak (tidak berubah) manakala buku kedua menyatakan segala transaksi. Daripada wang sejumlah RM70,000, kalau tak silap RM 63,000 telah digunakan! Rupa-rupanya dalam keadaan Wan yang nyanyuk tu, Pak Cik Mat Yee dan kawan kerani Maybank tu mengambil CAP IBU JARI Wan sebagai mengesahkan segala transaksi tu! Sanggup dia lakukan macam tu kat bapanya, Allah Yang Maha Mengetahui!

God’s Willing ditakdirkan Allah SWT, masa bulan puasa Wan pulih sedikit daripada nyanyuk dan mula boleh berfikir! Tiba-tiba dia teringat untuk memeriksa wangnya dan mengajak Mak ke bank. Alangkah terkejutnya bila wang simpanan Wan tinggal sedikit. Mak berjumpa dengan Manager bank untuk mendapatkan kepastian dan setelah siasatan dibuat, kerani Maybank kawan kepada Pak Cik Mat Yee mengaku bahawa mereka telah sediakan 2 buku akaun! Supposedly, kerani terbabit boleh dikenakan hukuman tapi Mak taknak press charge against him or Pak Cik Mat Yee; stigma masyarakat melayu kampung taknak hebohkan kisah dalam kelambu peribadi keluarga. So, peristiwa tadi menyebabkan Pak Cik yg dah kawin baru (sebelum kejadian itu; hantaran kawin pun guna duit Wan dan di-matchmake-kan oleh Pak Ngah!) tu keluar dari rumah Tok ngan Wan.

So happened that after the incident, mak ngan Ayah meneruskan tanggungjawab; Buat apa harta pusaka yang tak seberapa tu? Untuk hidup mereka dah ada hasil wang pencen masing; saya dan Kakak pun dah berkerja! Dua minggu lepas Pak Ngah dan Mak Ngah balik ke Jitra. Mereka berdua dan Ayah pergi berjumpa Pak Cik Mat Yee kononnya nak buang yang keruh ambil yang jernih- let bygones be bygones. Nak dijadikan cerita, Pak Cik Mat Yee mengeluarkan kata-kata kesat kepada Ayah :

“Nak jaga sangat orang tua tu! Jagalah sampai nak mampoih! (You wanna take care the old man right? Do it till you die then!)”

Sanggup seorang anak cakap macam tu sedangkan abang ipar dia yang bersusah-payah menjaga mak bapak dia???? Ayah agak terkilan dan bagitahu kat Mak. Seemed like Pak Cik Mat Yee hit the nerves! Mak yg agak sebak dengan kenyataan Pak Cik bertekad nak ubah nama tanah Wan kepada namanya dan Mak Ngah; bukan untuk membolot harta tapi sebagai balas dendam- katalah lepas Wan meninggal, Mak akan bahagikan semua harta tu kepada adik-beradiknya. Ambillah semua! Tapi sebelum tu, Mak tanya persetujuan Mak Caq dan kesemuanya untuk menukar nama. Wan pun dengan suka relanya dan dalam keadaan yang SANE mengubah nama tanah kepada nama Mak dan Mak Ngah.

Rupa-rupanya, Pak Cik Mat Yee dah dengar khabar ni. Dia jadi marah! Pagi tadi, dia pergi ke rumah Tok dan Wan dan mengugut nak cari bomoh Siam dan nak butakan mata Mak dan Ayah!! Perlu diingat, bomoh Siam adalah antara bomoh yg ditakuti kerana ilmu hitam negara tersebut yg lethal. Nak nak pulak kami tinggal berdekatan sempadan negara ni. Benda ni (dark magic, voodoo) memang wujud dan kepada Allah SWT sahaja kami berserah. Maybe for urban peeps, this is just alaughing matter… but believe me, supernatural exists. Even fo us Moslems even in our most pious hierarchy, we still have to believe it. To believe in the Afterlife and Supernatural (Ghaib) are the essences of faith to Allah SWT. Pak Cik Mat Yee mengugut nak amalkan ilmu hitam supaya Ayah mati kemalangan dan rumah kami terbakar!~ Masya Allah… Saya sendiri tak sangka hanya kerana harta sanggup seorang adik buat macam tu? Mak agak klutzy dan terkejut dan hiba bila dapat tahu- kesemua adik beradiknya dah diberitahu; kalau ada apa-apa yang berlaku, Pak Cik Mat Yee lah yg punya angkara! Ayah pula cool sebab bekas polis and he handles everything very calm.

Mungkin entri saya ni seolah-olah membuka pekung di dada but I can’t help it but feel so angry at Pak Cik Mat Yee. Semoga Allah SWT membalas segala kejahatan yang dilakukan kepada mak bapak dan juga adik beradiknya! Doa orang yg teraniaya tu terbuka hijabnya dengan Allah SWT dan moga-moga semasa mak dan Ayah di Makkah nanti untuk kerjakan umrah dapat menghindarkan kami daripada niat buruk Pak Cik Mat Yee ni!

Teardrops On My Guitar.

This keeps resonating. Reminiscences and memories intertwined. Lyrics hit the abyss of  heart. Corny. Melancholy. But it is just one of the nostalgia etched. No questions asked.

Science Macroteaching (Understanding The Solar System) & Road-Relay Event.

“Solar System Is So Big (Eei-ii-oo)

And In It We Have 9 Planets (Eei-ii-oo)

Mercury Here, Venus There, Earth, Mars & Jupiter!..”

(Petikan The Solar Song: modified mengikut rentak nursery rhymes  “Old McDonald Had A Farm”)

A re-cap from last week’s event. On the 7th May 2009 (the day after coming back from Lumut), my group was slated to do our Science macro-teaching. The title that me, Kord and Mad chose was “Understanding The Solar System”- which is the syllabus for Year 4 students. The Learning Outcomes (objectives as depicted from the ‘bible’ Curiculum Specification) are that by the end of the lesson, students must be able to:

1. List the names of 9 planets in the solar system
2. Sequence the 9 planets accordingly

Indeed the Learning Outcomes seemed to be simple but the question is how do you as a teacher validates that your students are REALLY MASTERING the objectives so that your class IS a success? What activities you want to introduce to the class so that the lesson is not boring but kept alive? It is advisable for teachers (trainees) to enlist the Learning Outcomes in simple one or two objectives as primary school students ain’t robots!

Since my class had just came back from B.I.G., most of us were quite tired and it was actually a challenge for my group to keep them in full enthusiasm as my classmates were to be my ‘Year 4 pupils’  throughout the macro-teaching session!

My macro-teaching is segregated into 3 parts (for the three of us!) -

1. I would be handling the set induction (1st phase of teaching to capture pupils’ attention!) and the knowledge-presentation a.k.a teaching part;
2. Mad would be handling the teaching via activities part where students were introduced nemonics to remember the sequence of the 9 planets;
3. Kord would be handling the reinforcement activities in forms of the teabag game (pupils sit in a circle and passed teabag when music was played. When the music was stopped, pupils with the teabag must answer the questions on solar system) & “I Am The Planet” activity- where class was divided into 2 groups and cards with necklace-like rope were given where both groups would have to show the correct sequence facing each other by wearing the necklace-rope cards.

Since I was like always, the controlling freak who determined the flows of the macro-teaching (but democratic as well; I listen to Mad’s and Kord’s opinion too!), the heavy task to capture the attention of class was my responsibility. I asked all ‘pupils’ to close their eyes and I surprised them with the Star Wars clip (a very loud sound system!). Everyone was shocked and opened their eyes! I highlighted the word ’star’ and proceeded to a next video-clip where ‘pupils’ were to imagine themselves in a rocket! When they opened their eyes, I showed them snippet of “Apollo 13″ where a rocket was launched and I countdown with the pupils. When the rocket shot up to the sky, it marked that the whole class was entering to a new world; that was the solar system! With every lights being turned off, everyone was excited like watching a movie!

I would have to say the set induction was a bit tricky and had to be executed in the right timing so that it won’t seemed draggy & lengthy. Furthermore, it was important to keep the excitement of the students; not to be dampen by any trivial shenanigans that may occur due to inefficiency. Thanks to Mad & Kord for the wonderful cooperation.

After that, of course I proceeded with my teaching- where I had to bring down my level of English to suit the Year 4 understanding. Mad and Kord also were doing so fine in their respective parts that everything plannedfixed in the jigsaw perfectly! Pn Norazian, our lecturer who happened to be the Ketua Jabatan Sains IPDA was very happy and satisfied with our presentation; she complimented the teamwork (“Apa yang penting? KERJASAMA!”) and said if we were to continue these positive attitude during practical time, she would not hesitated to nominate us as Pelajar Cemerlang!”.

It was not the complimenting or the most-posibbly-being-nominated-as-’pelajar cemerlang accolades that make us happy; it was the hardwork that we did; the preparation of the teaching aid ( a complete cardboard model of solar system, 2 sets of 9 planets flash cards and of course, our-own singing voice of “The Solar Song” clip  in accordance to ‘Old MacDonald Had A Farm’ rythmn !!); we were very proud with our hardwork! Alhamdulillah!

And on the 9th May which was Saturday, my class Science 1 became the so-called pioneer for organizing Road Relay Event; along with Science 2, Maths and etc. All whole, were very satisfied that all went well and congratulation to D-Ar & Nurul for being bold to take the seats as Pengerusi & Naib Pengerusi! Proud of Science 1!

Bina Insan Guru (B.I.G.) @ Lumut, Perak.

“Jadi guru bukannya mudah

Silap langkah pasti terngadah”

(“Dikir Barat Kumpulan 7 B.I.G.)

It is compulsory for all teachers-trainee under the KPLI programme to undergone the ‘Bina Insan Guru’ @ B.I.G. slot which comprises physical,mental and emotional disclosures. The slot is meant to test the students on how to deals with challenges albeit in hectic atmosphere. We were constantly being provoked and criticized in order to strengthen our mental defense. Nonetheless, since my classmates and I already went to the Outside Education for Physical Education, this programme was not a big deal for us as mentally and emotionally, we were so prepared to what were we supposed to be dealing with!

Generally, it was an alright experience. I actively participating in groupies-presentation a.k.a. Latihan Dalam Kumpulan -LDK and also some other events. It just come naturally to be in the element of controlling freak when you have the power and the drive. I have to say everything went smooth without major glitches. The jungle-swamps-and estuary tracking was awesome where all of us had to swam across the dirty smelly muddy estuary and stepped on the flaccid swamps (Well, I don’t really find the places smelly or dirty- just some of my friends’ opinions) and since I’ve already had experience using the Buoyancy Aid, it was a no problem to swim across the estuary!

The kayaking session was somewhat less enjoyable for me; I prefer rafting because rafting ada banyak orang dan space besar; kayak dua orang sahaja. Nonetheless, my kayak arrived first at the shore and that proved that to manoeuvre the kayak is possible even if the body is petite! Before that, we had to prepare our own meals at respective session-cooking outside session which were cool.

For the Malam Kebudayaan, my group performed a “Dikir Barat” where I played the self-made percussion; empty bottles filled with sands and pebbles and when shaked, sounds is made. Kinda creative and I created most of the ‘Dikir Barat” verses; so kinda happy with myself as well! Kudos also to my team mates for coming up with such marvellous ideas.

Sememangnya banyak kenangan di B.I.G. ni dengan rakan-rakan. Yang paling menggelikan hati ialah apabila rakan-rakan kelas Sains 1 semuanya yang tengah melepak santai di pantai pada hari terakhir mengambil gambar tanpa saya dan Raymond! Apa lagi, perangai childish pun mula lah keluar. Terus merajuk sampai semua orang pun terpanggil2x saya (hehee); Raymond biasalah cool je..paling  tua lah katakan! Mula-mula ingat nak psycho kengkawan Sains 1, lepas tu plak saya plak yang emo (ahaks!!!). Tapi yang best kengkawan sains 1 semuanya paham perangai saya dan tak ambik enteng. Selepas saya cool down, semuanya pakat gelakkan saya. Masa sesi refleksi with our mentor, it was kinda touching and menyebakkan bila terkenangkan betapa sabarnya rakan-rakan Sains 1 dengan kerenah saya. They don’t focus on my weakness and flaws instead they treasure me beyond that. They understand my characters as the ‘youngest in the class’ and the perseverance is much appreciated. I indeed felt like we are one family and I really going to miss my Science 1 nanti bila berpisah nanti…huhuhuh =(

Above all, the B.I.G. session which consists Science 1, Pemulihan Khas 1, Bahasa Cina 2 and J-Qaf Pendidikan Islam 2 went well.

I Am Alone At A Crossroads.

Siphoning out in blog is like a remedy for me. A salvation valve I take as a solace whenever I couldn’t express it in words. I am myself best friend. Of course there are times where you just have to believe your own self and defy what others may think even if theirs contradict with your stand.

It’s been quite topsy-turvy days lately. With mountainous assignments and events, personal conflicts (past and present coming altogether!), recent hulaballoo (picture kidnapper @ Friendster), I’ve to struggle to keep myself in control and not to lose focus due to emotional fluctuation. Amidst all of these, I still try to squeeze time to look into my virtual pages and write something here. I will be heading to “Bina Insan Guru” camping at Lumut this Sunday. Since am in charge as AJK Pengangkutan, been quite busy. But Alhamdulillah, having understanding friends like my Science 1 is really helping. The crowd in IPGMs is different from the crowd in the bank. And I belong in IPGM. All the positive aura is much appreciated.

Listen
I am alone at a crossroads
I’m not at home in my own home
And I’ve tried and tried
To say whats on my mind
You should have known
Now I’m done believing you
You don’t know what I’m feeling
I’m more than what
You’ve made of me
I followed the voice, you gave to me
But now I’ve gotta find my own