VOYAGE 2 - Balik Kampung

Although there nothing much left in Mersing after the demised of my mother but as usual my balik kampung trip has been scheduled for this Raya. In fact we have been doing this family gathering for the past few years quite successfully. This year 10 out of 12 family members came back for the Raya gathering and visiting of our parents graves. Despite its being a simple get together but it has contributed effectively in fostering the brotherhood among us and for our children to get to know each other better. The family house reminds us of our childhoods and growing up together, thus gave a perfect setting for enhancing brotherhood solidarity. Although the old house has been replaced by a modest two story bungalow but the land reminds us of the struggle and hardship that our mother has to go through to win the land through years of court case. Personally I think none of us will be able to withstand the challenge in getting our family home through court case, we would have gave up rather easily from the owner who has gone back on his words on selling the house to us. Of course my mother will not take that nonsense and took her case even up to the Menteri Besar of Johor ……. considering that she was uneducated and won her case …. she was my greatest hero till today. After my father died in 1974 she single handedly became the breadwinner, schooling and feeding us up to university levels. All this sacrifice has made my Mersing trip always a special pilgrimage and fond remembrance of her sacrifice.

Actually my children have always looked forward for the Mersing trip. They need a good kampung and of course Mersing fit the bill well with its good beach, offshore islands and tourism town status. Their favorite Café is by the Mersing jetty where they sell good western foods ala KLs. Of course there was seafood restaurant by the Mersing beach that sells good cheap seafood dishes. The six of us have a field day ordering all that we wanted and the bill came to only RM 73 …. it’s about the cost per head to buaka puasa in KL hotel.

The trip was made more memorable this year when a group of my former primary school classmates came dropping by. I haven’t seen some of them since 1974 !!!! But when we start talking the childhood days seems to be just a short distance away. The old bonding is still very strong and we are just catching up on lost time, filling in the missing episodes of our life journey. Some of my old friends have been very successful despite their lack of paper qualifications. Sharom who used to spend lots of time at coffee shop talking over nothing is now the Permanent Chairman of UMNO Bahagian Mersing and successful businessman. Man Rabun is now the Chairman of Mersing Bumiputera Contractors Association ( MBCA). Waizman a simple dreamy Island boy from Pulau Aur is now a successful contractor and treasurer of the MBCA. Apandi is now the district education officer. Bidin is still working with JKR, while Karim Dol has retired and opens up his own motor workshop. The great thing is that as much as I am proud of their achievements and friendship they look up to me as one of their most successful friends.. We talked until 2 am before calling it a day ….. and of course the next morning another group of friends came by to catch up with old times. My plan to leave Mersing at 10.00 am was delayed to 1.00 pm due the heavy catching up sessions. Definitely my balik kampung trip this year was made more memorable with the old mates catching up sessions.

Of course in Mersing I also met the two marine officers from Marine Department entrusted to carry out the investigation on the Seagull Express ferry that caught fire offshore Pulau Tioman killing 7 passengers. They were under tremendous pressure to come up with a good investigation report and evading official and politicians who solicits news on the progress of the investigation. I guess prevention is always a more effective means of avoiding a tragedy and if you think safety is expensive then try an accident. The case reminds me of my experience in 1984 as Harbour Master of Perak. The ferry boats that cross Telok Intan to Seberang Perak have never complied fully with safety requirements and overloaded at most the times. When I sent my enforcement officer to check on their non compliance, the officers were threatened by the boat operators and chased away. I responded by sending my armed enforcement officers and pulled both of their boats to Jabatan Laut base. Of course two hours after that all hell broke loose because more then 500 passengers were stranded on each side of the river. I got nasty calls from almost everybody, the public, politicians and other government agencies including my boss from the HQs. They claimed that I was causing hardship to the public and I said I loved the people so much that I would not allow them to sail on un seaworthy and overloaded boats that can capsize in the river any time. After a heavy meeting at the District Officer office the boat operators agreed to complied fully to our requirements and we allowed the operations to resume under supervision. At the same time we charged the boat operators in court for their earlier non compliance. I did regular similar enforcement exercise at Lumut and throughout Perak. Looking back I am happy that during my tenure as Harbour Master of Perak there was no single ferry/ boat incident. I guessed after a while the ferry/boat operators realized that I would not compromised on safety and the best alternative for them is to comply to the safety requirements.


We could not leave Mersing without buying some keropok and ikan masin. I bought my keropok and ikan masin at Hj Puteh stalls at Tanjung with good discount. After all the owner was my school mate. The bonus this time includes RM 160 worth of frozen seafood ( 3 kg of Udang Laut, 3 kg of Sotong & Kerapu ) the good price was compliments from my brother network, since most of this good seafood were either sold to Singaporean or restaurant owner in Mersing. I found out that the frozen seafood was fresher and cheaper then those I used to buy at Labuan and Kota Kinabalu.

As usual while I am away the burglar alarms sounded a few times, but my good neighbors Hj Samsuddin and others were always there to ensure that everything was safe. The special guard we employed to look after our neighborhood throughout the Raya break was effective in ensuring the safety and security of our areas. All and all it was great and nostalgic balik kampung trip for us.