One Hurt, The Others Feel The Pinch

My youngest sister was pretty upset with a few people recently. She had good intention, menegur mereka kerana sesuatu yang dibuat yang ada kaitan dengan dia (my sister). Tapi ye lah, tak semua orang boleh terima teguran. Terutama budak-budak muda yang berdarah panas (yes I've been young before, I know how it felt...). However she was referring to one topic but those people just went on to talk about other things...things involving our family. That snapped her a bit - current issue remained unresolved but other issues were brought to surface. And that prompted my very-d-upset sister to write this in her blog:

Apa-apa pun, aku just nak cakap.... PADA MEREKA YANG PANDANG TITLE DATO SERI AYAH AKU TU KAN, AKU NAK BAGITAU KORANG BAHAWASANYA AYAH AKU NI BERMULA DARI BAWAH NAK DPT TITLE TU. MY PARENTS CAME FROM A VERY2 POOR FAMILY BACK THEN. ADA KORANG TAU?
MY SISTERS AND I WENT TO UNIVERSITY USING SCHOLARSHIP...YES WE GOT OUR SCHOLARSHIP BECAUSE WE DID WELL AT SCHOOL.
AND THE BUNGALOW THAT MY PARENTS LIVE IN NOW, CAME FROM THEIR HARDSHIP FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS....AFTER LIVING IN ARMY QUARTERS AND RENTING HOUSES..

My father sold kuih-muih when he was 9 or 10 years old at his kampung (about the age of my Amsyar now). In his free time then, he would climb trees and belt out English songs - his own way of improving his command of English. And yes, he can still sing very well now. I think I got that 'skill' from him..and it seems Amsyar got that too. *eh enterframe pulak*

When he was 19, he joined the army. He was a young man with goals. He said, "by 21 years old I want to go to the United States of America. And I won't be able to do that if I stay here in Askar Melayu." So he tried his luck to join the Special Forces, or KOMANDO as we call it here. He got in, got his green beret, and successfully set foot in the U.S when he was 21 years old.

Fast forward *through lots of army quarters, rented houses, schools for us sisters*...the Datukships that my father got were all because of his service in the army. And he got his Dato' Seri from the State of Perak after he played an active role in resolving the siege that involved a group who seized military weapons and killed several people in the process of wanting to 'overthrow the government'.

I remembered the Al-Maunah siege well. It was in the news for days. The then Defense Minister (our current Prime Minister) was also there at Bukit Jenalik, Sauk. It was the year 2000 and I was in my second trimester carrying Amsyar, my first child. The first grandchild for my parents. Imagine, when the siege was finally over, we switched on the TV3 news and the first sentence that popped out from the anchorman was:

"Panglima Medan Tentera Darat nyaris ditembak oleh ketua kumpulan Al-Maunah..."

*my dad is in Wikipedia :) *

If my father didn't 'backhand' the rifle away from his chest in time, he would have been shot, point blank.

So yes, we sisters are a bit sensitive when people think our parents had it easy, that me & my sisters have had it easy. Any of you had to sell 'aiskrim Malaysia' masa sekolah rendah? Mungkin ada. Kena bawak mee hoon goreng jual kat kawan-kawan sekolah masa umur 9 tahun? Mungkin ada. I've done those, too. When my mom was busy getting her customers' baju kurung etc ready (she was like a part-time tailor once), my youngest sister who was probably 5 years old at that time was the one looking after the 'peti aiskrim Malaysia' at the front door of our single-storey terrace house..in case some school kids come wanting some ice-cream.

No wonder my Supermom-mom gets so sad every time she looks at old photographs. She remembered all the hardship we had to go through. My dad was a true soldier..but he was busy. So my mom held the fort, at home. She and her four daughters. I still remembered when the chain on my bike fell off one day..I was maybe 10 years old and didn't know how to put it back on. My mom helped me and said, "you must learn to do things yourself, Millie...you don't have any brothers to help you..and you're the eldest. Kita takde lelaki nak tolong kita.."

*of course at that time my dad was not around, probably out of town, and my mom was sort of speaking figuratively*

We had to go through what we had to...and I think we turned out quite okay. Hehheh. We sisters used to fight a whole lot before but now we're very okay with each other. We know what our mom had to go through before, now that most of us are mothers ourselves. It's like..you'll never know what it's like, until you experience it yourself.

:)