TAKZIAH TO THE KERABAT OF YANG DIPERTUAN BESAR TUANKU JAAFAR ALMARHUM TUANKU ABDUL RAHMAN & THE RAKYAT OF NEGERI SEMBILAN

SRI MENANTI, KUALA PILAH NEGERI SEMBILAN:-

The red spot is the State of Negeri Sembilan, where I was studying from 1971 until 1975 (5 years) from form one till form five. My former school was Tuanku Muhammad School (TMS) Kuala Pilah Negeri Sembilan. It is easily be recognised as the shape is similar to the map of Australia.

I started from being a remote kampung boy from Kg Patau Tambunan to the great state of Negeri Sembilan, a rich in cultural belief. Who doesnt know the Undang of Negeri Sembilan, The Minangkabau, Adat Perpatih and so on. However, being in Negeri Sembilan, the feeling was rather not limited to knowing the 'adat' only but more of 'self belonging' as I was required to sing the state anthem at school and at any offical state functions, eat the way local guys eat and talk in the 'nogohri', a famous local dilect and act as Negeri Sembilan guy. Why? Because, I represented State Negeri Sembilan in the cricket tournament for two years 1974 and 1975 against other Malaysian States aas well as Australians (to be specific, The New South Wales Australia). Naturally, when I play cricket, I wear a Negeri Sembilan Flag and embelem and thats made me one of the proudest man to be given the chance to 'fight' for Negeri Sembilan.

Not only that, I had a chance to serve The Yang DiPertuan Negeri Sembilan and its guest of honours during offical functions held at Kuala Pilah in 1972 and 1973. Yes! I served as 'waiter' , serving food to VIPs where The Yang DiPertuan Negeri Sembilan was the guest of honour. I was not given anything, no tips, no food but I enjoyed much to be given the opportunity to be given the chance 'to serve' the ruler of Negeri Sembilan.

Back in 1971, Sabah Foundation sent me to TMS Kuala Pilah Negeri Sembilan to study. As I said, I was a kampung boy who went to a Peninsula Malaysia to persue my education at a young age of 12. I did not come back home for two years. My mother was so worried for not seeing me for two years. My family gave me only RM15. What can you have with only RM15?. Well, I saved RM5 at Kuala Pilah post office which is 3 km away from my hostel. The rest was used for buying other things. As a kid, I was not a good budget controller so the RM10 was gone in less than one month and I was 'gigit jari' during school recess. The good thing with a kampung boy is, I can eat everything that the hostel served with NO fuss and thats made me 'fit' for any hardship.

This is Istana Sri Menanti, the well-known istana with minangkabau design where no single nail was used to fix and built. How great are the people responsible to build this historical building.

The three colours flag with yellow denotes the royal's colour. Be careful not to wear yellow colour during offical state functions as a respact for the Yang DiPertuan Besar Negeri sembilan. I wear this flag representing Negeri sembilan during cricket game tournament, under 23 years, against New South Wales Australia in 1975.

The late Yang DiPertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, passed away at the age of 86 years old. Born on the 19 July 1922, at Kelang Selangor, 'Mangkat' on the 27 Dec 2008 (86 years old) at Seremban Negeri Sembilan. May Allah forgive all your sins.

The late Yang DiPertuan Besar Tuanku Ja'afar Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman, the 10th. Yang Di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (26 April 1994 - 25 April 1999) was laid to rest at the Seri Menanti royal mausoleum on the 29 December 2008.