By Rashid Yusof

Padang Gajah near Kuala Terong is the birthplace of Singapore’s first president, Yusof Ishak.

On the environmental front, Dr Puat Dahalan, who was senior director (operations) of the Forestry Department before retiring last August, served as a forestry officer in Larut Matang from 1983 to 1990. He said Kuala Terong, Sungai Kerang and Kuala Sepetang are the three important outposts in the 40, 000-hectare Matang Mangrove Forest, regarded internationally as a well managed system.

Back in 1870s, the locale had an infusion of international character when Sheikh Abdul Rahman al Baghdadi, the great grandfather of Yusof Ishak, arrived in Kuala Terong from Batu Uban, Penang. Prof Murad Merican, a fifth generation descendant, shall write an intimate account on the Terong realm. He told ApaKhabar, Sheikh Abdul Rahman must have journeyed to India from Baghdad and could have sailed to Penang from Calcutta.

Sheikh Abdul Rahman was accompanied to Kuala Terong by two Penang – born son in-laws, Ahmad Abdullah and Muhammad Fakir.

Ishak Ahmad with Tengku Idriss (Kuyeh)

Ahmad Abdullah, the great grandfather of Ahmad Merican and Berlin-based Zubaidah Aziz, was a “tiger hunter in Terong”.

Zubaidah Aziz is the daughter of Abdul Aziz Ishak, the younger brother of Yusof Ishak.

Driving to Kuala Terong on Feb 23, this reporter had this sense of journeying to history.

A standout feature at the Kuala is a special Matang Wetlands feature – an old charcoal factory.

Yusof Ishak was born in 1911. His father, Ishak Ahmad, son of the tiger hunter, was an acclaimed fisheries department officer.

Ishak Ahmad had in 1923 moved to Singapore with his family and 16 years later was awarded the Medal of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. A recent tribute for Ishak Ahmad credited his childhood for his career achievements, “growing up by the riverside in Kuala Terong”.

“Tok” to his grandchildren, Ishak Ahmad was multilingual. “He spoke Hokkien and Tamil,” said Zubaidah Aziz, born in Kuala Lumpur, in 1945.

Zubaidah who was with RTM and then on TV3, has been tirelessly answering ApaKhabar questions. “When it is daylight in Malaysia …” The next day, this noted landed: “I have received good support from most cousins in Malaysia and Singapore.” This was mid-February.

Zubaidah Aziz

Two names often surfaced. One is Kuchom, her cousin who was wrongly registered at birth during World War 11 as “Raja Kelsom” instead of Tengku. Her siblings were then on named Tengku. Kuyeh is Kuchom’s younger brother, Tengku Idriss Tengku Ibrahim. He was a Diplomat whose last posting was Mexico. Kuyeh married Dianne. The couple live in Australia. Kuchom contributed her recollections for this story, telling Zubaidah Aziz: “Tok (Ishak Ahmad) was a good and honest man, with good discipline. He loves us sisters and Kuyeh (Tengku Idriss. See picture). He would wake up very early in the morning, around 5am and prepare his own breakfast with a teaspoon of Marmite with toast and two half-boiled eggs….then we would perform his Subuh prayers. After breakfast he would be reading the Singapore Standard newspaper. He would read back to back.” Their mother and Ishak Ahmad’s daughter, Lily Zubaidah passed away when the three girls and Tengku Idris were young. They then lived with Ishak Ahmad.

The other cousin who has provided Zubaidah Aziz, therefore Apa Khabar, with substantive content is Ahmad Seth Abdul Wahid, due to turn 82 on March 8. Seth in fact wrote a moving recollection of driving Ishak Ahmad and his three female cousins to Yusof Ishak’s residence when he was president of Singapore when water rationing was being enforced. The president of Singapore saw to it that family members adhered to the rationing. The cousins have since been alerted by Kuchom on a book authored by Ishak Ahmad, “The Superstition of Fishermen”. Anyone with a copy may wish to get in touch with Apa Khabar.

Seth’s mother, Salbiah Ishak, married school headmaster in JB, Abdul Wahid Sulaiman.

Descendants of Sheikh Abdul Rahman have pretty much expanded the clan’s geographical reach. Dr Imran, the son of Yusof Ishak, lives in Brunei. His sister, Zuriana, who married a Brunei diplomat posted to Bonn before the fall of the Berlin Wall, now lives in Brunei. Dr Imran, a medical doctor, and Zuriana were Baba and Nyonya within the family circles.

Aishah Tun Abdul Rahim is in Bali. She bought a house there.

Another cousin of Zubaidah Aziz, Asmarah Mohd Aziddin is in the USA.

Pit Stop : HM Shah

A story spanning generations and datelines should pause intermittently. The founder of Shah Motel in PJ, HM Shah was every bit gregarious. At 85, he was driving around PJ and KL and used to visit this acupuncture place. This reporter should know. H.M Shah brought me along, one occasion.

HM Shah was Utusan Melayu’s main marketing man. “Suave Uncle H.M Shah …he matched Arwah Ayah Sulung (Yusof Ishak) to Puan Noor Aishah.”

H.M Shah, Tan Sri Habib Mohamed Shah, died in 2014 at age 93.

Yusof Ishak’s wife, Noor Aishah Mohamad Salim, born in 1933, used to visit her children in Brunei, and, now resides mainly in Singapore to facilitate dialysis treatment.

Utusan Melayu, KL, 1954

Our next big destination is Utusan Melayu, 1954. There is a historic photo that we shall publish.

That would have to wait.

Thronging Trong

Kuala Terong and by extension Terong on the Bruas – Changkat Jering route, may well see better days ahead. For now this area is fairly serene. Thronging Trong did materialise last June. There was this short break coinciding with the Agong’s birthday that prompted many to get out of KL at once. By-passers of the North South Expressway who tried out the two completed stretches of the West Coast Expressway, must return to the NSE via Bruas and Changkat Jering. At midway point is Terong. That was my very first sighting of the road signs Terong. Kuala Terong is accessible by a stretch that starts in Terong. This reporter has not been working on the Yusof Ishak Clan story, so that was that. The crawl in Terong allowed us to take in the scene. There was this family gathering, sort of, at a nice house by the Bruas – Changkat Jering road. They were enjoying durian.

Top Photo: 1935-36 photo in Singapore. Front row from left. Salbiah Ishak, standing next to Salbiah is Abdul Rahim Ishak, Ishak Ahmad and wife Aishahton, the baby on Aishahton’s lap is Alma Azizah Ishak, Laila Halifa Ishak and Lily Zubaidah Ishak.. standing from left Abdul Aziz Ishak, Yusof Ishak, Zohara Bee Ishak, Mohamad Izziddin Ismail, the husband of Laila and Ramley Ishak

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