A tribute to Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah by Col Zainal Yan (B)

Photo credit to 'Tangis Biru' and 'Sungei Besi Blues', with the article extracted from 'Sembang Kuala', many thanks.

'Zainal Bin Yan on November 16, 2010 at 10:01 AM said:

AlFatihah dihadiahkan kepada Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah. Almarhum was a very kind hearted man. My late father took care of Almarhum when Almarhum was studying in MCKK. My late father was very well known as “Pak Yan”, the “Chief House Boy” of Prep School MCKK. On many occasions Pak Yan ran errands for Almarhum. In my career as an army officer I have also the honor of standing by the side of Almarhum on many official occasions including ‘Penyampaian Watikah Tauliah’ to young commission officers at the Royal Military College and also escorting him on arrival at the Official Opening of the Hutan Lipur Tapah sometime in 1983.

I have to tell my story when I was selected to go for the Boys Wing RMC selection interview sometime in December 1964. Being from a poor family of 14 children, preparation for the trip for the interview in Sungai Besi was a financial burden. With a little bit of help from elder brother Shamsuddin Yan, all that was needed for the trip to Sungai Besi was ready except that I didn’t have a leather shoe to fit with the long-sleeve shirt with a ‘clip-on’ tie bought for me by my brother. To my surprise, My father took out from his little wardrobe in our house, a pair of brown ‘Barrete’ leather shoes. My late father instructed me to try on the shoes. It was a little bit too big for my feet but after my father put in some newspaper into the front end of the shoes all seems well!! I have a leather shoe..the first leather shoes I have ever put on. This pair of shoes was actually given to my late father by Almarhum Sultan Idris. According to my late father, he was instructed by Almarhum to take the pair of shoes to Pekan Kuala to be fitted with ‘ladam’. On the return trip from Kuala my father decided to wear the shoes. On arrival at the entrance of the Prep School gate, my late father was confronted by Almarhum. “Kamu pakai kasut aku, Yan!”. My father said ,’Ampun Tuan ku, patik hanya nak merasa pakai tuanku’. Almarhum in a harsh voice said to my father, ” Kamu tak ade kasut,?”. My father replied, “kasut ade tuanku tetapi kasut kulit tak ade tuanku”. Almarhum paused for a while and then said in soft voice, ” Ha. Ambiklah kan kamu kasut tu”. That was the shoe that I wore for the successful interview to gain entry into the Boys Wing RMC and this was the same story that I related to the interview Board. May be out of sympathy the Selection Board got me selected into the Boys Wing! Semoga Allah cucuri rahmatNya keatas Roh Almarhum Sultan Idris.

My only regret was that after wearing out the pair of shoes, I didn’t keep it as remembrance.'