A Humble Recognition

When the alarm rang that morning of 14th Jan 2012, I woke up in panic and remembered that I fell asleep without realizing. Came back from Kuantan the night before feeling feverish. It could have been the rain the day before. Kuantan was raining the whole day and although in most times I hate walking in the rain albeit with an umbrella, I could not resist it this time. Datin S enticed me with the gulai ikan patin and sambal tempoyak at Akob’s. Other than these 2 yummeh food, there were also gulai tempoyak daun kayu and goreng tempe and ikan bilis served there. Catching up with Datin S was something that was much awaited. What a pity I had to leave for office especially when I was already tugged into lots of coziness at Datin S’s bungalow.

After the panic, I realized that the camera battery had only one bar. Worse, I forgot to switch on the charger of my blackberry and the bb’s battery was draining out. Today is the big day and with my state of unreadiness, I foresee that there would only be a few shots to be taken at the palace later.

I was clad in blue kebaya labuh and sedondon with beloved husband’s blue baju melayu complete with destar, bengkung and sampin. He looked very handsome and reminded me of him 20 years ago when we got married. Even our temporary helper was pleasantly shocked to see him that morning and asked Alina “Bapak nak kahwin lagi?”

The drive to Seri Menanti lasted about a little more than an hour. Seri Menanti is the royal town for the Negeri royalties. My paternal grandfather hailed from Tanjung Ipoh which is the kampong next to Seri Menanti. I suspected that my ancestors may have lived here too long time ago.




The royals are mostly from suku Biduanda. As some of you may know, there are 12 sukus in Negeri. In adat pepatih, one follow his/her mother’s suku which makes me a Tanah Datar. (Note to self * I swear that I will not delete the names of the Penghulu, Lembaga and Buapak of Ulu Muar Tanah Datar from my Notes for fear of being quizzed again like during the rehearsal).





I feel very proud the fact that I am bequeathed the pingat Ahli Setia Negeri Sembilan by the Yam Tuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, Tunku Muhriz on his 64th birthday at Istana Besar Seri Menanti. It is the recognition which my birth state had granted on me and the feeling is almost beyond honourable. The fact that I am a company secretary and a senior lawyer in one of the reputable companies in the country must have some elements for the palace to consider. I feel thankful. As a matter of fact, the last three years I instructed the payroll to deduct a hefty part from my pay and channel it to PPZ NS would probably indicated that Allah is rewarding me in return. We never know cos’ He works wonders!

I don’t know that many recipients. There was my ex officemate who got the Dato’ship, there was my Srikandi friend’s father who was the Dato Pengiring, Edi my classmate who was there as invitee and Tunku A, SIL's uncle whom Datin S nicely referred him as Lord Chamberlain. It was such a moderate affair. The Yam Tuan and the Tunku Ampuan are two charming faces which make you feel at ease. I think the Undang yang Empat and the Tunku Besar Tampin look more fierce. I shook hands with the MB who is another friendly face. He came to where I was seated twice and I just didn’t feel good if I didn’t shake hands with him. He probably has some say to me receiving the pingat one way or the other.

When I went up to receive the pingat from Yam Tuan, I carefully counted my steps whilst ensuring the right time to mengangkat sembah. The sembah should not be too low or too high. Someone corrected my sembah during the rehearsal and I was determined not to repeat the same mistake. There were sounds of sigh from the audience when they noticed any of the recipients made mistakes. Blunders like immediately turn the back when Yam Tuan has given the kurniaan or forgetting to angkat sembah were pretty common. The Yam Tuan is indeed a forgiving king and I think he must have tried to hide his giggles when such silly blunders occured. Anyway he was like one of us before he was throned and he surely does not look like one who harp on trivial matters.




When the ceremony was over we proceeded to lunch. The lunch was fun. Guests was entertained by the singer Aishah, who is also a Nogori born. The king cut the 5 storey birthday cake with a sword (wow! I thought only Samurais do that) and everyone got their share.





All in all it was such a sweet affair; particularly sweeter because it happened 3 days after my birthday. What a good start for the year, Alhamdulillah. Of course it is not like I receive a grand bintang carrying the title Dato’ship, nonetheless it is a humble but huge recognition for me. The funny part is, resulting from this honour, my close colleagues at office are now calling me Datin!