Utuh Paloi Banjar Blog

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Setiap kali menjelang tarikh 25hb Mei, hatiku tersentuh. Tahun ini merupakan kali ke 44 ia bertandang,  mengusik jiwa membuai rasa. Ada kalanya ia lebih bermakna dari tarikh ulang tahun kelahiran dan perkahwinan.

Hari itu, kira-kira jam 11 pagi, aku termenung sejenak. Di sebuah dewan makan yang luas, kami diberi taklimat terakhir dan sedikit masa untuk berfikir. Keputusan menerima atau menolak akan menentukan corak hidup tahun-tahun mendatang. 

Walaupun pandangan terbatas dalam ruang lingkup tertutup, namun ia tidak dapat menghalang fikiran mengimbau ke sebuah daerah terpencil yang baru dua hari ditinggalkan.

Ahad 23hb Mei. Seharian aku resah. Gelisah. Lagu ’kucupan azimat’ dendangan Ahmad Jais berkumandang melalui gelombang pendek radio  transistor Philips.

“…terimalah ucapan berpisah…selamat tinggal kasihku…kanda kan pergi ke medan berjuang…kerana bangsa dan nusa…”

“Selamat tinggal kasihku…”. Aku tak punya kekasih yang akan meratapi pemergian. Sebagai anak desa, hidup dibatasi adat dan tatasusila masyarakat setempat. Parit, sungai dan denai adalah cintaku sejak kecil lagi.

Tapi kenapa resah kenapa gelisah?

Sudah lebih dua minggu waran tiket kereta api ke Johor Baru diterima namun aku masih terpinga-pinga. Air liur hampir kering memujuk ibu memohon restu. Surat tawaran meminta tanda tangan waris atau ketua kampung masih belum terusik. Atas arahan ibu yang juga ibu saudaranya, ketua kampung enggan membantu.

Detiknya semakin hampir, fikiran kian buntu.

Lewat tengahari, aku bertandang ke rumah kawan karib di sebelah masjid, meluahkan kegelisahan yang hampir setengah purnama menguji kewarasan. Mungkin kerana teman ini telah lali dengan tusukan onak dan duri, tanpa perlu berfikir panjang dia memberi pendapat, merungkai kekusutan memecah kebuntuan. Jalan penyelesaian begitu mudah.

Apakah mungkin mereka yang memproses borang tawaran dapat mengenal tandatangan ibuku? Ataupun mereka begitu teliti dan akan datang ke rumah untuk memastikan tandatangan itu benar asli. Yang diperlukan cuma ruang itu diisi. Kenapa selama dua minggu aku tak pernah terfikir penyelesaian semudah ini? Tandatangani sendiri. Dungu atau lurus bendul?

Sekembali ke rumah aku termangu di jendela, meniti sepi daerah zeni, meraba mencari ke dalam diri. Dapatkah nanti aku mengerti bicara buih, menghayati bisikan ombak, menangkis terjahan badai? Dapatkah buih, ombak dan badai dibuat teman, teman setia dikala sepi, sesetia parit, sungai dan denai di desa permai? Atau apakah mungkin nyanyian mendayu camar di laut akan sesyahdu gurindam sayu sang pungguk diulit rindu? Atau mungkinkah desau ombak dan deru bayu segemersik desiran daun diangin lalu, semerdu kicau murai, seindah madah merbah, menyulam kalimah penawar gundah? Mungkinkah?

Lewat petang itu, ketika ‘makan malam’ bersama ibu, lidahku kelu membisu. Tak terdaya menyusun kata  memohon restu buat kali terakhir atau melahirkan tekad yang sudah padu kerana jawapan ibu cuma satu - tidak setuju. Dalam lapar aku terasa kenyang. Nasi yang melewati kerongkong seakan terhenti.

Sedang ibu masih menikmati hidangan di dapur, aku menyelinap keluar rumah menjinjing beg kertas berisi sepasang pakaian, kain, sejadah dan dokumen diri. Setelah mengucapkan selamat tinggal kepada teman setiaku selama ini - sebuah basikal Raleigh tiga gear - yang sekian lama menjadi teman meredah jalan, aku membetis hampir sebatu menghala ke jalan raya. Dengan bas terakhir yang melewati kampung sekitar jam 7, aku melangkah pergi membawa bersama kenangan pahit manis kehidupan seorang remaja desa. Destinasi pertama…rumah saudara tua di pinggir kota untuk tumpang bermalam sementara menunggu dinihari.     

Dikedinginan subuh 24hb Mei, kereta api malam dari utara meluncur laju di landasan membawa bersama ratusan anak muda dengan tujuan dan harapan serupa.

Sebaik sampai di stesen KTM Johor Baru, kami disuruh menaiki trak 3 tan yang sedia menunggu.

Diwaktu itu, perjalanan dari Johor Baru ke Singapura cukup lancar. Belum pun jam 8, kami sudah tiba di destinasi akhir.  

Trak berhenti di lereng bukit. Buat pertama kali, kakiku berpijak di bumi asing.  Di belakang, tersergam bangunan panjang tiga tingkat dan di bawah sana terbentang padang luas tanpa rumput. Bumi tempat aku berpijak terpisah dengan tanah kelahiran, dipisahkan oleh keheningan air Selat Tebrau.

Apakah ini yang aku inginkan? Dapatkah nanti aku menyesuaikan diri? Adakah kawan-kawan baru yang ku temui setulus mereka yang ku tinggalkan? Ahhh, semua masih kabur.

Aku tersentak dari lamunan apabila nama dipanggil. Tibalah pula giliran untuk mengatakan ia atau tidak, menerima atau menolak. Tanpa banyak bicara, aku mengizinkan semua sepuluh jari dilumur dakwat sebelum jari-jari itu disentuhkan keatas borang, memeterai perjanjian. 

Selesai upacara dan angkat sumpah, aku menarik nafas lega, bersyukur atas restu Ilahi. Tanpa izin dan iradatNya, mana mungkin aku mempunyai kudrat untuk berdiri di sini - di ‘main galley’,

                          ROYAL MALAYSIAN NAVAL BASE

                          KD MALAYA

                          WOODLANDS

                          SINGAPORE 27.

                          (Selasa, 25hb Mei !965)

CORRECTING A MISCONCEPTION

I was having a chat with a friend who was adamant that if the Americans did not drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan would not have lost the war. And this man is not the first and will not be the last to have such illusions.

Why atomic bombs. Why not use conventional means to end the war? Let’s retrace events leading to such unprecedented destructions. 

December 7, 1941… Japan attacked Pearl Harbour without prior declarations of war. Over two thousand three hundred Americans died.

Tora Tora Tora, a 1970 film recreating events, planning and executions as precise as it should have been. Rightfully, the film ended immortalising the words of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto “we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve”.

‘A terrible resolve’ which cost Japan dearly.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Commander in Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy was never in favour of ‘awakening that sleeping giant’. He was against the idea of engaging the United States war machines. Being a product of Harvard, he knew the resilience of the American people and that Japan would never stand a chance of winning a protracted war. When he could no longer dissuade his counterparts in the army, without hesitations, he told the short sighted generals that he can only assure six to twelve months of success.  If Japan could not bring the enemy to their knees within the time frame, then victory will be beyond their reach.

That ’successful’ attack on Pearl Harbour was in reality a catastrophic failure. The plan to neutralize the offensive capabilities of the US Pacific Fleet by annihilating their most potent weapon - the  aircraft carriers- failed miserably. All the three carriers were out at sea.  

December 8 1941…at about the same time as the attack on Pearl Harbour,  Japanese troops landed in Kota Baru and by February 16, seventy days after the first shot was fired, General Percival surrendered Singapore to General Yamashita, the Japanese commander nicknamed  the Tiger of Malaya. The swiftness of the campaign and the meek resistance offered by the British surprised the Japanese. 

Since the outbreak of hostilities,  Japanese Navy ruled the Pacific waters unchallenged. At least not until the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 and Midway Islands the following month. The latter is widely regarded by historians as the most telling campaign in the Pacific.

The Battle of Midway is a signature of how future sea battles should be. For the first time in history, opposing sailors could not witness the destructions and sinking of enemy vessels. In fact, the engaging fleet was hundreds of miles apart and had to depend on reports from their pilots. The Imperial Japanese Navy lost four aircraft carriers against one American. A loss that tilt the balance of power and shattered the fallacy of their invincibility. Undeniably, it was the turning point of the Pacific war.

And it marked the beginning of the end to the offensive as well as defensive capability of the Imperial Navy.

Japan, being an island nation with limited natural resources is dependent on the safe passage of their merchant ships to bring in much needed supplies, not only for the inhabitants but more importantly for their ’war machines’.  Without a strong navy to safeguard the shipping lanes, these merchant ships were easy pickings for marauding American submarines and surface vessels.

After six months of unchecked advances and conquests, the roles were reversed. The Japanese were on the defensive. One after another, the far flung islands they have invaded were being recaptured by the Americans. And the perimeters were shrinking. It was just a matter of time before the Allied Forces disarm the ’samurai warriors’.

The fiercest battle of the Second World War fought on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in March 1945 took the lives of  nearly seven thousand allied forces, mostly American fighting men while the Japanese losses were nearly threefold.

The following month, in the campaign to capture Okinawa, more than twelve thousand allied forces were killed and the Japanese casualties exceeded one hundred thousand.

The battle to capture the two islands took a  heavy toll in human lives as well as ships and aircraft. To secure  Okinawa alone, it took the combined forces three months and the loss of thirty six ships, more than three hundred damaged and the destructions of over seven hundred aircraft.

How long would it take and how high would the price be to invade and compelled Japan to surrender. Was it worth to sacrifice hundreds of thousand of Allied soldiers if there was an alternative?

Unlike the allied where ‘discretion is the better part of valour’, and to ‘retreat for a chance to fight another day’ is part of wisdom, to the Japanese, valour is a sacrifice to the extreme. Capitulation is a disgrace. Committing ‘harakiri’ is more honourable than surrender.

Realising the odds, it was suicidal for the allied forces to engage the Japanese on the ground. Not if there is a better alternative. And that alternative is the untried weapon of mass destructions. If it succeeded, it would not only minimise the allied casualties but perhaps the Japanese as well.

August 6 and 9,  1945…that day of infamy will forever be remembered for generations as a grim reminder to the human race. The disaster could have been avoided had Japan acknowledged the hopelessness of their situations. Japanese leaders should have seen the writings on the wall. Expecting miracles of ’kamikaze’ or the divine wind to rescue them from the inevitable is no better than expecting a drowning man to survive by clutching straws.

CONCLUSIONS: The atomic bomb was not the reason for Japan to lose the war. It only helped to expedite her surrender. 

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of ”Pearl Harbour” was killed when the aircraft he was travelling was shot down on April 18, 1943. A ‘blessing’ that saved him the agony of witnessing the carnage.

And the ‘resolve’ of the American people.

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE A BEE.

 

The most famous from the numerous stockpile of Cassius Clay / Muhammad Ali’s and co creations  was first recited during the weighing in ceremony for Cassius Clay’s first fight with Sonny Liston in the morning of February 25, 1964.

 

Who coined the phrase? Was it Clay himself who has been known to have the gift of the gab or was it created by some mysterious creature in his entourage!

 

Just before his eighteenth professional fight in March 1963, Clay was introduced to a man called Drew ‘Bundini’ Brown, a mystical character with a long scar running down his right cheek. Even though Bundini is thirteen years older, his ability to attract the attention and gel with the youthful Clay prompted the latter to accept his presence without hesitations. From that moment on, they became friends.

 

Who is Bundini? What outstanding qualities does this man possess?

 

Bundini is a replica of Clay himself in the sense that both like to talk. That aside, they are worlds apart.  As the friendship flourished, Bundini became an integral part of Clay’s entourage. Their relationship, not without hiccups though, lasted until Bundini passed away in September 1987.

 

So, who created that ‘immortal’ phrase. Some believed it was Clay while some others credited it to Bundini. David Remnick in his book ‘King Of The World’ published in 1998 wrote that it was the creation of Bundini who copyrighted it to preserve its authenticity.

 

Dwelling on heavyweight boxing, one could not help recalling other slogans created by both Ali and Bundini.

 

FIGHT OF THE CENTURY…the first Ali versus Frazier held at Madison Square Garden – the Mecca of boxing - in New York on March 8, 1971. The bout attracted celebrities of that era among them were Barbra Streisand, Bill Cosby, Sammy Davies Jr, Dustin Hoffman, Diana Ross and many others that only Ali could bring to witness boxing matches.

 

RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE…Ali’s fight with George Foreman, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, held in Kinshasha, Zaire on October 30, 1974. As with his first encounter with Sonny Liston ten years earlier, Ali was again the underdog, a 5 – 1 to be precise. And again, Ali proved to the world that his boxing brain could easily destroy his opponent well before the first punch was thrown. The seemingly indestructible George Foreman was a spent force the moment he entered the ring. Ali won by knocking out the champion in the eighth round and regained the championship seven long years after it was taken away from him.

 

THRILLA IN MANILA…Ali’s third and last encounter with Joe Frazier was held at the Philippine Coliseum located in Quezon City, six miles outside Manila on September 30, 1975. The two ring warriors traded punches for fourteen brutal rounds until the swelling on Frazier’s eyes forced his manager / trainer, the legendary Eddy Futch, to throw in the towel to avoid further punishment to his indomitable fighter. True to its billing, the ‘THRILLA IN MANILA’ is widely accepted in the boxing world as the greatest title fight in the history of the heavyweight division. Robert Cassidy, the author of ‘Muhammad Ali, The Greatest of All Time’ published in 1999 wrote in his book “Ali, and Frazier as well, would never fight at such a high level again. They had each left a piece of themselves – a portion of their fighting hearts - in that ring in Manila”.   

 

FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE A BEE, RUMBLE YOUNG MAN RUMBLE was only true in its very sense during the first part of Ali’s reign of the ring. The last time the world would witness the agile Ali ‘floating like a butterfly’ was during his fight with Zora Folley on March 22, 1967. Thereafter, and for the next forty-three months, Ali was in enforced exile for refusing induction into the US army. When he returned on October 26, 1970 for his bout with Jerry Quarry at the Atlanta City Auditorium, Georgia, Ali could only preserve and exhibit a portion of the phrase, i.e. ‘…sting like a bee’. The exile had clipped the wings of that beautiful species nicknamed butterfly.

 

Which of his sixty-one professional fights could be considered as the best bout to cement the immortality of the phrase?

 

 

Most boxing pundits ranked the fight between Ali and Cleveland Williams that took place in Houston on November 12, 1966 to be the ultimate show of supreme dominance… 

 

“Round two found Muhammad Ali at his best. It was a show of art, a spectacle for every boxing man to see. That night at about ten-thirty, no one in the history of this loved and hated sport could have beaten Muhammad Ali, much less Cleveland Williams”. A compliment from no less than Jose Torres,  the author of  a 1971 publications ‘…Sting Like A Bee’. Torres himself was the Light Heavyweight Champion who traded his boxing gloves with a portable type writer.

 

Thomas Hauser in his book, ‘Muhammad Ali, His Life And Times’ wrote “…that night in Houston, Ali was the most devastating fighter who ever lived…”

 

Robert Cassidy wrote “…from the opening bell, Ali glided across the ring with the grace and fluidity of a gold-medal figure skater. While Williams struggle to reach his elusive opponent, Ali’s blinding left jab was scoring with alarming frequency…”

 

If that was the best performance from Muhammad Ali the pugilist, his ‘lifelong’ manager / trainer, Angelo Dundee begged to differ. Rightly or wrongly, he said “THE BEST OF MUHAMMAD ALI WERE THE ONE WE DIDN’T SEE”.

 

“The one we didn’t see” was that period in time - from March 1967 to October 1970 - when he was banned from practicing his trade. The boxing world was deprived a once in a lifetime opportunity to witness the spectacle of a full grown butterfly floating around the ring delivering bee stings at will.

 

What a cruel world we live in ? 

 

 

 

PAMALI – KARADAWAN URANG BAHARI???

 

Taungut di pinggir watun…..ditinjak mintuha.

Batinghui dalam rumah…..dimasuki tadung.

Amun guring bakawan, jangan guring ditangah…..dikucup kuyang.

Ari sanja amun magun haja ditanah…..kaina disambunyiakan hantu

Maangkat piring nasi wayah manyuap…..babini baanak tiri

Barabah batiharap…..kamatian kawitan

Manupang tangan manutup talinga wayah barabah bahiring …..kada mandangar urang mambaca talkin.

Makan guringan pisang / cakuduk amun kada talah lagi mangguring….. minyaknya lakas una

Barabah imbah makan…..takana panyakit abuh

 

Banyakai lagi pamalinya nang ulun magun haja ingat tapi hudah kalumpanan nangapa musibahnya. Manatak kuku, mamakan manisan dirumah amun hudah malam gin pamali jua.

 

Sawat ulun manakuni arwah uma “panyakit abuh tu kaya apa”. “Parut nang kaya urang batianan tu panyakit abuh “ ujar din manakutani. Kada wani lagi ulun barabah imbah makan.  Bisa bangat urang bahari manata anak.   Amun kada wujud gin panyakit abuh, barabah imbah makan kan kada baik…mangalihi bantasan turun kapaparutan.

 

Wayahitu, hidup kan ngalih. Pisang gin dihantus kaitu haja. Amun sasakali diguring handak jua dihantup baimbai. Anak nang tangah macal bilang kalarakan rakungan mahadang kawitan habis dipadapuran. Mahanu kada sawat habis mangguring hudah ampat lima buting dibuat kamuntung.  Handak ditangati kada purun. Di-itihi haja kaluku lucung. Kada sawat taimpar kaading baading lain. Makaam timbul karadawan –  haran minyak  amun pisang / cakuduk dimakani wayah kawitan mangguring. Macamlah minyak kada una amun anak paasian.

 

Ujar uma “wayah mambaca talkin, nang dalam kubur apa bangun bahiring mandangar ngarannya disambat imam”. Amun kita barabah bahiring batungkat tangan wayah didunia, jangan sampai tangan manutup talinga. Kaina amun hudah mati, tabawa-bawa sampai kakubur. Kada kadangaran papadahan imam. Asaan ulun, urang banjar bahari tahu hudah fisiologi….takutan pingkar tulang belakang lalu ditangati barabah bahiring kaya itu.

 

Amun kada barabah batiharap, apa kawitan kada bisa matiyah!  Kada badayi hingkat hidup manungkat langit. Amun kaitu, napa sabanarannya nang handak dipadahakan. Takutan ngalih bahinak? Nang nia ulun kada tahu.

 

Urang bahari makan baduduk, basila. Nang badangkak gin ada. Amun hudah kalaparan, manggatus makan. Tumatan dilantai handak mambuat kamuntung asa jauh bangat. Amun piring diangkat, kada haja parak, manungap kamuntung gin kada ngalih. Ditungap? I-eh. Kada dustaan. Ulun karap maliat urang bahari manungap nasi dipiring nang baisi kuah…kaya urang mangilingani. Kaya apa handak mamadahi anak amun nang tuhanya kaya itu. Handak kada handak, tapaksa mangaluhum, takutani anak. “hakun nah maingun anak tiri. Anak saurang kaina gin kada taingun…”. Nang sabujurannya, kaya kada baadat atawa takutan talapas piring.

 

Nang nia ulun kada wani manyanggah. Suah samalaman Ijam, anak angah Jumrah hilang, tumatan handak malam sampai kasubuh. Tuhuk sakampungan manggandah upir, mancari-i. Hahalulung kulawarga mangiau ngaran kaluku ada jua baburinik.  Hudah handak siang tatamuan tangah basimbungkun dalam parit nang kada babanyu. Li-ir awak.  Dikucup hantu kuyang ujar arwah nenek. Banarannah disambunyiakan hantu atawa bapatak katakutanan imbah disariki. Kada suah ulun batakun. Nang ulun tahu, amun hudah ari kadap, kan takutan handak tulak kakamandian. Sumurnya kada pulang parak awan rumah. Amun kada mandi, awak babau ganyir. Sambahiangnya pulang kaya apa!

 

Wayah kakanakan, arwah nenek bisa bangat basurah kisah di banjar. Kaya apa nenek laki turun kabarumahan manatak ikung macan, maling nang bajarijihan darah singgah mainta kapur hagan dikulacak awan daun kasai maling, hantu kuyang maalih kakanakan panjimput nang kada wani guring dihiga…imbah tu samunyaan kalima-lima cucu din kada nang hakunnya guring ditangah. Wahini ngalih bangat mandangar atawa batamuan nenek nang bisa basurah mangguringakan cucu.

 

Higa mahiga rumah urang bahari kada lingai kaya wahini. Nang kada tagah baya ditungkaran jua. Amun sawa ganal kaya batang pisang bapatak gin kada kaliatan. Suah ulun mamadahakan awan nenek maliat ular sawa bagamat lalu dihiga rumah. “jangan dirawa. Tu panunggu tanah” ujar din. Kaya apa manata anak nang batinghui kada sain ampihan amun kada ditakutani. Tu pang luku asalnya - amun batinghui dalam rumah kaina dimasuki tadung.

 

Nang paling nyaman duduk baungut…batis bajuntai ditangga, burit andak diwatun. Amun anak lalakian kada bangat asa supan. Satumat baungut hudah minggat. Nang bibinian ni nang ngalih. Manyupanakan ada jua. Kaina ada pulang muntung manguya “panguliran luku diang anak sipulan sipulan tuh”. Supan kawitan. Jadi kaya apa handak manangati. Handak disariki kada purun. Imbah tuhuk mamikirakan, lalu timbul karadawan….Anak bibinian bahari amun disambat pasal balaki, asa karingitan luku. Kaya apa supannya amun hanyar balaki hudah ditinjak mintuha. Dimana maandak muha?  Bisa bangat ‘saikoloji’ urang banjar. Saikoloji atawa karamput!

 

Wallahualam.