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BERNAMA

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KELUARAN· SEPTEMBER 1980 Muka

Dari Hati Ke Hati

2 Teeing Off

3 The Life Savers

5 Potpourri

8 Watak Bulan ini

9 Sajak

10 Say a Little Prayer

II Semutalk

12 BERNA fv\A. Z E

Pengarang : Hashi m Hassan

Penolong Kepada Pengarang: Sobrey Jaafar

Pemberita Bulan ini : Zaharan Razak

Penyelaras: Norijah Mohd. Noor

I.

DARt HATI KE HATI

Bekas Raja Me~ir, Ma ik Farouk tidak lama selepas digulingkan dari takhta kerajaanya pernah berkata: "Akhir akhir kelak dunia ini cuma akan ada lima king (raja) saja/ iaitu King of Hearts (Lekok), King of Diamonds (Deman), King of Clubs (Kelawar), King of Spades (sepit) dan King of England. II Maksud huraiannya itu ialah semua negeri yang berpemerintahan beraja akhir-akhirnya tidak akan beraja kecuali negeri Inggeris (Britain) sahaja. Sedikit sebanyak ramalannya itu telah didapati betul kerana semenjak dia diturunkan dari takhtanya dalam tahun 1952 beberapa buah neged yang kepala negerinya saorang raja telah tidak lagi diketuai oleh saorang raja atau ratu, tetapi oleh saorang presiden dan seumpamanya.

Tidak berape lama selepas negara kita mencapai kemerdakaan, seorang diplomat dari sebuah negeri di Asia telah menyatakan kepada YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman, yang poda masa itu menjadi Perdana Ment'eri, bahwa adalah lebih baik jika Malaya (belum Malaysia lagi di waktu itu) dijadikan sebuah republik. Dengan jalan itu, hujjahnya, banyak wang dan belanja dapot dijimatkan kerana Sultan­sultan, raja-raja dan mereka yang dari keturunan raja tidak lagi pedu dibayar elaun raja, elaun waris negeri, elaun itu dan elaun ini. Kerajaannya, tambahnya, telahpun berbuat demikian kepada raja-raja dalam negerinya dan banyak wang telah dapot diselamatkan. Tunku menjawab kalau begitulah keadaannya bel iau ingin tahu kemanakah perginya wang yang diselamatkan itu kerana hingga sekarang 1"'~3'"")r: it IT'as! IT':svi!''::Im :l,~"'ha kekl rO-I:J"11 Terbisu Jjplomot itu setelah mendengar jawapan Tunku itu.

Pada had Kedua Hari Raya Puasa baru-baru in; saya telah pergi ke Istana Negara untuk herhari raya d'mgan DYM/\J\ Sri Paduka E,agind Yang di ertuan Agung dan DYMM Sri Paduka Bag:nda ~aia Permaisuri Agung. Soya tiba ?Oda pukul 9 pagi • Soya fikir saya tiba awol. RUp<J'·rupanya beratus-ratl.ls oran!=! sudah ada beratur d ihadapan soya menunggu gil iran masing-masing untuk mengadap DYMM berdua dan bersalam-salaman. Sungguh "ama; ra!:/ot Baginda dan yan:~ bukan rakyat juga yang pergi ke Is ana Negara pada had itu Llrituk 'l1enyembahkan ucapan Selamat Had Raya 'ICls,l1g-mashg kepclda DYi'v~M berdu"'.l. Selama lebih enam jam DYMM berdua berdiri bersalam saorang demi saor ng, kadcng-kadClng berbual-bual sebentar dengan mereka yang Bagindc bnal (dan banyak pula yang Baginda kenai) dan menghurut-hurut rambut serto men;entuh-nyentuh ;:,ipi bvdak-bLdak yang datang menghadC'j) sumbil membf)": n0te ",'ang sedllg~it yang bar:J kepada tiap-tiap saorang budak itu. 25,198 ol'ong teiah mengun'ungi Istana Negara pada hari itu dan DYMM Baginda berdua te!ah berjabat salam dengan trap-·tiap saorang mereka itu. Soya

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2.

berpendapot kolaulah Almarhum Malik Farouk masih hidup lagi sekarang ini dan menyaksikan bagaimana Raja kita (dan Permaisurinya) dengan muka yang manis dan penuh gembira berdiri selama lebih enam jam menjabat 25, 198 tangan ada kemungkinan besar Malik Farouk akan meminda ramolannya dengan berkata: "Akhir-okhir kelak dunia ini cuma akan ada enam King sa ja, iaitu King of Hearts, King of Diamonds, King of Clubs, King of Spades, King of England and King of Malaysia. II

(Pak Hashim Hassan)

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TEEING OFF

A golf fanatic in Petaling Jaya went to consult a bomoh to find out whether he could play golf in the next world. The bomoh looked into a bowl of water and after uttering some strange language told the golfer he should not \;Vorry as then;~ were many beJutiful golf courses in heaven.

The golfer paid his fee and thanked the bomoh. How happy he was, he said, to know that he could play golf even after his death. He was about to leave when the bornoh said: '·Oh yes, I nearly forgot. You'll be teeing off day after tomorrow. II

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3.

THE LIFE SAVERS

The month was September 1945. The date, the 2nd. It was the day the Japanese officially surrendered to the Allied Supreme Command in the Pacific an~ the end of World War Two.

I was in my hometown, Taiping, when this historical event took place. It was a moment of great rejoicing for everyone for at last we were free from the three years and eight months of horrible occupation by the Japanese army. Many were looking forward to return to a Iife of normalcy under the British, others were thinking of launching a constitutional struggle against British colonialisam to gain political independence for Malaya while some others were planning to go into the jungle to fight the British in order to set up a Ma,layan Communist Republ ic. As a matter of fact, with the defeat of the Japanese everybody had his or her own plans and dreams on what they wanted to do when the British re-established their administration in Malaya.

A few weeks before the end of hosti lities there had been rumours that the Japanese occupation currency would cease to have any legal tender once the Japanese had surrendered. I thought this was understandable and unavoidable in vi ew of the fact that the Japanese had been indiscriminately printing their "banana" paper money (so called because of a picture of a banana tree on the note) by the tons. A few months before the surrender the cost of 1iving had shot up so high that it was not possible for an office worker to make both ends mee~ u le.ss hE; did some extra work, legal or illegal, on the sideline. For example, a kod of rice in August 1945 in Taiping and Ipoh cost $75/-. In Dec'3mber 1941 it cost only about 8 cents. An aspirin tablet in August 1945 cost $8/- and it cost only I~ cents in December 1941. A foreign-mode bicycle tyre COS)' $3/500/-' in August 1945 and one could buy the same brand for only $1 .75 ir: December 1941. A 60-watt electric bulb was priced at $210/- each in August 1945 whereas it cost only 45 cents in December 1941. One had to pay $1,000/- for a locally~made man's shirt in August 1945 whereas such a shirt was worth only $1.50 just before the Japanese air aid on Pearl Harbour on December 7 r 1941.

On August 10, 1945, the day the Japanese Emperor decided to accept the surrender terms put before him by the Allied Command, I hod with me about r:ve thousand Japanese dollars. And by the time the surrender terms were signed by the representatives of the Emperor on board the U. S. S. vUssouri before Genera I Douglas Mac Arl'hur at Tokyo Bay, the amount had dwindled down to $55/-, what with the cost of rice shooting up to $100/-;) kaH, then to $150/-:hcn to $200/- and up and up and up. I was in a dilemma. Our eldest chi Id i Rohani, was a year old

4.

then and aport from .her mother's milk, which was not much, she had to be helped with locally-made condensed milk which cost $30/- a cigarette tin. I I/Ifas already out of a job then. My Japanese employers were more concerned about their immediate safety and what would happen to them after the British troops· had landed that theyquickly retrenched us. Then the British, the Gurkhas, the [)ogras, and the rest of Mountbatten troops entered Taiping. Everyone was happy. At last there was peace, sanity, normalcy and, hopefully, democracy. But with it came also the much-dreaded bombshell. The returned troops announced that the Japanese currency had no legal tender. In simple language it had no value. Only the pre­Japanese occupation Malayan currency was acceptable. Now, where would I find that kind of money after almost four years of occupation? I wouldn't mind facing hunger but what about my wife and baby? They didn't 'Jeserve to suffer. Why should these two innocent, simple human beings be mad~ to go through all these sufferings as a result of imperialistic wars between greedy colonial powers, I asked myself. As I was trying to answer this question and at the same time looking at my wife on a chair and my baby in a cradle I heard the sweetest and the most beautiful news in all the three years and eight months of misery. My wife had just said: "Don't worry, la '. Saya ada tiga ringgit note British". It seemed that she had been hiding the money during the entire period of the Japanese occupation ­a secret which she had shared with no one. She had to be as secretive as all that because anyone caught keeping British currency during the occupation could have his or her head chopped off.

The dilemma was now over. And with that three dollars we boughtat the December 1941 price rice, sugar, salt, cooking oil, cigarettes and condensed milk for the baby enough to last us for about a month unti I I found myself a temporary job.

Thirty five years haVE: passed since thul' September day in 1945 and the three dollar notes too must surely have been withdrawn from circulat:on. But they a~e three life-saving paper ringgit:> that my wife and I still talk about each time we walk down memory lane. -- Hashim Hassan.

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5,

POTPOURRI

Frustrated wife to husband: IICome again?1I

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Same wife, an hour later: "Abang, are you coming or going? II

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Behind every successful man, there's an astonished mother-in-law

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Equal rights for women: A Miss is as good as a Male.

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A Groupie is a Girl whose eyes drop only long after her knickers do.

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A C-teaser is a girl who is always brushing imaginary NASI TUMPAH off men's trousers but won't sin for her supper.

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Demythologise is a pretty long word but the T-shirt brigade came clo::;e to it with this emblazoned on: Just when I think I knew all of life1s answers, they change the questions.

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6.

Bio-data of a deserted beautiful woman:

Born in Pekan. Attended Sekolah Rendah in Pekan. Colleged in Seremban. Failed to matriculate in London. Met future husband in Malaysia Hall • Got married in Pekan. Got pregnant, and cramped, in a Porsche. Got a whiff of the other woman in Brussels. Got back to Pekan in tears, Took vengeance in Jakarta. Opened a boutique in Ulu Klang Complex, Bliss in Tin Mine, Heard inCa mera , Divorced in Klang.

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Signed a well-endowed, Dean's list who has enough brain to realise her chief asset is her body and not it: 'When I marry the little that I have will disappear altogether, and the much that I have will no longer be mine,"

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Nampaknya pemain bolosepak pasukan pentadbiran telah menepati janjinya untuk mencukur misai jika pasukannya kolah dengan Pasukan Pengarang,

Pasukan pengarang menewaskan pasukan pentadbiran 7-2 dalam perlawanan persahabatan yang diadakan tidak lama dulu, - Pemerhati,

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7.

Tonniah diucapkankepada Saudara Oi'nar (Che Ciu) Ahmad yang akan naik pelamin pedo 7 September bersoma Saudari Ainon Abu Bokor, bekas petugas BERNAMA. Muga-muga bahagia.

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Tahzioh kepada Saudara Jaafar Abu Samah yang kehilangan anak sulongnya baru-boru ini. Putra beliau meninggal setelah sebulan dilahirkan.

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Saudara Effendi Ariffin Ketuo Biro di Kuching telah ke New Delhi, India untuk menjalani kursus Diploma in News Agency Journalism selama lapan bulan, mulai bulan ini di bawah anjoran Rancangan Colombo. Ketika pemergian beliau Saudara S. M. Yusoff memegang teraju di Kuching.

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Duo orang juru-gambar BERNAMA akan merintis jalan fotographi di Malaysia Timor bulan ini. Manon Haji Ahmad akan bertugas di Biro Kota Kinabolu sementara Adnan Hajj Hassan akan bertugas di Biro Kuching. Kepada mereka berdua diucapkan selamat bertugas.

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8 .

WATAK BULAN INI

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Sekali dulu basikal (tua) dicuri orang. Secepat itu pula teman-teman di BERNAMA melancarkan derma kilat sehingga membolehkan dia membeli basikal baru untuk datang bertugas.

Kemudian dia membeli rnotosikal. Baru-baru lalu rnotosikal itu pula dicuri orang. Tetapi berkat tabahnya, rnotosikal itu dapot dijejak semula.

Itulah antara kenangan yang sentiasa tidak luput diingatan K. Selvaraj, 29, petugas yang telah bertugas sebelum BERNAMA lahir secara rasmi •

Oia lebih dikenali sebagai Raju, yang pernah bertugas sebagai budak pejabat, machine operator dan kini di bahagian hantaran di Ibu Pejabat BERNAMA .

Raju tidak banyak kerenah. Raju sporting. Raju best. Raju tidak pernah abaikan tugasnya.

Oemikian antara banyak pendapat mereka yang pernah mengenali Raju

Kata Cik Zainon, salah seorang pemberita BERNAMA yang akan bertugas di Kuching kalau disuruh Raju membel i goreng pisang pun dia sanggup.

Ketiko zaman bujangnya, Raju memang terkenal dikalangan teman-teman yang hendak mengadakan majlis sosial. Waktu itu kepada Raju lah ditugaskan untuk menjadi "bar-man".

Seperti orang lain juga, Raju menyimpan hasrat untuk meningkat ke tempat yang lebih atas.

Menurutnya, dia ingin bertugas di bahagian telex atau menjadi operator telefon kerana dia mempunyai kebolehan di dalam kedua bidang yang disebutkan itu.

Raju sudah lama menetap di BERNAMA dan semangat "kebernamaan"nya itu tidak pernah luntur dan terus segar sesegar kasihnyd pada Devanai tercinta, isterinya dan Selvam dan Visvanathan duo cahaya matanya. --- 01.

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9.

SAJAK

M~~ENUNO REMANG NYA ROMA

S@§Ylud MgmiJ\gh Sal'li@t Tg~iyd Jlk@ Subuh M@F@neK@K Jgtyh S@murnl Ralic:J K@~@WQ HiI~u,,, S@t1dYr~tn CUffl@ Tlgqf.l InBeltan hfJmpaul b)ua Retkf.lQtSun -t lerona Alflfll Begelket" SlOR9 Sinor Hotl BCl9Qikon Purnomo BvlQn.

Kilouanlah Sotu Jasad Dipendakian Menujah Dan Menakik Bebatu Pejal Mencari Mamar Untuk Hiyasan Si Komar Hati

Miharbi/80

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SETAPAK HA TI (BUAT ILIAS)

Semacam Memalu Pada Ketukan Jua Sejengkol Rasa Tobie Meluah Rasa Jodi Biasa Meluah Hati Di Had Mati

Miharbi. 26 June 80.

10.,

SAY A LITTLE PRAYER

NIght Crlmtt .port.r l, Pray.r:

o my lord, Thou art the Compa•• lonat., tn, MercIful. I pray to th•• brIng not the fir. tonight, 'nor hurl the .Inn ra from th.'r motorcycl,., nor ca.u.e a'bungalow In Caman.ara to b. burgl.d. For toni nt, 0 Lord, I. th,' FA Cup Flnalahowlng on the telly. Would that the .Inn ra In the Club HOUII, 0 Lord, stop platerlng ml to loIn them In theIr games. And tomorrow I have en 8.30 Q .m. assIgnment. Have on mercy on thIs abdu1, Q rd. '

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. Prayer· for a reporter stru'ggling with a press release:

o Messenger of God, say to the struggling reporter: IIHave We not given him two eyes, a tongue, and two lips, and shown him what is right and what is wrong?" We have given him the whole of the morning and it is now well into the day's decline. Verily we will bring him to account.

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An outstation stringer phoning late results from a roadside booth trying to be heard above the screech of the cicadas, not to mention the mosquitoes attacking his legs, may start to say this little prayer on hearing "c hange peper II at the other end of the line:

*t@l-*$?@ci~%+( ) = I.

II.

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