Hj Nordin Kadir & Hjh Miah Jaudin - Part 2

The Early Years

On their ICs, their dates of birth are 15/11/28 and 30/4/28 for Atok and Wan respectively. Of course, we should give a wide margin of error for these dates.

Atok's Family

Atok was born to Eyam Bt Mangkas and Kadir bin Subuh bin Salam bin Sapi-e in Kg Kuala Sungkak. He was their fifth child. The siblings are Uncit (Rashid), Atin, Yusuf,Moktar, Nordin and Timah. Moktar died young while the rest except Uncit are still living.

Atok's father taught agama lessons to the villagers and was later appointed to teach at Istana Sri Menanti by the then Yam DiPertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Tuanku later became Malaysia's first Agong. The appointment letter to your great grandfather is attached. He died in Sept 1939.

Wan's Family

Wan's parents were Siah Bt Sahak and Jaudin bin Kulup. Her two older brothers were Abu and Mahat. Abu was a penghulu and Mahat was a "pegawai engineer" with the then Malay Service Commission now, the PTD. She remembers Abu fondly but not so much Mahat since he didn't quite treat her like a sister.

Siah was relatively wealthy with several lots of kebun and sawah. She remembers she was very manja with her father Jaudin. At bath times he would carry her on his shoulders. He died when Wan was about 6 years old.

Chinese Connection

Siah never mentioned that Wan was adopted. It came from Wei Bong's husband (neighbour). Kaya Amus, Wei Bong's husband, told Wan that she was adopted from a Chinese family in Kuala Pilah. Later on when Mak Jo was still a toddler, they and a family friend, carpenter Kaya's grandfather, went to a Chinese goldsmith shop in Kuala Pilah to meet her brother. He gave them the cold shoulder. Then as a token acknowledgment, he gave Mak Jo a "loket buah kemunting".

There were a few more occasions when she would pass by the shop and she and her 'brother' would both curtly nod to each other. The Chinese family later left Kuala Pilah.

This is the 75-year-old appointment letter to Kadir bin Subuh. It was dated 21 April 1936. On the right hand corner it was signed Abdul Rahman, the Yam Tuan himself.