The family is the test of freedom because the family is the only thing that a free man makes for himself by himself – Gilbert Chesterton

SUNDAY, 12 JUNE 2022 @ 7:00 am 

In this “My Scooter Sunday”, I kick off my playlist with Born To Be Wild, a 1968 “roaring anthem of turbo charged riff rock” by Steppenwolf. I stay with my previous biking route from Petaling Jaya via Bangsar past Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square), to my final destination at Jalan Raja Chulan (formerly Jalan Weld).

As I turn the corner from Jalan Gereja onto Jalan Raja Chulan (once called Jalan Weld), I see Muzium Telekom. Built originally in 1928, the side facing Jalan Gereja is Classic Greek architecture, and the side facing Jalan Raja Chulan is Central European (Malaysia Traveller, 2011).

Jalan Weld (now Jalan Raja Chulan), including Telekom Malaysia, has great significance in my family. For starters, from 1938 to 1950, Telecoms Malaya (now Telekom Malaysia) was my maternal grandfather’s workplace; it provided for his family of ten, and later, a pension for life.

Talking about his time in Telecoms, my mother said, “During the Japanese Occupation, my father overheard a telephone conversation that there was hand-to-hand combat between Japanese and British soldiers in the estate we were staying in. So, he rushed to the estate, and evacuated us to a friend’s home in Riverside. But his friend was not there. So, we broke the lock on the door, and took refuge in his home. Looking back, I believe, the information and actions he took, probably saved our lives.”

My grandfather also played a crucial role in our family; he was our chief planner. When it came to education, he decided who did what, where, and how it would be financed. For example, in 1967, he decided my sister would do Medicine in India, and my uncles (his sons) would pay the capitation fees.

On a more personal level, for the first ten years of my life, we lived at No:51 Jalan Weld. It was a double-storey duplex with six bedrooms, five bathrooms and a huge terrace. Since my father worked at the Public Works Department, he was entitled to these government quarters. But that intimate colony of government, and private bungalows has given way to high rise buildings, and office complexes.

Obviously, my father played a key role in our family as well; he was our provider-in-chief. He earned for a house full of people. His golden rule was, “We should be like the Banyan Tree; the bigger the tree, the bigger the shelter”. At its peak, No:51 held as many as twenty people, and my father happily provided for everyone. Clearly, he talked the talk, and walked the walk.

But our family cannot be complete without my mother. Apart from cooking and cleaning, she was the financial policy-maker for the family. She said, “My husband was the breadwinner but he was also a spendthrift. So, I would covertly invest small sums of money in the property, and stock market”. The fact my mother (together with her family) educated all four of her children overseas is proof of her prowess.

Today’s ride is 25 km, and 50 minutes long. With the hustle and bustle in Dataran Merdeka, I get more comfortable negotiating JuJu (my Vespa Primavera) through traffic. But what I enjoy most in this “My Scooter Sunday” is drenching myself in family, and riding with the wind!

Scootin' off for now!

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