Muar Than You Know: Where River Meets the Sea

 Speech by Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar at the launch of Muar Than You Know: Where River Meets the Sea

by Lilian Low      

at 

Mercu Maybank

i-City Finance Avenue

Shah Alam, Selangor

Wednesday, 31^st  July 2024

 

I have heard about Lilian Low’s The M Quotient -  From Muar to Singapore: Extraordinary Stories of Resilience, Drive and Love. It created quite a buzz in the SMS at the time, particularly among “Muarians” back in 2017. Muarian being Muarians get easily excited by all things Muar. Which is understandable.

I was in Singapore a few times and inquired about the book at major bookshops there. Bookshops being bookshops, they seldom stock the books we wanted, but mostly books we don’t. I told my Muar friends at the time that  the book was out-of-stock, a convenient excuse when one failed to get one.

For starter, it must be an interesting book. A  book about 13 prominent Singaporeans who hailed from Muar? Well, that’s a wow! And the blurb advertising the book says, “it is truly remarkable that a small town of only 350,000 people had produced so many talented people.” That quote, I found out later,  is attributed to no less than Professor Tommy Koh,  Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore.

And true enough, the 13 outstanding individuals featured in the book are giants in their own rights, making indelible mark in the vocations that they are in, and contributing significantly to the Republic of Singapore. But they have a common denominator, they heralded from Muar, having lived and spent their early formative years in a sleepy hollow, labelled as bandar pencen (pensioners’ town) by many.

But I am not at all surprised that Lilian choose to pick the 13 personalities for her first book. She is after all a Muar girl, born and bred in Muar. As such, the first book is about her:  her family, her early years, her school and her interactions that helped mould her into what she is today. 

As she wrote in the first book,

A small town with its rustic charm

Allows us to notice the birds and the bees

Smell the rain, feel the wind, live life to the hilt

And fight for our dreams without any guilt.

That is Muar spirit. The Muarness in her if you like. What makes Muarian a Muarian. And what makes Muarians tick. And more importantly what differentiate Muarians from “Others.”

I totally agree with her the “quotients” that she mentioned – the Adversity Quotient (AQ), the Emotional Quotient (EQ) and  the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) – that make the 13 personalities truly remarkable and extraordinary, has an added “Q” – the Muar  Quotient or the M Quotient, thus the title of the book. 

As I was leaving the house, my youngest daughter, unaware of this afternoon’s event inquired where I was heading. I told her briefly about the launch of the book. “There you go again,” said she, with a tinge of sarcasm. She knows what Muar meant to me. Dragging my children every Hari Raya back home in Muar is a yearly ritual that helped defined the family. More so, my wife is a Muarian too.

But my daughter  knew, like her siblings, that I am so emotionally and spiritually attached to Muar. They all knew what Muar meant for me and my wife. Being Muarian is God-given, if you like. Not everyone is born a Muarian you see. The Muar People (Orang Muo) – who eat satay in morning and speak in a dialect only Muarians can relate to – are bonded by more than just geographical certainty but also pride and lots of self-esteem. 

And we have a culinary journey of our own – a fusion of Malay, Chinese and Indian as proudly illustrated by Datin Kalsom Taib in her books, the latest being My Malaysian Food Journey.

Like a cabal or a conspiratorial construct, Muarians are a world upon themselves. They have a distinct identity contestation that makes others green with envy and perhaps even blue with disdain. Muarians tend to flock together, not unlike the Kelantanese.  

I am not budak bando (town boy). I was born and raised in a small village 27 kilometres from the town. I grew up in a village, Sungai Balang Besar. Although my parents were Bugis, we lived among people of Javanese descent. So, naturally Javanese was my first language.

I went to an English school in 1960 much to the amusement of my kampung people. The fact that my illiterate father – who was a rubber tapper in the morning and a village barber in the afternoon - sent his son to an English school was mind-boggling to say the least.

I went to an English school with hardly three words of English. There was a Yorkshire man whose fierce look and even fiercer attitude towards English plus his equally fierce name (Mr Gunn) who intoned “No one shall speak a word of any language other than English in class.” I was mute for many months when I joined the school.

I did my Form Six at Muar High School, probably one of the best known schools in Johor. I was fortunate to be there, taught by very  dedicated teachers. At Muar High, the bond between students was strong. Even to this day, my classmates remained my best friends. Like Lilian I understand how education has changed us, provided a new outlook in life and providing better opportunities for us. Muar is the turning point of our lives. For a kampung boy like me, it meant so much.

Muar High has produced some of the most distinguished individuals in various disciplines. It is a known fact that for many decades, to be the Menteri Besar of Johor, one has to be Malay of course, but born in Muar and schooled at Muar High. I reckon, the bit about the tradition of Menteri Besar  “born in Muar” is broken only recently.

I remember not too long ago, there was a mural on one of the walls of Muar High that portrays illustrious alums of the school. Tan Sri Ghani is there, with Tan Sri Muhyiddin, so too the late Tun Arshad Ayub, the late Datuk Chua Jui Meng and the late husband and wife Tun Fatimah Hashim and Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Yusof.  I was featured too. But the mural is fading, perhaps as time goes by, Muar High has somewhat a fading memory of their illustrious former students. 

Muar is unique in more ways than one. Of late, it has for many years been voted the cleanest small town in the region. Interestingly, I was told by the late Tan Sri Aziz Mohd Yassin that Muar has produced the most number of Tuns and Tan Sris compared to any towns or districts in Malaysia.

Now, Lilian is not too far wrong to highlight the achievements of Muarians (or those born and bred in Muar) in her books. And understandably too, there is a need to expand the number of people. Hence the second book, Muar Than Your Know: Where River Meets the Sea.

The second book features another 23 personalities from Muar “who have made a name and lasting impact in their choose fields.” Like the first book, this book is also about stories of perseverance, resilience, and an unwavering dedication to excellence. According to Lilian those featured in the book “has carved a unique path, overcoming obstacles and challenges along the way, and their journeys are a testament to the power of passion, hard work and determination.”

The ages of these personalities range from 30 to 85. There are politicians among them, successful businessmen and women, entrepreneurs, engineers, lawyers, academicians, scientists, artists, musicians, you name it. They all have shown indomitable fighting spirits. And they are inspiration to others. Some of them are with us today. Tan Sri Ghani Othman is an elder statesman having contributed to the betterment of this nation for many decades as a politician.

Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong too is with us. He came from a humble beginning in Muar and made his fortune in the mattress business. He is better known as The Mattress King for his brand of Dreamland Mattresses. He is a visionary, a philanthropist and more significantly the man behind this iconic i-City. 

And we are proud to have Mr Sam Lim  with us today. He made headlines back in September 2022 for his electoral victory in Perth seat of Tangney. The new member of the Australian Parliament is  Muar-born.

Perhaps, one of the reasons for Lilian to painstakingly yarn this lore of indefatigable souls is because she wants to inspire younger generations. She wants these personalities to be role models. And rightly so. Referring to the Malay pantun in the Preface by the Datuk Dr Azfar Mohamad Mustafar, the High Commissioner of Malaysia to Singapore, 

Tinggi sungguh Gunung Daik

Mercunya nampak terang berkilau

Kalau asal benih yang baik

Jatuh ke laut menjadi pulau

This is a unique book, one of a kind. I believe that the entire enterprise is a work in progress. Every individual featured in the first and the second book warrants a full-fledged biography or autobiography. And Lilian, I am sure is working on her third book. Muar has a lot of stories to tell. It has many more outstanding individuals that need to be presented to the public.

I totally agree when she wrote that this book “is a celebration of life, legacies and an inspiration for the future.” Writing the two books gives her an opportunity “to add a piece of history to the place and its people who are dear to us as Muarians.” 

I must congratulate Lilian for her effort. I realised that she is persistent. We are all here because of her persistence. The book is the product of her persistence. And more so because she has shown us how a small town that we all knew well, becomes an epitome of more than aspirations and hopes but a beacon of excellence.

Never take the Muar spirit for granted. Remember the M in the M Quotient.

 With that, I humbly launch Lilian Low’s book entitled Muar Than You Know: Where River Meets the Sea.

 

Thank You.