Monday, June 30, 2008

Satu Cerita

At breakfast this morning I met up with an old friend from my days with the national shipping line. It has been quite a while. We were talking about his company and he said he is already semi-retired. His two sons are working for him and he only drops by once in a while. Good for him.

In no time we were talking about a common friend who used to work for him. In fact he was a shareholder in the company. He passed away a few years ago, of kidney failure.

Ceritanya begini. This friend of ours was the bread winner for his family. Everybody were dependent on him and in fact stayed with him in one of his many houses. So much so that he only got married when he was in his forties. This was when the problems started. His family members felt threatened with the arrival of the wife. Staying in the same house, there was no privacy for the new couple. Not long after, this friend of ours began to become sickly. The family, however, are firm believers of the bomoh, so he did not go to see the doctor but instead consulted their family bomoh. The diagnosis was that he was "santau-ed by someone close" to him. Therefore the prime suspect was the wife. Things became so bad that the wife was not allowed to return home.

By God's Will, the bomoh died and the family had no one to turn to. The friend I had breakfast with this morning forced his partner to see a doctor, a specialist. The diagnosis was that both his kidneys had failed. The patient did not believe this and he went to another Specialist center. Again, the same diagnosis was made and he was asked to immediately undergo dialysis. But he refused to do that. By the time he agreed, his condition was bad.

And all this while his wife was not allowed to visit him. After a few months he died. When the time comes to distribute his considerable assets, the family refused to give any share to the wife. The case went to the Syariah court. The family said that before our friend died he had divorced the wife. The Syariah court refused to accept the family's contention and decided that the wife is entitled to her share. The family is now appealing to the Syariah High Court. So, after more than four years of our friend's death, his assets are still in limbo.

My friend whom I had breakfast with cannot wait any longer and decided to dissolve the company and transfer his business to a new company.

It is a sad story but I am posting this in the hope that it will not happen again to anyone. In this day and age, things like this should not happen anymore.

2 comments:

Pak Zawi said...

HBO,
It is sad that in this age people still want to believe in bomoh. After being diagnosed by medical doctors he still refuse to accept the fact. He could have lived a better life and much longer if only he had some sense in him.
On the other hand we can see what greed can do to his family members who refuse to abide by the Syariah court's ruling. These people not only deserve to rot in hell but also in the present world.

Hussin said...

Sallam Sdra Zawi,

Thanks for visiting. Dah balik dari Labuan? I'm sure you had a great trip. I'm waiting for the time when I can do that traveling bit myself.
Yeah it is indeed sad that many people we consider "educated" still resort to bomohs for their life problems even in cities like KL.

Hussin