Let Us Not Allow Mak Timah to Disappear from Penang's History

 

Let Us Not Allow Mak Timah to Disappear from Penang's History

I know I may be making a futile effort here, because most of those responding to this were not around during the years when my aunt, Mak Timah Bidan, quietly went about doing what she did best—helping people.

There were no cameras following her.

No social media.

No publicity.

No fanfare.

She simply helped.

And she helped many, many people.

I have written about her before, but perhaps it is time to say a little more and, more importantly, to ask whether anyone is willing to help uncover the history behind the woman I knew as my aunt.

If anyone doubts what I am saying, I am not asking you simply to take my word for it.

Go and investigate.

Check the old birth records at Penang General Hospital.

Talk to the older members of the Tunku Abdul Rahman family who may still remember her.

Speak to members of the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi family, who may remember her visiting them and the circumstances that brought her there.

Talk to the older people of Penang who knew her.

There were also people in the Penang Special Branch and politicians of that era who knew exactly who Mak Timah was and the influence she could exert among ordinary people.

Some of those people may still be alive.

And there are one or two men and women whose names might never have had a Datuk in front of them had it not been for her assistance.

Yes, one of them was my own auntie.

These are not things I expect people to accept merely because I have written them on Facebook.

They are questions for historians to investigate.

That is why I would like to see the Penang State Government seriously consider doing something to preserve her name for posterity.

My suggestion is a simple one.

Jalan Sungai, the road that was once known as River Road, runs through the very area with which Mak Timah has been associated for so many years.

In fact, her present house stands at the junction of Jalan Sungai and Sungai Pinang Road.

So why not consider naming Jalan Sungai Jalan Mak Timah Bidan?

To me, it would be a small but meaningful recognition of a woman whose life was spent helping others.

And perhaps there is another possibility.

I would like to see the USM Faculty of Humanities consider researching her life and contribution to Penang.

There must be a student somewhere who would find it more meaningful to spend time uncovering the life of an extraordinary local woman than simply wandering around the campus wondering what to do with a research project.

Because this is how history disappears.

Not necessarily because nobody cared.

But because nobody bothered to ask the old people while they were still around to answer.

My memories of Mak Timah are personal, of course. But they are only one small piece of a much larger story.

If she really did touch the lives of as many people as I remember, then her story does not belong only to our family.

It belongs to Penang.

So if you know anything about Mak Timah—if your parents knew her, your grandparents knew her, if you have a photograph, a letter, a newspaper clipping, an old story, or even just a memory—please speak up.

And if you know that something I have said is incorrect, tell me that too.

I would rather have the truth than a beautiful story.

Let us put the pieces together while there are still people alive who can tell us where those pieces belong.

Perhaps the result will be a research paper.

Perhaps it will be an archive of oral histories.

Perhaps it will be a permanent recognition by the State Government.

Or perhaps, one day, someone will walk down Jalan Mak Timah Bidan and ask:

"Who was Mak Timah?"

And someone will be able to answer:

"She was a woman who spent her life helping people."

That, I think, would be enough.

I am not asking for a monument to my aunt.

I am asking that we do not allow the memory of a remarkable Penang woman to disappear simply because she did her good deeds quietly.

If you know something, spit it out.

Let's see if we can make it happen.

#MakTimahBidan #MakCak #PenangHistory #PenangHeritage #SejarahPenang #WomenInHistory #Merdeka #JalanMakTimahBidan