Daughter’s tribute to mother bridging racial divide goes viral

Hajijah has nurtured the boys Hassan (left) and Abu (right) to the point that they have come to be accepted as family. – Pic from Facebook, September 20, 2015.

Amid the controversy over the ‘red shirt’ rally on Wednesday stirring racial tension, a daughter’s Facebook posting of her Muslim mother, a nanny to two Chinese boys, has gone viral.

Mary Anni paid tribute to her mother and the time she had taken to help raise the boys.

“Mum, you have clearly proven that you are a true Malaysian. You need not wear a red T-shirt and attend rallies to prove that,” said Mary Anni of her mother Hajijah Saini.

“When I was still in secondary school, my mother started babysitting services, and the two of her charges that remain vivid in my memory are Hassan and Abu, whom I first met when I was 16.

“Hassan and Abu were two Chinese boys under my mother’s care since they were two years old. They were called Hassan and Abu by my mum as it was easier for her to remember,” she wrote.

Mary said that Hajijah loved the boys like they were her own, tending to them in every way, adding that she and her eight siblings also came to treat them as family.

She wrote that her mother was so well liked by Hassan and Abu’s parents that their only concern was overburdening her if the children stayed overnight.

“Once mum convinced them that the boys were no trouble at all, the parents would leave and come back again the next day to convince the boys to go home,” she said.

“There were times when Hassan and Abu would break fast with us, stay overnight in our house on Hari Raya eve, playing fireworks while excitedly waiting for the dawn of Hari Raya together with us. Such great times,” she added.

She said that such was the boys’ affection for Hajijah and general comfort in the family home that they referred to her as “emak”, Mary’s father was “ayah” and grandmother “nenek”.

“Through my experience with Hassan and Abu, I have learnt from mum to be kind to everyone without discriminating anyone.

“Thanks to people like my mum, I have learnt to understand the true value of Malaysia Day and what it means to be a Malaysian.”

- TMI