It is quite significant that Bapa’s death could unite members of his family through common suffering and the accepted norm that family members must come back home at least to pay their last respects. It is not surprising that so many people from all over Sabah and in particular Tambunan came to pay their last respects to a great man who lived a good life. A man who had nurtured us from young to adulthood and prepared us well to face the challenges of life and overcome them.

We hereby pay tribute to the man who with Mama was responsible for raising 17-18 children in the right way so as to enable them to achieve great heights in their career and shape the history of their own State.

We also pay tribute to the man who lived a good and long life of, not 91 as was previously determined, but close to 100 years, as we were soon to find out from his diaries.

Although still a subject for conjecture, it seems that he was writing reports in 1918 as a policeman. We know that he had no formal education and to get to the level of writing as he did in 1918, he must have had at least 3 or 4 years of study while in the police force. Now he could not have been 18 at that time because that is the age for joining the police force. He must have been at least 23 years old. This means he could have been born in 1895, making him 101!

May his soul rest in peace.