While I was scrolling through my phone's gallery, I stumbled across a photograph which I had not seen for many years, and there was even a point in which I thought I must've lost it for good, but Alhamdulillah here it was—a photograph of my great-grandmothers, sisters Aminah and Siah Binte Abdul Rahman, more affectionately known as Tok Aminah and Tok Siah. Tok Aminah was my grandmother's mother, whereas Tok Siah was my grandfather's.
I could not recall who had given this photograph to me, although I could best assume that it was from my late Pak Teh about a couple years back, when he was still around.
Tok Aminah resided in Kampung Sedili Besar, Johor, whereas Tok Siah was in Kampung Pahang, Pulau Tekong Besar, Singapore. This photograph was taken during one of their visits to Pulau Ubin, in my grandparents' courtyard.
According to my mom, both Tok Aminah and Tok Siah enjoyed consuming daun sirih (betelnut leaves) together with kapur sirih (limestone paste), gambir (Uncaria gambir), and buah pinang (Areca catechu). Sometimes, the leaves and ingredients would be eaten as-is together, or they would be refined together using an apparatus known as 'gobek sirih'.
Tok Siah in particular was renowned for her 'sentil tembakau' —a traditional Malay method of consuming tobacco, where a pinch of shredded tobacco would be 'brushed' against the teeth and later tucked between the gums and cheek. Any liquid extracts, presumably a mixture of tobacco and saliva, would be spit out. My mom recalled how Tok Siah would tuck her sentil tembakau into random spots, like window panes, whenever it was time for her daily obligatory prayers, only to retrieve it and continue using it afterward. She was never without it.
Additionally, both sisters frequently wore terompah—a traditional wooden clog—while in their rumah dapur (kitchen annexes) or outside when they were collecting water from the well. My mom remembered hearing their steps making a distinct "ketak ketuk" sound on the ground.
Tok Aminah passed away in the mid-1970s in Kampung Sedili Besar, while Tok Siah passed away on 26 November 1985 in her fifth child's 3-room HDB flat in Serangoon, just briefly after their eviction from Pulau Tekong Besar to mainland Singapore.
May Allah SWT grant them Paradise, and may He turn their graves into gardens of Paradise.
Aminah Binte Abdul Rahman
Siah Binte Abdul Rahman
Al-Fatihah.
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