Keling sabit

I don't mean to be rude, but there's no other word to describe it. India sabit just doesn't fit. Oh, there's another word for it that I came to know. But, you have to hail from Kuala Pilah to know it. Or probably from Negeri Sembilan. Or in my case, married to one. It's called 'gencheh'. Both e's in the word are pronounced as e in ekor.

Those years when forwarded email and sms were something unheard of, rumours still get around. I can't imagine who started it, but it sure did roam around us. The rumours, I mean.

Though I never had the chance to see keling sabit 'live in person', the image of him is there in my head. Keling sabit would be wearing nothing but a white sarong folded up at his knees and a pair of slippers. He would be carrying a sack and a sabit, of course. If he's not walking, he would be cycling a basikal tua. Nothing more than that. Keling sabit won't be taking a motorbike, or a bus or anything with engine for that matter.

Rumours had it that keling sabit wanted nothing but human heads. It is sketchy for me now since the rumours took place when I was very young, but if I am not mistaken, he only wanted kids head. What were the heads for? They were needed in bridge building. Why, you might ask. Because head is the strongest structure in the world, especially one like mine, the kepala batu type. My lecturers in university might have the skipped that part of the syllabus in Civil and Structural course during my first year as it could be too gruesome to teach. But I guess once you really work in construction site, probably you'll see many heads lying around waiting to be installed to support the bridge structure.

Probably now they don't use keling sabit to look for the heads as they are afraid to be sued by some organisations who think that term is too derogatory to some people. Plus, the uniform is not posh. Or probably it's too dangerous to roam around with sabit while people has resorted to guns to kill one another. Now, they are probably called 'head hunters'. The job specification is the same, but the name is different, and they have disguised their looks. They look more professionals now, I guess, dorning their business attire.

Whatever it is, it is my belief that whoever started the rumours wanted to scare their kids from going outside the house and beware of the strangers. They were concerned about their kids safety. Since telling them straight to their face about the possibility of them being kidnapped doesn't work or too difficult to get into their heads, then keling sabit rumours might be the best resort. The mentioned of keling sabit to the kids could send the kids home in no time. It worked for me. Back then, I was not only afraid of keling sabit, but also other grass cutters as well. It didn't matter if they didn't fit the image of keling sabit. I was afraid of them all. I would stay inside the house, all locked up, and peeked trough a small window opening to watch any strangers around the house. My parents were working and there was no adult at home. Neither was then any CCTV. Only five of us, the kids. So it worked well for my parents.

And now, with the number of kidnap cases of young kids on the rise, I would suggest that we start the rumours again. If keling sabit is not a politically correct term, maybe we can use other creatures. Hantu kum-kum? Hantu kopek? Huh? What are they? Lain kali cerita lagi...

Angah