Fluent in seven languages

BALING: Great-grandmother Yam Said never attended school but can proudly boast of being able to speak seven languages and a Chinese dialect.

Yam, 98, who has 13 great-grandchildren, picked up English and Japanese during British rule and the Japanese occupation while she learned Thai, Javanese, Hindi and Tamil when working in estates in her early days.

Yam, who is fondly known as Tok Som by her kampung folk, also speaks fluent Hokkien, which she learnt from her Chinese friends. Her favourite memories are those of Merdeka 50 years ago when the country fought for independence and the struggles of the leaders and people.

Although feeble and weak with age now, Yam’s eyes lighted up when she recollected her days as an outspoken young woman who refused to be cowered by the orang putih or Japanese soldiers.

“During the British occupation, my job was to pluck coconuts after the soldiers found out I could climb trees,” she recalled with a chuckle when met at her home in Kampung Titi Mentalin in Lanai here.

“When the Japanese came, I worked as a cook. I learnt to speak their language and was not tortured. Those days, the Japanese looked up to you if you could speak their mother tongue,” she added.

Yam, who grew up in Pendang, moved to Lanai in Baling after her marriage. She had a son who passed away two years ago and nine grandchildren who still keep in touch with her. Yam has declined to live with any of her grandchildren as she wants to remain in her small wooden house which she referred to as her “castle”.

Her grandchildren will send her food three times a day and help clean the house.

Despite her age, Yam still believes in being independent and supports herself by picking cotton to make into soft pillows.

Yam is proud to see how much the country has developed since Merdeka.

“We have certainly come a long way!” she said, flashing a toothless grin.

A really true Malaysian