"Bong" Taib

Kampong Lipat Kajang is full of people, young and old, mostly old, but has it got personalities? Not sure of the present generation but the older generation had unforgettable personalities, real personalities that one does not forget. The like of Abang Akil when he was a young man, during the Emergency, who pinned his AP armband on to the skin of his arm. (Abang Akil is now in Felda somewhere), and of Cik Gu Bedah who swam across the broad Pahang River at Lipat Kajang. To the best of my knowledge no young woman of Lipat Kajang had ever done that before or since. (Cik Gu Bedah is now living in Putrajaya). And one of of the personalities who is still living in Kampong Lipat Kajang is “Bong” Taib. Who in Kampong Lipat Kajanag does not know “Bong” Taib?

“Bong Taib” is one of those very rare breed, a rare personality, a person who not only now lives in the kampong but as a very young man to served as a Special Constable – SC - (to the best of my knowledge) in Bukit Tinggi, near Bentong. I used to visit his family often then (his brothers were all my good friends) looking at his photographs which he used to proudly brought back from his SC stint.

How did he got that “Bong” name? I do not really know but if I remember it he was very active in drama in the kampong with the likes of the late Abang The Sakar, the late Abang Salleh Hj Muhammad, and a few other youths of his age in the late years 50s and early 60s. It was in one of these dramas staged and he was one of the leading actors, at the old (now not there) building of Sekolah Melayu Lipat Kajang (where the field is now) he acquired the name of “Bong” and until today he is still known as “Bong” Taib.

He is an everlasting personality and no one in the kampong can take that away from him. A very pleasant person, a person who has great respect in the kampong from both the old and the young. Will ever be any such personality in the past or the future be the like of “Bong” Taib in Kg Lipat Kajang.?