The nostalgic years of "Kak Yong" Tengku Mariam ....

I was driving the other day and over Radio Klasik - hey I am 50 years old and could be considered as "classic" anyway - a very familiar voice ... Yup it was Kak Yong's voice indeed!!! After all these years, she's back but as a guest of Radio Klasik... For the Gen Y, Kak Yong might not be a familiar figure or rather familiar voice so let us walk through those nostalgic years when Kak Yong was a "juru hebah" at RTM... Her real name is Tengku Mariam Tengku Laksamana Nasir but was overwhelmingly known as "Kak Yong". It was her nick name in a popular radio program entitled "Permintaan Apa Itu" over RTM. The program was on air from 1977 until 2002. Kak Yong initially was paired with another "juru hebah" Noramin (Busu Noramin) until 1980 and later was paired with Abang Chik (Zainal Abas), Abang Bul (Hasbullah Awang). It was basically a program meant for kids with songs like "Kain Pelikat" (Anuar Zain & Elina) and "Sakit Gigi" (Shahril). I remember every Saturday at 9.30 AM, I would turn on radio and listened to the program intensely. Although it was meant for kids, it was s popular that Kak Yong even received post cards "permintaan" from adults all over Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei not to mention Malaysian students who studied overseas. Normally, they will send a postcard wishing happy birthdays to their "adik" or "anak saudara". Some even made calls to Kak Yong .... Those were the days when radio was not adulterated with endless and aimless "verbal diarrhea" of the current "juru hebah" ... ooops sorry!!! now they called themselves "DJs" a sure overrated title I would say. Back to Kak Yong, I really missed her "keanak-anakan" and lifely voice over the radio and I smiled when she said over radio " Kak Yong ada berlakon drama tapi dengan suara ni Kak Yong tak bole jadi heroin!!" and she laughed with her "trademark" laugh .... It really made my day as the nostalgic years of Kak Yong was the order of the day .... To Kak Yong, thanks for those wonderful 25 years of "Permintaan Apa Itu" .....