KEPALA BATAS – “Say your name three times and you’ll enjoy free food.” That’s how lucky you can get for carrying ‘Merdeka’ in your name.
Fisherman Mohd Merdeka Ismail from Penaga here was born on Aug 31, 1957, and he used to be ashamed because the kids at school often teased him about his name.
However, life has its own way of making him realised how special his name was, like a coffee shop at Kampung Simpang Tiga in Penaga here, that would provide him with free food and drinks when he says his name three times.
To make things better, he gets to enjoy the benefit throughout August, the month of Merdeka (independence).
“At first I thought the coffee shop owner was only joking but after I said Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka, he asked me to order anything, on the house,” he told Bernama when met at his house, recently.
Mohd Merdeka said that was not the only good thing that has happened to him because he once had the opportunity to enter the Istana Negara by invitation from the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, during the nationwide gathering of ‘Anak-Anak Merdeka’ in 2007.
“Many people don’t know that my name had turned me into a celebrity among the villagers and I was also invited to Merdeka eve celebrations several times,” recalled the father of a one.
He said his name has always ignited his love for the country and hoped for continued peace and harmony.
Mohd Merdeka added that his daughter, Izzatul Nabila, 24, also used to be ashamed of her father’s name as her school friends considered it as weird, but after so many years, she has become proud of it.
— BERNAMA
