TAIPING, Dec 24 — The long-neglected ancestral home of Datuk Meor Abdul Rahman Daeng Uda Mohd Hashim, founder of Malaysia’s Silat Gayung, will soon be restored, Malaysian National Silat Federation (Pesaka) president Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin revealed today.

Work on the house is expected to begin early next year, he said, but stressed that the restoration project was entirely on a personal basis, and did not involve funds from Pesaka.

Megat Zulkarnain, who is also the deputy prime minister’s political secretary, shared that he had met with Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad to inform him of the restoration efforts and to discuss related documentation processes, which involved local authorities and the Public Works Department.

"I wish to invite the Pertubuhan Silat Lincah Malaysia Perak to look for a contractor and we will restore the building. We will do it well and restore it to its original glory,” he said when visiting the house here today.

"My aim is to settle it, then we will hand it back, let them manage it, as it will no longer have anything to do with me (once the restoration of the house is completed),” he said, adding that his involvement was as a leader in the sport of silat and not intended as interference in the management and running of the Malaysian Silat Gayong Association.

Megat Zulkarnain said that there was historical and sentimental value linked to the house, as it was where his father Tan Sri Omardin Mauju (founder of Pertubuhan Seni Silat Lincah Malaysia) met Meor Abdul Rahman.

"Initially they met for other reasons, but they ended up taking an oath of sworn brotherhood in this house as the silat lincah is linked to the spirit of Jebat, and gayung is linked to the spirit of Tuah,” he said.

Meanwhile, Meor Abdul Rahman’s stepson Sazali Salleh, 60, had also said that they had previously tried to raise funds to repair and restore the house, but the efforts had failed. — Bernama