Adenan, The 'Tuan Lawyer' who loves hunting and angling

Whenever close friends of the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem were told that 'Tuan Lawyer' was visting Sematan, they instantly knew what they had to do.

They would start making preparations to provide food and water as supplies for outdoor pursuits such as mousedeer hunting, angling or netting fish with Adenan in various areas such as Simunsam, Telok Serabang, Pulau Talang Talang or beaches around Sematan.

Sharing his experience with this writer, Sematan Pemanca (community leader) Bujang Zally Man, 74, said the late Adenan indulged in those activities even before serving as the Tanjong Datu state assemblyman.

His love for such pursuits continued when Adenan was elected as the Tanjong Datu in 2006.

The late Adenan was born in 1944 in Kuching, Sarawak, received his early education at St Joseph's School in Kuching, Sarawak, before pursuing his studies in law at the University of Adelaide, Australia and began his career as a Magistrate in Kuching in 1970.

"When we were informed 'Tuan Lawyer will come', we knew Tok Nan would come and go hunting mousedeer, angling or netting fishes. If mousedeer hunting, it was normally done in Simunsam, four people would go, including Tok Nan.

"Each time we entered the jungle in Simunsam, we would spent three to four hours, we could catch about five to six mousedeer, sometimes it could reached ten heads," he said, adding that he would take charge of the game.

Bujang Zally said the game would be brought back to his village in Tanah Hitam in Sematan.

"Tok Nan would eat together with the villagers, He was a simple person and easily befriended and mingled with everyone," he recalled.

Bujang Zally, who became friends with Adenan since childhood, said apart from hunting, the late Adenan also liked angling and netting fishes at several locations around Sematan.

He recalled Adenan used to return to the constituency almost every week for angling or netting fishes.

"Nornmally three people, myself, Godang Jaafar and his son Rahman would accompany him and we would walk the round trip along the 20-km stretch of beach in Sematan.

"If we caught any fish, we would dig the sand to keep the fish inside and continued netting, and only took the catches back when we went back later," he said.

As usual, he said the fishes caught would be partaked together with the villagers.

When asked whether Adenan made a special request in preparing the provisions while hunting, Bujang Zally said Adenan was a very easy going person.

"Before we went hunting, angling or netting, we have to plan what supplies to bring, he did not mind, as long as everyone who went along could eat together.

"He could eat midin, a type of wild ferns, sambal belacan (shrimp paste) and cucumbers without any other special dishes, Tok Nan as the people's representative did not care all those things...he was very simple, that was his personality that we all fully understood," he said.

Bujang Zally said he had lost a friend, whom he knew since childhood and a leader who had transformed the face of Lundu and Sematan, after Adenan passed away on January 11 due to heart complications.