LONDON: When Datuk Dr Annabel Teh Gallop, lead curator for Southeast Asia Collections at the British Library in London, informed me that she would be one of the six recipients of the Merdeka Award 2022, my reaction, and her take on the acknowledgement of her contributions, couldn't have been more different.
It was a long time coming, I said to the one I have known for more than 40 years, whose friendship I have long cultivated and whose knowledge of the Malay world I have been envious of.
Her reply, typical of the humble albeit much knowledgeable and respected curator, was: "I feel so malu (shy).
"There are award winners who helped the less fortunate, the underprivileged."
This was in London about a month ago when I was sworn to secrecy about the event that was to be held at the Grand Hyatt in Kuala Lumpur.
I'd say this again. The well-deserved award had taken its time to reach her. I was excited as my husband and I were to be her guests at the grand ceremony graced by Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah and his wife, Raja Permaisuri Perak Tuanku Zara Salim.
Two days ago, watching Gallop, who was born in the cathedral city of Winchester, walk the few steps to receive her award from the royal patron and chairman of the Merdeka Award Trust, I couldn't help but reflect on her journey in the Malay world, which she intermittently shared with me and had me hijacked into her realm of Malay manu-scripts.
We met at the BBC World Service in the mid-1980s where she was a senior producer for the Indonesian and Malay section, after receiving her BSc from the University of Bristol in 1982. At that time, I was a programme assistant with the Malay service.
She then studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where she received her MA in 1985 and did her PhD dissertation on "Malay seal inscriptions: A study in Islamic epigraphy from Southeast Asia" in 2002.
It was as curator of the Malay and Indonesian collections at the British Library that our friendship took a different dimension, changing my life as I became more interested and increasingly jealous of her knowledge of the Malay world that I should have acquired as a Malay.
Generous in sharing her wealth of knowledge, Gallop roped me in to identify old Malay documents, books and newspapers to be microfiched for a library in Singapore.
Her knowledge of what (magazines, books, newspapers such as Jawi Peranakan) was available in the belly of the British Library, which was then in Blackfriar's Road, blew me away.
Without giving a second glance or a thought, she would know on which shelf and in what row an item was stored.
That reintroduced me to a new world, with work on a touring exhibition of Malay Letters that she collaborated with the National Archives Malaysia.
I worked on the catalogue and, encouraged by Gallop, I did a documentary on Warisan Warkah Melayu.
That documentary took me on a journey to Berlin to see the most beautiful Malay letter from Sultan Ahmad of Terengganu to Baron Van de Capellan in 1824.
Gallop amazingly identified beautiful Malay letters in different parts of the world for me to document and her expert knowledge made the documentary an award-winning one.
From her, I learnt about the importance of seals as used by sultans in their epistles to other rulers. The position of the seals says something about the relationship between the sender and the receiver.
From her endless enthusiasm and gentle nudges, I embarked on my own journey into the world of Malay manuscripts by taking a Master's degree in Traditional Malay Literature at SOAS.
Gallop shared her vast knowledge with me, including teaching the meanings of the symbols and illustrations used in Qurans from different parts of the world.
One look at a Quran and Gallop would instantly know whether it's from the northeast of Malaysia or from another part of the world.
Before Covid-19, Gallop travelled far and wide as a guest speaker to talk about Malay manuscripts and the Malay world.
During the lockdowns, more benefited from her talks via Zoom.
On Friday, she was one of the six recipients, comprising influential individuals and organisations, honoured with the award.
For Gallop, a human compendium and treasure trove of information on things, manuscripts and the Malay world, it was an award for her outstanding contributions to Malaysians.
"I am surprised, humbled and touched, and especially delighted because it helps to highlight the wonderful world of manu-scripts as a direct voice from the past.
"Sometimes people think that all the important Malay manuscripts have already been studied, but I want to stress that there are many new, unread and unstudied manuscripts. Each one will yield its unique voice and perspective.
"What you need is patience to read slowly and carefully. You also need to try and be open to different ways of seeing things in the past, and to try not to interpret everything from current perspectives," said Gallop.
Indeed patience is important, especially when deciphering delicate and tiny symbols on a seal.
Gallop jealously guards her manuscripts. While she welcomes parties of people interested in viewing them, pencils must not be taken into the viewing room.
You can see but must not touch any of the precious items.
People looking at old Malay letters with seals made of black soot have been known to rub them, inevitably erasing history.
Gallop received the Darjah Setia DiRaja Kedah in 2014.
"I am so grateful to the Merdeka Award for highlighting the work that curators, librarians and archivists do in carefully preserving written heritage, not merely storing it away, and how we are constantly working to interpret historical sources.
"We also emphasise their relevance and how they can shed light on our understanding today," said Gallop, whose acceptance speech stressed that she is anak Kedah.
Her mother, Teh Siok Lay, 89, from Changlun, but who's now in London, made her promise to tell her audience that she is from Kedah. And she did.
The Outstanding Contribution to the People of Malaysia of the Merdeka Award couldn't have gone to a better person.
"Many of us in the Malay world have benefited from her knowledge."
I, for one, a Malaysian, have gained so much of the world I had been taking for granted.