Needless to say bicycle was the only mechanized transportation in my village before Merdeka. Although the kampong roads could fit in any kind of motor vehicle, the only heavy vehicle ever to be seen was a bullock cart, plying from the main road for the mile long journey carrying loads of sands, cements and pebbles, to Sekolah Melayu Sungai Pulau.
It was in 1951, the year Sekolah Melayu Sungai Pulau got an annex building with 4 classrooms, to fit in its growing pupil population. I was a 10 year old and was in Standard 3 then. It was a pity sight, seeing the bulls pulling the heavy laden cart through the unlabeled lane (Jalan Kampung) of Parit-15 to Sekolah Melayu Sungai Pulau.
I could smell the sweat, and out of pity, I choose not to stare at the weeping eyes, suffering from the strains of the heavy burden and the hot sun. Every now and then, their thin bellys got a few hard lashes from the handler, for the bulls to pull the cart forward every time the wheels caught in the muddy pools. The bulls groaned and pulled harder. The handler let go a few more lashes. The cart then moved forward – slowly - inch by inch.......
Of course the affordable few had bicycles for their daily transportation. Owing a bicycle means a lifelong luxury. A newly bought bicycle would normally be prominently parked at places of leisure or mosque for people to admire. The newly wed would cycled around the kampong visiting family members or a weekly visit to Pasar Minggu. A status symbol, yearned by most.
For the industrious few, bicycles were used to carry heavy burdens, or running daily errands. My father bought me a bicycle for my travels to school. He himself did not own any.
For his retails business buying and selling coconuts and copra he needed a much bigger means of transportation. He had a barge that can ply the monsoon drains carrying loads. The barge made of planks like a ‘sampan’, oblong in shape, 16 feet long 4 feet wide at both end, with an extra 2 feet width at the belly -(the Chinese called it ‘Tongkang’ while the Malays called it ‘Sampan Kotak’ because of its oblong shape). The barge about three feet high, could take around a dozen gunnysack of copra stacked together. The monsoon drains were built and managed by the then British Malaya Administration, lauded by the locals as the most comprehensive drainage system for the Malay Reserve Lands. The monsoon drains built with multipurpose role, not only to drain excess rain water to avoid excessive flooding, but also meant as suitable water transportation system for the villages. The barge would be pulled by workers using ropes and bamboo poles along the banks to ferry the load to the main road, where the copra are transported by lorry to the mills. Besides barges, there are also dugout canoes, normally used as water taxi by the residents.
A couple of years later in 1953, my father could effort a BSA 350cc motorbike. It was the pride of our family. Alas, he hardly rode it twice, as on the first try itself he rode through a roadblock and ditched into the monsoon drain. Luckily, though he escaped unscratched, but was reprimanded by Sergeant Md Dom, a friendly OCS (Officer In charge) Police Station, Simpang Empat. For some times after the incident, the BSA 350 cc motorcycle was parked untouched in the storeroom waiting for a potential buyer.
From then on my father choose to travel by foot, and by available public transport: bus, lorry, taxi, rickshaw or water taxi.
It was in 1951, the year Sekolah Melayu Sungai Pulau got an annex building with 4 classrooms, to fit in its growing pupil population. I was a 10 year old and was in Standard 3 then. It was a pity sight, seeing the bulls pulling the heavy laden cart through the unlabeled lane (Jalan Kampung) of Parit-15 to Sekolah Melayu Sungai Pulau.
I could smell the sweat, and out of pity, I choose not to stare at the weeping eyes, suffering from the strains of the heavy burden and the hot sun. Every now and then, their thin bellys got a few hard lashes from the handler, for the bulls to pull the cart forward every time the wheels caught in the muddy pools. The bulls groaned and pulled harder. The handler let go a few more lashes. The cart then moved forward – slowly - inch by inch.......
Of course the affordable few had bicycles for their daily transportation. Owing a bicycle means a lifelong luxury. A newly bought bicycle would normally be prominently parked at places of leisure or mosque for people to admire. The newly wed would cycled around the kampong visiting family members or a weekly visit to Pasar Minggu. A status symbol, yearned by most.
For the industrious few, bicycles were used to carry heavy burdens, or running daily errands. My father bought me a bicycle for my travels to school. He himself did not own any.
For his retails business buying and selling coconuts and copra he needed a much bigger means of transportation. He had a barge that can ply the monsoon drains carrying loads. The barge made of planks like a ‘sampan’, oblong in shape, 16 feet long 4 feet wide at both end, with an extra 2 feet width at the belly -(the Chinese called it ‘Tongkang’ while the Malays called it ‘Sampan Kotak’ because of its oblong shape). The barge about three feet high, could take around a dozen gunnysack of copra stacked together. The monsoon drains were built and managed by the then British Malaya Administration, lauded by the locals as the most comprehensive drainage system for the Malay Reserve Lands. The monsoon drains built with multipurpose role, not only to drain excess rain water to avoid excessive flooding, but also meant as suitable water transportation system for the villages. The barge would be pulled by workers using ropes and bamboo poles along the banks to ferry the load to the main road, where the copra are transported by lorry to the mills. Besides barges, there are also dugout canoes, normally used as water taxi by the residents.
A couple of years later in 1953, my father could effort a BSA 350cc motorbike. It was the pride of our family. Alas, he hardly rode it twice, as on the first try itself he rode through a roadblock and ditched into the monsoon drain. Luckily, though he escaped unscratched, but was reprimanded by Sergeant Md Dom, a friendly OCS (Officer In charge) Police Station, Simpang Empat. For some times after the incident, the BSA 350 cc motorcycle was parked untouched in the storeroom waiting for a potential buyer.
From then on my father choose to travel by foot, and by available public transport: bus, lorry, taxi, rickshaw or water taxi.
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