'piggyRabits' for 'The Town Snobs'

True to what Yusof told us, towards the end of January our class received the additional enrolment of students from town. They all look like ‘town snobs’ all right - well groomed, clean, tidy and healthy. They were in proper school uniforms, with matching white shoes and stockings. Their shirts neatly tucked in and their shorts were properly buckled. On many occasions they were paraded by HM as models of properly dressed English School students during the weekly School Assembly. However hard we tried, we from the Malay Reservation were no match to most of them. They were so because they came from affordable elite families as most of them were children of Government Officers from The Custom & Excise, The Police Force, The Marine Police Force, and The Forestry Departments stationed either in Bagan Datoh, Simpang Empat or Hutan Melintang itself. And with the completion of the new Government Quarters at Hutan Melintang the same year the number increased especially in Primary Class 1.
Now there were 2 factions in our GES - (Government English School), Including those in the Primary 1, the total enrolment of each faction almost equal in number. Only a few of six years from nearby Malay Reservation enrolled into the Primary 1 class. The rest were from the Government Quarters and non-Malays pupils from the adjacent estates.
As most of them were from town shcools, for the initial time period we were not that friendly to the new comers. Normally during School Recess we played with our own playmates. While we The Kampung Boys were at our special playground engaged with our war games, those town brads, choose to play football at the school backyard.
There was this new student, nice and well nurtured town boy named Ahmad. While trying to retrieve a ball from a ‘longkang’ behind the school latrine, accidently his left foot got stuck into an uncovered sanitary manhole and was plastered with contaminated ‘morning soil’ – shoes, stocking and all. It was a dreadful sight to see him struggling and pulling himself out of the manhole, dirty and smelly. Together we helped him clean himself before class began.
The incident was an icebreaker between the Village Lads and the so called ‘Town Snobs’. We found out that they were not that snobbish after all, as most of them were friendly lots. We joked on Ahmad’s unhygienic escapade behind the school latrine. We nicknamed all those ‘town boys’ in long stockings as ‘Kerani Jamban.’ In retaliation they termed some of the barefooted village lads as ‘Budak Kaki Ayam’.
Boys were boys. They fight and played together. It was our War Games in the secondary overgrowth that cemented our ‘love hate’ friendship. We admitted them into our War Games Club. As a goodwill gesture we were all treated with fresh apples, by the town boys especially those from Bagan Datoh. They seemed to have ample daily stock of fresh apples and being a member of War Games Club was a win win situation for all. The integration works well. Soon one adventure leads to another. Together we designed more new War Games. We added ‘Perang Kominis’, ‘Perang Red Indian’, ‘Perang Koboi,’ and ‘Tarzan & Jane’ to our original ‘Perang Korea’ and ‘Perang Jepun,’ until the War Game zone became out of bound to all of us during school hours, imposed by the Head Master Mr McKenzie.
There was this incident after class when the War Game became serious. An overzealous assailant splashed a bottle of ink at the other. The victim’s school uniform was badly blackened with ink, and he had to travel back home by bus in it. The incident was reported to the school authorities the next day by the boy’s officer parent. We were all reprimanded and banned from entering the plot.
When school lessons were fully in force, less time was spend in the school playground. The Class of 1953; as the most senior in that GES need to strive for the better. English Language was totally foreign for most, especially to the Kampung Boys. Understanding the grammar and sounding the spoken English in correct phonetics was not a piece of cake to the Bugis, Mendailing, Rawa, Banjarese & Javanese decent from the Malay Reservation. Firstly we all sound awful with English vocals of vowels and consonants. So most of our free times were spend in the class room perfecting our English language pronunciations by reciting Rhymes or Poetry. At times we were force to recite ‘tongue twister’ until we had a bite of good English Pronunciations. “SEA SHELL, SEA SHELL, ON THE SEA SHORE’, or ‘ROUND AND ROUND THE RUGGED ROCK, RAN THE RUSSIAN RASCAL,’ was our daily chant. Also hard luck for all those with bad spellings as the punishment would be writing 100 words for each spelling mistakes done.

(In latter part of my life, while serving as a Senior Radio Producer in Radio Malaysia in 1966 we interviewed a candidate for an opening in The Music Department. He proved himself as a very talented musical student of a renowned Singapore musician Zubir Said. He claimed that he was more than qualified for the Radio job. He also lamented on the difficulty of securing a good job as there was no opening for music graduate like him, that he resorted to tapping rubber to support his family. Right to his claim, he proved himself well versed with music score and played the piano well. My boss was taken by his honesty. Later we did a ‘Voice Test’ on him. We found out that he could not pronounce the letter ‘S’. For such word as “Saya” he would pronounce as “Caya.” So we coined for him a Malay ‘tongue twister, ’SAYA SUKA SAMA SUNDAL.SUNDAL SUKA SAMA SAYA. He was asked to practice hard if he wanted the radio job. He got the radio job alright, but till this day he still practiced hard to get the sound of the letter “S” right. He was not made a DJ or a News Caster, but he excelled himself as a music composer and producer. On retirement he was bestowed a Datok title for his contribution to Malaysian music industry.)

Now back to us The Village Lads; slowly and enthusiastically we shoulder the English sound ‘learning curb’ brunt; meaning more time in chanting ‘tongue twister’ and less time on the playground. With fewer activities on the playing fields meaning we received less supply of daily fresh apples from the town boys. So we thought of a strategy, inviting them to our Weekend War Games Meet. Most importantly we need to encourage the Bagan Datoh town boys, as they were our only source for the constant supply of fresh apples. To this Yusof advocated the idea of having rabbit as pet. He was boastful on the abundant supply at a Chinese farm near his place. As Yusof put it, the owners could not control the overgrown rabbit population and would be too happy to part with those ‘arnab’ for free.
All believed Yusof.
Most of us were taken with the opportunity of having our very own rabbit pet for free. Some even wanted more than one pair, and promised to bring a big ‘gunny sack’ for the catch. As expected the supply of fresh apples from The Bagan Datoh town boys began to pour in regularly.
Time passed, and the urged to cuddle our pet rabbit almost drive some of us crazy. Yusof agreed to honor his promised if only the Bagan Datoh boys could find time for our Weekend War Games Meet, and later visit the Chinese farm for the rabbits. He knew it was difficult for them to give a definite decision as, they could not find a good explanation to their parents to be at school during the weekends. It was a good strategy as he could stall them for sometimes, till he found another solution.
Personally I was not taken by Yusof’s promise. On my own I scouted the Chinese farm mentioned, only to find no rabbits around the compound. I felt betrayed. Was Yusof telling the truth, or that I was ignorant on the where about of the Rabbit Pen.
I was informed later; the group did go to the Chinese farm for the catch on one fine Saturday afternoon. Were they succeeded with their catch? It was an incident of 'The Unforgotten Truth' long remembered only by all those closely involved.

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This Malay rhymes still etched in my mind as I received Nordin Sabran’s SMS recently urging me to consider the incident of PENGEMBALA ANAK ARNAB in my next posting. Well Nordin, here it is. Please correct me if I over dramatized the incident, for as a professional writer I am licensed to it.

Dalam Semak Ada Duri,
Ayam Kuning Buat Sarang;
Orang Tamak Selalu Rugi,
Saperti Anjing Dengan Bayang-Bayang.

WALLAHUALAM.

THE WAY WE WERE

Eulogy For A Long Lost Dear Friend.

The early grouping; the 18 potential 11 year old derived from Malay Schools from around the vast Malay Reserve in the Lower Perak District was the pioneer group of a Special Malay Class 1 for the newly formed Government English School, in Hutan Melintang in 1952. Coming from various kampongs the first week in the GES saw us as total strangers. We were like alien from nowhere, dumb and too scared to break the school law, and being punished for talking in ‘our mother tongue’ – The Malay Language. So either in the classrooms, during recess at the tuck shop or in the school compounds at the beginning and end of school hours each choose to be by himself.
It was this boy from the Malay School next-door that broke the ice. He was tall, slender and had a fair complexion. His sleepy eyes, one could easily mistake him for a Chinese. We repeatedly asked ourselves; how on earth a Chinese lad in our midst We were in the quandary with the notion of having a Chinese in our newly formed Special Malay Class until we had the first opportunity of being on our own in the playground on the 3rd day of schooling. As the teachers were too busy with meetings and administering the newly formed school, we (all the 18 odd boys) were given a football and were allowed to use the adjacent Malay School padang (football field). That was when we found out his true colour. He was a Malay lad after all. Very talkative and played football well.
As he was from the same Malay School, Yusof seems to be in control of most things. First he assured us that in the playing field we won’t be caught by our school teachers and fined for speaking Malay. The school authority would not be around for some times, as they were busy with their chores. He also indicated there would be more students joining us from other towns the coming weeks. He suggested that we the Village lads should form our very own playmates, before those town snobs arrived. Ardently we accepted his leadership. As we were in the school Padang for most of the day, the esprit de corps soon prevails amongst us the Village Lads. Later that week we turned the adjacent vacant secondary forest into our war-game zone, playing our favorite Perang Korea (Korean War) or Kombat Perang Jepun (wwii combat). It was he who initiated the war games. He formulated the rules and designed the moves. Hungary for high adventures playing as aggressors or defenders, the war-game zone in that secondary forest soon became our favorite jaunt during recess or after school. We made him the Captain of our football team and the Combat General in our war games. And sooner Yusof was loved by most. He was the popular figure to all of us, although our class teacher loathes some of his cunning antics.
In school Yusoff positioned himself as an all rounder in sports and games. He captained our Football and Hockey teams in the interschool games and won. In no time the teachers acknowledged his potentials and started to harness him as school player. Winning interschool games meant a lot to most school administrators. Soon Yusof became the favorite for the district cluster schools, in inter-district tournaments. At times we saw less of Yusoff in the class room. Either he was sent for a special training sessions in the school Padang or engaged in district tournaments somewhere else.
Alas, the special attention given to him had a toll on his education. He dropped out after LCE after 6 years playing hero for our school and the district sport circuits.
The first LCE - Lower Certificate Examination 1957 public exam attended by us as the school pioneer group saw a 100% pass but without Yusof on the list to be transferred to the town schools for our upper secondary education. Reluctantly we left our Combat General and School Football & Hockey Captain behind in our pursuit for better education. Later we heard that he got employment in a Kuala Lumpur bank, and we were happy for him.
While most of us went for College and Varsity Education and post-graduate studies we heard that Yusof had a brush with the law and served time. The School Captain & The Combat General slowly vanishes from our mind.
As I came from the same village, I often inquired about his well beings from close associates. I got sketchy reports about him. I was told by his close cousin that after finishing time he was on odd jobs at Taxi Stands and Bus Stations. He later got married, settled down and tried his hand in small business to support his family. The last I heard of him was as an operator of a school canteen.
The only time we met him as a group was at an event at GES Sungai Sumun some years ago. One of our classmates was appointed as The Minister of Education in the Tun Dr.Mahadhir Mohammad’s Cabinet. The alumni decided to accompany the new Yang Berhormat on his official tour of our alma- mater. In the group was also our beloved class teacher Mr. PH Nesaratnam. Along the way, we recounted lots of nostalgic events of our early school days in the GES. In one way or the other, we ‘scaled’ the successes and life achievements of most to the delight of Mr. Nesa. Hardly had we touched on Yusuf’s. The only things that lingered in our mind then, was that he once had a brush with the law and served times.
To our surprised we were received by Yusuf as we followed the Yang Berhormat’s entourage entering the school compound. We had a nice reunion and promised to meet again on the school’s 50th Anniversary on January 2002. The plan never materialized.
The last I met Yusuf, was January last year at Surau Ahmadiah, Parit 25 Baruh, Tanjung Bayan. It was my family’s event celebrating Aidil Adha open house and ibadah korban. Out of the blue he popped in driving his new Proton, in red long sleeves and white pants. His smiles and sense of humor added ambience to the events. We hugged each other. But soon he asked for his leave, as he had other urgent matters to attend to. We promised to meet again.
That was the last time I met our GES School Captain and our Combat General.
His demise on the early Friday morning 11th January 08 (2nd Day Muharram) was a shock to me. I hurriedly drove back to Hutan Melintang for his funeral, only to be told by my nephew that the cortege has left for the funeral grounds. I was flustered for not being able to attend the funeral.
Before the Friday prayer I sms the sad news to few GES colleagues listed in my cell phone simcard.An immediate respond came from Nordin Sabran: ‘TERIMA KASIH ZIZ. BERITA YANG MENYEDIHKAN. ALLAH MENGASIHI NYA. BULAN, HARI DAN MASA YANG BAIK. SAMOGA DI MAAFKAN DOSA-DOSANYA DAN ROHNYA DI RAHMATI.” Other immediate responds came from Dato’ Idris Haji Wahid ex CPO, and Dato’ Zubir Yahya ex MCS. The rest may have not received my SMS or had a vague remembrance of our once Captain and Combat General at the (then) GES.
Alfatihah.

CLASS OF 53

It started off with a handful of us. Derived from various Malay Schools from a vast Malay Agriculture Reserve Land of Coconut Plantations, spanning from Kampung Tanjung Bayan on the bank of Sungai Bernam to Bagan Datoh on the mouth of Sungai Perak. We were the pioneer group of Malay students selected for the Special Malay Class stream at a newly established GES - Government English School, Hutan Melintang, on The Lower Perak District.
Moving to a new school on the 1st week of January 1952, was a week full of anticipation for most of us: Abdul Aziz Abas, Ariffin Nordin, Yusoff Atan, Mohd.Noor Dom, Razak Shafie, Zubir Yahya, Shahidan, Shahuri, Kamal Yahya, Nordin Sabran, M.Noor Ismail, Musa Muhammad, Shiratuddin Kadir, Musa Radzi, Zambahari Safawi, Abdullah Bakir, Kamaruddin Taib and Ismail Shaari. It was a week of meeting new faces and making new friends. Soon the number grew with additional pupils from other GES following their parents posting to various Government Departments at Bagan Datoh, Simpang Empat and Hutan Melintang. Most of them were the children of either The Police, Marine, Custom& Excise and Forestry Departments.
The school building itself comprising 2 classrooms a Latrine and a Tuckshop,built on a piece of vacant land adjacent to the renowned Sekolah Melayu Hutan Melintang. Although newly built, it lacked luster. The school situated some 500 meters away from the main road with a small compound. A plot of uncultivated land about 2 acres adjacent to it, a secondary forest covered with tall lalangs and some trees, soon turned out to be our special playground, a suitable location for “Main Perang Jepun” and for after school playing hide and seek activities.
It was a new environment and a rought beginnings for most of us. Some of us walked or cycled to school, while others travelled on the morning bus from Bagan Datoh and its outline kampongs, some 16 miles away. We had a Mr MacKenzie a Scottish for a Head Master. Mr Ghazali and Miss Rokiah as class teachers and Pak Din a midget as an office assistant.
The first 2 years was not much of a serious study, except we were supposed to converse only in the English Language during school hours. Those caught conversing in their mother tongue would be fined 5 cents or punished by doing cheap labours sweeping the floors and cleaning the toilets. Of course 5 cents was a big money then, and doing cheap labours including cleaning the toilets were not our piece of cake. Instead in the classroom the we were all well behaved. No chatting to each other, no fooling around, because none of us really could speak English except for a few words, like: “Good Morning Sir, Good Morning Miss Rokiah, Thank You Sir, Thank You Miss Rokiah, Good Afternoon Sir, Good Afternoon Miss Rokiah." Of course we understand the phrase “Class Dismiss”. It was the only magic phrase we really fully understood, as it was the signal for us go home.
For the first few weeks the Head Master and Our Class Teachers seem to be busy doing lots of things. We had either Reading, Recitation, Writing or Arithmetic for a full day class sessions. Sometimes we were given a football, and were allowed to use the Malay School padang the whole morning till recess time, while the Head Master & Teachers attending special briefing or meeting at the Education Office in town 12 miles away or attending other school missions.
Once we had Pak Din the midget running the school, and he was chased off by some of the girls from the Primary Class who were bigger and taller than him. Pak Din stand below 2 feet 6 inches in height. He could easily be bullied by a few plump girls from The Primary Class.
Two years later we were transferred to the new school premise – GES Sungai Sumun 5 miles away. GES Hutan Melintang ceased operation. The new GES, Sungei Sumun was also to cater students from other vanicular school in the area with full facility including quarters for the staff.

Proper classroom lessons began to take shape. The school total enrolment had reached 300 plus students. We were in Form I when we moved in to GES Sungai Sumun. By now many new intakes from Standard 6 pupils of other vanicular schools joining us in Form 1. We had Zanariah, Shantakumari, Shahrumbi, Ikram, Rashid, Daud, Yeoh Teik Sun, BoonHong, Maniam, Dayananda, RajaAhmad and Shahriman. By 1955 we were no more the Malay boys of the Special Malay Class Grouping, instead a group of 'fully fledged' secondary students of a multiracial and co- educational English Medium School. We were proud to be the most senior in the new school. We were the Prefects, Heads Of School Teams, and most importantly all attention were given to us as we were the first batch students to sit for The Lower School Certificate Examination come 1957.
Our new Headmaster after Mr Mackenzie was a no nonsense, an ‘anti-colonial’ hot tempered bachelor from Chemor Perak - Chegu Mustapha Kimin. He was later replaced by Chegu Rahim, a family man also from Perak. Chegu Rahim was a fatherly figure and a kind person. He was a strict School administrator. He loves to use the cane, and personally overseer the class term progress reports. Each end term we were marched into his office, each displaying our Term Report Card. The 30 of us from Standard 6 were to face him one after another for his assessment beginning with the cream group from position 1 ranking, ending with those in the failure list. My normal ranking was between position 11 to 16 for each term exam. result.
He would congratulate all the high achievers for their hard works until his son Shariman turn to show his Term Report Card. That was when the caning began. For every weak performance marked in Shariman report card, mean a hard whip for his son, either on the right palm or on the buttock. All along, Shariman’s class position had always been from number 10 onwards, meaning disasters for those who stood in line behind him. More than half of the class ( including the girls ) would faced the misfortune, being caned by Chegu Rahim,The Headmaster, for every weak score in their respective report cards.
The special canning sessions on each term end, was a collective secret for most of us. No one willing to talk or complained about them. Never, even to our parents. It was something that all of us accepted as part of school education. So be it.
Looking back it was one of the most enjoyable periods for most of us - the Malay students, from The Malay Reserved Coconut Plantations or the Indians and Chinese students reciding at some British Company Estates nearby. We were the happy lots in a mixed and multiracial society. We studied, played ( and even play truant ) together. We scored 100% passed for the school first LCE examination in 1957, a record still yet to be broken.

...Of 'Basikal', 'Kereta Lembu', 'Sampan Kotak' and Motosikal BSA 350cc

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.