So there I was, with this adversed report by my Headmaster to my dad over my apparent lack of study and disinterestedness. I had to explain to my dad then that I was just trying to find a way to overcome my emotional stress with the college lifestyle which was very demanding in every facet of the day to day living. We were regimented to a disciplined society of our own and our only outlets to steam off was through the numerous after school hours activities such as the games and societies.
Music was one that attracted me and hence my indulgence in it which made me slacked in my studies, but this is not unusual, because it happened again in my undergraduate days too. But I promised my dad that I would improve in the next term exam, to which I did by retaining back my former position of eighth position in the class. The Headmaster, who was then Mr. JDR Howell must have been very pleased with my efforts that he made me a Prefect when I was in Form Four, an achievement rarely achieved by anyone.
Prefects were chosen and appointed only from the Fifth Formers. Added to this was to make me secretary to the Prefects Board, which saw me struggling over the minutes of each Prefects Board meeting which took place regularly each month. I was also made one of two Cadet Corp. sergeants, the most senior rank of the Cadet Corp. then with the exception of the rank of Second Lieutenant being held by Encik Lazim, the teacher in charge of the College Cadet Corp. What a great honor for me then to be the Guard of Honor sergeant for the first Yang Di Pertuan Agong, the late Tuanku Abdul Rahman's official visit to the College in 1957. Of course I was then in the Lower Sixth Form and the Deputy Head Prefect of the College then.
But what really puzzled me with the Headmaster's objective was to give me added responsibilities instead of easier life to concentrate on my studies since he said that I had slacked in my studies. I was made in charge of the entire College boys personal pocket money, which in those days were sent directly to the College by parents to be managed by the College for their children. When it was found impractical for me to manage the whole College which included the small boys at the Prep School and at the King's Pavilion, I was finally relieved of the latter two outlets with the appointment of another classmate of mine Wan Jaafar, for the Prep School. As for the Kings Pavilion, this was managed directly by a teacher resident of the outlet.
It was no easy thing to manage the school pocket money.
Since our weekends were Fridays and Sundays, I had to have the money by Thursday morning and the same to have it exchanged for small denominations from the local government Treasury, for which I had to do it myself. Thank goodness, robberies were nonexistence then.
This became a weekly routine for me. Little did I realize the risk and the heavy responsibility that I had then for making sure that the money was safe. All I had then was an iron box with lid that could not be locked and the registered books of those whose money was with the school. Since as a Prefect we all had a private cubicle of our own, it was in this cubicle and in my dress locker that I kept the money for later distribution to the boys. Comes Friday morning and after the usual Friday dormitory inspection by the Headmaster or duty teacher for the day, the boys would start lining up outside my small cubicle to get their pocket money for the week.
Maximum draw out unless on a very special purchase of very essential things such as shoes, games racquets, athletics shoes which we called "spikes" for short those days, was limited to RM3.00 only. Of course there were always some exceptions to the sons of ruling chiefs who happened to have "loaded" account exceeding RM300.00 per term as compared to the average RM30.00 for the rest. Their pocket money was sent directly officially through the respective States authorities. Thus we got Mohammed Hussein from Brunei, who was the first and the only Brunei student during my time, whose pocket money exceeded RM300.00 termly, and Abang Abu Bakar from Sarawak, and the sons of the Sultan of Trengganu, Tunku Ibrahim and Tunku Suleiman, whose moneys far exceeded the rest.
Except for Hussein Brunei as he was generally known as, whereby the Brunei government insisted that his pocket be strictly supervised, the rest of the "loaded" boys could withdraw freely.
Thus we find that these loaded boys would always have strings of followers whenever they were out in the small town of Kuala Kangsar. Of course the main attraction to all the followers was to be treated to a good meal at some of the favorite haunts of those days such as at Kedai Ah Loke where the most delicious Chinese paus were sold including very appetizing beefsteak and "egg steak", which three foodstuff are sold right to these days. The Ah Loke shop is well-known to all the Collegians and even to such Rulers as the Sultans of Perak and Pahang.
Other food outlets included the delicious ice kacang and ice cream at the food stalls near the then Cathay cinema and at the Double Lion. While fried mee or noodles were available at most food outlets, the favorite remained at Ah Loke again. Every Fridays and Sundays ( Saturday being a school day for the College) the boys would flock for their regular eating spree at these places. Of course there were other places too but these could be at areas considered out of bounds to the boys and these were at a spot we used to call "New York", a string of food stalls along the river bank of the Perak river, near to the jetty of boats for Sayong, which was a riverine town opposite Kuala Kangsar town.
It was at these places that Hussein and his string of followers would flock during the weekends. As was expected, Hussein went dry almost before the week ended and on the quiet he would approach me to get extra money, although I would have previously given him the exceptional draw out of RM10.00! That was big money those days, considering a nice plate of noodle cost only RM1.00 and beefsteak RM1.50 and egg steak RM1.20 whilst ice kacang 25 sen per bowl. Money was never enough to Hussein and this went on right to his later life but fortunately for him he never seemed to run out of it. May be it was because of his generous attitude Allah must have blessed him with wealth. Hussen himself is another character which if written would make very interesting reading indeed. May be I will dwell on him later on. As for the rest of the "big shots", well, there had their do's too but never stood out as much as Hussein was.
Hussein was given special attention by me because he became my adopted brother by virtue of being "adopted" by my parents. On almost every College term holidays, Hussein would follow me home as directed by my father to avoid being left in College all by himself . The Brunei government afforded a return flight for him only once a year and for the two school term holidays he was to find an adopted parents. Thus he became one of my family members and very much liked by everyone.
It was ironical that in later years when Farahat went to College, he also brought home almost every term holidays his best friend Syed Mohd Fairuz who to this day is considered as a family member and called us "abah and mama".
Syed Fairuz and Tunku FarahatToday we have other “adopted children” who called us “abah and mama” and they are friends of Farah, Farahat and Farazil, in the likes of Razali Harjoh, Rozhan and his wife Nani, Michael Loh and his wife Angela, whilst Terence and Julie treat us very much like their parents too. Of course it goes without saying, the whole family of Wong Kok Chee and Catherine - Duncan, Dennis, Donna and Debra ; and the family of the Yees - Pek Wah, Ah Heng, Mei Mei ; are very real families to us all these past years ! It goes without doubts in our minds we cannot forget our very close friends Down-Under in Sydney the Then family of Then Suk Min, Bee Lian, Choong and Cheng.
Wong Kok Chee and MeKok Chee and Cath for instance never fail to pay us at least a monthly visit with their children and grandchildren. Life is simply beautiful when you have all these wonderful friends around you. For that matter, our house is never without visitors in any one week and of late we have visitors almost daily and we simply enjoy their company. The amazing thing is, they all never seem to mind my chronic habit of “take five” by myself somewhere when they come around or when they were leaving! At my age and time, I do need the occasional “break” to refresh and energize!
Me taking five and Tunku Aiki saying "No.. no Tok Abah, take only two"Sabri always remarks at my seemingly tireless energy to cope with happenings around our house and to my long distance drivings on most days of the month. What they forget to realize is that I was simply trying to cope up with Ainul’s energy. She is the one who seems tireless. What with coping with the regular house chores of cooking, house cleaning, decorating, clothes for laundry, clothes for the tailors, and without doubts to my constance demands on my desk tops requirements and paperwork, special meals, etc. It wonders me, just how women could cope with all these “nonsense” and yet remain sensible!
Hence the little and occasional things that she asks to be taken to the movies or eating outs or walk in the Lake Gardens are all well deserving for her, although at times I resisted because of my own lack of energy when circumstances arise for such requests. The consolation I get to all these lacking attitude is the remarks by Sabri, “what to do, we are all not young anymore! I am myself looking for retirement but then who is going to earn the money to upkeep the family?”
And talking of the family, both Sabri and I wonder why we still pamper our children with all their basic needs. Isn’t it about time that we live things to themselves to manage and just watch on the sidelines?
Dr. Sabri and Family
Dr. Sabri and FamilyCould we do that - really do that ?
written by Tunku Farid
edited by Aida Halim
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