New Blood Wanted

We had some very funny nick names given to the boys of our time at the College.

In my class alone, we have such names as
“Katak minyak”,
“King”,
“Kudor”,
“Gagui”,
"Budu",
“Square”,
“Tadpole”,
“Ane”,
“Bookworm”,

...whilst at other classes
“Cenkurik”,
“Gusi”,
"Captain Marvel",
"Bing",
"Vic",
"Joe Lavula",
"Pisang",
“Terong”,
"Panjang",
"Musang",
"Monty",
"Jawa",
"Presley",
"Pendek",
"Pak Imam”,
“Kicap”,
“Buku”,
“Bulu”,
“Babu”,
“Taugey”,
“Police”,
“Sayong”,
“Bote”
“Orang Puteh”,
“Mat Salleh”,
“Jawa”,
“Jambu”,
“Gemok”,
“Terror”, and many others that I cannot recall right now but I hope to gather later on when I meet my old fellow Collegians. Similarly we had teachers nicknamed “ European”, “Mata Merah”, “Ausie”, “Boxer”, “Bawang”, and others.

These 'colorful' names remained permanent amongst their respective classmates and Collegians of the time and never at any time did anyone so-named took offense to being called such for as long as it remains confined to the known group only. Lifetime friendships were made and secured out of all these antics and idiosyncrasies at the College. It was a brotherhood that remains for all time. I can cite a few examples as to why some of these nicknames came into being.

One such friend Malik “King” derived his for his scabies, a dreaded skin disease of the time which he contacted as a result of his swim in the very dirty and polluted College swimming pool. The swimming pool’s water got replaced every Saturday but prior to that the previous used water remained there till the following Friday. Malik somehow always went to swim irrespective of the condition of the water and hence he contacted the scabies.

Fortunate for him, in a matter of a few days he was cured of it, but the titled “King” was given to him as the king of scabies ! Another guy, Ariff was named “Bulu” or “Babu” because he was very hairy and at the same time resembled an Indian Muslim looks !

Which reminds me of a recent demise of a great Collegian, DATO’ DR IKMAL HISHAM ALBAKRI, who passed away on Saturday 14, January at the age of 76. The late Hisham was a great sportsman in College, He was an all-rounder and excelled in every game that he played. I had on occasions played squash with him at the Royal Lake Club and always beat him until at one time during the the Kuala Lumpur Squash League game when Hisham played for the Royal Golf Club and I for the Royal Lake Club, he beat me 3/2.

Since then whenever he met me, he would always tell the others around us that he had beaten me in the game ! Hisham was ever generous to the College in many ways than one. Besides readily buying dinner tables at the Annual Old Boys Dinner, he has made considerable cash contributaions to the Old Boys Association and to the College itself .

Some of the highlights of his time includes his initiative to set up PAM, an architects body and was President of the Commonwealth Architects Assocaition. Amongst his accolades was the first recipient of the ASEAN Achievement Award for Architecture in 1992 in Jakarta. Always pleasant to talk with , polite and unassuming and full of jokes, Hisham is one very senior old boy that I will always miss and remember. That’s what I mean when I mentioned earlier on, The College tie remains forever strong and binding to us Colllegians.

I have to end here, for already in last month’s tunku.org some one commented my ramblings too long and arduous to read and somewhat boring ! Sorry guys, that’s to be expected with guys like me in the twilight years of my life ! Who knows, this might be my last column for the website.

The Editor will have to look for new blood next !

written by Tunku Farid
edited by Aida Halim