Kak Long doing a Kodo

Sat 29 Sep 2018.

Caught Kak Long doing a "Kodo" today.

Back when I was a State Legislator (1995-1999), Adang and Kodo used to work for me in Kuala Pilah. Adang was a Class F contractor who spent a lot of time with me at my office at the MARA building, now demolished.  Kodo (real name Baharin) was a paid Party man who helped me with my Party work. I gave him a table & chair in the office. He would help my female clerk most days. Otherwise he would move around my constituency. Kodo has since died of natural causes. I went for his funeral in Sg. Dua. I was no longer a State Legislator then.

Adang worked well with Kodo. They knew each  before I knew either of them. Adang called Kodo "atok".

By this time,  the hand 'phone was already widely used, but there were no whatsapp and the other softwares yet.  So we kept in touch constantly. None of us kept regular times at the office. Not even the clerk, paid by me out of my own pocket, just like Kodo. Adang worked voluntarily, though he benefitted in other ways. Because of that, they would call each other over my programme for the week. Some of my programmes took place at night. 

One day I was with Adang in his car. We were driving around KP town, looking for a place to have "teh tarik", when we spotted Kodo sitting in his car parked in front of shop. Adang stopped his car right behind Kodo's, and called him on his mobile phone.

             "Atok kek mano ni?"

          "Kek pejabat YB lah"

             "Atok jangan pembongak ! Se belakang atok ah!"

We all had a good laugh. 

This afternoon, after attending my late cousin's daughter's wedding in Kg. Datuk Keramat, Idah suggested we visit Kakak, Kak Long's eldest daughter, because she had a car accident last week. Kak Mot said it was  bad, and  the car was badly damaged, and Kakak was hurt. 

Before that we had stopped at the Serdang fruit-stalls and had "lempeng kelapa" and "ubi kayu rebus" with "kelapa parut". I also did my zohor prayers. We bought some "ubi kayu rebus" and "goreng pisang tanduk", still hot from the embers, for the stop at Kak Long's house in Bangi.

The main gate ( in Kak Long's house, the back of the house is the main entrance, the front of the house faces the fence  - Zainal is an electrical engineer, not an architect ) was locked, but the small gate beside it wasn't. Which seemed strange - why lock the main gate, in the first place? But Kak Long does strange things all the time. Idah went into the compound and called a few times without getting an answer. It's a big, double storey house, so probably they couldn't hear her. But the clothes hung to dry indicated that if Kak Long had gone out, it must be near by. So I called her. She answered.

             "Kak Long kek mano ni?"

           "Ade kat rumah"

             "Jangan pemongak! Uncle kek dopan rumah ni!"

           "Heh heh heh !, Ade kat luar, sekejap lagi sampai"

She did a  "Kodo" on me.

I needn't have brought the goreng pisang. She bought some, too. Trying to appease me for doing a Kodo on me. 

Kakak was hurt in the accident, but thankfully it wasn't very serious.  The seat belt and the air-bag helped.

The goreng pisang Kak Long bought also helped. She could have gotten into serious trouble for the Kodo trick.

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UMNO's future.

Sat 29 Sep 2018.

Md. Hasan said at the opening of  the  UMNO General Assembly yesterday that UMNO needs to be strengthened for it to continue to play a major role in serving the electorate.  This after the party, and Mohamad himself in person, had declined to contest the PD bye-election next month. So what's the raison d'etre for the existence of UMNO, if not to offer itself as a representative of the electorate ? Not contesting smells of cowardice. Or other more sinister motives. The fact that Anwar had balatantly abused the electoral system in the pursuit of a personal agenda gives UMNO even more reason to fight in PD. Under the circumstances, Mohamad's words are hollow.

It's not the structural strength of UMNO that's problematic. It's the mindset. If UMNO doesn't start  studying its spectacular loss at GE 14, the disintegration  won't stop. And one way a new perspective can help it is to get a fresh set of top leaders. The  80% of the current leadership that comes  from the Najib & co  cannot bring the change required. Yes, the current crop of leaders can change their mentality, but that looks highly unlikely. They'll help destroy UMNO by keeping Najib in spite of the overwhelming evidence of his wrong-doing.  UMNO had done this before. Onn Jaafar was replaced, and UMNO became stronger. Tunku was replaced, and UMNO became stronger. Tun Razak was replaced (he died in office) and UMNO became stronger. Hussein resigned because of ill-health, and Mahathir took over, hung on for 22 years, and kept UMNO  strong.  He resigned, and UMNO became very strong, winning for BN more than 90% in Parliament and 93 % of the states in GE 11 on 21.3.2004. 

Having voluntarily left, Mahathir created the right atmosphere for Dollah to take over, "the new broom" with new expectations, Parliament with 90%, and the states with 93 %  was the stamp of approval for BN.  But within 4 years ,when the electorate  saw the real ineffectual Dollah in action, they gave their stamp of disapproval, and BN got their worst result at the polls up to that point, a 63.1% win in Parliament, a 30% loss. That was the first sign of trouble.  Dollah was removed. 

But this time UMNO didn't get stronger. Najib took over, and almost from the start began his hanky-panky. So in GE13, his first elections as the PM, BN was given an even worse rebuke by voters, and won less than 60% of Parliament. That was the second bad sign. But it was ignored. 

Some brave leaders in the party warned Najib publicly. Instead of being echoed and supported by other concerned party leaders, as happened before, Najib got rid of them.  The rest, as they always say, is history. If UMNO had carried out the "operation" to remove the cause of the disease at that time, GE 14 would have had a different outcome.

I told Sainy a couple of days ago that UMNO for a while seemed to have taken drastic steps to change, post-GE 14. It had replaced the Wanita and Pemuda heads. It had even replaced the no. 2. But it came short when it came to the President and the Supreme Council. I said  keep them, and say goodbye to UMNO's comeback. 

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The PD Battle.

28 Sept 2018.

So what I said in a previous related blog on the coming PD Parliamentry bye-election about "anyone other than Mohamad Hassan would lose to Anwar"  has to be revisited. I withdraw that brave prediction.

Mohamad himself told me a fortnight ago that Isa Samad might challenge Anwar as an Independent. I thought at that time that it was unlikely, because he has his own problems, and because he would be going against UMNO to do so.

Yesterday afternoon I called and later visited Sainy, my old State Legislative Assembly friend, at home in PD. I'd wanted to find out what's happening now that UMNO had publicly declared they're boycotting the PD bye-election. In my mind,since UMNO has no balls for it, Isa is the best candidate. He's a PD boy, and I know they love him in PD. I wasn't surprised to hear from Sainy, who said he was meeting Isa that very night, that, yes, he's standing for the election as an Independent. In fact Isa had called him to act as his proposer on nomination day this Saturday. Since Sainy is still an UMNO branch chairman, Isa had to find another proposer.

I gave Sainy two notes to pass to Isa later. I told him to tell Isa I support him, and if he wants, I could campaign with my Lukut Chinese golfing friends. Later back home I called Durai to look up as many of his Indian friends in PD for the same purpose. 

My first note was about the racial breakup of PD. Malays are slightly more than 40%, the Chinese almost 33%, the Indians 23% and Others 3%.

My second note contained the 10 points I told Mohamad Hasan why he'd be the best candidate. But for Isa, they remain 10 good points why he's now the best person with a fighting chance to beat Anwar. The Chinese don't trust Anwar. The Indians at worst could split 50-50. The Mahathir supporters would never vote for Anwar. I told Sainy, if you do a little arithmatic you'd find at least 50% of the votes could go to Isa.

Anwar must have a good reason to pick PD, but against local favourite Isa, he's a "foreigner". I told Sainy, don't compare UMNO against PKR. Compare candidate against candidate. A personality battle. Tell that to Isa tonight. 

Last I heard, UMNO may sack Isa. I didn't say anything about it to Sainy. What the hell, UMNO is disintegrating. Ignore it. Go house to house right now. Isa's fighting chance is real.

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Tiger's 80th. PGA win.

Tues 25 Sept 2018.

I'd wanted to write earlier, but was caught up watching the replays of the Tour Championship & Fedex Cup finals. That was the first time in 5 years that I'd stayed up to watch golf live on tv. Because for 5 years Tiger Woods didn't win.

The first time I watched Tiger live on tv was 1996, when he won his third US Amateur in a row. Before that he'd won three US Junior in a row, too.  Even Nicklaus, with 18 Majors to his name, cannot match that record. And at 42, Tiger, having just won his 80th. PGA title, looks likely to win 4 more Majors and equal Nicklaus's achievement.

I've been following Tiger's career for 22 years, through the ups and downs. I've kept many of his golfing records, and even have the cd's of his Junior and Amateur tournaments somewhere. For now, some of his golfing prowess can be seen as follows:

From 1991, at the age of 15, Tiger had won his first US Junior title, and then won  it for 3 straight years. Immediately following that, also for 3 straight years, he won the US Amateur title. Late the same year, 1996, he quit college and turned professional, age 20.

For 21 years now as a pro, Tiger has won 80 PGA titles( second only to Sam Snead with 82), including 14 Majors (second only to Jack Nicklaus with 18), and 26 other titles, making a grand total of 106. That works out to almost 4 wins per year for 21 years, and that includes  the last 5 years with nothing. Since Tiger normally plays about 18 tournaments per year, his success rate is a phenomenal 22%. I don't think any other golfer  can match that.  If, as the golf analysts say now, Tiger plays at the very top level for another decade, the possibilities are just mind boggling.

For the  just completed Fedex Cup Tour Championship finals, Tiger received a total of USD 4.62 millions. That's RM 18.5 millions for 4 days work, or RM 4.5 millions per day.  I don't have the figures for the last 2 years, but up to age 40, Tiger had won USD 110,061,012 in prize money alone. Added to his other earnings, Tiger collected an income of USD 1.35 billions. That's 1,350,000,000. For those 19 years as a pro, Tiger earned about USD 71,000,000 per year, or USD 5,916,666 per month, or USD 197,222 per day.  Multiply by 3.8 (RM), that's virtually RM 750,000 per day ! Some top bankers here get this in a month.

I know  I'm partly responsible for my nephew, Mizi, becoming a golf professional. As a teenager, he was rated among the top Malaysian amateurs, having won several national level tournaments. Naturally he became a young pro. Alas, the difference between amateur and pro golf is,  as they say, like "langit dengan bumi". Mizi didn't progress, and now at 30, with 2 kids of his own, it looks like "bye-bye" to pro golf, and he's already earning money away from the game that I thought he'd make his fortune in.

Sadly, he doesn't even watch Tiger.

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Sam's first son-in-law.

Mon 17 Sep 2018.

Adam married Shiqin, Datuk Samsuddin Hasan's daughter, on Saturday at the Sime Darby Convention Centre. Last night, Sunday, was the Majestic reception. I mean, the reception at Majestic.  But the event, slightly delayed, was great.  The reception hall was great. The guests were great in their formal attire, all 700 of them fitting nicely into the classy hall.  The food was great. The polished musicians were great. Even the pauses between acts were managed greatly. But to me, all three speeches delivered at the beginning, the middle and the end of the reception were the greatest.

There were of course the facts. Adam is  Sam's first son-in-law. Seven more weddings should follow Shiqin's. Sam spent 3.2 millions on Shiqin's schooling, and for this Adam paid only 300 for the "aqad nikah". The 15-ringgit parking fee for all the guests was footed by Sam. The next 7-ringgit zakat-fitrah for Shiqin will be paid by Adam. In short, Sam is badly short-changed.

Then there was Sam's closing speech, the third and last one for the night, but the one with the punch.

Sam spared nothing, obviously, for the happiness of his daughter. He'd watched Adam from the beginning, and assured that Adam was Shiqin's choice, now gladly gives his precious daughter away, but with a proviso, smilingly given but steely cautioned, to take good care of her.

Sam came prepared with several full-scap pages of  notes, but he moved in and out of them at will. And it didn't lessen the impact of his massage, to me, and the audience. We were all listening. That, I assure you, doesn't always happen at weddings. The listening, I mean. His words were of fatherly exasperation and about jealous care for a much-loved daughter. His loss now should be Adam's gain, and combined, the new couple's happiness together should make up for the tender, loving care showered by father to daughter.

But before that the twins spoke, at two different times. At the beginning of the reception, the unmarried one spoke first. She had her notes, too, but I guess much of what she said was already written in her heart. She spoke of their love growing together, of their differences, yet  their dependence on each other, of their closeness, and now of being separate for the rest of their lives. And then she spoke of their dear departed mother who left them six years ago through illness, how she is so much missed here now, but how she, too, would have been happy with the new son-in-law. This was the emotional part of her speech, and it was shared by the audience.

When the bride spoke on stage, after the cake cutting ceremony, she carried no notes, but like her twin sister before her, her words were probably already written in her heart. She,too, spoke of the sisterly love, and now the sad separation, of the loss of a loving mother, who, again, would have been happy to see her happily married, and spoke of gratitude for the joy the wedding has brought to all concerned.

We'd decided to leave Seremban for the wedding early - at 5.30 p.m. exactly, for fear of the KL-bound Sunday evening traffic that normally occurs on weekends. But the traffic was not as bad as expected, maybe because we were early, maybe because Monday would be still a holiday. So we reached the hotel almost one hour before the appointed time. At reception's end we left, stopped at the Sg. Besi rest area, collected Auntie Ros from England Garden, and sent all three passangers back to S2, before I finally reached home at about 1.30 a.m. Monday morning, tired but happy. Happy enough that I sms'd a congratulatory message to Sam. "Great wedding" I said.

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PD - not a certainty bye-election.

Sat 15 Sep 2018.

So Anwar has chosen PD as his next platform to launch himself back into parliament at the ripe old age of 72. He has never left the Malaysian political scene even with two jail terms.  This time he's finally apparently destined to be the next PM. Lest we all forget, the same old man who launched him into politics, speeded up his rise to the no.2 spot like a meteor, then stopped him short in his tracks, is again responsible for his unlikely comeback. I doubt that Anwar forgets. 

On his own, through all four GE's 10 -13, even with his seemingly incredibly unlimited funds, his dream of being PM was clearly just that, a dream. PKR never broke 40 seats in the 222-seat parliament, a mere 13% strength,  and for all intents and purposes, it would never improve, despite Rafizi's best efforts. Only PKR's more youthful stalwarts believe in its "reformasi" battle-cry. Then came the return of the old man. 

Students of Malaysian politics would forever debate the rationale of an unnecessary bye-election. Let's not talk of the waste of money, time and effort, even if that's true.  Just think for a minute the selfish motive and the abuse of the system. It's for one man running out of time to take the centre spot he claims is his God-given right. Is he scared he might miss his chance, like his miss in 1996?

The stunning fall of UMNO, and with it the BN government on 9 May, has caught Malaysians and the rest of the watching world by surprise. The victims were so surprised that the chief victim didn't even have an escape plan. If he had even the faintest doubt of winning the election, he would have packed his bags and booked his flight before the night the world came down on his ears, and within the hour he'd be in Jakarta, or wherever it was the pilot might have taken him.  Not 24 hours after defeat, and by then even the unplanned crowd at Subang airport was waiting, because they smelled chicken. 

The PH victory was manna from heaven for PKR, more so for Anwar, because it allowed a "pardon"  by a mercurial monarch given so fast that heads were turned by the whirlwind of events. The discarded rigmarole of the pardon proper meant that Anwar was intantaneously  eligible to contest. But the facts of his case are unchanged, and the truth of the matter remains unvarified.

Another fact not lost to the public is that a first-time parliamentarian hardly 6 months into his term has been made  way for Anwar who already has a  wife and daughter  in Parliament. The 6-month MP must have a million reasons to do what he did. 

The choice of PD, too, is cause for debate. Permatang Pauh would have been a natural and tested choice. Is there a trump card in PD?

The natural candidate from UMNO is Mat Hasan, the ex MB of NS. As Deputy President  of UMNO he's the right person to fight Anwar, the  leader of PKR, UMNO's political enemy.  Mat Hasan  has nothing to lose. Anwar is a worthy opponent. Mat Hasan's  stature in UMNO will shoot up, win or lose. Any other candidate, including the much loved Isa Samad, would lose. The only problem is, Mat Hasan is not keen.

Can Mat Hasan  win?

Is Anwar undefeatable ? is my question to that question.

This is not Permatang Pauh. Despite the 3-5 parliamentry loss, NS is still a strong UMNO state. UMNO Kuala Pilah lost Parliament by only 200 votes. And that because Hassan Malek at 72 is already too old and politically too weak.  Rembau, Jelebu and  Jempol are still UMNO-led.

The UMNO Deputy President has no known skeletons in his cabinet. Anwar has too many.

Like GE 14, Anwar must get Mahathir to campaign in PD. In spite of Rafizi's belittling of the old man's contribution, his presence could make the vital difference. But the old man has already said "I don't campaign in bye-elections". Get Rafizi to shut up, and the old man might still  come to PD.

Get Isa Samad to campaign aggresively. Work the Chinese and Indians. Don't turn off Mahathir's supporters. Get the ex-forces groups' support. All these might produce 40% of the votes, enough to get a simple majority. 

As I said, if it's anyone but Mat Hasan, UMNO might as well save its money and throw in the towel. On PD's beach!

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Cameron Highlands.

11 Sep 2018.

The whole Boys Wing, RMC Sg. Besi, spent one of the school terms holidays camping up Cameron Highlands in 1961 or 1962, I can't remember which one. It was my very first Cameron Highlands visit, as was almost everybody's, I suspect. But unlike now, when all of us drive up the highlands in our comfortable airconditioned vehicles, the "budak boys" then were all packed into canvas-topped army trucks, with the fore and aft ends open. That was convenient. When we were making our labourious climb from Tapah up to our final destination, Brinchang, we took turns to vomit over the tailgates - the swaying and rolling of the trucks along the twisted narrow road made all sick to the gills.

Brinchang was a vacant army camp at the foot of the Gunung Brincang, Cameron Highlands' highest point. There were no other buildings that I could remember of. Right from  Ringlet we already felt the cold air. My memory is that Cameron Highlands was much colder then. We donned our army sweaters, the cold air rushing through the trucks' canopy somewhat refreshing the seasickness. But upon reaching Brinchang camp, our destination, what did we find? The selected seniors who had left Sg. Besi a couple of days earlier as the forward group were strutting around shirtless, obviously  trying to show off to us, the main body of campers, "this cold is nothing lah!".

We were assigned by companies separate army barracks. Over each army bed a mosquito net was strung. But it wasn't for the mosquitoes. It was for the flies! There were swarms of the pesky pest, coming from the nearby vegetable farms for which Cameron Highlands was already famous for. Without the mosquito net, life would have been unbearable.

We didn't have much time to just be fighting the flies. The college made sure there were long treks, climbing Gunung Brinchang, "locate C.T. camps", etc. etc. that each night no one had problem sleeping soundly in spite of the cold. I remember marching back from one "locate C.T. camp" excersise, by the time we were about a kilometer from camp, I could hardly lift my feet.

During one of the long trekking through rough terrain and vegetable farms, one of our teachers, a Mr. Sekhon, if I'm not mistaken, adventurously picked a ripe tomato, rubbed it on his shirt, and started to eat it. That was a mistake. The farmer must have sprayed his vegetables with insecticide. That's standard operation. One rub on a sweaty shirt did not remove the chemical. In a very short time, Mr. Sekhon became ill, and we were very far from camp. One of the senior "budak" volunteered to accompany a weakened and sick Mr. Sekhon back the way we came from. I don't know to this day how that ended. I think he was hospitalised and had his camping cut short. 

Recently I went up Cameron Highlands again, one of the many, many trips that I've made since the RMC days. And this time it was through Simpang Pulai, Ipoh. What a difference. Mostly I slept in the coach. The road meanders less. There were plenty of stops, for food and bathroom breaks. Only the destination was also Brinchang, but this time a multi-storey hotel, surrounded by pretty little shops that sell everything. Somehow I remember the RMC camp as colder and fresher, even if more primitive.

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FMC new reading list.

Mon 10 Sep 2018.

I consider myself an avid reader from young. My mom used to "scold" me and said why I don't go out and play with the other boys. I remember being engrossed in the "Hikayat Siti Zubaidah" in "sya'ir" form in Jawi my father had bought. I couldn't put it down. In the school extension block that was our Std. 6 classes, the entire library was one solitary cupboard of story books, with titles like "Biggles" and "William, the Conqueror" ( a small boy hero - not the English king) and other titles that escaped me now, 6 decades later. I read through the entire "library" within the year, and in one class composition inserted words like "nevertheless" and "none the less" and Miss Ponniah, our English teacher, was impressed and called me out in class in front of the others. None the less, the class couldn't be less bothered, though I was proud as a peacock!

In PD, the personal library of the "budak boys" was more inclusive. At 16 (not that young, but a small boy still), I was introduced to my first "hot" book. It was D.H.Lawrence's "Lady Chaterley's Lover". This book went around "B" coy and changed hands quickly. I can't remember whose it was. What I remember was the first printed 4-letter word and the new word "coition". Of course, like "Hikayat Siti Zubaidah", this I couldn't put down, too. Looking back, this was the start of my adult list that went on for a short while until I lost interest because they weren't Lawrence, whom we know was a great literary figure.

Right from PD days I had learned that sports was held holy in college, and my non-sporting inclination had to make some way for enforced labour. Unsurprisingly, I didn't do well in sport, even though I played hockey, boxed and ran cross country. But the reading habits of these excellent students rubbed on me, not that I was not already  keen.  Later in life, at work and at golf, the one sport that I consider to have love for, my reading helped me. In golf, I consider myself self-taught, and my collection of more than 100 golf books attest to it.

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Buying another car

Fri 7 Sep 2018.

Yesterday for the second time in 4 years Sam got involved in getting a new car for me. Also in Kelang, like the last one. Not a new, new car, but a new second-hand car. Since my first car in 1968, yesterday's purchase was my 15th in 50 years, or an average of 3.3 years per car. Of these 15, new and second hand is about even - 8 new and 7 second-hand. I have now 2 remaining in my posession.

For the 14-year period 1980 - 1994 I also had 4 staff cars. 3 were in the Felda Group, the last one in MISC. I was offered the last MISC car at residual value by the Chairman, but Khalid sabotagued him by instructing that I tender for it. I could have called the Chairman and would have his original offer to me restored, I was damn sure,but I would still have to pass through Khalid's line of communication. I was pissed-off by him then, so I just said f.o. and bought myself a brand-new Volvo 940 GL for 130,000. My wife is still driving that 24-year old car, which has not even been overhauled. Khalid has since kicked the bucket. The last few months of his life in hospital,suffering the mosquito-borne germ attack on his brain, he couldn't recognize anyone anymore, I was told.

Yesterday's car that I collected from Sam in Kelang was different. It's my first suv. It's also the first one from India, a Mahindra Sirocco 2 liter registered in 2007. The previous cars were all sedan - a Mini Minor, 3 Fiats, a Toyota, a Peugeot, 3 Protons, and 4 Mercedes's.. And now the Mahindra suv.

I drove slowly from Kelang around 4 p.m. and made several stops for food and prayers. The main reason for the slow drive was this suv is manual. All the while it's been automatic cars, with just my right foot busy. Now it's the clutch-and-gear again, and it's having to practice the driving all over again.

I only told Dekna when I left for Kelang yesterday, and she would of course tell everyone because the whatsapp was busy after that. So today Idah asked why I sold my "nice" Mercedes 280 S. I said "for a change". Also I'd save quite a bit on the operational expenses. The Mercedes was a thirsty 18 m.p.g., the road tax almost 2,000 p.a., and insurance, even at 55% NCD, 1,000. The Mahindra would cost me 380 p.a. road tax, and a better consumption. Or so Sam assured me. I still have to test it.

As I said to Sam, just enjoy this suv. We could always look for a 300 S class in 4 years time. I might just do that.

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Old college days (FMC-RMC).

Tues 4 Sep 2018.

Hank came Monday as we planned to visit A.K.Bear at his Gedung Lalang house. We heard that he's not in the best of health. Alas, it was indeed so, as he wasn't home, but was in hospital. The maid couldn't help with the ward information etc, and Bear's daughter's 'phone didn't answer Hank's calls, and so we agreed that he finds out more details later and pass the information.

In fact Hank came because he wants me to contribute one or two essays on our old FMC/RMC reminiscences. Nawi Desa is collecting these into a book.

We were the last batch of "budak boys" who were at PD and later moved to Sg. Besi. I understand the Sg.Besi camp has also recently moved, but I don't know where it is now.

PD was 58 years ago, and I can't remember many details about those early college days. But I do remember the close group of "B" Coy boys, several from Terengganu and Kelantan, that I joined in PD. Weekends would be spent canoeing on the beach front just 100 meters outside the college gates. We would get on a few small wooden rowing boats and paddled to the end of the cove and back. The Batu 4 beach was deserted and undeveloped then, not like now, and we had the beach to ourselves. The public picnic areas were, as they are now, on Batu 9 Telok Kemang. The sandy beach was unkempt but not rubbish-strewn like now, and we could laze all Sunday with no one else from outside in our "budak boy" company. The road to PD town separated the college area and the beach, but you could walk across blindfolded, so few were cars moving on it.

Our accomodations were single-storey barracks designed as different coy's from "A" to "H". There was a laterite airstrip between our sleeping quarters and the two-storey classroom buildings, and the mess hall. On parade days the sweltering airstrip served as our drill ground. Several Malaysian drill sergeants and one very large English sergeant-major from the British Army took care of these drills. When we moved to Sg. Besi later that year, they all followed us there. I remember that English sergeant-major because he stayed in one of the double storey staff-quarters with the barber on the ground floor, and some mornings the orang putih would saunter nonchalantly from the bath room to his living quarters with his bath towel over his shoulder and wearning nothing else, his large member swinging as he walked.

I remember the uniformed army officer who gave a talk in the TMS school hall in1960, inviting the students to join FMC.  In 1958 I had been successful in the Seremban interview in 1957 to enter MCKK. 2 of us from TMS had been successful. But my late father had second thoughts when he saw the long list of stuff to bring to the college, and said my younger brother might want to join me later, and that would be further financial burden for him. So this time I didn't tell him that I'd applied for FMC, and only told him after I'd been successful. He didn't object this time.

The PD interview went for 2 days. This time 4 of us from TMS made it - Jalalludin, Gnanalingam, Sukdarshan Singh (calls himself Dillon now, minus the turban) and yours truly.

I'd won the 1960 National "Minggu Bahasa Kebangsaan" oratory competition held in Dewan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Ampang, KL. This was after the earlier State round in Seremban, and the Regional round in Melaka. In Seremban, some FMC boys attended, because Khairuddin "Lion" remembered, and remembered me winning there when later I got to know him at FMC, being in the same coy.

We remained Federation Military College while at PD. The "Royal" came once we moved to Sg. Besi. But the PD atmosphere was right royal, too.

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MHS reunion Kelang.

Sun 2 Sep 2018.

Yesterday the once-postponed reunion 2 of MHS staff finally took place at the Meridda Hotel,Klang. About 80 people came, and I didn't recognize 90% of them, mostly from the drivers' group. For one, age has changed their faces. But secondly, the recruitment by Hussin and staff never involved me, and once recruited they were on the road all the time. They only dealt with the Finance and Operations boys. They hardly bumped into me, unless some urgent matters made them approach me.

I'm glad I came. Besides Hussin, Ramli and Sam, Yoke Ling and Onn and his wife, Mas, were there.Of course there was Sadiah and Rozi, but many that I expected to see didn't turn up. Yoke Ling hasn't age one bit. Sadiah has grown on the wrong side of plump, and I said so. Later I found out there was karaoke and dancing. I would have loved to dance with Yoke Ling and Sadiah, especially Sadiah, because the last time we had our annual dinner while still serving, I had pulled her on to the dance floor, but she was surprisingly reluctant. I knew of course her fiance, also a staff, was there,too. He became her first husband, but the marriage didn't last. Even before getting married Sadiah would refer to him when with me by touching her ear. The guy had a slightly disfigured ear. Wonder what happened to him.

It's 24 years since I left MHS. I was the first GM, and we started with 3 people at MISC HQ at Jalan Conlay KL. Later on in the same year we moved to our temporary office at the North Port, with admin in the newly built office block, and workshop and operations in a couple of containers. Much later in the year we finally moved to our permanent offices and yard at the "Taiwanese Village".  Mahathir officiated these new premises with pomp & glory. I took him up on one lorry bearing registeration no. 2021. When I pointed this out to him, he promptly said "the year after" showing how sharp he was.

The MC asked me to say a few words as the first to be picked. I think "the few words" became a gushing stream of anecdotes that stretched somewhat, but the frown growing on the face of the MC signalled I should stop. I mentioned about the passage of time and the joy of seeing our children grow and succeed in life, and I said I was mentioning it not to show off, because everybody has his own success story. Onn has a son who's an Australian-trained doctor, where Onn himself went to university in Australia. Yoke Ling's eldest daughter just graduated from a Fashion College in New York. And so the story goes round, I said. 

I had to leave even before food was served, because I had to catch the last train, and it was 9.15 already. I made Sam take me in his car all the way to KLSentral, and I made it to the last train that left at 11. 

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