The 70th anniversary of FMC -PD

 Sun 18.12.2022

Yesterday I counted 48 of us "Budak Boys" from intake 1952, the first year, to intake 1961, the last year for the Port Dickson campus of the original Federation Military College who made it to what would be the 70th Anniversary of the school. A few wives, some children and a few grandchildren also made it. The BB's, as was to be expected, were in different stages of aging. The important point was 48 of us made it. A few needed walking sticks, but all could walk across the former airstrip from the Bentara Hall to the dining hall. We registered attendance  at the Bentara Hall from 10 a.m. as scheduled, witnessed the planting of the 2nd tree to the 2019 one, and left the dining hall  by half-past-two. That was also on schedule, although the tour around the entire camp was not completed. The event was deemed a success, and BB Radzi, the President announced one final outing next year. Hopefully.

A lot of time and effort was spent in preparation. The Director of the NCO College that now occupies the old camp went out of his way in assisting us, and ensured everything went well. We were waited on by the soldiers, men and women, like bosses. Even the surau on the 2nd floor of the classroom building had a soldier stationed there to look after needs of the faithful. Certainly everybody involved went beyond giving basic help. But I would easily call it the Nawawi Desa's show.

BB Nawawi was responsible for putting together everything. The preparation in PD, the support of the Major-General in charge of the entire Military Training Schools, and the Commandant of RMC Bkt Belimbing, the month-long series of visits and meetings, right up to Friday, were all made possible by BB Nawawi. A few of us always make bad jokes about him behind his back. In our hearts, we only have appreciation for his tireless work. 

More BB's were expected, but those who couldn't come all had good reasons, mostly medical. Our numbers are reducing, of course. About half of the original 700 have left us. About 100 can't be traced. 50 have migrated, mostly to Australia and New Zealand. So these reunions are always cherished.

We had several "food-stalls". There was the rice stall, with Negri red-hot "gulai lada api", other dishes also for the rice, satay stall, "ikan bakar", grilled mutton, all sorts of refreshments including "ice kacang" and cendul. There was rambutan and mangosteen. And there were durians. All of 4 varieties - IOI, D24, kawin, and kampong. The durians came all the way from Manchis, Pahang. The PD durians are gone, as were the KP, Bukit Putus and Jelebu ones. Md. Sham paid RM 4,200 for about 100 durians.

A group had gone to Bentong to sample some durians there before this. But the fruit-seller couldn't promise delivery for the 17th, which was then 2 weeks away. The 5 who went gorged themselves with "Musang Kings" at a "cheap" RM 40 per kilo while they were there. "Dulu 65 O !" With 3 taking "tapaus" (against Md. Sham's admonition) altogether the fruit-seller collected RM 1 K. Neat. To allay Md. Sham's initial objection to transporting the durians in his wife's van, the skinned fruit was packed in plastic boxes. We could still get a faint scent of the culprit, but later Md. Sham said the wife didn't complain. Actually she wasn't feeling well, and her sense of smell was out. Md. Sham was saved.

Before lunch we had speeches and presentations in the Assembly Hall. Halim Murad was the Master-of-Ceremony, and I thought he did ok, and told him so. Audiances can be fickle, and MC's have flopped before. BB Radzi as President gave the key address. The 2nd edition of "I Remember" was belatedly launched, the good efforts of BB's Mahbob and Hank. These were later put on sale during lunch. They are being distributed in some schools by donors, and should make good reading for the students, because they are reminiscenes of the College students, not made-up stories.

I enjoyed Saturday. For the first time I brought along my wife. She quickly made friends with the other wives. That made her day, I'm glad to say.

We skipped the planned tour of the whole camp, because most also chose to skip it. We took the PD town route, returning to Seremban. The beach was full of pitted tents of campers - the product of the school holidays, of course. All appeared to be over-nighters. I wondered if there were  mosquitoes.

I also wonder when the next visit to the FMC Camp would be.

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