Memories
of an Old Collegian [MCKK Magazine 1988]
by Anonymous
My
group’s "college days" began in January 1953 and did not
end until December 1961. During those 9 years the 80 odd members of
my group experienced a lifestyle that was unique in its ways and was
subject to an enculturization process which was to last a whole lifetime.
We
began our College lives as nine year-olds, at the King’s Pavillion
on Bukit Chandan. The Pavillion or KP, belonged to MC then. The Resident
Master was a Scot named Mr. Davidson. He was helped by 3 prefects
and a Matron. The dormitories were upstairs on the first floor and
the classrooms, playrooms and the dining area were on the ground floor.
Discipline was very strict. Among the first things taught was ‘table
manners’. We were taught how to hold the spoon and fork properly,
and were reminded to munch our food with our mouth closed. Elbows
on the table was taboo. Meals could only begin and end with prayers.
School
hours were different then. The first bell was at 6.00 am. By 6.30
we were supposed to be in the Dining Room for our cup of hot milk.
Lessons began at 7.00. At 8.30 we broke up for breakfast. Non-school
days were Fridays and Sundays.
Thursday
night was "games night" at Kings Pavillion. We were introduced
to games like Ludo, snakes and ladders, snap and other board games.
There was also an electric train set. It was fun to say the least.
Most of us came from rural areas and such games were never played
before.
Saturday
night was "film night". For that we had to march in rows
of 4 to the Big School. It was far from fun. The film shows were seldom
to our liking. Most of us would be "sleeping" while marching
back after the show. One would think that were all suffering from
somnambulism. I remember an occasion when half the group marched sleepily
into the drain near the Police Station after an exceptionally boring
movie.
We
spent our second year at the Prep School. There was a "lalang
jungle" by the side of Prep School then. That was our "play
ground". We played "Police and Robbers", "Robin
Hood", and such games. It’s a wonder none of us were ever bitten
by snakes or scorpions! But I suppose no self-respecting snake would
touch our group...
We
moved to the Big School at the beginning of our third year. It was
then 1955. It was the year the College was to celebrate its Golden
Jubilee. The pupils saw the biggest collection of VIPs ever, when
the College’s had its golden anniversary on a grand scale. The sports
meet, the speech day, the school exhibition, and the parent’s day
were colourful events. The concert was extra special. Everybody had
a wonderful time. It was a beautiful celebration. We were so proud
to be Collegians.
By
the time we were in Form Three, we were "big boys". We had
been with the College for 5 years. We had established our boundaries
and were forever looking for new ones to conquer. It was then that
we decided to bathe and swim in the Perak river. The time taken was
Friday afternoons. The place was notorious with "Lubuk Mak Anjing".
Almost every Friday afternoon a group of us would be there splashing
and swimming, oblivious to all possible dangers. One Friday, tragedy
struck. A member of our group was swept away by the swift current.
His body was found on the evening of the next day, some five kilometers
downstream. It was a very traumatic experience. When we filed pass
his still body at the funeral, only God knows how we regretted our
foolhardiness. Members of our group got the expected caning from the
HM, and all Collegians were banned from bathing or swimming in the
Perak river.
1957
was the year when the Government introduced the LCE examination. We
were the first batch to have to sit for it. No, we did not achieve
a 100 percent pass rate. There was one failure.
Life
as a fourth former was fun. There were no exams. It was the honeymoon
year. Our favourite pastime was the "morning walk". For
that we would be up by about 4.00 am and would "walk: in all
sort of attire to "New York"-THAT place by the river. There
we would have "nasi lemak", horlicks and lemang with rendang.
This went on for the better part of the year until one of us was caught
by the police for behaving suspiciously in a sarong, at where the
supermarket stands today. Some of us got four of the best from the
HM and of course the morning walk was banned.
As
a result of the ban, we began to eat at more reasonable hours. Our
favourite haunt was the Queen’s Restaurant near the Grand Cinema.
Invariably we would order "egg steak", kaya on toast and
"ice kacang". Payment was by rotation. Each week, a member
of the group would be the "boss". He would decide where
to go, what to do, and what to eat. With that authority came responsibility.
The "boss" must pay for everything! But then, the following
week, it would be another member’s turn to be "boss". And
also it goes on week after week.
There
were other places where we went to eat. There was the Taufique Restaurant
with its "passembur", the Muslim Restaurant for its "Mee
India", the Panjang stalls for "popia" and "sotong
kangkung", and of course the legendary "kedai pau".
But Queen’s beat them all because it had a juke box. It was the in
thing then to eat while listening to Elvis and Cliff Richard. No self-respecting
Collegian would pass the chance to eat and listen to his favourite
number at the Queen’s.
1959
was our Form Five year. As tradition would have it, the fifth formers
were seen as a special group. They took it upon themselves to be the
"special leaders" of the school. The Prefect’s Board was
always seen and regarded as "the enemy", although there
were fifth formers on the board. Thus there was the "Form Five
Union" on one side, and the all-powerful and at times power-crazy
Prefect’s Board on the other. They were such opposing forces. The
Prefect’s Board strategy was to hold "midnight courts".
As the name implies, the "court" operated at midnight. The
unfortunate soul would be woken up just before midnight and brought
before the court for summary judgement and punishment. It was a Kangaroo
court where the hapless souls never had a chance really. Mind you,
some of those called before the "court: were real scalliwags.
But the "court" took more than it could chew when our group
was called to be tried for misbehaving during Friday prayers at the
mosque. The prefects were told in no uncertain terms that an axe-man
would be looking for anyone of them the day he stepped into Kelantan.
The prefects got the message.
The
end of the year saw the parting of ways for about 60 percent of our
group. These were the individuals who failed to gain places in the
sixth form. Places in the sixth form were decided through an examination
called the sixth form entrance examination. Those that failed would
have to leave and either start looking for jobs or join teacher’s
training colleges. There was no ITM, no A-level, and no direct entry
into universities on the strength of your school certificate. The
sixth form was the only avenue for further studies.
The parting of ways was both memorable and sad. Photographs were exchanged.
Poetic words were written in autograph books. The farewell concert
was most emotional, as were the speeches at the farewell dinner. The
final night was reserved for the "dragon dance". Dragon
dances were actually a regular end of term affair. On the final night
of any school term, the fifth formers would gather all the metal dustbins
around the Big School and with a bang and a shout would start a bang
bang clang clang procession along the Big School corridors. Naturally
this would be at midnight! The "band" would stop at the
cubicles of all the prefects that they considered to be despicable
and serenade with all gusto to the tune of some popular songs but
with the lyrics suitably altered.
I
went back the following year as a sixth former. The College announced
the names of the new prefects. I was not chosen. Well, I thought since
I was not going to be a prefect, I would be union leader. And so I
organised the sixth formers (the pure Collegians plus the new ones
who had just joined from other schools) and convinced them that there
should be a Sixth Form Union. I was elected president. Right from
the beginning we became a pressure group. Sometime during the term
the sixth formers became very upset about certain matters ad we decided
to go on strike! We packed our bags and sent a message to Mr Ryan
the Headmaster, that unless our grievances were met, we were going
back to our respective kampungs. The response from Mr Ryan was immediate.
The moment we were to leave the school gates we were to consider ourselves
expelled. We got the message. We unpacked our bags and went back to
the classrooms.
I
was made a prefect at the beginning of the second term. It was a very
cunning move on the part of the headmaster. At one stroke I was alienated
from my friends - the non-prefects in the sixth form. There was a
moment when I thought of rejecting the offer of prefectship by the
HM. But I thought what the hell... Surely I could be of service to
both organisations. Obviously the members did not think so. Not only
did they threw me out through a motion of no confidence, they refused
to acknowledge the fact that I was the union president for four months
when the union activities were reported in the College Magazine the
following year. Some members of the committee also refused to speak
to me. I am writing all these with no malice towards anybody. Really,
we were young boys then. As a matter of fact, all of us who were involved
in the above episode are the closest of friends today. Such was the
strength of the Malay College socialisation process. It lasts a lifetime.
So,
what have I actually achieved after nine years at the College? Seen
from the structural point of view, I was a form Monitor from Form
3 onwards, committee member of a couple of associations, president
of the Senior Literary and Debating Society, member of the college
debating team, president of the Sixth Form Union (?) and a school
prefect. But all those actually counted for nothing compared to the
friendship that was nurtured by the College system and the feeling
of camaraderie that evolved thereon.
And
so I left the College for the last time as a student in December 1961.
But I left much more. I left a whole way of life. Nothing would ever
be the same.