SMS Kelantan as I Remember

The MCE Exam Time

2009-11-23T00:06:00.002+08:00

Exactly 30 years ago, I was struggling with my MCE examinations, which is now known as SPM. I've written a bit about it here:
http://mama.nuraina.com/?p=4119

One Special Labour Day

2009-04-30T17:47:00.003+08:00

I can't remember when we actually started the tradition/celebration. I am not sure either if they still practice it, but I very much doubt they do.

The year was 1977, or 1978. The students decided to celebrate "labour Day" or now it's known as "Workers' Day" in a very special way. Labour Day, have been celebrated on 1st May every year.

I really can't remember who initiated it, but the students decided to give most non-academic school staff a break on that Labour Day. In those days, the dining hall helpers were all government staff (not like now where the food catering is outsourced to contractors). The cleaning ladies, gardeners are government staff too. The only workers that we didn't get to "give a break" were the security guargd! The school management didn't think it was a good idea for the students to replace the guards, for obvious reasons!

So, the student leaders drafted a roster for that Labour day. We had students assigned to clean the trays (we ate in compartmented trays), clean the dining tables, cook, clean the school compound, clear the garbage, etc...

I remember pretty well about the cooking in the kitchen. We had different groups to cook breakfast, prepare for morning tea, cook lunch, prepare afternoon tea, and cook dinner. I was in the kitchen quite a few times. Puan Faezah, the Food Steward was there to help us. A couple of workers also were there to instruct us on how to cut the vegetables, onions, chillies, chicken, and cook rice using the kawah! It was a huge job, cooking for 700+ students.

After finishing our turn (of cooking, cleaning, or laying the tables for meals, etc..), we would head back to the hostel feeling exhausted! Pushing the huge trolley of curry and vegetables, and putting the food in each individual tray was quite a task!

Boiling water, and making tea; opening so many cans of condensed milk, stirring the drinks in the huge pots, then put them in huge kettles and distribute them to the tables; washing the trays, pots, pants, etc... it was too much a job for students to handle!

So, the Labour Day that day was quite a tiring day for most of us, as most of us were assigned in the kitchen for at least one meal. It was fun too!

I think the workers appreciated us, because they had a break that day. What was more important was that from that day onwards, less students complainted about the food quality or any dissatisfaction towards the kitchen staff, because by then they knew how hard it was to prepare meal and do the cleaning. We could hardly handle a meal, what more with the workers who had to prepare 5 meals each day for us! In short, the students became more grateful.

Not a bad idea, eh?

The Water Woes

2009-04-16T20:54:00.007+08:00

One of the regular problems in school then was the water supply. The water tanks on top of the hostel blocks (inside the ceiling) were obviously not enough to cater for the "peak hours" of the bathrooms every morning and evening. I guess the water pressure was not strong enough to refill these tanks during those peak hours. During these periods, only the third floor (top-most) and the ground floor bathrooms would have flowing taps! We from the other floors had to go to one of these bathrooms. Can you imagine the crowd?

I remember that to ensure that I got enough & satisfying shower, I had to get up as early as 5am, to be among the first to utilise the bathroom. I also remember how later on we used to reserve water in our covered pails before we went to bed, so that when we got up we had some water for our perusal. Sometimes, we woke up to find our water reduced. Yes, there were "water thieves"! I know of some girls who were too lazy to "reserve water" the night before, and when they woke up to find a long queue in the bathrooms, they would simply "kebas" (took without permission) ours.

To make things worse, there were times when there was no water at all! During these times, we just had to "lompat pagar" (got our of the school compound) to get water from the wells of the nearby neighbourhood. The local people there then were very sympathetic towards us and were very nice :) . Here's a pic of some of the girls getting water from one of the wells:

And these girls had the time to take photo? But that time they were not taking water for shower. I wonder for what?

I remember there were a couple of times when I actually went with some friends to the girls toilet in the classroom block for my morning shower!

Eventually the school decided to dig our own wells in our hostel compounds! So the boys got a well, and the girls got one too. Since then, we didn't have to go out for water, and the bathrooms were not too crowded anymore, because many of us simply went down to the well for our morning showers! As a girl who grew up with well water, I really enjoyed it then. During peak hours it was like a "party" of shower. Girls would berkemban (folding sarongs to our breasts) and took shower together, fun, fun!

I do not have any pic of the well or near the well. How I wish there are some friends who actually possess some of these pix, and wouldn't mind sharing them with me. Please feel free to email me at sabariahmz@gmail.com to send me the pic.

Recently I had the opportunity to enter the girls' hostel compound, and sad to say the water well is no longer there... :(

The Music Club (1975)

2009-04-15T11:58:00.016+08:00

All pix courtesy of my best friend, Nury.

I was the one standing 3rd from right:)

I didn't know what society/club to join when I was in Form 1, being my first year in the school. Since I played a bit of the recorder when I was in primary school (and I love singing), I thought joining the Music Club was just appropriate. From the pix, I gathered that my other female classmates (Nury, Ita, Jenny, Puyah & Aloyah) joined in too.

1975 & 1976 were the best years, as far as the Music Club was concerned. There was no "dakwah" yet. At the end of the term we always had some "show" in the Main Hall, so I supposed the weekly activities were to prepare for that night.

One of the nights was called "Malam Musika" (Musical Night), as can be seen from the "hanging golden letters" in the pic below:

There was another ocassion when it was called "Musical Night". I think there was one that was called "Musical Evening". The end-of-term show was something that most of us looked forward to :) .

During these shows, some of the talented ones, like our own Ita would sing some "latest hits" songs. There were a few regulars whose singing we enjoyed (including Ita). Some teachers also took the opprtunity to sing too. I remember Cikgu Bahar sang "I Started A Joke" and Cikgu Ku Jit sang "Bridge Over Trouble Water".

Only a few years ago, a senior, Pakda, told me that for one of the shows (I think it was in 1975), it was the band "Carefree" that came to acompany our singers! Oh, yes, we had live bands! Carefree was still not known yet then. They became a hit only in 1979 with the legendary Rindu Bayangan!

For the "Malam Musika" above (1975), we, the form 1 girls had to put up fancy dress show. Since I had long hair, I was asked to be the evil witch. Aloyah was dressed as a bride:

Can you see me holding a broom? Hahaha!! Mek Rock dresses up as a tennis player, while Nury was dressed as a school girl (right?). The MC for the night, who can be seen interviewing Aloyah above, is now a dental surgeon!

now, apart from the talent show, thr Music Club also had parties at the end of each term (we used to have 3 terms in those days). The first one was this one, where the available pix are all in black and white. The menu was so simple - sardine sandwiches, some cordial drinks and peanuts. I don't remember us having fruits, though we might probably had some.

We played games like the musical chairs. I don't think the following pic was taken during the musical chair game, but we certainly had fun there. If you look closely, you can see that there were THREE persons sitting on one chair - Ita, being the smallest, tried to sit on Aloyah's lap. Aloyah was actually sitting on mine! Aloyah was in yellow, while the checkered skirt is Oji's! This pic was taken during the party that we had in the main hall, after which we had the group photo (top of this page) taken. The above group photo will show the face of the person who wore the checkered skirt!

There was another party that we had in a classroom:
Can you see the plates? They wwere all empty! Not much serving anyway..

During this party, we however had some fun:

Balloon dance?:

Wow! I bet you can't have that now, can you?? For the dance, it had to be a boy and girl couple! I remember I did not do it.
I just sat and watch others went for it:

In the above pic, it's the dental surgeon again, who happened to be sitting next to me.

We certainly knew how to have fun!

Maybe I should blog separately about end of term parties? We used to have those too, and we even wrapped the harmless florescent lamps with coloured crepe paper to get the "night club" effect! It was a trend then, until Ustaz (the Head warden) came to scold us, and asked us to unwrap the lights, because our hostel began to look like a night club from outside, and thr public were not happy, I bet! Hahaha!!!

On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't because I don't have any pic to show (though some of my friends still do). In the dormitories, it was an ALL GIRLS event, so anything goes! Some had their parties with home-made "bare-back" (tie and fold) dresses, sexy nighties, etc... :-)

Those were the days, my friends...

Societies and Clubs

2009-04-12T00:12:00.006+08:00

One of the highlights of the beginning of the academic year (in early January) would be the general meetings of clus and societies. In those days, joining clubs and societies was optional. Yes, there were those who didn't join any club/society at all. In those days, extra-curricular activities were not that paramount to getting a place in the higher learning institution nor the scholarship, even though it helped if we are in some clubs/societies, to show that we are not bookworms, maybe? And maybe to show that we have leadership ability/experience...

We used to join the clubs/societies purely based on our interests. I really didn't know what my interest was, except that I enjoyed needlecraft(still do) and cooking (not that much, anymore). Like many friends, I joined the most popular clubs/societies, :) .

These are the most popular ones:

The History & Geography Society (Persatuan Ilmu alam & Sejarah)
This society was popular because their main activities were excursions. Who wouldn't want to join a trip to Kuala Lumpur? The trip then was not as direct as today. There was no Gua Musang-Lipis highway, so the trip had to go through Kuala Terengganu and Kuantan before heading towards Kuala Lumpur. If we were to leave the school after school on Thursday (being the last schooling day of the week), we will only arrive in Kuala Lumpur the following morning! That's a good 16 - 18 hours. I remember we used to have dinner in Kuala Terengganu (we left school at about 2 or 3pm), then a late supper in Kuantan, and will have our breakfast in Kuala Lumpur.By the way, that was not a trip organised by this society.

I joined this society when I was in Form 1, but gave up the following year because the membership was too big, and obviously the seniors would get priority over juniors like us.

The Cinema Club
This was a mainly boys' society. The members of the society learnt to handle cinema projectors, and set them up for our weekly movie show on Friday nights. We used to have a movie show (real movie reels! Some were delivered all the way from Kuala Lumpur). The committee members had the privilege of liaising with an agent in Kota Bharu to get the supply of movie reels. When there was a movie a week, it was mainly lousy old movies. Later the club decided to reduce the frequency of the show to fortnightly, and we got good movies. Normally during the day, there would be announcements as well as some posters put up at strategic places in the school compound to remind us of the show. Sometimes it was by word of mouth.

I was not very much into movies, and was quite selective on the movies that I watched. I remember at one stage there were romantic movies, at another stage it was mainly kung-fu movies (I came to know Bruce Lee then!) and later it was into horror movies.

Let's see if I can still remember the movies that I watched then:

Old Turkey Buzzard
D'alamo
The Sound of Music
Love Story
Pengantin
Fist of Fury
Way to the Dragon (Bruce Lee)
Enter the Dragon
The Fearless Vampire Killers (I had sleepless nights after that!)
The Omen
Bridge on River Kwai

The Chess Club
I always saw this one as a "elite" club because most of the members are the quiet and studious ones. Our first best student for MCE was a committee member (at least, if not in the top 3 posts) of this club. I was good in checkers but was (and still am) with chess!

The other "glamorous" club would be the music club, which I have decided to have a posting of its own.

Remembering Mahisham Mahmood (1962-2009)

2009-03-24T13:58:00.004+08:00

Note: Please read my other blog first.

Mahisham was my classmate from Form 1 until Form 5. Our class was a close-knit one. At times we were the envy of other classes, because the few girls were very close to most (if not all) the boys. When we had cooking lessons, we always gave the boys some of the food, and Mahisham was one of the regular ones to remind us to spare the food for him/them :-) .

Mahisham was one of the more talkative, cheerful, jovial, and active boys. He played soccer and hockey for the school all the way to the state level.

I was reminded by Nury that he was also one of the school runners. Not wonder he knew my primary school friend, the late YI.

Mahisham was also an active scout. His dad, the late Cikgu Mood (who was a state netball coach for MSSK) was also a king scout. I remember when the scouts went to (I think it was the 1st) Malaysian Scout Jamboree at Petrajaya, Kuching, Mahisham (plus a few other schoolmates, including Ahmad Hilmy of AHA) and dad were in the Kelantan contingent.

I met them at the Johor Bahru Railway station on their way back (the took one of TLDM's ship to go to Kuching) to Kota Bharu when I was also on the way back to school. So, a few of us actually bunked in with them - they got a special coach. When Cikgu Mood found out that I was Mahisham's classmate, he gave me one of the rattan bangles that he bought there :-).

After we left school, I didn't meet Mahisham until 2004. I visited him in school (SK Zainab 3), and he took me to meet his school head mistress. The school later became one of the premier Cluster schools (for primary category) in Kelantan.

We lost touch again, until only recently when I managed to get hold of his contact number again. As blogged in my other blog, he told me about his effort to write an English book, as well as his intention to pursue his PhD.

Later after his demise, I found out from other friends that Mahisham had been helping the rural students in their English. He even dedicated part of his salary for that purpose!

I also found out from his former students blogs here, here and here that he was a very dedicated teacher and very much loved by his students.

Remembering Zulkifli Mohd Nor (1963- 2009)

2009-03-11T22:34:00.012+08:00

A pic of Zul and me taken in 1978:

While in school I was never interested to have any "abang/kakak/adik angkat" even though it was quite a trend then.

However when I was in Form 2 (and Zul in form 1), Cikgu Mat Noor, a warden then, asked me to keep an eye on Zul while I was on duty minding his class for night prep. The reason was Zul was diagnosed with "hole-in-the-heart" problem, and was very susceptible to infection.

Despite his illness, Zul was a very chirpy boy. He liked to ask a lot of questions, and eventually we became "adik & kakak angkat". I used to send him some of the food that we cooked during Home Science cooking classes, or even if I went to town, I'd buy some food for him (if I had extra cash, of course).

In 1978, Zul had to go to St Vincent Hospital, Sydney for a heart surgery. He missed classes for a few months. Despite that, he actually managed to score 10 aggregates in in SRP (similar to PMR). That was a great chievement in those days, even for healthy & ordinary students.

We had a page about him (from newspaper cuttings) in our school magazine that year, SEMASA 1978:

I think SEMASA 1979 had my interview with him after he came back and got good grades, but I've lost the magazine :-( .

We eventually lost touch when I left school at the end of 1979. I think I did send him a letter or two while I was in Australia, but we just lost touch. Maybe it was due the fact that boys don't like to write letters, because I don't remembe receiving any reply from him. Later I heard that he went to the States to do his degree.

I remember when I was already back in Malaysia (in the 1980s) I read in the newspaper about his sister (a celebrity then) saying that she was going to the States to visit her brother who was not well, I knew that she meant Zul. I never knew what happened next, but I guessed everything was fine.

Finally, we both managed to trace each other at the end of last year (thanks to Yahoo! e-group), and spoke over the phone. Since it was about Deepavali time, and with X-mas and New Year, we never got to meet. I knew from others and eventually confirmed by him that he was working with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) We were planning to meet up some time this year, but the news I got today of his passing shattered that plan.

My memory of Zul is the young boy I knew. I guess it's going to remain so. I blogged about the school Coop here, with Zul's pic there.

Update: Please visit here for some pix at the cemetery today (12th March 2009).

Watch Out This Page!!

2009-01-07T23:41:00.002+08:00

I know I've not blogged here for quite a while now, but recently Nury loaned me her old album full of old school pix!!

I'll start scanning them soon, and upload more stories here... so, watch out, ya?

Ecological Trip to Semerak Beach - 1978

2008-10-22T23:32:00.005+08:00

It was a tradition in my school in the 1970s for the form 4 students to go to Semerak Beach (near Pasir Putih), for an ecological trip. The trip was to study the mangrove swamp (see the plants during both high and low tides).

Honestly, I do not really remember the academic part of the trip :-D
I only remember that when I was in form 2 and 3, I heard so much about these trips taken by my seniors. We were told to keep our old school shoes for the trip, because chances were that while walking in the swamp, we might end up losing the shoes (stuck) in the mud.

My classmate, Norita was nice enough to send me the scanned pix of this trip:

Girls from my class: Aihah (where is she now?), Puyah (another lost friend), moi, Norita, Watee and Nury

Fasting Months

2008-09-09T14:07:00.003+08:00

Oh, my memory is failing, and failing rather fast :(

Every time Ramadhan comes, I will remember Ramadhan in school, but each time, what I remember becomes less and less.

So, I'd better do a blog on it before it gets worse.

Let's see what I can remember so far:

For the first few years, berbuka was as boring as you can imagine. The kuih was most of the time unpalatable - too hard, too bland, you name it. The dining hall workers would put our kuih in the tray, most of time, mixed with spilt gravy from the main dish :(
They also gave us 2 or 3 pieces of dates (kurma), but most of the time, the students would just ignore them. Who would want to eat dates laced with curry gravy?

a few years later, the school decided to stop giving the kuih (which was supplied by outside contractors) and instead gave the money to the students :-) If I am not mistaken, it was 40 or 45sen per day (45 sen for the kuih). What I did was to use the money to buy Raya cards and stamps for postage! :)

When the school started giving the money instead, we were also given the "luxury" of sending a representative from each dormitory to go to (Kota Bharu) town to buy kuih! The students took turn for this special outing. The school bus would ferry these student to and fro. We took the opportunity to buy other food too. Most popular on the list were akok, solok lada, all sorts of drinks, curry puffs, and cream puff (Kota Bharu version, of course).

In 1977 I was in form 3, and the LCE/SRP (now they call it PMR, though the stnadard may not be the same) was due right after Raya.
(interestingly, now, 30 years on, PMR is also right after raya ;) )

We were in the midst of the "Disappearing Quran pieces" crisis. I'll try to write about this in a different blog. As it is, I remember I was too scared and too lazy to go down for the early meal (bersahur). Most other girl prefects had simply stopped going for bersahur. Kak Ros (the headgirl then) was the one who always pujuk me to go down with her. There must be somebody to recite the doa (before the meals) for the girls so most of the time it was the two of us who would obligingly go down for bersahur.

We were lucky that our sahur times were never before midnight, unlike some boarding schools that had their bersahur as early as 11.30pm! Ours was more like 4am, and I remember the dining hall workers had a hard time waking us up! LOL
They would use all sorts of techniques - rang the bell, blew the whistle, beat the huge pots with sadles, shouting, you name it! Hahaha!

After berbuka, we would have our terawih in the Main hall. The girls, at the back, and boys in front. Front here means the entrance of the school hall, and back means the side with the main stage. I remember how we girls would rush to the hall to get the best spot i.e. ON the stage! The fans work well, and somehow it felt good to be able to be on stage, haha!

After terawih, we had a brief prep session (we finished our prep at 10pm, and terawih finished at about 9.30pm). Terawih was not compulsory, but most of us just went for it to avoid the prep classes! furthermore, after terawih, we could go to the canteen to buy food such as ccolek, rojak mee, etc.

As far as I can remember, prep classes was indeed non-existent in Ramadhan. It was all chaotic. We only went to prep if we had not finished our homework.

In short, we had a good time in Ramadhan! :)

Perempuan Joget aka The Dancing Girls - in a not so nice connotation :-(

2008-07-02T08:19:00.003+08:00

The year was 1977. We were in form 3 and we were supposed to be studying for our LCE/PMR which are equivalent to the present day PMR examinations.

Being the ever playful lot, we just went on to enjoy school life as if there was no major exam! :-)

Just the year before our school was already in the top 3 in the state for the traditional dance competition for Inang and Zapin. Most of the dancers then were already in their final year (Form 5), except for Oji, Mek Rock & (the late) Sharifah Aloyah.

So that year (1977) these 3 tried their best to reform new teams of dancers. I can’t remember how it happened, but eventually I was in the zapin team, with Sharifah, Jenny, Puyah, Oji, and a junior, I think. At the same time Nury was in the Joget team, with Ylina, Sally, Siti Haslina (I think so..) and others whom I can’t recall anymore.L Mek Rock was with the Inang team.

We went on to compete level after level, and eventually ended up in the final 4 teams (for each category) for the state level competition! Unfortunately, the final competition was held during the week when we were supposed to have our trial LCE/SRP while the other students had their term 2 examinations (those were the days when school year was divided into 3 terms)!

I remember we went to Sek Zainab in the morning for the competition, competed and we did quite well with the following results:

i. First place for Inang

ii. 2^nd place for Joget

iii. 3^rd place for Zapin.

We were so excited with our achievement, despite practicing all the while on our own, with hardly any help from the teacher in-charge (I don’t even remember who that teacher was!). The Inang group, being the champion, was given the honour to perform to the then Regent of Kelantan (who's now the Sultan).

We came back to school in the afternoon and were quarantined in the school compound. I think we were placed in Block B (or was it the main hall?). We couldn’t go back to the hostel, to avoid us from meeting any of our friends and had to sit for the day's exam papers before we were allowed to go back to our dormitories. It was one of the longest days to me then!

Apparently the principal then was not so happy with us for causing the inconvenience to the teachers who had to stay back to invigilate us for our delayed exams :-(

During the week we were referred to her as “Perempuan Joget”, and wI don't remember us getting any recognition from the school for our achievement (it was a common practice then to announce any achievement made by any student during the assembly. Even if there was, it was not looked at with pride :-(

I'm glad I was in the zapin team, because during our rehersals, we not only improve our zapin steps, but we also learnt to do the joget and inang, and vice versa.

When I was a lecturer in UNISEL, a group of students approached me and asked me to be their advisor (for their Cultural Club), which I duly obliged. When they were practising their zapin, I was glad I could help them with their moves. The students were surprised too, to find out that this programming/mathematics lecturer can dance! :-D

Even right now, when I hear a zapin melody, I still feel like getting up and do my steps ;-)

The Ecological Trip to Pantai Bisikan Bayu (Beach of Whispering Breeze)

2008-05-25T22:50:00.005+08:00

It was a well-known tradition then, during my time, that the fifth formers (or was it the forth formers?) will make the study trip to Pantai Bisikan Bayu. It's part of the biology lessons, and the Biology teachers would be in charge of the trips. The key teachers for the trip then were Pak Widodo and Mr Sharif (I met again much last year. Click here and here for an event where I met Mr Sharif, and here when I met Pak Widodo at Shamsuri's place).

I remember very well, when I was still in form 2 and 3, when I observed my seniors keeping their ragged old school shoes for the trip. They told me that if the shoes got stuck in the mud, it's ok, because they are meant to be thrown away, anyway.

I also watched in envy (gosh, didn't I love traveling? I still do!) on the day they (my seniors) left for the trip. I could still remember vividly how they were busy getting their stuff ready. It was a full day trip, so they had to carry enough provisions (read here: food, food, and food!). Big tins of crackers and whole watermelons were also on the list.

They only got back to school very late in the evening, looking very exhausted and worn out. Not to mention the dirty laundry too :)

When our time came, I didn't forget to keep a pair of my old worn out shoes for the trip. We went together with 5 Beta students and Mr Sharif was our teacherthen. I don't remember much about the preparation but i know we brought a lot of food! :D

What were we supposed to do? We were supposed to study the flora and fauna of the mangrove swamps near the beach. Now I am quite sure we went there when we were in form 4, because the boys from my class were so fascinated by the mud-skippers that our class teams were called "The Mud-skippers". Was it the basketball team? I think so.

We had to go into the mangrove swamps to collect samples of the flowers, fruits, etc... But most of the time I think we were busy snapping photos.

What I remember was that my shoe got stuck in the mud, and eventually I had to walk barefooted!
(I was financially not well then, so I didn't buy any of the photos from friends :( . If anyone who reads this have any pic to share, please let me know)

Anyway, what I remember that my class brought back a pair of belangkas (horseshoe crab). No wonder the Malay proverb says "Macam belangkas" (like horseshoe crab) to describe 2 persons who are always together ;)

I really can't remember much, except for the huge tins of crackers, hahaha! We brought the morning nasi lemak too, if I am not mistaken. Maybe my friends can help me with more info?

We didn't get enough of the trip, so the following year, my class organised another trip to the beach, and this time it was an overnight camping trip. Will narate the story later! ;)

Watch out for more blog from this page!

Our First SPM/MCE Results (1976)

2008-03-17T23:49:00.008+08:00

Last week SMSTMFP came out to be in the top 10 (in Malaysia) for their outstanding SPM 2007 results. I was told that 35 students got ALL As with 8 of them getting ALL 1As (only a maximum of 10 subjects was allowed for the students to take).

Now, suddenly my memory took me back to some 32 years ago. The year was 1976, to be exact. Can't remember the date, but it must be around March. Our first batch of SPM/MCE candidates sat for the exam just the year before. I can't remember the exact date, but on that particular day we found out that the SPM/MCE results would be out the following day.

That night we went for our prep (in the classrooms) as usual. When we finished our prep and were about to take our nightly supply of Hollick/Milo, we heard about the good news - one of our students actually got 9As for MCE! Out of that he got 6A1s. I don't know who told me, but words went around saying that our principal (Mr Mahathir) couldn't wait for the following day, so what he did was to take Rema Ragavan, a form 1 student home for a short visit. Her father, Mr Ragavan was the deputy director for the Kelantan Education Department.

The following day (did we have a special assembly?) we found out that the school achieved 100% passes in MCE (I'm not sure about SPM) - that's a first in Kelantan! Our best student, Hilmi Hassan was definitely one of the best Malaysian students then.

Now, we were wondering, who was this "Hilmi". Eventually everybody found out that he was a very quiet boy, who was on the committee of the "Chess Club" (what else?). We also found out that his father was the owner of "Pustaka Aman Press". Hilmi became an overnight celebrity!

Together with so many other students, he went to UK for his A-Level and degree. He did his A-Level in Norwich, I think. Don't ask me how I know all these ;-). Someone told me that Hilmi now works in KL and lives somewhere in the Hartamas area, though I've never met him since 1976.

The best student for SPM was Kak Zamratul Maisarah, who went on to study medicine. She's now an assoc prof in ENT in UKM. I googled her name and found this page. Her brother was my student in Ipoh in 1986 and/or 1987, but unfortunately I have forgotten his name :-(

Anyway, back to the exam results, 32 years on, it seems that the school has managed to uphold the excellent tradition ;-)

Rumah Pam Kemubu (Kemubu Pump House)

2008-02-29T17:11:00.013+08:00

My gang sat for the Lower Certificate of Education (LCE) examination in October 1977. Nowadays they have PMR instead. I wouldn't say that LCE and PMR are equivalent, even though both are/were taken at the end of the 3rd year in secondary school. This is because in those days if a student got 6As or 7As (out of a maximum 8 subjects), he or she will be one of the top students in the state, if not nationwide, whereas now you can get as high as 85% of the students in a particular school getting 8As!

Anyway, back to Oct 1977, like the present students, after the LCE examination, we had a couple of weeks to spare before the end-of-the-year holidays.

The school had arranged some educational trips for us but there was the MAGERAN emergency so our "outing" stint was cut short. Click here for a bit about the MAGERAN incident then.

We only managed to visit a couple of places, and one of them was the Rumah Pam Kemubu.
[from http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/ac799e/ac799e03.htm:
The Kemubu scheme: This low-lift pumping scheme, designed by French consultants, adopted downstream control for the main canal and the pumping station and upstream control for the secondary system equipped with long-crested weirs and modular distributors^[17]. As in the Muda scheme, the operational problem is the difficulty of controlling flows in the minor system and meeting the requirements of increasingly diversified cropping. Different control structures were later adopted for an extension of the scheme, consisting of adjustable flow-dividing structures.]
We were taken into the pump house.

Inside the pumphouse, water being pumped above us!

Other poses:

3 Aplha Girls (Norita, Fauziah, Nury and me)

Latifah, Haliza@MekRock, me & Dr Rohana

Kelantan River in the background. Also Bukit Panau on the other side of the river

Finally, before we left, a group pic (courtesy of Sim Kay Loh):

The accompanying teachers were Miss Sathiawathy (extreme left) , Mr Hamdi (3rd from right) & Mt Lye Kim Yong(far right). I am not sure who the other guys at the back were.

Sim was my junior by 1-year. She was among the non-Muslim students who followed us. I think that day their classes were having exam for Agama Islam paper, so they were allowed to join us that day. Maybe if Sim is reading this, she can confirm it. My memory is fading....

Note: Recently I met Howard Yamaguchi in Acheh, and during our chat I found out that in the early 1970s, Howard was a Peace Corp member working for KADA (Kemubu Agricultural Development Authority)!

I strongly recommend that you read the comments below as they contain more info, thanks to Howard.

Untuk Cikgu Hasan Baseri :-)

2008-02-19T21:00:00.006+08:00

These pix are from my school magazine, SEMASA, 1978.

Click on the pic to get a better resolution.

Persatuan Bahasa Malaysia (Menngah Rendah)

The School Staff Photo, 1978 - for cikgu Hasan Baseri

2008-02-19T20:42:00.006+08:00

Extract from SEMASA 1978 (click on the image for better resolution)

Today, after a bit of searching, I've finally managed to get Cikgu Hasan Baseri's contact number.

I called him this evening, but it went unanswered. Later I sms-ed him to introduce myself. Minutes after that I received a call from him!

Cikgu said he has lost many photographs and also the school magazines (titled SEMASA). Since I have SEMASA 1978 handy, I've decided to get the staff pic of 1978 scanned :-)

Cikgu Hasan Baseri Budiman

2008-02-18T22:16:00.003+08:00

I've written enough about this cikgu in my other blog, so I am not going to repeat it here. It's just that I'd like to put a record here, and also put up what cikgu has written recently in the e-group of my juniors (SPM 1980):

SUARA HATI SEORANG GURU

Terima kasih SABARIAh mohd Zain kerana mengizinkan
saya membuka blog SMSkel As I Remember. Semalaman
saya tidak dapat tidur kerana terlampau banyak
kenangan lama yang datang menusuk ke sanubari saya.
Saya tidak pasti apakah Sabariah masih mengingati
saya? (saya memang tidak pernah mengajar kelas Alfa)
Saya masih boleh membayangkan wajah sabariah dulu
serta murid-murid lain yang Sabariah paparkan dalam
gambar yang ditunjukkan. Dan rasa Cikgu Bahar lebih
bertuah daripada saya kerana dapat juga dia bertemu
dengan anak-anak murid yang masih mengenalinya. Saya
pun sebenarnya selalu memasang harapan untuk bertemu
dengan semua bekas pelajar SMSkel yang saya pernah
ajar. Tetapi sampai saat ini saya masih belum
berpeluang melakukannya (Saya sudah menemui Halim
Harun di Kuantan Oktober lalu). Insya-Allah moga
cita-saya akan termakhbul jua. Apapun Saya cukup
terharu kerana dapat melihat kembali wajah-wah Pak
Widodo, Cikgu Sharif, Cikgu Bakar, Cikgu Anuar dan
wajah Cikgu Bahar sendiri yang satu bertemu kali
terakhir dengan di USM pada tahun 2001 melalui
gambar-gambar yang dipaparkan oleh Sabariah dalam
blognya itu.
Saya melihat gambar di koop sekolah, Sabariah dan
Shukri (saya pasti pemain back tengah pasukan bola
sepak sekolah yang latih dahulu) serta gambar Zul
(mungkin Zulkifli Mohd Noor) yang saya sudah dua kali
bercakap dengannya di telefon tetapi tidak pernah
sekali pun bertemu dengannya selepas 30 tahu saya
meninggalkan SMSkel dahulu.
Saya tidak tahu apakah saya akan terus berpeluang
untuk melihat gambar-gambar lama (kenangan di
SMSkel)yang hampir semuanya sudah hilang daripada
simpanan saya. Saya pasti ada di antara anda yang
mungkin memilikinya. Kalau tidak keberatan paparkanlah
di e-mail ini. setidak-tidaknya kalau tidak dapat
melihat wajah-wajah terkini anda (sebahagian besar
gambar yang Sabariah paparkan dalam Then and Now
memang tidak mampu saya mengcamnya kalau saja berjumpa
mereka)dapat juga saya mengimbau kenangan lalu. gambar
Shah Reza memang selalu saya tengok dalam surat
khabar.
Semoga anda semua gembira bersama keluarga dan
berbahagia selamanya- Salam sayang daripada
saya:(cikgu Hasan Baseri Budiman)

Now... I need to look for an old pic of cikgu :-)
And cikgu has sparked my interest to continue with this blog :-)
Only that, I need to look for more old pix to keep my postings worth visiting/reading.

Chinese New Year 1976

2008-02-06T22:45:00.000+08:00

I can't remember what day it was, but what I still remember is that the students were allowed to go home and spend the weekend with their families, so the new year must have been on Wednesday or Thursday. Since about 90% of the students were either from Kelantan or the nearby Terengganu, most of them opted to go home to their families. Only some of the hard-working fifth formers stayed back together with students from interstates.

Having lost my mum just the year before, and with dad working in Singapore, I decided to join them. Some of the interstate girls who were close to me are:

From Selangor (1-yr my senior):
1. Faridah Salleh - hailed from Teluk Panglima Garang; once I saw her photo in the newspaper, a senior police officer.
2. Nurliza Ramli - or was she from negeri Sembilan? No news from her
3. Talmiah - Hailed from Bt Laut, near Morib beach, she now teaches in a nearby school. Met her a few years ago.

Others are:
1. Dayang Latifah Aban Atong - A Sarawakian, she's from my batch; have not met her since school days :-(
2. (the late) Sharifah Aloyah Alsagoff - my classmate then.
3. Kuah Gek Yam - another Sarawakian, also 1-yr my senior.

and a few more whom I've forgotten their names.

I don't think there were more than 20 of us in the girls' hostel that weekend, because I remember us bunking together in one or 2 dormitories only, instead of being scattered in several different dorms.

We didn't have weekly morning inspections, and we took our own sweet time to go to the dining hall for breakfast. I remember that we really had a great helping of half-boil eggs! I think we kind of had a competition of who could consume the most number of the eggs. I know I lost, but I did actually take 6 half-boiled eggs! Initially was fine, but later I felt so bloated! I guess this was due to the coagulation of the eggs in my tummy. I really learned my lesson, and since then, I never took more that 2 eggs, most of the time I either gave it a miss or took only one.

The girls managed to get me to join them to play badminton in the school hall (i had never played the game before, simply because I could not afford the racket). I have to admit that I was never good at the game anyway :-(

I remember that we also had some mixed-double games, or rather it was the girls who had the games with the boys with me watching :-)
In one of the matches, Sharifah's partner (can't remember who) accidentally hit her glasses with his racket and broke them when both of them were going after the shuttle. Sharifah had to be taken to the hospital. She came back later that day with a bandage on her eye, and told us that the surface of her eye was scratched! Since then I became too scared to play in the doubles again.

This blog doesn't have any pic :-( but the memory of the special weekend is very special. We bonded well and these students became my buddies for my train journey down south at the end of every school term, and journey back to school at the beginning of the terms, since soon after that I decided to go back to dad's place (in JB) for my school holidays.

The School Co-op

2007-12-03T09:07:00.001+08:00

Zul, Shukri and I. Notice the price list on the wall. Hey, were they having drum-sticks?? It was my treat, I think..

the school campus was first occupied in 1974. The pioneer students started the academic session in 1973, temporarily stationed in another school in Kota Bharu.

I entered the school in January 1975. By then the school co-op had already existed. We didn't have a school canteen until 1976 or 1977. So, until then, the co-op did their best to fill in the gap. I remember, apart from selling stationeries, the co-op was popular among the students to buy ice-creams and peanuts. In fact, the cheapest ice-cream then, which was only 5sen each, was used as a substitute for the 5sen coin, if the coop didn't have the small change. Drum stick was only 50sen each!! And it was among the most expensive ones!! - the Sundae cup was the most expensive at 60sen each.

I was elected as a committeee member of the co-op only when I was in form 5. By then, another popular service among the girls was the delivery of sanitary pads to the hostel for purchases by them. The popular brand then was Sanita, and and they were packed in a very distinguish shape box that even after you wrapped it, you could still tell that it was a Sanita box. Having to buy them (even if we went outing in Kota Bharu) and carry them back to the hostel was a very embarrassing task. With the Co-op committeee members bringing them back in huge boxes, the girls were spared from that task.

My only pix of the co-op was when I gave my pet-brother, Zulkifli, a treat in 1978. My classmate, Shukri was there too, together with the person who shot the pix, but I can't remember who! :-( .

The co-op occupied one of the storerooms in the workshop block, and we used desks as our counters.

I heard that the coop now is very big and successful. It also occupies a room next to the school hall - more strategic and noticeable.

Alpha 1975-1979

2007-11-30T07:45:00.000+08:00

FORM 2 ALPHA 1976 (click on the picture for a better view)Standing from left: Norita, Nury, Mat Yih@Zamry, Kamarulzaman, Mazlin, Shukri, Mr Lye(our Class teacher for the year), Aihah, Khudzir, Hood, Nik Ahmad Eid, Salahuddin, Azizi, Fauziah and (the late) Sharifah Aloyah
Kneeling fr left: me, Halim, Hilme, Roslan, Rozi, Razak, Halmi, hasamuddin, Iqbal, Zuhdi, Baha, Zainal, Rusdi and Noorzaini
hmm... I hope I got the names right....

I have been meaning to scan this pic (see here) and put it up for show :-)

This is our class photo taken in 1976, while we were in form 2. Some of the boys had grown bigger and taller (while some tried hard to appear so). Compare this picture with the one taken a year earlier.

Before I forget, I want to put in writing here that we are very close to each other, right until now. The bonds that we've created among us are really irreplaceable (spelling??). We try to keep in touch with each other, and meet up regularly. You may want to visit my other site to see some of the rendez-vous, or maybe click on one the following to go straight to the pages (even though most of them are not just exclusive to my class):

Raya 2007
Meeting Khudzir after 28 years!
Futsal 2007
After the Futsal
Cikgu Bahar's Place
Qurban at School
Kudos to Mahisham

We also had a grand gathering (for the Class of 1979) with Cikgu Bahar in 2001, but then I had not started blogging yet :-(
I however have some pix of that meeting here.

The Formal Dinners

2007-11-30T07:24:00.000+08:00

We use to have formal dinners, which were normally held at the end of the school terms (there were 3 school terms a year, with each consisting 15 weeks).

Some of the dinners were just a slightly elaborated dinners as compared to the ordinary dinners that we used to have, but others could be quite grand whereby all the teachers were invited, and the PIBG (PTA) committee members were there too.

To most students, to see their (daytime) teachers having dinner with them was quite a night.

This picture was taken during the final formal dinner in 1978, where a few teachers received some recognition from the school. Here I was with a fellow friend, Che Nasirah (who now teaches in Kelantan), listening to one of the speeches given out during the function.

And here's the picture of some of the girl prefects with two of the teachers who were given awards for their outstanding services for the year.

From left: Roselina Yusoff, Husnayati, Rosilah, Mr Toh Ah Huat, Mr Lye Kim Yong, me, Nik Rozana and Ruslina Hussein

Both the teachers, Mr Toh and Mr Lye have since retired. I am actually a fan of both teachers, as both of them once taught my class (Integrated Science), and have left an impact on me. Mr Toh taught us briefly in Form 1 before he was assigned to teach the upper secondary classes, and Mr Lye actually taught us all throughout our lower secondary years.

The following year (1979), Mr Toh asked for a transfer back to his home state Perak, and went to the Malay College, Kuala Kangsar. Later I found out that Mr Toh retired a couple of years ago as the principal of Sek Men Anderson,or was it Sek Men Sam Tet, Ipoh. Mr Lye too got a transfer back to his homestate, Melaka, and retired last year (or was it 2005), also as the headmaster of one of the primary schools there (thanks to Google).

Some of My Classmates (Alpha 75-79) - Then and Now

2007-11-08T22:11:00.000+08:00

Rusdi:

1979

2007

Zuhdi:

1976

2007

Nury:

1976

2007

Norita:

1976

2007

Wan Hasamudin:

1978

2007

Baha:

1978 (or 1979?)

2007

And me:

1976

2007

Tok Kelana's House

2007-09-30T15:17:00.000+08:00

Last Friday I had the chance to visit my alma-mater, though briefly.

On the way home, we drove towards "Bucu" (my fellow alumni will know where this place is!) and turn left, instead of the regular right turn.

We were actually driving almost along the fences of the land belonged to our school. There was a point where I realised must have been the vast empty land behind my school blocks.

Suddenly I was reminded of a grand house there - in the middle of a few other run-down houses. I was told by by my male classmates that was Tok Kelana's house - whoever Tok Kelana was. And we were told that the house was haunted!!!!

The School Coop

2007-07-21T19:35:00.000+08:00

I can't really remember when was the first time we had a Coop AGM, but what I remember was that I was a committee member in 1979. Right now, I think many of us who invested then in the Coop have never collected our dividends, etc... Well... what did we know about all those in those days!!

I have a few photos "in the Coop" but since they are in the other pc, I will upload much later.

edited on 25/9/07

Lilians

2007-07-21T19:02:00.000+08:00

Starting in 1976, the girl prefects were put in one dorm instead of being spread out in various dormitories (then, some dorm had more thna one prefect while some had none). The idea of putting them (well, us) together was to facilitate duties and to unify them. Earlier when we were in separate dorms, we tended to be defensive towards our own dorms. There appeared to be some rivalry between prefects too :-)

Staying in the same dorm also made quick discussions/meetings easily carried out. Not to mention those spot checks that we carried out on other dorms!

The chosen dorm was the one on the 2nd floor, at the other end of the toilets. So, we had the furthest trip to the toilet!! Above us used to be the study room, while below us was the warden's room and the Musalla (prayer room).

The name of the dorm was Lily (all dorms were named after flowers. Some that I can still recall are Melati, Angsana, Bakawali, Mawar, Melur, Anggerik, Kenanga and Cempaka. Was there a Kemboja?? not sure...). Before the girl prefects took over, Lily was well known as a very noisy dorm!

As the occupants of the dorm, we call ourselves Lilians. Some of the pix of Lilians will be uploaded later:

Thank you for your visit....

2007-06-23T02:24:00.000+08:00

Dear friends who have been visiting this blog regularly,

I know you must be frustrated each time you visit this blog lately, to see no change at all in the content.

Honestly, I have been busy lately with so many matters, including those related to our own beloved alumni. The slow Internet access doesn't help either.

I will update this blog some time in early July, with more stories about the school and some very old pix to accompany them. However, here's an old pix from my collection:

Persatuan Ilmu Alam dan Sejaran 1976

PPM 1978

2007-05-25T18:19:00.001+08:00

Our school was the host for the Pesta Perdana (Piala Perdana Menteri) 1978.

I am trying to locate some pix from the event, but only found this one:

Me with Mr Sharif manning the secretariate room (ground floor of Block A, Boys' Hostel)

Another one is this one:

The second pix was taken when we were watching the semi-final of the Malay debate between our schoon and STF). Norzaini Yasok is in the back row, left most, with me sitting next to her. Some cikgus there are Pengetua (Hj Hamdan), Ustaz Alwi, Cikgu Anuar , Cikgu Bakar, and Cikgu Yusof Ali(arwah).

By the way, the curtains that are shown in the first pix were sewn by the members of Home Science Club (of which I was the Presiden ;-) )! In fact ALL the hostel's curtains were sewn by us!

The Teachers - Then and Now

2007-05-25T09:39:00.000+08:00

Pak Jitno Widodo

then (~1974 or 1975)

Now (May 2007)

Dr Tengku Abdul Aziz aka Kujit

then (1976)

Now (May 2007)

Ustaz Alwi (Pen Kanan)

then (1976)

Now (May 2007)

Mr Sharif (Biology Teacher, now retired)

Then (PPM, 1978)

Now (May, 2007)

Watch out!! More to come!! And thanks to Pakdin for some of the pix

Then and Now (Part II)

2007-05-25T08:08:00.000+08:00

Hamzah (74-75, 76-77)

Tok Was Rosli

Then and now!

2007-05-11T19:27:00.000+08:00

Rosli Hussein aka Pakda

then

now

Kamal (74-75)

then

now

Kak Normah "Rugged"

then

now

Idris (74-75)

then

now

Noorhayati Ab RAZak (73-77)

Then

Now

Rosilah Said (Beta 74-78)

then

Now

Husnan (Alpha 74-78)

Then

Now

Yasmin Mahmood (Beta 78-79)

Then (I am trying to locate a better pix)

Now

Mazlin Mokhtar

Then

Now

Ezani Mohd Nor

Then

Now

Ahmad Hilmy Abdullah

Then (1978)

Now

Razali Mat Zin

Then

Now

I am building up this page :-)
Anybody care to help me? Just e-mail the relevant pix :-)

Speechdays (1976-79)

2007-05-10T18:06:00.000+08:00

I just got back from my alma-mater for a similar function yesterday. Seeing the kids going up the stage to receive their prizes reminded me of my time over 30 years ago!!

When I was in form 1 (1975), I don't think there was one. But I could be wrong, since even if thee was, I would not be invited anyway - they prizes were given for achievement made a year earlier.

Way back in the 1970s, prizes were given for best in subjects as well as the positions in each form. Nowadays, the function is only to honour students who got 8As in PMR and those who did well in SPM - no longer with focus such as "Best in Subjects". I don't blame the school. For intance, last year (2006), ALL the SPM candidates got 1A each for Bahasa Malaysia!! That's a perfect score for all the BM teachers!

Let's look at some of my old pix:

1976
The VIP was En Omar Hashim, the then Director of the Examination Unit (Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia), Ministry of Education. I was told that he was a good friend of our principal, Mr Mahadzir Hashim.

I have written a bit about this speechday earlier. Click here to read it.

I was lucky to be among those who received some prizes on that day:

Note, Mazlin was behind me :-)
Oops! 1 hand only, Sabariah? Or the left hand was a bit late...

Now I am pretty sure it was our First Speechday, because we also had some exhibition put up for our guests that day. I was also instructed by my Homescience teacher to embroider a picture that she had chosen (my goodness, I have forgotten her name! Was it Cikgu Khatijah? or Cikgu Zainon?). Later, I was told that the framed pixture would be the gift from the students, and I was given the honour to present it myself!! Here's the pix:

I had to be in the Homescience Sewing Room for 2 full weeks to get the picture of a sitting up cat with flowers ready. I remember having to unpick some of the stitches when they were not up to the standard!

The above very clear pix were taken by Johny Wong of Wong Photographer. At RM1.50 per piece, it was very very expensive, but now, the pix are priceless. Just look at the quality! The other pix were not taken by him :-(

1977
This was the year when the school started a policy that only the Menteri Besar will be the VIP. For 1977, it was Dato Muhamad Nasir, who came.

Note that it was Mazlin again behind me! :-)
He was much taller then, as compared to the year before.

1978
The Menteri Besar was then Dato Muhammad bin Yaacob:

1979
Again, Dato Muhammad bin Yaacob.

Well.. that was it then :-)

The Prefects

2007-04-23T13:38:00.000+08:00

I have decided to put up the formal pictures for 1975-1979. You can see that the quality of the photos got worse from 1978 onwards :-(

Please click on the pix to get a bigger image.

1975:

Headboy: Ezani Adam

1976:

Headboy: Wan Zawawi

1977 (The only pix without the school principal):
- The year of the Riot too

Headboy: Wan Azman Wan Ahmad
Headgirl: Wan Rosnani

1978:

The formal pix:

Headboy: Hishamuddin Harun
Headgirl: Rosilah Said

An informal pix:

1979:

Headboy: Zainal Azim Ab Kadir
Headgirl: Nik Rozana

Meeting the Turtles in Rantau Abang (1975)

2007-04-23T12:45:00.000+08:00

It was the a long weekend. I can't remember what month, but it must have been in July or August. Why did I say so - because it was the Turtle spotting season!

Most students went back home, but I decided to joined the non-Kelantanese students who went for a trip to Rantau Abang. Whe stopped over in Kuala Terengganu, and some of us had this photo taken (click for bigger image):

Standing 3rd from left is Mazlin, with me squatting in black bluse. The late Sharifah is on my right. K Gee (75) is next to Mazlin.

Rantau Abang was only a small fisherman's village, not like what it is now.

We arrived in Rantau Abang just before dusk, if I am not mistaken. We spent that night roaming around the beach, and looking for a turtle that might come ashore to lay eggs. Every few hours, our teacher would call us for a roll-call. Just before midnight, some seniors and I managed to find one unlucky tutle that came ashore. We waited for hours for it to dig the hole, and finally laid her eggs. While watching, I was thinking of the mid-night roll-call that we were going to miss. We thought, what the heck, we may not be lucky enough to see the turtle later, so we gambled. When we went back to our "camp" (no real camp, just open air space where we assembled), we got a good scolding from the teachers!!! Well, it was worth every scolding, as THAT WAS THE ONLY TIME I saw a turtle laying eggs (live!), even though years later I went back a few times to Rantau Abang but was never lucky :-(

The unpleasant memory of the outing was food! I remember most of the options we had then would have turtle eggs (I don't like turtle eggs - it has nothing to do with my pro-conservation stance). Fried rice with turtle eggs, boiled turtle eggs, "masak lemak telur penyu", turtle eggs in EVERY dish! I had to survived on only biscuits...

Piala Perdana Menteri(PPM) 1976

2007-04-21T20:35:00.000+08:00

The PPM is the debate competition that started in 1974, as a competition among the elite boarding schools. They were later joined by several SMS (Sekolah Menengah Sains). There are two streams of the competition - in English and in Bahasa Malaysia.

During my days in the school wew were never that good in the English debate, but we first made it great in the Bahasa Malaysia section 1976 when we managed to be in the final. Amran, my senior of 2 years wrote about it in his reminiscense, which I published in my blog here.

The final was held in the Auditorium Besar Angkasapuri, during the long school holidays at the end of the year. Our debating team consisted of Wan Azman Wan Ahmad (Dr, now a medical professor in Universiti Malaya), Razali Mat Zin (Dr, now an academic in a university in Riyadh), the late Mr Abdul Hamid and Khalid Ibrahim (Dr, now the head of Sg Buluh Hospital) with the debating teacher, the late Cikgu Yusoff Ali were given the honour to FLY from Kota Bharu to Kuala Lumpur while a full bus load of supporters went by road. I was lucky to be among the supporters!!

Travelling from Kota Bharu in the 1970s was not as straight forward as it now is. WE had to go to Kuala Terengganu first, then Kuantan, before we headed to Luala Lumpur. The journey took more than 14 hours, compared to an average of 6-7 hours now!!

We bunked up in SMS Selangor, while our debators stayed in a hotel (was in Majestic Hotel?- now known as Carcosa Seri Negara).

The following morning (the day of the debate), we were so excited to see articles and pictures of our debators (and their opponents from Kolej Islam Klang) occupied the main page 2-page3!! Our seniors managed to buy all main newspapers - The New Straits Times, Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian. With pride, we read every article about them!!

While in SMSS, we befriended some Sixth Formers from the school, who agreed to have a pix taken with us (click on the pix for a bigger image):

While waiting for the night, we managed to have a quick visit to the National Museum. Our bus was actually parked right in front of the entrance of the museum!
(click on the pix for a bigger image):

When the night came, we headed for Auditorium Besar Angkasapuri.
WE were among the early ones to enter the auditorium, and took our seats (click on the pix for a bigger image):

There were some MCKK boys behind us.

Soon our debators came out to take their seats and somebody took this pix (which became a top-selling photo later when we got back to school!) (click on the pix for a bigger image):

The pride of our school taking their seats - Razali, Wan Azman, (the late) Hamid

Unfortunately we lost the debate. However, our debator, Razali Mat Zin (who's now an assoc prof in King Fahd's University) was chosen to be the Best Debator!! Well... we didn't really leave the place empty handed.. By the way, Wan Azman is now a professor in University Malaya.

to be continued!

April Fool!!

2007-04-02T18:16:00.000+08:00

Somebody in the SEMESTA's forum reminded me that yesterday was April Fool's day!!

Way back in the 70s, April Fool was one of the "looked forward to" days - some of us went to the extent of keeping the half boiled eggs that were rationed to us for breakfast a good month earlier so that by the 1st of April, it's stingky enough to be used to play pranks on fellow friends!

Since we were only school kids, the level of our pranks were also not worth shouting about - can't beat New Strait Times' false news that they used to carry in their papers every 1st April, only to be "corrected" the following day. I think NST has since stopped the practice, maybe because we were immuned by them (the news)..

The only significant April Fool's prank that I still remember was one by our own teachers (or was it by the wardens?). How, you asked? Here how it went:

That morning the prefects were told by them (teachers/wardens) that there would be an urgent assembly, and ALL students needed to be in the school hall when the bell rang. We were told that the principal had something very urgent to address to us.

I can't remember well, but I think we used to have a system whereby if the bell rang twice, then it meant there would be an assembly on that day. So the bell rang, students looked confused, since it was not the normal "assembly day" and prefects went around telling the students that there would be an assembly.

Lo and behold, ALL of us assembled in the hall. It was quite common for the teachers to come in just before the principal so, while we were in the hall, so when the hall was still empty, we didn't suspect anything fishy. One of them (I think it was Cikgu Mat Nor Hassan) came into the hall with a very serious and grave look (or was he accompanied by some of his collegues?). Taking the mike, as if he was going to tell us something important, still maintaining the serious and grave look he said to us : APRIL FOOL. Then he smiled!!

So, how was that as an April Fool day not to be forgotten?

Extract from SEMASA_78

2007-03-19T23:09:00.000+08:00

This is my favourite cartoon strip from the 1978 school magazine, done by Ahmad Hilmy Abdullah. Click on the image to get a bigger size pix!

Amran's Reminiscence (Episodes 5-7)

2007-03-19T11:30:00.001+08:00

Peaceful Easy Feeling (EPISODE 5: THE DARK NIGHT WE WENT ON RIOT)

Before I proceed may I say that since we left school, there has been no more hard feelings amongst those involved in that incident. I was once told by my group that the teacher and some of the students concerned had met up to forgive and forget. For whatever reason, we shouldn't have rioted! However, I will still write about it so that all of us know what filled up those 30years of our school history. Mind you, this is my own account of the incident and sincerely hope that others join in and correct me if I'm wrong..

Here it goes.......

A few important events closely related to our batch (73) had taken place. Cik gu Rashidi, regarded as our first mentor during our testing year in SMIP, was transferred in 1974. We were then taken care by our wardens cikgu Baha and Cikgu Mat Nor (they're friendly and fair to us). However, we turned more to Cik gu Ashaari to fill up that gap left by Cik gu Rashidi. I mean he'd be the one whom most of batch 73 students would confide in, joked with, and listened to. We felt that he was a very caring and understanding person. He had that natural charm written over his face, had he not? Furthermore, he was with us right from the very first day in SMIP too. By now, more batches came into the school and I think we were a bit intimidated by some of you guys about who should be in control cos we always feel special about being the pioneer and had endured a lot of hardships. As such we were very sensitive towards anything that touched anybody from our batch. (biasalah a! t that age, a person tends to look for a comrade in place of one's parents).

Our charismatic principal Mr. Mahadzir also left us. In came Pn. Rahmah Hussein (she had two cute daughters in the school as well) from TKC. This handsome man Mahadzir, such a fierce, no nonsense, difficult to smile, he could nag us for hours ( a couple of students collapsed during assembly), he'd make the teachers and us waited for an hour in the assembly hall while he took the longest route via every dorm before reaching the hall......nobody moved...we sang Negara ku and Selamat Sultan and he didn't say a single word.......assembly finished. Just like that. He was very outspoken.............we were like timid rat with him around. ONLY when he left that we realised how he has managed to change our mind set for excellence. He was actually firm but fair. He put television sets for us to watch Muhamad Ali vs Joe Bugner in KL. He even went to see them before the fight and came back telling us highly about Muhammad Ali's excellence. Suddenly we felt the empt! iness when he left us. I personally feel that he played a big role in psyching us to excel in the school's LCE exam.

After our success in the LCE exam in 1975, we spent a lot of time playing and fooling around cos MCE was still far away and our new warden was a hell of a tough sportsman. Our school excelled in various fields especially in debate, games and sports even at the national level. One boy stood out among us ----ROSLI HUSAIN (we called him Pak Da). He was made the first School Games Captain for his flair in almost every sports he played...and he could play almost everything....He's even good at debate, study, music, comedy....he was really an outstanding boy. He never walked alone. We looked up to him not only for his size but also for his leadership. He was popular with everybody. I was indebted to him because he always put me on the bus to watch away football games.

So, it was not a surprise when one night after the prep hour, we were shocked to learn that a group of batch 73 were rounded up by this new warden for an alleged indiscipline and among them was Rosli Husain.

Some of us started to loiter below the warden's room waiting anxiously, not knowing why they were still detained by the warden for so long... the crowd was getting bigger including some seniors and juniors.

Suddenly, someone heard a commotion and heard someone screaming "PAK Da kena pukul ke cikgu....". All hell broke loose.. some ran upstairs and tried to break into the room while others pelted the windows with bricks. More joined in, screaming and running around, smashing things in anger for the warden refused to come out.....who would dare? I remember the owner of the house just outside our kitchen fence shouted at us and was shut up immediately with rude remarks from some of us.

Everything was in chaos....tension was running very high.....people from the surrounding started coming in. It made us madder........of course in that situation more students became hysterical especially those who learned silat. So almost everybody's running around attacking the warden's room as well as comforting the hysterical students........ISIN was the word! These silat batin group was difficult to control except for one guy who looked very much in trance (ISIN) until his sarong terlondeh and he quickly pulled it up...well too late, we looked at him in disgust and left him alone....tipu punya isin!

Joked aside, by 2am, some parents and more people came and tried to console us ---- no chance. Mr. Mahadzir is no longer there, remember? Then.... the nearby Pasukan Polis Hutan came in with their guns pointed. There was a long queue of police trucks in the school area till the main gate. Some of us were still uncontrollable, chasing the police car which was supposed to ferry out the warden. The shouting and running continued. Eventually at almost 4am, we were all squatting in the area between the two hostel blocks staring at the mouth of the police rifles pointed at us (just like the immigrants you see in the newspaper nowadays). We cooled down and listened to a few comforting words from some of our favorite teachers.........

The next day was a gloomy day as we become the talk of the town. Words spread fast up to Gua Musang even though there wasn't any hanphone then. It became worse day after day when the dust settled down cos it was time to face the music. Some of us was penalised and so on.......... Of course nobody won, we were all losers. We shouldn't have done it but it was on impulse, I would say. Luckily there was no casualty though it could have easily been...

I'M SURE NONE OF US IS PROUD OF THE INCIDENT BUT IT'S BEEN AN EPISODE DURING OUR TIME IN SMSKelantan......

Amran Mohd Nor (batch 73-78)

Lumut Perak

famili95@tm.net.my
31 January 2003

PEACEFUL EASY FEELINGS! -- (Episode 6 - Bell Bottom Years)

The pioneers came to SMS during the hippies' era -- side burns (belum tumbuh misai tapi cikgu ramai yg. pasang sideburn like Cikgu Abu Bakar, Cikgu Razak, Cikgu Syed Abd. Hamid, Cikgu Tg. Aziz etc.), bell bottoms (wow! imagine groups of boys sweeping the school ground with their bell bottoms.)

Those years were also about being cool in faded jeans. Wranglers, Levis and Lee. anything less were not cool! Unfaded? NOT COOL! The boys used to buy a new Wranglers or Levis and beat them mad on the bathroom floor after soaking with chlorox to fade it ---- COOL! Faded and torn-out jeas (especially at the knees) were in demand. Nobody could beat Azlan Dato' Ariffin for that. Not much for him being COOL but more so because the jean was handed down from his eldest brother via many other brothers in his family. Remember him wearing that torn-out Crocodile T'shirt with the Eric Clapton face on his chest? COOL!!. By the way he's a good Guitarist and his music was considered advanced (at least for me -- cos I only began to love Eric Clapton while at the Univ.).

Talking about music, the dorms were filled up with D Lloyds, Rod Stewarts, Bad Company, Eagles, and many other great songs day and night. 1973 was the year P.Ramlee passed away--- luckily we had Jazuli to sing all the songs by heart ---- day and night!

Amran
2 July 2003

Peaceful Easy Feeling (Episode 7: Our Bus Is Here!!!)
Remember my first story about the long march from wakaf mek zainab to Pengkalan Chepa? Poor kids. We wouldn't have to walk if we had our school bus then.

It was in 1974, returning to the dorm after our lunch. The sun was shining outside. The after lunch noise was always a welcome sound. Why not? We had finished the day's boring hours in the classroom, had just filled up our hungry stomach at the dining hall.....so it was time to relax before the 'horizontal hour'. Remember the usual scenario in the dorm at that time? Some of us would be singing at the top of their voices, laughters filled the air, boys jumping onto one another in their bed (just doing decent hugging, nothing fishy about it!), sound of slippers slapping the corridor floors to the bathroom and the sight of boys wrapped in towel walking or running along the corridors of all floors and blocks. Some were grouping at the corridors shouting at other groups in the other block..... And in the bathroom? More singing, right? Shower room doors are knocked to irritate the occupant. A lot of fun but it was still another routine afternoon in SMSK.......

I was about to go to the toilet when some alien sound caught my attention. It was a continuous sound of car horns and the continuous pip..pip..pip..pip..pip..of motorcycles.Some of us looked out of the window and saw a procession of some of our teachers' cars and vespas ---- Cikgu Razak, Cikgu Syed Abd. Hamid and a few others. They were sounding the horns continuosly and their faces were beaming with wide smiles waving towards us and pointing towards the school gate, as if to show us something. We didn't have to wonder too long because within seconds we saw a shining creamy yellow long bus entering the gate. Then we saw it ---- SEKOLAH MENENGAH SAINS KELANTAN ! By now, the blaring horns was accompanied by our cheering and clappings. OH ! BAS KITA SUDAH SAMPAI or rather OIII ! BAH KITO SAPA DAH! BAH KITA ! BAH KITA! We ran downstairs and crowded the bus. A tall dark man with a hunch came down from the bus and was welcomed by us all. As we know that! man was PAK CIK HAMID, a name synonimous with us. He later became one of us, live his life and shared the bitter sweet memories with us........

Pak Cik Hamid and his bus had taken us to various places. I'm sure each and everyone has their own story to tell. My memorable one was the trip to the PPM in STF Johor Bahru in 1976. We came back at night on a high note after securing a place into the debate final. . We were passing by the jungle of Rompin when some guys wanted to stop for a pee. That was the time when Zawawi Husin came up with an eerie ghost story. I remembered the guys had to bear with the erection (pardon me) until we reached a kampong in Terengganu before they went down desperately looking for a toilet in the wee hour of the morning....

.........well, the bus! OUR BUS! In those days, you couldn't see many buses other than the SKMK. So, this bus is special, it's ours! No wonder the teachers who were speeding home for their lunch, turned back to lead the bus to us. They seemed to be as excited as we were. Had it arrived a year earlier, my friends and I wouldn't have to experience the symbolic long walk from wakaf mek zainab. But then, I wouldn't have that story to tell you.

Amran

73-78
8 August 2003

NB: Pl. forgive me for any inaccuracies. Please recall the event and add on to this story.

Amran's Reminiscence (Episodes 1-4)

2007-03-19T11:02:00.000+08:00

This time I am putting here the stories told by a pioneering senior (SMSKel 1973-1977) in our e-group some time ago. The e-group was later deleted (I still don't know how it happened) but Hasmala keeps the original mails, so we can still reproduce them here!.

He had divided it into a few sections!!
[Thank you to Hasmala for keeping all the postins, and forwading them to me again!]

Peaceful Easy Feeling (Episode 1: THE LONG MARCH)

It was a long March from Wakaf Mek Zainab to Pengkalan Chepa. I need to let all of you know what SMSK meant to us ( batch 73).

Life was not so rosy in SMIP with its crowded dorm, stinking leaked septic tank that freed all its content into the drain and beyond everytime there was a heavy downpour. More than half of us contracted typhoid which forced us to set up a temporary ward at the hostel (I was the last to get it -- the day I helped dis-ambled the ward). Our big brothers (SMIP guys) took great care of us by making us their kid brother, help us in a lot of things especially teaching us how to demonstrate to fight for our rights (most of the time when we were served with nasi basi - remember the chants" apa kita mahu?". "Nasi!"

The stories about the real boarding school as been told by Cikgu Rashidi (MCOBA) made us cringed to see our own school in Pengkalan Chepa. Promises to move there were made every other week but to no avail. Out of sheer frustration, we demanded one day to go and see the building though not completed. He said okay but we need to walk there! Actually the teachers were tired of giving excuses.

One fine morning, the boys in white T shirt and short with the girls in their skirt, we walked in line. We passed thro' a few kampong stopping at every perigi along the way to quench our thirst, the 234 of us walked and walked and walked.......the dream school was nowhere to be seen. Soon, a few guys broke the rules and were sent back quashing their big dream of seeing the multi storey complex with big padang.

Under the intense heat, we continued our journey stopping at a couple of kedai kopi to buy some titbits. We emptied their bottles, but I'm not sure how much the owner got (siapa teringat pergilah cari balik kedai tu -- bayar).

Finally, we saw it.....our school.....the almost completed buildings....big padang. Everyone put that childish grin on their faces...........We were looking from outside the fence though. We were not allowed to step into the school compound cos it was still the contractor's site - it was a projek sakit . I remember Rosli Alias took a black and white photo of the school.....

Time to go home...it meant a lot to heal our yearning for 'our school'. I tell you, it was somewhat an emotional moment to leave the school behind...or was it because we have to walk back.

On our way home, most of us were too tired to walk in line. We broke loose and walked as fast as possible, drinking air perigi whenever we found one. We shortcut through the jungles where most of the Taman Perumahan were then built on. We walk and march back to the hostel. I couldn't recall the pain until today because there was no pain......only that peaceful easy feeling after finally seeing our own school with that big padang which we finally step into in January 1974.

Note: Those of you contractors out there, try your best not to let your project sakit especially school projects cos you wouldn't know how many hearts you will break by doing that!

Amran Mohd Nor

Lumut Perak

famili95@tm.net.my

Peaceful Easy Feeling(Episode 2: THE CHEETAHS AND THE GAZELLES)

assalamualaikum,

In 1973, Cikgu Rashidi form a group of relay teams which he called Cheetah for the boys and Gazelle for the girls. The Cheetahs were Ab. Rahman Suhaimi, Sazali, Raja Tarmizi and oh god I can't remember the other one...minta maaf banyak-banyak. The gazelles were Roselawati Kadir (QS JKR KL), Chua Seu Hong (where are you now?), Rohana (the last time jumpa kat UK buat A-level) and was it Rozita? I need help to recall them....dah lama kan, tapi adik-adik SMSK and Farisian punya pasal, abng/pakcik kamu ni akan cuba cerita mana yang ingat.

The team made a wave cos we beat a few established team and gave impressive performance against a much older students in KB.

Then, the football team. I remember Cikgu Rashidi went round asking for those who had represnted their state, district or school during their primary school.......He gathered them one day and we got two teams. Our greatest achievement that year was beating MRSM away. was the score 7-5? Anyway, it meant a lot cos our guys came home with swollen feet.......they played bare footed against the sophisticated MRSM who was supplied with boots. It was an emotional occasion yet again......that explains why every match against MRSM after that was very highly charged ---- for the record, SMSK team was never beaten by anybody until 1977. We supplied most of the Kelantan team players the likes of Rosli Hussein(Pak Da), Tarmizi Kassim, Nazrin, Azam and others.

I think we need to pay tribute to Cikgu Rashidi for initiating and instilling the fighting spirit from the very beginning to create a name for our school. He was a friend, going from class to class telling his MCOBA tales during our preps. He taught us how to smoke and lompat pagar without being caught....of course he caught them all......he was fierce but fair. We ran around like a mouse whenever we heard his volvo PF... 's engine coming into the school compound ...but we also waited eagerly for his presence in our class to listen to his tales and wonderful stories about life in a boarding school. We love him......I bumped into him in Pangkor a few years ago with his entire family going for a vacation........had he not been around with in SMIP, I wouldn't know how the SMSK storyline would be......

.....whenever I remember him, I remember the Cheetahs and the Gazelles gunning down the tracks in 1973.

Amran Mohd Nor

Lumut Perak

famili95@tm.net.my

Peaceful easy Feeling (Episode 3: GIVE ME YOUR RED EYES!!!)

Now that Aminuddin mentioned it, I have to share this story with all of you. I think you juniors around the world should get to know us the 73 batch cos we had loads of tales to share. Nowadays, we just can't imagine how some of us can be what and who we are today....ingat tak jadi orang dah!!!

Yes, it was in 1975, our LCE (dulu SPR now PMR) year. Ramadan as well. Most of us were busy and anxiously studying for our LCE. We were to be the first batch to sit down for the exam and after almost two years with us, the then principal, Mahadzir (his name means "Talk-Big" and he lives to his name -handsome no-nonsense very much like our PM - kalau nampak nak berselisih semua orang lari even the teacher and the gardener) had given up on our batch. He publicly caned so many of us for doing all sorts of nonsense. Our famous Sulong (adik Dato' Dr. Ramli Mohamad of PLUS) bothered him the most, I think. SMSK was pressured to do well in the exam but Mahadzir had only people like us --- so rowdy and very loyal to each other.

The exam tension was mounting whatmore with fasting and the hari raya coming....homesick lah! Especially thinking of your siblings eating sumptuous akok and what not while we had to make do with bubur hangit. Then, one of us contracted this severe red eye syndrome (conjunctivitis). It spread like fire, one after another went to the hospital and didn't return, wow...they got a week's MC. They celebrated like mad cos they're going home.

So, very soon everybody rushed for those guys' pillow and towel, rub them in the eye..and..off you go...home for a week....akok, nonde, lompat tikam...name it..ha..ha..ha...to hell with the exam. It was madness the way we jumped onto the infected pillows and rub the eyes it..... and passed it around. Fantastic trick, within hours, you got it! red eyes, the painful sensation when you rukuk in your prayer.......you feel like your whole head is coming out through your eyes.........oooo..what a nice feeling...going home for puasa.

The number diminished fast in all classrooms, it was a crisis. Mr. Mahadzir found out about our tricks and he was so furious that he asked for a roll call in the school hall that same night. Only a third of us left.....Exam is right after Raya...He tried to strike fear in us by telling that nobody would go home anymore........

I was so sad cos I had just about to feel that lump in my eyes. " Oh God, I'm not going to complete Ramadan here with my eyes like this". Off to the hospital and with one look at me, the doctor signed a week's MC. My eyes were throbing. Told the warden...and guess what..he asked me to go home.......better still, my MC finished just before Raya....I had a good time. The pain went off on the second day after taking a pill from Thailand (now banned)

The exam came, the first LCE result of SMS Kelantan were out........ 100 %. Mr Mahadzir cried!!! Very proud of us!! And what about Sulong, the boy that bothered Mr. Mahadzir so much? Did he get 7As or 8As. Of course, he did better in his MCE, went to Liverpool Univ and joined Schlumberger, that oil exploration company who pays unbelievable sum to their engineers ----- but now he is the head or something like that of Schlumberger , I am told, based in Paris. I met him almost 20years ago in Bangsar when he told me that he just wanted to get a porsche and quit......

Well, adik-adik, that was how the 100% tradition was made for you to continue. Everytime I read about our school getting 100%, I'll quickly remember that particular moment in life when I joined the rest foolishly. Whenever my kids contracted conjunctivitis, I'd tell them the story, and my wife, a doctor, just cannot understand how stupid I was!

WARNING TO THOSE WHO ARE STILL IN THE SCHOOL: The above dangerous action was performed by mostly professional people (sekarang lah!) and therefore shouldnot be re-enacted by any of you for any reason whatsoever. I should not be held responsible for sharing this episode with you.

However if you suspect that you have contracted conjunctivitis, please go immediately to any doctor but preferably, not from batch 73 ......cos they know how to deal with you...

Salam from

Amran Mohd Nor

Lumut Perak

famili95@tm.net.my

28 January 2003

PEACEFUL EASY FEELING (Episode 4: THE EARLY DEBATE FEVER)

I was in the hockey squad in the 1976 PPM in STF. We were very small and looked down by other more established schools like MCKK, STAR and SDAR. They were almost a different class above us. They got the eyes of TKC and STF girls then. So, obviously, we had to be more rowdy than them to attract attention. There're instances when we overdid it, and I must admit, we looked more like kampong boys. Things got worst when a SMSAH player walloped Rosli Hussein's shin in a hockey match....with heroes like Sudin, Che Amat etc in our team....all hell broke loose. News spread very fast about the incident and we felt like in a dustbin cos we suddenly became the 'badboy' of the tournament. But our debators changed the fortune...

Well....nothing could beat the night our debators ran down our more established opponents one after another with us cheering like mad, marching throughout the whole STF compound singing thro the night taunting the SDARians and STARians(these two were like brothers). If I'm not mistaken we qualified for the final that year (maybe someone can verify this for me). Suddenly, we were noticed! SMS Kelantan was the name. It put fear into others and we were suddenly on a new high (at least I was!). We behaved more 'kampong' after that. Of course we were beaten by Kolej Islam Klang in four straight years either in the final or semi final...real jinx.

Moments like that were contagious. At home the whole school was soon infected with debate fever. We suddenly had debate teams in every class and even dorm. I remember having debate contest in the dorm that started after the 'lights off'. The best part was that everybody was lying down in their bed dalam kelambu throughout the whole session. It amazed me till today how serious we were then. The eloquent and witty rebukes of Razali Mat Zin was emulated.....the forceful antonation and bombastic lingo of Anwar Ibrahim was the norm.....even within the kelambu.

In those days it was so difficult to get any message across because somebody no matter where and when will rebuke you to provoke a debate!!!

I must say that the debate team managed to speed up our effort in establishing our school as a top flight institution in the country.

For such a new school and at an era when there were only TV1 and TV2, appearing on national TV channel for the debate final was a very great achievement. It gave us a great pleasure to tell our kampong folks that "Sekolah Sain tu sekolah amba!"

Our strong pride in guarding the Kelantanese dialect did not deter us from participating in a debate contest. The classic case was when a contestant in an inter class debate went on emotionally putting across a case about indiscipline in school when he said something like ,"....... akan menyebabkan lebih ramai murid-murid sekolah merungkas pagar!"

Amran Mohd Nor

Lumut Perak

famili95@tm.net.my
29 January 2003

The 1977 Riot

2007-03-06T15:52:00.000+08:00

It was an event every citizen of the school then wished never happened, but the fact was that it happened and there was no way it could be undone :-(

When did it happen and how did it happen? Nobody except those involved directly could really answer the question.

This is a very sensitive story/event/issue, whatever you want to call it. I will try my best not to be biased towards anybody, and what I am going to write is only based on what I heard, saw and gathered, from my limited resources.

I remember that it happened during the weekend, because that night (when it happened), we had visitors from SMS T Ahmad Shah, Gambang!! They came for a friendly visit (I am not sure, but I think it was their prefects and/or sixth formers). I think we had some friendly games with them, apart from their mandatory visits to the shopping places in Kelantan (I think they visited Rantau Panjang too). Their guys were given one of the dormitories on the top most floor of Block B. They must be very scared when they heard all the noices of boys screaming, shouting, breaking window panes, etc... What I remember was that, the following morning, the visitors packed their things and went home (or rather "checked out") much earlier than planned!

Now, let's get back to the stories before the riot! At that time, certain quarters of the students had some problems with one of the wardens. These groups of students consisted of mainly sportsmen, who had to practice for their games almost everyday. [in those days we were great teams for almost all the main games - soccer, hockey, netball, athletics. And we were there for both the Under-15 and Under-18 categories]. Being school kids, at that time of the year (early in the year when we concentrated more on the games than on our studies!!) games were paramount. These great players had supporters and admirers too! (hey, this is off the topic! :))
Anyway, their supporters would "cover" them for their minor wrong-doings, such as not being ready for the evening prayers (maghrib), or coming late to dining hall for dinner.

Anyway, there were some of the boys who were caught with some of these minor disciplinary problems. It's so happened that there was this "orang luar" warden (who's a six-footer! To me looked more like a commando than a teacher), who was just doing his duty when he caught these students..However, maybe he used certain words or style that "challenged" the students' patience - only God knows!!

What we know was that, that night this warden (let me name him Warden X) called some of the students to the warden's room (which was on the first floor of Block A, and from my bed, though far, I can see clearly the door to the room!). What happened there I don't know really know, but I was told later that the warden caught the wrong boy, and also for many times had been accusing the wrong boys for the wrong thing... Only God knows the truth...

I think after that the boys had gone back to their dorms soon after (not sure...), but what I know was that suddenly there was a group of boys calling Warden X by names, and wanting to break the door to the Warden's room!!! Cikgu Baha, who was a warden too, came out, blocked the door with his body and pleaded the boys to calm down. Cikgu Baha was very well loved by most students then, so the boys didn't harm him at all. However, the small-sized Cikgu Baha had a hard time trying to stop the boys from breaking the door and getting to Warden X, though he succeeded. Cikgu Baha even said things like, "if you want to harm him, harm me first". There were also boys who climbed to the other side of the block, and tried to get to the warden through the window! Honestly, the image of cikgu bahar pleading to them is still fresh in my head!!

Soon, other boys broke loose. Boys were shouting, screaming, and breaking window panes. Though they didn't attack the warden directly, they were seen harming themselves, in their attempt to control their anger and disappointment. One of them actually cut himself with the broken window pane, I was told. There was a water well between the boys block and the dining hall, and I could see boys around that area crying, screaming and getting hurt! Later I was told that some of the boys went "iseng" (went beserked, due to out of control emotional outburst, but somehow related to their self-defence "silat" practise!?!).

Before we can understand why they behaved that way, we need to know the situation then. At that time we had just lost our first principal, Cikgu Mahadzir, whom many of us hated when he was around, but was greatly missed by most students when he was gone!! Cikgu was transfered back to his homestate, Kedah and he was replaced by a FEMALE principal who's a Kelantanese but was formerly the principal of another boarding school, Tunku Kurshiah College. Obviously, most students found it difficult to adjust to her style, and her contant comparisons to TKC, definitely didn't help. I still remember how she would say in the assembly (or even during the prefect's meeting), "In TKC.... we blah..bla..bla....". After the first two words, most of us just shut our ears!! Her intention was good, but for most of us, we just hated the idea of transforming us to be like another "rival" school!

Back to that night.... I remember Ustaz Alwi (the deputy principal then) came and tried to calm the boys, but failed. Dr Wan Azman Wan Ahmad, the headboy then, who was also very much liked and respected by most students, too failed to calm the marauding boys, and lastly the principal too came, and to no vain.

The "rioting" went on until late at night. The last resort was to call the neighbouring FRU (Federal Reserve Unit, who normally handles riots) , who came in 2 trucks!! They went in to the warden's room, formed a body shield around Warden X and escorted him to the FRU camp!

During the days that follow, the student's morale was at all time low... Even the prefects felt the same way. We (the prefects) were summoned by the principal, and we got a real bashing from both principal and her deputy. We were accused of not being effective in curbing the disciplinary problems. We were very disappointed - at one end the students expected us to fight for their cause and at the other end the school treated us just like their police. We preferred to be "students leaders" but nobody bothered to listen to ou own woes.

At one point, Wan Azman (head boy) called all the prefects. He said that he was not effective in doing his duty, and being in form 6 Upper, he also had to concentrate on his studies (for his HSC - STPM now). Obviously, he was very disappointed with the school management who failed to listen to the students' woes that he relayed to them. On top of that, he personally was scolded too, I think... All the prefects "pujuk" him not do to do so (tried to talk him out of the idea) . That was the time I saw many boy prefects broke down and cry, out of desperation!! Eventually, all of us decided that if we can't voice out our feelings and opinions, then we will all go to the principal office and resign from our posts!! Let the school management choose whom they like to be THEIR prefects!!

A group of the senior prefects went to see the pricipal and tendered our resignation EN MASS!!!
Now, has any one of you heard of the prefect board resigning en mass?? It only happened in 1977!! If the school management thought we were just too emotional and not serious about it, they were very wrong!!

The next day, the school management had a shock!! None of the prefects wore his/her prefect attire (light blue) - we had to borrow ordinary school uniforms from friends!! The whole school and hostel went quite haywire. No morning inspection, no bell ringing to alert the students to go to school, nobody to ensure order in the dining hall, nobody to recite the doa before meals, nobody to collect the students' mail from the office, nobody to run the normal errands given by the school to the prefects, nothing at all!! In a way, we had "a good time" being just students ;-)

Realising that they could not function with our help, the school agreed to consider our requests and proposals, and the resignation was turned down. To me, it was ONE GREAT VICTORY to us and the students!!

Now back to Warden X. He never came back into the school compound. He stayed in the FRU camp for a week before he was transferred to Kedah (i heard he was sent to Langkawi- then, it was considered very remote/ulu!!).

To some of the prefects (girl prefects too), he was a nice warden (ignore what he did/said to the boys that sparked the riot). So, before he was sent back to Kedah, some of us managed to visit him. It was a very emotional meet. He looked shocked - maybe he never expected what he did could cause such uproar!! Lesson of the day? Never under-estimate the Kelantanese!

Footnote:
You may want to read another account of this event by Amran (one of the pioneer students) here.

My Class Teachers

2007-03-05T11:40:00.000+08:00

Every year we had a different class teacher. In the same year, we may have more than one class teachers. My memory is fading, but I will try my best to remember some of them.

Form 1(1975)
Ku Abdul Lim- was our class teacher until he got a place to further his studies in USM. He was very nice and treated us like his own kids. We were sad when he had to leave but we were happy to know that he was going to increase his knowledge and qualification. We took a class picture just before he left.

I couldn't remember who replaced Cikgu Ku, but a friend thinks that it was Cikgu Mat Shaari, who was the Industrial Art teacher and if I am not mistaken, a warden too.

Form 2 (1976)
Mr Lye Kim Yong was our class teacher in 1976. He was into photography and it was him who shot the few photos that i put up here and here. There are a few others, but I have yet to locate them and scan them for this blog.

My Lye was the headmaster of a primary school in Melaka when he retired last year.

Form 3 (1977)
The same friend who remembers Cikgu Ashaari was our Form 1 class teacher thinks it was Cikgu Anuar, and I think she's right. Just imagine... He was our class teacher, and he was also our Mathematics teacher from Form 1 until Form 3!

Form 4 (1978)
Our class teacher then was the young and energetic Cikgu Hamdi. At that time he was still a single but engaged bachelor. When we were in form 5 (i think, or was it in form 4), my class, together with the PBSM organised a camping trip to Pantai Bisikan Bayu, in Semerak, Pasir Putih. Cikgu Hamdi was our accompanying teacher (the regulation then was that a male and a female teacher were required to accompany students in any trip or outing). I can't remember the female teacher/teachers who came with us. Maybe she or they were not so close to us :-(

We had campfire at night, and also played a lot of games (beach volleyball too!!). Cikgu was so sporting, and joined in most of the activities.

On Teacher's Day, the class played a prank on cikgu. That year, for the first time, the school gave a slot during the special assembly for each class to send a rep each up the stage to present their gifts to their class teachers and club's/society's teachers. While most classes sent their monitors to present the gifts, our class actually sent a convoy of THREE students up the stage!! one carried a small gift of pen (I think it was a Sheaffer or Papermate ball pen - the real gift), another carried a plaque with "Selamat Hari Guru" wish and the third carried a very big box -the biggest among the three!. So most students and teachers thought that Cikgu Hamdi was so lucky to receive SO MANY gifts from his class. What cikgu found out later was that the big box was filled with pieces of papers scribbled with personal messages from each of the students in the class, and nothing else!!!

Soon after the assembly, cikgu (who was the Koop teacher) took us to Koop and he gave us a treat of the "Zoo Cup" ice-creams!!! Well... I think it cost him 40sen each then (for 27 of us!!), but the fact that remains is that all of us still remember that special ice-cream!!! Very valuable ice-creams indeed!!

Cikgu Hamdi is now the principal of SMSultan Abdul Samad, Pulai Condong. If you are interested to get in touch with me, e-mail me for his telephone number.

Form 5 (1979)
Cikgu Ahmad Ibrahim was our final class teacher. A cool guy who teachers Bahasa Malaysia, he was also a father figure to us.

Cikgu has now retired. His daughter Mieza lives in Section 13 Shah Alam. At the end of 2005 (or was it 2004?), I met him at her place with another friend. I think the telephone number that I hold still belongs to him.

Cikgu Faridah

2007-03-01T23:51:00.001+08:00

Cikgu Faridah was the only teacher in the school who has spent ALL her career life in the school (from 1974 all the way to 2004 when she finally retired!). Any student who studied at any time during this period would remember this petit dame. She declined any promotion that requires her to be transfered to a different school. She has even taught some students whose parents she taught in the 70s!

I was lucky to have been taught by her in 1978 (while I was in form 4). What I remember most about her was that she handled the Biasiswa Kecil Petronas (4 of us from the class of 79 received it). When I was in Form 5 (1079) she no longer taught us. So, whenever she called us, I would know that it was time to get some pocket money from Petronas :-)

In 1979, Cikgu was given the task to look for students to represent the school in the Kuiz Geografi, organised by the Geography Club, Universiti Malaysia. In those days most of us were not competitive, so nobody was interested to offer himsel/herself to compete.

I think Cikgu must have been quite desperate, that she called Mazlin (Prof, UKM), Hassamudin (Senior Researcher MPOB) and me to represent the school. ALL three of us declined, citing our inferiority, saying that we were not that good (actually we were not sure if we could do well, since the quiz was opened to studnets up to Form 6, where as wewere only in Form 5). Our Sixth formers then were all science students and they did not do any Geography anymore, so the school had to get competitors among the fifth formers (i.e us).

Cikgu, with the sweet smile and soft voice said to us "kalau awak tak mau masuk, saya tak bagi duit biasiswa......" (if you do not agree to enter, i will not give you your scholarship), while holding the money!! Well, even in those days, money rules!! So, desperately wanting to get hold of the money, we reluctantly agreed.

It turned out that for the state level competition, we came out champion, beating the sixth formers from other well known schools in Kota Bharu!! Hence, wewere chosen to respresent the state for the national level!! We couldn't believe it ourselves.

In that year, the school policy was that if any of the students wins some competition at the state or district level, the school itself would gift its reward. The reward for winning the quiz was RM10 (to be used to buy useful items). I used my 'reward money' to but the novel that was hot that year, "saga", which had won the annual literature award.

When we went to collect the reward money, cikgu managed to say to us "kan.... boleh pun....." (see... you could do it!).

The national level quiz was done during the 2nd term holidays, in Univ Malaya. It's so happened that it was on the same day as the Final round of Malay Debate for the Prime Minister's Trophy. We didn't win the quiz (there were teams from other boarding schools; if my memory is right, there were RMC, SMSPP, MCKK, I think..).

For the debate final, though we have already lost to STF in the semi-final in SDAR, we attended the final never the less. Mazlin went up the stage to receive the (supposedly) certificates of participation but until TODAY I have yet to receive it!! I think it never reached our school! :-(

Back to Cikgu, when she was about to retire in 2004, the alumni association, SEMESTA, managed to collect enough money to present to her some parting gifts in the form of gold chain and bracelet. It was really nothing compared to what she has given/taught. Unfortunately, when the alumni had the "Kembali ke Sekolah" (Back to School) event I was not able to attend - I was in Tokyo for a 7-week training on e-learning! It was during that event that the toke nwas presented to her. Her x-students recited poems dedicated to her!

Anywa,y cikgu, thank you very much for your lessons and guidance!

Mr Lee Soon Ching

2007-02-21T10:02:00.000+08:00

Mr Lee Soon Ching was a Chemistry teacher. Apart from that he was also the coach/advisor to the school basketball team.

Personally, I have to say that Mr Lee Soon Ching was one of the teachers who played an important role in my career path.

He was our Chemistry teacher for form 4 and form 5. Whe we started learning Chemistry as a subject (instead of part of Integrated Science when we were in form 1 - form 3), he really developed my interest for Chemistry. He was indeed a great Chemistry teacher. The covalent bonds, the ionic bonds, and the electron layers that he described with their orbitals involved, really got me into Chemistry that when I went to Australia, I decided to take up a degree in Chemistry. Even though I eventually got a degree in Applied Mathematics, my passion for Chemistry did not fade. I went on to do my 3rd yr Chemistry (Physical and Inorganic Chemistry, that is) together with Applied Mathematics until I got my BSc (general degree). It was only for the honours year that I had to be more realistic (I always did better in Maths than in Chemistry, no matter how hard I studied for Chemistry) and pursued my honours year in Applied Mathematics instead of P&I Chemistry, even though I was offered to do my honours by both departments.

Now, back to Mr Lee.... I remember how I impressed him when for his first test (form 4) i scored the highest mark of 96% (I got one mistake out of 25 MCQ). From then onwards, I was his favourite student, all the way to form 5, but not for too long....

Form 5 was not my good year. I was faced with so many personal problems that my academic performance started to decline. Chemistry was no exception :-(

I remember I paid less attention in class, and more often than not, I was caught dozing off in class (I couldn't explain myself... I thought I had enough sleep, but somehow I just couldn't focus in class, sigh...).

Then one day, Mr Lee caught me sleeping in class again. He was so angry with me that he threw the chalk towards me and hit my glasses. Everybody in the class went silent!!! Mr Lee actually did that to his favourite student, that was what many thought then.. I was so embarrassed! (But then again, if I was him, I might have done the same thing!). Since that day, I was no longer the model/favourite student ( I don't blame him..). I would try my best to stay away from him.... I don't think I did that badly in the subject, but I was never the smart student anymore.

In January 1986, I started teaching in Penang but in April when my husband was posted to Ipoh, I managed to get posted Sek Men Teknik, Persiaran Brash, Ipoh. Soon I found out that Mr Lee was teaching in the neighbouring Sek Tunku Abdul Rahman (STAR). For the 1987 Chinese New Year I sent Mr Lee a CNY card.

One day, right after school, I saw Mr Lee in my school!! He came to meet the x-student who sent him the greeting card!! I was so happy to be able to meet him again, and I was pretty sure he felt the same way.

I sent him a few more CNY cards, until I was too busy to send any greeting cards... Sadly, now we are no longer in touch. Once I googled his name and found out he was still teaching in Perak. I tried to google him again today, but I only managed to get links to information on the books that was written by him (or someone else of exactly the same name).

If anyone who's reading this blog knows his whereabout, please let me know. I would love to be in touch again with my greatest Chemistry teacher!

I will try to put up his pix later, if I can find any...

Cikgu Anuar

2007-02-11T22:31:00.000+08:00

Mr Anuar was our Moderm Mathematics teacher from form 1 until form 3. He's tall, fair and fairly handsome :-)

Like many teachers, I don't remember much about him, except that he hailed from Penang (or Georgetown). There was time when he was a warden but my fading memory can't really recall the exact period.

As a Maths teacher, he was very dedicated to his teaching. I enjoyed his Math classes very much (maybe partly because Maths was never a troublesome subject to me).

There actually IS one thing (or should I rather call it a skill) that I "inherited" from him, and that is on how to construct a magic square!! It was one of those days when he didn't have to teach us (maybe it was after the exam, or maybe after he had finished the syllabus with us). He taught us the rule on creating a magic square whose size is odd (e.g. 3X3, 5X5, 7X7, etc..). The magic squares have the sum of any row, column or diagonal the same (for any particular magic square). I enjoyed the lesson very much, and
I still remember the rules until now. I remember how I got so excited about it that I even went to construct those of 13X13. In those days there were no calculators, so adding up the numbers for each row and column was quite a task.

That particular skill remains with me until now. For the past 20+ years of teaching, I would try to find the time to pass the skill/knowledge down to my students.

I am very sure that Mr Anuar had paved the way for me to handle Maths with confidence, and eventually like the subject enough to have my degree in it!

At the end of our form 3 (1977) we were informed that Mr Anuar managed to get a transfer back to Penang. He was then posted to Sek Men Sains T Syed Shahabuddin, Bkt Mertajam.

So Mr Anuar started the new 1978 year as a teacher in his home state. At that time my school was well-known among the boarding schools for the Malay debate (having entered at least the semi-final in 1975 and 1977, and final in 1976 in the Prime Minister Trophy - all cases we were beated by Kolej Islam Klang).

His school had elected Mr Anuar (a Maths teacher!) to be one of the advisors of their Malay debating team!!! The top management figured out that coming from our school, Mr Anuar should know how our team prepared and practice for the tournament.

The Tournament was then known as Bahas Piala Perdana Menteri (or simply PPM). In 1978, for the first time, our school were chosen to be the host (only the final was telecast life from Angkasapuri). Mr Anuar came back to Pengkalan Chepas with his "new' team representing SMS TSShahabuddin (or simply SMSPPinang, then). I was in-charged of the accomodation of the female participants, while at the same time being a reserved (back up, Team B) debator. I think I will elaborate on the PPM in a different blog.

As for Mr Anuar, he introduced me to one of his debators, Rubiah Ab Rahman(Ruby). Since both of us were debators and both of us were in form 4, it was not difficult for us to get along well, especially when in that year we never saw SMSTPP as an arch-rival.. At the end of the year, when we went to Angkasapuri for the debate final, I met up Ruby and Mr Anuar again. Ruby became my closest penpal until I finished my MCE. There was one problem with Ruby - her hand writing, though very neat, looks like a boy's handwriting. The warden always thought that she was a boy, and many of my letters from her got censored , and I still believe (until now!!) that some of her letters din't get to me :-( Ruby, being her, she would normally write very long letters, about the happenings in her school, some of them were about her classmates (boys and girls, of course!). Anyway, a few years ago I managed to trace Ruby down, and have her HP no. However, we've yet to meet up! :-(

Mr Mahadzir Hashim

2007-01-29T19:56:00.000+08:00

Mr Mahadzir (or "Sir", to us) was our first principal (the title then was "Guru Besar" only). He was a young lad with two small kids. His wife was a lecturer at the nearby teacher training college.

I didn't know much about him, but what I knew was that he was a strict principal (as most of us remember him).

What else do I remember of him? He was very disappointed with students who didn't take care of their dental hygiene. He told us that at his age (then) he had not lost any tooth yet (and to us that was an achievement since many of those we knew of his age would have lost one or two tooth already by then!).

My batch was a noisy batch, especially the classes of Alpha and Beta. Once we were so noisy that the clock in the staff room (right underneath our classrooms) fell down! All of us were summoned by him. Zainal Azim and I, being the only junior prefects from our batch, had special scolding - in front of ALL our friends. I remember him calling us "Useless Prefects!". Honestly, I never held any ill-feelings towards him since I think we deserved the scolding (we were not that effective anyway). As a punishment, we (Alpha and Beta students) were not allowed to go to the state stadium (Stadium Sultan Muhammad IV) to watch our Under-15 and Under-18 soccer teams play in the finals! yeah, it was the STATE level - those were the days, when our soccer teams were feared off by other teams! ALL other students were ferried to the stadium to cheer for the teams. I remember the warden (I think it was Cikgu Mat Nor) was upset too because he had to monitor us (in our detention class) hence he couldn't be at the stadium either! To most students, the fringe benefit of the outing was to be able to enjoy some local delicacies near the stadium such as "colek" and rojak.

To my batch, Sir managed to keep the SAME teacher for us for Maths all the way from form 1 until form 3. A friend remembers when we went to see him (before he left the school) Sir reminded us to study hard for our LCE exam (that we were to sit later that year). He said that if we couldn't get A for Maths we should go and "hang Mr Anuar", jokingly, or course! (Mr Anuar Abdullah was our Math teacher then. I want to write about him too, but much later..).

In March 1977, we heard Sir was about to leave us. We also heard that he did not ask for the transfer. Those who used to hate him suddenly felt that they were going to miss him.

Under the leadership of our headboy (Wan Azman Wan Ahmad, now a prof in Universiti Malaya), all the students contributed a small amount of money to purchase a parting gift for Sir. The prefects made an additional (separate) collection. The gifts were plaques made of silver (specially ordered from the craft centre in Penjara Pengkalan Chepa). I was lucky enough to have the chance to take a pix with the gifts:

The one with the shape of Kelantan map was from the students and the one with the shape of the school crest was from the prefects.

The school prefects managed to get a chance to visit him and family at the principal's residence. We also brought our gift.

At the end of it, we managed to get a group pix taken too:

me(with long plaits) sitting in front with his son on my lap, and his daughter on K Nik's :-)

My Apology To The Regular Visitors

2007-01-10T23:22:00.000+08:00

Dear Friends,

Thank you for visiting this blog, however due to such busy schedule, I am still not able to write anymore for the time being. I will however, start blogging again when I have more time to spare.

I do have in mind to continue with my nostalgic stories, My future blogs would include the following:

1. Cikgu Mahadzir Hashim
2. Cikgu Anuar Abdullah
3. Mr Lye Kim Yong
4. Cikgu Hamdi
5. Cikgu Bakar
6. Cikgu Ahmad Ibrahim
7. Cikgu Faridah
8. Cikgu Nik Ismah
9. Mek Esah Kantin
10. Mr Sharif
11. Mr Lee Soon Ching
12. Cikgu Adawiyah
12. PPM 1978
13. PPM 1979
14. Koop

The listing above does not indicate any preference or merit, what so ever.

If any of my dear friends have any pix of anyone listed above, I'd appreciate it if you are kind enough to (e or snail) mail me a copy (scanned or not scanned).

Tomorrow I'm following DH to Kota Kinabalu for a "Cuti-cuti Malaysia"! Will only be online again on Sunday night.

So, maybe my friends would like to catch up with my other blog here or our travelling blog at www.travel.smz8.com

Yeah, we have finally created our own portal, and thankfully the family members have agreed on smz8.com (8 signifies the 8 members in the family!)

Kak Noor Dewan Makan (Dining Hall)

2006-12-20T23:07:00.000+08:00

I don't remember many of the general staff of the school, and I bet I'm not the only one. The most popular persons then must have been Pak Cik Hamid and Pak cik Soh (both were the drivers then)!

I can still remember Kak Faizah (The Dining Hall steward) and a few others, only by face. Right now K Yah in the office is a regular voice to me as I do call the school regularly on alumni's matter.

However, there was one person who stays special in my heart, and she's Kak Noor from the dining Hall. As we were growing up, we also saw the love between her and another kitchen help, Ang Man blossomed all the way to their marriage. Sadly we also witness an unfortunate "break-up" between them :-(
And since the break-up Kak Noor has remained single to this day..

What was so special about Kak Noor was that at times she would go out of her way just to help feed us more and better. She'd the one who'd keep extra food for some "fussy" eaters, and whenever there was anyleftover, she was never reluctant to just let us have them!! Unlike some abangs who favoured the girls and some kakaks who favoured the boys, K Noor was quite fair to both sexes.

Apparently, like Cikgu Mat Nor, Kak Noor sometimes turns up at our annual Raya Puasa gathering (on the 3rd Raya at 3pm in school).

I caught her in 2003 (well.. I was unable to attend any more since then). i saw her standing quietly at one corner, observing us catching up with old friends. When I went to her and shouted "Kak Noor", her answer was (in her usual tone) "Ingat ko mu tok ingat doh!" (I thought you can't recognise me!"... How could I???

And here's that special pix of us on that day,- hopefully many of us can recall her!

Later in 2004 when I went to SK Zainab 3 to meet Mahisham, I met her again. She was then attached there! I used to keep her handphone number, but with people changing their HP no like changing diapers, I don't know if hers is still valid or not - and it's in my old faulty phone :-(

Delta and Alpha are Besans (In-Laws)!

2006-12-20T22:39:00.000+08:00

I have been busy for the past few days, but I think I owe this blog another post.

I want to write about Mr Mahadzir, but I've yet to locate suitable pix to go with it, so I'll write about something else...

For my batch, my class, Alpha(A) is very close to the Delta(D) class (bear in mind that Alpha and Beta were for English medium while Delta and Gamma were for Malay medium). The best "link" between these two classes must be the marriage (yes, REAL LIFE!) between Sudin (Delta) and Zaini@Jenny from Alpha.

They were very "serious" into their courtship when we were in Form 4- The retired Cikgu Faridah can testify to that. Why? Because she taught both classes then. When we had to compose a sentence or pantun, we would try to related to this couple, and the class would burst into laughter. Cikgu's remark was "Di sini bergema, di sana pun bergema" (I can hear the echo here as well as there - referring to the other class).

Long before they were an item in school, these two classes were already significantly close.... This closeness can still be reflected even NOW - whenever we have gathering, those from Alpha and Delta would be the majority. Having these people living nearby (esp in the S Alam & Klang area) helps strengthen this special bond. Kamil (D) in TTDI Jaya, Dr Zuhaimi (D) in Klang, Nury(A) in Klang too, and me (A) in S Alam. WE also have Zuhdi who's office is in S Alam too.

Anyway, back to our Jenny & Sudin, they were the first to get married (soon after SPM/MCE). Now they have 2 daughters-in-laws already, and if I'm not mistaken a grandchild too.

During our "grand" raya gathering in 2001, despite ending our gathering very late, coupled with terrible traffic jam, some of us managed to visit this lovely couple in P Mas later that evening. It was so special since Mazlin & Norita (who's parents are in Klang Valley) came back to KB specially for the gathering, and they managed to visit Jenny & Sudin!

Dr Zuhaimi, Prof Dr Mazlin, Kamil, Zamri, Sudin, Zuhdi,
Sally, Norita, Jenny, Zulkifli
(how i wish i was there too)

Last August when a few of us went back to school to "escort" Yasmin Mahmood for a session in school, we had dinner at the New Horizon Restaurant where Jenny came too (Sudin was not feeling well).

During the raya do at my in-laws place where I invited my gang, both Jenny & Sudin came too(I have their pix somewhere...).

Tuan Haji Hamdan's Reminiscence

2006-12-14T22:25:00.000+08:00

During the recent SEMESTA's AGM, Tuan Haji presented me a copy of this text:

"Titisan Memori Haji Hamdan bin Abd Rahman"
The Cover of the text of his speech on 11 March 2004

It is the text of his speech that he gave during the Majlis Graduasi SMSTMFP 2004 where he was awarded Anugerah Kehormat Kepimpinan Pendidikan (together with Ustaz Alwi Yusof).

In the text,Tuan Haji wrote about his life, from a small boy, all the way to what he is now. I'll type excerpts of the text that are relevant to our school. It'll take quite a while since I have to read from Jawi (am very berkarat now) and type in Rumi. Please come back to check out!

He has divided it into a few subtopics:

Mukaddimah (I give this title, the rest are as described by Tuan Haji)
Insiden Serban
Episod Kirim Salam
Episod Terima kasih
Episod Pelajar Super-aktif
Episod Dirasuk Hantu
Episod Ibubapa Menyampaikan Hadiah Sukan
Episod Royat Sepatah Mari Selalu
Episod Selamat Tinggal Bungaku
Pesan- to the existing students

Mukaddimah
Di antara banyak-banyak tempat yang pernah saya khidmati, SMSKelantan yang sekarang berubah nama menjadi SMS Tengku Muhammad Faris Putra inilah yang memberikan saya kepuasan professional paling tinggi walaupun tempoh perkhidmatan saya di sini hanya 15 bulan 16 hari. Kisah bermula pada bulan Oktober 1977 selepas selesai satu mesyuaratpara pengetua maktab perguruan. Ketika bersalaman dengan Ketua Pengarah Pelajaran waktu itu yaitu Dato' Murad Mohd Noor, beliau bertanya saya, "Where are you now?", saya jawab "I am in Gaya College, Dato'. My term is almost expired". Tiba-tiba beliau panggil pengarah Latihan Guru lalu berkata "Haji Ali, You take Rahmah in and we will send Hamdan there because he is a man". Sebelum ini nama saya sudah keluar untuk menjadi timbalan pengarah pendidikan Terengganu. Kemudian untuk menjadi timbalan pengetua maktab perguruan jiran kita ini. Sudahnya saya ke mari.

Saya tidak tahu menahu pokok pangkal keputusan ini. kemudian baharulah saya tahu rupanya ketika itu ada beberapa hal dalam sekolah ini yang tidak menyenangkan pihak kementerian, dan saya diarah datang ke mari untuk memperbetulkan keadaan. Saya menjejakkan kaki di perkarangan sekolah ini pada 15 Dec 1977. Ustaz Muhd Alwi, penolong kanan, mengalu-alukan kedatangan saya. Saya langsung meminta taklimat hal sekolah ini serta mengelilingi kawasannya. Kami mula mengatur langkah..

Episod Serban
Malam tahun baharu mengjelang pembukaan penggal pertama persekolahan tahun 1978 lepas maghrib, saya dikunjungi oleh sekumpulan pelajar yang semuanya memakai serban. Selepas berkenal-kenalan mereka mengemukakan mengemukakan satu persoalan apakah boleh mereka memakai serban dalam semua aktiviti sekolah. Mereka mengemukakan hujjah mengapa mereka patut dibenarkan memakai serban. Saya kata boleh dengan syarat kena pada tempat dan masanya serta tidak menyebabkan orang mengumpat. Kalau kerana perbuatan kita orang lain mengumpat ini bermakna kita menyebabkan saudara kita melakukan dosa umpama memakan daging mayat saudaranya. Saya tidak dapat menghormati orang yang menjadi penyebab saudaranya berdosa tidak pasal-pasal. Mereka akur dengan saya.

Episod Kirim Salam
Terdapat sebilangan pelajar yang terlajak laku dan ditangkap oleh guru disiplin. Dalam kes seumpama ini lazimnya pengetua akan memberitahu ibubapa menerusi surat. Bila anak balik dan ditanya oleh ibubapa, si anak selalu berbohong. Jadi ibubapa menafikan tuduhan pihak sekolah dan berasa marah kepada pengetua. Saya buat cara lain. Saya kurung pesalah-pesalah itu dalam sebuah bilik darjah lalu saya utus beberapa orang guru pergi menjemput ayah atau ibu murid berkenaan.

Saya pesan kepada guru-guru itu mula-mula sekali katakanlah bahawa cikgu besar kirim salam. Kemudian katakan guru besar mempersilakan ibubapa tadi datang menemuinya, di sekolah boleh, di rumahnya pun boleh, untuk berbincang tentang anak mereka. Masa terserah pada kelapangan dia. Mereka datang saya layan. Saya minta maaf terlebih dahulu kerana menyusahkan dia.

Apabila dia tanya tentang anak, apakah anaknya itu nakal, saya kata tidak, cuma mungkin terikut-ikut tingkah laku budak lain sahaja. Kemudian saya panggil anak dia dan saya suruh pelajar itu memberitahu ayahnya di hadapan saya tentang apa yang telah dia lakukan termasuk mencuri minuman botol dari kantin sekolah. Terdiam bapa pelajar itu.Tidak terdaya dia menafikan keterlanjuran anaknya. Bahkan ada pula bapa yang menganjurkan supaya anaknya dibahan (smz: pukul?) di hadapan budak-budak lain. Saya tidak setuju. Akhirnya dia menerima hukuman yang saya kenakan kepada anaknya dengan hati terbuka.

Episod Terima kasih
Sehubungan dengan episod di atas ada seoran bapa yang awal-awal lagi sudah merungutkan perihal kelakuan murid sekolah ini. Rungutan itu dikeluarkannya pada guru yang saya utuskan untuk menjemput dia. Namun dia datang juga dan menanya saya bermacam-macam untuk mrnunjukkan bahawa anaknya itu budak baik. Semua pertanyaannya saya jawab dengan sempurna. Dia balik. Selesai babak satu.

Babak kedua berlaku setahun kemudian ketika pecah khabar yang saya akan ditukarkan ke Kuala Lumpur. Saya terima satu panggilan telefon daripada hamba Allah ini. Dia ingin berjumpa saya sebelum saya berangkat ke Kuala Lumpur. Saya terima kedatangannya di rumah pengetua. Dia suami isteri datang membawa beras pulut segantang dan telur itik barangkali sepuluh biji. "Hamba datang ini cikgu tidak ada apa-apa satu, cuma hendak meroyakkan terima kasih sahaja. Saya tahulah anak saya si Polan itu memang liar sedikit, maklumlah dia anak bungsu. Jadi abang-abang dan kakak-kakak dia sepakat memberi dia hadiah bermacam-macam. Tetapi sejak cikgu panggil saya dengan mak cik dulu, saya nampak budak ini berubah hala kebaikan. Itulah tujuan saya ke mari ini, hendak beri terima kasih kepada cikgu". Saya kira inilah hadiah yang paling bernilai bagi saya, yang tidak akan dapat dibeli dengan wang ringgit.

Episod Pelajar Super-aktif
Nama sebilangan pelajar super-aktif tingkatan lima yang sering terlajak laku pada masa-masa yang lalu memang telah diberikan kepada saya. Butir-butir kesalahan sudah saya ketahui. Selepas keluar keputusan periksa mereka semua akan meminta pengesahan fotokopi slip keputusan . Biasanya Ustaz Muhammad Alwi yang menandatangani. Tahun itu saya sendiri!

Saya tunggu pelajar super-aktif nombor wahid. Apabila dia sampai lau menghulurkan fotokopi slip keputusannya barangkali lebih dua puluh salinan, saya tandatangan lima enam salinan. Kemudian berhenti pura-pura baru teringat, saya tanya dia "Bukankah kamu terlibat dalam peristiwa begini-begini pada tahun sekian-sekian?". "Bukankan pegawai dari kementerian pelajaran datang menyoal kamu?". "Cuba ceritakan apa sebenarnya yang berlaku". Dia terpaku, tergamam, lalu menceritakan keseluruhannya kepada saya. Saya terus tandatangani slip keputusannya sebanyak yang dia minta. Saya serahkan kembali kepadanya sambil berkata, "Saya doakan awak berjaya mendapat apa yang awak hajatkan".

Balik ke asrama dia ceritakan peristiwa ini kepada gengnya. Pada keesokan harinya satu geng pelajat super-aktif datang ke pejabat saya. Mereka membuat pengakuan dan meminta maaf atas keterlanjuran mereka. Mereka beritahu punca mereka jadi begitu. Rupanya mereka ini merupakan pemain sukan handalan. Mereka dipandang oleh para pelajar sebagai wira. Mereka merupakan ayam tambatan pelajar dan sekolah. Kerana itu jika mereka melakukan apa-apa ketelanjuran semua pelajar melindungi mereka.

Sebelum mereka beredar dari pejabat, ketua mereka berkata, "Kalau cikgu ada apa-apa projek yang perlukan tenaga sila panggil kami. Kami akan beri sokongan penuh demi kebaikan sekolah. Saya terima mereka dengan baik.

Episod Dirasuk Hantu

Asrama puteri sekolah ini rupa-rupanya mengusik, berhantu. Pada satu malam beberapa orang pelajar puteri demam dan ada yang mempunyai tanda-tanda macam dirasuk hantu. Ketua pelajar puteri menemui saya menceritakan hal. Mula-mula saya buat bodoh dan suruh hantar ke hospital. Mereka kelihatan mewek-mewek macam hendak menangis sambil menceritakan keadaan yang agak luar biasa itu. Saya acah mereka. "Kamu ini orang sains pun percaya hantu?". Bagaimanapun, akhirnya saya ikut mereka pergi ke asrama. Sebelum saya bergerak saya berkata kepada mereka "Okay girl, you listen carefully. Jika betul budak itu dirasuk syaitan, dia tidak akan berani menentang dua biji mata saya".

Sampai di asrama saya dekati katil pelajar yang demam itu satu demi satu. Nampaknya semua sekali demam biasa sahaja. Namun begitu dengan pertolongan Allah apa yang saya katakan tadi sungguhlah berlaku. Apabila saya sampai di katil paling hujung dan saya panggil nama pelajar yang terbaring di situ dia pun membuka mata. Demi bertentang sahaja mata dia dengan dua biji mata saya lantas dia menjerit serta menghalau saya. "Pergi! Pergi! Jangan mari sini". Saya menoleh ke arah ketua pelajar puteri sambil menganggukkan kepala sebagai isyarat sahih budak yang seorang ini dirasuk syaitan.

Kami panggil bomoh untuk menawarnya. Akan tetapi anih, ketika bomoh itu tiba, syaitan itu sudah keluar dari tubuhnya, Dalam tercengang-cengang itu kedengaran suara pelajar lain mengilai. Oh! Rupanyan syaitan ini telah melompat ke dalam body orang lain. Peristiwa malam itu dapat diselesaikan dengan baik tetapi keesokan harinya sejumlah pelajar puteri tidak dapat datang ke kelas kerana masih terketar-ketar ketakutan.

Untuk menenangkan keadaan, maghrib petang esoknya saya solat di asrama puteri. Saya beri sedikit syarahan tentang makhluk ghaib dan bagaimana mereka boleh merasuk manusia. Saya beritahu bahawa orang yang paling berpotensu untuk kena rasuk ialah yang lemah semangat terutama puteri-puteri yang mengidap sakit senggugut. Keesokan harinya pejabat pengetua bertukar menjadi macam klinik. Berpuluh orang pelajar puteri yang mengalami sakit senggugut datang minta kebenaran khas untuk keluar dari pekarangan sekolah kerana berubat. Lepas daripada peristiwa itu semua pelajar puteri tidak lagi takut. "Lain jkali kalau ada lagi budak kena rasuk panggil tuan pengetua. Kalau tak berani menentang mata dia sahih kena rasuk. Panggil bomoh. Selesai".

Episod Ibu Bapa Menyampaikan Hadiah Sukan

Sukan tahunan 1978 dilangsungkan ketika orang sedang demam pilihanraya. Jadi tiada pembesat yang dapat datang untuk merasmikannya dan menyampaikan hadia kepada para pemenang. Dalam termenung memikirkan hal ini tuhan telah mendatangkan suatu ilham kepada saya, yaitu untuk menjemput para ibu bapa. Saya mahu semua kalangan mesti diwakili, daripada yang memakai "bush jacket" hinggalah yang memakai serban atau semutar. Demikian juga ibu-ibu yang yang setengahnya makan sirih. Peristiwa ini menjadi buah mulut seluruh negeri.

Tanpa disangka rupa-rupanya hal ini telah memberi kesan yang positif di kalangan para pelajar. Selepas acara berakhir tanpa disuruh-suruh para pelajar secara sukarela telah merubuhkan semua khemah dan mengutip segala sampah sarap yang ada di padang sehingga menjelang waktu maghrib padang sekolah ini kembali menghijau lagi bersih.

Episod Royat Sepatah Mari Selalu
Saya dan Ustaz Muhammad Alwi telah memulakan suatu tradisi yaitu setiap malam Jumaat semua pelajar mesti solat maghrib dan isyak di dewan. Kami berdua menjadi imam. Kesan daripada tradisi ini ialah apabila berlaku sesuatu kejadian yang tidak diketahui siapa pelakunya, lazimnya saya akan minta pelakunya itu tampil membuat pengakuan dan saya beri tempoh sampai hari Khamis. Kalau sampai hari Khamis tiada yang mengaku maka malam Jumaat itu kita baca surah yasin minta tuhan tunjukkan siapa pelakunya.

Selama saya berada di sini saya rasa semua yang bersalah telah datang membuat pengakuan. Rupanya ini telah menyebabkan mandur kanan sekolah ini merasa bersalah kerana gagal menangkap pelajar-pelajar yang terlajak. Pada satu hari dengan termengah-mengah dia masuk ke pejabat saya. Dia beritahu saya bahawa para pekerja sekolah ini sentiasa mengintai pelajar-pelajar yang buat salah tetapi tidak pernah kedapatan. Lalu dia bertanya saya, "Ilmu apa yang cikgu pakai ini, royat sepatah mari selalu".

Episod Selamat Tinggal Bungaku
Kenangan saya yang paling manis ialah pada hari terakhir saya di sini. Sesudah mengucapkan selamat tinggal dalam perhimpunan di dewan tiba-tiba Sabariah, ketua pelajar puteri meluru naik ke pentas. "Kami pelajar-pelajar puteri meminta tuan pengetua mainkan lagu Selamat Tinggal Bungaku dengan piano sebelum bertolak meninggalkan kami semua". Saya penuhi permintaan itu. Saya mainkan lagu Selamat Tinggal Bungaku dengan piano. Dalam asyik memainkan lagu itu kedengaran di telinga saya isak-isakan para puteri. Saya percaya isakan itu memang isakan sungguh bukan sandiwara, sebaliknya tanda sayang yang sebenar-benarnya kepada saya. Selepas peristiwa pelajar dirasuk syaitan dulu saya lihat semakin jelas pelajar-pelajar puteri memandang saya macam ayah mereka sendiri, bahkan mungkin ada yang lebih.

Pesan
Kepada putera puteri, Engkau adalah bunga bangsa harapan nusa. Hari ini sebenarnya bukanlah titik penghabisan babak hidup yang sedang dilalui. Sebaliknya adalah titik permulaan suatu babak hidup yang baru, yaitu babak yang lebih panjang lagi berliku-liku. Aku telah tayangkan liku-liku perjalanan hidupku. Maka kalau engkau yang berada di dewan hari ini ingin mengambil iktibar dari cebisan-cebisan episod riwayat hidupku di atas ini jangan sekali-kali engkau lupa akan perkara-perkara berikut:

Pertama, bahasa merupakan alat yang terpenting untuk memperolehi sesuatu maklumat dan menyebarkan maklumat. Bahasa adalah alat mengatur buah fikiran. Buktinya Allah mengajar Adam alaihissalam nama segala benda. Oleh itu penguasaan satu-satu bahasa adalah penting dan menjadi anak kunci kejayaan dalam pembelajaran.

Sehubungan dengan itu belajar satu-satu bahasa itu tidak akan berkesan melainkan mesti digunakan sebanyak mungkin. Saya berasa agak terkilan waktu di sini dahulu kerana ramai pelajar sekolah ini tidak mahu bercakap bahasa Melayu baku. Bahasa Inggeris sementelahan pula. Akibatnya mereka dapat mencapai A dalam mata-mata pelajaran Sains tetapi Bahasa Melayu hanya P6 dan Bahasa Inggeris P8. Ini menyempitkan peluang untuk ke tahap yang lebih tinggi disebabkan kelemahan bahasa. Ekoran daripada hal ini saya mulakan satu langkah yaitu saya tetapkan satu hari dalam seminggu semua komunikasi dalam pekarangan sekolah hendaklah dilakukan dalam Bahasa Inggeris. Saya juga pernah menyeru ibu bapa supaya jangan menggiat anak-anak mereka jika dia bercakap dengan Bahasa Melayu baku atau Bahasa Inggeris. Saya tekankan ini kerana pada pengamatan saya orang Kelantan ini mempunyai perasaan yang kuat untuk mempertahankan budayanya termasuk dialeknya. Kalau dia dengar orang tempatan bercakap bahasa baku kadang-kadang dia komen, "Heh! Hagah teh! Kecek luar". Memang ini tidak salah. Cuma ini boleh menghalang anak-anak daripada mempelajari bahasa yang lain.

Rahsia kejayaan saya, lepas sekolah atap dapat menguasai bahasa Inggeris walhal tidak pernah belajar dalam sekolah orang putih adalah terletak pada keberanian saya menggunakan bahasa itu di mana sahaja ada peluang. Saya seru ambillah ini sebagai iktibar.

Jika ditakdirkan pada masa hadapan yang terdekat ini anda dapat melanjutkan pelajaran di luar negara, elakkanlah duduk di perkampungan siswa Melayu kerana ini memungkinkan anda bercakap Melayu lebih daripada Bahasa yang anda perlu tingkatkan penguasaannya untuk belajar. Siswa kita di Universiti Al-Azhar mengalami kelemahan dalam Bahasa Arab kerana mereka duduk di perkampungan Malaysia.

Kedua, saya tidak menunggu saat akhir untuk mempastikan kefahaman yang betul tentang tajuk-tajuk pelajaran yang baharu dan untuk mengulangkaji pelajaran. Rugi jika kita tidak memanfaatkan masa luang seawal mungkin. Benar firman tuhan "Demi masa, sesungguhnya manusia itu di dalam kerugian".

Ketiga, apabila kita mendengar syarahan atau kuliah pensyarah tentu kita beroleh mafhum. Tetapi adalah mafhum yang kita dapat itu tepat, dan lengkap? Belum tentu. Bagaimana untuk mempastikan supaya yang kita perolehi itu tidak terpesong dan tidak berkurangan? Jika ditakdirkan fahaman kita itu terpesong atau tidak lengkap bagaimana untuk mendapatkan yang tepat dan lengkap?

Amalan saya ialah apabila ada orang bertanya atau guru menyoal tentang apa sahaja butiran pelajaran, saya akan mendahului orang lain untuk cuba memberikan jawapan. Mrngapa? Kalau betul, guru akan mengsahihkannya, kalau salah guru akan menunjukkan yang betul. Janganlah yakin sangat, janganlah syok sendiri bahawa fahaman atau tanggapan kita itu betul. Takut tanggapan kita itu salah dan memberi akibat buruk dalam peperiksaan.

Inilah pesan saya selaku bapa dan guru yan ingin melihat anak-anak dan murid-muridnya berjaya mengangkatkan darjat bangsa dan negara tanpa mencemarkan dan menghakis nilai-nilai murni yang telah sama-sama kita warisi sejak ribuan tahun yang lalu.

Oh, ya. Teringat pula saya, masa sekolah dulu saya diberitahu nama tempat ini ialah Pengkalan Chempa? Yaitu pengkalan tempat para pelaut bangsa Champa dari Kemboja berlabuh dan mendarat. Macam mana bunyi "mim"nya boleh hilang hingga tinggal Pengkalan Chepa? Serupakah dengan kehilangan bunyi "mim" pada perkataan "jupa, napak, capak'"? Kehilangan bunyi "da" pada nama pak cik "ud", itu macam mana pula? Serupakah nama dia dengan nama Ustaz Daud? Saya hendak tanya bersahaja-sahaja. Janganlah marah, nanti lekas tua.

Hadirin-hadirat yang saya muliakan,
Hari ini saya sudah sampai di penghujung senja. Usia sudah pun melebihi usia Rasulullah ketika wafatnya baginda. Saya sekarang hidup dalam usia bonus. Bila-bila masa sahaja tuhan boleh menjemput saya kembali mengadapnya. Maka pada kesempatan ini saya ingin memohon ampun dan maaf kepada tiap-tiap orang yang ada di sini atas apa jua tutur kata dan tiap-tiap tingkah laku yang kurang menyenangkan tuan-tuan dan puan-puan. Mohon sampaikan salam hormat dan ampun maaf saya kepada warga negeri ini yang pernah mengenali saya intimewa para petugas yang pernah bekerja di sekolah ini yang mungkin tidak dapat saya temui sehari dua ini.

Kepada Tuan pengetua dan kakitangan sekolah yang bersusah payah mencari kami untuk diberi anugerah hari ini saya mewakili mereka merakamkan ucapan setinggi-tinggi penghargaan.

Anak Haruan lima-lima
Mati ditimpa ppunggur berdaun
Budi tuan kami terima
Tak kan ku lupa ribuan tahun

Buatlah baik ayuhai rakan
Ke dalam laut kamu campakkan
Biarpun tidak dikenal ikan
Tuhanmu tahu iakah bukan

Kepada putera puteri bunga bangsa harapan nusa, ingatlah:

Kecil akan besar
muda akan tua
Hidup akan mati
Bilatah lagi??

Awan beralih bulan cemerlang
Cahayanya jelah bukan buatan
Menjadi terang di hutan duri
Bila beroleh nasib yang malang
Bukan salah takdir suratan
Hanya kurang ikhtiar sendiri

Kepada para ibubapa:

Jika anak tidak dilatih
apabila besar bapanya letih
Jangan biarkan kecil-kecil anak
sudah besar jadi onak

Hadirin hadirat Rahmakumullah,

Memberi sedekah kepada peminta - tidak menjadikan englau papa
Memberi maaf begitu juga - tidak menjadikan engkau hina
Demikian nabi empunya sabda - buat ingatan umat semesta
Jangan hendaknya kita alpa - takut neraka nanti padahnya
Oleh itu wahai saudara - ampun maaf segera ku pinta
Terlanjur lidah lancang bahasa - tersilap langkah telanjur kata
Apabila sampai khabar berita - aku dijemput mengadap yang Esa
Susah payah tidak ku pinta - berlebih ringgit zakatkan sahaja
Sebagai tanda kawan setia - di alam akhirat bahkan dunia
Serangkai fatihan sudah memada - ubat kesunyian sebatang kara

Wabillahi taufik walhidayah, wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh..

Note: The above is the second half of his text. The first half is about his childhood, and the learning process that he went through .i.e . from "anak jawa" (as he puts it) who couldn't speak Malay, to one who actually studied in London for his MA!!
I am not sure if there is audience/reader for this part, but I surely enjoyed reading it (the first part) as much as the second part. Any vote/request?? tapi memang penat lah menaip.....
He divided the first half into subtopics too, i.e.

Episod Masuk Sekolah Tidak tahu Bahasa
Episod Belum Bersunat Sudah Jadi Guru
Episod Masuk ke Institusi Pendidkan Melayu Tertinggi di Dunia
Episod Penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris Dari Pergaulan
Episod Lepasan Sekolah Atap disangka Lulusan Inggeris
Episod Saat Paling Kerdil
Rahsia

Note: I've written earlier about Tuan Haji here .

Cikgu Mohd Noor Hassan (now in JPN)

2006-12-14T18:27:00.000+08:00

Cikgu during our batch's Raya do in the school canteen in 2001 (Zuhdi's Collection)

The next in the list of teachers who deserve special mention by me is Cikgu Mat Noor.

This is one teacher who NEVER taught my class, and yet I grew up to be close to him, somehow... I know some boys didn't like him, but if my memory is right, he was quite nice to the boys too, as early as 1975. He changed a bit in 1976 (in that sense), and through out the later part was not so much liked by the boys. I think his warden duties contributed significantly to the growth of dislike among boys. As with the girls, he was atill quite nice, since he didn't have to "deal" directly with us.

During the later years of my stay in the school, cikgu got engaged to Kak Mahani who was once a student of the school too (SPM 1976). They are somehow related and they got engaged only AFTER K Mahani left the school.

I think Cikgu was very well known for his contributions in hockey and scout. There was a time during my stay in the school that he was in charged of the dining hall.

Personally, I can't recall specific incidents that contributed to my closeness to him (none that I can mention here - though there were times when I was kind of a "confidant" to him ;-))
However, since I was a prefect then, and he was a warden, it was only natural that we became quite close, just like with Cikgu Bahar. During the warden days, if I'm not wrong, Cikgu Mat Noor and Cikgu Bahar were roommates (warden's room of Block A).

The first time I visited the school again (after form 5) was in 1983, I think. I still recognised the guard, though I doubt if he recognised me. I asked him a few questions about the school and teachers, including Cikgu Mat Nor.

When asked about Cikgu Mat Nor, Pak Guard told me the cikgu was at the canteen! So, in I went with my husband, and we met Cikgu Mat Nor. It was nice to see him again, and he talked fondly about his children, especiall his eldest, whom he called "Kak Long".

I was surprised to see Cikgu hardly changed in appearance. And, believe me, even until now, after almost 30 years, just like Cikgu Mahadzir, Cikgu Mat Nor doesn't look like he's aged more than a couple years!

Here's another pix of the same gathering which we use on the main page of our batch's e-group (smsk7579@yahoogroups.com:

To be continued...

Cikgu Ashaari Yaacob (now retired)

2006-12-13T16:35:00.000+08:00

I don't remember much about cikgu during our earlier years, but I knew that he was one of the pioneer teachers - he was with the first batch of students who had to "tumpang" in SMIP.

I remember that cikgu was always busy with a lot of responsibilities. He was our Sejarah teacher when we were in Form 2 Alpha. We were then a very noisy group. He would enter our class for his lesson in the midst of the chaos (of "in between" lessons). One of our friends, nicknamed "Siput" was his "favourite" - Cikgu always caught Siput making noise (mostly telling jokes), playing the fool, and also "disturbing" the girls (not that we minded so much...). Cikgu would use the "soft approach" with Siput (of course cynically) and Siput would always find excuses. The part I like the most was when Siput said "Cikgu, dia gila" and cikgu's reply was "Hanya orang gila sahaja akan mengata orang lain gila!", and the class would burst into laughter!!

During my time in SMSKel, cikgu was at one time or another the advisor to the Prefects Board, House Master, and advisors of several clubs and societies.

When I was in form 5, Cikgu was made the school counselor as well as being in charge of the school main timetable (for ALL teachers!). I still remember during one of my "sessions" with him, he complained how he had to be involved in so many things, and yet his hours of teachers were also high. Nowadays, counselling teachers DO NOT have any teaching load at all!!!

I didn't go to him for counselling, i was actually summoned by him. That could be the reason why I didn't really like him then (in retaliation). Despite that, I poured out most of my problems to him. Only now I can imagine how difficult for him to have to "handle" problematic students like moi! Hahaha!!!

The incident that prompted me to hate him more was when he told me that my name came up as a candidate for the "Head Girl" for 1979, and he objected to the committee, saying that I had too much problems of my own that I was not to be burdened with more responsibilities. At that time I was already the acting Head Girl for almost 6 months!! NOW I know that he meant well, but at that time it was like a big blow to me for not being appointed the post, and I really really hated him for that. Who was he to decide on my behalf, I thought....

Anothe incident was when i received the form for application to go to Australia, it was just a few days after my father's death. I told Cikgu that I didn't want to fill in the form because I wanted to go to USA and not "hujung dunia", as I put it. Cikgu scolded me and forced me to fill in the form :-(
(Actually I was feeling very down because I didn't get to show my father the offer that I had been telling him about, just a month earlier... The offer came just a few days late :-( )
Anyway, Cikgu finally made me realised that it was the best thing to do at that time and I just had to swallow the bitter fact.

When I was away Down Under, and my emotion was more stable, I came to realise how well cikgu meant. I sent him Raya card almost every year, even until I started teaching in Ipoh and later in KL. Until now, I feel like he's the "replacement father" that Allah gave me.

When I came back for the first time, one of the first few people I visited was him (the other 2 were Cikgu Sharifah Maimunah, my primary school teacher, and Cikgu Mat Brahim, my form 5 class teacher). Cikgu Ashaari never failed to come to any of our functions (when I first got married, then during my eldest child's aqiqah, and the few gatherings that my batch had).

Here's a pix of him with some of us during our 2001 Raya Meet (Batch 75-79) in the SMSTMFP canteen.

Mazlin, Amir Khan, cikgu, Shukri, Zuhdi

And the group photo:

Cikgu seen here between Cikgu Hamdi & Pengetua Wan Hamzah

I had always wanted to do something for him as my show of appreciation to what he had done to me. I finally managed to do so in 2003 when I managed to convince him to attend the SEMESTA AGM - I paid for his Air Asia tickets- not much, but I am glad I did it. During the meet, I could see how happy cikgu was to be able to meet his former students. One of them was one who he was trying to trace all these while (apparently that person had some personal problems too while in SMSKel and cikgu was the unofficial counselor - at a time when there was no "specially assigned" one). I was touched when I saw both of them with teary eyes.

Here's the pix during that AGM:

pix by Zuhdi

I last met Cikgu in 2004 when I was in KB for 1 week - to observe my students teaching at Kolej Jururawat, Kubang Kerian. I gave Cikgu a call in between the observations, he told me to come over,which I did, and I had lunch with him and missus.

He's still very active with his group of retired teachers - organising and conducting Agama classes.

I still remember Cikgu's pesan- he said people like me should come back to school to contribute. There are still so many students in SMSTMFP who are in the situation that I was in back in 1970s (no need to elaborate, hehehe..) And that IS precisely the reason why I am still involved in SEMESTA's activities. All these are nothing, compared to what Cikgu has done for me!

Terima kasih cikgu!!

Cikgu Bahar (SMSK: 1975-1977)

2006-12-12T14:54:00.000+08:00

I've always wanted to write about him. I don't know why but he is always special to me and many of my friends...

His full name is Baharudin Mohd Arus. My batch and Cikgu Bahar have something in common - we started in SMSKel at almost the same time (he arrived a day or 2 before us and it was his first posting as a teacher, having completed his studies at MPIK) - He as a teacher and we as students. Cikgu Bahar started as our BM teacher. We found out much later (i.e. in 2001 when we met him again), that he actually was not prepared to teach BM (his majoring was Sports and Arts). However the impact that he had on us was great enough for us to appreciate BM literature. Many of us still remember some of the Malay poems (sajak) that he exposed us to. We came to know and appreciate more of Amir Hamzah, Tongkat Warrant, Hamka and Chairil Anwar, to name a few. As for me, one of them was sajak AKU by Chairil Anwar , which stays permanently in my head, especially when I was/am feeling very down. Here's the full poem:

AKU

Kalau sampai waktuku
'Ku mau tak seorang kan merayu
Tidak juga kau

Tak perlu sedu sedan itu

Aku ini binatang jalang
Dari kumpulannya terbuang

Biar peluru menembus kulitku
Aku tetap meradang menerjang

Luka dan bisa kubawa berlari
Berlari
Hingga hilang pedih peri

Dan aku akan lebih tidak perduli

Aku mau hidup seribu tahun lagi

Apart from teaching BM, Cikgu Bahar was also a warden, the Sports Secretary (means he handles all the matches/competitions within school as well as interschool and interdistrict).
I was one of his "helpers", taking charge of refreshments for the players, especially when we had to go out for matches. I enjoyed the task very much since I had the chance to visit so many schools and cheer for our school teams!

Cikgu Bahar was also the advisor to the Art Club, where I was the Bendahari, I think... or maybe just an AJK.

Cikgu was more of our abang too, he liked to tell us about his tunang then (who later became and still remains his missus now). He liked to go round the classes during night prep and sometimes when his mood was right, he would be telling us interesting tales e.g. his experience as a cop (before joining the maktab perguruan). I still remember his stories of his childhood, how he and siblings would do well in sports and cycled home with all the trophies. He said that he has a big family, and his hometown is Sijangkang, which is halfway between Klang and Banting, so his parents decided to send some of them to a school in Klang and some to the school Banting!

As for me, I had neighbours in Serom, Muar who were cikgu's collegemates in MPIK (maktab Perguruan Ilmu Khas), and there were some interesting stories between them too ;-)

He also made arts classes very interesting - he taught us to make mobiles (that we hung in the classroom), 3-D greeting cards (how to make a raya card where you can have two hands shaking each other when you open it; a card that looks like a blazer, with shirt and tie inside), and abstract drawings. He also showed us how to produce interesting collages. His favourite students from my class were of course Hood & Norita, who would normally score very high in Arts - they were the great artists among us!

In early 1978, cikgu managed to get transfered to Perak, to be closer to home(Klang)! Later we heard that cikgu went on to pursue his degree in USM.

The next time I met Cikgu was in 1988 when I went for an interview for the ASHES (Academic Staff Higher Education Scheme) in USM. It was really a pleasant surprise. I was the last candidate for the morning interview session, and cikgu was the first for the afternoon session. I told DH (dearest Hubby) that I wanted to meet and surprise him. DH agreed, so we waited for him. He was really surprised to see us!!! He told DH "Anak2 murid saya dah pergi overseas, dan balik.. Ni biarlah saya pulak merasa...". I was applying for Software Engineering and Cikgu was applying for Fine Arts. Both of us got the offer, and had to go through Kementerian Pendidikan (since we were both bonded by the ministry) for release. Both of us got the release. Cikgu went to US but I decided not to take up the scholarship after all :-(
I was supposed to pursue my master's and PhD in Software Engineering in Sheffield University but DH only allowed me to go alone and leave our 3 small kids behind with him (for at least 4 yrs!!). MANA BOLEH!!!!!

In 2001, my batch managed to have a mini gathering at KLCC, where my surprise for them was Cikgu Bahar himself!! I managed to trace him (he was about to leave USM) just before he left for Universiti Berunei Darul Salam. Here's the group pix taken on that day with Cikgu Bahar in orange batik (sitting). Others who were there were Surea Mamat, Zuhdi, Zuhaimi, Mazlin, Yasmin, Salwani, Che Rohani, Norita, Nuraini, Mat Puji, Kamil and Roslan.

Another pix of some of us with cikgu:

Cikgu, Norita, me and Fauzi

And another:

Kamil, Zuhaimi, cikgu, with a bit of Mazlin

I last met Cikgu at the end of 2005, when he invited us to the wedding of his eldest child. The family home is in Klang but I think he is still in Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, UBD.

I think cikgu is still a member of my batch's e-group but he hardly says anything. The last mail from him was when he invited us to his child's wedding - among those who went were Hood, Norita and me.

Form 1 1975

2006-12-04T20:41:00.000+08:00

Last month I posted the above pix of ALL the form 1 girls of 1975 soon after the 1st intake (click here). 19 girls for 4 classes! Alpha only had Norita, Fauziah M Zain, Nuraini and me.

As for the boys, I found the following pix of SOME of the boys of form 1 1975 (I got it from our e-group site). I am not sure what group they represented, since there are some from Alpha and some from Beta. Zainal Azim (Headboy 1979) is the one standing on the extreme left. The last time I heard, Dr Zainal Azim was in Adelaide - not sure for what, maybe on some sabatical or further studies... Zainal, if you are reading this, please respond!

Note: I'll be away for the next 3 days. Will only update my blog on Friday.. I want to write abt our Cikgu Mahadzir, but I've yet to locate and scan the relevant pix. Be patient....

2 Alpha 1976

2006-12-02T22:31:00.000+08:00

I have posted pix of 2 Alpha girls 1976 here.

Now I'm looking for the old pix for 2 Alpha itself. So far I only found the AJK pix:

Fr left: W Hassamudin@ Kojak (Now a senior research officer, in MPOB), Aihah (yet to be traceable), Shukri (Ain Medicare), me and Zuhdi (Now with Process-3). Mr Lye Kim Yong, one of our favourite teachers, was then our class teacher, is now retired in Melaka. If I am not mistaken, at the back is the sewing room, or maybe the cooking room.

I'll add in the class pix, once I've located it. The class pix looks quite funny, esp with Shukri (now with Ain Medicare, P Chepa) & Mazlin (Prof Dr Mazlin Mokhtar, UKM) trying hard to look tall!

Prefects 1978

2006-12-02T09:15:00.000+08:00

Here's a pix of the prefects board in 1978. Gosh! I could only remember some of them. Beyond AHA's batch, I hardly remember them :-(

And here's the pix of the girl prefects only (2 were not in it) , taken just next to the staircase in Asrama Putri, facing the water pump.

Note: I have been quite busy (maintaining friendship) lately.

Musalla, Asrama Puteri

2006-11-29T10:50:00.003+08:00

In those days, the huge room next the the Warden's Roon on the first floor (i.e. right above the Common/TV Room) was our musalla/bilik sembahyang.

The picture above was taken in either 1978 or 1979. It was after an usrah with the three ladies in the middle as our guests.

At that time creating murals on the school walls was a popular activity, so one of the weekends we, the girls, decided to have one in our musalla, hence the kalimah on the wall!

To fellow friends: If you look well, you can see me, Mahizan, K Eddie and Aida as the seniors among the juniors. I can still recall some of the names of the juniors too!

Note: Despite going back to school regularly for alumni's activities (for the past 4 years), I've NOT been inside the Asrama Puteri since I left the place in Dec 1979! Maybe during the next visit (Majlis Qurban), I'll do so :-)

The Old School Bus

2006-11-28T15:01:00.001+08:00

This is the first bus the school had. When it arrived in 1974 (according to recollections from seniors), teachers and students alike were very excited.

As for me, I remember this bus as one of the main means to get to town for our weekly Saturday outings. It is also the vehicle that took me to various destinations (the further ones were KL, JB, Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu) during many school trips.

This pix was taken a couple of years ago. I have a few more shots of this old machine, but need to find them first... Source: semesta's e-group

During the Labour Day break last year, we were passing by the school, and saw something familiar in the open space next to the school compound (i.e. OUTSIDE the school compound). Hubby took the first pix:

On a close-up, we realised that it was actually the OLD BUS!
(Note the red and blue stripes)
I just wonder, if an essay is written with the title "An Autobiography of a Bus" or "Aku SeBuah Bas SBP", you'd know how the ending would be.

Note: Amran (73-79) has written about the day the bus first arrived here

The Earliest Picture of the School??

2006-11-28T10:40:00.001+08:00

Courtesy of : Hilmy Abdullah@AHA

I found this photo in one of the folders in our e-group's photo folders. It (the photo folder) was created by our good friend Ahmad Hilmy Abdullah@AHA .

Remark from Hilmy:

Blok Bangunan sekolah

1974... Sewaktu kantin belum dibina. Di sebelah kanan adalah cucur atap Dewan besar. Sekarang, selain kantin, berbagai bangunan tambahan dan tumbuhan bagaikan taman telah memenuhi ruang . Seksanya... cuma dewan makan tempat mengisi perut ketika itu.

Even the canteen block is not in the picture!!

Tuan Hj Hamdan - Our 3rd Principal

2006-11-22T20:13:00.002+08:00

I know I'm supposed to write about the first principal first, but today I was given the contact number of Tuan Haji, which prompted me to call him, and hence since it is still fresh in my mind, I've decided to write about him first.

Tuan Hj came to our school (as recorded by here) on 15 Dec 1977. He was there until 31 March 1979.

What fascinated me of this great principal was his fatherly approach in handling the students -both boys and girls. I remember how he lead the Thursday night prayers (as the imam) in the big hall (no mosque nor common surau yet then). He also made a point to come to the girls hostel every fortnight to lead the prayers, after which we would sit around him and listened attentively to his "nasihat", just like listening to your dad talking!

Tuan Hj was also good in languages and Music. He can play the piano well. In Those days, we had the piano parked at the foot of the staircase that leads to the stage, in the main hall.

The day he departed was a sad one. I remember Tuan Hj sang the beautiful song "Selamat Tinggal Bungaku". Right until now, if I hear that song, I get teary eyes, and am very much reminded of him. What I do not recall is that I actually ran up the stage to ask him to sing the song (and HE remembers it!).

The lyric of the song:

Selamat Tinggal Bungaku

Selamat tinggal bunga ku
Aku bermohon pergi dahulu
Terima kasih seruan ku
Jasa mu untuk diri ku

Ke timur atau ke utara
Tak tentu dimana nak tujukan
Setitik airmata
Dititiskan dibuang jangan

Sekiranya aku masih
Berada nun jauh di balik awan
Salam yang bahagia
Khabar yang gembira ku kirimkan

Inikah akhir bertemu
Bila nian kan berjumpa lagi
Ingatlah pesanan ku
Jaga baik diri mu sendiri

( Lagu : Johar Bahar / Ahmad Wan Yet - Lirik : Johar Bahar )

Here are some of the pix of me with him:

Here he was with us, watching our Malay debating team practicing in the main hall - we went into the final that year with the team thatconsisted of Roslan Ghani, Zaidi and Zulkifli and Ab Aziz Ahmad:

Fr left: me, Anee Lin, Che Jamilah, Tuan Hj Hamdan

While I am at it, I might as well say a bit abt the team. That year we had back-up teams consist me, Affendi (in the pix) and a few others (some are not the this pix). I was with Team B, while the other girls were in Team C (they were only in form 2 then!). Team B went all the way to win the Piala Ekspo Pendidikan Kelantan while Team A went on to win Piala Koperasi (Kelantan) as well as entered the PPM final in Angkasapuri at the end of the year.

The Pix of Pasukan Bahas BM for the school magazine.

The following pix was taken during the Prefect's Jamuan (can't remember if it was for Raya, or just end-of-term-thingy).

Girl Prefects with Ustaz and Tuan Haji Hamdan
Standing fr left: Parishah, Delima, Rosmayati,Ustaz Alwi, Tuan Hj Hamdan, Rosilah, Mahiza, Che Nasirah, Sh Haslina
Front fr left: Roselina Hussein, Roselina Yusuf, me, Nik Rozana, Husnayati

Here's a photo taken during one of the last assemblies at the end of 1978. The Home Science Club did very well that year - we did catering services to the school especially during MSSK (Majlis Sukan Sekolah Kelantan) sub-committee meetings. If I remember correctly, with our "income", apart from having the "Jamuan Tahunan", we managed to buy gifts to our Advisor (Cikgu Adawiyah), as well as a brooch (worth RM3 - that's a lot in those days!) each for every member! (we practically finished up the stock in the small supermarket!) and Tuan Haji as the Pengetua was willing to pin them to EVERYONE of us!

Note: The assembly was held in the open space, just in front of the flag poles! Many students were given certificates for their achievements in various fields.

P/S: Tuan Haji came to our recent Raya Gathering. For the blog on that and his latest pix, please click here.

Also, if you can read what Tuan Hj wrote about the school here. You can read about his childhood here.

1 Alpha 1975

2006-11-20T22:53:00.000+08:00

Standing fr left: Nik Ahmad Eid, Baha, Salahuddin, Mahisham, Saiful, Azizi, Mazlin, Zuhdi, Halim, Shukri, Cikgu Ku Abdullim
Sitting from left: Khudzir, Aihah, Noorzaini, Nury, me, Fauziah, Sharifah aloyah, Norita, Hood
Front row fro left: Rozi, Hilme, Hasamudin, Rusdi, Iqbal, Halmi, Roslan, Razak and Zainal

This is our first class pix, taken here with our first class teacher, En Ku Abdul Lim.
If I'm not mistaken, the pix was taken just before he left us to further his studies in USM.
Back then I was the biggest in the class, sitting in the middle. Of course I can still name all my classmates, but I thought I should just give the pleasure for my friends to guess who's who :-)

Sportsday 1978

2006-11-17T10:21:00.002+08:00

Here's the picture of the Champion House!! (or was it the runner up??):

Me being a non-sports person, was in blazer sitting on the right side. The yellow visors that you can see some of us wearing were actually made of manila cards only!! We just cut the pieces and stapled them together. Kak Eddie is the one sitting in the middle. I think she was the Sportsgirl of the year... On the left most, you can see Cikgu Mat Nor (in white) with the late Cikgu Yusoff standing next to him.

Sadly, even in 1978 the school field was still very "bald"...

Here's another pix further from the track, so the grass were thicker!

I know, I was always on the "plump" side when I was a studetn - still am :-(

More Pix of the School

2006-11-17T10:02:00.000+08:00

Note: These photos are from my collection. I know not who took them, but during our school days they were very popular pix on sale!

This pix must have been taken from the water tank tower next to the dining hall. Part of the dining hall's roof can be seen in the foreground. The red-roofed building is the Main Hall, with the new canteen next to it. Two of the school blocks can be seen behind them. Note how yellow the field was!

Another nice shot of the hostel blocks:

Note the bare road going towards the dining hall (extreme right)

The next photo was taken from the school ground facing the dining hall and hostel blocks. The alamanda in the foreground helps to add colour to the otherwise bare, orangish grass! You can see the white and red checkered water tank!

Speechday 1976

2006-11-16T21:13:00.000+08:00

The 1976 Speechday was very special indeed - I think it was the first Speechday for the school (I could be wrong, though). Anyway, on that day, the school gave out awards to the first group of LCE/SRP and MCE/SPM best students. En Omar Hashim was the distinguished guest of the day.

I also received best in form award for Form 1 1975 (the year before).
(I'll post the pix later).

In conjunction with it, we also had various exhibitions held on that day. I remember being very busy preparing for the Homescience exhibition - I had to sew a picture of a cat and flowers (which was later given to En Omar Hashim as a souvenir from the students) and also crocheted a red shawl (as seen in the pix below). Fauziah, my classmate made the whiteand red daisy shawl. We had the exhibition in the Homescience sewing room.

It was also during this exhibition that I came across the "Pascal Triangle". I can't remember who the exhibitors were but they really had a hard time trying to explain the probability related to the triangle. They had nails to represent the triangle, and asked us to drop marbles many times from the top, and where the marbles drop at is related to the Pascal triangle, or something like that!!

Trip to a Batik Factory

2006-11-16T21:08:00.000+08:00

Updated on 28/11/06:
In 1975, I had a chance to follow a group (I think it was organised by the Art Club) to visit a batik factory. 2 Mat Salleh teachers took the opportunity to follow us.

That was the first time I saw how batik sarung was made.

Here's one of the surviving pix:

And here's another one, with Mr Foster and Mr Potts (don't know which is which). Cikgu Bahar is at extreme right. Soon after the trip, Cikgu Bahar managed to get the Art Club to have its own batik-printing/drawing session.

One of the Mat Salleh teacher (I think it was the guy with the Afro hair style) once entered our 1 Alpha to relief another teacher who was absent, and he taught us some German phrases (like good morning, good day, I'm going to the cinema, etc..)! I thought that was cool....

Prefects 1975

2006-11-16T20:56:00.001+08:00

In the 70s, there were 3 terms a year as compared to the present 2 semesters.

By the 2nd term of 1975, together with Hishamudin, Rashidee, Saruji, Rosilah, Rozana and Zainal Azim, I was elected to be one of the junior prefects. Only Zainal and I were from form 1, the other 5 were in form 2.

Looking at the pix, I think I still remeber abt 70-80% of them by names, but will list down later. SEMASA (correction: SEMESTA) Presiden is also there, sitting 3rd from left, and Arif is 4th from right.

Sitting next to Principal Mahadzir is Ezanee Adam (with glasses) who was the headboy then. We didn't have any head girl that year :-(
I don't dare to say that Ezanee Adam was the first headboy, since I heard that when the pioneers were in form 1 in SMIP in 1973, there was already a headboy then...

2 Alpha Girls 1976

2006-11-16T01:12:00.000+08:00

Standing fr left: Norita, Nuraini, Norzaini, Fauziah, (the late) Sharifah Aloyah
Sitting: me, Aihah

We took this picture during one of our outings! We went to the reknown Wong Photo Studio. We changed to ordinary dresses specially for the photo-shoot after which we changed back to our school uniform.
Then we went to Odeon to watch the movie "Hapuslah Air Matamu" (I think) - yes, in FULL school uniforms. "Sayang Anakku Sayang" was showing at the same time but at the other cinema (was it Rex?). We wanted to watch it instead but it was sold out. Ous classmate, Mat Yih helped us to get the tickets, as people were scrambling to buy tickets - nobody queued in those days!

Earlier we also had some pix taken in school by our then class teacher, Mr Lye Kim Yong (Who had recently retired).

We also have the class pix taken, but I've yet to scan it (pls come back later for updates).

Pantai Sabak 1976

2006-11-16T01:01:00.000+08:00

Somehow, I was very close to many girls who were 2-yrs my senior. In 1976 (when I was in form 2 and they in form 4) we went to Pantai Sabak. I can't recall how we went there (since one of them had a bike), but we sure had a great time.

I can only remember some of the names
Standing fr left: Siti Aesahah, ??, Muhibbah, Nik Fauziah, (the late) Shamsiah, Senaning, Rosmawati (her sister is K Hajar Ramli), Zawiah
Front fr left: ??, ??, me

Notice the school bag in the bike's basket - in those days, almost everybody had one. It came in 2 main colours i.e. red and blue. We carry the bags to school and also used it for our outings (read - balik kampung)!
The house behind us is now gone, together with the beautiful beach that has since been lost to erosion. Just imagine, back then the house was so far inland (more than 100 meters) from the beach!

PPM 1979

2006-11-16T00:42:00.000+08:00

PPM 1979 was held in SDAR, Seremban.

Some pix:

In SDAR - we were facinated by the rich flora in their compound (unlike our school then)

During a trip to PD on one of the free afternoons.

In the living room of one of the hostel blocks in TKC.
Fr left: me, Salwani, Roselina Yusof (senior), Roslina Hashim (junior), Fauziah (sitting), Shamsinar (junior) and Yasmin (Microsoft)

At TKC, watching a basketball match. Me with the red visor.

The three ladies in front of me were then young single teachers who accompanied us, but were always too camera-shy :-(

The Early Days of the School

2006-11-16T00:17:00.000+08:00

The view from Block A of Boy's Hostel. Part of the dining hall is on the left side, the new canteen in the middle and part of the school blocks in the background. Compare with the picture taken in Jan 2007 here.

As you enter from the main gate, you would be able to see part of the principal's house (left). The 3 4-storey blocks are (from left to right) Girls' block (C), Boy's Block B and Boy's Block A.

The school hall in the middle with the school blocks in the background.

In those days, these were some of the best pix of our school!

This is the original group of girls for my batch. There were later additions (e.g. 2nd intake) as well as those who came in in 1978 i.e. after our LCE exam (equivalent to PMR now):

Taken in early 1975
First row from left: ??, Khalidah, Nik Ruzni, Azida, Norita, Latifah (fr Sarawak), Munirah, Nuraini, (the late) Gan Choo Heok
Standing from left: Che Norizan, Noriza, Mahizan, Siti Haslina, Che Nasirah, me, Fauziah Mat Zain, Rozaida, Fauziah Mohd, Saroja

Sportsday 1976

2006-11-16T00:09:00.000+08:00

The 1976 Sportsday was one of the grandest that we had, or rather the first grand one, since i joined the school. Principal Mahadzir insisted that we prepared well for the day.

Weeks prior to the big day, we had to literally water the grass every morning - those who had PE (Physical Education), would use the time to carry water in pails to the field from the pipes near the main hall. I remember there was only one long hose for the task, so the others had to bring pails for PE.

AS for the march, we spent 2 weeks practicing it under the hot sun during the afternoon prep i.e. from 3pm - 4pm!! And the results, you can see here how "uniform" we were in our steps:

Rahman(Yellow) house doing the march. Note the barren track - not much grass.

The girl with the long plaits of hair is me :)

Still not much grass to cover the field - just imagine how it would be without our effort to water them daily!!