Wish List

The blog has not been updated for a while, mostly because of occupation with other things more important in life.

The amount of e-mails coming to the mailbox from the Batch Male-ing list is still reaching hundreds each day. Better still, a lot of people who have not sent a single e-mail in years finally did reply after much provocation.

Discussion today revolves around the origins of nicknames in the batch – started by Fadli who was so bewildered and frustrated that he did not have one. There were a lot of flashbacks of how this chap got his name, or urban legend of this and that event that led to a name.

Sometimes I wonder how long this magic “potion” will work – how long we can go on and on reminiscing the same thing before we get tired of it all. I wish it could be like this forever, but I am not surprised if at one point the jokes just got lost on us.

There was also a heated discussion on the future of MCKK in the MCOBA net. A lot of frustration, a lot of suggestions and a lot of hopes – it’s refreshing to know that even when you have grandchildren older than the college boys, your passion for MCKK is still unmatched.

Yet I also wonder that if only a lot more of us choose to do the little things that matter, no matter how unglamorous it is – things could have been a lot more different.

Looking back, growing up in an MCKK which was in decay and nowhere near the glorious years of 50s and 60s, I have some wish list of what old boys could have done (and obviously were not done ha ha, hence why it remained a wish list!):

1) I wish old boys had not been too simplistic in their analysis of why koleq was no longer on top. I wish they would not come back once in a while and brag about how they did not have to study and how wearing the tie opened doors, because if I had followed that simplistic argument, I wouldn’t have been where I am today.

I would have got a lousier (emphasis on “-er” since the result was already lousy as it was) SPM result, which would have denied me my scholarship abroad; without which I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see my ex-Housemaster doing Scottish traditional dance wearing his kilt without anything underneath. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to work abroad and conquered my inferiority and to discover that as a Malay kampung boy, I am as good as the next Mat Salleh in the world. Luckily I didn’t take heed of the bragging by some of the old boys back then.

2) I wish a small minority of the old boys, when they went back to MCKK, did not give the impression as if they were interested in only a small select group of koleq boys. It’s disgusting and it’s pure manipulation and it made us wonder what on Earth was happening (I will not elaborate further).

3) I wish some of the old boys did not look down on the teachers and made it bluntly obvious of their disdain for the teachers. Some of the teachers could have been a lot better, but in the final analysis they were the ones who laughed and cried with us, not the old boys. When I fell sick it was my teacher who worried about me, not some old boys who came back once in 2 months. It was my Chemistry teacher who understood that odd as it sounded, the little juniors living with you did have some impacts on you emotionally (and by extension on your study). They lacked resources and perhaps had not seen the world like the old boys had – if only old boys took their hands and guided them; shared with them all the things they (the old boys) knew that the teachers didn’t. After all everything that was done in the name of MCKK should be about bringing the best out of the kids – out of us back then – not about teachers’ or old boys’ ego. Instead a small minority of old boys (and teachers) preferred to antagonize each other (and the kids dragged and trapped in between them).

4) I wish the relationship between old boys and teachers had been that of mutual respect and complimentary – knowing that there were certain things that could be done better if only they complimented each other. For example, I wish old boys could have helped more in activities organized by our societies because they had the expertise and they were professionals. When we were doing our Rekacipta project, I wish we could have had some help from an electronics engineer – there must be thousands of them among the old boys. I wish we could have had engagements to find out what accountants did at work. Or an historian could have become advisor to one of our societies. I wish that whilst the teachers guided us on a day-to-day basis, the old boys could have inspired us once in a while.

5) I wish old boys were more proactive and sympathetic when dealing with koleq. I wish they would not spend most of their efforts pointing what went wrong; or how “tradition” had been abandoned; or why present boys were not up to the mark – if only they put the same amount of passion in making contributions, in their own ways, to make things better.

I had many other wishes but they are too private in nature ha ha, so would not share it here.

Lately, I began to realize that many people prefer to do the big thing – if you want to change the country, you have to be a minister, or in politics, before you earn the right to speak up. So most people, from as young as 13 years old, adore the likes of Khairy Jamaluddin for his quick ascent to power – and consequently most people would want to throw in the gauntlet so to speak and try to be politicians at the young age as well. In the process, the brave souls like Dr Jemilah, or that guy who devoted his life for the rehabilitation of drug addicts, or the likes of Prof. Khoo Kay Kim whose passion for history in this country did more to document our heritage than many Malays – are relegated to the second division and no longer inspire our young minds the way it should.

Likewise, when it comes to MCKK – too much is being spent on the “big thing”; not enough on the small efforts that could bring about the change quicker if done collectively (I will leave this to readers to interpret).

I said this once: “Many people do not want to do small things – not realizing that the so-called glorious years of MCKK were built on many small things that many small people did over the years”.

I believe the same mentality still plague us.

As to what really happens at MCKK, I thought our boys were not as bad. They deserve more credits than they are given now.

At least they are still as vocal as we were – perhaps only the medium is different now. We smuggled our underground Warta KPKM when it was critical of the establishment; the boys now blog to the world.

I lifted the following from some of the present boys’ blogs – very interesting indeed!

“life goes on...

arghhh!!!! once again it's already the last quarter of july and it looks like this past month since my return from home has been hell and terror. wuts more, the school's getting a revamp(or iz dat d right word 4 it?) on its policies and hey! life is as oppresive as ever! now, i quote from http://offside.mcoba.org/:-

We only need to do 2 major things to make MCKK thrives again:

1. Empower the Board of Governors--the Minister of Education can invoke an "Instrument of Government" under sections 53-55, Education Act to give powers to the BOG to chart administration, development, curriculum and so forth for MCKK. The BOG will report to the Minister, not any Department/Division/Section/Unit.

2. Select a good team of HM, Senior Assistants and experienced teachers. Majority of this group, particularly the HM, should have a prominent public school background or at least should have experienced teenage life in a primier residential school in this country. They should be briefed on the expectations on and for the students, and not imposing rigid rules and regulations.

well, hey, dats exactly d solution plus sum more if i may add, but u get d idea? rigid rules suck!!!! now, i'm sorry 4 d bani folks out there but i must say the new immigration system during subuh is what's making koleq boys wake up in the morning nowadays. not to say it's wrong, but imagine this, it's 6.10 a.m., a spine-tingling wind is breezing through softly as you leave your dorm and the next moment, u see ppl scurrying without their much needed shower, like lebanese people fleeing from israeli bombs, towards where else, but the surau! and it's not because of the sudden repentance of budak koleq to pray in the surau and seek shelter from satans, but the fact is that there is a line of ppl in the front saf (row) with the familiar piece of paper spread out in front of them, with big indicators of the respective classes, and ticking out names for ppl who appear in the surau. ok ok, this might seem like a good idea at first sight, i might even be labelled 'abu jahal' or wuteva by the principal but u see, this is actually not as good as it seems. "Let there be no compulsion in religion...." as quoted from Al-Baqarah:257 which we read just two days ago. Relax, those of u who r offended, but there is a better method of doing this, that shud accompany this thing. imagine, everyone wakes up by their own will or either by the rough beatings of the cane by the wardens, and hurriedly go the toilet for a shower, still not recovering from the morning 'stiffy' (it's australian) and yet the ppl who man the front saf(i'm afraid, the bani ppl) are not even waking these kids up from their slumber! and they are leaving everything to the wardens! how irresponsible! and i don't u/stand their policy either. it looks like the preferred method of 'dakwah' is through sarcastic mockings or even silence. i mean, it really helps to actually go to that guy who they've got a problem, and aid them in their mission to turn over a new leaf. patient advice exceeds mockery which will only lead to more resentment and anger. and the outcome! ppl will not change! i believe even the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) do not mock while preaching and that makes Islam seem beautiful and unique in its own way. any bani ppl reading this, if u r angered, think out of the box, islam was never spread by compulsion of force for that matter. and i do not see the true beauty of islam through your policies. Do not make it mandatory (wajib) what is optional(sunat). hey, this is not a threat, mind you! and pls, always look at the bigger picture. i'm not complaining of going to subuh, its just that, some things need to be improvised to ensure efficiency and success.

oh man, that was just about one thing bothering me! there's still more but i'll find another time 4 dat. with me being so immersed with edit board and the mclf, it's a major relief to finally let sumthin out. well i guess dats it. happy subuh praying. fiat sapientia virtus.”

Commit and Submit Yourselves!

hmm.maybe i cud get used 2 critisising koleq's admin in my blogs...

i take back all my remarks about koleq being useless in d dobi aspect.it seems dat d admin has been trying 2 get a new tender(finally) but failed which is why we're stuck wif dis lousy dobi.so,kudos 2 admin 4 finally doing sumthing right.altho dats probably d only right thing they've done so far.tp xper lar.its a start.

nevertheless,i hav more ctiticisms for dis edition(haha,mcm some tabloid pulak:P).sometime last week(or was it 2 weeks ago?).i was told 2 go on stage along withs otord(head fect) n osem(pres bani) as wakil kpkm since meghi n faruq xde(i'm timb pres II).why?for d most incredible n unexpected gimmick ever.all of us were 2 hold dis huge banner dat sayz,"kami warga the malay college kuala kangsar komited untuk menjadi johan anugerah kualiti menteri pelajaran(AKMP)".suppose 2 b sum kind of symbolic thingy.u can c d banner when u pass thru d gates of d admin block btw.anyway,dis is d second time we entered 4 dis award.1st time was in 2004 where we got 2nd if i'm not mistaken.dat was a cheap publicity stunt if i ever saw 1.why d bloody hell do we hav 2 show off dat banner,i cannot understand.d cheap publicity stunt doesnt end there.d following tuesday,sumer budak koleq was told 2 gather at d quad rangle(square-shaped field in front of d hargreaves hall).reason?ahh.all of us had 2 yell out at d top of our lungs,"kami warga mckk...".refer 2 what was written on d banner.all of this was recorded so dat we cud show off 2 d jemaah nazir wen d come 2 evaluate d skool 4 d AKMP.haha.how low can u get?SMK King George V didnt hav 2 go thru all these crap when dey were bidding 4 d AKMP(information courtesy of Yonne,Class of 2006).so why do we hav 2 b overly eager?

i hav only 1 deduction.its 4 d headmaster's sake.i mean just think about it.is there a dire need 4 koleq 2 b awarded d award?we've had 101 years of pride,passion and tradition without having 2 rely on sum stupid award.will winning make us any cleverer?will it make d f5s get d targetted 75% straight As in SPM n 100% As for PMR?will it make d skool even more famous den it is hence making ppl look up 2 koleq even more? will it make d skool 'naik saham' sky high till we can get any budget we ask for?d answer is a definite NO.winning d AKMP is nothing more den mere show.nothing great comes of it except 1 shortly lived moment of glory.honestly,whu remembers dat sdar won d AKMP wen rauhi was around dere exept bdk sdar themselves.n whu even noes dat KGV pernah menang d award b4?its such a waste of time,money n effort 2 put into"menjadi johan AKMP".bcoz at d end of d day,its not so much dat d skool benefits,no matter wat rauhi sayz.its him whu benefits.its gonna look good on his credentials n resume.n its gonna b easier 4 him 2 naik pangkat n work as sum high ministry official,like most if not all previous HMs.

dis gets me thinking,"what kind of a teacher is dis???".i always thot of teachers as such noble n selfless ppl,individuals who r willing 2 giv their all for d sake of d children,moulding them into d leaders of 2moro.but dis guy is unworthy of d gelaran "cikgu".i hav never seen such a selfish person(besides some big names in d world 2day i.e bush n co)in my entire life.a teacher is suppose 2 dedicate his/her life 4 d students.what dis guy is doing is manipulating d boys n teachers at his disposal.doing all these pointless events(pesta durian,open day etc)so dat he looks like a HM dat brings about change.den he competes for d AKMP so dat he's gonna look like a really credible HM ,winning d award twice in his career.but what's in it 4 d boys?absolutely NOTHING.he's turned koleq into sumthing similar 2 dat of a day skool.i'll refer 2 d neighbouring SMK Clifford.essentially,koleq is a skool 2 develop malays into d leaders of d country.koleq is dedicated 2wards moulding n shaping its boys.n d boys love koleq for d attention n commitment it gives 2 d boys.but now,koleq is no longer about d boys.d tables hav changed.now its d boys who are about koleq.koleq,under rauhi's rule,no longer has dat atmosphere of responsibility 2wards d boys.instead,bdk2 klq hav 2 pamper n do stuff so dat koleq dpt nama.or in other words,rauhi dpt nama.2 quote him maser assembly,"saya cuma menumpang kehebatan MCKK."Translate dat n u will compute dat he's actually saying,"buat benda elok2 supaya MCKK dapat nama.biler awk semua hebat dan MCKK dapat nama,saya dapat menangguk nama dan mengaku hebat sekali."read d caption outside clifford dat sayz,"The ship is more than the crew".That is how koleq is now.Koleq is more than the boys.To hell wif d boys dat are suppose 2 b d future generation of leaders.What matters is d present n at present, nama rauhi is d number 1 agenda.

well,God bless koleq until d next HM comes n saves koleq.or perhaps lead koleq 2 further damnation?Until dat time comes,we shall commit and submit ourselves.

KUALA KANGSAR,13Julai 2006-Setelah 100 tahun berlalu, pada hari ini tercipta sejarah apabila stor di New Hostel terbakar sambil disaksikan oleh orang ramai sama ada dari padang hoki ataupun dari luar kawasan asrama.Kejadian yang berlaku kira-kira jam 5.00 petang itu dikatakan berada dalam keadaan terkawal apabila pihak bomba berjaya memadamkan api tersebut walaupun dengan dua kali cubaan disebabkan tekanan air yang rendah.

Menurut saksi,seorang pelajar Tingkatan 5,Mohd Sohaidi b. Kasim bertindak cepat dengan menelefon pihak bomba dengan segera dan mengarahkan pelajar blok tersebut ke tempat yang selamat sebelum api itu sempat menyambar bahagian-bahagian lain bangunan itu.Menurut seorang saksi lain pula, kejadian itu juga mungkin dapat dihindarkan jikalau alat pemadam api di blok tersebut tidak dirosakkan oleh penghuni asrama itu.Pihak bomba turut menyatakan yang kebakaran itu berpunca daripada perbuatan pelajar sendiri.

Pengetua Malay College Kuala Kangsar (Dato')Mohd Rauhi bin Mohd Isa AMP,PPT, enggan mengulas dengan lanjut kejadian tersebut.

"Saya tidak ada komen.Kalau ada apa-apa pertanyaan boleh berjumpa dengan Penolong Kanan Hal Ehwal Murid" katanya di sini hari ini.

Apabila ditemuramah, Penolong Kanan Hal Ehwal Murid , En Fairuz b. Leman menyatakan yang kejadian ini berpunca daripada sikap manja pelajar Tingkatan 2 itu sendiri.

"Kita dapat lihat daripada kejadian ini yang mereka ini(pelajar tingkatan 2) memang memerlukan pemulihan dari semua segi.Saya akan pastikan yang para pengawas akan menjalankan program tersebut secepat mungkin."

Disebabkan kejadian tersebut, Menteri Pelajaran Dato' Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein telah terpanggil untuk membuat ulasan.

"Perkara ini membuktikan kelemahan sistem pendidikan yang sedia ada.Kita perlu kaji semula di mana salah dan silap kita dalam hal ini.Pelajar tidak patut dimanjakan.Apa gunanya mereka belajar di sekolah asrama jika keadaannya sama seperti belajar di sekolah harian.Mereka mesti belajar untuk menyelesaikan masalah sendiri.Sistem beginilah yang kita hendak.Biarlah kita bentuk mereka dari kecil lagi bak kata pepatah melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya."

Pihak bomba juga ada menyatakan beberapa langkah pencegahan yang perlu diambil pada masa hadapan.Antaranya ialah pelajar-pelajar ini tidak seharusnya dimanjakan sehingga berani membuat sesuatu yang agak memalukan dan mereka haruslah berubah perangainya dari sekarang supaya tidak timbul lagi masalah-masalah pada masa hadapan.

Ketika ini juga MCKK turut terlibat dengan perlawanan persahabatan dengan Vajiravudh College. Pengetua MCKK telah diminta memberi ulasan lanjut.

"Kita akan masuk setiap pertandingan untuk membuktikan kehebatan kita.Setiap acara yang kita sertai kita mesti menang.Bila kami menang perlawanan itu nanti, bolehlah datang kepada saya untuk penerangan lanjut tapi kalau kami kalah tuan-tuan boleh minta ulasan daripad Penolong Kanan Kokurikulum."-BENAMA

(Berita di atas adalah rekaan semata-mata)

"Kami Komited Untuk Menjadikan MCKK Gemilang seperti Dulu."

Anugerah Kualiti Menteri Pelajaran(AKMP).This shows that -You have to judge a book by its cover.It reveals who we(the ones who follows what he says;anak2 dia dll) truly are,a self-centred,pampered and hypocrite individuals who just wants fame for every action.Perhaps we should invite the media to our grounds and make a documentary about the present koleq just for the sake of the AKMP. For me, we are just waisting our time and effort in this so called 'anugerah tertinggi' Kementerian Pelajaran.All of us are working half to death just to fulfill his dying wish of becoming the greatest principal of MCKK or maybe among the schools af Malaysia.To be frank, I have never heard of this AKMP, that supposed to be the highest recognition in the education system.What could be so grand about this award anyway.Is it the datukship that comes with it.Even if the newspapers dont give a damn on who won the AKMP, why should the whole world.What is great about a leader who just aims for recognition." Buatlah apa2 asalkan saya dapat nama?".Is this what we expect from 'org yg hebat'.Blowing his own trumpet for other people's effort.If you think that was pathetic, you are yet to know more about the real situation.All that I can say for now is that we are going to exploit all of the controvercies that had happened in MCKK in our effort to change and propel 'koleq' back to its former glory days."Kami Komited Untuk Menjadikan MCKK Gemilang seperti Dulu."