Surat-Surat Lama

Raya becomes more and more mundane each year. As the years pass by so swiftly, so does the flow of money leaving your pocket each year ha ha.

Anyway I was going through all my files from MCKK years to throughout the uni years (it should not be a surprise that people of my character ended up as an auditor, since I was obsessed with filing and documents since school).

In my possession is perhaps one of the most extensive collections of correspondence related to koleq in our batch. I have close to 300 correspondences (in the form of letters, aerogrammes, postcards and cards) in between 1995 and 1997 (after 1997, e-mails dominated everything and the amount of snail mail was reduced to a trickle) after we left MCKK – exchanges with batchmates, juniors, seniors, teachers and HM.

The trend was almost consistent in all the correspondences – the greatest delight was derived from letters from the teachers, seniors and most of all your batchmates. While teachers and seniors may spend more time reminiscing their good time with you or how proud they are of you (or updating the latest happenings in Kuala), with your batchmates - the longing to be together, how much you missed each other, trying to make sense that you were separated and scattered – were inescapable as you go through all the letters.

It’s difficult to explain how strong the bond is between you and the next person in your batch and how much that they have become apart of you since you were 13 – but going through all those letters evoked such a strong sentiment that easily explains it all in ways that words cannot describe.

As for the juniors, the commonality was also apparent. In one letter a junior dictated 4 pages of letter (written by his Form 1 since he was a Prep School prefect at the time) boasting all his achievements and how much he had eclipsed whatever I was in koleq. He would compare one by one, item by item, what I was and what allegedly he had achieved, to drive his point.

In another letter, another junior spent more efforts to run you down and pointed out what allegedly you did wrong when you were his senior back in college. Generally letters from Class of 96 were vile and rude to say the least, that of Class of 98 were a lot more pleasant and innocent.

I concluded a long time ago that if you were to invest in a friendship that can survive the test of time and which you can depend on in your hours of need – invest in your batchmates and occasionally in your seniors; but never your juniors.

Anyway, it was also poignant to reflect how some of us have changed so much from those years. Some have become estranged whereas we used to exchange letters on regular basis, some are complete strangers now whereas their letters were always 8-9 pages long back then because there was always so much to tell; one has passed away whereas his last letter did not at all indicate the pain and suffering he was going through.

On the cheeky side, some used up 4-5 pages as muqaddimah to reminisce about his jambu (or make jambu innuendos), some religiously remind you not to forget them if one day you ever make it big in life etc.

Here are some excerpts from my treasury of letters, which one day would be raided and made public during 20-year reunion ha ha:

#1:
“Har...har...har... my sugarcane bamboo stick really fantastic and bombastic jambu buat apa sekarang nie. Tak tidur lagi ke... Rindu katala rindu...” – Arwah Kiwi

#2:
“Kehadapan atau kebelakang (joke ni. Gelak sikit) Sdr XXXX yang diterlupakan selalu. Semoga hang berada dlm. keadaan yang handsome selalu... uwek... wek... wek... Sorrylah termuntah sikit. Tak cukup makanan berkhasiat. Bila aku balik dari Sekolah Anderson, aku tengok ada surat untuk aku. Cop GLASGOW. Nak kata Fadli, tulisan elok sangat. Faham2 lah tulisan Fadli macam mana. Macam Stephen King tulis surat kat nenek dia.” – Mpro

#3:
“Tapi disebabkan aku ni merangkap President KOPHNMKMJDH (Kelab Orang Penggalak Homo Nak Menggalak Kegiatan Main Jambu Dan Homo). Cawangan Perak and akulah ibupejabat dia. Cawangan Kedah Epit, cawangan Pahang Sharap. Tapi depa tu ahli tak rasmi. Satu lagi cawangan wilayah – Dzafran. Boleh berhubung secara percuma. Aku kira supplier la. Tapi masalah aku la ni satu aje. Permintaan banyak tapi pengeluaran kurang. Cth: Epit & Dzafran memerlukan barang yg. sama -> Aslamme.” – Mpro

#4:
“Macam mana life kau kat sana? Happy ka? Aku kat sini terperap dah dekat 6 bulan doing nothing. Mula-mula aku ingat nak cari temporary job tapi tak jadi lak. Sekarang ni kalau kau jumpa aku sure kau tak kenal kot. Aku dah tembam dah, dah nak masuk 80 kg berat aku, nasib baik la sekarang tengah diet” – Amoeba

#5:
“XXXX, Allen, Fadli & Gheeta (bolehlah selit nama Gheeta gak even though I have yet to receive a letter written by him.. see how much I pity Gheeta for I know he doesn’t receive as much mail as I do)

On Sunday the 19th of Feb I received Fadli’s cheap aerogramme and as expected I received XXXX’s letter today which is the 21st of Feb. Today, the 21st of Feb is a day of abundant luck and fortitude. Today, I received, apart from XXXX’s letter unlike Fadli’s cheap aerogramme (I despise aerogramme), I also received a raya card from up North which is as you can guess kuala kangsar which would certainly mean a card from MCKK and which would certify the card to be coming from tut... tut.... (XXXX nya stail).

Sekarang nie lagu Cranberries sedang berkumandang. By the way korang dah dengar ke soundtrack Melrose Place. Kalau belum aku cadangkan beli dan dengar dan anda pasti sukainya. Aku jamin manusia macam Allen dan Fadli dan Gheeta apatah lagi tak tahu pun soundtrack ni ade tak ape aku tak salahkan korang. Kalau dah ‘bell’ apa nak buat kan. Berdoa aje lah agar Tuhan mentak’bell’kan korang."- Chamat

#6:
“So kau dapat address aku drp Amer ye. Itu bermakna si setan Amer tak balas surat aku even dia dapat surat aku. Memang hantu le dia.” – Syed Moto

#7:
“Aisey.. kantoi gak la nak tulis kat kau ni, macam masa aku nak start borak dengan kau after “those few months” dulu. If you don’t like to talk about this, do say so. Then I can ask for forgiveness. But I think I’m still recuperating from everything that’s happened. I’ve asked Fadli about this and he said that you’ve put it aside. Hope so. Really miss the days before “it” started.

Hah, masa kau cuti hari tu pun, tak sempat nak lepak lama2 together. Aku tau kau bengang sebab aku eager nak balik awal masa Speech Day hari tu, and I really felt guilty on the bus on the way home you know.

Kau tau dak sekarang ni pukul berapa (masa aku tengah tulis ni le, bukannya masa kau dok baca surat ni!)? Well, it’s almost 3 am! Sebenarnya, esok Sabtu, takde kelas. Aku pun dah terlelap tadi, sebab penat main badminton at night. Tapi entah tetiba tersedar balik pukul 2-something, and I can’t seem to fall back to sleep. So, aku gi caleng kejap tadi... aku cong je! Takkan percaya kot. Aku yg still suci ni nak caleng? Bukannya aku takde bana, tapi I haven’t put it to full use yet!

Anyway, masa aku still dok confused lepas tersedar tadi, I suddenly remember that this letter is still terbeng'Khairul Nizam Mois' (terbeng'kalai' la tu hik! hik!) in my writing pad..” – Aslam

#8:
“Happy Birthday to you! So how did you spend your birthday? 18, is big enough to do a lot of things. So, what is your birthday wishes? Sorry that I didn’t get to send you a birthday card.

Here I got a piece of news to tell you i.e. I got my transfer. The moment when I know about it, I feel happy. But when time flies I start to feel sad, I am going to leave a place that I had spent eight years; everything is so familiar; the path that I used to walk from the staff room to Chemistry Lab, to form four and form five block. It is just feeling. I don’t think I will come back after I left; I just want to keep everything at the best moment when I leave. In fact last year I had already hoped to leave MC because last year was my best year in MC having all of you with me. I really enjoyed myself when teaching your batch. But now I understand why I couldn’t get my transfer last year, I think this is because the God want me to stay back for another year so that I can see some of your batch boys again when they come back to get the results, and also to share the happy moment with you all during the Speech Day. After I leave MC, I don’t know whether I still got the chance to see you all” – Miss Liew (Chemistry teacher)

#9:
“Sekarang ini jentera kolej telah berubah corak. Daripada sistem caring, berunding kepada sistem ketegasan. Form Five 1994 still the best. Saya amat berbangga mempunyai pelajar seperti **************,***********,******* dan yang lain-lain yang sekurang-kurangnya memberi penawar kepada guru. Saya sentiasa mendoakan saudara-saudara maju jaya.

Bila ada kesempatan balik ke Malaysia, sila ke kolej. Kalau saya sudah tidak ada lagi di kolej pun, kolej tentu gembira menerima kunjungan saudara dan rakan-rakan” – Datuk Haji Hassan Hashim (ex-HM)

#10:
“Aku ada 1 benda nak bagi tau. Aku la ni, best friend Pok Pek. Apakan daya, itu la saja yang ada. Tapi la ni, dia dah jadi baik. Tak macam dulu. Hoi, Sharap ada tulih surat kat hang dak? Betui ka dia main Malaysia (rugby)?

Aku nak ungkit satu benda. Hang ingat tak poster Jodie Foster aku, yang hang pinjam buat modal caleng dulu. Mesti ingat punya. So, hang dah hilangkan poster tu, so kena ganti balik la. So, kalau ada poster lawa-lawa tu, pos la kat aku” – Epit

PS: To continue with a tradition, there was a raya reunion in Cherating with Sharap and Byn (Class of 2001). Zadin could not make it. Rewind balik tape last year. Maybe that’s the reason Zadin “could not” make it ha ha

It's Official: Sukantara 2008!

AJK Internet aka Awie (ha ha budak2 la ni sepatutnya bila pilih AJK Batch kena pilih AJK Internet laaa, lagi berguna dari AJK Keselamatan) has done a marvellous job launching the Sukantara 2008's blog this week.

To all members of Class of 94 (and those who would like to join the mad bunch mudslinging at each other), please join in untuk memeriahkan the build up towards the reunion in 2008.

The funny thing is - we haven't actually got koleq's permission! But usually koleq is never hesitant provided we give them ample time and don't create havoc so much.

But just in case, the contingency plan (Plan Z) if koleq says no is to go to Clifford, yeaah! The ship is more than the crew!

So the race is on with Mohd Shah (was about to type Md Shah but KNO would correct me that it's Mohd Shah!) most eager to prove that as the favourite in 1994, they should have won, not the underdog Idris (I mean look at the House Captain Mpro laa...)

2 reasons why Idris will not win this time around:

1) Back in 1994, they depended a lot on juniors to get points. It so happened that the sportsmen (or sportsboys) of the junior batches (especially Class of 96) were mostly in Idris house. Tough luck, not anymore (kalau setakat nak harap kat Hairul tak yah laa woii...)

2) They can't use any cheating tricks anymore since everyone will be watching ha ha.

As for the race for the bottom 2, Leman seems to have resigned to a drop to the traditional last spot ha ha. Captain house pun tak bersuara lagi, only kalau ada mention jambu dia bersuara.

The positions back then:

1) Idris
2) Mohd Shah
3) Sulaiman
4) Ahmad

My prediction in 2008:

1) Ahmad
2) Mohd Shah
3) Leman
4) Idris (ni pun sebab menang Carey Award for top spammer!)

Carey Award Race: Early Results

Mid-week results:

"apahal korang ni...

ranking terkini

340 epit
283 chamat <---no.2
156 ahmadsuffian.os...@exxonmobil.com
118 rough
112 gadap
103 idzam
102 kno
102 fadli
99 mat top
92 mpro

ranking all time
All time top posters

487 rough
449 epit
446 mpro
434 gadap
430 Ikram
409 fadli
379 ezrin
366 ahmadsuffian.os...@exxonmobil.com
317 muhdgada...@yahoo.com
301 chamat <---menendang aku kluar dari list

Jul 1521
Aug 1705
Sep 1269
Oct 2127 <---wtf !!?? baru 12 hari... "

Race berterusan:

Epit:
muahahaahahahahahahah...aku masih tak boleh rest...all time top poster belum dapat kat aku...lagi satu, mpro kurang tiga tiang je...

Chamat:
mwahahahaha - ini masih awal2 hari awi

Awie:
aku baru ingat nak wat ruling top poster dapat point utk rumah.
nampaknya md shah ada byk pencabar lak skarang. time ni la gadap nak senyap. jadi top poster tak de point la ya...

Chamat:
idris ada byk representative tu awi - jd aku setuju aja dgn ruling itu

Rough:
alamak poll position aku for anugerah carey telah terancam.
epit only 40 emails kat belakang aku, which at the rate dia & chamat going - bungkus laa aku. hadiah PIBG pun x dpt mcm ni...
yg aku nak gelaknya Mttop.... ha ha ha punya lah separuh mati berusaha, tengok2 kat bawah jugak... bawah from fadli tu... tak pe mtop, baru 3 hari... ada masa lagi...

Idzam:
Aku dapat top 6
Satu anak tangga lagi
Go idzam

KNO:
welcome back!
jangan segan-segan...buat la mcm rumah sendrik
hantar banyak emails tau gadap....
mohd shah tengah nak lead nih....heheheeee

Rough:
yang ni kena disqualify awie - disco!
sebb x de message dlm body. kira gadap kena disqualified terus laaa...

Chamat:
ya, aku setuju - taktik kotor mcm ni aku pun x pakai

Gadap:
Statistik ni tipu!!!!!! Camner aku punya posting jadi sikit??????? Ini tidak adil!!!! Kita perlu buat reformasi!!!!! REFORMASI!!!

Sulaiman house akan tumpas di tangan Mat Shah.......!

Chamat:
dlm acara tarik tali kot. yg carey award merangkap spammer terhebat ni dah sure idris menang

Mpro:
Memang gila... aku habis check email tadi 3.30... aku lepak kejap...
pegi library... tido kejap and bukak balik email dah 120 new mail....
p/s: mmg gila.... no time to sleep for me now...

etc. etc.

Before that, Chamat the pretender for the Carey Award had employed a dirty tactic - dia post e-mails with typo and then reply balik just to correct the typo!

Mttop pun employed new tactic - post joke bell to provoke and then he can have many e-mails to answer too.

Budak Idris main tactic kotor, dah le masa Sports Day dulu allegedly Hairul tolak Belly to win the 4X400m race (still being discussed, sebab protest letter dulu tak sampai2).

But the race is on and a special blog dedicated to Sukantara 2008 dah launch ha ha - watch out for Sukantara 2008.

Carey Award Alaf Baru

The discussion on 2008's Sukantara Reunion has stirred so much excitement.

One proposal which was adopted (can't even remember whose idea was it) was to re-award Carey Award during the reunion - however it shall be based on a new set of criteria.

And guess what is the criteria?

No. 1 ranked paling banyak hantar e-mail ke batch mailing list between now and then.

And the results? Between semalam and today alone ada >500 e-mails! I have to spend 2 hours cleaning mailbox today ha ha ha.

And worse still, some people ask stupid questions just to notch their position higher ha ha.

ps: I am sure it will die down in 2-3 days' time, so Gadap (with his e-mail2 fwd) will still be the favourite to win 2008's Carey Award.

Supper @ Yellow Town

At the beginning of Ramadhan there was a suggestion that we hold an iftar together - however from a simple idea of an iftar; it became overly ambitious (in my not-so-humble opinion) when tazkirah, terawih, usrah, orphanage etc. were added to the agenda. In the end I decided to make it simple - set a date, a venue for a supper; those who want to come just come (Note 1). No proper organisation, no event - after all I haven't closed the account for the last Back-to-School Reunion last December.

The venue was the row of shops with a lot of restaurants near Taman Melati, just off MR2. I conveniently called it Yellow Town (since similar rows of shops in Kemaman are called Yellow Town because of the yellow painting). Unfortunately it confused a few people who were looking for a Yellow Town signboard, or a restaurant called Yellow Town.

Attendance was modest - but what matters was the quality of time spent. Attendance was categorised depending on the type of "license" obtained from the Interior Minister:

1) No license required (Super License) - Ska, Rough, Chamat, Picca

2) License Besar - Epit, Mpro, Idzam, Kuchai, Radin, Chibiok and jeng jeng jeng MTop! (whether MTop obtained the license legally could not be ascertained. We had doubt he lodged application well in advance last week on the pretext of operational problems at his plant that he needed to attend urgently)

3) License P (Probation) - Pyan @ ASO, who only stayed for about a few minutes with his Interior Minister waiting in the car!

4) License not approved at all - Awie (who promised to come but did not show up, so we assume license was not approved)


We adjourned twice before decided to call it a day - first when the Thai restaurant were about to close, then we moved to a nearby restaurant. Once it closed, we adjourned to the front of a gynae clinic discussing Mpro's "kopi kembang" (Note 2) cap 2 Badak (which nearly all expressed doubt because of the fear of the side effect on your tetek, looking at how Mpro's tetek has grown lately, despite whatever his claim).

Kuchai came in his brand new BMW (I think it was the latest version of 3-series) bought recently.

The whole night was spent going through the mailing list ha ha ha - the amount of jokes made at the expense of so many other people were obscene!

The supper also marked the commencement of work for the next reunion, targeted for 2008 with the theme of "Sukantara Re-play". Expect a re-play of showdown between (amongst others):

1) Syam and Badut in the sprinting (but not 100 m, we shall cut it down to 20 m)
2) Fadhil's act of terjelepuk bila dah kat belakang sekali
3) Bobo, Kandaq and Joe for the high jump

The consensus was Idris did not deserve to win the house championship in 1994 and all were eager to set the records right.

It was a good night, I can't remember the last time aku lagho and laugh that much!

More pictures here

Note 1: The fact that it was supper is a reflection of how much things have changed. 6-7 years ago we used to have annual sahur! But with more and more Interior Ministers joining the club, it is no longer that easy to organise a sahur.

Note 2: Bukan kopi yang kembang, the little general yang Mpro claim will get the instant "expansion". In fact he claimed that he was able to drive straight to Melaka last night because this "kopi kembang cap 2 badak" made his kembang so much he has to rush back there and then. He also claimed he has memorised all the doa from Dr Love's series (in the mailing list), so when he reached climax last night, hopefully he was shouting the doa, not any other sounds ha ha ha. (Chamat opted to wait for cap 2 gajah, since cap 2 badak to him was not "kembang" enough).

Halal/Haram of Ilmu

"XXXXXX. Tadi ke XXXXX, apa hal. Nak kena sumpah seranah, kot teruk spm nanti. Nak ke... Kan ada waktu teluang tu study. Tunggu le saya balik. Nak bg tau cg XXXXX dulu. Degil... Tak selamat hidup."

An SMS from a Malay College teacher to his/her student

I have thought for a while whether I should comment on this or not. Despite the backlash, maybe it is a good reminder to all of us adults and parents that certain things are just off limit.

I have heard about some personalities who make a habit out of cursing the students. Usually on "tak halalkan mengajar, jadi tak berkat in your exam, padan muka". I was quite taken aback that these personalities take comfort and pride when students they don't like do not achieve good results in exams. These "bad" students were then made examples to the rest, usually "padan muka teruk, ilmu tak berkat, saya tak halal".

I do not want to go into the merits and demerits of managing supposedly problematic students. I come from a family of teachers, from my own siblings and many many cousins who take pride out of the noble career. So I can sympathise with the challenges and ordeals teachers have to deal on day to day basis and my admiration for them always.

Yet there must a certain "terms of engagement" in the duty of a teacher.

I have had my share of troubles in koleq. Once, I was bundled by Gedebe (together with Tungkid, Peah, Nik and a few others) into the sports storeroom behind the Senior Com and without a question, he asked us to line up. He whacked our backside so hard with his legendary belt - and to make matters worse, the buckle travelled all the way to the frontal private part, leaving a bruise at the tip of the genitalia for a few weeks to come. The pain to pee then, was worse than the pain to pee after masuk jawi!

I did many other things which some teachers were uncomfortable of. I published underground Warta KPKM that allegedly was the catalyst for the showdown between F5 and Prefects Board in KPKM election in 1993 - as a result, there was a long discussion with Tuan Haji Alimuddin (at that time he was the HEM) in his room. Gedebe also told me to stop writing for a while.

Pendek kata - I had created quite a lot of problems in koleq, in my own ways. Yes I did not have a colourful disciplinary records, yet I was a headache to some of the teachers.

But never in my life time I was threatened with this capital penalty of "kena sumpah, tak berkat belajar and lingkup study". Even Gedebe who could no longer tolerate my antics nearing the end of my days in koleq, just opted to keep a distance and he was not as chatty with me as before (to his credit, it was all my fault).

Gedebe was perhaps one of the most enigmatic teachers ever served MCKK (after all, mana nak cari cikgu kejar budak dengan parang!) - yet I have never heard him curse anyone. He would beat the hell of out anyone (remember the classic Shosha drama in the Dining Hall in 1991); yet one cannot help to reflect that most of the time, he did that out of love (and uncontrollable rage!).

Most of the teachers I come across beat us out of love - and I dare say this because they have never uttered any ill-feelings or wishes for something untoward for our future. If any, they always manage to see the lighter side of any "bad boys".

Remember Miss Au Yoong's fling and love affair with 5 Sc 5. With all due respect to 5 Sc 5, if I were a teacher back then, it would have been a great challenge to stay for a period in that class. Managing Kalai alone is more onerous than looking after one whole F1 or F2 (credit to Kalai!). Yet both Miss Au Yoong and the boys of 5 Sc 5 managed to bring the best out of each other - I watched the "Kehidupan Terlampau 1994" video and have to admit that Miss Au Yoong could not hide her happiness or how touched she felt when the boys of 5 Sc 5 greeted her at her car one day for one special occasion.

(to those uninitiated ones - 5 Sc 5 ni buleh kira dungeon laaa dulu, tempat students paling colourful! The next contender 5 Sc 4 je laa kot)

Or who could forget Tungkid's complete transformation to the point he was awarded a Special Award by the college for that transformation - because of the efforts, attention and love that Miss Liew showered on him. Fadli and I (and the Sc 1 boys) were also very close to Miss Liew - yet there was no way we could rival Tungkid's closeness.

And Tungkid never looked back - his personality, hard work and most importantly empathy (and understanding) are the exact same traits that have become the mark of the man now, that were nurtured by Miss Liew back then.

The reason I am writing this is not to be sentimental - but to give examples that a teaching profession is a labour of love, hence the utmost satisfaction must also be derived from the love that the teachers and students have for each other.

It is even more profound in a boarding school like MCKK - because these are our alternate parents, mothers and fathers while we were away from home. My parents never stopped mentioning that they raised me until I was 13, the rest I spent with my teachers and colleagues in MCKK and overseas after that - a clear sign of how grateful they are of the amanah that had been carried out by our teachers back then.

We were very lucky because we were blessed with teachers who loved us to bits. Even when as a batch we failed the expectation to make a record in SPM, the then HM wrote a melancholic letter to me in Scotland (of which I still keep) expressing his pride and love for all of us as a batch and how we had made his life easy. To him, the rather disastrous SPM result was a takdir, which he accepted gladly - since it was from an unexpected candidate.

How I pray and wish that a boy in Malay College now is showered with love in the same way that our teachers did way back - for that is also one of the tradition and ingredients that make MCKK experience so fulfilling.

However, one must begin to wonder what sort of environment children are subjected to - when teachers curse and deliver pronouncements of halal and haram of their teachings freely as matter of habit! It would not be long before students begin questioning adults' sincerity if each time they make mistake, we curse and pray for them to fail!

In my opinion, students do not have to worry when cursed (or threatened with haram ilmu!) by teachers with questionable sincerity, because I doubt their prayers have berkat in the first place!