Dr Claw and The Evil Cat

Last weekend, Awie and Toje drove all the way from Kuala Terengganu to Kuala Lumpur on a day trip to see me.

Toje has had a change of circumstances and he was thinking of doing a different business from what he is operating now. Toje has been operating a satay restaurant in Kuala Terengganu for a few months and from those who have sampled his satay, he was given good thumbs up.

By co-incidence I also wanted to catch up with Jita and Chamat since we had not seen each other for a while due to the different schedules in different time zones (ha ha), so we met up at The Curve.

From the word “go”, Toje realized that he was not going to get much help from me for his new business proposal because I felt that it was a short term remedy.

We ended up pressuring him to pursue his satay business; with all ideas and pledged support (the operative word is “pledged”) for him to start operating in Klang Valley.

I am an avid fan of satay and I have big issues with the monopoly of satay business in the Klang Valley, so it’s in our best interest to have competition. More so, because I feel that Malays should stand up and prove that they too can do well in retail business and not only interested in the quick margin made from Ali Baba business.

Awie made a joke about the 3 of us (Jita, Chamat and myself) behaving like the Mafia godfathers pressuring and misleading a hapless small time businessman with many promises of help in the beginning only to rein in later on – worse still when it’s a godfather with an evil cat on his lap.

Apparently, throughout the journey back to Kuala Terengganu Awie and Toje cracked their head trying to find solutions to some operational constraints Toje felt would become a major hindrance to the venture.

People – reserve some money to throw into Satay Yengko. If it happens, anyone who eats elsewhere, or holds a gathering at a different venue, does so on the pain of being thrown out of the batch for good!

POSTSCRIPT

I had a coffee with a sweet and kind-hearted couple – Kak Sham and Abang Nik – whose son was from the Class of 08. They have been giving a lot of encouragements to us for the voluntary work we were doing in MCKK and eventually we become friends.

When asked about what is so special about MCKK – I told them that it is the support system we get from our batch. It’s not the name, not the connections, not the glamour, not the reputation – it’s the fact that I know I have a bunch of 100 people who will go a long way to assist me when I need help one day, within their limitations.

That’s the beauty of being a part of a group of people like this. It’s so easy to tap into each others’ brain and expertise and people are willing to help without expecting anything in return (or so they think he he).

To those who have just left MCKK – whether you are thoroughbred or not, stay close to your brothers although you do not feel belonged to the school as much as we felt back then. They are your best support system in the future – when you need to borrow money, when you need distraction from hitting a wall in your career, when you need inspiration, when you need professional advice for free, when you want to find business partners and most importantly – when you are in a desperate search for honest friends. Your batch never let you down.

For more stories about Awie & Toje, read here.

Harimau Mati Meninggalkan Belang, Manusia Mati Meninggalkan Nama

Sebulan lepas genaplah dua tahun Allahyarham Shahrol Nizam Yusof kembali ke rahmatullah.

Walaupun dari kelas yang berbeza, beliau (yang setahun lebih tua dari kami) sangatlah rapat dengan kami dari Class of 94, kadang-kadang nampak seolah-olah beliau lebih rapat dengan kami berbanding dengan batch sendiri.

Benarlah kata pepatah, harimau mati meninggalkan belang, manusia mati meninggalkan nama.

Arwah Shahrol merupakan seorang yang jujur, rajin, ikhlas dan sangat disayangi. Pemergian beliau ditangisi semua orang hingga ke hari ini, walaupun kami tidak mampu mengotakan banyak janji kami kepada beliau untuk memberi penghormatan yang kena pada tempatnya, setaraf dengan kemuliaan beliau sebagai seorang yang berbudi pekerti tinggi.

Empat bulan lalu apabila saya mengambil keputusan beralih angin dari majikan lama, seorang teman rapat beliau yang tidak pernah saya kenali menulis e-mail berikut:

"I started to hear your name from my best friend Arwah Shahrol Nizam. He kept on mentioning your name everytime we spoke about our political scenario. Even though, somehow he did a U-turn at the middle of the journey but I still keep a close contact with him. 5 days before Hari Raya we met up at a mamak stall and we keep on arguing about politics and why he decided to join ***********. I knew I hurt him that night when I said to him he’s not going to get far in politics.

After Raya, he called me and said he wants to meet up but I couldn’t make it as I have a programs with my family. He was quite sad from his tone voice. Two days laters I received a phone calls from my friend that Shahrol has passed away. I was stunned……….

The reason I told you this story is because I want you to know that Petronas has lost 2 of the best staff within a short duration. I never talk to you as I never know you personally but after I read your letter, I know this is the guy that Arwah always mentioned about.

I hope whatever path you take after this is going to take you to a greater height and I will not be surprise if one day you will become a MP or Adun.

Take care my brother and please be strong in whatever you do in the future."

Al-Fatihah untuk beliau.

Saudaraku Allahyarham Shahrol, doa kami bersamamu sentiasa, janji kami untuk mengingati dan menjaga kebajikan warismu sentiasa diingati, Halalkanlah kelemahan dan kealpaan kami, Moga kemuliaanmu menjadi ikutan mereka yang pernah bertuah mengenalimu.

Kepada pelajar-pelajar Kolej Melayu generasi kini yang pernah mengenali beliau – contohilah budi pekerti Arwah Shahrol, akhlak beliau adalah cermin terbaik kejayaan MCKK mendidik anak-anak kampung.

EGM Batch dan Pemilihan AJK Batch Baru

Bersempena dengan musim2 EGM ala MCA ni, demam EGM pun melarat la jugak ke dysfunctional batch ni.

Cerita pasal AJK Batch for this century ni dah lama dibawa, especially since lantikan Haji Botchap sebagai AJK Batch in charge of Keselamatan Internet, to monitor comments and activities on the blog. This is called unmoderated moderation; because he resorts to the most intense kind of blitzkrieg that unless you can put up with poos thrown to your face, most probably you will call it a day.

Ever since the effectiveness of Haji Botchap in policing the batch’s safety on the net, the idea for the election of new AJK Batch has gathered momentum.

Khalid took the first step a few weeks ago:

As always, instead of concentrating, the suggestion digressed:

Until Radin came back to make another suggestion:

Memandangkan tekanan yang semakin memuncak dan untuk mengelakkan krisis seperti di dalam MCA berlaku (kerana kami yengko dan mengamalkan semangat “Kami UniteFect!!!”), mewakili AJK Batch yang dilantik dalam tahun 1990 (dan 1991 bagi jawatan-jawatan lantikan dan seperti biasa aku self proclaim jadi spokesman) dengan ini mengumumkan meletakkan jawatan, bagi membolehkan satu EGM dipanggil untuk perlantikan baru. Ini kami rasakan wajar tanpa perlu memanggil pihak ketiga (contohnya prefect Prep School ke, warden ke, HM ke, Che Nah Che Ni ke) untuk menjadi referee (macam MCA).

Kami yang meletakkan jawatan adalah:

AJK BATCH 1990

Presiden : Sdr Ahmad Razally Abdul Rahim (aka Hj Toy – err Khalid jangan silap lagi, nanti no dobi kena lelong)

Timbalan Presiden: Sdr Amer Azraen Rosman (Si Botak Bongkok Tiga, dah hilang kat mana pun tak tahu, no dobi dalam list lelongan sbb miss gathering banyak sangat)

Setiausaha I: Sdr Mohd Rafizi Ramli (we don’t have to make comments for each person)

Setiausaha II: Sdr Zahadin Omar (kalau nak cari dowloaded videos, apa2 macam pun, cari lah dia)

Bendahari: Sdr Mohd Khafiz Amat Noh (dah lama resign, RIP dari koleq since 1993 lagi sebab kena racun ngan Fadli in order to eliminate competition nak jadi top student. Jahat la kau Fadli)

AJK: Sdr Fadhil Datuk Azman (taukeh helikopter dan kapal terbang)

AJK: Sdr Mohd Nadzrie Azhar (errr selain budak koop, kau pun AJK batch kan?)

AJK: Ha ha ha yang lain aku dah lupa. Hampeh betul

Kemudian dalam tahun 1991 masa F2, sebab semua nak expand faction masing2 dalam AJK Batch and berdasarkan prinsip “if you can’t change them, you bring them on board so that they become like you” (ala2 meneutralkan ahli2 PKR masuk UMNO la ni), perlantikan-perlantikan berikut telah dibuat untuk menguatkan lagi saf AJK Batch budak2 yengko, menjadikannya kabinet terbesar di MCKK mengalahkan kabinet Tun Lah lepas 2004 election:

AJK2 LLANTIKAN 1991

Sdr Khairul Nizam Mois (kan Kalai, kau AJK batch dulu kan?)

Sdr Faidzal Haslah Hassan (dengan ucapan terkenalnya “Berkat tu, nama saja Melayu….” he he)

Sdr Khairul Fitri Othman (aku rasa la, or maybe I mistaken him for budak Warta since Fitt budak Warta sekali)

Sdr Ahmad Fakharuddin (alamak Kadaq, apa nama ayahanda kau?)

Sdr Ahmad Nizam Jembari (yg ni jadi bouncer dan untuk kerja2 halimunan di waktu malam, senang dia nak mengendap)

Sdr Fazrul Hisyam Zakaria (aku rasa lah kan)

Sdr Hairul Nizam Ismail (yang ni aku sure kot)

For the record, aku tak ingat portfolio masing-masing although ONE or TWO of them adalah AJK Keselamatan (he he bouncer la kot). Fadli still merasakan begitu selamat duduk di Big School atas jasa2 AJK Keselematan ni, although it is not known whether diorang pernah tibai sapa2 dalam menjalankan kerja melindungi jambu2 batch (although whether Fadli perlu dilindungi in the first place, remains to be debated).

Oleh itu, untuk meraikan ulangtahun 20 tahun kita mengenali MCKK dan dicap sebagai batch yengko yang tidak perform dan agaklah bodoh dari segi pencapaian SPMnya, kita akan memulakan perayaan dua dasawarsa dengan mengadakan EGM.

Aku sekali lagi melantik diri sendiri sebagai SPR Yengko (dengan jaminan kertas undian dan pengiraan undi tidak akan melibatkan random no generator Excel yang digunapakai semasa cabutan lucky draw in the 2005 reunion) dan membuka pencalonan-pencalonan bagi jawatan-jawatan seperti berikut (mereka yang disenaraikan adalah calon2 yang telah pun menawarkan diri atau merasuah aku untuk dicalonkan):

AJK BATCH 2 DASAWARSA

Ketua Umum: Encik Syed Khalid AlJuned dari Pulau Pinang (sebab tu dia bersungguh2 suggest EGM ni)

Mursyidul Am: Syeikh Wan Ezrin

AJK Information: Encik Syed Khalid AlJuned (yang ni pun dia melantik diri sendiri aku rasa dalam email hari tu)

AJK Keselamatan Internet: Haji Shahrol Shaari (menang tanpa bertanding ala2 “saya mencadangkan Sdr Shahrol” -> “Saya mencadangkan cadangan ditutup” -> “Saya menyokong cadangan cadangan ditutup” -> “Cadangan ditutup”)

AJK Hubungan Betik: Pasangan En Hafiznizam Hashim/En Fadli Riza Ramli dan dicabar oleh regu En Didee Ezral/En Azrai Abdullah Azizi (mesti berpasangan satu batch)

AJK Romantika & Kenangan Jambu: En Mohd Nadzrie Azhar (cadangan masih belum ditutup)

AJK Tatabahasa: En Mohd Hazly Abdulah (ada pencabar ke ni?)

AJK KONEK: En Mohd Gadaffi Hussein

AJK Piawaian Joke: En Radin Mazlan Radin Baharudin

AJK Keselamatan: En Syed Mohd Jamalullail Syed Mahdhar Bilfagih, En Mohd Nooraizi Mohd Nor, En Idzam Noor Shahidan (hi hi hi yang ni de facto berdasarkan size berat badan)

AJK Kelab Penyokong Yengko 94: Puan Redhalina, Puan Aily dan Puan Ayu (errr mintak permission husband dulu nooo….)

AJK Internet: Tengku Ahmad Ismawi Tengku Ismail (de facto kot)

AJK Publisiti Yengko: Encik Khairul Nizam Omar (atas kapasiti sebagai blogger celebriti)

JAWATAN-JAWATAN EX-OFFICIO

Top jambu: En Hailzam Anuar Shahrom

Top penjambu: En Mohd Masrul Nazir

Top ex-jambu: En Mohd Sazali Said

Jawatan-jawatan lain yang ingin dipertandingkan juga bolehlah diajukan kepada SPR Yengko untuk dipertimbangkan.

Tarikh EGM dan pengundian akan diumumkan dalam bulan Disember, walau bagaimana pun hanya beberapa orang sahaja yang benar-benar diluar negara dibenarkan menjadi pengundi pos (Sdr KNO di Pakistan, Sdr Mior di Australia, Sdr Chamat di Beijing, Sdr Fazurin di Washington, Sdr Che Mad Gorilla di Michigan, Sdr Madad di England. Sdr Wong, kalau setakat memanjat gunung di mana2 tidak layak menjadi pengundi pos).

Selamat mengundi!

“Mari lah mari, kita mengundi…. (aku dah lupa lirik)”

Fadli, mana diary kau?

Since Fadli has been enticing the batch with the disclosure of his diary pages (and blackmailing people along the way) for the last few years but never put the money where his mouth is – let me do the honour.

Let me give a sneak preview of the first page of 1994’s diary that I used to keep.

Ha ha I tried to pass the first page and nearly fainted at the stupidity of my adolescence. Did not pass the first page ha ha.

Anyway apart from all the stupid things I wrote there, I also burned a mattress that night. Ha ha.

So Fadli – where is your diary, otherwise kita start lelongan.

E53 starts with 20 sen (harga permulaan bersamaan harga cempedak goreng Uncle David)….. and Epit tak dibenarkan bidding.

PS:

1) Diary aku tiap2 hari ada doa and hadis sebab aku dulu Presiden BRU. Kena maintain status (until they found out what I got for Agama in SPM)

2) Diary ni ala2 blog la dulu, tapi kau sendiri tulis (ni untuk budak2 sekarang yang tak tahu diary ni apa). Best sebab tak macam blog, korunk bleh ktuk orunk gler2, cer pe pn x pe sbb orunk x leh bce.

The Final Parting

I finally say goodbye to the MCKK debating team – 3 years later than the original plan. The whole coaching was accidental anyway – I never planned to be spending as much time as I had with a bunch of kids. I never thought I could stand kids that long; knowing how stern and feared I was with my own nephew and nieces.

I don’t know whether events that had taken place for the last two years were writings on the wall that I should move on; or because I wanted to move on so much I interpreted any events as signs that I should move on. Either way it was not important – I came to the point that I did not enjoy doing it anymore.

I left short of one month before hitting six years. Six years of coaching a debating contingent comprising of 30+ students each year, without being paid or ever receiving any form of personal or official appreciation from the school, is very long indeed. It is not so much of the personal toll that it had taken (financially and time wise); nor was it ever about appreciation – I came to realize that I would never be able to achieve what I set out to do.

And I cannot dwell on the reasons of why we did what we did, without revisiting the conversations we had among the coaches from the 90s generation in late 2003.

The late Adlan Benan Omar – the towering figure who almost single-handedly built the discipline and loyalty among the debaters that we boast nowadays – was against the idea from the very beginning. He knew me enough to know that one day I would be let down by the whole enterprise, knowing how single-minded I can be about a passion I pursue and knowing how the rest of the world would never want to keep up with me. Until his untimely passing away in 2008; he kept reminding me that he did what he did as far as MCKK’s debating team was concerned; out of loyalty to a naïve junior whom he had loved as a brother till the end.

The other brother who also had passed away in the midst of the enterprise – Allahyarham Shahrol Nizam Yusoff – kept reminding me throughout that I must be prepared mentally and emotionally to be let down by the boys and the school. He too knew me enough to see what may yet pass in the future.

Unfortunately (or fortunately); as if pathologically consistent with my behaviours all these years; I listened to counsel only to satisfy the need for a counsel. By the time I asked for opinions, usually I have made up my mind and very rarely people can convince me to change my mind. The enterprise would go on and the other senior debaters reluctantly trudged along out of loyalty to a friend.

So began a 6-year long enterprise – I was joined by arwah Ben and Dany (Class of 90), Rizal Zin (SAS Class of 92), arwah Shahrol (Class of 93), Fazurin and Chamat (Class of 94) and Sani (Class of 95). We were also aided by the non-debaters – Canoe (Class of 93) and Allen (Class of 94).

Once in a while Faiz and Penyu (Class of 91) and Kechoque (Class of 93) would come and join us. We also include Izrin (Class of 2000) and his generation’s debaters in the loop with the hope of passing the baton to them by 2006 – though that did not materialize.

In the course of 6 years since late 2003, we had never failed to follow the team to any single tournament; conducted countless training and workshops; sent hundreds of letters and postcards to the debaters individually and as a team; and even more countless SMS throughout the year. Each year we saw the new debaters take the place as the senior ones left the school to join the coaching bench.

Initially it was about restoring MCKK’s place as the giant of this country’s debating world. To a certain extent we did exactly that – although we never passed the semi-final curse for PPM (but looking at the quality of the teams that had been going to the final or winning PPM; it’s not too much of a disappointment because if we were to go to the final, it would have been about upgrading the standard of the PPM final; not to be put in the same league as the rest). MCKK went to the final for 5 consecutive years to the UIA National Inter-school Championship; the biggest debating tournament in the country. In 2004, both the BM and English went to the final. From 2004 until 2008, our debaters dominated the top best speakers list and won the overall and final best speaker title for 2006 to 2008. In 2007 when we won the championship – the team won a knock out 9 – 0 majority throughout; a feat not yet achieved by any teams (schools or universities) in the country before or since.

Our English debaters also did well in the domain alien to us i.e. competition against the non-Malays. We were the standard bearer of Malay boys in non-Malays dominated championship like HELP University Debating Championship, going to the semi-final in 2006. In 2004, 2005 and 2006 our debaters were the sole Malay speakers (or sole Malay male speaker in 2006) qualifying for the national level championship of the oratory competition organized by The Star and ESUM (English Speaking Union of Malaysia) for college and school students.

Outside the debating arena, our boys also contributed greatly to MCKK. The high echelons of KPKM and Prefects Board in 2004 to 2008 were dominated by debaters. We produced one head boy, one KPKM President, 4 KPKM Deputy Presidents and countless KPKM Excos. 2 debaters were also the recipients of Carey Award/Bolkiah Award – the highest award for MCKK students. Out of 3 SBP Full Colours recipients from MCKK in the period of 2004 to 2009; 2 were debaters. One debater was also crowned Scholar of The Year, another one was the recipient of Kijang Emas special scholarship by Bank Negara Malaysia (only around four such scholarships awarded each year to the country’s top SPM achievers; only 2 MCKK boys had been awarded in between 2004 and 2009).

All this is outstanding given the fact that each batch only has two to four debaters on average – showing how much they have dominated the school’s life in the past 6 years.

In terms of accolades, Ben and Shahrol should be smiling in the grave that they had helped to restore MCKK debaters to the place we once occupied in the 90s in the debating arena and the school’s life.

So which part of the objectives that we did not achieve?

When we started out, it was always about the boys. We sacked coaches when he could not put the boys’ interest before everything else. We crawled in front of the school administrators, no matter how rude or inconsiderate they could be sometimes; so that we could guarantee our presence among the boys. We put up with the inefficiencies and bureaucracy; and the school’s taking advantage of our volunteerism from time to time – so that we could make sure the boys would continue to benefit from our presence.

It has always been about making men out of boys; to make sure that future generations of MCKK boys can live up to our values and expectation. These are the values we learnt from the school and the values we strived to inculcate among the boys from their first day – that of leadership, industriousness, resourcefulness, sacrifice, courtesy and selflessness. From the first day they were told of our expectation – it would never matter whether they win debating tournaments or not so long they live up to our values.

While we had successes here and there, along the way cracks began to show everywhere. The problem with such an enterprise is the long gestation period between sowing the seed (so to speak); and seeing the final tree that it grows to become.

Many times we had pre-empted them with all the pitfalls they would face once they leave the school that would distract them from keeping their promises. We held their hands longer than necessary. We shouldered the burden from the teachers more than any other coaches that we have come across had done and eventually the teachers began to let outsource the responsibilities more and more to us.

In retrospect, that could be one of the many Achilles Heels of the whole enterprise. It was based on the premise that the boys and the adults around them understand and appreciate the values we espoused as much as we do; so that nobody takes advantage of anyone. Gullible as always, I actually thought that when we give tools and guidance to anyone, they would rise up to occasion to honour the trust given to them.

Sometimes it happens, many times it did not.

Over the years, the quality began to deteriorate and the differences of opinion with the other adults around them grew louder; that I began to wonder whether whatever values we tried so hard to inculcate were being undone by the environment they lived in.

At the same time, I see the commitment among the very people we invested so much to take over the enterprise when the time comes began to waiver. They fell into the same traps that we had forewarned them so many times before – either they were obsessed with the life after college; or their priorities changed.

Most of all, the present debaters began to live further and further away from the values we expect of them. We struggled with the senior debaters throughout 2009 and the final straw was when the very captain that we spent so much time coaching and mentoring; abandoned the team in the face of defeat in exchange for personal moments with some personal friends from girl schools; when any captain before or after would have rallied the team and saw them through their lowest points.

(I don’t even have to mention about the length we have to go through with a set of parents who lay blames on everything in this world - and debating is an easy target all the time).

Besides, all the other coaches have left the bench and I am the only one from the 90s generation still around – so it gets lonelier by the day.

So one day I wake up and decided that the wheel must turn. What goes up must come down, a privilege given can be taken back. In the grand scheme of things, when so much has been fed it would begin to become counterproductive on the very values you want to teach them - resourcefulness, courtesy and leadership; because they (the boys and the teachers) can always fall back on the coaches.

I finally realize that we have reached a turning point that the crutches which were once given to the boys to quickly gain their footing, are the very ill that they must rid of if they want to understand what values they need in order to be successful in the future.

Along the way, in their struggle and low points, another bunch of like-minded boys hell bent on claiming their rightful place as the giant of Malaysian debating circle will come along to begin to turn the wheel up again – not unlike the coming of Adlan Benan Omar or the recent generation of debaters in the 2004 – 2008 period. Until such time, MCKK debating teams are doomed to the twilight years unless they buck up and remember what made them great in the first place.

To the junior coaches – we leave behind all that you ever needed in order to maintain the chain, as the chain should never be broken (as you were taught from day one). There is no longer any rope to save nor to restrict you; you shall shape the boys in your image as how we tried to shape you in our image in the last 6 years. Time will tell how you fare; as time too will ultimately judge the people before you in this enterprise.

We can finally take our leave and as we set sail metaphorically to the West; you too must remember this:

“I made a promise Mr Frodo, don’t you ever leave him – and I don’t mean to”.

Good luck, may we stand the test of time!

September 2009

The Different Stock

Caught up with someone.

Thought of asking him to do something out of ordinary - because in many respects he can be extra ordinary.

He felt that he does not have the passion and stomach; and in his words (roughly) "usually only MCKK boys display this kind of energy and passion".

What was so different about the five years in Kuala Kangsar, that made all the difference 20 years later?

Looking back, I think we were raised to have a sense of purpose from the very beginning, in whatever we do - even if you are the guy who bolot everyone else's ration, you want to be the best (referring to Bochap); you want to fit as many karipaps as possible in your pocket.

I wonder whether the same "sense of purpose" is still being inculcated in the boys in Kuala nowadays. It will make all the difference when they grow up; they will be made of sterner stuff.

I look back and wonder why I am always more comfortable and trusting of another MCKK guy - that's because they have a sterner heart and stomach to pursue things which other people couldn't care less; and along the way makes the difference (this is of course, a general generalisation so let's not get into the details)/

I should go to sleep if I want to make a difference tomorrow.

You Are Old When....

SMS 1:

"Ha ha how is he? Hope he is fine. I do miss him actually. One of these days, when the timing is right, pls tell him i've forgiven him a long time ago & had always loved him. Just in case i die young, just tell that to him. Dia kderas kepala & would never apologise, as always :-)"

SMS 2:

"The quietest people are always the most stubborn ones. He looks fine. Nothing different. Same old him."

SMS 3:

"So apa plan this weekend ni? I feel old & things r moving very fast around us. Good if we catch up. Ooo well he is like that, I think he is still wounded of having to *********. I hope it was worth it for him. It felt like ages ago ha ha"

Age is really catching up. I can feel it each passing moment.

Rain Or Shine (In Person)

The Mighty Ducks Cup celebrated its third birthday last month. We thought since it has come of age, it was time to make it an invitational tournament because what the boys need most was lots and lots of game exposures. Besides, after 2 years of giving free t-shirts to boys who only turn up for fun and free t-shirts, we learnt the lesson not to repeat it for the third time.

As we went along, the planning and organising got more and more erratic; and we spent less and less time coordinating. The only time we allocated for MDC09 was a short 10 minutes during KNO’s farewell party – even that, there were so much confusion that the discussion was ended prematurely.

2 months ago I went on a rampage telling off Ben (Class of 08) how disappointed we were that they did not seem to be interested to come back to help. Being proper as always, Ben must have rallied his batchmates and one week before the tournament, we realised that we had to transport 7 teenagers (and none of us looked forward to that!).

Usually there would be at least one person who took charge – either I was shouting, or Chamat went running around with a whip, or Badut throwing sarcastic remarks – but this time around, it was nearly a complete silence. Idzam tried his best to coordinate but his emails were not even read. I was struggling with thousands of batch emails in my Blackberry; Badut never reads emails anyway. Chamat opted out this time around; Epit and Mpro could not make it – Joe and Chibix were waiting for Badut to confirm the no of teams participating (and Badut was incommunicado) and KNO was already in Pakistan. Canoe rarely responded to emails.

The school, as always, adopted a hands-off approach to the whole thing so the command and control was executed from KL throughout.

It was only in the last week that things started to gather momentum; with each of us doing our bits on our own without cross checking whether others were doing their bits, thinking that all would be doing their parts. There was no command and control at all eventually; but slowly the turf was confirmed, we managed to get the six teams we wanted, lunch was arranged after being redirected a couple of times and the banner was ready at the eleventh hour.

In the end, it was the smoothest Mighty Ducks Cup ever. Class of 08 boys were a great help that for once, we could enjoy the game and had some rest.

Koleq did not win of course. We sent 2 teams – the first team was made up mostly of Form 3s and the second team of Form 2s and Form 1s. Our first team could have made it to the second spot – they won against MC 2^nd team, STAR and SMK Hutan Melintang, but lost to both Clifford teams.

Clifford’s 1^st team was ranked top together with SMK Hutan Melintang, so it was understandable that we lost to Clifford; yet our boys were controlling the game and could have won against Clifford’s 2^nd team.

Perhaps their biggest achievement was defeating SMK Hutan Melintang – as koleq’s 1^st team was the only team in the tournament to defeat the Hilir Perak’s champion (they drew against Clifford 1^st and defeated Clifford 2^nd).

We concluded that the boys, as always, took too long to warm up. Their defeats to Clifford’s teams were their second and third game respectively and they were definitely still sleeping.

Despite all this, we were quite optimistic that the boys can be a major pretender to the SBP’s throne next year (at least for North Zone). But then again, we were almost too optimistic all the time as it was the only way to keep doing this after 3 years.

What made MDC09 most memorable was Koja’s presence. Koja (En Muzaffar Shah) was an old boy from Class of 81 and was a Perak champion for two times (1981 and 1982). He went to the States and came back to teach in MCKK from 1988 to 1994. He was MCKK’s coach in that period and was credited for the tagline “Rain Or Shine” that had become a permanent motto for the team (each day, he would write a notice at the foyer’s notice board to remind hockey players of the daily training; and that the boys must come down “rain or shine”).

Badut and Kalai managed to trace him down and we invited him as a guest of honour. He didn’t say it out loud, but I think he was really proud with what we were doing.

We spent a lot of time catching up and we updated him with what was going on in MCKK since we first got involved. Koja always took a deep interest in budak koleq’s affairs; in fact in our first year, the first political coup was instigated by him – so Koja and I went a long way back (ha ha).

We finished with a thrashing of the boys, at Mr Thaman’s request. He felt that we (the old boys) have more right to tell the boys off, so we agreed for a pep talk session. At the end of it, after one hour of Badut’s and my curses – it made him felt so bad that he gave the hampers we bought for him (and other coaches) to the boys ha ha.

I no longer think that MCKK will ever win any competition after this – even our hockey boys will not win a tournament; because winning would have been unfair to other schools and the respective teachers which put a lot more efforts and sweat and toil compared to their counterparts in MCKK.

But that does not kill the magical feeling of how Mighty Ducks has changed our lives – bringing together people from various races, backgrounds, beliefs, ages and nationalities for the love of a school and a game.

Rain or shine, it was simply magical!

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7 old boys from Class of 08 joined us – Ben, Abe, Acap, Anding, Hairy, Kay and Farid. Three (Ben, Abe & Acap) joined me and Pak Tuan in my car; whilst Anding and Kay were supposed to join Badut and Joe; and Hairy and Farid in Chibiok’s car.

“Badut, mana kau?”

“Aku kejap lagi tapi kau bawak dulu la diorang kita jumpa kat Rawang R&R”

Sejam kemudian

“Badut mana kau? Aku lama dah tunggu kau kat sini”

“Alamak aku dah lepas Rawang la, since kau dah jadi father figure budak2 tu”

Maka bermulalah kisah manja Abang Chibiok jadi baby-sitter kepada 4 orang super juniors, sambil bukak lagu lullaby yang digunakan untuk menidurkan anak2nya. Selain menjadi father figure, Abang Chibiok tidak mengecewakan reputasi balak idamannya – membeli NGA TA kepada jambu2 juniors.

Talking about jambu, Acap had the saddest and most frustrated look when we asked kenapa tak de orang nak layan kau as jambu? Seolah-olah dia nak jerit “why not me…”

Selepas berjam-jam menunggu Chibiok sampai sebab kitorang nak ligan rumah dia, kitorang give up and decided duduk kat Homestay di Bukit Chandan, nasib baik ada.

Bila Chibiok & jambus and Badut/Joe sampai, tak sempat pulak nak tido sebab banyak innuendos, especially bila Chibiok berkongsi air mattress dengan Badut.

“Chibiok, jangan lah bukak baju”

“Chibiok! Kau bukak seluar”

“Badut! Janganlah henjut”

Dan sebagainya sehingga ke larut pagi. Ada lah juga pengakuan2 yang mengejutkan seperti kisah berkongsi satu duvet dengan Fadli dan kejadian panas di kaki (tak payah lah dielaborate di sini) dan macam-macam lagi.

Kesimpulan yang dicapai pada malam itu (5 orang pak cik boroi share satu bilik) adalah:

1) Jangan bagi Epit arrange makan2 (ha ha)

2) Mungkin Mighty Ducks Cup jadi lancar sebab Epit tak de (ha ha)

Last-last sekali, sebelum semua orang balik lepas ambik gambar ramai2, Thorsten suruh kita paksa budak2 ni watch Might Ducks I for them to understand what we are doing.

Photos here