If I could live through it all again..

Growing up in a ‘cowboy’ town……

Occasionally, in my moments of solitude, my memory would travel through time and takes me back to the times when I was that little boy that lived in this small ‘cowboy’ town of Tampin, Negri Sembilan, a border town at the southern-tip Main Range of Peninsular Malaysia. And most times the play-back of those memories would go back to the times of my life during the 60’s. And life as I knew it then was simply laid back, easy and peaceful. Not too complicated, complex and fast-paced as it is today. I was born in the early 50’s and just a couple of years before colonized Malaya gained independence from the British colonial rule.  But it was during my formative years in the 60’s that I learned the most of life’s basics. Perhaps that is why pieces of these memories never failed to make its play-backs repeatedly in my head even till this day. And each time those memories come back to mind, I’d simply cherish them all the same as how I have always enjoyed watching for the hundredth times the late Tan Sri P.Ramlee’s ‘Bujang Lapok’ movie series.

     

Tampin is just a small town where almost everybody knows everybody’s sons and daughters. The locals called this town a cowboy town because the entire town is just a two-row shop-houses that are mostly pre-war buildings built on opposite sides of the only main road cutting through the center of the town. Just a straight drive through the town and one would have seen the entire stretch of the town in just five minutes or less. Still, it was the second busiest and most ‘happening’ town in the state of Negri Sembilan after Seremban, then. Smack in the middle of the town one could find the border stone demarcating the states of Negri Sembilan and Melaka (or Malacca as it was spelt then). So it is no wonder that the small town has two cinemas, two markets and even an amusement park. From a geographical point of view, I can say that I had lived and grew up within the two states during the most part of my early life.

       

Yes, life in the early 60s was relatively simple and easy. The way most things moved and happened were generally acceptable and accustomed by majority of the three prominent races i.e. the Malays, Chinese and Indians. Malaya (as it was called then) had a population of only about 8 million people and being a young  independent nation it is quite understandable that it lacks plenty of most things, especially the basic infra-structures other than those that were already built and provided by the British colonial masters. Fortunately, my hometown has got a primary and a secondary English school to which I was ‘forcibly’ enrolled and got my first lesson and exposure to the English language. There was only one primary Malay school upon which the students from this school would have to attend the compulsory ‘remove class’ for one year before advancing to Form One in the English secondary school. Honestly, to this day, I still do not quite comprehend why they called it ‘remove class’. Luckily for me, my father had the presence of mind and stood his ground in exercising his stern and uncompromising ways (as he always did) to enroll me in the English school for my Primary One. I cried and pleaded to my father so that I could be enrolled into the Malay school for my primary one as most of my friends have decided the same. Besides, I was also driven by that overwhelming fear of learning and understanding the English language if I went to the English school. But my old man did not budge and I never got my wish. In later years, some of my friends who attended the Malay primary school had difficulties in their studies even after completing the remove class. Back then, all subjects (other than the Malay Language) were taught in English. And the English that we learned and were taught then was the Queen’s English. Therefore it would be difficult for any student to excel in their studies (other than being lazy of course) if they could not command at least the minimal standard of the language. Most text and reference books were printed in English and of course the questions in the exams were all set in English. There were three examinations in the primary and secondary education system adopted by the government then. The first and most basic was the standard 6 examination. This is a must-pass examination before one could be enrolled into the Form One secondary school. This would be followed by the Form Three examination or better known as the Lower Certificate of Education (LCE) and finally the Form Five examination or otherwise known as the Senior Cambridge (SC) examination. The LCE and SC are both accredited by the Cambridge University of England which is one of the world’s oldest universities. I can take pride that I sat and passed these examinations and belong to the older generation of past graduates of the renowned Cambridge University…..even though I barely passed and almost failed the Form Five examination!

Back to the good old days of the 60’s, from music to fashion, lifestyles, food, entertainment, movies, toys and games and a host of other things, these are so much different and unique from the present day. Music for example has more soul to both its rhythm and lyrics that everyone from young to the old could relate to and serenade or dance to its tempo effortlessly. I have tried listening to today’s contemporary music and to understand its lyrics and ‘feel’ its soul but I guess despite my natural talent for music I still find it hard to appreciate the melody, much less its lyrics. I failed miserably trying to relate this kind of music to my soul. I’d rather take my chances sitting for the same Form Five examination papers that I almost failed decades ago……….I may probably fare better!

We did not have the television back in the old days. The national TV only came to being in late 1963 and when it did the programs were all broadcasted in black and white and the airtime was very limited. So before the TV came, the most common entertainment outlet affordable by most folks during that era would surely be listening to the radio or watching movies at the two cinemas. Occasionally (and what a big deal it was then) some would bring their family members to that one and only amusement park for their family outing. The Pearl Amusement Park (as it was known) is surely pale by comparison to today’s theme parks but it had provided so much thrills and fun to kids like me and my friends from the various games, rides  and food stalls in the park.  Occasionally too, the Malayan Film Unit of the Broadcasting Ministry would come to town and provide free open-air theatre or “tayangan wayang gambar percuma” for the town folks. I and my friends have always looked forward to these guys’ visits to town. The place of this ‘tayangan wayang gambar percuma’  is none other than the town’s padang or public playing field which is the most strategic place for most public functions and occasions. The free feature film would normally be a western movie and my favorites were of course the Cowboys and Red Indians movies as well as the all-time kid’s hero of my time, Tarzan. The movies would usually start at about 8 pm but by 5 pm the crew would already be busy setting up the giant screen and testing the sound system. Even while all these activities are going on the town folks are already gathered and crowding the padang. Some are even seen ‘booking’ the best spots for the night’s show by laying weaved mats, pieces of cardboards or newspapers to get better viewing spots. And even by then, you can already hear the tinkling sound of the bell from the ice-cream seller and not to be missed too…the kacang putih seller! There was already like an air of festivities surrounding you…..how much simpler can that be to get the whole town folks gathered in excitement!  We don’t really need superstars from the big towns to come to town to give us this kind of thrills and excitements. And for the teenagers, this was an opportune time to meet up between friends or even to ‘main-main mata’ or literally translated ‘eye flirting’ between the opposite genders. Probably this free movie thing is one of the few occasions whereby parents are a little bit lenient about their teenagers going for a night outing. Quite unfortunate for me that I was a little too young then to get myself involved in that ‘main-main mata’ thrills. It could have been a lot more fun flirting the old fashion ways!  

The free movie shows were more frequently held during the country’s general election seasons as this has been a proven strategy for the pro-government politicians to gather the masses and hear them speak in their campaign trails around the district. Often times however, the movie show is stopped midway (and sometimes at almost the climax part of the story!) to give way for the political speeches. As it was a free show, nobody complained even if the speaker is long-winded in his fiery political speech. We would all patiently stay on so that we could watch the ending part of the movie. Still, it was worth it….

            

The radio, the TV and the cinema….

We did not have the TV (a.k.a by some ‘the idiot box’) in the early days not until late 1963 which was just a couple of months after the formation of the new Malaysia on 16^th September 1963.  Before the TVs came, getting connected to the outside world besides reading the newspaper is by listening to the radio. The radio is a must-have thing in every household those days and you know what? We folks had so much imagination when it comes to listening to the radio. Some of us listeners could even shed tears from the heart-touching sad stories, laughed our hearts out to the comical sketches or even send shivers down our spine by the eerie and ghostly dramas. I remember vividly when I and my younger siblings used to listen to those ghost and haunted stories. These dramas are usually aired at night perhaps to give a more scary and frightful effect to the listeners. By the time the radio drama ends, we would be hurtling to one corner of the bed out of fright. Some of us would even have a hard time trying to sleep and even if we finally did the scary nightmares came haunting us!  None of us would dare go alone to the toilet to take a leak. Just think of this…there were not even any visuals to it but simply a good drama script, some studio sound and music effects and a very good imagination is all it takes for us to be immensely entertained. What a simple life that can be…..

       

When the TV made its first broadcast, for the first time in our lives, we folks could watch feature films, cartoons, dramas and sports in the comfort of our homes (though it was only in black and white). There were only 2 available channels and unlike today, the program airtime then was very limited. Transmission starts at 5.00 pm and ends at 12 midnight. But of course, not every folks could afford to buy a TV set in the beginning as the TV sets were all fully imported and cost a fortune to most. But I and my siblings were a bit fortunate than most of my neighborhood friends as my dad was one of the first few folks in town who bought a TV set. It still puzzled me though that with his meagre income he could still buy that TV set. Probably my dad could have purchased that TV on credit terms. The practice of credit extended by lender to borrower that was done in good faith was common then and often referred or termed as ‘tulis dalam buku 555’ (to register the credit in a small booklet labelled 555. What this really means is that the lender would keep a creditor’s account by just a simple entry in a small booklet with the branding ‘555’. Most commonly used in coffee shops or even at the market place. The plastic money or the credit cards were unheard of during those times I still remember on that day in the early afternoon when that Chinese electrical man from the town’s electrical shop came to the house with this huge box. I never knew what it was then because my dad never told anyone in the family about any purchase. And finally when the box was opened I and my siblings were so delighted by what we saw and we were all jumping and shouting in ecstasy! It was a Blaupunkt labelled TV set made in Germany. Truly a sight to behold for me then and it was as if I have the entire cinema in the living room. It took probably less than an hour for that Chinese electrical man to get the TV set and antenna fixed and wired and when finally the TV was switched on, we were so very frustrated. It was still in the early afternoon and the programs would only go on air at sharp 5.00 pm. We had to be contented watching just the test pattern and listening to the background music and stayed glued and in awe of our latest discovery! Since my family was one of the first in the neighborhood to own a TV set, most of my neighborhood friends would come to our house in the evenings to watch the cartoons. It was also during those early years that I had the opportunity to watch classical English movies as well as watching great legendary singers and musicians such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Matt Monroe, Nat King Cole and many others performed on TV. I remembered also watching some football matches of the World Cup 1966 series on national TV. That was the year England was crowned the World Champion. It would be close to 50 years now since they last won the World Cup. What an irony that being a soccer nation and famed by its English Premier League and professional football clubs, the English national team has always been considered a lesser team from the likes of teams from Spain, Germany, Argentina, Holland or even the US.

One important historical fact which I would like to share with you folks is that in those days every household that owns a TV and radio is required to pay radio and TV fee of 24 dollars per year.  The enforcement team from the Broadcasting Ministry would conduct yearly house-to-house license check. Words would immediately spread across town whenever this team makes its round. There are of course some who never cared to pay such fee. So when the enforcement team makes their round, the common trick would be to shut all doors and windows of their homes as if to indicate no one was at home. My dad (may Allah bless his soul) is one of those guilty ones that shirks the responsibility of paying for the TV license. Either he just doesn’t have the time to go to the Postal Office or he thought 24 dollars would be better spent on the groceries. So I and my younger siblings would always know what to do just before the task force team knock on doors at our neighborhood. It was like following the SOP…within minutes all doors and windows of our government quarters home were shut. We would peep through the small gaps of the window and could see the enforcement officers just walked pass our house and I and my siblings would be giggling and chuckling feeling so amused by it all. That act of ‘mischief’ was itself a big fun and excitement for us! I think my dad only got the TV license for the first year. Don’t remember my dad EVER getting it renewed for the remaining years….hardcore shirker that old man! And I guess I will never know how my old man paid for that TV…..could he had it on his  ‘buku 555’  credit account ? If he did, I hope he did not shirk on that one too! If he still lives today he would surely give me a good spanking on my butts for doubting him on this one….oh, how I have missed that old man very much. There were many a time when I and my other two equally naughty brothers, Dr.Salihin and Roslan, used to play pranks on our dad. And though he was already too old then, he still had plenty of good sense of humor to play along and laugh it off. Towards 20 years or so of his last remaining years, our dad mellowed down so much from the man whose character during his youth and heydays would even make a hardcore criminal pee in the pants. Well, that’s in brief, my old man…and I am not even going to complain to God for making him my dad….I am thankful to Allah, rather. May Allah bless his soul. 

Going to the cinema is yet another experience in those good old days. The local production movies then were all in black and white except for the Hollywood produced films. The cinema seats were divided into four classes i.e. Reserved Class, 1st Class, 2nd Class and 3^rd Class. Tickets were sold at $1.40 for the reserved class, $1.00 for the 1st class, 0.65 cents for 2^nd class and 0.40 cents for the 3^rd class. On Saturdays and Sundays there would be one Cheap Matinee show at 10.00 am and the tickets are sold for 0.65 cents for all seats. By the way, we were still using the Malayan Dollars and Cents in our national currency system then. It was sometime in 1967 that the new Malaysian Dollar currency was introduced and it has evolved since until after 1975 when it was officially called the Malaysian Ringgit. As I have said, an outing at the cinema those days is an experience not to be forgotten. Firstly, if the movie was a blockbuster, one would be considered very lucky to get himself a ticket on the opening day of the film show. People would be pushing and shoving each other at the small ticket booth and only the tough and burly ones would hold their positions in the free-for-all mad rush for the tickets. Even getting the 3^rd class tickets would be considered lucky for some given the extent of that very physical scramble for one to buy the tickets. In case you may want to know what the 3^rd class seats are like. Those seats are too darn close to the big screen that you have to hold your head upright the entire length of the movie or else you may want to slouch real low so as not to strain your neck. But believe me, whether you slouch or hold your head upright, for the next  24 hours after the show, your neck would sprain so bad….I have experienced that on countless times simply because 40 cents was all that I could afford to save to watch the movies…not even an extra 10 cents to buy the chewing gum.

That is not all to the experience. In those days, going on a date to the cinema with your loved ones is not an expensive affair at all. Never mind the blood sucking bugs that dwelled under the seats (oh yes, you can get ugly bites from these bugs) but whoever cares! For just below 10 dollars, the boyfriend could buy 2 reserved seat tickets (nothing less of course), 2 bottles of coca-cola (there were no canned drinks then), few packets of that good old ‘kuaci’ (dried salted melon seeds) or Menglembu shelled peanuts and some chewing gums. That’s all to it and you’d get a typical romantic evening ….plus most probably an itchy butt from the bug bites.  Still, nobody complained. Oh yes, almost forgot to mention this. Given the unlimited ‘freedom’ that one gets in the cinema those days, one could even get to light up and puff one’s cigarette and throw its butts anywhere onto the floor, spit out your chewing gums or the melon seeds or peanuts shell or whatever food waste onto the floor or wherever you please in the cinema. By the time the show is over and the lights are out, the entire floor of each row of seats would have been strewn with litter and food wrappers and all. Still, nobody complained…not even from the management of the cinema. Yup, we may be seen a little primitive in our civic behaviors in that sense but those were not too damaging or as serious that one could see happening before us in this day and age. It is pale by any comparison. It is just like being naughty and being bad. We were naughty of so many things then but we were never bad so as to obstruct and ruffle society’s peace and serenity.  Our naughty acts were just foolish but are harmless and tolerable even by the old and senior folks of the town and its neighborhoods.  As little boys, we go around the neighborhood and would pluck anything edible from the neighbor’s fruit trees regardless whether the fruits were still raw and bitter in taste. Anything goes and the good part is that nobody complains or makes a big issue out of our little misdoings.

Of school, the tuck-shop, autograph book and the seasonal games……

The primary English school that I attended to was about one mile from home. In those days only the rich could afford to have their kids sent to school by car and of course my dad certainly does not belong in ‘Tampin’s Fortune 500 ‘ list. So this 7 year old little boy would walk every day for 2 miles in his first year at school. Fortunately for me, whilst in my second year at school, the family home shifted to a vacant government quarters that was located much closer to my school. That made my daily walk to school much shorter and easier.

Surprisingly, a few months through my first year at school, though stuttering in the beginning, I could then speak and write a little bit of ‘broken’ English. And into my second year after the family moved into our new neighborhood, the need to speak the language became more apparent as my circle of new friends were boys and girls from a good mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian families. My Chinese and Indian friends were of course very natural and polished in their command and usage of the language. I had always marveled by the way they speak and the vocabs they used each time they speak with their siblings or parents. So the only way that I could join and play with them is by speaking their mother tongue i.e. English. It gained me from it and I soon began to learn new words and phrases from them and over the many year of our close friendship my English improved that it became my favorite subject in both my primary and secondary school. My dad too played a part as he would sometimes forbid me to speak the mother tongue when conversing with him. He was a typical British-oriented person in many ways and hence had always put great emphasis upon all his children to get the proper basic education and of course to speak and write in English as how it should be correctly spoken and written.

As school was just a few minute walk from home, I would spend most of my after-school hours with my friends either at the school field, the open-air badminton court or the school tuck-shop.  Oh, once again to the uninitiated, the tuck-shop is what the school canteen or cafeteria is called today. Back then, we use many typical English words or slangs in our everyday usage of the language. I seldom now hear people use words such as chap, lad, bugger, bucks, lavatory, bowels etc. which we used to very often in those days.

As fate would have it, I do not come from a well-off family. My dad was just an ordinary government servant who could barely make ends meet. I and my siblings had a very tough life. We did not live in luxury. Perhaps that had made us mentally tough as we learned and do many things through the hard way. It had also made us a lot wiser and street smart in more ways than one. When the more fortunate kids during my time could have 50 cents in their pockets for the tuck-shop, I and my siblings almost had none most of the times. I’d be so happy and blessed the day I go to school with 10 cents in my pocket. With ten cents in my pocket  I could get these choices:  buy myself 2 pieces of local ‘kuih’ or one plate of either fried ‘mee-hoon’ or  ‘nasi lemak’ at the tuck-shop during recess. Imagine if I had 50 cents with me, I’d stuff my tummy to my heart’s content! To quench my thirst, I would always trust that good old ‘paip sekolah’ (pepsi cola) as my source of natural mineral water. Three big gulps from the pipe and my thirst would be quenched for free. For years I and my friends have been drinking from that pipe and nothing befell us. Only goes to prove that we were made of sterner stuff. Kids of today…. they are so ‘lembik’ (softies) and could easily be infected by the weakest of virus. Their immune system is so low that they could only drink bottled mineral water or risk getting ill.

The tough life that I went through as a kid had also taught me to be resourceful and it had also honed my ‘entrepreneur’ skill to earn some pocket money. I did whatever and whenever just to get a few cents or dollars. I’d be a ball picker at the local tennis club, selling old newspapers and glass bottles, doing errands for some elderly folks within the neighborhood  and even at one time selling ‘kuih’ at the tuck-shop of one of the primary schools. I surely had no shame doing those things as it was a choice that I had to take if I wanted to buy the ice-cream potong, the Air Batu Campur, that 30 cents-per-bowl curry laksa, the Dandy and Beano comic books, chocolates, chewing gums or the Hong Kong-made toys that every other boy yearned for at that time. I had already realized then that my dad would be the last living person on earth that would take me to town and feast me with those ‘fantasies’. Like they say, inventions and innovations arise out of necessity and likewise my cravings for those simple things that excited and delighted every other boy of my time had made me challenging myself to the limits to earn that extra bucks.  The start of every new school term is something that I have always looked forward to as this was the time I would be able to make some quick bucks by selling my old text books to new students for the year. The textbooks are normally sold at half price. I would normally get no less than 20 dollars or a little more from this once-a-year business and with 20 dollars in my pocket I could paint the town red already!

One of those things that I find completely erased from today’s schoolboy and schoolgirl practices is the ‘culture’ of signing autograph books amongst classmates, schoolmates and teachers. In those days, boys and girls alike, almost everybody owns an autograph book and especially towards the end of school terms, these autograph books would be exchanging from one hand to another. Each would try to outdo the other by writing all sorts of words of wisdom and advices and pasting it with their photos and other decorative. Some even coined or acronym words like I.T.A.L.Y.  (I Trust And Love You)…M.A.L.A.Y.A. (May Allah Look After You Always) and there’s this very famous one…’I have a pen and my pen is blue…I have a friend and my friend is you’. I am grinning now remembering at those lines and words that I too used to coin and write in many of my friends’ autograph book! Still, not one of them ever complained………

The seasons of traditional games such as kite flying, konda kondi, rounders, top spinning, spider fighting, rubber bands, cigarette boxes, batu seremban  and many more is in fact a phenomenal wonder. As soon as one neighborhood starts playing rubber bands and within days all the other neighborhoods and kampungs within the town would be playing the same. After a couple of weeks or so when everybody is done and bored by the rubber bands game, somebody from some kampung would start another game and the craze would soon be contagious for yet another traditional game. Now, isn’t that so much fun and thrills for boys of my age then? Yes, some of the things we boys did when playing some of the games looked foolish. For example when it was the spider fighting season most boys would surely have in their pockets one or two empty match boxes. After school-hours, we boys would be busy flipping the leaves of every other undergrowth and bushes that we can find to capture the spiders. Once captured, the spider would be kept in the match box. There are various kinds of spiders but the most sought after would be the Spider King which has a set of big claws and a small abdomen. This species would normally win the fight. But the funniest thing that we boys did before every ‘fight’ was taking out our spiders from the match box and putting that tiny creature into our hands. Holding the spider softly in our hands we would then give it one big blow of hot air so as to give that poor creature extra ‘power’ before the fight! I wonder where that idea came from in the first place……….still, everybody does that. If only that poor spider could complain………..   

That was how life was in my early days. No computers, no i-Pads,  no mobile phones, no facebook, no tweeter, no Instagram BUT we had a lot of fun. We were more personal in so many things that we do. We communicated with each other with feelings and souls. We were like one big happy family regardless of creed, race, cultural or social background. My respect towards Uncle Lim and Mrs. Lim,  Uncle Victor Ratnasingam and Mrs. Victor who were my buddies’ dads and mums has always been genuine and pure, just as how my buddies showed theirs towards mine. Such was the finesse that we were consistently taught and guided by our parents. We surely had already practiced and embraced that One Malaysia spirit even long before the current generation hear of such. Most people respect the order of the day, no fuss. Except perhaps for the mentally-ill, no one dares to infringe the birth rights of another be it political, religious or cultural in nature. What little ‘technological advancement’ that we had then was put to good and better use. Unlike nowadays, the more advanced we get the more ridiculous mankind seems to think and behave. Perhaps we would be much better off without Whatsapp, Tweeter, Facebook, Instagram etc…etc.. These have now became tools to instigate, spread lies, incite or even extort and threaten one another for evil gains and purposes. If this is what advancement and modernization is all about, I’d rather (if only I could) live life in those good old days with only simple worries to care for. It’s wishful thinking on my part but still, if only I could live through it all again…………..

Khal8.