Taboo or not to be.

 For the Senior Cambridge Examination, Mrs Quah, - my very inspiring literature teacher -  instructed us to learn by heart, and to quote, various passages from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'.   Here are the first four lines of one of them:

To be, or not to be, that is the question -
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,

 According to Wiki,  the American-Muslim human rights activist Malcolm X or Malik El-Shabazz (1925-1965) quoted the above lines at a debate in Oxford (1963) about "extremism in defence of liberty".

Growing up in a Malay kampung in Singapore throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s,  we had a father who was worldly wise and street savvy about the world around him (and us).  He was fluent and knowledgeable in both his Malayness and the wider English language milieu that was present then in Singapore and in Malaya.  You would not describe him as "alim"  or  "warak".  His familiarity with  the Arabic language was limited to the ability to read the Quran.  He had  a Quran which also provided a Malay translation and when he was teaching us about 'Rukun Islam' and prayers he always wrote down the translation in English as well.  He wanted us to know the meaning and  the spirit of what we were reciting and doing.

I think  Akim and I were the most bolshie with our queries and I reckon we gave him a bit of a headache.  When Akim was in his early 20s  ( I was then 25),  I overheard him asking Abah:
"Abah, prove to me there's God."   Wow!!   I skedaddled away because this was really strong stuff coming from my very quiet and serious kid brother and I thought I'd better make myself scarce.  I regretted I did not hang around to hear my father's QED.  (QED is something you write when you have proven a theorem in Geometry).  It must have worked because Akim kept  his faith and I could see more strength and acceptance in him especially whenever he suffered his very frequent asthma attacks.

When I was teaching in Sekolah Menengah Yusof Ishak I found myself slowly but surely losing my patience with my Malay-Muslim colleagues (to be expected) and even my students.  When one of them complained to me that it was not 'halal' to buy hot drinks from the Chinese stall in the school canteen and that it was not 'right' to sit next to some one eating Chinese food,  I took a deep breath and said,
"Duit-duit  yang kamu pegang tu, tahu kah kamu jika apek jual babi yang telah  memegang-nya terlebih dahulu?   Dengan cikgu, cuba bincangkan lain perkara bersabit dengan cara membaiki latihan ilmu alam, ilmu hisab, mengaturkan jadual kerja sekolah sambil menolong emak di-rumah, dan bagaimana berjimat cermat dalam perbelanjaan  di-sekolah.  Cikgu perhatikan bagaimana murid-murid Cina tidak kesahkan apa jenis  kasut dan beg sekolah yang mereka gunakan, jelas pilihan mereka lebih murah dari pilihan murid Melayu!!  Satu lagi perkara,  berbanding dengan murid-murid Melayu, Cikgu jarang kali melihat murid-murid Cina merambu di tepi jalan selepas sekolah."

I saw a sea of mixed reactions: sheepish, resentful and approving.  AsH always seems to have this effect on people!!

In the midst of such an environment at work, I had to ask my Abah what's wrong with these Malays and Muslims?  Haven't they absorbed anything positive from their culture and their ugama?  He said, "There is nothing negative about our culture and ugama.  It all depends on the interpretation - on what we choose to select.  It's human nature to choose the easiest path and that choice is often based on irresponsibility.  Your choices can lead to good or bad and we are capable of both.  But remember in all your doings and thoughts you are only accountable to the One, to God.  There is no go-between, there is no excommunication in Islam - there's only you and God."

That advice abides with me from then till today and it has put me in good stead, guiding me through all my ups and downs

As Malays and Muslims -  though today the latter takes precedence - we are made aware of the various taboos, of the 'halal' and 'haram', of the 'dosa' and 'pahala',  from an early age.  These dichotomies seemed rational enough for us when we were growing up.  But today, I see my world being circumscribed and digitized by so many sets and sub-sets and binary applications of these rules that I might as well be living in a fishbowl instead of God's glorious and multi-faceted world.

As a consequence of these 'revelations'  and rulings I begin to wonder if  some aspects of my life would be deemed today as  'unacceptable' -  according to the interpretations of our clerics.

                                                           ***************

I have entered a Church, not once, but several times.  I have attended a Christmas Mass at Durham Cathedral with the spouse's Aunt Peggy in 1987.

When I was just 15, Mrs Darke. my Guide Captain came to our kampung house to ask my father's permission for me to attend a Thinking Day Service at St Andrew's Cathedral in Singapore.  Of course my father gave the green light - he did not have to sit me down to caution me about what I should or should not do while I was in the Cathedral.  He had faith in me and in the strength of my faith.  And Mrs Darke had no ulterior evangelistic motive!

                                                    *****************************

When our dear neighbour Eva passed away in 2003, Iain and I, and our neighbours Celia and Philip accompanied her in the funeral limousine as we were the only 'family' she had.   For nearly twenty years, Eva was like a mother to me - wise, sweet, and understanding.   Iain wrote the obituary for the Vicar to read during the funeral service in Church.  We chose a song she often played on her piano - we could hear her doing so because we were at No 10 and Eva was just next door at No 11.    And when "The Ash Grove" was played by the Church Organ my heart got stuck in my throat and the tears could not be held back.

                                                        ***************************

Peggy, the spouse's Aunt, was a regular churchgoer at St Anne's, Bishop Auckland.  She respected and loved animals enormously.  Once, she got fed up with the wife of the Bishop of Durham for shooting the magpies in the grounds of Bishop Auckland Castle.  So, very early one morning, she retrieved one of the magpies that had been shot by the lady of the house - and pinned it  on the front door of the Bishop's Castle!

Peggy, like the other Wicks sisters, had an indomitable spirit, creative and a strong sense of civic-mindedness and fair play.  At the height of the Salman Rushdie affair, she expressed to me that no one has the right to insult another religion in the name of freedom of speech.   Peggy did not have an easy life, she had no opportunity to travel far away from home but she was always fascinated about different worlds and different cultures.  So whenever we visited her, about 4-5 times a year, I made sure I cooked a Malay dinner, while Peggy cooked an English dessert,    I also made sure I left her a bottle-full of fried ikan bilis before we went home to Leicester  She could never get enough of it!   When she passed away in 2005, the Vicar had chosen her favourite hymn,  "All things bright and beautiful, the Lord God made them all".  And I joined in that hymn to celebrate the life and times of a loving and lovely lady.

                                             *************************************

When I settled down in Leicester around 1985, Dorothy and Frank Moule became our dearest friends. Frank was a painter-decorator who left school at 14 and who, through sheer hard work and determination, went to University as a mature student when he was in his mid-40s, determined to be a teacher.    In his first year, Iain was his lecturer/tutor and Frank - who was ten years older than Iain - was his favourite student. During my first winter in Leicester, Frank and Dot bought me an electric blanket so that 'the little tropical flower' would not suffer too much in the cold.   Frank went on to  take his Masters, and even wrote an autobiography about his life as a painter and decorator, a union man, and a university student: I gave him his title - "Sitting on a Paint Tin".

We attended the service for Frank's funeral at the Unitarian Church in 2002.  It was a non-denominational Church and Iain wrote and read his celebration of the life of a good friend, an honourable man and a noble soul.  I asked Iain to add this, from and of Hamlet at the end of  his reading;  "Good-night sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."

I sobbed my heart out for Frank and Dot and his three kids.  To the right of me, sitting by herself in the pew was another lady distraught with sorrow - it was Frank's estranged, older sister.

                                                    *********************************

So there we are.   That's my admittance of the number of times I have attended Church.  It has not tainted my faith or diluted my commitment to Islam.  As for uttering Merry Christmas and enjoying Christmas trees, I have done that enough times, I think, to ensure me a place in hell - according to the instructions of  Malaysia's  clerics.

But I held firm to my Abah's words - " in whatever you do, you are accountable only to God".

                                                              *****************


Here is Frank's choice of the song (his personal hymn) to be played at his funeral service.

What profits now to understand
The merits of a spotless shirt -
A dapper boot - a little hand - 
If half the little soul is dirt? 
                (Tennyson 1809 - 1892)

BUDI

Let me take you back as I'm going to ........

1.  1972/1973.  While going through my 'junk' in Leicester a few weeks ago, I found this poem in Sekolah Menengah Yusof Ishak's School Magazine.

As they say:  from the mouth of babes (well, from a 14/15 year old) -  you read an expression of such despair from over 40 years ago!

 "Puas di asoh dan di didek, Dengan tenaga yang tiada bersukat, Tapi tiada datang budi,  Dengan pimpinan yang dulu2 itu.
Begini-lah hidup,  Lantaran tak punya asohan budi. "


Dr Mahathir's despondency over the Malays as  'knowing no shame' -  ( Read :  https://my.news.yahoo.com/dr-m-look-east-policy-faltered-malays-still-095400553.html ) has more to do with the near collapse of the old Malay values of  Budi.  As 14/15 year old Norziah had concluded - the Malays  " tak punya asohan budi".

Asohan Ugama has jumped by leaps and bounds since Norziah's teenage years.  Pilgrimages for Haj and Umrah proliferate.  Levels (though not necessarily standards) of education are claimed to be (nearly) world-class.  Universities and number of academics and  PhDs have mushroomed. But in the mad rush for more and more manna on earth and a place in heaven after earth, the Malays - unlike the Japanese - have not been true to their forefathers' and foremothers' wisdom and prescience.

My unschooled ( both religious and secular) mother brought us up on sayings from pantun pantun Melayu.

At Kampung Chantek 1948, (from left to right), Maznoor, Mak, Mustapha and Maznah.  Mustakim was to arrive later in 1949

Pisang emas bawa belayar,
Masak sa-biji di-atas peti;
Hutang emas boleh di-bayar,
Hutang budi di-bawa mati.

Pulau Pandan jauh ke-tengah,
Gunong Daik berchabang tiga;
Hanchor badan di-kandong tanah,
Budi yang baik di-kenang juga.

Bunga melati bunga di-darat,
Bunga seroja di-tepi kali;
Hina besi kerana karat,
Hina manusia tidak berbudi.

While we live to offer budi, we have to accept that:

Puas aku bertanam padi, 
Beras maseh datang seberang;
Puas aku berbuat budi,
Emas juga di-pandang orang.

But this stricture was drummed into us from childhood to adulthood. Buat baik berpada-pada.  Buat jahat jangan sekali.  

Anyway, the absence of shame is not the monopoly of  Malays.  All other racial groups in Malaysia (or anyone one else in the world for that matter) are guilty of that - it all depends on how the nature of the 'shame' is displayed or disguised.

Furthermore these miscreants are located not only among the dregs of Malaysian society (like the Mat Rempit and petty thieves); they also thrive among the upper and middle echelons of the Civil Service, the educated professionals, the business tycoons and taukehs, the directors of multi-national companies, the politicians and political leaders and even among the religious bureaucracy.

And just look at the shenanigans going on in the land of the Mother of Parliament, in Britain.


2.  1961.  In 1961, at Crescent Girls' School, a group of Malay-medium students had to 'park' at our school because there weren't any Malay Secondary School in Singapore then.

And this was one of their contributions ......

...... to the School Magazine.

My take on all these?   Wither the Malays.  Whither the Malays?

                                                    ******************************

Here are some other aspects of  Malay  'ways and purpose' as related to budi.  There have been studies and dissertations written on Budi in Malay culture. For instance ....

Abstract of  "Budi as the Malay Mind" by Lim Kin Hai 2003

The following aspects of 'Budi' are from my collection of dictionaries that hark back to the 1960s.

1. From

1957

2.

1963 - 5th Edition

3.

1976

4.

1966

What is missing among present-day Malays is " bangsa Melayu yang budiman".

                                                           **********************
Let me conclude with a personal touch.

Pisang nangka di-masak pengat, 
Kait2 banyak duri-nya;
Macham mana saya ta'ingat,
Orang baik dengan budi-nya.

When in September 1982 my youngest brother Akim, passed away,  this  'manusia baik budi'  from Leicester was doing his fieldwork in a remote Adivasi village near Kashele, India.  He walked one mile to get the bus for an hour-long trip to the small town of Karjat.  This was followed by a two-hour train journey from Karjat to Bombay and from here he flew to Singapore to comfort my mother.  (Even today, he is petrified of  plane travel.)  After a day or so, he took another plane journey to Bandar Seri Begawan where I was working.

His was a comforting shoulder to cry on.

The Dynamic Duo - many, many, years later - December 2013.

I taped this song "Serunai Malam" by the Sumatran singer Hasnah Tahar  (orkest Saiful Bahri) in 1983 from this album.

I treasured the cassette tape and in winter 2013 I sat down to load all of these songs from tape to cassette player and onto my own clumsy video.  In this way, I can keep on listening to them without causing wear and tear on the tapes and the Irama vinyl album.

These lines from "Serunai Malam'  sum up the relevance and significance of Budi for this Malay.

Dari mana datang rasa kasih sayang,
Dari mata ke hati lalu di kenang.
Kerana budi menjadi tunangan, sayang,
Sumpah setia disaksikan bintang.
Bercerai  mati  batas nya di dunia, sayang.
Di akhirat kita berjumpa pula.

NOTE:  All the pantun are taken from Kalong Bunga, Buku 1 - oleh Za'ba , 1964.

Keeping up with Comments

I've been having problems with my comments page just like I had a few months ago.  Here are a couple of them - which I could not deal with earlier.

Thank you Anon at 10.53am.  Racial and religious differences will always matter for all of us, not only in Malaysia.  If we look at the example of Northern Ireland  ( a part of the United Kingdom), where there is hardly any difference in colour and culture in the Northern Irish, the religious animosity between the two dominant Christian factions - the Catholics and the Protestants - remains as intransigent as ever, despite the Peace Treaty and the political transformation that followed.

As for racial and religious differences, if we look at what happened in many other countries (South Africa, Sri Lanka and Burma for example) the inherently and historically Malay-Muslim Peninsula has a lot to be proud of.  Despite being flooded with immigrants whose religion and race and culture are as far apart as chalk and cheese, Semenanjung Tanah Melayu has done a commendable job (albeit with a couple of warts) in sustaining  all who live on board, in sharing the country's largesse and even giving room for one immigrant group to maintain and develop their economic prowess and control.  Of course , the less privileged and the poorer denizens have to be given a leg-up, despite the complaints and whingeing of the well-heeled who believe that they got to be where they were and are,  primarily on merit.

The table below illustrates the reduction of the gap between rich and poor which, since Colonial times, has coincided with a racial overlay and an urban/rural divide.

Here's a closeup of the above Table:  Mean Monthly Gross Household Income by Ethnicity, Strata and State, Malaysia, 1970-2012.

In short this Government has done quite well, for a Third World Country - and a Government run by mainly  Malay-Muslims to boot!!



As for your second sentence, I detect a bit of snide and insinuation about referring to West Malaysia as  "The Malay Peninsula".  Whether the Malay Peninsula is now West Malaysia or Peninsular Malaysia or Semenanjung Malaysia - in the language of the Malays from the Malay Archipelago-  before the encroachment of the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British and the unnatural increase of the Semenanjung's population - the Peninsula  consisted of several  Malay-Muslim states:
1. The Kedah Sultanate which included Penang and Seberang Prai  (1136 to the present)
2. The Malacca Sultanate  (1462-1511)
3. The Johor Sultanate which included Singapore  (1528 to the present) ......

...... and the Sultanates of Pahang, Kelantan, Perlis, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Trengganu.

As for Borneo, up to the arrival of the Europeans, the two major powers were the Brunei and Sulu Sultanates.  But that's another story of  Judaeo-Christian malfeasance in Southeast Asia.  They did the same when they carved up the African continent among themselves.  The violent mess that plagues the Middle East had its origin in the (secret) 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement between United Kingdom, France and pre-Revolution Russia to divide the Arab provinces of the defeated Ottoman Empire.

The name of  a  nation can be changed, it can even be anglicized, but the core makeup of its entity remains intact despite attempts by certain parties to rescript its history.

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it."   (George Santayana 1863-1952)

                                                          ------------------------

Thank you Anon May 21 2014 at 4.05 am.

I don't think the Malay Sultans have the same privileges as royalty elsewhere.  The Crown Prince of the United Kingdom can spout statements about how Muslims are making life difficult for Christians in the Middle East and he can blithely compare Putin to Hitler AND he can get away with it.

Why name only Pertubuhan Melayu Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu  (I assume you mean UMNO)?  What about PKR and PAS?

As for your suggestion that AsH should write an open letter to the "party president and the Sultan",  it reminded me of  another occasion when my fellow-Malays asked me to be their  'representative'.

In Singapore, in the late 1960s,  the celebration for Hari Raya Puasa depended on the sighting of the moon.  There were times when this did not coincide with the official date for Hari Raya.  When that happened, teachers and students of Sekolah Menengah Yusof Ishak were only allowed time off for prayers and then they had to report for school as usual.  That was when the Malay teachers, mostly men, both senior and junior pushed me forward to ask the principal, Mr Charles Lazaroo to give the Malay medium staff and students time off for the rest of the day after prayers.  I was just in my early 20s and I found no difficulty in chiding them and suggested ,  "Why don't all of us talk to Mr Lazaroo?"  That stopped all the proposals and pleas to place me in the line of fire.

This, I fear is the most destructive weakness of the orang Melayu - they are too self-serving and hence become too divided to take a stand.  They prefer to shine in the light of the opposition groupings by sucking up to them and to contribute to slagging off their fellow Malays  than to take on the taunts and  fire from their own  kin-groups and from their nemesis.

Furthermore, unlike me, your generation has a longer time left on this earth to make the necessary changes and sacrifice to guide the "frustrated and pragmatic Malays"out there - whether at home or abroad.   AsH is getting too old and weary from fighting too many battles for her students - being a minder for the Malay Stream against the English Stream in YISS  and for the English Stream vis-a-vis the Chinese Stream in Jurong Secondary School.

In my seventh decade, I  do not have the energy to pitch any more battles.  All I do is react- to hypocrisy and double standards - to convey a tit-for-tat and  turn myself into ....

Drawn by my Voodoo-man,  Iain Buchanan

  

Let me quote one of  our sharpest and kindest Malay poets and gentlemen, Usman Awang.  Where are the likes of him today??

Extracted from Zaini Hassan, Dilema Melayu Moden  (pages 373-376)

                                                  ----------------------------------------------

Thank you very much cannonkapit for the bouquet.

It's very touching, your belief in what I write.  Cikgu has never left her 'tanah air'  (which includes Singapore and  Malaysia), wherever she settles.  Right now, since 2007, the spouse and I have the best of our two worlds that we hold close to our hearts - Malaysia and  England. 

                                                    --------------------------------

 Thank you Leicester United Fan,

Even though our LFC did not make it big, but as a fan you've done quite well.  I can't agree more with what you've said.  The election results have proven what we all knew all along.  She was used for a patsy by her two Sifus -   the father and the son ... and Diana the Roman goddess of the hunt, the moon and birthing!

Y I S S - The Way They Were

The last posting I did on Sekolah Menengah Yusof Ishak or Yusof Ishak Secondary School was on  5 November 2013.
Read :  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/darihal-rokok-road-to-sekolah-menengah.html


Here's the next part - belated - but better late than never.

It began with how I was trained  - to be an accredited teacher - notwithstanding the advice given to me by the Che'Gu in the Ministry of Education!  There was no Institute of Education then.  It was just the Teachers' Training College - where they produced Primary School teachers ( with O Levels),  Lower Secondary School teachers ( with A Levels) for all the language streams.  Graduates were given a one-year, part-time, in-service training  - with one difference. There was no provision for Malay Stream Graduate teachers.  One can understand why by checking - for instance -   the number of Singapore Malays who were bonded by the Special Malay Teaching Bursary in this Convocation Programme of 1967.  There were only three of us.

So I embarked on my professional training as a teacher  from May 1967 to April 1968.  This Certificate ensured that I could be let loose in YISS or any school in the Republic of Singapore.

But for me, there was one problem.  For Group V (Classroom Teaching) nobody came to supervise me in the classroom until just before the Professional Examination.  Why?  As there was no provision for training graduates to teach in the Malay medium, I did my training in the English medium.  Of course no lecturer could supervise my classroom teaching because I was teaching in Malay!  So I was left on my own, dutifully writing and preparing my Lesson Notes waiting for a Supervisor.  I attended my lectures in the afternoon (after teaching in the morning), wrote my essays, did my Examination - albeit with a bit of ponteng now and then to Orchard Road and the Lido Cinema.  Then someone must have noticed that Maznoor binte Abdul Hamid had not been supervised for her teaching practice - at all!!  So towards the end of the school term, the Director of Teacher Training (Malay Section) at the TTC came to 'supervise' me.  Well, there was nowt to supervise because the school examination was just over and we were just minding the kids with quizzes and games.  Nevertheless, I had to make a 'show' of teaching  my students who were puzzled at what was going on.  He  checked my Lesson Notes of the last few months and then he left.

That was how I cleared the Group V - Classroom Teaching for my Certificate-in Education.  No wonder  the Che'Gu at the Ministry showed me the "Rokok".

As for the part of teaching in Malay,  I shall try to summarise my agony and grief in teaching Ilmu Hisab, Ilmu Alam, Tawarikh and Karangan during my first year of teaching.  I was given Menengah Satu to teach -  children from the Southern Islands.  Normally Menengah Satu classes would be in the afternoon but they were given a concession because of where they lived.

Here they are - my unforgettable first class.

I reckoned they had a lot more to teach me than I could teach them.

Read :  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/my-lovely-island-kids-shame-about.html
Read :  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/how-we-laughed-away-hours.html

I think I now have to clarify my situation about teaching in Malay.  Firstly, I'm an anak Melayu through and through.  I have not deigned or  'forgotten' how to speak my mother-tongue.  But that does not mean I am automatically qualified to teach various academic school subjects in a Malay secondary school.  As teachers, we know that it is more difficult to teach young children.  You need the right technique and to choose the right words to put across simple terminologies like suhu, tekanan udara, sistem pentadbiran, tamaddun, angka pecahan (fraction), segitiga, segitiga tepat, segitiga duasama etc. etc - especially for my Menengah Satu charges.


How did I survive ( if I did ) my first year?  Well, every weekend my Abah and I would spend hours translating and preparing my Geography, History and Mathematics lesson for the week.  We would have at our disposal the English-Malay Dictionaries prepared by DBP.  We had to look for the right terms to use as well as construct the right sentences to frame the lesson.  I guess I really earned and deserved that $700 salary!.

But one little faux pas I have to mention.  Our Senior Teacher for the Malay medium was Che'Gu Shukur - a gentle hardworking teacher of the old school.  He was passing my class one morning.  He then called me over to the door.  He corrected me - ever so gently and kindly and quietly that the word 'river' was spelled as sungai and not sungei.  I did feel stupid and I thanked Che'Gu Shukur for putting me right.  You see, my English language textbooks spelled it with and  'e'  and not an  'a'.  The colonials spelled it  the way they pronounced it.  I wonder if that Che'Gu in the Ministry knew about that problem before he suggested the word  "Rokok" to me.  Compared to our refined Che'Gu Shukur, this bureaucrat was too clever by half!

Just for laughs:  This was how my use of Malay - as my mother tongue, my medium of teaching and a requirement for confirmation in the Civil Service - became slightly entangled.  Even though I was considered 'good' enough to teach in Malay in a secondary school I still had to be certificated with this piece of paper.

What level does this certificate identify with?

Standard One  ' approximates that of Primary Six in Government Malay Primary School'.

All in all, my qualification for teaching academic subjects in Malay in a Malay Secondary School ranged from P7 ( for my 'O' Levels)  and  a pass at the level of Primary Six in a Malay Government School !!

I now think I will really need that "Rokok" from the Ministry's CheGu !

There are so many stories and experiences I could recall  in my seven years at Sekolah Menengah Yusof  Ishak.  But we old people have to be careful not to natter on too much about the past.  But bear with me these few samples.  I have a higher estimation of Che'Gu Shukur - an older generation of Malay teachers- than I have of those of my peer group and those a little younger than him.  Because I was a woman and (I will not hesitate to state this) because of my qualification,  many of the male (and female) Che'Gurus did not regard me as their 'cup of tea'.  I was almost an anathema to them.

It's ironic that the non-Malay English medium teachers in YISS did not harbour such a hang-up over their younger male and female graduate teachers.

In those days, schools were not provided with Overhead Projectors.  Maps had to be drawn on the blackboards - especially special maps that were not available in the Malay textbooks.  In the Geography Room, I drew a map of  the Industrial Region of the Ruhr Valley  (for my Menengah Empat students), which took up less than a quarter of the board.  I left a courteous note asking that the map remained on the board as I had four classes of Geography to teach.  The very next day, I discovered it had been erased by someone, a colleague from the afternoon session!

 Examination questions which had been discussed and chosen by a panel of teachers were leaked to students - so that the teachers concerned would look good when their classes gained top marks and many passes.

I embarrassed my poor Abah when I asked him the meaning of a word that my colleagues were bandying about during recess time in the Canteen. Each time they said this word, they looked at me!  This word was part of another teacher's name.  Abah bit his lower lip and said , "That word refers to a man's private part."

From then on, I would sit away from these Malay male colleagues in the School Canteen whenever I could.

One Saturday, during an  ECA  period, I went across to this Malay girl who was crying by the staircase.  She told me her father was ill in Malacca and she had no money to pay for her fare.  So I gave her $30 to help her out.  (I was then earning about $23 a day.)   In another instance, I offered a monthly allowance of $20  for two years, to my  student, Ang S.C. ( from Pulau Semakau ) when he started his 'A'Levels at National Junior College.  I had taught him for 4 years in YISS and he came from a needy family.  I thought my little contribution could at least subsidise his bus fare from Old Jurong Road where he lived to the NJC at Bukit Timah.

I found out later from my students that the crying 15 year-old had actually used the $30 to run away with her boyfriend!  Ang S.C. did write once or twice to thank me for the monthly Money Order.  I heard later that he had joined a Christian Group in NJC.

All these sound very much like "Meludah ke Langit".  But there were also wonderful people like Che'Gu Ayesha Bevee and Sim Loo Lee.  Ayesha is seated to the extreme left, front row, Loo Lee is fifth from the right and  Che'Gu Syukur is seated eighth from left.

In 1972, after 5 years,  I cleared my bond with the Singapore Government's Public Service Commission.  With my dear good friend Loo Lee - in 1974 - we headed west for London to further our studies.  But that took some doing for me - that's another story which will only bring up too much bile.

Darihal Rokok - The Road to Sekolah Menengah Yusof Ishak

Picture this.  In 1967 an Indian graduate and a Chinese graduate from the University of Singapore, both holders of a Teaching Bursary were directed by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to take up their posts as teachers in the Tamil medium and Chinese medium schools, respectively.  No, they would not be teaching in English ( their language of instruction since primary school), but in the vernacular - or their mother tongues!

I do not think any policy maker or bureaucrat in the MOE would have dared to suggest such an undertaking. It would have ended in tears, both for the graduate-teachers and especially for their students.  

Within a week of leaving University in 1967, I received a letter asking me to report to the MOE.  I knew it would be about my posting, my first school, my first job!!  At last I would be a bona fide working member of society.  It meant we could now persuade my Abah who had had a heart problem since I was in Sixth Form, to retire. 

Read:http://anaksihamid.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/chasing-higher-school-certificate-1962.html

At the Ministry, I was told which room to go to.  I met this bureaucrat, a Malay man somewhere in his fifties, I think.  His reaction to my presence verged between severity and haughtiness.  We spoke - in English - about the usual details, of my previous schools and my subjects in University.  Then he dropped the bombshell.  I was to report for duty at Sekolah Menengah Yusof  Ishak the next day.  I must have looked very bewildered so he added that I would be teaching in the Malay medium.  I looked even more aghast and I exclaimed, "How am I to teach in Malay?  Malay is not my medium of learning.  I have been in the English medium from Primary One!"

He was then standing by his office window.  "Senang", he said as he nonchalantly removed a packet of cigarettes from his shirt pocket, "Just say 'Ini rokok!' to your class".

"But, Che'gu, I'm not teaching about 'Rokok', am I?"

That was the first sign of my bolshie attitude, my rebellious make-up and that did not bode well for me and my future career in the Ministry of Education.  Call that what you want, but I don't suffer fools.  His posture and his behaviour were very, very unprofessional and unbecoming for an Inche Guru.  That was my introduction to my first Malay bureaucrat and Malay language professional.  With that nasty taste in my mouth I started my teaching career in the Malay medium of Sekolah Menengah Yusof  Ishak in February 1967.

So, I duly reported for work and here I have to confess that I did not make a good impression on my new colleagues.  I drove into the school  in my new, second-hand MG Midget.  Nothing remarkable because there was another teacher Che'Gu Suradi who had an  Austin Sprite and the Principal Mr Charles Lazaroo drove a Triumph Spitfire.

How the spouse remembered me from the old days.  But he was an atypical male who knows nowt about cars!  He cannot tell the difference between the kopiak  Morris Minor for learner drivers and my terror-on-four-wheels, the MG Midget.

But I faced a problem.  I was female!   Not only that, I was young, drawing a salary second only to the Principal's, and a free and blithe spirit to boot!    Of my two Principals in YISS,  Mr Charles Lazaroo was the best.   He understood me and helped me in adjusting to a  teaching career that was rife with prejudice, double standards and indiligence.   Mr Lazaroo was a pianist, a composer and a musician and he had no over-riding ambition for himself.   He wrote the school song for YISS and when the kids sang that song after his departure, I could not hold back the tears.

In his time I was called twice into his Office.   I had been supervised by an Inspector from the MOE for my confirmation ( in my post) and he made a  complaint to Mr Lazaroo about me.   I explained to Mr Lazaroo that this Inspector told me off from his seat at the back of the class that teaching my students to measure the length of a river on a topographic map by using a thread or a string was not good enough.  I said to Mr Lazaroo that any School Inspector worth his salt should not reprimand a teacher in full view of the students in the class.    He should call the teacher aside privately.    That was what I learned when I was doing my teacher-training.    In response to his crassness, from the front of the classroom I asked Mr Tan,   " Can you advise me on another method?"     Mr Tan had nothing to contribute.    On hearing  my version Mr Lazaroo smiled and assured me that I have nothing to worry about being confirmed in my teaching appointment.

Just after I had completed my NCC Officer's Training at Maju Camp, I had to make another visit to the Principal's Office.  Mr Lazaroo had a piece of paper in front of him and he said,  "Do you want to know your Final Report?"  I nodded.  He continued, " It says you would make a very good Officer but you're not obedient."  He gave me a knowing smile as if to say,  "So what?"   He's a good egg, dear Mr Lazaroo.    When - in 1970/ 1971(?) - he was transferred to be Director of Music at the MOE, I knew he would be happier than he was as a School Principal.    But for me, YISS would never be the same again.  There came a new order, a new regime of ambitious men and women.   And as I came to learn, there's nothing more pathetic and nasty than a bunch of opportunistic and ambitious teachers/educators - of both the male and female variety.     Self-serving opportunism may work in corporate politics; it's not good when you are responsible for bringing up impressionable children.

The next part will be about my time at the Teachers'Training College and about how I was 'trained' - jumping through silly hoops and dancing to all kinds of demanding tunes..

P.S.  Just to mention an interesting addendum in my career.  A colleague expressed interest in what I did at the University especially with regard to my favourite subject Political Science.  He asked if he could read some of my essays.  I handed over a couple.  A few weeks later he asked, "Hey Maznoor, would you like to join the PAP?"   I gave him a look which said, "Over my dead body!".  He walked away.  I never got back my essays.  He had a brother holding quite a responsible post in the Singapore Government - a sort of Political Secretary, a safe post for a Malay in the PAP.    Did I make a mistake then?    Should I have taken this golden opportunity?    Imagine what I could have made for myself!  I wonder what Mr Lazaroo would say to that!

Perhaps this was the  Rokok  that I had to draw from my pocket.  Burn, baby, burn!

Sekolah Menengah Yusof Ishak - In the Beginning

I did an earlier posting on the school bearing the name of Singapore's first and (so far) only Malay President just about 2 months ago ....  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-yusof-ishak-years-preamble.html .  But I think I did too much ambling with the preamble.

My thoughts about the first school I taught in, about the first set of students that I was responsible for, about my first encounter with colleagues (teaching and non-teaching), about my first job at 23 after University, were all too complex and difficult to relate.  It's like recalling a first marriage, full of hopeful happiness ......

Rookie teacher in the Art Room of Sekolah Menengah Yusof Ishak, 1967

....... but it ended like in  P.Ramlee's song :  Ku sangka panas sampai kepetang, tetapi hujan ditengah hari.

In 1968 during my second year as a rookie teacher , I was given an extra-curricular duty that most teachers avoid like the plague.  Koh Sei Hian and myself were the only graduate teachers in YISS and the old guard in the school reckoned that these two must be made to jump the hurdles and  climb the ropes - just to teach them a lesson : nudge, nudge, wink, wink???   We were given the onerous task of producing the School Magazine. It involved having to organise articles from the students and getting reports from the teachers running the school's various activities.  These two jobs were comparable to extracting blood out of stone. Then we had to go with begging bowl in hands to extract donations and advertisements. I learned how to grow a thick skin while doing that.  Choosing the printers and supervising them (and the cost) needed the executive skills of a CEO.  Arranging the photo sessions for the Staff, all the classes and all the School's activities for the morning and afternoon sessions required the dedication and tenacity of a sheep dog rounding up a flock of errant sheep in the wilderness of Wales. 

When the Magazine was finally produced we were  bombarded by tetchy queries like "Why didn't you do this? or that?  What a lousy photographer! The students' articles are hopeless - can't you get better ones?  The printer must have cheated you - it's such poor quality paper!" Blah! Blah! Blah!  Koh Sei Hian and I did this thankless job for year after year until one year I decided to join the Army and run the Girls' Unit of the school's National Cadet Corps (NCC).  

Below is the 'dummy'  cover of the 1968 school magazine JASMANI ....

....... and the members of the Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board 1968.  Seated from left to right: Che'Gu Maznoor and Che'Gu Shukur (Senior Assistant Malay Medium)  representing the Malay Medium,  the Principal Mr Charles Lazaroo,  Mr John (Senior Assistant English Medium) and Mr Koh Sei Hian from the English medium.

I liked the starkly simple design of the Cover,  the 'Jawi" font  and especially the two 'lines'  above and below the title.

That design incorporated the structure of YISS.  It began in 1965 as Jubilee Integrated  Secondary School, comprising of the Malay and English mediums.  It was tucked in between West Coast Road, Jubilee Road and Upper Ayer Rajah Road.  In 1966, the then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew officially opened Yusof Ishak Secondary School - a more respectable designation than the run-of-the-mill  Jubilee Integrated Secondary School.  

In terms of  the development and demise of Malay education in Singapore, the context has to be understood. During the Colonial period, education  was never planned to be a leveller - as a means of improving the life and fostering the unity of the so-called "multi-racial" population.  Education in English was provided by the Colonial Government with the 'co-operation' of Christian missionaries. Their function was to oil the machinery of the Empire and as a bonus, especially for the latter, to enlarge the Congregation.  The Chinese mercantile community had always been very regardful  and supportive of Chinese education.  They were willing and able to put their money where their mouth was.  All for the tong pao.  The 'graduates' from  Chinese schools faced no problems in getting gainful employment because of their community's domination in Singapore's economy.

Education in the Malay language was never regarded with much seriousness by the Colonial Authorities other than to perpetuate the Malays' ghettoization in the unprofitable, primary economic activities like farming and fishing as can be seen in their curriculum.  In 1959 in Singapore, there were only 26 Malay primary schools and the highest level was up to Standard VII.  "Graduates" from these Malay schools ended up in the lower levels of the administration - as peons, soldiers, police and postmen.  In the private sector they were mainly  employed as drivers, gardeners and servants for the upper and middle-class European  and Chinese employers.  Although there was a request for the provision of English language lessons way before the Second World War, the Colonial authorities did not oblige until after the War itself.

As a matter of interest, the Colonial Government gave a grant of $30 per pupil  for the English schools.  In the Malay schools, it was only $17 per pupil!  We hear a lot about the massive contribution of  Christian Mission schools to education in Singapore and the Peninsula  but it should be noted that their collaboration with the Imperial Order was well-rewarded.  They were generously subsidized and granted a hefty leg-up by the British Colonial Government to the tune of $30 per pupil.

My career as a teacher began in Sekolah Menengah Yusof Ishak  in 1967.  From  Primary 1(1951) to University I was educated in the English stream, quite a rarity for a Malay, especially a female.  My exposure to learning my mother tongue in Primary and Secondary School  was very limited and sometimes non-existent at all.   Yes, I took the Examination for Malay language during my Senior Cambridge - and I got a mere Pass at S7.  I'm not too proud of that today but in the 1960s, Mathematics, English Language and Literature, Physics and Chemistry took priority.  After all, my preparation for my Senior Cambridge Malay Language paper began only in the latter part of  Secondary 4 (Form V).  We Malay girls from Crescent Girls' School were directed to a weekly class at Gan Eng Seng Secondary School on a Saturday afternoon.  We met up with other Malay pupils from several English schools who were in the same boat as us.  For my first Karangan we were told to write about any topic we wanted.  So my title was Darihal Kuching!    

Six years later, I was given a simple idea on how to teach in Malay.  This time it was Darihal Rokok.

That will be in my next posting.

Foot in Mouth Disease

I think Anon ( re: posting April 7, 2013), or should I say, "you of all people" should beware - and be more precise about accusations of   'intellectual dishonesty',  'anti-Chinese bias' and of an educator objecting 'to the acquisition of knowledge'.

Incredibly, you derived all these from the posting of  " A Sighting"!  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-sighting.html .   I shan't insult the intelligence of my other readers by explaining the actual content of that posting.

But in the light of your petulant outburst I do need to demolish your allegations about my blog.  So let's expose your illiteracy, your vacuous interpretation and the insinuating mischief within.

We can start with paragraph two and your opinion of  "the great strides taken by the malay community"  in Singapore.  Clearly you attribute such  great strides to the fact they live under a Chinese-controlled  government in a Chinese majority (75%)  society - whose 'tolerance' and grooming are crucial to the Malays'  progress - a kind of progress as defined by the Singapore government.

Is this your contention?  If it is, it only confirms my view about some people's arrogance......  If it isn't, why make the link with my alleged  "anti-Chinese bias"?

Fourth paragraph:  How condescending of you to affirm that "the treatment muslims receive in singapore/malaysia is far more even-handed compared to what they receive in France/UK ".  If you had said that to a Brit in UK  ( just change the religion and the country)  they would say,  " Why not, it's our bloody country, mate!"  As for your 'aside' in the last paragraph about foreign languages in Britain, it's so laughable that a Brit would justifiably exclaim,  "What a tosser" !

I am bemused at your ignorance and gumption - especially as you present yourself  as some sort of cosmopolitan who had spent a ' substantial  period '  in London.  I recall that nursery rhyme  "Pussy cat, pussy cat where have you been,  I've been to London   to see the Queen".  So where has this pussy cat / tom cat been in London?  The British Museum?  The National Art Gallery?  Harrods?  Marks and Spencers?  Hamleys? Ministry of Sound London? Soho?

Fifth Paragraph:  Excuse me?  What is the connection between my ability to tolerate living in UK and my so-called  feeling of oppression  "by the Chinese in asia"?  Where is the  "intellectual dishonesty"? Are you aware of the correct use of this phrase?

 In the first place I do not merely 'tolerate' living in UK.  It is my husband's country and though it has its warts  ( which I often write about in my postings ), I respect and appreciate its ways and culture without turning into a 'kacang lupakan kulit'  (the pea forgetting its pod)  or a Bounty Bar or a Banana!  Secondly,  in my part of the world, my spouse speaks just enough Malay, Hokkien and Hindi and respects the culture of all people who call themselves Malaysians and Singaporeans.

No one race can make me feel, as you put it, "oppressed".  I take issue with and I write about injustice, mistreatment, prejudice, bigotry, self-righteousness, arrogance and most of all double standards in any society.  Check on the labels on my blog and eat your words!

In Singapore, as a teacher (I don't like the pompous word  'educator'), I had the privilege of teaching in a Malay medium secondary school  (Yusof Ishak Secondary School) and later in an English medium school  (Jurong Secondary School).  Both were "integrated schools".  YISS was "integrated"  ( notice how I use inverted commas for the word  integrated)  with the English medium, JSS with the Chinese medium.  I found myself having to play the role of intermediary between the two opposing mediums and at some and most of the time as a guardian/bouncer for my Malay medium kids in YISS for 10 years and for the English medium kids ( of all races)  in JSS for two years.

The crowning glory of my career in Singapore was when I was shunted side ways to Anglo-Chinese Junior College.
Read my exciting one-month experience in that pukka Missionary Sixth Form College. http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2012/04/x-factor.html and   http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2012/05/acjc-finale.html

And to add grist to the mill - I spared no effort in challenging the self-satisfied arrogance of  some of my mainly Malay colleagues in USM in the early 1990s.  Their brand of prejudice in tolerating and keeping a white American drunkard while giving a brown-skinned woman the short end of the stick, told me I had better get out of that education business at least!

In fact, I found much more joy and knowledge and meaningful experience working with the English working class in Leicester.  Read:  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2010/11/some-good-people.html

Paragraph Three only displays how wet you are behind the ears or, if you're older than I reckon, how immature and puerile you are despite the age.  Malays, especially, wherever they are in the Malay Archipelago, should learn a third language (other than their mother tongue and English) like Mandarin, Arabic or another European language like  French or Italian.  For instance, Ariff, my great-nephew in a KL secondary school  is studying Mandarin as a third language.  Malays must not be like the frog in that poem "Bangau oh Bangau".  Read   http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-digression.html

While Twitter, the internet and blogosphere have widened the net for expression and discussion, at times they have also opened the door for ignorance and cowardice and especially the absence of accountability.  It is like "Kera di beri Bunga"  (giving a flower to a monkey)  or "Casting Pearls before Swine".

Finally here's my "Aside ".  I often refer to the proverb  "What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander".  At 69, I still have use of what my favourite detective Hercule Poirot described as 'the grey matter', and I can't help but conclude that this Anon is the Gander whose sense of superiority is irked by what he reads in AsH.  So he  fabricates what he reads to brand  AsH as anti-Chinese - a very devious and sly ploy.   Alas, he botched it and has instead been hoisted by his own petard!

Now, that is dishonesty and it carries no whiff of intellectuality!  

   

Selamat Hari Raya 2012

Selamat  Hari  Raya  Aidil  Fitri,  Maaf  Zahir  dan  Batin.


This Hari Raya brings special greetings for Lely who had been to hell and back ......

Linkhttp://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html

.......and still a fighter, and full of positive spirit.  InsyaAllah Lely, you shall be back for Hari Raya with us in KL or Leicester next year, and we can 'pose' for more 'gambear'  ( Peranakan for 'gambar') like this.

s

Have a Happy Hari Raya kiddo, from Uncle and MH

For another unique lady,  Macik Hjh. Alimah, who is also battling ill health with courage and fortitude that puts us all to shame :

Link  http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2012/03/alimah-bt-awang-anak-jati-singapura.html

Macik, apabila Iain cukup sihat, kita akan berjumpa lagi di Boon Lay untuk mendengar cerita lama  Tanjung Keling dari Macik, InsyaAllah.  Salam Hari Raya dan Maaf Zahir Batin dari cikgu maznoor dan Iain.

....... The Fire of Love - Episode 1.



There was no glow and Maizie had no time for callow Kiwis.



Rubbish!



More rubbish.  Maizie dreamt of becoming a train-driver.

Maizie had a second-hand MG Midget, not a  Morris Minor which was the standard vehicle for Learner-Drivers.

Maizie trained for the NCC  (National Cadet Corps) and was appointed as the Commanding Officer for the Girls' Unit at Yusof Ishak Secondary School.  She was quite a tough young bird - then.




YISS  was also known as "Yang Itu Saya Suka".  For me then, it was Riduan, front row, third from right and maybe ....???

When he learned of her military training in an adjunct of the formidable Singapore Armed Forces , he quickly backed off and retreated to the wet and windy English Wimpdom.

COMING  SOON   -    Episode  2