Chapter 20: Desperate Situation Demanded Desperate Measure

Back in the village at Harrington Road, the most feared thing in the minds of my parents was to be in a situation when a child suddenly fell sick in the middle of the night. Back then, there was no telephone available to call for a taxi or to call for emergency helpline or an ambulance. One had to come up with immediate solution to address the desperate situation. If not, it could be a matter of life and death.

 

If a child suddenly started crying in the middle of the night and a touch of his forehead revealed high temperature, something had to be done immediately. In one such incident when one of my brothers suddenly fell ill, I remember seeing my father rushing around the house with a torch, flipping up stacks of old boxes and old newspapers looking for cockroaches. Once caught, the dung pouch inside its body was taken out and mixed with some Chinese medicine and fed into the mouth of the sick child. My parents told us that such concoction was meant for the treatment of high fever caused by fear (驚嚇). I never asked how such formula came about but I believe this must have been passed down to them from their forefathers. Interestingly, cockroaches are used in Chinese traditional medicine. Now as I reflect upon it, I still shiver to think about eating the organ of cockroach that consumes dirty things and even carrier of diseases! Yuck!

 

Back then, bananas trees were planted in front of my village house. A tree would be chopped down whenever the ripened bananas were ready for harvesting. I remember an incident that happened when I was probably about  seven years old. After my father chopped down one bananas tree, the kids each plucked  a long bananas leaf and waved it as if moving a unicorn head imitating a lion dance. Suddenly, I felt a needle-pricked kind of pain at one of the fingers. Within minutes, I felt dizzy and immediately proceeded back to the house to lie down. My father noted my sudden disappearance and rushed back to the house to find out when had happened to me. By then, my bitten finger had begun to swell and my father was sure I had been bitten by some kinds of insect. He went back to check and finally found the culprit - a spider. Of course, the unfortunate spider was instantly killed. For my treatment, my father hit repeatedly at the bitten area and then squeezed hard to "force" out the toxin from the bite mark. Then he rubbed the area with a kind of Chinese oilmen specifically meant to treat insect bite. Fortunately, I survived.

 

In another incident which happened when I was probably six years old.  I tripped and fell while I was running near the chicken coop. When I fell, my hand hit the ground and it landed on a piece of rusted nail and pierced about 10mm into part of my hand just above my palm. Fortunately it was a Sunday and my father was at home. As usual, he hit the area hard to force the blood to come out. Then he applied a piece of a Chinese mushroom soaked with urine over the pierced area. Somehow, I survived without being infected by tetanus. Whether it was due to this unique treatment I couldn't be sure.

 

 

The saying "A mother would do anything for the well being of her child" is equally applicable to my mother. My eldest brother since very young suffered occasional seizures which my mother attributed it to his exposure to prolonged high fever earlier. Throughout his childhood and adolescent years, my mother had tried all sorts of treatment to have this problem cured. At one time, at my maternal grandmother's suggestion, the service of a bomoh was secured through her connection with her Muslim relatives in Kampong Darau. I remember when this bomoh came to our house, he prayed over a little pebble and then put it into a water bottle filled with plain water. He instructed my brother to drink water only from this bottle. The bottle was to be filled up whenever it was about to become empty. He also suggested his name to be changed from Ah Tet to Ah Nyee. This unfortunately did not cure his problem.

 

My mother had also at one time approached a woman member of the KK True Jesus Church who was known for her prayer of deliverance for people suffering from illnesses. She did come to our house and prayed many times and even suggested that our whole family to transfer membership to her church to ensure total deliverance. My mother was all persuaded and ready to change church membership when at the very last minute she was advised not to.

 

Desperate moments sometimes could cause one to try all sorts of thing and even to act irrationally.

Chapter 19: Footwear

In the fifties and the sixties, practically everyone went to school on foot. A few of the older boys cycled to school. To see a kid being sent by the parents in a car to school would be as rare as seeing the eclipse of the sun. In fact, in my school that catered for kids living around Signal Hill, I could not recall any kid being sent to school in a car.

 

Kids living around Signal Hill mostly came from poorer families. They earned their living as vegetables farmers, pig farmers, bean curd (taufu) makers, small traders and tradesmen liked painters, tailors and carpenters. Everyone wore white canvass shoes to school. The wear and tear of this type of shoes were high since we did a lot of walking. Because all the kids had to walk on dirt tracks, it was impossible to keep them clean and whitish throughout the week. Stained shoes were most evident during rainy season when we had to walk along dirt tracks with puddles of murky water.

At home, we were occasionally provided with Japanese slippers to move around. But very often, a new pair would not immediately be provided after the old pair broke. We had to go barefoot while waiting for the new pair to be purchased. Because of walking barefoot, I had at one time stepped on some wood splinters. I did not inform my parents and instead attempted to remove them all by myself. Somehow, not all the splinters were removed. Over the years, a lump started to grow at the bottom of my left foot and it grew and grew in size until it was too painful to walk on it. Finally in Primary 4, my father took me to Queen Elizabeth Hospital to have a minor operation to have it removed. After that procedure, my father sent me to school in his Raleigh bicycle and I had to move around in the school and to walk home in a crutch for a couple of days.

Since many kids in the village moved around barefoot frequently and also played a lot in the dirt field, some were infected with tapeworms. The normal treatment in those days was to eat a kind of Chinese tonic that "forced" the tapeworms to come out. Most came out in the stools whilst there were cases of the worms escaping through the mouths! The sight was indeed revolting.

In the village, many adults used Chinese wooden clogs as their footwear. This was very practical especially in moving around the kitchen floor which was just bare earth.

Owning a pair of genuine leader shoes was out of question as we just could not afford it. A fairly decent pair made of imitation leader was what I could expect and it was normally provided once a year either for the occasion of Chinese New Year or as a reward for scoring first position in the annual class exam.

Malaysians Have Spoken

 

More than 50% of the Malaysians have "spoken" through the ballot box on 5 May 2013 that they do not want BN to be the government of Malaysia.

 

Sadly, our electoral system has been drafted in such a way that a "losing" party with less than 50% popular vote can claim power to rule!

 

 

Of course, BN was quick to use their racial mind-set to say that Malaysian Chinese have rejected the BN. This is grossly misleading if one is to look at the racial composition of Malaysia. It was reported in 2004 that Malaysian Chinese made up of only 25.4% of the total population. In fact with the declining birth rate among the Chinese, that percentage is even lower today.

It is obvious that in the GE13 election, even assuming that all Chinese voted against the BN (which is definitely not possible), a very significant number of non-Chinese have voted against the BN and not what BN has tried to make many to believe.

Exercising our Right as Malaysians

 

We have just exercised our right in choosing a new government for Malaysia!

Chapter 18: Primary Education

In the fifties, there was no kinder garden. Primary education began with Primary One when a kid reached the age of six. I had always longed to enter school even before reaching six. Even at the age of 5, I loved to carry school bag filled with old papers and sheets of torn calendars. My classroom was a spot under a jackfruit tree planted about 50m away from my house. After browsing the papers and the numbers printed on the torn calendars, I would packed up and returned home.

 

A typical jackfruit tree

In those days, you either enrolled into a Chinese medium primary school or an English medium primary school. My parents sent all their kids to Chinese school. I began my Primary one at Lok Yuk Chinese Primary School upon reaching six in 1958. This school then was sited in Signal Hill where Sabah Theological Seminary now stands. There were only 6 classes catering for Primary 1 to Primary 6 each. Each class had about 25 students. Students were seated two per table with a long bench also for two. As that was a co-ed school, boys were allowed to sit with boys until Primary 3 when the lady class teacher opted for a different sitting arrangement: a boy must sit with a girl. That was something all the boys found it extremely embarrassing and we disliked it a lot. At that age, girls were looked upon almost as aliens and they were totally unattractive! I remember some of us carved or drew lines at the middle of the tables and the benches and warned the girls never to cross them! It would be almost a declaration of war if that understanding was breached! That ruling was finally broken in Primary six when the class teacher allowed the students to sit with people of their choice. What a great way to end our primary education!

In those days, there was no such thing of families sending their kids for tuition. Tuition or afternoon session was only offered by the school itself in Primary six after lunch. Primary six tuition was deemed necessary as all students of this class had to sit for a government assessment examination before being allowed to go onto the secondary school.

The year in Primary six was one of the most exciting of my primary school education. Being in the final year, the students in that class were being looked upon as daiko and daije (big brothers and big sisters). The best time of the school-day was the break after the morning session ended and before the afternoon session was to start. During that time, we played all kinds of games. For the boys, "police chasing after the thieves" was one of the most liked games. Some of us who acted as the thieves thought of all the most unexpected places to hide. The thick forest at the foothill of the school was the best hideout. Some hid so well that they were never "found" by the "police" even by 2.00pm when the afternoon session commenced. By the time these "thieves" turned up on their own by 2.15pm or even later and walked into the class, it was almost certain that punishment awaited them. After being lectured and scolded, caning of the palm was to be expected. A kinder teacher would ask the "thieves" to stand for 20+ minutes before being allowed to sit down.

I would be lying if I say that I had never been punished. Still, punishment was rare in my case. I could think of one incident when I was caned a few times on my palm. That was in Primary six in 1963. The boys in the class found our male English teacher (who was a young bachelor) was particularly nice and friendly to one of the girls. He seemed to pay more attention to this particular girl. So one day, I said to her: "The English teacher loves you and wants to marry you!". She was so "traumatised" by the teasing that she cried and reported the case to the class teacher who happened to be the principal. The consequence of course was caning of the palm!

The high point of my primary school education was in 1963 when North Borneo joined with Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya to form Malaysia. One of the major events to commemorate this occasion was a lantern procession by students in Jesselton town (now renamed Kota Kinabalu). Students in our school made all kinds of lanterns. The most common one was the 5-corner stars. The school also had a special project to make a huge lantern in the form of a crocodile about 40 ft long. It took about 25 students to carry it. The most demanding part was handled by  a few strong boys who took turn to push the jaw of the crocodile up and down throughout the procession.

Overall, I have fond memory of those years in the primary school!

It's Now or Never

Never before, Malaysia has seen such determined desire of people of all creeds and ethnicities to see a total change in the way Malaysia is to be governed.

Every night, waves and waves of the battle cry: "Ini Kali Lah" reverberate in the ceramah put up by the opposition. Of course, the power of the day would resist being uprooted and resorted to all sorts of tricks either more goodies or even threats!

 

This time around,  I see an unprecedented number of young or first time voters who want to use their votes to initiate real change in Malaysia. They come back from overseers to exercise that right.

 

People are truly disgusted with the number one scourge in Malaysia: Corruption which has permeated into every level of the society. The perversion and abuses in the implementation of the so-called affirmative policy have driven scores of talents out of this country and benefitting many of our neighbours. In this era when every country including the Arab countries are yearning for better governments with inclusive policies. Sadly, Malaysia has regressed over the years. Many believe that if left unchecked, Malaysia will become a failed nation.

 

Every right thinking person would know that something is awfully wrong with our system of government when our neighbour's currency which was same as our some 50 years ago has risen sharply over the years and is now more than two and half time stronger than ours. This is especially unacceptable when our neighbours have no natural resources while ours is blessed with so many.

 

All well intentioned Malaysian genuinely hope that a new Malaysia will dawn after 5 May 2013!