MCKK
I spent the most formative years of my school life in
an all-Malay all-boarding school call the Malay College in a small sleepy town
call Kuala Kangsar – from Form One to Form Five. I had the time of my life
there! All-Malay boarding school but never was race an issue or discussed at
length in all my time there. Because we were all Malays we could not form any racial
groupings during interval, games or our leisure times. Language or race did not
define our friends or our enemies (if there were any!). When we ate we all sat together - no halal or non-halal section. Racial
discrimination could not exist in an all-Malay boarding school – so as far as
we were concern it did not and should not exists anywhere else…though I must
say that I found the guys from up North did talk a bit different!
And if there was anything racial about MCKK it was our
teachers. And what a mixture it was. Malay, Chinese, Indians and hell there
were Whites too!…and my only memories of this racial mix were good ones. They
all taught us the wonders and joy of learning – of being together as a close
knit group. Because of these teachers our expectations of other races became
good, we enjoyed the time we spent with them and they with us and so was born
the acceptance of other races to us young Malay boys. The acceptance that the
Chinese, Indians, whites and others was also good people. So what was there not
to like about the others?
Is it not ironic – that a Malay, brought up in an
all-Malay boarding school learns the wonder of racial and ethnic harmony from
that young an age? And that love of others has stayed with me till now.
And another thing that Kolej taught me – how
to write, read, think and talk in English. So what I am getting at is this – even with all the inter
racial schools and the multi racial housing estates and the rukun tetangga – all this would not promote racial
harmony and equality unless the fundamentals are there. We need to have that
love for each other implanted in us from young and then allow it to grow as we
grow. And if we do it will not leave us for life.
Sir,
ReplyDeleteI bet that they did not utter "Asaalamualaikum dan Salam Sejahtera" during your time at MCKK.
Currently we hear this all over Malaysia and from young, the above greetings has divided the people into US and Them.
In truth, after A'kum, there is nothing sejahtera about dividing people.
How ironic?
And Pak, little did we realise that a boarding school like that had bred cheaters, liars, killers, dirty politicians and corrupt leaders amongst all other good things....
ReplyDeleteBro we can talk about that another time lah!..you forget terrorist (in Indon!)...
ReplyDeletehave u bought anything from a shop bernama 'Ali store' & 'chung wah book shop' too in dat sleepy bandar !? aku bersekolah di sek cina 'Tsung wah' dari 1958 - 1962 laa !
ReplyDeleteDear HH,
ReplyDeleteThe common denominator which became the foundation for racial tolerance was the education system then and the values inculcated by the teachers, the Headmaster and of course the peaceful sleepy town. As a comparison, the FMC (now the RMC ) where I had my upper secondary education was multiracial and it reflected the three main community in the country. The teachers and instructors were mixed too, mostly Europeans during the early days in Port Dickson. We accept each other as equals and upheld the charter of the College and the vision of its founder, General Templer. If only we had more of such Colleges, perhaps today we would not be drifting away in compartments and creating the gaps in racial harmony.
Sdr Halim..you must write about those days in RMC. I would love to read about the "Esprit de corps" what wonderful, wonderful memories we still have of those days. All I need to do is sit down by myself in a quite part of my back garden and I will then let my mind go back to those days...
ReplyDelete