This is a continuation of my previous posting on reminiscence of my days in Royal Military College and this time I am writing on my sixth form years from 1963 to 1964. The photos above were taken during our class reunion, the top being taken in 2006 and the bottom taken several years before that.
There were nineteen of us in the class and their names are as follows:-
1. Abdul Rahman Hj Embong.
2. Abdullah Abdul Rahman.
3. Azzat Kamaluddin.
4. Amin Nordin Abdul Rahman.
5. Abdul Halim Shah.
6. Mohamad Akbar Baba.
7. Mohd. Shaharuddin Bahaudin.
8. Mazlan Hashim.
9. Lawrence Teoh.
10.Hamzah Pilus.
11. Mohd. Noor Harun.
12. Gnanalingam.
13. Gurdial Singh.
14. Chua Jui Leng.
15. Haron Siraj.
16. Khalidas ( Hamzah Abdullah).
17. Ong Ah Hing.
18. Ridzuan Md. Piah.
19. Zawawi Mahmuddin.
In the photo which was taken during the first reunion organised by Hamzah Pilus, Allahyarham Ridzuan Md Piah was still around. Lawrence Teoh was already deceased and Ong Ah Hing could not be traced. On both occasions there were those who could not attend the reunion, especially Abdullah Abdul Rahman or fondly known as Dolet. We are all indebted to Hamzah for making the effort to organise both reunions.
When we gathered for the 2006 reunion, Gnanalingam made a promise that he would like to have a gathering in 2010 on his ship which is berthed at Westport, and he would like to see all of us again, God willing.
I found that the Budak Boys of the Class of '64 were a noisy lot but fun. With classmates such as Gurdial Singh, Chua Jui Leng,Shaharuddin , Ridzuan and Haron Siraj there could never be a dull moment for they were full of mirth. The serious ones like Azzat, Dolet , Rahman Embong, Amin Nordin and Mazlan Hashim, they always made learning a pleasure.In one of the plays where Azzat acted as the Chinese Emperor, it was amusing whenever the dialogue which goes " Go and commit suicide " was uttered to the audience delight.He also acted in the Shakespearean play, "Julius Ceasar " and it was little wonder that he ended up going to Cambridge University. Dolet always took pride with his long essays which I commented that for every ten sentence that he wrote I could shorten it to just one sentence. Ong Ah Hing provided the comic relief though he looked tense. Ridzuan Md Piah always wore his pullover as he was asthmatic and nicknamed the " Polar Bear ". Sadly he passed away a few years ago after being in a coma for several days. Whenever he was hospitalised at the University Malaya Hospital, he would let me know and as far as I could remember I never failed to visit him in hospital. Mohd.Akbar Baba who now lives in Seremban, my hometown, made us laugh with his funny remarks.Hamzah Pilus gave me the impression as the class singer with him strumming the guitar.Gnanalingam made his presence felt by his towering figure and Ridzuan liked to call him " Anak Adam " for reasons only known to himself.Khalidas ( now known as Hamzah Abdullah ) was amongst those who always made himself heard despite his small stature. Lanky Lawrence Teoh who practised as a lawyer (now deceased)appeared preoccupied in his own world and it was a wonder how he could have presented himself before the bench as his daily uniform when in class looked somewhat unkempt. As for Amin Nordin he was immersed in reading Mohd. Iqbal's writings and today he has written many books on his favourite subject mostly inspired by his readings when he was in our class.
As for the teachers, I recalled that except for two Europeans, the rest were all Asians. They were Flt. Lt. Mc Connon, Capt. Underwood, OP Balakrishnan, Mr. Seow Bin Hak, Mr. Subramaniam, Mr. Lee Lye Hock, Mr. Lee Shau Kong and En. Idris Tain. It was surprising that it was the Asian teachers who left a lasting impression on me though the expatriates were no less dedicated and excellent teachers.
During one of the College term holidays Cikgu Idris Tain led a large group of Budak Boys to the so-called " East Coast Expedition ". For me it was my first experience visiting Kelantan and Trengganu.Mazlan Hashim was kind enough to invite some members of the group with Cikgu Idris to his house in Ledang for a makan and later we were taken to see the " Rodat " which is a special cultural presentation in Trengganu.It was not surprising therefore when the PAS State Government chose him to be the State Secretary even though he was on the verge of retirement. Mohd. Noor Harun and I went to venture into that famous Biaritz Park in Kota Bharu and managed to avoid Cikgu Idris Tain who left the place just as we were about to enter.I wrote a "Sajak " based on the experience and Mohd. Noor's " Sajak " too came out as a response and it appeared in our Malay magazine published by the Persatuan Kebudayaan Kebangsaan which flourished under the leadership of Abdul Rahman Embong ( also known by his nickname as Aji )
When I had to revise for the Higher School Certificate Examination, I was fortunate to do it with Zawawi in the latter part of the weekdays when there were no field activities. We went for discussions at the block which housed the classrooms on the first floor and that helped me a lot in the final preparations. Our class was the first to sit for Malay paper at principal level for the HSC and though not many opted for it( as we were divided into those taking History & Government at principal level and Malay as a principal subject )all who took Malay attained a principal "A" and Mr.Wallwork the Director of Studies was quite impressed. Of course we owed a lot to Cikgu Idris Tain who gave his heart and soul to ensure that we scored.
So when he was critically ill and hospitalised at Ampang Puteri Hospital I went with Mohd. Noor Harun to pay him a visit. It was rather sad that I learned of his passing away some time later and I could not attend to pay my last respects. When I served the Ministry of Education he became the Director of Schools and he was a Dato' by then. Typical of his style he gave me a lot of encouragement and advice when the chips were down to which I am still grateful to this day. May ALLAH Bless his Soul and place him amongst the pious.
To all my ex-classmates, I offer my sincere apologies if I offend any of them with my statements of which I have no intention of doing so, as I regard our friendship to be the most satisfying and hope they are everlasting.
This is a continuation of my previous posting on reminiscence of my days in Royal Military College and this time I am writing on my sixth form years from 1963 to 1964. The photos above were taken during our class reunion, the top being taken in 2006 and the bottom taken several years before that. There were nineteen of us in the class and their names are as follows:-
1. Abdul Rahman Hj Embong.
2. Abdullah Abdul Rahman.
3. Azzat Kamaluddin.
4. Amin Nordin Abdul Rahman.
5. Abdul Halim Shah.
6. Mohamad Akbar Baba.
7. Mohd. Shaharuddin Bahaudin.
8. Mazlan Hashim.
9. Lawrence Teoh.
10.Hamzah Pilus.
11. Mohd. Noor Harun.
12. Gnanalingam.
13. Gurdial Singh.
14. Chua Jui Leng.
15. Haron Siraj.
16. Khalidas ( Hamzah Abdullah).
17. Ong Ah Hing.
18. Ridzuan Md. Piah.
19. Zawawi Mahmuddin.
In the photo which was taken during the first reunion organised by Hamzah Pilus, Allahyarham Ridzuan Md Piah was still around. Lawrence Teoh was already deceased and Ong Ah Hing could not be traced. On both occasions there were those who could not attend the reunion, especially Abdullah Abdul Rahman or fondly known as Dolet. We are all indebted to Hamzah for making the effort to organise both reunions. When we gathered for the 2006 reunion, Gnanalingam made a promise that he would like to have a gathering in 2010 on his ship which is berthed at Westport, and he would like to see all of us again, God willing. I found that the Budak Boys of the Class of '64 were a noisy lot but fun. With classmates such as Gurdial Singh, Chua Jui Leng,Shaharuddin , Ridzuan and Haron Siraj there could never be a dull moment for they were full of mirth. The serious ones like Azzat, Dolet , Rahman Embong, Amin Nordin and Mazlan Hashim, they always made learning a pleasure.In one of the plays where Azzat acted as the Chinese Emperor, it was amusing whenever the dialogue which goes " Go and commit suicide " was uttered to the audience delight.He also acted in the Shakespearean play, "Julius Ceasar " and it was little wonder that he ended up going to Cambridge University. Dolet always took pride with his long essays which I commented that for every ten sentence that he wrote I could shorten it to just one sentence. Ong Ah Hing provided the comic relief though he looked tense. Ridzuan Md Piah always wore his pullover as he was asthmatic and nicknamed the " Polar Bear ". Sadly he passed away a few years ago after being in a coma for several days. Whenever he was hospitalised at the University Malaya Hospital, he would let me know and as far as I could remember I never failed to visit him in hospital. Mohd.Akbar Baba who now lives in Seremban, my hometown, made us laugh with his funny remarks.Hamzah Pilus gave me the impression as the class singer with him strumming the guitar.Gnanalingam made his presence felt by his towering figure and Ridzuan liked to call him " Anak Adam " for reasons only known to himself.Khalidas ( now known as Hamzah Abdullah ) was amongst those who always made himself heard despite his small stature. Lanky Lawrence Teoh who practised as a lawyer (now deceased)appeared preoccupied in his own world and it was a wonder how he could have presented himself before the bench as his daily uniform when in class looked somewhat unkempt. As for Amin Nordin he was immersed in reading Mohd. Iqbal's writings and today he has written many books on his favourite subject mostly inspired by his readings when he was in our class. As for the teachers, I recalled that except for two Europeans, the rest were all Asians. They were Flt. Lt. Mc Connon, Capt. Underwood, OP Balakrishnan, Mr. Seow Bin Hak, Mr. Subramaniam, Mr. Lee Lye Hock, Mr. Lee Shau Kong and En. Idris Tain. It was surprising that it was the Asian teachers who left a lasting impression on me though the expatriates were no less dedicated and excellent teachers.
During one of the College term holidays Cikgu Idris Tain led a large group of Budak Boys to the so-called " East Coast Expedition ". For me it was my first experience visiting Kelantan and Trengganu.Mazlan Hashim was kind enough to invite some members of the group with Cikgu Idris to his house in Ledang for a makan and later we were taken to see the " Rodat " which is a special cultural presentation in Trengganu.It was not surprising therefore when the PAS State Government chose him to be the State Secretary even though he was on the verge of retirement. Mohd. Noor Harun and I went to venture into that famous Biaritz Park in Kota Bharu and managed to avoid Cikgu Idris Tain who left the place just as we were about to enter.I wrote a "Sajak " based on the experience and Mohd. Noor's " Sajak " too came out as a response and it appeared in our Malay magazine published by the Persatuan Kebudayaan Kebangsaan which flourished under the leadership of Abdul Rahman Embong ( also known by his nickname as Aji ) When I had to revise for the Higher School Certificate Examination, I was fortunate to do it with Zawawi in the latter part of the weekdays when there were no field activities. We went for discussions at the block which housed the classrooms on the first floor and that helped me a lot in the final preparations. Our class was the first to sit for Malay paper at principal level for the HSC and though not many opted for it( as we were divided into those taking History & Government at principal level and Malay as a principal subject )all who took Malay attained a principal "A" and Mr.Wallwork the Director of Studies was quite impressed. Of course we owed a lot to Cikgu Idris Tain who gave his heart and soul to ensure that we scored. So when he was critically ill and hospitalised at Ampang Puteri Hospital I went with Mohd. Noor Harun to pay him a visit. It was rather sad that I learned of his passing away some time later and I could not attend to pay my last respects. When I served the Ministry of Education he became the Director of Schools and he was a Dato' by then. Typical of his style he gave me a lot of encouragement and advice when the chips were down to which I am still grateful to this day. May ALLAH Bless his Soul and place him amongst the pious.
To all my ex-classmates, I offer my sincere apologies if I offend any of them with my statements of which I have no intention of doing so, as I regard our friendship to be the most satisfying and hope they are everlasting.
2 comments:
Abdulhalimshah
I remember Ridzuan Md Piah dearly. He was in my department, a fine gentleman, honest, unfortunately, rather sickly. Alfatihah for him.
Mazlan Hashim is a well-known and a well respected figure in Terengganu. I suppose the late Brig Mustapha Awang was senior to you at RMC.
As we remember them dearly we pray that they be among the favoured ones with HIM
Pakcik
Dear Pak Cik,
Allahyarham Mustapha Awang most probably joined as a cadet in PD. Allahyarham Ridzuan was a very dear friend of mine until he passed away. May ALLAH place his soul amongst the " Solihin".
Thanks for your comment. Wasallam.
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