At the beginning of March 1956 I began my secondary school education. I stayed at the Malay Boys Hostel in Jalan Sulaiman and attended the Bricksfield School in Bricksfield, Kuala Lumpur Malay Secondary School
However in one aspect life was rather pleasant. We were living in a hostel with good modern facilities. There was good food and it was free. On the top of that we were each given ten ringgit for pocket money every month.
However in one aspect life was rather pleasant. We were living in a hostel with good modern facilities. There was good food and it was free. On the top of that we were each given ten ringgit for pocket money every month.
Our teacher Cikgu Osman Ros was a very good teacher but a fierce one. He tolerated no nonsense. As I was quite good in English and the other core subjects I was spared from his fierceness. I cannot remember much what else he taught other than English which was my favourite subject. For English Literature we read a novel by Thomas Hughes' “Tom Brown’s School Days”. I enjoyed reading this book very much. However most of the other students would dread this. One day reading this book in class the teacher asked the meaning of the word “friendship”. A very brave Javanese friend stood up and answered “kawan kapal, Sir”. I cannot remember whether Cikgu Osman was angry or amused. In 2008 some twenty of us from that 1956 Special Malay Form One Class were privileged to entertain and honour Cikgu Osman to a lunch at my place. Every one of us expressed our gratitude to him and wished him well and prayed that Allah grant him continued good health and prosperity in his life.
I felt I was doing rather well in my studies. I was flaterred but embarrased that Cikgu Osman commenting on me said, "When I have a son I will name him Yussof". I do not think my friends liked that. So we will leave that topic.
However in one aspect life was rather pleasant. We were living in a hostel with good modern facilities. There was good food and it was free. On the top of that we were each given ten ringgit for pocket money every month. I liked life in the hostel. I liked Kuala Lumpur even more. It is different from tke Kampong. I felt guilty not really missing my family. Hostel life was orderly. Before going to school there was proper breakfast. When we came back from school there was lunch. Probably we had tea as well. I cannot remember. What I remember distintly was that we were given a hard boiled egg before going to bed. To this day I caanot undersand the rationale. Of course dinner was served at seven. The food may not have been very tasty given the mass cooking. I think there were about 100 of us in the hostel. To us coming from poor families the food was alright. However some of the senior boys who must have come from wealthy families did not like the food very much. At dinner one evening a senior boy was seen walking to a window with a dish in his hand. When he reached the window he threw out the food in the dish. He was cheered by his friends. My first experience of student protest. I did not know what the Hostel Master did to him. There were some students from very well to do families in the hostel. Their fathers were members of royal families, senior civil servants and the like. They did not like us very much dubbing us "anak mas" because everything was provided for free and we received pocket money. There was some form of bullying by these senior students. But nothing serious happened.
Kuala Lumpur was then a small town, not like what it is today. There were no tall multi-storey buildings. For public transport there was the Sri Jaya buses. Some vwere double deckers which fascinated me. Sometimes when I had nothing to do in the afternoon I would take a ride on one of these and sat on the upper deck and watched the town as the bus moved along on its route. My favourite route was from Jalan Sulaiman to Bungsar. The end of the route was Pantai where the present University of Malaya is located. It was then just a kampong. Bungsar then consisted of government and the Lembaga Letrik Negara quarters.
I felt I was doing rather well in my studies. I was flaterred but embarrased that Cikgu Osman commenting on me said, "When I have a son I will name him Yussof". I do not think my friends liked that. So we will leave that topic.
However in one aspect life was rather pleasant. We were living in a hostel with good modern facilities. There was good food and it was free. On the top of that we were each given ten ringgit for pocket money every month. I liked life in the hostel. I liked Kuala Lumpur even more. It is different from tke Kampong. I felt guilty not really missing my family. Hostel life was orderly. Before going to school there was proper breakfast. When we came back from school there was lunch. Probably we had tea as well. I cannot remember. What I remember distintly was that we were given a hard boiled egg before going to bed. To this day I caanot undersand the rationale. Of course dinner was served at seven. The food may not have been very tasty given the mass cooking. I think there were about 100 of us in the hostel. To us coming from poor families the food was alright. However some of the senior boys who must have come from wealthy families did not like the food very much. At dinner one evening a senior boy was seen walking to a window with a dish in his hand. When he reached the window he threw out the food in the dish. He was cheered by his friends. My first experience of student protest. I did not know what the Hostel Master did to him. There were some students from very well to do families in the hostel. Their fathers were members of royal families, senior civil servants and the like. They did not like us very much dubbing us "anak mas" because everything was provided for free and we received pocket money. There was some form of bullying by these senior students. But nothing serious happened.
Kuala Lumpur was then a small town, not like what it is today. There were no tall multi-storey buildings. For public transport there was the Sri Jaya buses. Some vwere double deckers which fascinated me. Sometimes when I had nothing to do in the afternoon I would take a ride on one of these and sat on the upper deck and watched the town as the bus moved along on its route. My favourite route was from Jalan Sulaiman to Bungsar. The end of the route was Pantai where the present University of Malaya is located. It was then just a kampong. Bungsar then consisted of government and the Lembaga Letrik Negara quarters.
Sometime during the year we were visited by a European looking man from the Ministry of Education by the name of Encik Hamdan Sheikh Tahir. We were told he was in charge of all the remove classes in the country and would be the first Headmaster of the first Malay Secondary School in Ipoh
To this day I cannot understand why these classes were called "remove classes". I have looked up the dictionary and find no meaning to suggest "transitional" as what the classes were. We were in a transition from Malay-medium to English-medium school. The term continued to be used. But today it is only for non Malay-medium primary schools to Malay-medium secondary schools. The Malay term "Tingkat Khas" is probably less unsuitable.
I must have grown quite a bit during the one year I was in the hostel.When my height was measured by Cikgu Osman so that it was recorded in my report card he expected me be 4 feet plus as most of the other boys were. So he strated writing 4 feet.....To his surprise I was exactly 5 feet tall. He simply wrote 4 feet 12 inches. On that note we bid farewell to Malay Boys Hostel Jalan Sulaiman, Brickfields School and Cikgu Osman.
To this day I cannot understand why these classes were called "remove classes". I have looked up the dictionary and find no meaning to suggest "transitional" as what the classes were. We were in a transition from Malay-medium to English-medium school. The term continued to be used. But today it is only for non Malay-medium primary schools to Malay-medium secondary schools. The Malay term "Tingkat Khas" is probably less unsuitable.
I must have grown quite a bit during the one year I was in the hostel.When my height was measured by Cikgu Osman so that it was recorded in my report card he expected me be 4 feet plus as most of the other boys were. So he strated writing 4 feet.....To his surprise I was exactly 5 feet tall. He simply wrote 4 feet 12 inches. On that note we bid farewell to Malay Boys Hostel Jalan Sulaiman, Brickfields School and Cikgu Osman.
When we were in school I wondered how you and a few others like Shukor Nagor could speak very conversant in English as you all could take part in English School Debate. Bearing that you have already have early expoture in your Primary school as you have mentioned, you have the advantage to be in a more advance level compared to many of us, like myself, who had almost zero knowledge of English background. Therefore I would like to suggest the present parents and teachers should realise the importance of English Language for the children in order to be competive in global development in education.
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