AMRI ROHAYAT - Part 3

Through the Lenses of a Sister

Education

 

We both never got into kindergarten. Never heard of the word before. We went to a ‘sekolah tumpang’ (sort of an unofficial and temporary school) in Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Relong, a small school about 11km away from home. Mak and Abah were both teaching at that school then. So they put us along with the other Standard 1 pupils. Of course, Abang went there first. 

 

SK Relong was the first formal education introduced to us. Sometimes, the teachers would take us to learn outside the classrooms, under the trees. After the morning assemblies, all the kids were asked to pick rubbish and ‘kemuncup’ (weeds) off the field. Before going home, we need to clean the classrooms. Nowadays, I guess parents would go viral saying that we were being ‘tortured’ by the teachers. Heh. But, no. I’d like to think that it was an effective approach to teach us kids on discipline and responsibility. 

 

The community consisted of villagers. Humble and friendly people. Mak and Abah got a lot of home-grown produce from them every now and then. Not only as a token of appreciation for teaching their kids, but also as a means of respect. You know, those days, teachers were considered as highly respectful people because they provide knowledge for the young ones. They’d give corns, fruits, vegetables, tapioca, sweet potatoes and etc. including durian, when it seasoned. 

 

When he was 7, my parents registered Abang to Clifford Primary School which was very near to Rumah Tok. When I turned 7, they registered me into the same school as Abang. 

 

Clifford Primary School was a co-ed school. We were introduced to friends from other racial backgrounds. So we got to mix with Malay, Chinese, Indian, Serani and Punjabi friends. We had no problem mingling around because we already had mixed culture of friends in Sungai Bakap. But in Clifford School, that’s where we learned how to communicate in English and that’s where we learned to respect each other’s cultural and religious belief. 

 

In the early years, Abang went to the morning school session and I went to afternoon session. So he’d be sent to school by my parents. In the afternoon, when Tok sent me, he’d pick Abang up. When Tok came to pick me up after school in the evening, Abang would tag along and Tok would take us for a ride in his ‘Beetle’ (a classic Volkswagen). Most of the time he’d take us to Kampung Tempoyang for tea at his favourite roadside stall. 

 

Sometimes we’d go and visit my great grandaunt, Moyang Temah, also in Kampung Tempoyang, where Tok would collect beetle nut for Wan. Sometimes we’d just walk across the school to Pak Cik Majid’s house, a good friend of Tok’s. 

 

But when we were in the same morning session, we’d just walk to school. Security wasn’t a concern at that time therefore we could walk that 1km to school without any chaperon (save for the time when a car no AR1000 became the talk of the town for kidnapping kids, if any of you would recall). 

 

Abang often left me behind. Sometimes he would intentionally run ahead and that would make me cry. I’d always complained to Mak and she’d tell him off but he’d do it again anyway. Once, when I got out of school he was nowhere to be seen. I saw some of his classmates already going home so I’d figure he must’ve gone home without me! So I followed some other kids who were walking towards the same direction, until I reached home. Lo and behold…there he was, happily having lunch in the kitchen! He told Wan (grandmother) that he waited for me but I was nowhere to be seen. Yeah, right!

 

Rumah Tok gave us a good view of the road down below. One day, as we were sitting on the stairs in the evening, we spotted two kids walking hand-in-hand. A brother and his younger sister. Then Mak exclaimed to Abang “Look! That boy was holding his sister’s hand. Isn’t that nice?” But that didn’t have any effect on my brother, none so ever. 

 

When I was 9, my brother Amran was born. My days of being the last child were over. Suddenly, I became a big sister. Two years later, my younger brother Amir was born. 

 

We were living in a different house already. It’s a quarters for government staff in Jalan Tok Kaya Haji which is on the other side of the hill.

Semi-D houses for the government servants. Most of the people living there were teachers. Like Mak and Abah.

When he was 11, Abang had to sit for a very important exam. Then, it was the ‘Penilaian Darjah Lima’ (standard five evaluation). When the results came out, he was the only one in the whole school who scored 5As. Never before, in the history of that school, had anyone scored straight As. He was the first. 

 

So one morning, during the general assembly, the Headmaster gave a proud speech to acknowledge my brother’s achievement and congratulated him. Then the headmaster said “we hope that his sister would repeat the same glory next year and make us proud!”. I was stunned. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I knew I wasn’t anywhere near his intelligence. That speech gave me a scare. 

 

Abang was made Head Boy when he was 12. At that time he was in Standard 6, the last level for a primary school. Oh yes, I’m sure many of his friends and teachers would still remember him. Handsome Head Boy, intelligent and well behaved. 

 

Fate has it that I only managed to score 4As and 1B. Thankfully, 7 of my good friends scored 5As and that seemed to make the headmaster forgot about me. Phew!

 

 

Off to Boarding School

 

After primary school, we had to go to secondary school. Sadly, I got news that Abang managed to go to a boarding school in Kuala Lumpur. He was leaving! So after he finished his Standard 6 at the Clifford Primary School, he went straight to Sekolah Alam Shah. I could vividly remember sending him off to that school with Mak and Abah and my two little brothers in tow. Mak had all the things one would require at a hostel – buckets, hangers, brush, soaps, etc. The school was situated in Cheras, KL. Cheras at that time was like a remote area, in the outskirts of KL. And it was an all-boys’ school. I think we went to visit Abang only once or twice a year and not a very long visit. 

 

I was angry at him for leaving me. Since we rarely went to visit, my relationship with Abang became distant. Furthermore, whenever he came home for the holidays, Mak treated him with all the niceties. Never once did she ask Abang to do any house chores. He was totally pampered! And I was jealous or him. 

 

To make it even worse, Mak was always comparing me to Abang. Yes, I know that Abang was the apple of her eyes. He was a good boy and intelligent. But comparing me to Abang was kind of too much. I didn’t understand why she would create such rivalry between us. 

 

I ploughed through my studies anyway and finally I managed to get the same score as Abang for my SRP. But I was frustrated when Mak didn’t allow me to go to a vocational school in Kuantan because ‘they have water issues’ and actually it was Abah who didn’t allow me to go. I was totally controlled and overly protected and that made me a rebellious daughter.

 

 

Went Abroad

Abang and Tok at the airport the night he was going off. In the midst of all the chaos, he asked me to carry his jacket for him and I was so proud of it!

After his SPM, Abang was offered to study TESL at Bognor Regis, in the UK! Mak of course was reluctant to let him go. She couldn’t say there was water supply issue in Bognor now, could she? Heh. At the same time, Abang was also offered a place in ITM Shah Alam for Diploma in Accountancy. So Mak tried to coax him into taking the ITM offer. 

 

But Abang decided he wanted to go to the UKs. His rationale was that “people wouldn’t ask what did I study for but people would ask where did I study”. And that kind of cut Mak off. She couldn’t say anything anymore. 

 

You know what? Actually it has always been his ambition to go and play in the snow. Ever since he was a boy. So that was the main reason why he wanted to go overseas. To play in the snow!

 

When we were staying at Rumah Tok, the rubber leaves would dry up during hot seasons. They would be blown by the wind and fell down in front of Rumah Tok like rain. We were delighted whenever that happened. Remember, those were the times when such simple thing could bring so much joy? 

 

We’d be shouting “Snow! Snow!” while trying to catch the falling leaves. We’d also play with the pile of leaves on the ground as if we were throwing snow at each other. 

 

So when I got to know of his decision, I was kind of sad and excited. Sad that he’d be leaving me again and excited because he’d finally got to play in the snow. 

 

We got a postcard from him showing a man playing the bagpipe. He said it was his semester break and he went to Scotland to experience the snow and that when he got back to Bognor Regis, it was snowing heavily! He said he went to Scotland because the local people told him that it hadn’t snow in Bognor for almost 6 years. 

 

I replied to his postcard and asked him if he could post some of the snow to us. Huhu. 

 

While he was there, I ploughed through SPM and it turned out that my results were the same as Abang. I was so delighted. Then I got an offer to further my studies in ITM which Abah had reluctantly allowed. Since then Mak had never compared me to Abang again! 

 

When Abang came back, I was already studying in ITM Shah Alam and didn’t come home that often. So we didn’t see much of each other except for Hari Raya and semester breaks. He was already a different person then. 

 

 

...to be continued (again).