Education - Part 4

I have made a lot of friends during my study at Science Pahang Secondary School and at SASKL. I remember few friends at Science Pahang, like Nik Malik, Mat Zaraai Alias, Naim Bakar, Zaihan Daud, Baharin, Hisyam, Mokhtar Awang, A Rahman Mokhtar, Zainuddin, Azizan, Amri, Ghafar, Dollah, Ah Fatt, Ah Chin and Selvam. There were still many more friends like Mat Leh Mata Merah ( Mat the Red Eyes), Sidek Besar, Sabri, Zubir, Malek and Leman (Sabahan), Zaidin and Zakri. Some have gone forever... like Kamaruddin (the state assembly man), Azahar and Ariffin. May Allah bless them.

I made friends too when I was in SASKL. Some were the already friends from Science Pahang such as Mat Zaraai, Naim, Leman, Malek, Ghaffar and Dollah. The rest were the students from SASKL whom had to stay for literature class in lower six. Two years in SASKL had made me a town boy. At that time (1976 and 1977) the Pertama Complex was the most popular destination for us. Shopping Complexes like Sogo, the Mall, Bukit Bintang Plaza and Berjaya Times Square and hypermarkets like Giant, Tesco, Carefourr, Ikea and Low Yat were not in existence yet.

So, every Saturday and Sunday we will go to KL and have our own sweet time at Pertama Complex, or have a cinema at the Odeon or at the Federal in Chow Kit area. Sometimes we walk few km from Pertama Complex to Coliseum Cinema in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and proceeded straight to Puduraya and going up to the Pavilion Cinema before ended our walk at Sungei Wang Plaza in Bukit Bintang area.

One thing I always remember was the relationship between Malay, Chinese and Indian were very close at that time. We were respecting each other and very helpful. We did not have racialism issue like today even though Malays were having better provisions from the Government. Malay did not not afraid or suspicious to other races, in fact Malay respected other races as much as they respected Malay.

At that time we were Malaysians, where the names like Soh Chin Aun, Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh, Lim Teong Kim, Shebby Singh, Shukor Salleh, V. Arumugam and many others were synonyms in our football line up. Then came the name like Poon Fook Loke in Malaysian Hockey where we emerged as World No. 4... the best ever position that we managed to sit in the World hockey ranking. We were doing good in badminton too. We have Punch Gunalan in single and Razif and Jalani Sidek in mens double champions in the All England badminton championship.

I remember our national football squad were no match to the south east Asian countries. I can recall how our football team trashed out Myanmar team 9-1 in a soccer game for a SEA Game held in KL. We defeated Thailand team 2-0 in the final held at Merdeka Stadium and grabbed the gold medals. Our football team were at the same level with the South Korean team or the Japanese team. In fact, we were better than them in few occasions. Nowadays we are rotten eggs if compared with them.

Now, let me continue my educational story in University. I was placed at the Fifth Residential College of University of Malaya to undergo my first year in Law Faculty. It was really a challenging year for me to adopt the law subjects which were taught in English. I remember that I have four subjects in the first year...Malaysian Legal System (MLS), Law of Contract, Law of Tort and one optional subject of which I have chosen Islamic Law.

The lecturers were, the Dean the late Allahyarham Prof Ahmad Ibrahim for MLS, Associate Prof Visu Sinnadurai (as he then was) for law of contract, and Prof Ahmad, Prof Azmi and Prof Mimi as combined lecturers for Tort.

I have very much difficulties in understanding the subjects. There was not so much help can be obtained from the lecturers. The only probable help might come from the tutors during tutorials. But then, it was difficult to get close to the tutors because they will leave the classroom almost immediately after tutorials. The best was to try to study and understand by yourselves.

But you cannot go anywhere with that knowledge because it was insufficient to answer the legal question in your exam......