My Secondary School…..

Few days ago I bump into a guy in the lift at my condo. He asked “are you from Bentung” I am quite curious. We have short conversation and found out that there are few more units they are from my same hometown. The guy seems like knowing my father!!

This morning I saw another neighbor a few floor beneath my unit, and she ask me whether my sister is visiting me on last Monday…. I guess she is one of them from Bentung and then found out that actually her sister is my elder sister and cousin sister classmate. We chit chatting for a while and she was surprised to found out that I actually study at this kampong school…. Ya it seems a bit odd…and its really long story. I think this is my fate!!!! I am very sure I will not me today if I go through the same school with my siblings.

I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters and I am the middle one and the only child in my family who ended up in Malay/National School. All my brothers and sisters are Chinese educated. I actually study Chinese syllabus during my kinder garden year. My father is very conservative and I should go to Chinese primary school as well. My parents told me that the school I suppose to go was full. For that particular years, students overwhelming and require early registration as compared to previous year.

No story books for me because all the reading material is in Chinese including news paper… I remember my sister got a lots book to read… all the Chinese history book, Chinese chest, philosophy… etc those all belongs to my father and story book especially the “wu shia siau shoa” that I couldn’t understand. Thus Till now I am still not picking up the reading habit but I really wish I owned those nice fairy tales story books with lots of pictures during my chilhood...
i still enjoy reading one now and I couldn’t stand those books with lengthy words…sure will fall asleep less than 1 minutes. I love books as long as got a lots of pictures…interior design magazine is my favorite

Nothing wrong studying in my primary school. It is around town and has mixed of malay, Indian and Chinese Students. Just the different is I always have no homework compared to my sibling and also I no need to remember the “chen fa biau”. (The time table. 2x2=4 kind of thing)…. I guess I am enjoying my childhood life… no tension, no exam, no study… play only. Believe me, I didn’t remember any exam, oral test or whatsoever until I grow up and look at my report card…..
Ohhhh….the english oral test must be the time when the teacher asks me to stand up and readlah and now I understand what is the once a year event where the teacher asking me about my father occupation, where I stay and etc and this is for lisan bahasalah… I really thought they wanna know my family orcare about me :)....... I really have no idea what is oral test during my primary school.

Then this is about my secondary school… the unique school located at Malay kampong off the town. hardly find any Chinese there and please imagine lah… I have cultural shock the first day at TAR college… first in my mind… why so many Chinese lah… (basically no malay in TAR) and this is totally the opposite compared to my secondary school …

Technically all the students from my primary school should proceed to the designated secondary school around town. Ya!!! But not for me and few other chinese students. I also have no idea who is implementing the student exchange program. Send the chinese student from town to the national school located at Malay kampung and vice versa..thus the malay being exchange to katholic school (still a national school) where majority of the students are chinese… and it only lasted for one year…. We are the first batch and the last batch……study at this kampong school which is isolated to the Chinese people in town. The people studying there are 99.9999% malay and majority of them are from rural area. (Settlement from plantation area under government plan)


Yeah….big different……… I don’t have many friends can hang out caused the malays are staying far from town and have different cultural background.. The biggest event is visiting classmate during hari raya.. I am really sua ku one… didn’t really read any news paper during my secondary school…..and life is just contained in a box… my school and home… I can count my chinese friends/school mates with my fingers but we are quite close to each other…no school bus from town caused no crowd..and we will normally take the normal bus and the driver... hate us and will always stop very far away from the bus stop..
Other might have choice to choose to study account but my school is really lousy… have no class for accounting, no girl guide or boy scout… and the worse is no class for mother tongue (caused too few students) and we are forced to stay in agama class. (Religion class) but we are allowed do our own thing. Yeah… but my principal is handsome “kwai lou”… don’t play play!!!

At first I was thinking… ya just spare me 3 years and after SRP I will go to form 4 back to town…. Dreaming lah…. My school upgraded and start offering science stream for form 4. Lucky me? I am the 2nd batch student and my request for transfer is not approved. @#$%$#@#
So sad… but then I say to myself never minelah…. Wait for my form 6 and then I will go back to school at town and study together with my long lost classmate during my primary school…haaaa… in 1988, the education ministry is implementing new policies that only students who have credit in Bahasa Malaysia can proceed to form 6 in government school (including science stream)….whylah wanna do this to me…my worst subject are languages and all the while I didn’t realize the important of it until I start working…
I am the top student for 5 consecutive years but doesn’t mean that I am good. I have no idea why I didn’t score well for SRP and SPM. My score have a huge gap compared to my closest competitor. I guess my teachers know me and they have the patient to read my writing… I failed to get credit for Bahasa Malaysia and that’s why I ended up study form 6 at TAR college and experiencing the cultural shock…… why so many Chinese one ahhhhhh and I used to “tuk loi tuk wong” (doing things alone) but of course I have changed so much during my part time study after form six… I learned to be independent, pick up English conversation skill, outspoken and overcome shyness. I am still picking up my social skills… and also my English grammar that I not really good at …

I don’t know how am I today if I go to form 6 in government school… and probably I am one of the local university graduates… ya no need to think…very straight forward and just study only.......
I faced quite a lot of problems after form 5 ... I lost my direction and in dilemma… indecisive wheter wanna take up fashion, interior, advertising? or continue form 6 or how? Money is an issue and I am very confused. No guidance… The first year in TAR was quite fun. Later the year my father goes to Taiwan to work. I was so down. two of my study kaki transfer back to government school.. Half blaming and keep up giving excuses… and basically can’t adopt to it… late to class everyday… lost in class..busy jot down the notes that I missed out and most of the time can't see from far and occationally miss classes as well.....ya sometime raining, no buses.... and many more excuses... Wasted 2 precious years there….

So I always curious when stranger come to me and ask whether I am from Bentung… normally I found out the answers that they know my father, big bro or elder sis. Once they was this con man at pudu raya who told me that he is my schoolmate…"you are from bentung isn’t… you are from that “”school isn’t? ohhh ya no... you are from different class and I used to notice you in school" and etc keep trying and asking me to go for drinks. Hmmm this is not work for me leh. I insisted that I don’t know him and at last he ask me for RM2 for drinks… of course I didn’t give him lah…