Happy Teachers Day!

I was a teacher once. I do not know whether any of my students remember me. It does not matter. I have done what I was supposed to do and that’s that.

I remember most of my “cikgu”.

I was short of the school-going age when I was in Merang but my father put me in school anyway. Most probably to get me out of my mother’s hair. I do not remember any of my teachers name in Sekolah Melayu Merang. What I remember is one of mother’s cousins, Pok Kob, who was in the upper classes, feeding me with cuklat nissang every now and then. I remember too going with him through the field looking for a kind of grass to wipe the papan slate. I guess the teachers left me alone. That was the reason I could not remember their names. But I do remember the headmaster, Cikgu Weil. Cikgu Weil, a wiry dark-skinned man from Pahang was the local UMNO leader. Then (in 1949), nationalism was spread by, among other groups, teachers like Cikgu Weil. He went around shouting “Merdeka” at every opportunity. The kampung folks would respond with a hearty “Deka!” or “Deko!” depending on the dialect they were used to. I was not sure whether it was the nationalistic fervour or their dig at Cikgu Weil’s physical impediment. Cikgu Weil could not straighten his arm – an affliction known in Terengganu as “deko” (or “deka” if you are from Besut).

When we moved to Kuala Terengganu, I was enrolled in Sekolah Melayu Paya Bunga and we had a few unforgettable cikgus. One was Cikgu Lebo, a short rotund man who never seem to smile. Cikgu Lebo went around the school ground during recess to debok (thump) the back of pupils drawing on the sand.

When I moved to Sultan Sulaiman Primary school after getting through the Special Malay Class examination, our favourite teacher was Mr. Lau Kuan Jin who drilled us in English with a litany of “ A man in a pan” or was it the other way around? Actually it was “A man and a pan”. I am getting old.

When we moved to Kota Bharu, I remember Mr. Henry in SIC. He took us on expeditions to a waterfall in Pasir Putih. Later when I moved next door to the secondary school, we had Ustaz Abdullah Nakula who always tweaked our brain with trick questions. We also had a Mr. Menon who was overcome with passion on reading a passage from Shakespeare.

In Sultan Sulaiman Secondary School, Kuala Terengganu I remember many teachers who undoubtedly played a part in my life. There was Cikgu Rahman who encouraged my infatuation with art and Mr. Gurunathan, our Scout Master. And then there were the ustazs , Ustaz Mahmood Salim and Ustaz Manan. They never failed to liven up the class while giving us the basics of Islamic Studies. Ustaz Manan was unfazed by our silly questions. An example:

Student: Apa hukum hisap kopek bini kita ustaz? (Whats the rule on sucking on your wife’s tit?)

Ustaz: Hukumnya sedaplah. (Feels good.)

There are many more teachers that I remember from those days. To them and to all the teachers past and present, Happy Teachers Day, Cikgu!

Labels: Teachers

| 1:57 PM :: ::

3 CommentsOldStyle:

• Pokku,
  
  Yes, I remember that "A man and a pan".
  
  This is man.
  This a pan.
  A man and a pan.
  
  I think they change the book just a few years after my batch.
  
  My father (Ustaz Omar Ismail) replaced Ustaz Mahmood Salim when he performed Hajj in 1960 (ada gambor dalam school magazine)
  
  Sempat dengan Pokku?
  
  Karim
  http://sulaimanian.wordpress.com/

  By  Anonymous, at 1:50 PM  

• Pokku, your writing is always interesting. i have shared one of ur posts "ddoktong" at my facebook. many likes it and i asked them to visit your blog. I wish to share ur writing about "mujor"... i found it so hilarious.. Do you know how can I get it?

  By  Anonymous, at 5:25 PM  

• Với mong muốn đem đến cho bạn một dịch vụ tốt nhất trong lĩnh vực thiết kế thi công bảng hiệu quảng cáo, chúng tôi luôn không ngừng học tập, tiếp thu, sáng tạo để thiết kế ra những bảng hiệu đẹp nhất, độc đáo nhất, phù hợp với nhu cầu của bạn.
  Công ty Quảng cáo Đại Phát là công ty chuyên về thiết kế thi công bảng hiệu quảng cáo giá rẻ với mức giá rẻ nhất khu vực thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Chúng tôi có đội ngũ thiết kế chuyên nghiệp, nắm bắt rõ xu hướng thị trường ngày nay, luôn đổi mới phong phú mẫu mã, hình dáng, kích thước. Đội ngũ thi công của chúng tôi là những người có kinh nghiệm, thi công luôn đảm bảo nhanh chóng và an toàn.
  Hãy liên hệ với chúng tôi để được tư vấn và hỗ trợ tốt nhất.
  Công ty Quảng Cáo Đại Phát chuyên nhận:
  làm bảng hiệu alu
  làm hộp đèn quảng cáo
  làm biển quảng cáo
  làm bảng hiệu công ty
  làm bảng hiệu quảng cáo
  làm biển quảng cáo led
  làm chữ inox
  làm hộp đèn mica
  làm bảng hiệu hộp đèn
  làm bảng hiệu led
  

  By  Quảng Cáo Đại Phát, at 11:08 PM  

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