1939: Memories of an Old Boy

Raja Musa
Cooperative Officer, Teluk Anson
The Malay College Magazine 1939
Page 77-78

I am the connecting link between the old and the new regime in the College. I joined the College under Mr Hargreaves and left it when Mr. C. Bazell was Head Master. The interim period was filled in by Mr. J O’May and L.A.S Jermyn.

During Mr Hargreaves, there was no age limit. There were very young boys as well as some very old ones. A few of the latter had moustaches much more imposing than those of some of the Masters. Students could join and leave the College almost as and when they pleased. I can remember the case of a boy, or rather an elderly gentleman, who took French leave because he did not want to write a hundred lines as a punishment. There was a difference of opinions. Mr. Hargreaves thought a hundred lines would do him good. The boy thought otherwise. After having worked in a coastal steamer for a few months (6 months, I think it was) and not liking it, he returned to the College. When he saw Mr. Hargreaves, he asked if he had finished his lines, so the lines were duly written and thereafter he remained in School as though his absence was just another Rip Van Winkle incident.

In my time there was a famous school character. I do not know when he joined the College. When I was admitted he was in Class IV, equivalent to Standard V. I was told that he been in standard V as long as the boys cared to remember. He left the College when Mr. hargreaves retired. He said they had been together for so long that he would not leave school as long as Mr. Hargreaves was Head Master, and there was a strong attachment between Master and pupil. The boy definitely had no inclination to study. He stayed on because he liked the life.

I remember too our sham fights behind the Residency where there were oranges in plenty. They were not for us we knew, but then we were in the thick of battle and our thirst had to be quenched. I had never yet tasted oranges so sweet. I feel sure there must have been complaints, because later our battle-field was transferred to Kota Lama among the fruit trees. Our first fight there coincided with the fruit season. I still remember how very difficult it was for me to collect my men after the fight was over. I found I could be heard better from the top of a “rambutan” tree, where a few snipers had already taken position among the branches. Our casualties were nil, but the damage done to the fruit must have been considerable. The Kota Lama folk, however, were, kindhearted. All was fair in love and war.

Our difficulty in the College was water or rather the lack of it. Sometimes supplies went so short that we had hardly enough with which to wash our faces. All the same we managed to keep our faces clean. At least we thought we did. Circumstances permitting we had our baths from the washer men’s tanks next door to the school compound. How the washermen took our visits we were innocent to know, but it was impossible to get dippers of any sort unless we brought them with us.

During Mr. Jermyn’s time a well was sunk near the kitchen house, and the water was raised by a hand pump. In appearance this pump was harmless enough,, but when it was worked, it was like dealing with a horse’s kicks. We took turns at pumping, and each of us wanted to pump first, to avoid sweating again after our bath. It was a shower bath. We never thought about a storage tank.

The Perak and Kangsar Rivers provided us with a lot of fun. We sometimes floated down from Enggor Bridge, then a Pontoon Bridge ( Now Iskandar Bridge) to Kuala Kangsar. This was not a difficult task. We had banana stems for life buoys, when swimming, and used to use the high banks in the Kangsar River as diving boards.

We used also to make many excursions, sometimes almost to the foot of Gunong Sayong. During fruit seasons we visited the neighbouring ‘Dusuns’. We were not allowed to bring durians to the school, so we had our fill on the spot and no one was the worse for it.

There was no electric light, no swimming pool, no cinema, no radio; not even a gramophone when I was in school, but we had our orchestra, of which we were very proud, and, knowing nothing of the amenities of the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, of 1939, we were content.