The main road leading to the school.

This was my standard one class room.

A peek inside the class room. This was my classroom in standard four.

The school main Entrance, the admin office was on the first floor.
SEKOLAH KEBANGSAAN SULTAN IDRIS II, KUALA KANGSAR.

This was my first school. I was enrolled in standard one in 1960. In those days the double storey concrete building looked so grand. It was known as Central Malay School. In Malay it was also called 'Sekolah Pusat'. I was wondering at that time the connection between navel (pusat) and school. Nobody could satisfied my curiosity then. The school was renamed as SKSI kedua after the late Sultan Idris ascended the throne. The headmaster Che Gu Shaziman proudly explained to us, " Your school is the first Malay primary school in Perak with concrete building"

I started standard one with out going to Tadika. In fact I hardly recognised the alphabet. The form teacher was a beautiful lady, Che Gu Marhamah. She was married to Che Gu Hamid who later thought me in standard six. I did badly during first term exam by securing 14th place. I catch up very fast with the rest of the class. By the third term exam I managed to secure the first place. The school has many new structures over the years but the original building remained unique being one of its kind in Perak.

My teacher were mostly graduates of Maktab Perguruan Sultan Idris, Tanjung Malim. Among them Chegu Abu Bakar, Chegu Md Zain, Chegu Jalal. I had a DTC teacher by the name Chegu Raba Aishah while I was in Standard two who came from Sayung.

Policeman's son posing for for me. Just like me during primary school days. The arrow indicating where barrack 'E' used to be. Barrack 'E' was built during colonial time. It was a one bedroom apartment with commom toilet facilities.

Next to the police quater is the 'Padang Majlis Perbandaran Kuala Kangsar'. The first merdeka celebration was conducted here. It is gone now being replaced by MPKK complex.

The back of the unit where my family used to live in the 60s.

I used to live in the top right hand unit. It is a one room apartment but with kitchen and toilet. It was called 'barrack baru' then. Total floor area probably smaller than the current single storey terrace house.
REVISITING KUALA KANGSAR POLICE QUARTER.

There is a plan to relocate the police quater somewhere else in Kuala Kangsar. So last week I took the oppurtunity to pay a visit to the place I used to stay in the 60s. Well some of the building had already been demolished. Barrack 'E' which was built during colonial time was no more there. It was a concrete building facing the Town padang. The original unit had 'dapur kayu' with chimney. It was no longer used even in the 60s as we had evolved to kerosene stove era. There was a common bathroom and toilet at the end of the building. Quite a common sight those days to see mothers 'berkemban' going to the bath room with their washings and afterward drying them on cloth line located at the back of the barrack. 'Tudung' was never heard off in those days and 'selendang' was only used during formal function.

Barrack 'E' had common electric meter and water meter. Electricity was supplied by 'Kinta Electricity Board'. The tenant paid fixed rate for all the utilities. Those who owned electric iron had to pay surcharge of 1 ringgit per month. Some tenant had the only other electrical appliance which is a radio.

Later my family moved to 'barrack baru' which is a self contained unit. A real luxury in those days. Another colonial history being erased from our soil and it reflect how far we have progressed since then.

Deserted Shopping Complex
Is recession really here.
I went for dinner with my family at one of the shopping complex last Tuesday. I could not believe my eye. It was almost empty. Despite many discounted items as high as 70% in most of the outlets I hardly see any shoppers. Is the worst yet to come?
On the brighter side since there was not many customer you get personal attention from the sale personnel and parking was not a problem. I wonder what will happened to staff if the shop owner decide to close shop when the worst time come.

A lone figure doing morning exercise
Padang Asam, Subang Jaya, section 14.

It is a park near my house. It has no particular name but the kid around the area call it Padang Asam since the park has so many matured tamarind trees.
This is where I do my exercise whenever time or weather permit. Recently the local mnucipal had upgraded the park with many facilities which include jogging track. The park is even lighted at night. In the morning you can find many groups doing aerobic exercises or people doing their morning stroll.

The modern day pirates.
During my early history lesson the name Francis Drake (Sir) appeared many times in the history of British Empire. He was a pirate and then knighted by the Queen for helping the British Empire to contain the influence of the Spanish. He did that by just plundering and pirating Spanish ships that sail back and forth between Spain and South America. So in those days if you fight the enemies of your country, you can be considered a hero. Francis was remembered as the first British to circumnavigate the globe.
To day in Somalia same kind of pirates still exist. Recently two Malaysian tankers were hijacked by them and just few days ago an American ship too was hijacked. The whole world is watching on the American next move. The Captain of the hijacked ship attempted to escape today by jumping overboard but unfortunately he was recaptured. He must be very brave to do that. Meanwhile another American warship was dispatched to the area to shadow the hijacker. Since the American have not invaded Somalia yet to free the hostages I presume they classify these hijackers less dangerous than terrorist.
(13.4.09) The Captain was rescued by American Navy after a shoot out. While Malaysian government hired foreigner to negotiate and pay ransom in millions of Ringgit, the American used force to free the hostage.

Politik dimesjid.

Mesjid adalah tempat untuk beribadat bukannya tempat berkempen untuk meraih undi sama ada bagi pehak kerajaan atau pembangkang. Institusi mesjid mestilah dihormati kalau tidak mahu kehilanagan keperchayaan para jemaah. Apa yang disampaikan oleh khatib mestilah tidak berat sebelah kerana para jemaah terdiri dari pelbagai pehak. Jika ada jemaah yang meluat mendengar apa yang dilaongkan oleh khatib tentulah dia tidak akan dapat menghayati bila sampai tentang bab ugama pula. Baru baru ini pilihan raya kecil telah diadakan di dua bukit dan satu batang. Walau pun tempat itu jauh tetapi khatib maseh mahu berkempen mengingatkan para jemaah siapa yang patut dipilih seolaholah semua orang dimesjid itu akan pergi mengundi. Macamlah tiada modal nak berkhutbah. Saya tidak bermaksud memperkecilkan pehak khatib mahu pun pehak mesjid, cuma kurang senang dengan topik yang disampaikan.