I can vaguely recall in 1964 when my class teacher of Standard 6, Mrs. Maniam asking me, "Roslan, would you like to sit for an exam to enter Form 1 at Malay College Kuala Kangsar?"
Not knowing anything special about MCKK (Malay College Kuala Kangsar) at that time, I just looked at her and said nothing.
"MCKK is a special school for selected Malay students with high academic performance and leadership talents," she said, or with words to that effect.
"I suggest you sit for the exams and I'll include your name, along with Abdullah Hamid and Ali Hassan." she continued.
At that time Abdullah Hamid, Ali Hassan and I were among the top four students at Standard 6A at Sekolah Kebangsaan Temenggong Abdul Rahman at Johor Bahru. The other person was Quek Yee Teck. I can never forget him because his name reminded me of a duck. Quack ("Quek") is the sound made by a duck and Yee Teck is also pronounced "itek", which means duck in Malay.
Anyway, the three of us sat for the exam and were told later that we passed it with flying colours. Abdullah and I accepted the offer to continue our Form 1 in MCKK, but Ali rejected it. Until today, I didn't have the chance to ask him why.
When I first told my late mum about the offer, she just nodded her head. I guessed like me, she too didn't know anything about the status of MCKK at that time, that Malay parents who knew about MCKK would "do anyhting" to get their sons into MCKK.
I knew she discussed with my late father. but neither of them asked me to confirm with my school about going there, until one afternoon the headmaster came to our house to explain to my mum about MCKK. Most likely he had convinced my mum because she then convinced my dad to agree to allow me to enrol in the alma mater.
So my time in the next five years and few months were going to be spent at MCKK.
Therefore, in 1965, after all the personal items, like mosquito net, bedsheet and pillow cases, had been purchased, I was ready to leave for Kuala Kangsar. My dad at that time didn't say anything about how we were going to travel to Kuala Kangsar. Neither did my mum because most probably, she didn't know, either.
I remembered asking myself, "Could it be by car, train or bus?" At that time travelling by air plane was too "far-fetched" an idea for me to even consider it. Nowadays however, with cheap air fares provided by budget airlines like Air-Asia, one can always consider seriously whether to travel by air or otherwise to a destination.
I said to myself that whatever mode of transport that was going to take me to Kuala Kangsar, I would request my dad to let me sit by the window so that I could enjoy the scenery along the way.
So that morning, with all my clothes and personal belongings already packed, I waited with my mum for my father to take me to MCKK. Soon enough a lorry arrived at the house. I said to myself that most likely the lorry driver had lost his way and had to stop by the house to enquire from us about the correct directions to take to get to his destination. As my mum and I approached the lorry, suddenly my dad jumped out from the lorry.
My mum asked him, "What are you doing here with this fish lorry?"
"Nothing" answered my dad. "It's just that I'm going to take Roslan to Kuala Kangsar in it."
"What? You are going to send my son in that fish lorry?" My mum asked in a high tone of disbelief.
Noting that my mum didn't look too pleased with his plan, my dad pulled her aside and both of them had some kind of a "conversation" (to put it mildly). Somehow my dad finally managed to convince my mum to allow me to travel in that lorry. Years later, my mum explained to me that if the family had been financially stronger, she won't have allowed me to travel in that lorry. The items that were bought and needed for the boarding school had more or less drained out most of my dad's bank savings, that he couldn't afford to take me to travel in the other more conventional means of transport.
So anyway, after saying goodbye to my mum, I hopped onto the back of the fish lorry, with the not-so-pleasant fish-smelling aroma to start my journey to this so-called special school, MCKK. My dad didn't have the same chance to enjoy the smell of the fish aroma like I did because he was sitting at the front seat together with the driver. I said to myself that this school had better be worth the journey that I had to endure to reach there.
The lorry stopped for a few times along the way for the driver to rest and for us to have our regular meals. On one of the stops my dad explained that the lorry had just completed its delivery of the fish to the market in Singapore and it was making its way back to Malaysia to be filled up with another new load of fish to be transported back to Singapore. Considering his financial predicament at that time, he thought that it was a good opportunity to take a free ride in his friend's fish lorry to take me to MCKK. After the explanation, I felt better.
It was initially not pleasant to sit at the back of the lorry with all the fish stench. Even though the lorry had been cleaned (so I was told), the stench remained strong. My dream of wanting to sit by the window to enjoy the scenery remained a dream, of course. The lorry was totally covered in canvas and therefore the view from inside was totally blocked. Before long, I got used to the stench and taking a nap every now and then was how I passed my time away in that lorry.
I couldn't recall how long the journey took, but finally we reached Kuala Kangsar. It was not that difficult for the lorry driver to locate the "Prep School" because everyone he asked in Kuala Kangsar knew where to find it. The Prep School (short for "Preparatory School")was actually a hostel to accomodate new Form One students.
I remember it was already evening by the time we "checked in" to the Prep School. After the registration process was over, my dad helped me to carry my luggage to where my bed (locker no.54) was located in a dormitory (Dorm C) on the top floor of the double storey building. After my dad left me, it was already time to take my shower to prepare for the night's dinner. After the bedsheet and pillow case were done, I started to put up the mosquito net. Mind you I had no previous experience in installing a mosquito net. Back at home in Johor Bahru, we burned the mosquito coils to deter the mosquitoes away, not using the mosquito net. My neighbours, like Bab (Anuar Ismail) and Salleh Sulong (now a Tan Sri) already had their mosquito nets nicely installed and hung over their respective beds. They had arrived earlier and most likely already had some previous experience in installing their nets. I should have asked my mum to show me how to install the net before I left for this place.
So after it was "light's out", I was still struggling in the dark to install the mosquito net. You see, my bed was located by the side of a wall, at a "corner lot", so to speak. So, I had to make sure that the entrance of the mosquito net did not face the wall. I could not remember how many times I had to open and reinstall the net. It went on unsuccesfully until it was time for the dormitory prefect to make his routine round at the dormitory. He was Aziz Abdul and he helped me to install the net in the correct way. Thank you prefect Aziz for not scolding me but helping me to install the net on that night.
By the time the net was tucked around the bed successfully, I was too exhausted to do anything else or even to think about missing my family at home. I also felt relieved that there was no more aroma of fish around me. So, that night, as soon as I placed my head on the pillow, I fell asleep immediately.
That was the story of my first day to MCKK, where I had the chance to get two first-time experiences. The first one was travelling in a fish lorry and the second first-time experience was installing the mosquito net. I became an expert in installing the mosquito net subsequently as I moved from one dormitory to another in my five-year-plus tenure at MCKK, but for the fish lorry, it was to be the first and the last experience for me, thank goodness.
