Tokonang den!

This was another photograph taken at the Ipoh railway station before we departed home after our MCE Examination. The shot was taken by Aminuddin AHK (Dr.) He posted the photo to me and even had a message inscribed behind it, ' My flight is on 23rd. (December 1973) at 6pm. It's only 2 hrs more. I'm rushing now. See you later, pal! He was leaving for Australia to do his matriculation.

Whenever I had a look at this photograph, especially that of Syed Azuddin and Shahrin Shuib(both Arwahs), it reminded me of the school talentime that batch 73, as the Third Formers then, organised after our Lower Certificate Examination (LCE). Me, together with Wan Husin and Syed Azuddin, we formed a trio and entered the talentime. I guessed we were not brave enough to sing alone and opted to form a trio! Our group was called 'Mick, Joe and Hengkie'!. For the semi final, we sang 'Five Hundred Miles' from the group Peter Paul and Marry. I had never appeared on stage before let alone singing and was terribly nervous when I looked down, I could see the two judges - Ms. Foong Pek Wann and Sdr. Mutalib (our senior). Anyway, we got into the final and delivered the song 'Leaving On A Jet Plane' also by Peter Paul and Marry. We must have sounded terrible for we did not win anything but the time spent with Wan Husin and Syed during that period was a memory second to none, the one I will cherished forever. After 1973, I totally lost contact with Syed and by the time I asked around, he was already gone. But nobody seemed to know how and when. Anyway, the talentime was won by Arwah Kutik for the solo event. He sang "Green green grass of home' popularised by Tom Jones of course and the group event was won by Lan Chik, Kutik and two others (couldn't reacalled them). They rendered a song popularised by an Indonesian group called Clique Fantastique entitled Puteri Gunung.

Shahrin Shuib, together with Zainudin Omar (Ogi), both of them stole Tiger Lane musical limelight. Together, they formed a duo that mesmerized the school.. They loved performing and the antics as well as the showmanship that both of them showed on stage could even won the respect of Adlin Aman Ramli or Paul Moss of One In A Million. If only we had such a TV programme such as Mentor or Akademi Fantasia or One In A Million then, I believed Zainuddin or Shahrin could even be one of the winners! Shahrin sure was one hell of a character. He loved 'studying' the dictionary and the small 'general knowledge' book! I remembered when we were in the remove class, he used to flipped and browsed thru the dictonary as if he was reading a novel! I was the least surprised when he chose journalism as a career. He even won a quiz show for University students organised by RTM! When I heard on the demise of Shahrin and that he was alone at home when he died, I could not but felt sorry for him.

To Syed Azuddin and Shahrin .. al-Fatihah.

Ramlan Malek was the quiet type. Even when we were playing football for the school Under 16, he will let his 'feet' do all the talking on the field. There was one occassion though I remembered most of Ramlan. It was during MCE exam week, when he and Ahmad Abu Khair came into my room, both looking rather angry and upset. Apparently, they were arguing over a petty matter - the right to be refunded of money already paid for a party organised by then Fifth Formers. Ramlan wanted to back out and in principal argued that he had the right to request for the refund since he wont be going to the party. He must have been really upset in finding that the organiser had invited girls from the Convent School as well as a bunch of Minah Kilang nearby. Abu Khair totally disagreed with Ramlan and the way he drummed his point upsetted Ramlan. I was caught in between and had to play it smart. Lucky me, I was reading then a book called 'The Art Of Influencing People" by Dale Carnergy. I applied one the technique told by Carnegy, and presto!! it worked. I managed to convinced Ramlan without insulting and humiliating him and not even hinting or suggesting that I supported Abu Khair. Ramlan saw my argument and the logic and he left my room a happy boy (I thought so!). That was my last encounter with Ramlan. Ramlan is doing extremely well in his life. He is such a 'big' and 'powerful guy' right now in Petronas and deservedly so.

(End of Part I) .. to be continued