Whenever I think of Linggam Sibi, I would always remember the incident that happened during our first week in school. We were totally 'alien' to each other then, still shy and very reserved - typical of kampong boys, perhaps. Anyway, on that 'fateful' day, I was seated obediently at the back of the class - Remove Class B - when the name Linggam Sibi was called out by En. Yang Razali. The very next moment, for reason best known to both of them, En. Yang Razali tried to pinch Linggam by the tummy (very typical Tan Teng Leong's style). Linggam reacted by opening up his 'silat' moves!. He totally misunderstood En. Yang's intention and had reacted as what was expected of a 'Bajau warrior' under seiged!. Nobody dared to laugh then nor ask Linggam what was all the huha about.
How can we forget his unique and stylist baju Melayu - green in color, 'wet-looked' somemore and with that 'blink-blink" features (could have easily won over AC Mizal's or Aznil Hj. Nawawi's admiration!). He really looked like a pahlawan Bajau wearing that shirt. And to tell the truth, I was a scared and worried 13-year old kid, looking at him the first time around. Linggam was big and he had that 'fierce' and 'ready-2-pow-U' looked at that time. Serious! Dead and very serious looking Linggam indeed!. Obviously, his 'serious-look' and his 'maturity' landed him the captaincy of the school rugby team.
That picture above was the school Under - 16 rugby team. Majority of the players were from Batch 73 though we still have Solahuddin (Batch 72), Rusli, Adli (Arwah), Anuar Musa (Tan Sri) and Nordin (all of them from Batch 74). Seated were of course Linggam and Kutik. Can you imagine Mr. J. A David coaching us rugby?!.
If I am not mistaken, ours was the first time ever when the inter-Remove class game of rugby was introduced. It was the brainchild of Mr. Kok Kee Chye, who wanted the school to constantly produce rugby players - good, 'star' quality players, I would say. My first reaction then when Shafri Man (Dato) and Alias Shaarani came over to the class and told us about the game and the match, was anything but excited. Rugby? Never heard of this game before! What the heck was these guys talking about!?
The team was selected and trained under Shafri and Alias. I can't remember who was in-charged of Remove Class A though. But one thing for sure, having Linggam in the same team as you are, was not only a blessing in disguise but it was as if you have struck a lottery! We escaped the endure of having to tackle him. Linggam at the time was bigger than the rest of us. And since 'size does matter'.., at least in rugby, it was really a plus point for us in Remove Class B. Of course, Remove Class A team was not to be belittled. They had Kutik but having Linggam was something extra!. Of course, there were other prominent and potential rugby players in the making as well then - Radhi Majid (HM Khalid called him 'the Black Panther!'), Hassan Said (Prof Dato'), Ismail Ibrahim, Omar Suhaimi, Mat Nor, Ismail Don , Yuri, Tomo, Rahim, Che Chop, Lan Chik, Khairuddin (Wak) and even Wan Manshol!. What can I say of Wak Khairuddin? He may not be a handsome guy then, but on the field, as a scrumhalf, Wak flew like a butterfly!
Ipoh rugby then (probably Perak as well) witnessed the arrival of Linggam in manner that has never been before!. Linggam took the world of rugby in Perak by storm. He was the Jonah Lomu of yesteryear. He would ran amok on the field. Running from one end of the field to another. He terrorised the opposing team so much so that as team mates you could not helped but felt lucky that you played along side him and not the opposite. I was sure that those guys who had been tackled by Linggam or tried to tackle Linggam would have rather 'di timpa balak' instead. Deo gratias! In almost every game that we played, the scores were all above the centuries! Thanks to Linggam!
Linggam was also a school cadet band member and played the bass drum. The softie and romantic side of Linggam!. And guess what, the teacher who was in-charge of the school cadet band then was none other - En. Yang Razali!!
... to be continued
alamak..to be continuedlah pulak.Tengah seronok baca dah potong 'steam.
ReplyDeleteDear Jabbar,
ReplyDeletePlease correct me if I am wrong but there was another teacher keturunan sikh yang juga introduced our batch to rugby.I cannot recall his name but if I am mistaken he was an ex malaysian player.He used to teach us scrummage in the classroom.Sorry aku tak ingat sangat pasal aku tak berapa gemar sangat
main rugby ini.You are right size does matter.
Mat,
ReplyDeleteCikgu singh tu nama Gurcharan Singh. He was a national player in the late sixties.
Dear Rostam,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much.Aku ingat dia ni banyak juga memainkan peranan dalam pembangunan sukan
ragbi kat Star tapi nama dia kurang di sebut2.
Mungkin sumbangan beliau tidak dalam jangka masa yang lama kot.
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteMat Salleh is correct. Gurcharan Singh played an important part in our early indoctrination into rugby. As I can recall, he was a flanker with the Malaysian National Team. He also used to be in commercials (masa tu TV was not 'the' place but it was in the movie theatres where commercials were shown before the movie started) - he was featured in the "Vitalis" commercial. If I am not mistaken again, Gurcharan Singh popularized "royal flush" and you can ask Ibrahim Husian to confirm this. Can't recall what subject Gurcharan had taught us then but he used to turn to Berahim to announce loudly that the penalty for giving a wrong answer would be "...royal flush...!!!) Now, if I am not mistaken number 3, Gurcharan, in not-so-long-time-ago period became of the Senior Management at PROTON or PROTON Edar (Head of Marketing or something like that). This one you have got to confirm with our own Datuk K (K/zaman Darus). Now back to our U-16 rugby team, I remember Robert Creighton was the trainer and tactician and I believe J A David's role was the squad motivator ( or the phsycho). JA also 'coached' us when we had our band (kugiran) practices in the School Hall. I remember that we were practising "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" with YB Yeh our lead singer, J A David came to me and showed me the correct scaling for my bass. Do anyone of you remember his art classes, among others? By the way back to Rugby (again), from the full U-16 squad, I was selected amongst 9 STAR players to represent Perak U-16 School Combined Team. 10 others were from MCKK and Anderson had one player in the squad of 20. The U-16 Malaysian Inter-School Tournament was then played in Ipoh (i.e. at Ipoh Padang and Anderson School). In the Quarter Finals, Perak was playing Johor and it was during this match I got injured and broke my collar bone. I was rushed to the Ipoh Gen Hospital and the nurses had to cut off, yes, two nurses had to use scissors to cut my "Bukta" rugby jerseys off my body as I was not able to raise my left arm. What a pity, I mean the jersey. In those days "bukta" jerseys were just like what Canterburry is in current days. The second pity is on me because I did not get to keep the Perak School Combined Jersey! Oooops, sorry gang, terpanjang pulak comment kali ini. I hope Jabbar can one day write about David Robert (temporary teacher, UM graduate on practical training) used to teach us English. He used to spot "afro" hairdo - perhaps was a big fan of the Stylistics. OK, bye for now....
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteRefer comments on Gurcharan Singh, I have done a bit of research since I wrote my earlier comment. Some news pieces I have read confirmed that he was the first GM of EON (the marketing arm of PROTON) in late 80's. He was later conferred a Datukship and he is now "the Late", may God bless his soul. If you happened to read articles in recent local motor magazines (around April 09)on the launching of Proton Exora MPV, you will notice that the MPV's feature of a "teh tarik hook" behind the head rests of the front and middle seats was accredited by the authors as the late Singh's idea (way back in 1988 during the launch of a new Proton model then).
OK, now on Cikgu David Robert. If you have watched the Deddy M Borhan's movie "Akhirnya Sebuah Impian " with the late Broery Marantika and Sharifah Aini as the leading stars, somewhere at the beginning of the film there was a scene in a local disco (maybe the Cave or Tin Mine, kot) where it showed discogoers dancing, one of the discogoers featured was David Robert. This one I had personally confirmed with him when we met many years after that. In early 90's I was the Logistics Manager at Carigali Kerteh and David Robert was the Materials Manager at Esso's Production Office in Kerteh and we met quite a lot during business meetings. He has since converted and took the name of Zulkifli David Abdullah. He was later posted to Esso's Cepu Operations in Indonesia (early 2000's). I heard he has quit Esso but remained working in Indonesia.
Can someone help trace the whereabout of Miss Foong Pek Wann?
Cheers,
Omasuha.
LOL, why miss foong ? u collect miniskirts eh ??
ReplyDeleteDear Madbakar,
ReplyDeleteIt's great to have u participating. I am sure many of us miss u.
I do miss Ms Foong too. She's one of my 'Kempunan' lists..
Dear Tam,
ReplyDeleteI,ve just gone thru the Tokonang Den's series, and i found out that u want to peluk me eh??? Masih gatai yek. Now u have 2 persons, Miss Foong and me....
Dear Mad,
ReplyDeleteI would still prefer u than Ms Foong ha ha. Pls let me know when u r coming to kl. We can catch up for the lost time..
Dear Mad Bakar,
ReplyDeleteOmasuhaimi is not collecting miniskirts for his personal collection tapi untuk pakaikan kat tiang lampu. Some other person is interested tak percaya tanya Jabbar. Kami berbual pasal isu skirt ni malam tadi kat Precint 8 Putra Jaya...kah kah.
According to Mat Sabu (mat salleh punya kawan), kalau tiang lampu tu kita pakaikan skirt, ada hamba Allah yang akan peluk tiang lampu tu.
ReplyDeleteDearest Tam,
ReplyDeleteI'll let u know when i am cumming
To Mat Salleh.
ReplyDeleteI knew u were coming to KL during the weekend but sorry cud not contact & join you since I had quite a bit of things I had to catch up upon.
To Mat Bakar, on Miss Foong, yes she's one of my favourites. Dulu-dulu during her classes, ramai kerumun dia kat meja konon-konon nak komplen pasal markah ujian, tapi tak kurang juga yang jatuhkan test papers & pencils on the floor & ambil kesempatan nak tengok...............
To Tam & Jabbar, for the proposed "My Seventy Three" shirt, I suggest that we buy short sleeved shirt with light blue denim materials. Kalau pandai beli, we can get below RM50/pair, good ones. Got to check with our friends who frequently go to Medan/Bandung or Sempadan Siam, as aginst the "corporate shirt" designs that we saw in Sah Alam last week. Embroideries would cost another RM15/.
Dear Mad,
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to meeting u real soon..
Dear Omar,
ReplyDeleteIt's okay probably next time if you not too busy then.Tam tak kanlah Mat Bakar sorang je? Aku dengan Omar Dollah pun nak join gak.Lepas Raya mungkin lebih praktikal kot.Kena bagitau Jabar,Omasuha,Lan,The two Wans and others to join also barulah tak ada syak wasangka kan..keh keh.
Dear Mat,
ReplyDeleteMmg aku nak bagi tahu kau and the rest of the gang bila Mad Bakar cumming to kl so that kita semua boleh jumpa dia. Aku nak inform juga Nor Azman.Mungkin dia juga nak jumpa cerita kisah2 lama. I m sure Mad Bakar pun rindu dan ingin berjumpa dgn kau, wan hussin dan lain2.
Tapi kalau dia nak jumpa aku sorang pun aku tak kisah.
Dear Tam & Mat,
ReplyDeleteLooks like kena buat separate itineraries la, one for all to meet and one to meat Tam alone and private.
Dear Mad,
ReplyDeleteI agree with u that u should have separate itineraries when u r in KL.
Dear Brothers,
ReplyDeleteKalau gathering tu aku akan make sure yang aku datang.Lepas tu aku tau lah bawak diri or worst come to worst aku drive back to JB lah.I am very sure Tam can arrange an alternative plan for me.After Raya should be fine....ok with you Tam?
No problem Mat. There r many things u can do at Mentari. We can also have sahur at Oscar..
ReplyDelete