Both
my parents were illiterate and yet they send their children to school. Until
this day I could remember that day in January 1946 when I went to school when
the school was reopening after the war. I remember vividly my father holding my
hand and walk me to the Malay School [Sekolah Melayu Teruntun] at Jalan Gambut,
Kuantan. From the shop at Wall Street [Now Jalan Mahkota] we walk across the
Padang. Then along the path near the Government Office buildings and the patch
of grassland to reach the school. I was then seven years old and excited and
happy. When I was registered as a student my name was written as
Idrus bin Abu Bakar. I was sort of shock and wondering for a while; why they
did not write my name as Awang. All the while I was call Awang and never heard
of the name Idrus. Then the teacher explain that my registered name is Idrus.
It takes a while before I could get used to been call Idrus. In those days kids
never get to see their Birth Certificate so I was totally lost. Now I have two names;
Idrus at School and Awang at home and the Kampong. Until now my closed relative
calls me Awang. In those days there were not that many Malay students in
the English School. To get the Malay to study at the English School the British
Authority at that time introduce a Special Malay Class in the English School
where kids after standard two in the Malay School are move to the study in the
English School, in a special class call Special Malay Class I and II. Here
again my father made a very smart move by agreeing to move me from the Sekolah
Melayu [Malay School] to the English School. Thus, after two years in the Malay
School I move to the Special Malays Class I at the Abdullah School [English
School] in Kuantan. Only after attending the Special Malay class for two years
that we the Malay kids join the others starting in standard four. I study in
Abdullah School until I completed my Secondary Schooling and took the Cambridge
School Certificate in 1957. Because I went to an English School I not only
master the English language but Bahasa Melayu as well. I became race and color
blind and open minded and as patriotic as well. Had I just gone to a Malay
School my future would be bleak indeed. At that time no one would want to employ
you if you are not educated in an English School. Looking back my late father
had a vision and that education is the best investment for his kids.
Have a nice day.
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