DKMS was the epitome of Malaysia racial harmony. Through out my entire being, I have never seen any Malay, Chinese and Indian who would sit, learn, play and eat side by side with no racial prejudice whatsoever. But such a thing did happen when I was in my beloved primary school - Dato� Klana Ma�amor Primary School or better known as DKMS.
My first day at DKMS was already a joyful and an eventful one. I can still remember that I was among those who were not scared to go to school. I had always looked forward to be in Standard One. At that time, it was a very big deal to me. I voluntarily accompany my friends who wanted to go to the toilet even though the trip might take more than three times. I was ever willing to do so. I also remember that my dad didn�t have to stay for a few days to watch over me. And I don�t even remember crying. I think he only stayed for a day. After that, I was already on my own world! The whole idea was for me to go in and out of the classroom with valid excuse.
Come to think of it, I can�t actually recall who was my first friend. But those days, the whole class become my friends eventually. Recess was the best time of them all. There were no worries at all. All of us would run to canteen, run to the toilet, run to the staff room, in fact I can�t even remember walking to any place, except if the disciplinary teacher or any teacher for that matter were watching us. But who cares, after we were out of their sight, we would run again. We had no concept of fear. What we knew was only fun and thrill. There was practically nothing that we were afraid of but the Headmaster, the toilet - if we were to go there alone (got "hantu" you know!), the dentist (gosh! I can still remember the nurse�s face) and bringing report card home to show to our parents.
Most of us would come early to school, normally half an hour before the bell. We will play catching, police and thief, champion (or "galah panjang" - in Malay) and practically everything that we could think of or create at that time. With the sound of the bell, all of us would either run for our respective classes and places or line up for assembly.
I was in Standard One Blue and thereafter, I was forever in the Blue class until Standard Six. There were 4 colours to differentiate the level of classes. The order is Blue, Yellow, Brown and Green. When you are in standard one, this order doesn�t mean anything. You just happen to be in this class. That�s all. Only after the Final Term exam, we would be segregated according to our result. There were not much changes though. We would then be separated by the walls but no one could stop us nor separate us during recess or before the bell. We could still play together. After all, those were the most important part of going to school and the whole reason for being there!
Life was so very simple back then.
Every morning, since most of us came early, we would wait for the teachers to park their car. We would then go up to them and offer to carry their bags or books to the staff room. I think we still continued doing so until we were in standard six. Somehow somebody will be there to help the teachers. I remember that some of us will be doing this until we were in Standard Six.
The assembly, even though we didn�t really enjoy it, could be fun too. Every Mondays we would sing our school song in Malay while every Fridays it would be sung in English. After that, we normally would have a presentation from the class whose class teacher were on duty that day. When I was in Standard One, I was normally chosen for this. Perhaps due to my activeness in class. But I always loved it. I don�t know about my other friends, but I really enjoyed going up on the stage singing, reciting poetry etc. It felt like the school treated you special for that day and the everyone was paying attention to you.
The only concert that I remember taking part was when I was in Standard One too. I played the triangle, well, I was not the centre-stage. But it was still fun. I remembered Azlin played the fairy (we even called her a plump fairy, He! He!) There were 5 who took part in the centre-stage but I can�t recall the rest.
We would look forward for the year end class party. During that time, we would prepare our songs to sing for the teacher and for the class. We decorated the whole class using coloured paper, draw on the blackboard using coloured chalks, re-arranged the tables and chairs, and sit and wait for our class teacher to enter and be surprised. We played games, ate the snacks and tits bits, did all the fun things and never have to think about books and studies.
When we were in Standard Five, I remember Mrs. Lily Leong taught us how to make sandwiches. She called all the girls to come and gather around her as she explained the whole process. That was exciting.
Another favourite day that we would eagerly wait was Teachers� Day. All of us would go all the way looking for suitable gifts for our beloved teachers. No matter how bad they scolded us, there would be something for them to take home. I remember once when I didn�t know what to give Mrs. Lily Leong. I surveyed my entire house and finally my eyes caught sight something. I took it and wrapped it nicely and put it on her table in class the next morning.
When she began opening the present one by one, I was anxious to see her reaction when she opened mine. At last, my turn came. She slowly ripped off the white old calendar paper, and reveal my present to her and she said, "A tin of lychee. That�s what I like to eat." Until today I don�t really know whether she liked to eat lychee. I suppose everybody does. But the way she put it really made my day and I was so happy that she loved it. I didn�t even care if she didn�t mean what she said. But I know I liked what I heard.
Physical Education and Sports Day were the outdoor activities all of us enjoyed so much. PE time was never enough. There were so much things to play yet so little time. For Sports Day, the events for Standard Ones to Three were like telematch games - put water in the bottle, carry ping pong ball with a spoon in your mouth, run with the hoops, blow the balloon till it burst and all those types of silly but challenging games.
When we were in Standard Four, we went into a more serious kind of sports - athletic, long jump, high jump, etc. - if you call those event as serious events. There were 4 houses complimenting the colours of our class/flag. Blue House was YAP MAU TAT, Yellow House was RAJA NORDIN, Brown House was MOHD SHARIFF and Green House was THAMBIAH. To tell you the truth, I have no idea who those four people were. Only much, much later, the knowledge came to me that those four people was the among founder of the DKMS. But who cares, the Sports Day was more important than all that. And of course, another exciting event in the Sports Days was the march pass. All the so-called athletes would march and hold the flag of our houses. That was a big deal to us.
Education wise, there�s nothing much to say. We were just kids. We did our homework because the teacher told us so. And if we didn�t do, she would scold us. As far as I can remember I had only 4 class teachers throughout my entire six years in DKMS, namely, Mrs. Mylvaganam (Std. One Blue), Mrs. Rajagopal (Std. Two and Three Blue), Mrs. Lily Leong (Std. Four and Five Blue) and Mrs. Kanny (Std. Six Blue).
I was the only Malay who ever achieve 5A�s in our Standard Five Assessment Examination during our time. The rest were Li Li, Chat Hau, Daegma, Bala Ganesan and Ramesh. Normally, the school would give special book prize for the 5A�s achievers and most of the time, the school would give a dictionary per person. When the headmaster called all of us and asked what we would like to have, I suggested, "Encyclopaedia." Some of us were wincing, encyclopaedia was quite expensive at that time. But I went on and say "Well sir, I�m sure each and everyone of us have our own dictionary." Somehow, that convinced the HM and the next day, he managed to call a guy from Anthonian Book store (which closed down a number of years later) and asked us to choose what type of Encyclopaedia we would want from a choice of three. I chose Encyclopaedia of General Knowledge, others took the Encyclopaedia of Natural History and Encyclopaedia of Sciences.
The Encyclopaedia is still well kept on my bookshelf. It was my first very own encyclopaedia.
Like I�ve said, life was so simple back then. Life was fun with no worries in the world. I wish life will always be so, where I can still run free with the rest of my friends. Everything was easy.
Life...
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