First Journey out of Kelantan 1959

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It was December 1958. We have sat for our Cambridge SC Exams and went back to our separate villages while waiting for the results. It was the most important Exams in our entire school life as most people left school after that and found jobs but it would be February 1959 before we would know anything about the Exam results as the papers were actually marked in Cambridge England. Along with the SC exams we had also sat for the 6th form Entrance for which the results would be out about mid December.

We did not have even one telephone those days in the whole village so communication was strictly through letters sent via the Post Office. I have received a letter from the Headmaster of our school summoning me to go and see him in Kota Bharu. I was excited of course. I am no longer a pupil in his school and was ready to embark the next phase of my life. He had prepared the school leaving certificate for me and the others and he had one bit of important information for me. That was: I have been offered a place in the 6th form by two of the then best schools: the Malay College in Kuala Kangsar, Perak and the Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur. He asked me which school I would choose. Wow! I thought and could not conceal my excitement. These two top schools in Malaya both have a place for me.

In five seconds flat I told him I would choose VI. Very Good said he and proceeded to note something down on the pad that was on his desk. He then gave me my leaving certificate and the letter of offer. He advised me to get in touch with one of our school past students who had gone to the VI the year before.

I thanked him for all he and the school had done for me and left. It was to be my final journey out of the School which had been my home for 4 years. It was quite sad to think of all the fun we have had there. I went to a classmate’s house to in Kota Bharu. My friend being from Kota Bharu has received a similar offer to go to VI. We discussed our impending journey. He said all arrangements have been made and we were to take an early morning train from Krai which town hosted my body and soul for also four years before I moved to Kota Bharu. So it was decided that we would get on the train at the Krai Railway Station at 6.00 a.m. the first Saturday in January 1959

I had to make preparations for this journey for I have never ever before left Kelantan. I had to say good bye to the whole village and they held a farewell tea party for me and collected some money for me. Some who could afford contributed 50 cents or $1 and I had a quite tidy sum of 120 ringgit.  On the appointed day I had to be up at 4 a.m. and a neighbour in our village, the only man there with a car (Mini Minor 850 cc) had volunteered to drive me to the Station 22 miles away. I got there a full hour before the train was due and the driver of the car instead of me paying him the fare slipped me a $5 bill. So it was that I left Kelantan finally.

The train journey south to Kuala Lipis took 6 hours and we had missed the connecting bus to Kuala Lumpur so we had to put up one night there. That night it happened that there was a funeral in the town just in front of the shop below our rooms and we could hardly sleep for all that noise. At 8 the next morning we boarded the bus to Kuala Lumpur. The journey took 4 hours across the central mountain range via Raub and the Gap and the fare was 5 ringgit. On arrival at Jalan Melaka we proceeded to the VI sixth form hostel in Davidson Road where they had rooms ready for us.

That was really a journey of a lifetime for me. Within 2 years I was to embark on an even more memorable trip on a plane to England.