Umno destroyed real 1Malaysia of yesteryears - P Uthayakumar

Through facebook Ragayah Embun,Nik Samsul bin Nik Mat and Ruslan Mamat, my Standard One classmates at Primary English School Tumpat (PEST), Kelantan of 1967 located me, made contact and insisted that i attend the reunion on the occasion of our golden 50th years of age reunion on Christmas day 25th December 2011 themed “Majlis bertaut kasih reunion Gu Lamo SMT 1978”(Sekolah Menengah Tumpat).

On arrival at the Rumah Rehat Kastam at Tumpat,Kelantan, I was warmly greeted by this man in his white jubah,kopiah and long beard.He had to introduce himself and I recalled Nik Samsul bin Nik Mat,the fair, good looking and sharp featured classmate from Standard One.Then I was greeted by Ruslan Mamat the now popular dangdut producer of “Amelina,Mas Idayu,Haiza etc who had made repeated phone calls to me to make sure that I attended.

I could make out Teo Keng Sod,Kee Hock Ling,Shukri Abdul Rahman, Shukri Harun and the ever quiet natured Hasnan Harun and Aziz Mahmood. Also Rosnah,Rogayah, Roziah @Oji,Siti Saadah, Norhashimah and many of the 50 over simple minded former classmates. Roziah @ Oji recalled our classmates coming to our Railway Quarters house for Deepavali and how they enjoyed my mother’s tosai, mutton and chicken curry muruku etc.

I in turn poked fun at how she(Oji), Zaimas and the gang used to “dabe”(show off ) on their brand new mini bicycles on the way to school.Shukri Harun spoke fondly of how Koay Teik Soon and I used to hang out at his and Rezam Ariffin’s house. Syed Muzaffar repeatedly poked fun at how much powder I used to apply on my face in Standard One.

I related to Rozaiman how he during our Kindergarten days had described my handwriting as “tulih neka”(pressing the pencil hard when writing),which habit I inherit to this day. Old habits die hard!My second best (Siamese) friend Chum Phon could not make it but I dropped by to his house in the Thai populated Kg. Terbak.

My good friend Rosli Ishak also could not make it from Penang. At the Kg Terbak Buddhist temple grounds I showed to the three friends who had accompanied me the Cemetery where my maternal grandmother was cremated. We then visited the heritage 100 over year old Tumpat Railway Hindu temple which was never demolished by the 99% Malay muslim Kelantan PAS government!

I was most fortunate to met my very first ever teacher in my life,our Standard One A class teacher Cikgu Hashim. I had to introduce myself as he could not recognize me.He said “tok ca”.(could not recognize me).I related to him how excited I was in 1967 when visiting his second day of Hari Raya open house so much so that I was the first to turn up by 8.00 am when he was still in bed!

Cikgu Razif Gemuk as he was fondly known, my standard three C Class teacher was surprised to see me, Taya(my Kelantan name)ending up under ISA that he had mentioned in his speech and much to the amusement of my friends who broke out in laughter. I in turn blamed it on my Kelantan teachers for “badly bringing me up”. Then there was frail Cikgu Wan Abdullah who gave chase on his Vespa scooter and had “caught’ me and my best friend Koay Teik Soon as we were speeding on our bicycles along the Siamese Village Kg Terbok –ponteng sekolah.

Then a doa and sedekah Al fatihah was recited for our deceased friends fisherman Roslan,Rezam Ariffin,Cikgu Hashim (spek) and others which was led by Nik Samsul bin Nik Mat.

We recalled how we all had to walk through the flooded baroh (padi field) batas to school at SMT during the monsoon season. Kita sama-sama susah. We grew up not knowing of the special treatment for anybody. There was sincere and genuine friendship despite our different ethnicities and religions. And mind you this is Kelantan,the negeri “Serambi Mekah” that we are talking about.

My friends were surprised that I could still speak pekak lagi(fluent) Kelantan Malay dialect which they attributed to my eating “Budu”.We relived our childhood memories. Only that most of us were now graying and balding. All now either in their kopiah, jubah, beard and tudung. But there was no barrier. I was moved by the sincere warm greetings and genuine friendship which the children of today no longer enjoy under UMNO.I left with a heavy heart thinking if we would ever meet again.

My believe is reiterated once again that the Malay muslims labeling me as a racist or hating me or Hindraf is a mere creation of UMNO. I could not help thinking how the UMNO government had destroyed the true 1 Malaysia of yesteryears. And how hard UMNO is today trying to project the nonexistent and pseudo 1 Malay-sia.

P Uthayakumar is the head of the Human Rights Party