STF74 H/Raya together gather

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My friends who left school together after SC/MCE in 1974 decided to have a get together bersempena H/Raya. For most, this is the first 'meet again' session after 31 years!!! I have the opportunity to meet some of them earlier and my, have they changed!(in terms of sizes and definitely personalities).

This group represents the success story of the Dasar Ekonomi Baru. We started schooling in 1963 and sat for the special exam to enter residential school in 1968. We were the anak petani, nelayan, polis, askar, cikgu kampong etc from all over Malaysia, very poor malay girls but had the brain and the drive to lead a better life in the future.

Looking back, we were not unlike the lost generation of the Maoris.(Hey, I watched the documentary in National Geographic Channel!) We didn't realise it then, but,I suppose it was for our own good. In the residential school,we were given place to live (read:Dormitory, all lights out at 10pm), food to eat (chicken only on Friday), timetable for studies, class, sports, activities, the timing of which were as precise as the clockwork. Punishments were aplenty (5sen for every malay word spoken! keji lah korang prefects!!!!scholarship kitorang only RM20.00 per month tau!!nak beli pad lagi!) and nobody cared about our shock of being displaced, our feelings and misery ( because we were poor, we were not supposed to be anymore miserable than we already were!), whether we were sad or missing our family in the kampongs. The utmost importance was academic excellence. Period. Teruk lah headmistress masa tu, macam emak tiri dalam film bawang putih bawang merah, err, no, macam Nyonya mansor dalam film Ibu Mertuaku!. Matron pun nak tumpang sekaki tunjuk lagak! Padahal tugas dia untuk jaga makanan and laundry ajer, ni nak sebok jaga kutu orang sama, check kain dalam pakai ke tidak bagai....pervert aper?

After SC/MCE (the current version of SPM), most of us were sent abroad to get professional qualifications. I suppose this was the turning point for some of us, the only opportunity, for once, to think for ourselves as to what to do with our own lives.

The list of attendees to the 'together gather'is very impressive. Amongst us will be heads of local University faculties (award winner osso got! - eh,how come I sound like Wong Ah Beng???), Professors, Doctors, Pharmacist, Lawyers, Architect, Accountants, Teachers, Engineers, Actuarist, Researchers, Government Administrators and businesswomen. At least 3 of them are working grandmothers!!!Ooohh...tidak!!!!Oh ya, forgot to mention, one lady is coming back all the way from Angola to join the carnival. She is working as an expatriate for the Exxon-mobil there and I heard she is bringing back diamonds as H/Raya gifts for all of us!. I told you that we are an impressive group, Malaysia boleh!!

I've offered my house to be the gathering place this Sunday. Hope it has enough space to accomodate 45 professionals who have not met for 31 years.....Welcome Srikandis....