Getting to Know the Soul of the Nation

The language is the soul of the nation

Sekolah Menengah Aminuddin Baki
was named after the champion of Malay education 

I felt like a poseur

When we had to use Jenny’s rich relatives’ address

A posh, two-storey residence

With a well-tended lawn

And wrought iron fence

On a street which sounded clever

Up on the rolling hill with the clean, fresh air

On the other side of the thoroughfare

Jenny was a distant neighbour from Singapore

Who moved to KL at the end of ‘64

Indeed, her relatives were kind

To allow us to use their home address

To keep in touch with the Singaporeans

And correspond with the Department of Education 

In mid February ‘66

Ma waved three brown window envelopes in our faces

Which Mal opened gently

While Yat and I waited breathlessly

Finally, news about our school placements

From the Selangor Education Department

Mal was to enrol at once

For his secondary two class

At Sekolah Menengah Aminuddin Baki in Kampung Pandan

A distinguished Malay school, we were told

While Yat was to commence

Her secondary education

At the Ampang Road Secondary Girls School

Notorious for its wayward students, it was soon revealed   

And I was accepted into Primary Four F

At Gurney Road Primary School (1)

That seemed like a promotion from 3H

At my previous school

Mal had to leave early before seven

To take two buses to Kampong Pandan

And since my school session was also in the morning

I had to be up before sun rise and start walking

Lucky Yat had the afternoon session

So a little after noon

Ma would walk her to the narrow, wooden bridge

To see her cross the shallow river with strong currents

That carried the assorted rubbish discarded

Behind the maladorous Keramat market

Making new friends in school

And the neighbourhood

Was awkward when you’re the new student

With the strange accent

From an island that had just been ejected

Out of the Federation 

We were swamped by new words

That flew above our heads

We had to train our ears to spot the differences

In the choices of words, meanings and pronunciations

So we learned to hold our tongues

To avoid embarrassing moments

But never tired of privately making fun

Of the words used for different body parts

Countless hours were spent

Imitating the way “they” –

The landlord, neighbours, teachers and schoolmates -

Spoke with such finesse

Which made "us" feel like savages

Such great pains to properly phrase their sentences

Or even questions -

“Dah berkelamin?” (Are you married?)

Asked with a shy smile

Unlike the straightforward Singapore style –

“Dah kahwin ke belum?” (Married or not?)

Gradually we learned to substitute cultured words

Such as the refined “suami” (husband) for the crude “laki”

The polite “orang rumah” (lady of the house) for the coarse “bini” (wife)

And the proper “lelaki” (male) for the vulgar “jantan”

And that was how we learned to dive into the soul of the nation