THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

76 Memoirs of Mustapha Hussain
and Translation. In my heart of hearts, I said, “The school may be
thatched-roofed, but the syllabus is nothing to sneer at. It was difficult
to pronounce the subjects, let alone study them! Good Lord!”
To my greater shock, we were told that more subjects would be
added in the second and third years. I became restless. I did not expect
to be asked to study that many difficult subjects. We had not even studied
general science in school!
All this while, I was under the impression that we would be putting
on impressive looking DA uniforms and sent to work riding motorcycles.
My heart began to rebel. I felt cheated. What if I was to just leave and
apply for another job? I was keen to work, and with a Junior Cambridge
qualification, it would be easy to get a job. But where would I go? Where
would I live while looking for another job? What would my parents say?
I asked myself all these questions. Hadn’t my poor mother worked day
and night to stitch my mattress, mosquito net and clothes? After some
deep thinking, I decided to give it a try.
There were some things that troubled us. Raja Mahmud was an extremely
taciturn teacher. And because of some conflict, he and Mr Mann
were not on speaking terms. One morning, I heard Mr Mann wishing
Raja Mahmud “Good morning”, but Raja Mahmud did not respond.
Thinking he had not heard Mr Mann, I said, “Engku, Mr Mann just
wished you ‘Good morning.’” He replied firmly, “I put his ‘Good
morning’ in my pocket.” Che Din, our hardworking demonstrator, was
also a very quiet person.
We did not receive any textbooks, except for one on genetics, in the
second year. All lessons involved copying notes. As the lab by the side
of the room was minimally equipped, we were given very few practical
lessons. Five years later, when I was asked to lecture at the new School
of Agriculture in Serdang, I felt this handicap, but I made it up by reading
London matriculation level botany books by Percival, some Detmer and
Moore books, and some translated German books. By doing my own
practical exercises before facing my students, I felt better equipped to be
a full-fledged botany teacher.
Field Work
Our major field work project was our vegetable plots. We had a row each
on which we could plant whatever vegetables we wished. My sweet potato
flourished without much tending, but the water gourd attracted too many
pests. I also planted long beans, potatoes and two other crops as a mixed
plant experiment.