THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

Leaving the Nest 79
We were divided into groups. Mine was called the ‘Four Musketeers’,
with me as the ringleader. The other three members were Abdul Kadir
from Melaka, Chik from Penang and Mohammad from Pahang. Mohammad
was called ‘Mat Golok’ (Machete Mat) because he carried one
wherever he went. We all became good friends during the course, and
later on in life, we met occasionally at promotion exercises or agricultural
exhibitions.
Abdul Kadir from Melaka
Abdul Kadir was the Melaka boy who had called me ‘chicken shit’ when
he saw me wearing a necktie at the interview. He had a slight deformity
– three fingers of his left hand were bent and could only be straightened
with help.
As Mr Mann was an active Captain in the Federated Malay States
Volunteer Force (FMSVF), all Malay Apprentices were forced to join.
The small deformity suffered by Abdul Kadir was only known to the other
students. When the shooting instructor was teaching the techniques for
handling a rifle, poor Kadir could not hold his rifle firmly unless someone
helped straighten his three bent fingers.
The British Sergeant shouted “Damn!” loudly at him. As I was next
to him and as the ringleader of our group, I tried to explain the problem
Kadir had with his fingers. The Sergeant shouted at me, “I did not ask
you!” Finally, Kadir was dismissed from the Volunteer Corps. For him,
this outcome was better than what he had hoped for.
Unable to enjoy soldiering, especially marching, I searched for ways
to get dismissed. I complained of pain in my legs, which was true, as I
have always had thick varicose veins. They sent me to a doctor who made
me stand on a chair and gave me such a painful injection that my world
went black for a few seconds and I almost fell off the chair. But there
was no reprieve and I still had to go for drill, so I attended only the
compulsory ones.
On one of those non-compulsory drill days, I walked to Kadir’s house
to see what he did in his free time. When there was no sign of activity in
the house, I peeped through the keyhole. There he was, sitting alone on
the floor, his hands busily shuffling a pack of cards. After shuffling, he
distributed the cards as if there were three other players with him. He
opened his cards ever so carefully and studied them. Then, he looked at
the cards of the others, muttering “chih”, as if dissatisfied. After that, he
changed seats, as if the next seat would bring better luck.
When he heard the others returning, he quickly packed his cards and
opened the door for his roommate, Mohd Yusof bin Nam from Province