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IN 1962, when I entered Primary One, we were taught very basic English by our teacher, who was also the headmaster.
He was the only teacher in our new school, Nanga Assam Primary School in Melupa, Krian, Saratok.
The school had just started operating that year, a year before Malaysia was formed.
Our textbook focused on children-centered language and simple sentence structures. One of the first lessons was: “A man and a pan, a pan and a man.”
It took some of us months to understand the meaning, even though it was quite simple.
If I remember correctly, our textbook was titled ‘Landmarks of Times,’ but it contained sentences that revolved around children, and there was a peculiar combination of “a man and a pan.”
I often wondered about the relationship between a man and a cooking utensil. Perhaps it was used because the words sounded similar or rhymed.
That was the starting point of our English language lessons. In Primary Two, I began reading English books.
The first book I read was titled ‘The Presidents of the United States of America,’ which covered all the presidents before Kennedy. Our teacher, Tom Meludin Dian, lent it to me.
He joined the school in 1963 and became close to my family. In 1964, the teacher purchased some books to add to our small school library.
Two of the books were by Enid Blyton: ‘Five on a Treasure Island’ and ‘The Enchanted Woods.’ Later, two more popular books by the same author were added, namely ‘The Secret Island’ and ‘The Island of Adventures.’ I read them all. By the end of 1964, I had read every book available in the school library.
More books were added later as more teachers joined the school, but I don’t recall seeing other students reading as much as I did.
Even my elder brother Jon, who was six years older than me but in the same class, wasn’t as enthusiastic about reading.
However, as I progressed through my primary school years, I continued to increase the number of books I read.
When I entered Saratok Secondary School in 1968, located at 4th Mile, Old Saratok-Roban Road, I found solace in the school library and started reading novels of various titles by authors like Mark Twain, Alexandre Dumas, and others.
Most notably, I read many of the Simplified Versions of William Shakespeare’s plays, such as Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and King Lear.
In Form Four, we studied Julius Caesar as part of our English Literature curriculum.
Thanks to my early exposure to Shakespeare and the advantage of reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee in Form Five, I scored with distinction in the Senior Cambridge School Certificate English Literature exam.
However, when it came to speaking the language, I struggled because English was not the lingua franca of the school, where almost everyone spoke Iban.
But when we reached Lower Six in Methodist Secondary School, I found myself conversing in English with Chinese and Malay students.
We also took English Language as one of our subjects, using textbooks such as ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by Shakespeare, as well as prose and poetry by T.S. Eliot.
Along the way, I engaged in constant conversations with classmates, schoolmates, and teachers, all in English.
In 1973, I led a debating team consisting of one Form Five student and two students from my Lower Sixth class.
We competed against an Upper Sixth class, which included eloquent speakers, including two lawyers who are now practising in Sibu.
My team emerged victorious, and we received high praise from our teachers, particularly Empiang Jabu (now Tan Sri), who was part of the judging team.
In the Methodist school library, I read most of the available novels, including ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte. I also delved into various novels by Charles Dickens, such as ‘A Tale of Two Cities,’ ‘Oliver Twist,’ ‘Great Expectations,’ and ‘David Copperfield.’
These readings made me a well-rounded individual, well-versed in the intricacies of the English language.
When I entered university in my first year, our English Language textbook was Emily Bronte’s ‘Wuthering Heights’, a gothic novel that follows the antihero, Heathcliff, as he seeks revenge against those who kept him away from his love, Cathy Earnshaw.
After more than a decade, he finally succeeds in his revenge and gains ownership of Thrushcross Grange, which was Cathy’s husband’s family home.
Since 1979, I have amassed a substantial collection of books for both reference and pleasure reading. Some of them now gather dust in the corner of my room in the Saratok longhouse and my residence in Kota Samarahan.
These books are my most prized possessions, as they have shaped me into the person I am today and continue to fuel my thirst for knowledge as I journey through life.
Charles William Eliot
‘Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.’
– Charles William Eliot (1834 – 1026). Also known as Charles W Eliot, he was an American academic and the longest-serving president of Harvard University.
‘The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.’ –
Mark Twain (1835 – 1910). He was an American writer and humoris best known for his novels, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and its sequel, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” which are considered American literary classics.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the New Sarawak Tribune.
