My Bruas Days - 1965 - 1967

20th April 2008

Dear Jade,
How good are the good old days ? This is the question , I am sure we have sometimes silently asked ourselves as we join old pals on a nostalgia kick. Memory is notoriously clever at touching up pictures from the past.

Whenever I meet up with old pals, ( be it schoolmates, college-mates, or ex-colleagues ) and the mood is right for reminiscing we never fail to re-enact the wonderful time we had had in those years gone by.

The only way to make friends with time is to stay friends with people. Robert McAfee Brown

It was just about a month ago that I had the opportunity to sit over a cup of tea with my Indian friend, S Murugesan, after a lapse of more than forty years. We were the best of friends back in the early days of 1965 in Bruas, a town that is steep in history not only for Perak but also to our lives. It was the town with many firsts ; the first ancient capital of Perak ; Gengga was it’s name then. It was the town where I was first posted to graduating as a “freshie”teacher from Brinsford. It is the town where I had my first exposure to rural life. I must say I had been, before being posted there, a city boy all surrounded by the comforts of life and never knew what it was like beyond Georgetown , Penang, and Brinsford, England. I must say that what I am today was what I had gone through in Bruas,, notably at Sekolah Menengah Rendah, Bruas. I saw it grow from just a single storey building with a few classrooms housing both the primary and lower secondary sections (up to Form 3 ) to two separate buildings of the primary and the secondary sections under the management of two separate heads.

Happiness is not in the possession of money; it lies in the joy of
achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. Franklin D. Roosevelt

I remember , on the weekend before the start of the academic year of 1965, I was overjoyed when I got an official letter asking me to report to the Principal of Malay College Kuala Kangsar on 1st January 1965. A date which had gone down as an important day of my life history – “satu hari dalam sejarah diri”. Yes, it sure was a memorable day for me ! Happiness was short-lived when the Senior Assistant told me that the Perak Education Department had made a drastic mistake as they were not in need of an English and Agricultural Science optioned teacher . He dropped a bombshell that I had to report to SMR Bruas instead. I was shattered ! I was flabbergasted! Where on earth is this god-forsaken place .I had to call up my uncle who was then in an estate in Trong to ask him where Bruas was. It was a relief to be told by him to wait at the Shell petrol station in Simpang and he would drive me to Bruas. At least I could rest assured that Bruas was not too far away from civilsation and after all not anywhere in Timbaktu!

It is the shelter of each other that people live. Irish Proverb

What was initially a dream shattered , later turned out to be the place where many dreams were built on. Initially every Friday would find me packing desperately for home but as time went by trips back home became less frequent. There were many weekends that we ( me, hunchy and blacky ) would opt to stay back in Bruas. Most of the outstation teachers from Ipoh and Sitiawan would make a beeline for home but for us it was fun to stay back. There were times when duty compelled me to remain behind but there were also times when social life with friends had the edge over travelling all the way back home. Activities in Bruas kept us busy all the time. School work filled up our weekdays and in the evenings we had volleyball , hockey and tennis games together.

The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and
to find it in our pleasure. Francoise de Motteville.

Our Headmaster , Mr. Chung Shin Yee was a sports enthusiast . The Staff Club team from SMRK Bruas was an unbeatable hockey team in the Dinding and Batu Gajah districts. He was not only our Head but also our icon, a man much respected by the staff. Every evening, without fail, he would stand in the middle of the school field with a hockey stick and all, including the mahjong hard-liners would spontaneously stop all games to report for roll call.

Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things. Peter F. Drucker

Mr. Chung definitely has my vote as the best H.M I ever worked with. A very charismatic man, he commands the love and respect of all those who have worked under him. During school hours he addressed us as Mr. …Miss or Mrs. but when “yam char” at the local coffee shop it’ll be our names or at times our nicknames. He always had high praises for us ( told to his senior assistant ) –
“I can never find any fault in them. They have a good balance of work and play. They are just out from school ( that‘s hunchy Mun Hwa ) , still under training ( that’s blacky Muru ) or just fresh from college (that’s me , shorty ) and they have done so much for the school.’

A leader is a person with a magnet in his heart and a compass in his head. Robert Townsend

Mr. Chung would chat with us late into the night at the local coffee shop and would call to inspect our teaching record book as well as the students’ exercise books the following morning but he would find all our work up-to-date. Once he told us to organize a concert for the school speech day ( it was the very first for the school ) and we lined up an interesting one for him, from both the primary and secondary sections. When the curtain was drawn open there was a thunderous applause at the decorations that formed the backdrop. It was a sight to behold. Our English Society was without doubt one of the best in the Dinding District. We had debates, drama, poetry reading and spelling quizzes as well as elocution contests in our fortnightly meetings for primary, lower secondary (up to Form 3 and later to senior group comprising of students from Forms Four and Five,. At year end we always topped it up with more elaborate programme. Once we even had a court role play comprising of two teams ; one as the defense and the other as the prosecutor. At the end of 1965 the school produced its first school magazine.

Efficiency is doing everything well. Effectiveness is doing well those things that matter. Being efficient is just an input of effort ; while being effective is an output of effort . Peter Drucker



In extra-mural activities we had our share of glory! With Mr. Chung Shin Yee as the Perak State Commissioner of Scouts and a Sports lecturer in RTC ( Regional Training Centre ) the school did him proud when the students excelled both in Scouting as well as Sports. We churned out our very first batch of Pengakap Raja ( King’s Scouts ) in 1966 and in the Perak schools sports contingent in MSSM a handful were from SMK Bruas. He was indeed a very inspiring Head who always had confidence in his staff. Once when I was told to become the scoutmaster of 8th Bruas Scout Troop I reiterated that I was just a second-class scout in school and begged to reject. He refused to budge . Instead he took out from his drawer a copy of “Gateway To Scout Tests and said ,
“Take it home and make sure you learn up the contents and prepare yourself to be one step ahead of the boys. Any doubt you come and see me. I’ll send you to Taiping Camp for training for four weekends. “- Thanks Mr. Chung!!!!

There are no hopeless situations, there are only men who have grown
hopeless about them. Clare Booth Luce

Bruas was, no doubt, at that time, an out-of–way town. You could call it a cowboy then with just one main road where all the shops were sited. There was no bank at that time and teachers got to change their pay cheques from one of the enterprising shops there. There was a health centre and a post office. The PWD ( now known as JKR ) man in charge served as in the PIBG and hence we could get a wonderful tennis and volleyball courts in the school compound. What really fascinates me is the spirit of the students of the Govt. schools there. Many of the “anak” Bruas have gained recognition both locally and overseas. Those students who were with me during my short sting there have graduated as lawyers, doctors, lecturers in university, top-police personnel , artists and entrepreneurs.