1963

1963 August 31.

I was a Form three student and by August most of my classmates and I were already revising for our Junior Sarawak Examination, which was very important to us. We had to make it to form four by all means and I was especially determined to do so. Being small in size I was often picked on by other boys and that made me even more determined to do better than others.

Then there was this new political situation, called the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. We did not foresee very much at that time, and we did not even realise that we would slowly lose the best of our white colonial teachers. However I could feel that there were elements of anxiety and apprehension in the staff room. I did not realise that 1963 was truly a significant political and social milestone in the history of Sarawak.

Our teachers were a good bunch. We had very British, and very colonial teachers. who were mainly from New Zealanders and Britain. they were definitely good, know their subject matter like the back of their hands. And I remember they treated us very well. The rest were Indians, Malays and a few Chinese.

By the way, most of us did pretty well that year and we went on to fourth form. The school was changing too.

Some who left us "changed" after they had been with us for three years, from Form One to Form three. Those of us who were left slowly changed too, as we were taught informally that school was an agent of change.

The formation of Malaysia promised us better education, a fairer government by our own people. It also promised us that Sarawak, Sabah andSingapore would be well protected and given lots of benefits.To my young mind, it was a promise that should hold true.

Although many of us were to live our dreams, some , as natural as our environment had to live there nightmares.

Starting from 1963.we began to hear about Confrontation, the North Kalimantan Communist Army, and our relatives who had joined the Border Scouts killed in cross fires.