Remembering Mr. Martin Wilson of New Zealand

Although I did not come to know Mr. Wilson as well as Mr. Nicholl I had the privilege of being associated with him on several occasions when I was in Lower Sixth 1966. But I will always be grateful to him because he helped me realised what I could do to help myself become an adult. Besides,he made a remarkable impression on me on what it was like to be a knowledgeable person. And in 1966 because of him I felt I became a taller Iban.

Mr. Wilson was a very intelligent and knowledgeable man who was interested in many things. He was interested in archaeology, history,natural studies,photography and the sciences. So I thought, here we had a Renaissance man from New Zealand.

Besides he had a lot of sympathies for the Maoris. This had impressed me greatly as I am of Iban descent.

Mr. Wilson taught us General Paper in Lower Sixth. We had one interesting class with him which inspired me to be even more interested in writing. This lesson also taught all of us that learning was a happy event.

One day Mr. Wilson asked us to write an essay on "The Eating Habits of People of Sarawak ", Deep in thought, I really wanted to be different in my approach of writing. So off I went and wrote .

the next day, Mr. Wilson abruptly told us that he would read aloud one piece of writing. He read aloud the following lines with some drama :"The manner in which the respective community in Sarawak eat reflects their culture and to a certain extent their values...." I still remember that I specifically wrote this ".when it comes to eating, the Chinese eat very fast and that it is in a matter of minutes they could consume a bowl of rice with chopsticks.." And to my surprise after he read that he laughed melodiously . He had really enjoyed this particular piece of writing he said. Much to my embarrassment it was my essay and that particular part was a little exaggerated by him. In hindsight I cannot now say whether my approach was mature or not. But perhaps he also knew that I would not be annoyed by him for reading aloud my work.

Alec Kaboy turned to me and said, "Uchak, that sounds like you!" I kept a very straight face at that remark. To this day, no one knew that it was me who wrote that essay.

I never let any one know who was the writer. Neither did Mr. Wilson. For keeping that confidence I started to learn to trust a teacher like Mr.Wilson and I knew that he was a man who would never betray a friend. That was an important lesson in life for me: a good person would and should not betray his friend.

Later, during the school mid year break, he wanted to give us poor ulu boys a chance to earn extra money. Probably he liked Robert Madang and I more than the others. He took us to do archeological diggings for the Sarawak Museum in Bakong. We got to know him better as we experienced digging into tombs and deep caves.Besides Robert Madang, and I he took Ali Junaidi , and Borhan Tahir..

It was perhaps another twist of fate that I had again a chance to prove myself to him. Our boat driver Pak Cik Daud was suddenly taken sick, I volunteered to be the driver in his place for the last week of our stay at Bakong. Dispersing all the doubts of the others in the team I managed to negotiate the narrow Bakong River. When a huge motor launch was ahead of us, making difficult waves, our long boat almost sank and every one was fearful that death was eminent. But even though I thought I was not going to handle the outboard well, I managed to triumph against the odds and saved the boat from sinking. It was a very proud moment for me and Mr. Wilson gave me a pat on the back.

Later in the year, Mr. Wilson chose Robert Madang and I for the Kinabalu climb. I was a complete pauper and could not even afford a towel. But being a very perceptive man, he saw to it that I had the finances to go on the adventure of my life. My heart was in my mouth from the moment we set off for the trip from Miri to Kota Kinabalu by plane.When we reached KK or Jesselton we were joined by Mr. Voon and Mr. Yong.

Both these Chinese teachers gave us, which to me, was my first great Chinese dinner in one of the restaurants called Nam Chong.

You could not find a happier native boy on the plane at that time. Wind on my face, a few cents in my pocket and a whole adventure ahead of me. And this was because a white teacher was able to find a way to finance my trip.

Every one could see that I gave my all for the trip: I carried half a tin of kerosene on my bare back up the mountains, I did everything with an eager heart. And with great determination I made myself truly useful and a member of the team. I would not let any one of them down.

Even though I felt the terrible cold at 8000 feet I kept my enthusiasm high.. Robert and I had tried to keep our feet together. On the second night at 11 ,000 feet level, I had great difficulties in attending to the call of nature. Mr.Wilson came later into the next cubicle remarked rather loudly," I have the same problem." And a while later, I heard him say, "Oh Mother I did it." Before he left the cubicle, he humourously wished me luck. Many years later Jeliang Mersat would tease me,"Oh Mother I did it."

We left the last camp at 4:30 in the morning.

When the sun came up and lit up the whole sky as we reached the top of the mountains, I knew I could climb more moutains in my life in the future. And nothing was impossible.We had reached the top without one of Mr.Wilson's son, Mark. It was the third day of our climb.

We did have a good time taking photographs, and I still have a copy of the photo after all these years. The journey back, descending the mountains was more painful on my knees. And when we reached the base camp, which was just a little hut,we were given a certificate to certify our ascent, which I consequently lost. We stayed the night there, sharing the hut with two Japanese men. One of the Japanese men shared with me a bottle of sake, along with it he tried to teach me a Japanese song.

The cold on the mountain was inspiring and awesome.I realized that I really like the cold. It was that which spurred me to be determined to make it overseas one day.I really have to thank Mr. Wilson for helping me to realise my potentials and that I could be some body some day.