Good and Fond Memories - Dedicated to all those born in 1940's, 1950's & 1960's

Without any maids, our mothers cooked, cleaned and took care of the whole family. They still had time to chat with neighbors.

Everyone had candy floss, fizzy drinks and shaved ice with syrups. Diabetes were rare and aspirin/panadol cured all illness.

We rode adult's bicycle to school, the richer ones had their own mini-bikes. Ironically, we all had problems with our brakes, and after running into the bushes a few times, we learned how to solve the problem.

Prefects were a fearful lot - more fearful than the teachers. Detention class was like going to prison for a day. We had "public canning" in schools.

NO ONE ever won the big prices on "Tikam". It was a scam but it did not stop us coming back for more.

(Original photo from Florence Enau - reproduced by Sarawakiana@2
Photo of Florence and a young Malay Boy in 1967 in Kuching)

Motorbikes were rode without helmets. It was rare to ride a private taxi. Taking a bus was luxury - we either cycled or walked everywhere.

We drank water from the tap and NOT from bottles.

We spend hours in fields under the sun, playing football or flying kites, without worrying about UV ray. It did not affect us anyway.

We roamed free catching spiders and did not worry of Aedes mosquitoes. We kept our spiders in match boxes and ready for a fight anytime.

With mere 5 pebbles, girls played endless games and with a tennis ball, boys ran like crazy for hours.

When it rained, we swam the drains and canals to catch "ikan keli", none of us were dissolved in rain.

We shared one bottle of soft drink with friends, NO ONE actually worried about catching anything.

We ate salty, sweet & oily foods, bread had real butter and sometimes condense milk. We enjoyed very sweet coffee, tea, and "ice kacang" but we were not obese because WE WERE OUT PLAYING ALL THE TIME!!

We left home in the morning and played all day till hunger drove us back home. When needed, our parents knew how to find us. NO ONE actually watched over us and WE ALWAYS WERE SAFE.

WE DID NOT HAVE HANDPHONES BUGGING US. We rode bikes or walked over to a friend's house and just yelled for them!

We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! Our TV was black and white.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.

We did not have birthday parties till we were 21, i.e. when we started to take noticed of girls.

We have not heard of the word "Bumiputra". We only knew our friends by names. Their parents were Pak Cik and Mak Cik or Uncle and Aunty.

In badminton, we did not change the shuttle as long as it was in flight. Regardless of how many feathers were left in the shuttle, our game continued but still Wong Peng Soon and Punch Gunalan made us proud in Badminton.

Match-boxes were always "chilly" or "king kong" brand - to own a box of matches from a hotel was something great.

Regardless of whether we could afford one, we always knew Maths tuition was Ringgit Malaysia TEN (10) a month.

All parties were held in the Town hall.

We felt please to see a policeman and we were always edger to tell police everything we saw.

Morris Minor and Volkswagen beetle were on our roads - driven alongside Kingswood, Vauxhall, Opel and Chyrsler. Executives of companies drove Peugeot 504. Japanese cars were considered "inferior". There were no traffic lights only roundabouts.

The whole Kampung came together during kenduri and all took turns to "kacau dodol". Chinese, Indians and Malays were all part of kenduri and all of us spoke Malay.

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Comment by 用心涼Coooool on July 23, 2012 at 7:32pm

The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned .... HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!!!!!

AND YOU ARE ONE OF THEM!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as KID before the government 'regulated' our lives for good!!!!!

And while you are at it, forward it to your KIDS so they will know how brave their parents were.

(Photo Appreciation: Under the Tree by Noel Abejero)

Comment by 抱抱，看新聞 on July 19, 2012 at 9:01pm: 舊年代，很多父母都沒受多少教育，卻撫養了許多的有道德、有愛心的好醫生、好老師、好記者、好警察、好工程師.........好人才；

今天，我們好像什麼都有了，卻培養出找不到工作的人才, 或沒道德沒愛心的專業人士..........。

我們該說什麼呢？

(Photo Appreciation: Hardwork by Brendon Liew, http://www.facebook.com/liewiulung)

Comment by 用心涼Coooool on July 19, 2012 at 1:52pm: The idea of parents bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. Our parents actually sided with the law! Nobody knew about child psychology! Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

(Photo Appreciation: Goat Kid by Noel Abejero)

Comment by 用心涼Coooool on July 17, 2012 at 5:50pm: When the Circus came to town, everybody went to see it - It was the best LIVE show I ever saw.

Usually we did not have to BUY fruits - they were self planted or given by neighbours or friends.

(Photo Appreciation: Threesome by Noel Abejero, )

Comment by 用心涼Coooool on July 13, 2012 at 4:28pm: Susu lembu was delivered to our house by our big, friendly and strong "Bayi" on his bicycle. All "Jagas" were "Bayi" and no place got robbed.

"Laksa" and "Putu Mayam" Man came peddling. "Kacang Puteh" Man walked balancing on his head top, 6 compartments of different type of murukus.

We played GASING, made our own kites and had kite fighting with glass glued threads and made wooden guns and used seeds from plants for bullets.

Kang Kong was free - easily harvested by riverside. Ikan Kembong was 30 cents a "kati" and nobody wanted "Ikan Pari".

(Photo Appreciation: Young Olympian by Noel Abejero )

Comment by 用心涼Coooool on July 10, 2012 at 11:57pm: Football was played barefooted in torn-filled "padangs", rain or shine but still Santokh Singh, Soh Chin Ann and Mokhtar Dahari made us proud - we actually beat South Korea in football.

Malaysian team making a victory lap around Stadium Merdeka with the trophy after defeating Japan to win the Merdeka Tournament, 1976.

Comment by 用心涼Coooool on July 9, 2012 at 2:33pm: Yes, in those simple years.

Malay weddings had Joget sessions in the night, it was the only time to ask the Malay lady for a dance.

Ketupat were NEVER plastic wrapped.

Comment by 用心涼Coooool on July 8, 2012 at 4:44pm: Our favourite local performer was Rose Chan and the Beatles were the most popular band. John Wayne's Westerns on Sunday Cheap Matinees were 25 cent per show. Oh those simple years.