Chapter 3 How I Was Drafted Into Planting

My joining planting was an coincidence,see I was holidaying in Kuala Lumpur after my school certificate examinations.While holidaying,I was introduced to a plantation owner from Taiping,Perak.There I was reluctantly pushed into his plantation in Taiping by my Auntie.At that time jobs were scare to come by and the fact that I came from a poor family I had no other choice I grabbed it without a second thought.Continuing my studies never occurred in me actually no way even if I wanted to.

In actual fact I was very eager to work and worked very hard to secure a better future there after returned to capture a heart of a heart I left behind.Some childish dream but after years in working that seem only but a dream can never be materialized.All those fairy tales I read as a child were utter rubbish,their heroes always ended well and good,winning the heart of their love at the ultimate end.Stories were stories no actual truth,now I know.

Anxiously I joined the plantation in early 1960.The first plantation I worked in was Hurst Estate,Ulu Sapetang,Taiping,Perak.The acreages of that plantation was only about 1500 acres.It was a rubber plantation.There I resided with the plantation Manager.The bungalow was a double story building with two large rooms and a smaller room of which I occupied.

At first I always wore long pants while going into the fields,always returning home half wet and the bottom of the pants planted with numerous grass seeds.How do you like it wet shoes,wet socks and wet pants.Fortunately there was a maid to wash for me including preparing our meals.How very fortunate just out to work already got some aids.I am very thankful.As the Chinese saying goes "Just out on the road already there is a good Samaritan".Later I like all other planters like my Manager wore short pants,more like a junior planter.

Initially I always carried a packet of cigarettes whenever I went into the fields,thinking that by smoking will chased away those huge swarm of mosquitoes chasing me.Those days the brand of my cigarettes was "Players Gold leaf" (about fifty cents per packet) the other stronger brand was "Lucky Strike",the cheaper brand being "rough rider"(about thirty cents per packet).

These cigarettes were cheap, I did tried to smoke quite early in life, but somehow I never learn how to smoke correctly,despite being exposed to it all the time.Those were the times when it was fashionable to hold a cigarette ,perhaps more macho so to speak.Was I right,no it was absolutely not so.It never gave me any thrilled in smoking them so later I gave up and endured those mosquitoes.Mind you, a single slapped on those biting my exposed part of body, will definitely smashed at least five to six of them with many of them bloody.What to do got work when poor so no choice.

My first planting Manager was a Chinese Planter,although he had no training in planting he managed the plantation very well.Of course the boss often came into the plantation at least once a week.This Manager sent me for short courses at the Rubber Research Institute,be it conductor;s course or Assistant's course.Such courses were extremely useful to me and I learned a lot from there.In 1962 I was also sent to the Outward Bound School,at Lumut,Perak.This was a leadership course where I met many friends and experienced many more things.

I was in Hurst Estate,Ulu Sapetang,Taiping, Perak for slightly more than two years,and while there I was placed in charged of a small division of tapping.Those were very flat land and I was made to cycle there every morning.My division passed through two other properties.One a division Of Eagle Hurst Estate,guessed what? I met the Manager of Eagle Hurst Estate.Well he driving there in his Land Rover and I greeted him because we had been introduced sometime earlier.

We did not talk much as I was nothing then and he a Manager but I recognized him as the Manager who presided my fighting case in Telok Anson when I was a teenager.Now I knew him as Mr Dobin,an English man.Manager were the Boss around I was nothing so we never meet again,although he was my immediate neighbor.Some what I still knew more than he knew me.

There was an estate supply shop where most European planters used to purchase their chemicals and other hardwares.This shop belonged to a brother-in-law of my Auntie,thereby I became acquainted with it when I first step into planting in Taiping.These European used to spend a lot of time drinking there,well those days they drank nothing less than beer.From there I knew most planters were drinkers.

This Manager Dobin even had a Chinese wife while in Taiping and two daughters.Some how I haerd later that he divorced his wife here and married another from England.Now I also knew what type of planters were some European planters.No he was not the only one misbehaving themselves.Because further down the road to Batu Kurau there was a plantation called Norseman Estate,where the Manager had been supplied with women by the tapping contractor.Young female tappers were always sent to tap around his bungalow on a hill.He being a known womanizer would go near to them and made his advances,without fail every morning.However there were no complaints about him being so romantic.Of course lah,the women were well paid tappers.

Another plantation he Manager took his maid as his wife.This was a familiar case as she the maid was always around town doing shopping so her story was well known to all
Therefore what so great about these European Managers,they are but also human beings thereby subject to numerous temptations.With their position,why not?
Most of them came as bachelors many being soldiers of fortune cannot with stand the inert lust in them so inadvertently had no choice but grabbed whatever were available to satisfy their desire.

Many married those tappers or servants but many were transferred away when they had made some mistakes in making many such women pregnant and left them in a lurch.That was why thee were many half whites hanging around the plantation where they had been.Poor off springs without much education but on most cases the kind management had provided them jobs as artisans.I have seen some of these guys around during my tenure as a planter.But of late the scenario were slightly changed as most of these off springs were black in or half black in color meaning they were off springs of conductors.

In 1962 I was transferred to anther smaller plantation in Selama ,Perak namely Gunong Inas Estate.That plantation was very far from the main road exactly on the border .It had been a communist infested area,and those bandits had just surrendered to our government forces.With that surrender many of the ex-bands of bandits resided in Selama town as restricted residences.In other words they also surviving on government funds but with that limited allowances they still got drunk every evening on hard liquor.Funny a isn't it so?

I was told the bandits they committed a lot of atrocities to many planters with many mercilessly murdered after torturing them.Despite these "orang puteh"planters remained very brave and stayed on in their respective plantations. All the plantations along the road to my plantation of work all the plantation seem very cleaned.The road was also well maintained,only very slippery during rainy seasons.For the first time I learned of food rationing and supplying to all the workers.All food stuffs were controlled items but was relaxing when I step into that plantation accept for rice.It was controlled till the last.

During my tenure peace was already established every where and there were no more military patrols.Even house breaking were unheard off.The small town was very peaceful except for those heavy drinkers making the noise but they never disturbed anyone.Although there was no military patrols the police still maintained some regular checking on the plantations.

European planters were diminishing and their positions being filled with our locals.
Although a short while there I met a couple of these Managers.I did not mixed very much as I am a non-drinker.So they always said being a planter should also know how to drink and drink like a fish,sheer madness,is it not so?.Well I don't was that a set back? Yes in many ways.It would have made the difference should I adhere and joined them drinking.On the contrary it could be worst.

During those I always traveled home to Telok Anson every three month or so..On passing Kuala Kangsar town the taxi drivers will always comment that there were at least an Indian buried under those rubber trees of a certain plantation by the road.
I used to marvel in disbelief but actually no absolutely truth whatsoever.I understand that that plantation had a burial ground by the side of the road,so passing Taxi always though on seeing a funeral in process suspected that the dead were buried under those rubber trees.Therefore no workers were murdered and buried under those rubber trees.

Planters those days were ruthless and rough and shouting at every mistakes made,Of course what do you expect from soldiers.Many a times being drunkard that was why passerby suspected they were just good as murderers.Really they were never that bad as far as I have seen.During the communist days they were the victims of many threats and even killed.An extremely high price to pay working in Malaya not only that they had to endured those Malaria carrying mosquitoes where many also succumbed to it..

Some of them even made good and even constructed a castle like mansion in Ipoh.Of course William Kellie Smith was pioneer planter he made good as a planter as well as a miner.His opportunities were there so opened and direct whereby he got a land concession from full support of his Government about 360 hectares.Accordingly he came to the then Malaya before World War 1.He made his fortune initially on rubber and later invested into tin mining.

Having amassed a huge fortune he planned to built a castle for his beloved wife from Scotland.a childhood sweet heart actually.Together they had a daughter and a son.For the love of his beloved wife, a castle was constructed near to the road (Jalan Gopeng) in Batu Gajah,Ipoh,Perak,rather it was built on his plantation Kellas Estate.The ill fated building was constructed with imported bricks from India,even the workers were imported but unfortunately its progress were procrastinated with the poor workers succumbing to Spainish flu which took a high toll of them

The ill fated castle was further put on hold and left uncompleted with his untimely death in Europe due to pneumonia.In the final course his heart broken wife sold that property away to a known planting company.The uncompleted was left to rot away all these years until it was restored fully in 2000 by our Government.It is now a tourist site and opened to the public.These were the haydays of the rubber planting industry.

While in Hurst Estate,my Manager also introduced me to a black "European" planter of a neighboring plantation.This planter was a cowboy planter for he went about the fields on his horse.Well,he was the one and only one riding a horse rounding his fields.What was his name,let me think.I think it was Peirera.No offense to his off springs,please,.I am writing from memories but that was the truth.




To be continued............................