Chapter 8 The Call To Return To Planting

Once again I was jobless,here again I faced another soul searching.What really was badly wrong with me,my mind begin to think back and forth,forth and back repeatedly.Two wrongs cannot be something to do with all others,it should and had to be me.

It really send a chilled down within me,well - for one I still had a lot of time to make amend and led a better life in the near future if not in planting it could be else where,surely there is a place fitting for me to dwelt.Therefore for the better or the worst,what ever it was I cannot lead an idle life.I have to work to survive.Having a job now was no big deal as my Auntie got me another at the K,C.Cheah Sawmill,Karak,Pahang.

Resorting to be dependent on relatives never got the better of me,I never like it
let alone out of kind gesture from an Auntie.Temporarily, I joined that sawmill,by then I had married my girl friend and with her around supporting me,I was more confident with life.I saw it as a begin of an era with her loving and undiveded support.

The sawmill did offered me much prospect and I learned a lot from it.The sawmill had large tract of timber concession.From here I learned much about the jungle and the timbers it yielded. Opening up new timber land was almost like doing replanting in a new virgin jungle,the timber tracks were utmost important to extract all useful timber.I also learned how to identify timber.

Then there was the saw mill where the logs were converted int serviceable timber for local consumption and for export.Timber for for export had to be graded by licence timber graders.Timber grading was also lucrative a trade.Only thing was all graders had to obtained passes for the various grades before allowed to perform the grading.

Those were difficult days for me because I was given a merge allowance barely sufficient for my family to carry on living in Karak.Pahang.Fortunately a distance relation of my wife employed her to shave his newly opened young rubber trees.The job was quite simple and she was paid $10/=per day's work.That was sufficient to maintain us and renting a house.Those days housing rent for a low cost new house was only $ 45/= per month.

I was there for almost a year I came to reakized that saw milling or any other trades were never in born in me.Yes,I found with much deep thoughts that my life should be in planting never saw milling even though I can also make it here.The opportunities and prospects were opened but that planting was in my veins.My setbacks earlier should not be taken as a measurement although I have taken a serious view of them.Those were human errors in life,we have our bad moments,everyone has it,I should not be an acception.

Failures were unimportant ,the ability to identify those faults committed and be able to rectify never to repeat them were surely make the difference.A major overhauling of my attitude forthcoming should bring in my siccess in my planting career.Many great men in the world have proven that failures were the mother of success and i am no different if they can fight back and gain victory and success at the end I too can achieved them.

So I applied back into planting and almost immediate was accepted as Manager of St.Andrew Estate,Batang Berjuntai,Selangor.Was it a coincidense????,no,I doubted it,there was a calling beckoning my return,an inert feeling urged to strike back from scratch if necessary.Yes some internal forces within me rushed me out of my shell and I returned to planting.So planting here I returned with a vengeance.Vengeance with abetter showung that I am not what most planters percieved---I was a write off.No I am not.I am good if not better than them,those corupted Planters.

However,my return was never plain sailing initially but grip bravery with patient, I maintained my cool .Of course my vast past experiences with sheer determination was telling as I overcame all those obstacles against me.Yes,I did had an appointment but when I arrived at the plantation I profound in finding myself the No.2 man around.Apparently the board of Directors had placed a younger man over me,a sweet talker,I have experienced that before,so I kept mu patient and coolly accepted what was installed for me.

Beggars were no chosers,you just have take what comes along.I was determined to return to planting by any means,so taking a step back really was harmless,at least I can watch what that young man has which I do not possess.For one he was hell of a sweet talker in "Hokkien" of which most of the Directors were carmed,well- that was my short comings.I for one prefered to let my working do the talking.Not talk the work,for I rather work the talk.

A month also passed then that young fox showed his tail.He was the type that wanted to strike it rich fast and work wise he was never one.Whenever the Boss came in to the plantation,he being informed of his presence would take a jog from the back of his bungalow.A short run round to a field to return to the office sweating profusely and panting as if he has gone for one big round around the fields.Chinese owned plantation had plenty of people spying for them so such pretentiuos actions led him no where.There can never be any cover up.

He was a young greedy young man with little or no experience in planting,he had bluffed his way in,One fine day he hatched out a plan to steal Rubber Smoked Sheets and was caught red handed.He was sacked without knowing who the informer was.To me I surely knew who,because that driver told me about it first,so I instructed him to call the Boss immediately.

With him sacked I thus moved up ,by now the Boss already knew who can worked and who cannot.Had he not been caught he would still be sacked because his tricks were already exposed to the Boss,who was waiting for a right moment to rid him from the plantation.

With his termination of service I thus promoted in place on him.That was at the end of the year of 1970,there were heavy downpour and the great flood of Bantang berjuntai set in.The whole plantation was flood with at least two feet of water.All the bungalows and even labor lines were safe because all were situated on a small hill.

On the third day of the flood we went out on the plantation lorry to buy food rations from town.We brought along quite a number of workers who too required to buy their food.The town was also situated on a hill and therefore not flooded but all surrounding areas were not spared.Food from elsewhere still can come in by lorries although it was still flooding every where.

The flood subsequently sudsided after almost a week of flooding.Rehibitation of the plantation took another before the plantation was operational again.All tappers were deployed to clear up the bases of trees of rubbish and branches.It was hell of messy tasks .A tiredsome and laborous job but it had to be done as soon as possible so that all the tappers can returned to their tapping.

At the same time they were also instructed to locate the missing latex cups,with many being washed away.As we do not had any stock of them a purchase was imminent and a perchase made from the producer of latex cups.We were lucky as those cups were easily available.After almost two weeks of non-tapping the while plantation was back on its feet.

St.Andrew was 1600 acres,with 905 marure rubber and in tapping.Only snak was all most of the replantings were of poor yielding clones,such as P.B.I.G.clonal seedlings,RRIM 605,GT 1,P.B.86,and the younger mature rubber RRIM 600.THerefore with such clones the profit margin for this planation was never good or rather low.

I know that to get into the good books of all the Directors my concern was to improve it.Simplest was to increase its crop productions.With this I increase our supervision all round and that insufficient I appled Ethrel a yield stimulent where applicable.Secondly I suggested to the Directors to replant up all those low yielding fields with Oil Palm.

I had a skeleton staff force - a Senior conductor who was a relative of a Director.

To continue when inspired,...........................