Nostalgia

A dinner was organized on the 19th Jan 2013 for all ex education officers from the Perak Education Department who served from 1982.It was a good gathering of officers who are now at least 70 years old or more.one former Director Of Education is now 80 years old and can hardly hear but other than that in generally good health. There were a lot of hand shakes and hugs and it really felt good to meet people whom I worked within the department. I have fond memories of my stint in the department.Being one of the few Chinese officers there practically all my colleagues and friends were Malays but they all treated me well and accepted me for what I was and there was no discrimination.The Directors were all nice to me and I particularly remember one Director's advice when I first met him " being the only non Malay you must not be seen to be too smart or too stupid " and I followed this advice throughout my tenure in the department and it was with this that I was able to get along with everybody .Working in the department was actually quite fun.the bosses never interfered in our professional work as long as what we did was within the national policy.We had monthly meeting when we would inform what we had done for the month and bring up any problems which we could not handle and the committee would all chip in and find a solution.This was team work and the leaders brought this about. At work , we went by ranking and the protocol which went with it was followed.But after work and outside the office we were all friends and colleagues and this was the factor which created a fine working condition. Today looking at them I realized what the ravages of time can do to us .Most of us are on one kind of medication or other and body aches , hearing and eyesight loss are common ailments among the aged and there is no discrimination or favoritism here .Whether you were the Director or just a rank and file there is no escaping this kind of condition.Indeed I felt quite blessed that I am in relatively good health and can still play a round or two of golf and still drive from KL to Ipoh and back which many of them cannot do now. It was a happy occasion to meet old friends and we had lots of stories to talk about and a lot of updating like how are our children doing ,how many grandchildren we have and where are we now.In all a really good gathering among old friends and colleagues.