As promised .. The dictionary meaning of "utopia" is "any real or imaginary society, place, state etc. considered to be perfect or ideal"... Well nothing wrong for being an idealist for given a choice, everybody yearns for a perfect and ideal life.It is not meant to be though.... But I like the word ... It's kind of exotic eh?
"70" ... That's the year I enrolled as a naive Standard 1 at a primary school in my kampung in Kota Bahru, Gopeng, Perak. Isn't it the same year NEP was introduced? But I am very sure that was the year English Medium ceased to be the medium at all Government Schools in Malaysia.
So, it was in that state of "70 Utopia", I was first introduced to life in school and being the Malay Medium pioneer. The immediate result .... my substandard English as opposed to others.
Lucky me I was blessed with good & dedicated English teachers who were so committed. For that I would unconditionally like to put on record many thanks and appreciation to Ms. Margaret (Primary School), Mr. Chin (ACS, Ipoh - hope the name is correct but I still remember his antics while teaching English like poking out his tounge for umpteen times just to teach the students to pronounce the "th" as in "the" correctly) and Ms. Yip (Sek. Teknik, Ipoh - she is a pretty bespectacle lady with long straight hair!!!!!) and KUDOS TO ALL OF THEM. Not to forget all those comics "Beano" and "Marvel Comics".
Those were the years .... the "utopian" years depending on which side you look at things ... be it from the Malay Medium, the NEP Implementors or from the eyes of a naive 7 years old kampung boy!!!!!
Good nite & think about it .......
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