May 1
I was from the estate. A rubber and oil palm plantation estate. The green painted wooden houses that has got only one space in it comes to my mind. The common portable bucket toilets which was cleaned by a lady daily (god bless her) whom went by the name of Maina, the condition of the so called toilets with lot of holes that people sitting in adjacent toilets can actually peak at each others... Hahaha! Reason for why nearly most of that estate population willing to walk or cycle about 1 or 2 km once or twice daily to the rubber or palm oil plantation to do their business. The moments of casual chatting while they carry out their business. Hmmmmm things were good in a way but bad in many ways. Imagine the girls and women folk doing this and the naughy 'male species' peak at them during this time. Next we know there would be a big quarrel and even 'boxing' between the families involved.
The FW supply was from the small river (longkang in fact) by using a pump which will be started in the morning around 6 and will be stopped around 6 in the evening cos the workers taking care of the pumps will finish work after that. The pressure at the FW pipe was always too slow and nearly 5 to 10 families have to share a pipe. The time is divided as 1hr for each family and sometimes in a very bad day it will take the whole one hr for a bucket measuring 3 galons to full. (about 11ltrs). The subsequent kicking, pushing, pulling of others pails and the occuring fights and quarrels and argument which sometimes can lead to pulling each others hair. Hmmmm It might sounds hilarious but that was the estate life then. Eventually the men folks will come into play either trying to break up or join the fight depends on the situation. These involved families will end up not talking to each other for next few days or weeks or months or even years!!! Including us!
There was no electric supply to the houses in those days. Estate electricty taken from a generator and only selected families have access to that free electrical supply and one of the group is those who are good with and 'bodek' the 'Tuan' all the times for their own benefit. Other palces that automatically connetced with the estate electrical supply is the Tamil school and the temples.Well its called survival so till my age was 18 i didnt see electric in my house, thats when we shifted to nearest town.
Surviving in that estate was partcularly hard. Combined salary of husband and wife amounting about RM 800 was anywhere close to sustain our life with 4 children and their schooling. I am sure it was same for most of the estate folks. Writing more about it will bring more bad memories than good. My father who always wants the best for his children but without proper planning particularly made it really hard for us.
When the May 1 comes the 'Tuan' will be "generous" enough to give all the estate folks morning breakfast with tea and buns. Thats the only thing i can remember about the labour day during my life in that estate other than the automatic public holiday. Up to middle of 1990s the condition of the estate and its people were as above mentioned and then the 'Tuan' suddenly decided that he shall build some houses for the workers after 100s of meetings with them. But he is smart enough to do that after chasing out most of the original workers in the estate and replace them with who else? The Indonesians... The few of the original estate workers left in the estate are those who are smart enough to 'survive' the changes.
Changes i noticed a few times i visited after 1986 includes new low cost houses with water and electrical supply. Other than that the poeple live the same life style minus the fight for the fresh water and journey to the bushes to relieve themselves! Hahaha. My father was smart enough to move away from that estate in 1986 for sake of the children but was not that smart to survive the life in the town since he ended up with nearly RM 100,000 of debt to a lot of people including the Ah Long!!!
So many things that i want to put here but i realise they are more and more sad memories rather than good. One thing the estate workers will remain as long as they choose to remain is as LABOURS.
HAPPY MAY 1 FOLKS!
The FW supply was from the small river (longkang in fact) by using a pump which will be started in the morning around 6 and will be stopped around 6 in the evening cos the workers taking care of the pumps will finish work after that. The pressure at the FW pipe was always too slow and nearly 5 to 10 families have to share a pipe. The time is divided as 1hr for each family and sometimes in a very bad day it will take the whole one hr for a bucket measuring 3 galons to full. (about 11ltrs). The subsequent kicking, pushing, pulling of others pails and the occuring fights and quarrels and argument which sometimes can lead to pulling each others hair. Hmmmm It might sounds hilarious but that was the estate life then. Eventually the men folks will come into play either trying to break up or join the fight depends on the situation. These involved families will end up not talking to each other for next few days or weeks or months or even years!!! Including us!
There was no electric supply to the houses in those days. Estate electricty taken from a generator and only selected families have access to that free electrical supply and one of the group is those who are good with and 'bodek' the 'Tuan' all the times for their own benefit. Other palces that automatically connetced with the estate electrical supply is the Tamil school and the temples.Well its called survival so till my age was 18 i didnt see electric in my house, thats when we shifted to nearest town.
Surviving in that estate was partcularly hard. Combined salary of husband and wife amounting about RM 800 was anywhere close to sustain our life with 4 children and their schooling. I am sure it was same for most of the estate folks. Writing more about it will bring more bad memories than good. My father who always wants the best for his children but without proper planning particularly made it really hard for us.
When the May 1 comes the 'Tuan' will be "generous" enough to give all the estate folks morning breakfast with tea and buns. Thats the only thing i can remember about the labour day during my life in that estate other than the automatic public holiday. Up to middle of 1990s the condition of the estate and its people were as above mentioned and then the 'Tuan' suddenly decided that he shall build some houses for the workers after 100s of meetings with them. But he is smart enough to do that after chasing out most of the original workers in the estate and replace them with who else? The Indonesians... The few of the original estate workers left in the estate are those who are smart enough to 'survive' the changes.
Changes i noticed a few times i visited after 1986 includes new low cost houses with water and electrical supply. Other than that the poeple live the same life style minus the fight for the fresh water and journey to the bushes to relieve themselves! Hahaha. My father was smart enough to move away from that estate in 1986 for sake of the children but was not that smart to survive the life in the town since he ended up with nearly RM 100,000 of debt to a lot of people including the Ah Long!!!
So many things that i want to put here but i realise they are more and more sad memories rather than good. One thing the estate workers will remain as long as they choose to remain is as LABOURS.
HAPPY MAY 1 FOLKS!
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