PART IX – RMC CONTINUED

RSM MAT JOE – HIS LOVELY GIRLS

Ini al-kisah dan cerita lama tetapi ‘benar’!

Our beloved RSM Mat Joe (deceased) had lovely and pretty daughters during our Cadet days in RMC, apa lagi ada kutu hantar ‘Surat Cinta’ secara ‘Drop Mail’ kepada mereka. Surat dihantar semasa lari petang beb! I can’t remember correctly how many daughters and who did IT, but rest assured it was done with a purpose! Sila maklumkan kepada saya jika ingat who that daring Cadet is!

Whoever walks through the gates of RMC at that time will never ever forget our flamboyant RSM, he is one hell of a character, maklumlah Orang Lama dan Askar Lama type! 

He will walk the corridors of all the 3 Wings including our dorms, classrooms, the canteen and cookhouse. Nothing can go unnoticed by HIM, with his peak cap, pace-stick and stable-belt, all shined to perfection. His voice can boom across the parade square like a lion roaring into any space! His favourite spot is at the foyer below the RMC HQ block, his eyes will scan the area like an eagle, anything that moves will catch his attention, who so ever caught not marching or walking up-right shall measure the parade square *(ukur padan kawad)!

I will always remember the Kawad Pedang or Sword Drill sessions just before the commissioning parade proper was conducted and rehearse for do not know how many donkey times! One day one of us, while doing the drill was a bit ‘sloopey’, his remarks were: “Kedet Aku akan cucuk perut kau sampai MATI”! One day he was so annoyed with our Kawad that he threw his pace-stick and it broke into 2 pieces, he shouted: “Kedet Aku Debit Kau Semua Sebatang Tongkat Kayu Ni”!

Another incident was when we were all marching out the parade ground as we completed the rehearsal, he was standing at the side and was supposedly to SALUTE US ALL! This was in fact the marching out after the commissioning parade where we were deem as commission officers! He shouted:”Tak ingin aku Tabaik Kau Semua Kedet Lopong”! But on the actual day he did us all proud, he was our mentor and father, he gave his smartest salute with pride and honour! Incidentally, he was appointed as our first RSM TD after he left RMC. We shall never forget this wonderful character call ‘MAT JOE’, semoga rohnya bersama orang-orang yang beriman, amin. 

Philip Canteen – his daughters

This is another icon in RMC, his food is good and reasonable, the only setback is when he is Mabuk! Cadets will miss the good food, and will lapaq during the weekends! The other problem is when his wife gets angry with him, sudah kalah judi pulak..no funds to buy the grubs!

Otherwise, kita makan sedap selalu…nasi lemak with telor, ikan bilis, timun and one air sirap all within budget of RM1.50, if I am not wrong! My buddy Zamani (Yod) can verify this. His Nasi Ayam ala Hainan is also the best in the West Bank, simple sauce cili and kicap cair sahaja, sure satisfied and kenyang!

The other food we get from him is rojak and burger at times, not to mention assorted accessories for our daily usage as well.

He had a daughter too, I can’t remember her name, a good looking girl and always helps her parents, this Amoi was schooling back then. By The way, don’t all girls looks good when we were cadets, all confined to barracks, even the Kanak-Kanak OR’s that plays in the Astaka looks pretty! 

Nasi Lemak Special – Abdul Rahman Block

Ini cerita khas untuk Kedet Rahman Coy, setiap malam ada Makcik buat nasi lemak, sambal ikan bilis dan ¼ telor dengan sekeping timun aje, dibalut dengan daun pisang off course, itu yang buat sedap sekali. Mahu tidak, lepas makan malam kena pi Prep-Time kat Astaka Block ( classroom Rahman Coy ), so tentukan dah “Tau-Pau” siap siap masuk didalam beg ‘Briefcase’ ala doctor warna hitam atau coklat yang banyak rahsia!

Sampai kelas apa lagi, mum-mum dulu, lepas tu beli air kotak “Teh Bunga” dari kantin bawah pulak, that is the routine of Cadets of Rahman Coy, and there are those that will eat their Nasi Lemak bungkus in the room after prep-hours! Every night that full basket of Nasi Lemak will be ‘sold-out’ for sure, memang sedap, maklum kedet sentiasa lapar, mana cukup makan di cook-house, zat badan tidak cukup, keluar lebih dari masuk tenaganya setiap hari!

Cadets from Rahman Coy seldom would venture into the Cadets officers mess, unless required to, after dinner all will congregate at prep-room till roll-call at 2230hrs, kena panjat tangga dan turun lagi!

No one Lepaks those days - unless those whose names comes up for duty to polish the guns aka ‘meriam’, the floors and clean the toilets. 

The Barber – Weekend Chops

Hair-cuts are a must, no matter what happens, if not mistaken once in two weeks, we would line up near the canteen and wait for our turn, the barber is officially open for business during weekends only, otherwise we have the option to do it yourself or there is one OR that comes around too! The chop was RM2.00 only, kalau tidak silap! 

The Globe – Ops Orders

The tactics and appreciation phases of war was interesting, the Fatique Group who is nominated to do up the sand model will have hours preparing the model, only to be mutilated by the Instructors when the orders is given by “Lopong Kedet”! The long pointer stick drove fear in all of us, it could just come flying at anyone that falls asleep, I remember very well OC Syed Putra throwing it one day, something which I remember and he forgot, hope some of you have this incident registered! The incident was mentioned in one of our reunion in the MP Officer’s Mess 2 years ago, the OC says me make up stories! He he he! Otherwise he is taking me to the COURT!

Weekend Company Balls – Cari Partners.

This could be the start of all our social adventure as a Cadet and preparing us all to become Pakar when we become officers, the art of ‘MENGURAT’. Can you imagine, some of us came from the “hulus, the kampungs and tempat jin bertendang”, not like some who were already CITY Boys! Not to mention some were already husbands and fathers when they reported for training! If not mistaken ada 3 orang bapak antara KITA! Nama tidak ingat, sila maklumkan skotee!

All the Ex-OR’s, Boys, AFATS etc were One-Up on the rest of us, budak kampung, maybe Cadet CO sahaja ada lain sikit, budak EC dari Johor Baru. Already pakar mengurat, apa tidak weekend dari PD boleh dating kat KL, masa itu sudah canggih pak! Ini RAHSIA BOSAR…hari ini baru di dedahkan, harap tidak kena saman malu le dari Kedet CO! 

The Dance – Dewan Tun Templer (DTT)

'Tarian Zapin'

There were only a few of us Cadets that could actually dance to any kind of music or rhythm, the rest semua kaki joget lambak sahaja, so the CI had a big headache! What was to be done, way back then, to become ‘an officer and a gentlemen’ there were a few criteria which although unwritten but by tradition were expected out of an officer! 

So to recollect some QUALITIES:

a. Mesti boleh menyanyi.

b. Mesti boleh berjoget semua jenis tarian – joget, zapin, samasau, disco, waltz, foxtrot, tango, entah apa agi?

c. Mesti pandai mengurat sampai “dapat”!

d. Mesti pandai ‘carry your drinks’!

e. Mesti pandai bercerita!

f. Mesti pandai make a lady feel proud and important, even though she is a ‘nobody’!

g. Pandai sign Cheques dan tentukan dia LOMPAT!

h. Pandai Hisab Rokok dan Cigar!

i. Minum Port & Madiera dan jangan PUSING Kepala!

j. Pandai buat dan jangan kena TANGKAP!

Made to do the dance steps by a very professional dance instructor at the DTT, we were there almost every night before the company level balls started to spin. Not to embarrass ourselves when the “D-Day’ came all of us were preparing for the big party, so we all started to ‘cari nombor talipon’, mana tahu ada yang memang kaki Mess Pegawai Kedet dari Intake yang lepas, veteran group. There were actually a few who were successful in gathering these so called regulars for company balls at Cadet Wing. There were others who weren’t so lucky, and had to “sewa gadis joget” pro dari Bukit Bintang!

I was lucky, kakak ipar saya ada kawan sekolah yang masih bujang di KL, apa lagi kasi kau-tim lor! She was my loyal partner until the last day, commissioning ball pun dia jugak! Now, she is happily married with kids and has migrated to the Yankee Land. 

I do not know about the others, heard ada yang offered adik perempuan sendiri kepada skot pun ada, sekadar jadi teman aje pak, nothing more than THAT, mana boleh caya sangat Kedet ini, dulu pun ada kaki hentam pak!

All our OC’s & Instructors

OC Rahman Coy – Major Muslim Yussof (RAMD), the most decorated officer, with all his wings and collar tabs, RANGER, AIRBORNE, PARATROOPER dan Pingat KPK, his story of how he captured a CT alive during operations. He used to say if he had killed the CT maybe he would have got his PGB instead! Well, those days all infantry officers wanted was to go into the jungle and get a shot at it – PGB (Pingat Gila Babi)! Apa tidak ingat senang mahu jumpa CT dan bunuh dia, mesti buat kerja “Gila Babi” beb, mesti berani GILAK brother, they are not like ‘anak ayam’, boleh halau gitu dan sembelih, silap haribulan kita punya kaki pun terbang!

I did asked him why his parents’ named him as such, he said: “they wanted me to become pak IMAM or Ustaz! Anyway, he was a cool guy, seldom gets angry and always a gentlemen, cuma orang kiri-kanan yang buat HAL selalu, itu perkara biasa! Dato’ Muslim retired as a Maj Gen, his last post was the Commander of the Trg Div.

His 2 i/c - Kapt. Hatta(RAMD), that guy is very explosive and expressive, kalau dia mengamok siap lah, habis semua kena hentak sahaja, black board jadi mangsa, zaman dulu belum ada lagi ‘white board’, kena tepuk kuat kuat dan dihentaknya, nasib baik kepala Kedet tidak jadi sasarannya!

Capt Basri Omar PGB (ENGR) – ini kelasik punya instructor, suaranya halus sahaja, orang pun halus jugak nasib baik bukan ‘orang halus’ sampai hari ini masih halus tetapi jiwanya bosar! Berani punya manusia, itu lah sebab dapat PGB, al-kisahnya semasa operasi di GUBIR! He remains one of the most faithful DS who never fails to turn up for our reunion and functions.

Capt Norizan (RRD) – pasal dia lah yang kita 1 x Coy jilat shovel & cangkul! Hish mana boleh lupa pak. Ini semua Ranger punya pasal! Tiap kali ada hal dia yang cari pasal nak lanyak Kedet. Kena rendam, kena extra drill, show parade… I think he was tasked to be the Bad BOY

OC Syed Putra – Maj Kahiruddin (RAMD) this is another terror in RMC, jangan silap sikit kawan mangamok sakan punya. Tanya lah Kedet Syed Putra semua! Today he is our most honoured Guest, all the time never missing out on gatherings and golfing maklum-lah Orang Kampun Sect–Gen! Oiyee! Dato’ Kahiruddin retired as a Lt Gen, as the Corp Commander.

His 2 i/c – cannot be too sure who it was, maybe Capt. Rozli or Capt. Kamsani, anyway Capt. Rozli never changed, he remains what he is, still terrorising cadets in RMC, wonder who was his favourite Cadet? As for Capt. Kamsani, sekali sekala boleh tahan jugak mengamok sakan jugak! 

OC ALAM SHAH – Maj Zainal Yan (RAMD) this is the coolest OC, tidak pernah marah atau naik temperature, until today masih kekal dengan senyuman yang manis. How lucky all the Alam Shah Cadets were! A typical Sandhurst MA trained officer, the best student and sword of honour recipient indeed deserving! But he retired real early as a Lt Col only, the forces lost out on an excellent true officer and gentlemen.

2 i/c never could remember who….. there was the late Capt. Rahman Koya (RRD), Capt. Ali (CDO) and one more…..! Capt Ali was the guy who broke the ear-drum of Subit Chuan, kena pelempang JEPUN, mind you Subit was a RMAF cadet! Luckily, no serious damage and Subit still flies till this very day!

RMN Cadets in RMC

This group of Midshipmen lead by none other than Dato’ Jamil & Dato’ Musa was to be commissioned together with us as Intake 34, they were Intake 20 RMN. Imagine after almost 2 years of training, they were sent to RMC for the last 3 months prior to commissioning, they were told to carry packs and ‘dig trenches’! What a cultural shock, but those were the days when an officer is expected to know everything, may it be land, sea or air battles and how it was fought. At least they have and insight as to what their brother officers are doing on the ground inside the BUSH! I think it was the right thing to do!

SO, one fine day the bunch of RMN Cadets absent morning PT, apa lagi@ kawan baik kita mengamok le: “Kedet Navy semua forward roll turun BUKIT”! So the story goes, hope they learnt their expensive lesson not to fool around with HIM!

RSM Mat Joe also had some pening kepala with RMN Cadets, apasal tak boleh hentak kaki semua, cacat ke? Tak boleh CIK ! Kapal tenggelam nanti kalau hentak kaki! Tarik boleh CIK! Lantak le kamu semua – JONAH!

Anyway, we had a short stint as a group and it took some years before we were reunited again with a fostering of brotherhood with them participating in our most recent 33rd & 34th Reunion Gathering. Hope many more would come forward the next do! 

Cadet Rank Holders 

Cadet CO – Akhtar Zainuddin ( Rahman )

Cadet Adjutant – Shamsuddin ( Syed Putra )

Cadet RSM – Kandiah ( Alam Shah)

OC Rahman – Ibrahim LABU

CSM Rahman – Samsuddin ‘Jonah’

OC Alam Shah – ??????

OC Syed Putra - Mutalib

I can’t recall all the rank holders – please those who can…insert their names, TQ!

The other officers in RMC the likes of Rozi Baharom, Adri Johan, Che Rose, still a few more, there were two RMAF officers – one was a Singh and another China man..apa nama dah lupa…..?

Off course the Comdt, Col Nik Fakaruddin and CI, Lt Col Hussin Ali Piah 

Nanti sambung cerita….