A former ex-classmate of MBS Sentul forwarded to me some old pictures of KL (source unknown) with captions. Below is the first I have chosen to comment on. From the captions of other pics, the MBS mentioned actually referred to the school in KL town centre and not in Sentul. But I happened to know a grandson of Tan Chong briefly (Dr. Tan Kang Leong), who studied for a short period in Methodist Afternoon School, a private school using the same premises as MBSS, run by Capt.(Rtd) Lim Swee Hong, but as the name suggests, in the afternoon session.
Caption: A few MBS alumni worked at P&A dept of Tan Choong Motors, the sole agent / distributor of Datsun ( Nissan ) vehicles circa 1950s. Not a very popular Japanese vehicle brand then ...
Now known as Edaran Tan Choong, its Head office / show room is still based at Jalan Ipoh since its founding from the early 50s.
Below is a picture in my possession of my father's vehicle repair shop in 1928, at No.91 Jalan Ipoh, KL. He was standing (third from the right), a boss at the age of 19! Looking at the above picture, TCM is at the junction of Jalan Raja Laut and Jalan Ipoh (on the right). No. 91 (one of many shops owned by Yap Seng Chye, who had a liquor shop and Esso petrol station near junction of Jalan Kovil Hilir/Jalan Ipoh) was just a stone's throw away across the now Jalan Ipoh dual carriageway.
When I was a child in the 1960s, my father was sharing a used car business with a Mr. Leong Ah Sum. Only on rare occasions when my brothers were busy, he had to drive a car (Austin A30 or A35) from the shop to fetch me from school. Near the shop was an Indian shop selling spices and the strong smell I can imagine till today! I first tasted teh tarik at a stall nearby. I can still remember the appealing colour which I now know as colouring! Lunch at the corner Hainanese coffee shop (facing TCM across Jalan Ipoh) was a treat to me, a change from my mother's usual. Occasionally, a Hainanese selling chicken rice would drop by. He carried his stuff on two containers held by a kandar stick. He would bet with his customers, using his chicken rice as stake! His was the first time I had chicken rice rolled into a ball.
You remind me of the old guy selling chicken rice and I do get a couple of free lunch. By the way (the late) Capt. Lim lived just across my house in Ampang.
ReplyDeleteThanks Manghup for confirming what I have written... a really pleasant surprise. Yes, I knew Capt Lim was from Ampang too.
ReplyDeleteAfter many years, it is difficult to find people who knew what I was talking about.
Last Saturday, a fellow senior who used to sit next to our table at breakfast, broke his silence and introduced himself. Among other things, he mentioned about his Merc 300D which he bought for just over Rm60,000 more than 30 years ago, and then Finance Minister, Tengku Razaleigh introduced a new road tax calculation which increased his car road tax to Rm36,000 a year! He was so glad I confirmed what he had said because my two senior friends (a retired civil servant and a retired teacher) were unaware of such ridiculous rates. Basically, the rationale then was to prevent abuse (because diesel then costed only a fraction of petrol price) and to penalize those whose companies own cars with big engine capacity. I cannot remember the details but it was something like: diesel car road tax was 3 times that of petrol; and road tax of company registered cars was 4 times that of cars registered under personal names. A few people took the opportunity to buy the 300D cheap and changed the engine to a 200D or even a petrol one.
I wonder if you also know of a boy who study and work (as an office-boy during Capt Lim's era) at MAS Sentul...I think his name is Lim Ah Man.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I never studied in MAS, but a brother did. KL Tan was his classmate and got to know him when I waited for another brother to pick me from school. I can only remember Mrs Lim worked with Capt. Lim.
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