My Grand Mother My New Book

Grandmother?Oh, grandmother,I remember my old grandmother.My maternal grandmother.

I was never the most lovable pet of the family as child,second in the family of three siblings.We lived just next the road along Anson Road in Telok Anson,a small town situated along the Perak River.Actually all of us were born in that house as far as I could remember.My father was then a small time businessman and my mother a house wife.

There were not much vehicles on the road then and our road apparently to us was a quite a busy road with man pulled cards loaded with food stuffs from the nearby farms and bull-lock carts also ferrying goods from the farms.Most of the vegetable farms were actually situated across the Perak River and their produced were sent to a small jetty at the edge of Anson Road.

In the early morning petty food hawkers will ply their food, passing by almost every day.In the afternoon usually an ice-cream seller will be ringing his bells calling out to customers.Those days the ice cream were mostly home made type and extremely cheap.I remembered another sweet hawker who sold his sweet in a huge tray as he came by he will banged on his metal bars to make a 'Ting,Tang" sound.To us he was the "Ting ,tong"man with his home made sweet.

Yeah those were the good old days,where their trades by to-days' standard were definitely be classified as dirty or unhygienic without mentioning the ways they produced them.Filthy or not we had consumed them and here I am still lingering around writing stories about them.Should you devoured any of these I mentioned now you ought to be hospitalized,true or false.True with a hint of doubt.

There were a row of shop houses at the edge of Anson Road that were reputed to be once belonging to my maternal grandfather but later sold away after his untimely death before the War.That War also destroyed our family's fortune and after the War little was left remaining in my grandmother's hand.

The house we lived in seemingly the last of the family fortune.Well,at least we still had a roof over our heads but really we were rather small then and could not have understood all those fuss around.The family were just managing to go through that rough patch.Under those circumstances we grew up enduring all hardships there was but not really realizing what we had been through.

As a child I used to run around naked and was hyperactive in many respect,unlike my brother who was the the most quiet of the lot,doing his thing -drawing in the sand behind the house.Just imagine just a tiny tot and already showing talents of becoming an artist.He be drawing and I be playing around.Our sister was just hanging around with many a times doing house chores like sweeping the floor and others simple work around.Normally what she does will had to be redone by the mother.What a waste of efforts?.

By the side of the house was a guava tree where an old broken down Austin laid in waste.As kids we used to play in it as well as enjoying the fruits of that guava tree.I used to swing about on that tree,from branches to branches.My kid brother will often shout."Look out and be careful - or you fall down and cry".

That shout could at times attract the attention of my paternal grand mother who would come with a cane yelling at top of her voice,"You naughty boy,come down at once.Like that you will surely fall down and hurt yourself".But as a hyperactive kid I was reluctant nor stop at her calling.At this she will rushed up to cane me.Many a times she missed her caning but there were times she was right on target.

Like all grandmother all of us were their pets and when she really caned me she never meant it and the caning was usually seemingly light and painless,only the trashing on other objects around were making taking those hard knocks and making the loud frightful sound.
"Aa!!!Yoooo",I would pretentiously cried out mockingly in pain as if she hit me heavily."Very good,serve you right",my other siblings will shout in unison,clapping and laughing as I got the punishment.I would then jumped down and ran way from that spot."Wait till I catch you I will further cane you---you naughty boy"the grand mother will further yelled.

to continue

Chapter 21 The End Of The Road

Alex always had an eye for attractive women without any second thought and beautiful flowers.His passion for flowers took him far beyond and would go at length to secure them.Beside those which can be purchased, he also had an excellent collections of wild orchids.

Wild orchids cannot be brought it had be collected as he went along in his normal line of duties.The Malaysian jungles were plentiful of them.To come across , identify them and retrieved them back to his collection was another.He had also another interest and while in employment in Sri Jaya he had also developed a passion for old hardwood tree trunks,so much so he had a game plan to dig them up once he had found a suitable place to store them and later to sculpture on them.

Very often land around were expensive to acquire,and the idea slowly dripped away.These ancient tree trunks were arguably valueless items.Should they be recovered and sculptured onto beautiful art pieces - turning those into valuable art piece for art lovers.Very unfortunate it never did materialized.So once out of that place the passion thus passed away.Perhaps someday some wonderful person will adhere to that idea and in turn churned them into reality,well let us wait and see should there be such a soul.But Alex reserved his doubts.

Alex also found another medium for his artistic talents that was to collect big stones from the gold mining areas nearby.These big stones came in many forms and sizes,if given the appropriate finishing touches in sculpturing to improve their shape,should be able to turn out something extremely enchanting beside beautiful.He gained knowledge of them while he was buying those stones for his road works but what he secured very very much smaller.In the worked out mines were plenty of big size rocks.The gold mines were all situated in Kampong Luit,a short distance from the plantation.

All this took a beating before he could act on them as he felt seriously ill,so sick that he was bed ridden,hospitalized for almost six awful months.The year before being struck by that dreadful disease he had signs of tiredness.So tired was he that he had the service of the driver every where he went,while his driver drove he dosed off by the side.Of course the driver was in his service very much earlier but he engaged his service more often during his last year before he fell ill.

In early 2000 he was diagnosed with cancer (Luekamia -AML) ,it was the cancer of the blood where the systems could not produce sufficient red cells,thus the red cells were lesser than the white blood cells.He was admitted to the University Medical Centre for treatment,he under went through the whole process of Chymore therapy.

His condition was at its worst during the first therapy and he could hardly swallow any food liquid or otherwise.To make matter worst he overheard a young doctor commenting to a nurse that to treat him or not was not going to make any difference as he will surely die anyway.That hurt him tremendously so when his younger brother came in to see him during lunch time he held on to him begging him to order the doctor to let him die,should his condition be that bad.

Shocked by his request his brother slowly encourage him to hang on as the matter could not that bad and that was always a chance he will recover.After some hours of pursuing he quiet down.Maybe toned down but the grieved still lingers from within and he had not much hope he knew.

Many friends and relatives begin visiting him thinking that that could be the last they saw of him.A cousin brother returned from Singapore just to visit him. While with him this cousin a staunch Christian suggested he pray to the Lord for him.He agreed and they held him closely to them,there were another brother of his and a cousin sister.All three of them held him closely and prayed.

That day he heard a very beautiful prayer being said begging the Lord to be compassionate and forgive him.They also asked for the Lord blessing and grace.Very funny and odd because as they prayed Alex could feel as if the Lord had heard their prayer.There was a sense of relieved running all through his body.That excellent sensation was beyond descriptions.

Odd may it be,of course there were no immediate miracle but he slowly and surely began to response to treatment.Consuming food little by little,improving slowly and within weeks he grew healthy.That was only the first therapy,and there were four more to follow.

As his health improved he saw the world was as beautiful.Even those doctors treating him were absolutely beautiful and charming.Yes every morning he looked forward to seeing those beautiful eyes of those doctors.With so many nice and beautiful doctors treating him there was no reasons for him to think of dying.Oh yes that boozed his ego and wanted to live on.This was another factor that made him to clash with his foes head on for nothing less than victory.Sheer madness isn't it so?.

First treating him was the main doctor,a doctor Goh.Yeah a married doctor but having such a nice and petite doctor viewing his sickness surely was very nice.Well at least she was not like those men doctors who came in half asleep with eyes almost closing and with never smiling face.Then there was another a slightly junior doctor another beauty and slim looking doctor,now with such beauties treating you where can effort to die.

Initially these female doctors do not smile but put up a stern and serious looking face during their rounds.Alex though otherwise began asking questions and cracking some jokes which put them to smile at least.Well it was very encouraging to see them smiling as they round the ward.

Young interns too made his days very memorable especially those young females but many of these young doctors had their follies.Being new many do not how to extract blood samples from patients but nevertheless the females although without experience were slightly more gentle,definitely more welcome than their males counter parts..Well women poke never mind although painful,but males "Aiya!!!!!!!!".Just simply scared of them.Not all male interns were that bad there were some excellent ones.

Nurses there were equally adorable besides friendly while performing their routine work they sometime extract blood samples in the absence of interns.There were very experienced and efficient,so.how can Alex want to die that quick Alex was then fifty-eight,still very young.With so many pretty ones around who need to die,definitely will fight our way back to normal.

The Chymore therapy was continued until all five dozes were completed.Alex was in and out for hospital during those time during those six months of treatment,within which he was once quarantined for suspicion of having bird flu for a week.What a boring experience having to stay alone in a locked room for a week.Finally at the end of the final therapy he was released as "under remission".Any way getting well is already a consolation who the hell worries what "under remission" meant.Ha,ha only joking.Want to know find that out yourself.

In the midst in the quiet of late nights Alex once came across an attractive lady with long hair in white standing by his bedside.In half awake with half opened eyes he saw this lady in white,part of her long hair was flowing down her face.her eyes seemingly red.Really spooky."Hey!this is my bed",she said in a queer voice.That soft but sharp voice said that,surely that drove the guts out of Alex.Horrified and frightened he tried opening his mouth to shout but to no avail as no sound came from it.He was too frightened so much so he could hardly cry out.Fortunately it was for a while only as it vanished thereafter.That night Alex did not sleep well and was rolling about in bed till the nurses made their rounds at 5.30 a.m. to check on patients.The following night he slept on the crouch while his dear wife slept on the bed and nothing happened.

In another encounter,on a very cold,cold night with everyone fast asleep,another attractive lady in white appeared before him.She came and floated away disappearing into thin air.Initially Alex thought it was the"Goddess of Mercy".No.never but it was the angel of death.it came to certify whether Alex was due to be taken away.But no it never, that relieved him of his dear life that was to say he was given a reprieved.Alex knew that was the angel of death because he had friends and relatives who had seen that white apparition of an attractive lady in white before their love ones passed away.It is true that was the angel of death not Jesus as many had claimed.

The ward 6D of the University Medical Centre to Alex was spooky as it appeared to be,do not be convinced by him just try that out your good self to find out the truth and you rest assure that you would not be disappointed.Have the nurses to allow you to follow during their normal rounds after dark.I think you will find them very exciting and should you wet your pants do not blame me.Just experienced it.

In recovering from that dreadful disease Alex retired from planting,thus ended his planting career as that job was quite stressful and there was no way he could returned it.On returning to the bungalow to collect his belongings,the place appeared so strange to him.In the garden many flower plants he established perished under unnecessary careless spraying including his collection of wild orchids.Whom shall he held responsible,absolutely no one,for most were unaware of the plants they destroyed.What was beauty in his eyes were grass to the others,what a tragedy.

The bungalow was never the same again as the creatures in the attic had seemingly multiplied and the amount of wastes they littered were dropping out into those rooms above,making all those rooms very messy and dirty,uninhabitable.No doubt those can be cleared by sweeping and washing but no sooner was that completed more droppings came from above just to dirty them again,what a waste of efforts?.Flying small bats were health hazardous as they bring along in their bodies bed bugs.Thousands of them were seen crawling around.

That bungalow was rendered uninhabitable and a major renovations was inevitable but will the young Boss allow such a project?Well.that was no more Alex's problem,so bye bye to the gracious ghosts, they will then take over the whole bungalow at last,no doubt about that.
Thus ended Alex's planting career.

Looking back Alex had always had in mind all the time of the girl he first loved but failed miserably to win.Although there were so many other attractions along the way the memories of that girl (his first love) still lingers within his poor soul.Poor fella had to endure all those nightmares and often woke in the middle of nights in tears,what a painful obsession. First girl was definitely difficult to forget, so they said,and how true it was for Alex.Each time he made a trip back to Teluk Intan he always kept an opened mind and hoping to catch at least a glimpse of her should she be around.But luck was never with him,he never found her.

When attracted to other beauties around he was also on the look out for a girl who might be able to replace that very first girl.In his long search he did come across two,one when he was in St Andrews and she was a an extremely attractive woman working in a bar in Kuala Lumpur.He met her while entertaining someone in one of those girlie bar in Kuala Lumpur.Her circumstances forced her to be one. They became very good friends for sometime with no much intimacy.

She was very popular and there were many other admirers,nevertheless she was quite attached him.Another thing was that she was married so beside being friends no further development continued from there.There were no doubts that she process the charms , beauty and the desirability to entice Alex into a closer relationship,anyway they remained friends all the while and many years thereafter.

Returning to his Kuala lumpur home from Sri Jaya he was also attracted another attractive beauty,a spinster in her forties.A tall , pretty and desirable young woman.He was eying her every time he came back during the weekends.He tried to forge an acquaintance but she withdrew her stand with reluctance because she knew he was already married and had a family.She blankly insisted that she does not want to be in the middle of any eventualities.Well she was right,what a shame on Alex.

Apparently there came a time when she appeared submitting to his advances but sickness took its toll on him.On recovering the soul was willing the fresh too weak to accept anymore.What another tragic lost.

What ever it was ultimately,he will recover from all these infatuations and stay aloft with his faithful wife.Wife were always forgiving and knows what was best---for they are the best and most respectful.Trust me the wife will be more forgiving what ever the situations.
You can bet your soul on it.

Life was indeed very beautiful to Alex,with beautiful women all along his path of existence,God was kind towards him.Not only was he compassionate and graceful to him ,He also forgave his sins by extending his life.Praised the Lord for His everlasting love for each and everyone of us.He also gave him a very pleasant life style despite the various setbacks in his career.It was all these accumulations to give 'Have beautiful Women - Will travel" life style.Praised the Lord,.

Nevertheless off the record every now and then the charming girl he once met in his home town still haunts him in his dreams.Poor fellow still have kind thoughts about her.Admittedly he still love her very much despite the passing years.Wandering most of the time what had become of her after all these years - nearly half a century.

Chapter 20 More on Happier Days

It was interesting to note that Alex had the confidence of the Boss despite his bad reputation in Good Tree Sdn. Bhd.and adversity from previous employers and business failures.Bad news surely traveled very fast,far and wide.The worst fear were it adhered closely in their minds never to be forgotten.That was why initial treatments by the Boss were not very good.

His determination to perform well and with utmost honesty paid off dearly.He psyche and motivated himself well to establish himself.Most of all the driving force behind were his immediate family pushed him on whatever the circumstances.His family well being was his first preference and taking each day by itself he carefully plotted his own success despite the odds stacked against him at the very beginning.

When he first stepped into that plantation everyone were negative against him,criticizing him as naive and unsystematic in his daily performance,even the "Dato"nob in agreement.Within less a month after he had grasped the whole picture of the plantation he struck back.With his vast experienced in plantations this was "sup,sup siow",because his predecessor although had been in the plantation for so many years was actually a fresher from Taiwan.Although a graduate in Agriculture he totally had no practical experienced on plantation without mentioning that that degree were never recognized by our government.

It was definitely so easy for Alex to access his shortcomings overcome them at eased.All he needed to know was to put them into good used.First and foremost were the inaccessible ravines or hill sides.Poor guy despite the fact that he had all the necessary equipments to handle did not know how to handle them.All Alex does was only to instruct the driver to bulldoze new ravines roads,and that easily pleased the Boss.Yes,experienced was the word and he turned the tide against him within a short period of time.All others events were already history and maybe already related.

His Boss was a reserved,unassuming and quiet man who does not want to show off-right from the beginning Alex had noted the genuineness of his Boss and that following him will make him much bigger.Unfortunately his Boss was never a greedy or over ambitious man.Armed with a Midas touch he never habour any ambition to out grow himself,not that he could not afford to enlarge his position,for he was already a multi-millionaire.The "Dato" was only a show piece in the family's fortune whereas he was the actual big Boss,a man with extremely low profile.It was difficult to understand him well enough to further gauged him.Perhaps he was getting old and tired.his children had neither the interest in the plantation sector of business although it was very lucrative.They were more interested in their other family businesses.

There was never total trust in Alex-well most Bosses were like that especially Chinamen.In any case it was still very comfortable serving such a man even at arms length trust.Looking back it was still a joy working for him.His untimely demised and Alex succumbing to cancer that terminated the prolong of the excellent Boss and employee partnership.Together they could have conquered the world on the plantation sector that is.That the success of the unsystematic Manager.

Alex fondly remembered the days when ever he faced the Boss at his office.Those long and happy sessions.Initially he was made to stand in front of him, with him seated listening to his list of work and requirements.Alex could have them in writing but he insisted on weekly visit to his office to tell him right in his face.It was very nice explaining to the seated Boss listening to him.With few meetings the Boss realized that he was at a disadvantage position with Alex pointing to his files and he listening,it was likened a teacher talking to his student or something else,your guess is as good as mine.

He never like that, so thereafter he ordered Alex to be seated whenever he was at the office,that way they were at level ground,face to face.Most important he does not have to look up at Alex's face.As if that was not good enough he raised his chair slightly so that he can looked down on Alex not the other way.Bosses were funny at times but still he was the Boss and with no shame Alex admitted to him that he only took orders from him and no one else.That was the kindest relation during his long career in planting.

He had always wanted his eldest son to take over the plantations and Alex had long an unearthly feeling that he could not have worked for him.That young tiger club with an even willing smile was the man to watch.He unlike his father like his subordinates to butter him and definitely dislike rebellious staffs.Maybe he accept that but be careful when the young club became the ferocious tiger and roars-heaven forbid,when on the prowl all will be devoured.Quite different from the old man.With Aex's experience this ferocious tiger could be tamed into a pussy cat.In any case Alex did not have that luck to stay and served him as he was knocked off by cancer,Luekaemia (AML).

Within his time he also established an orchard not only within the bungalow'compound nut also another 20 odd acres just behind his bungalow.The durians bored fruits within three years of planting.That pleased the Boss very much.The florals and fruits within the compound of the bungalow were another astornishing accomplishment.The Boss alos brought in his family to to its glories.

An area in Tavy Estate,Gambang was also planted with durian,all fruiting within three years for certain clones.The Boss also acquired another 40 acres just outside the plantation and Alex planted it with durians and other fruits.Many bored fruits within a short period.Fencing for these areas were done by bard wires with the fencing poles all extracted from the main plantation]s fields.The fencing poles were of hard wood ,all cut off from remaining old tree trunks left lying in various parts of the fields.They will not taken away because of large holes inthe middle of tree trunk and left in the field unburnt for years.Being hardwood were difficult to burned away.Utilizing all these materials as fence poles saved the cost in pirchasing them and the quality were not so good either.

The black earth removed from the effluent ponds of the Mill also provided the organic fertilizers for the orchards which ultimately enhance the fast growth of all the fruit trees making them bearing fruits much earlier than normal.Alex also improved the durian orchard in Semanbu Estate,Kuantan.Weeding them and fertilizing.The results were extremely good with fruits most of the year round.It could have been better had the assistants and staffs corporate sufficiently enough.Many of them were never committed sufficiently,well,just human of them anyway.

The Boss was in many a way adventurous,always wanting to try out new crops like Jojolba.When it cropped up Alex was sent to Penang for a course on it.The subject was undoubtedly interesting but the crop was never viable.The Organizers tried to reap some profits by inducing prospective plantation owners to buy their seedlings.But it was altogether another big hoax,for the seedlings never grew to expectations.The Boss order a drum od seeds from the States but this project also failed miserably.The seeds do germinated well but perished in the nursery after all its food in its cotyledons were finished.

There was also the planting of teak wood or Jati.Seedlings were brought in from Thailand and established in nursery.Subsequently transplanted into the fields,as the Boss did not want to waste land on them,transplanted in the inter-rows of the Oil palm rows during replanting.The response on the hills were slow,extremely slow.Whereas good growth rates were experienced along the ravines sides.Very good girth growth but there were branching problems.The plants branched varies from tree to tree and otherwise the tree tapering upwards,very odd compared to rubber.Well those were the problems.

Although Teak wood was very lucrative generating extremely good price but the establishing were never that simple.The long duration for it to mature was another worrying factor but what ever it was Alex had some other ideas,that was to plant them in the neglected steep hill sides of Semanbu Estate.Establishing them there allowing them to complete with growth from wild vegetative growths in the inter-rows.As such only occasional weeding and pruning,perhaps after fifteen to twenty years may secure some Teak wood for sales.Only to be shot down by the Boss.Well he was the Boss ,so good-bye smart idea.

Actually no need to look any where to experience Jati planting,just drive a long the road from Rawang down to Bidor on the sides of highway you will find the Jati planted there.All not growing very well and they have been there for at least ten years or slightly more.Just stop and feel its girth,all extremely small.Of course there were a tiny percentage of good ones but how many?Hardly one percent.Imagined the costs of bringing them to that stage,is it worth the trial planting them? I say,"No,never".

Knowing that planting was a sheer waste of money but the Boss was adamant in planting them,so had to follow instructions,like it or not.Alex having retired for more than ten years wandered what would had become of them by now,it will never to a pleasant surprise should all those gone fucked up,for sure.For one thing no one other than Alex knew what the Boss had in mind,but with him gone,all would have gone with him.May God blessed his soul.

Continuing take a second look at the beautiful bungalow Alex once stayed.Most of the time he lived alone there and he always maintained a guard at the ground floor for security reasons.
Alex only occupied the master bedroom,the remaining three rooms were seldom used.Friends coming for fishing or hunting preferred to sleep in the enormous sitting room in a big group.Whenever there were females that they the females slept in the guess rooms but many also preferred to sleep down stairs in the dinning hall to be neared their men friends so that they can chit chat away the night.

Alex does nor fished with them and only occasionally joined them for talks and viewing how they were performing.Well it was a holiday camp for them and it was surely jolly good fun to have them around once in a while.Many of them sensed that the bungalow had eerie spooky feelings and quietly claimed among themselves that the bungalow was haunted.Yes,they were absolutely right that bungalow was haunted.Similarly the other Engineer's bungalow on the hill top was haunted as well.Scary or not,it surely frightened the guts of those visitors who camped at Alex's bungalow.

Come night fall,deep in the silence of the night,noises can be heard,like foot steps walking up in the attic,and of things rolling around.Barn owls at times instill more fear by their awkward cries,for there was a family living in the attic.Rats and flying bats were plentiful.The barn owls flew from the Engineer's bungalow to the plantation Manager's bungalow every night.Actually there were more than one family there.Their addition made the bungalows seemingly more horrible.

Of course with the noises of talking and laughing the ghosts therein also stayed out of sight.For Alex those ghosts were always real.He absolutely acknowledge their presence in that bungalow
for more than once they had make it known to Alex that they wanted to take over his bungalow completely.However Alex refused to bulge reasoning with them that the job was very important to him and family but willing to sacrifice that bungalow if he they could grant him a small fortune.

Now was that greediness,but fair exchange - what?For that a female ghost saw him in the disguised of an ex-frame in pink dress.Pink or red it was never good omen,she wanted revenged for being jilted once by Alex,but was slightly soft hearted as if she still loved him, she delivered to Alex some numbers in the form of a cheque amounting $ 6681.00 before she left .Next day Alex dumped his pocket money amounting $300/= on that number 6681 in the Total draw thinking that should he strike it,it should be big - leaving nothing for the Magnum draw.

The 6681 came up in Magnum's draw that following evening , which he should have staked in 10/= big, $10/= small,but he was reluctant to do that,striking $ 50,000/= with his life at stake was not good bargain for him.Too little but that was what was he could effort, so he never booked anything there.Thus no strike.Should be a lucky escape.Surely his life was worth more than fifty thousand ringgit.

Sharing house with him,living right a top the attic was another female ghost with a baby and Alex had seen her.Although she did not harmed him it does not mean she won't.Those scary bloody eyes raging with revenge were always watching Alex's movements.She wanted the bungalow to entertain her friends etc..Alex being a righteous man was never in the lease scared of her because to Alex only those who had committed evils were afraid of ghosts .Live-let us live attitude and he allowed her be and left her alone with her baby.It did at no time disturbed Alex.

Apart from those ghosts were other roving ghosts that often visited the bungalow.The bungalow was situated at the Y-junction of the plantation just after the river.The fast flowing water of the river could be heard quite clearly at night.Deep in the night among the sounds of crying crikets and other insects,came the sweet smelling fragrance of wild flowers,heralding the arrival the "lady" of the night,dressed in thin free flowing white clothes.Very beautiful and seductive dame in deep night.The cold breeze blowing made the night colder and Alex shivered with the cold breeze and the frightening thoughts of the female ghost.

On some drizzling nights it would dropped in,to met him.Poor Alex was caught dump founded,in hilarious dazed rendering him motionless.His limps were suppressed and could hardly moved.He tied to yell at his guard below but to no avail as he could hardly opened his mouth to shout and if at all opened no voice came from it.Worst of all the guard was sound asleep.The beautiful ghost temptingly kissed him vigorously and passionately, with him struggling to free himself trying to push her away.But the limps were stiff to make any advancement.

The ghost got agitated and frustrated with his struggle and within that instant and in rage transformed into another very,very ugly ghostly being.That shook the guts out of Alex.Stunned as he was he could hardly utter any thing or offered further resistance.It could have been disastrous had not been the timely arrival of another ghost,a male ghost who was fantastically handsome looking.He stopped the female ghost from harming Alex her poor victim.In anger she flew in the air and disappeared.

It might have disappeared into thin air but she surely made it known that she will be back.Tue enough it came back few days later and demanded that Alex should marry her.What could he possibly do but stood there scared stiffed and horrified at the prospect ahead.Once again the male ghost came again to his rescue and managed to sweet talk away with the female ghost,his sister.Fortunately the sweet and tempting beauty was opened to her brother's reasoning.Actual it explained to her their difference,Alex being human and she on the hand a ghost,thus cannot marry.Should he marry her he will definitely die,in that case it would be nothing left for her,so why do something that was never positive.


Instead she and her brother became his friends.Such blossom friends from two different world.Thereafter they often visit him.Come trouble they will also assisted him to overcome
any misunderstanding with Loo and his pseudo Engineer they were surely enjoy some sort of misfortune difficult to account for,but Alex knew.

Beside these ghosts there were other passerby such as those suppressing ghosts.That many people do encounter them while sleeping near the river.While sound asleep they were suddenly attacked by some supernatural force which can paralyzed them temporarily.Alex do encounter them in certain nights.In one such encounters,he was suppressed by a ghost.In a daze he could visualized the object pressing him rendering him motionless but some how he slow and slowly struggle to summon sufficient strength to push it upwards.In so doing he discovered an opening in the black mushroom like being and punched at it.That move caused the object to withdraw backwards and ultimately released his pressing on him.

He was relieved to have chased it away.Thinking that he will have peaceful night at last but not quite,for the following night that mushroom being came back again to attack him,this time he had a smaller accomplice.Together they pressed Alex pinning him down and he could hardly move a single limp,with that they followed up by tying him up with a tiny thin cord which very strong and unbreakable.With that done both creatures floated around giggling at Alex and poking fun at him.This went on until they had enough and left and they disappeared the strong cord left with them, what a frightening evening,hard to forget.

These type of ghosts had a lot to do with the wind chyme hanging in front of his bedroom window.This object was beautiful and made beautiful music pleasant to our ears but on the other hand they also made beautiful music to the those creatures of the other world.So they say if you are lucky it attracts fortune otherwise it attracts those awful ghosts.Which ever you choose the choice is yours, just toss a coin - head I win,tail you lose.

Chapter 19 Those Were The Days

Many,many,beautiful events during those final fifteen years of Alex's working life.He had psyche himself to perform very well in the eyes of the Boss.Well motivated for the position should be more appropriate.

Sri Jaya was a kampong and never a town,maybe they have changed all that,I surely would like to know,in the meantime it remained a kampong or village.The town's population was wholy Chinese,mostly of Hock Chew decent and some Hokkien with little Cantoese.The rest of the races were in smaller minoerity whereas surrounding this little town were a number of Malay kampongs.

In the last two previous election the Chinese voters here voted against the ruling party why asked themselves why?The small township had improved with two rows of shop houses althpugh not fully utilized.

Alex used to be a know character around during his last fifteen years of active services with the plantation.He normall had tea or tea "tarik" at the "makmak"restaurant in the afternoon,there were pretty Malay maids serving in those restaurants.Chinese restaurant served only Chinese food.

In the other part of town was a shop catering hardwares and other items for plantation etc.,the attractive proprietress was the attraction there.Very smart and hardworking female.
Alex always patronized that shop for his sundries,who wouldn't with that attraction around.

The tyreshop was well equipped besides offering excellent services to the plantatio at reasonable prices.This shop deals with all the punctures of tyres'from the plantation.Here was where the Boss put to test many things to test out Alex's honesty.Alex knew it all the while and was never in any thing with them though the temtations were there.

The elephant hunter also stayed at his house in one of the older shop lot.Being an excellent crafts man could do wanders with the tools he pocessed.In those days of hs working in Sri Jaya,Alex had full access to many wild life's meat,all given to him by many other hunters.Just imagine a small ting town yet so many "rela" guns around.

Poor animals were all mostly hunted down to extinction.Had it not been the roving rangers all the animals were gone much earlier.Plenty of the animals were over hunted by these huters.Animals like "Selandang"or wild buoffaloes very randonly shot down by hunters with very powerful rifles definitely not those single barrel riffles owned by "rela"force."Pelandok" and wild goats were no more to be seem anybmore.Wild boars roamed in smaller groups of hardly five each group,perhaps maybe no more now.

The hunter Alex and neighboring plantations was an ex -bandit,a restricted residence.That was why he was so well versed with the jungles and could walked non-stop around those jungles,like knowing the jungle tracks like the palm of his hands.He can be acclaimed as the best hunter around,should he be No.2 no one can assumed the No.1 position.

Just imagined he hunted down nothing less than fourteen elephants with those fifteen years of Alex's service with that plantation.Not only was he excellent in jungle tracking but he also excelled in fishing.He like fishing Toiman because fetched $8/=per piece sduring those time and he had a small tank full of them.He caught those fish in the swamp of Pekan.

The other attraction in this tiny town aws the "Orabg Alsi" cave,a cave where the natives seek refuged on rainy days.It was a huge cave and can easily reached.It was situated at the entrance road of Jaya Asia Estate.Locals knew that place.

Sri jaya was also known for gold minning.Gold can be panned at the Sungai Luit.In fact Chinese had been there since the 1850's,and there were Chinese graves to prove their existence then.The name of that river was called Luit because the Chinese named it "Duit" money for Gold.Surrounding land were gazetted as gold minning land.The present highwah cut through it.Happen to be around,go try your lock panning Gold go there.

Those days transport were almost nil,then how on earth those old timers reached that place to pan for gold.It was claimed they walked all the way there but there were no remnants of any Chinese survivors there only Malays from elsewhere.Surprising there were Chinese who had merged into the Malay population but they never submit themselves as Chinese although they understood Chinese spoken.When approached them in Chinese they ignored everything and spoke in Malay denying any close attachment to Chinese.

Many mining companies had tried their luck mining gold but mostly ended with significant losses.One company claimed that it would be too a expensive processed in separating the gold from copper as the main reasons.Many others the extensive labor costs involved.Those remaining reserves land were illegally occupied by many small holders,laying a stake in those land.Will they ever get the approvals of those occupied land were left to be seen but with"Malaysia Boleh",everything were possible.

The forest adjacent to the plantation after the Lepar river were excellent jungle tracking and many adventurous people in four wheeled drives had many expedition over them.In that forest were many natural lakes many quite huge and very good fishing ground.Local Malay youths from surrounding kampongs maintained a lucrative livelihood by night fishing and trapping fish in these beautiful lakes.Such occupations deemed dangerous for city folks but never to them.Trapping fish in wild animals infested jungle,anyone want a try?Wild animals like to face in those jungles were wild elephants,tigers,panthers wild boars and others.

It was rumoured that there were also crocodiles in those lakes but no much reports of tyheir sightings were known but mostly like many of those seen were iguanas.Imagine the days Alex was there there were huge iguanas as big as a crocodile.These youths also catch green baby arowanas (dragon fish).Arowanas unlike other fish secured their young fish within their mouth and split them out for a breather at night.That was the time fishermen caught them with the aid of a bright light wading through the sides of lakes in a small sampan.Very often they find vipers chasing after those lights.Very dangerous occupation indeed.

Alex's plantation also had quite a number of lakes,but those lakes were over fished all the time but with Alex pushing all the bamboo grooves around those lakes the situation was reversed.Thus fishes began further breeding and were full of smaller fishes.With this the population of fishes increased tremendrously.

Many of Aex's friends from the city many a times came fishing and hunting, camping within his bungalow's compound and spent a jolly good time fishing there.At the back of the bungalow was also an orchard established by Alex.So was his bungalows.Come fruit seasons there plenty of durians,rambutans,orages,pemeloes,bananas.papayas and ranbutans.Thee was also a small plot of coconut palms a short distance away.

Alex's main labor force were Indonesians with local as drivers.His staffs were all local.It was a beautiful working environment Alex had.His main headaches were the absconding of the Indonesian labor force.For this he enlisted the local Poice to assist him ,enforcing a police present most of the time.This help to prevent the absconding to a certain extent.

His next big head aches were his Assistant Managers.It was quite difficult to get a good one or two.First he had an Assistant who tried to chase him off the moment he first step into the plantation.But he was too seasoned and too experienced for such a ridiculous character,he simply squeezed him off with only a finger.He promoted another to another plantation who also left after some time for a better position else where.He replaced him with another he personally trained,lesser qualified so no chance of running away for better position elsewhere.

For the main plantation he replaced that Assistant with another,a young obedient hunter but his tenure was short lived as he also got a better position in Sabah and left.In place he employed a conductor from a known plantation as Assistant,but that too was futile as this man proved to be nothing more than a lazy pig.Going round the plantation only on all main roads.Now with so much work in hand Alex does not require any others to roam and supervised the plantation.Another bad thing about this man was,he was gossiping ridiculous suggestions as if he was that smart, to the contractors and others about Alex and his methods.

Well.Alex does not require such a man,his job was to follow the Boss instructions and as an Assistant his job was to follow however stupid the orders maybe.Any wrong be the responsibilty of the Manager not him.But how can he be possibily wrong if those were Boss's instructions.Assistant who were too smart can never be acceptable and never in Alex's agendas.

Following he was subsequently replaced by an Indian Assistant who sneaked into that employment by some stupid recommendation of the pseudo Engineer and the Accountant.He had no practical experience whatsoever and was a dirty crook,claiming to be an ex-employee of Socfin.This man was a good actor pretended to be very obedient.Once the Manager's turned his back,he tried to create havoc.

Some where in 1997 Alex and the accountant took flight because of impending Police raids and arresting of plantation Managers for employing illegal workers.Alex had to escape that dragnet with the accountant Loo tagging along.Why he was on the run God alone knows but the Police was definitely not after him but the plantation Manager.Perhaps it was God's blessing he came along and no sooner had they left the plantation the police came in,and what a lucky escaped?.

They were in hiding in USJ,Petaling Jaya for almost three weeks.The plantation was not running for almost three weeks and the Assistant took that three weeks to reinforce himself,undermining the management by passing bad rumours to all the workers and some staffs.It was easy to poison the minds of these people and he took full advantage of it to induced them to pay him money to do up their passport claiming the Manager could not do them for him.Could be he was out of luck as Alex and the accountant were soon recalled back to the plantation to face the Police as all were settled.

On arriving at the plantation.the ignorant Assistant tried to scare the Manager off telling him that the Police were waiting for him not knowing what the Boss had already done.Alex kept his cool and confidently replied that they will not arrest him.The Assistant blushed and found to be shaking badly.Alex immediately knew somethoing was wrong.Next the contractors and all the staffs saw him the next morning but the Assistant dared not go to the office.

By now the Assistant had informed the Boss that he had brought in a fresh batch of workers with permits and had started work.Alex soon found out the bluntant lies,he had only taken over all the workers and claimed as his.Alex had only to adjust by telling all the workers to returned their respective contractors,thus dismissing the claim by the Assistant.Next he told of the plot by the Assistant trying to usurp his position.Such a stupid hijack never work as Alex returned in time to exposed it.

Than he saw the Police to give his statements and was released.On returning he sacked the Assistant without any notification.He fleeced with an accomplice ,failing which he would be arrested for cheating some worker,collecting money from them.He bolted with fear as those workers having learned that they were cheated, were after his skin.He ran away back to Johore never to be heard again.The accountant and the pseudo disclaimed any connections with him,what lairs?

Next he interviewed an Assistant who had just returned from Sumatra,he was A Kuantan residence.It began well with him talking sensibly but as he continued he gain confidense and began talking rubblish and began critisizing Alex's cheap replanting in Semanbu Estate,that agitated Alex.He further contuinued as though he was surely going to be recruited by Alex,continue blowing his talks as if he was going to be the Manager's partner in work.Alex wandered,"What ? here I am trying to recruit him as an Assistant and he is already thinking of working at par with me not under me?.Should that be the case,this guy before me employing him he was already talking about taking over from me,another stupid Assistant".

Alex cut him short by rtelling him to go and wait for his reply.He never even took the trouble to consider him.However he never gave up and continously called the headoffice to inquire about his appointment.With everyone having no idea about it he was soon forgotten.

Thereafter no Assistant was ever recruited,as the Boss left it to Alex to arrange everything he thus prefer to train unqualified men to perform those duties splitting up the responsibilities and making them have written reports on them.By so doing he had all the necessary information he required.So with Alex's experienced to have them or not it made no difference it was sheer determination to perform well paid off dearly.Motivated to work hard was no problem to Alex but he was a happier man without any other worries.

Chapter 18 The Lovely Ladies At His Headoffice

The plantation's accounts were done in his head office in Kuantan.Alex had to report to the Boss almost every week.Well he had wanted to put his progress in the plantation be in writing or in reports but the Boss stopped him from that.By stopping him in producing reports the Boss only wanted face to face reports on the spot at his office.

That made Alex job very simple,that saved plenty of papers and filing jobs.All he had to do was only to keep a private record on his own diary and each time before facing the Boss have all the necessary reports listed out properly.Each visit he made his briefed the Boss with a long list of works and events to allow the Boss to scrutinize and questioned him wherever the Boss though fit.

His well prepared list made the Boss listened with much interest and patient.With that every thing he requested was always met with approvals.That became his hall mark which was appreciated by the Boss and was rewarded with good increments and bonuses every year end.Never had the Boss rewarded anyone that way.He was the first and last.

The office staffs there were all females.They were saying he was unsystematic at the initial stages were now full of praises for him but who dared to be different from the Boss.The plantation's account was done by a clerk and she had a room to herself with all the plantation account within and Alex had also to see her to tell her the various accounts and to verify certain doubts she might had.

It was definitely different from all the other plantations where their accounts were done on those plantations.Well the Boss wanted it that way and there was nothing Alex could do to rectify them.Only thing here was that the Manager had always to traveled down to this office to laise with the clerk.By such the Boss though no hanky panky can be done.Can not be done?Not with Alex's experienced,with him everything were possible.It all depended on the Manager concerned.Should he be greedy it was possible but with Alex's honesty- no way.

The clerk was a female sprinter aged thirty plus.Not that well paid for the work she does.She was slightly on the fat side,charming but not attractive sufficiently.Kind heart sort of and always had to consult with Alex regarding the plantation's account.The other smaller plantations were under another female clerk,a Miss Helen Goh,with age similar to Alex with her just few days older.She was just another old girl,unmarried not that she was not pretty but a bit on the shy side.

Alex also had to be in touch with her regarding the accounts of Tavy Estate,Gambang.Of course she had also other duties in the Boss other businesses.A lovely old maid who wanted to talk all the time.Well she was petite and charming that aroused Alex to take her out for lunch and at times dinner.For all Alex heard this old maid was pretty well to do ,having houses for rental etc.etc.,despite of which she still continued working as a clerk.

Semanbu Estate's account was under Miss Look,married woman aged thirty plus at that time.Very stunningly charming and attractive looking,soft spoken and very corperative in her work.She too had room to herself as she looked after many accounts of the Boss other assets.Here she had to consult with Alex on Semanbu Estate.

Seated in front of the office would be the Boss Secretary,and it her everyone must see before appointment with the Boss.She was charming and soft spoken.She was actually the watch out for the Boss but she was kind so not so troublesome.Aged thirty plus and married.There were another two or three lovely women who were supposed to be auditing the Boss's many accounts.As Alex had no contact with them so not much was known about them.

In a Company like this Alex had to keep an open mind and maintained very good relationship with all of them.A said before these were the ladies who criticized Alex of being unsystematic but changed its course after three months when the Boss begin to have confidence and praise Alex.
All through their good relationship was maintained in order to know what was happening around the head office.

The head office was initially at the old shop lots but later transferred to a new office block.
The above descriptions were from the office blocks.Alex had to visit the head office very often,with most of his time after visiting the two smaller plantation usually in the afternoon.Normally he will be at the main plantation in Sri Jaya.and he went to the other plantation in the morning only if there were problems.It was quite a rush up and down.

Only after visiting plantations and the head office that he went around purchasing spares for its many old Ford tractors and others.By the time he reached home at the plantation at Sri Jaya it will be almost ten in the evening.It surely was a long,long day.He had no grumbles over the long hours work as long as the Boss understood his duties.Of course there were many who dispiced him for the way he worked but he never bothered with them as long as those were never the Boss's.What the Boss think was the difference.

His relationship with the Mill was always cordial but as time went by the Mill dared not cheelenged him on any subjects as he could deal and explained to the Boss directly.There was along list of engineers he had to deal with.

The first Engineer was a young and brilliant engineer.The Bosses admired his talents and witty talks.Alex knew otherwise he was smart with his words different from Alex's direct and sincere approach.Many seeing him for the first time will surely think he was very smart.But was he?In any case with his smooth talking he had the"Dato" blessing but the Boss only liked the way he conversed,very convincing.That was why when they compared him with Alex had no smooth talking to convince others nor had he a tertiary education,only years of experienced as a planter.

Initially he was on the hunt for all Alex 's blunders in his crop sent to the Mill.Of course Alex had no answer in the beginning and had to think deeper.Actions speak better than words,so instead of arguing about his crop he blankly accepted his faults and reprimanded his staffs and contractors.That turn about made the Boss very happy but not his staffs and contractors.But by his actions the Engineer could not do anythings more,now he knew he had met his match.

Being a smart guy he made up with Alex and they subsequently became good friends.Bad crops were never be on their agendas.Soon they began going out in the evening to enjoy themselves at singing cafes etc..He being good looking attracted many lovely female singers to their tables which ended in dates.Well they had a lovely time together at the envy of the accountant who had just joined the Mill.

There was nothing he could do because this Engineer was in the good books of the Bosses so no amount of complaints could have gone through.However all good times will soon came to an end as the Engineer resigned to venture into his own business.He opened a small factory to recycle dirty black oil for re-using in Malacca.

In place of him came another Engineer called Albert Teh,a short jovial guy.He too initially was tough with the plantation's crop but soon Alex overcame him and being a friendly and jovial guy they easily match up and became pals much to the displeasure of the accountant Loo.The two friends simply ignored him flatly which further aroused his anger with them.
Lean and hungry look, small guy with the Cassius appearance were always like a crook.Forever thinking how to attack them.

This accountant Loo always took advantage of his old acquaintances as the Boss most trusted employee and to gain better status with the Boss he carried all sort of rubbish to him.He really made full used of it,but the Boss normally just listened but did never take any actions against Alex or the Engineers.Thus leaving him in a lurch.

One day while he was drunk he told Alex how and why the Boss trusted him.Well it should be a long story and Alex noted them down with care.While in his earlier employment with the Company,as a stranger in Kuantan he had no where to go especially after dinner,so he would returned to the office just to idle his time away.Somehow he also knew the normal behavior of the Boss.It was routine that after dinner at about 8.00 p.m. the Boss will definitely take a slow drive round town and he will surely also passed by the office.

One day as he was went round he saw lights coming from the office and went up to investigate.Loo was smart and as he knew that the Boss will surely go up and investigate,spread out all the account books opened right in front of him as he smoked and idling away his time with legs on the table.On hearing the Boss he pretended to be concentrating on some unfinished work.This made the Boss very happy.On one occasion he apparently showed an account book with cartoon drawings on front cover accusing that fancy cartoons dirtying those covers were done by the "Dato"'s son.This enhanced his position further with the Boss.Actually he was never working late as he had no where to go,that time no TV mah,thus he gained recognition like that,what a bloody crook?

Back stabbing was his trade mark apparently he does that everywhere he was employed.To Alex he was too experienced to be cornered by such an idiot.Earlier in life he could have fallen to those cheap low down tricks but now he was too experienced for that.

Albert soon got another better position else where and left for it to become Manager of a Mill at the southern tip of the peninsular, a small "cowboy" town named Penerangan.With the sale of that plantation he was transferred to Sabah.

Taking over from him was staff from some jungle,a guy named Manian.He was never an Engineer but claimed to be.Anyway Alex knew his background,he was a general staff in one nearby Oil Mill.Some how he managed to con the Boss into giving him the job.Now this pseudo Engineer was no match to the accountant and definitely bullied by him all round.Poor fellow was easily dislodged by Loo and got the boot.

With no one brave sufficiently to take over from here Loo promoted his faithful junior staff to fill the pseudo Engineer 's place.Well he was good enough to secure the Boss blessing.Together they tried to blast Alex.They got the wrong target because by then Alex was already established firmly as the Boss number one.

Petty issues like under-ripe crop and insufficient loose fruits etc.,stc. were easily brushed off making them blushed with fear.With them ever trying to put Alex down but failed miserably.Now Alex had just to wait for the correct opportunity to strike back,whatever it was it should be fatal with one good shot should finished him off on target.

Well,it was simple as ABC because Loo was a drunkard and on the other hand the Boss absolutely dislike drunkards,who ever he may be if caught he will be crucified on the spot.Loo had managed to keep that under control.As Alex pretend to be slightly scared of him he began finally to make silly mistakes letting down his guards.Alex had misled him into believing that he feared him and respected him,let off his guards.

One fine evening he went on a drinking spree with his stuffs and Contractor.It was an exceptionally happy night he drank until dead drank.Well,"cowboy" town 's shop closed usually early about 10.00 p.m. so they will send off from the restaurant.With no where to continue their sessions they left for home.

Finding the gates close Loo showed his displeasure by shouting abuses at Alex.All sort of filthy and vulgar languages were used.As the gate was quit near to Alex's bungalow ,he thus heard every word of it.In further rage Loo climbed over the gate and ran ziz zaz to the gate of Alex's bungalow.Grabbing the gate with both hands he shook it vigorously and shouting further abuses like a mad fool.Alex just looked from his bedroom windows ignoring his ferocious shameful gestures.

His abuses woke up the gate keeper and many workers who finally opened the gate for them to pass through.The night passed with no other events.Next morning Loo pretended as if nothing had happened and behaved as normal.To Alex this was a golden opportunity to skin the toothless tiger.

One week passed the Boss came to the plantation and Alex saw him but pretended as though he had something but reluctant to speak out.Later part of the day the Boss again saw Alex being very well versed with Alex character he knew he had something in mind to tell but slightly holding back.

Alex finally told him the whole story about Loo drunk behavior and the commotions he created in front of the whole labor force who were wakened by his shouts.The Boss kept quiet as he listened to what Alex had said.On finishing the Boss told Alex to relaxed and keep quiet as he will deal with Loo his own way.

What he did surprised everyone because the Boss refused flatly to meet Loo despite the fact that he had much to report to the Boss.For nearly a month the Boss refused to see him.Poor Loo did not understand why nor know why or what really hit him?Finally his pseudo Engineer saw the Boss and the Boss gave him a message to deliver to Loo.The message was simple and that was to inform Loo to pack up and leave the Mill with immediate effect.So ended the services of the so-called accountant without any notice.

David had to use a sling to bring down the giant,Goliath but Alex had only to blow him away,a single puff thus -----far,far and away poor creature Loo went into orbit.Poor Loo he did not what destroyed him.Yes,while in orbit he still remembered his Boss and called him whenever he was drunk and yapping sheer nonsense which the Boss just replied,"yes.yes and by-bye".

To be frank there is a moral to this story,it proved that sheer motivated determination to perform honestly and work hard with brain still command the day.Not as others claimed that how to sweet talk buttering the superior and what they called smart working could climbed the Corporate ladder faster.But I say should that be the case the fall is greater and disastrous.For there were many eyes watching you in that world,what ever it was no Boss like people who can sweet talk only and cannot perform.Walk the talk so to say not talk the walk.His earlier humiliation in other companies were telling as he put his vast experience into practice which saved his days.

Therefore should you worked diligently with honesty well focused that would be recorded in the eyes of the Bosses.Promotion maybe nil or slow but be patient and be perseverance.That should saved you the day when the time comes and definitely will not by pass you.I should know because I performed thus,and the subsequent result excellent.

Chapter 17 The Beginning of A New Era

At the very beginning he was branded as unsystematic as he had no tertiary education,so when compared to the Mill engineer he was way,way behind,there came atime that this became a joke especially concocted by the grand old man of the Company- "The Dato" in front of all the staffs in the headoffice.

That was the first month of his working days,the Assistant and the Contractors also laughed behind his back.Pretending as through he never heard them went along as routine,pretending as if was inexperienced as he went about his daily work.The following month he held his ground ordering the bull-dozers to construct new bottom roads for all the hilly fields.

That move alone took the Boss by surprised and admired at the new roads for now he can traveled to all the ravines of all hilly fields not to mentioned the new sceneries along the lakes's side,all crops along those avines were harvested and collected back.Loose fruits left unattended previously were all collected back to the Mill.

The field conditions of all ravines were improved which had been left unattended previously.The Company's gain were the Contractors' lost.
Prior to this many a times the ravines were never properly cleared but with the existing new roads no stones were left unturned.

Many ravines sides left unplanted were supplied in with young palms,thus huge areas were re-claimed for planting.Alex's predecessor had always proclaimed those land as "lebeh punya".A pharse so commonly used by all when Alex stepped into that plantation.He soon changed that,as all land belonging to the Company if not planted cannot be acclaimed as "lebeh punya".

Beside,those ravines he cleared up.he also gave orders to have all existing bamboo grooves to be deatroyed by directly pushing them into the adjacent lakes.Somehow it was not right not to have all those bamboo grooves eradicated.Of course many were against the pushing of all the bamboo grooves into the lakes as it would spoiled many's fishing ground.

Alex by so doing made the fish very happy as they multiplied into bigger numbers as there were many places to hide and breed.Fishermen had a tough time fishing because of the presence of bamboo grooves below the water of the lakes.

Within three months of his work in that plantation all rumours that he was not systematic were squashed and in return there were praises all round.Starting with the Boss and with him praising Alex who dared to be negative,even the "Dato" was now,"Heh,heh,heh,Hello Alex",whenever meeting him at the head office.

Even the Mill which was odds with the plantation had their eyes opened when dealing with Alex.Open grading of their crops became lesser and lesser because the engineer was careful not to clashed with Alex.

Now there was a brand new bungalow in the plantation reserved for the Manager.His predecessor was never allowed to occupy it.Alex studied the reasons why he was disallowed any nearness to that bungalow and he found it.

Confidently he asked the Boss to be allowed to move in.The Boss said,"Do you required any new generators for it? Slowly get them before shifting in".Alex answered,"No need,present generator is sufficient to maintain electrical supplies to both lines site and all existing bungalows".

With that the Boss allowed him to move into that bungalow.Not only that all of his staffs were allowed to move into their bungalows.There were four other smaller bungalows for the conductors.He allowed to Assistant to move into one of them.

Before the generators were made to run throughout the nights,but Alex soon changed all those and regulated its running time.This move made the generator running more efficiently,saving a lot of repairs and saved the fuel in its running.Seeing all these the Boss became more and more happy with him.

Within five months Alex was confirmed as Manager with a hefty increment of salary.Within such time he also made the Boss very happy by clearing and replanting another smaller plantation which had only 8o acres of Oil Palm.He soon changed that by clearing and replanting of remaining neglected old rubber with Oil Palm without incurring extra expenditure only with equipment which they had,a bull dozer D4.

At the end of his first year the Boss gave him a very good bonus - a bonus no other Manager had before.His family was very happy over his success and they shifted to another small bungalow ( government low cost bungalow with two rooms) in another housing estate.His wife still not sure of his position in the plantation continued to work for her mother.

Before that Alex was infatuated by a lovely little girl in the old neighborhood.Actually she was living a few doors away.Before Alex was employed by the plantation.Alex had always planted vegetables in the garden at the back of his rented house and while moving around he noticed a young and beautiful girl watching him.

Innocently he wished her "good day" and she wished back.Every evening it was like that.That cute little girl was very sweet and charming.That aroused Alex little heart.Being stirred up he tried to date her but she refused.But the odd thing was that she was still around and smiling at him all the time.

On returning every weekend he still found her wandering behind her garden and they exchanged greetings.This sent the wrong messages to Alex who thought she was in love with him.Ah,poor Alex just simply infatuated by this devil woman felt slightly for her.Foolishly he wrote her love letters.

Somehow those letters went into the hands of his wife who questioned him,now in a mass.What shall he do to get out of it.Well,having done the wrong,forced to apologize to her,accepting all faults.She was kind enough not to remand him when ever he went back for the week ends but questioned him at the plantation bungalow.

Plantation bungalow with no one around except the daughter was easy to speak gently and begged for forgiveness. Being a first mistake she was easy to let bygone be bygone.Before long all were forgiven.She spent a lovely week at his new residence.

Oh yes,she was there to celebrate the "Kramet"'s birthday.The "Kramet" was believed to be the guardian of the plantation.Very 5th.of May was celebrated as its birthday.It had been a long practice since the opening up of the forest for a plantation.The plantation subsidized half the amopunt for the celebrations and the rest made up of contractors of the plantation.

That very first celebration with Alex as Manager went off littered with many unwanted proplem with some of the staffs plifering all the mutton of the curry ,prawns and some chickens.This angered Alex tremendrously.So after this incidence Alex demanded changes in the normal proceedures,ashe was Manager that was simple.

Fortunately when praying to that "Kramet" everything were in order.Beside this the plantation had separate dinner for all the staffs.
Alex wantyed the next celebration to be different with the changed in venue for cooking.

Nex Alex was also requested to take charged of another plantaion in Kuantan -namely Semanbu Estate.It was slightly more than one thousand acres.Apparently part of its normal acreges were acquired by the Government to convert into an Induastrial areas and for the Stadium.

Initially there was an Indian,a retired Chief Clerk running it and as he planned to returned to his home country the plantation was handed over to Alex.In the beginning Alex sent a reliable conductor to take charged of that plantation.He left after a year or so and Alex had to train another to fill his place.

His next choice was a young Malay youth whom he trained.An honest and reliable young man.It was a good choice as the Boss too like him.IT was actually very difficult to appoint a man with responsibility,a man whom he can trust.Most important who so ever he choose must listened to the instruction of the Boss and not lied about.

Because whatever transpired between him and the Boss will always be known to him as the Boss will soon make his remarks on him to Alex.That the part most staffs failed to understand.They though the Boss will keep everything to himself but never this Boss was different.So there no way to employ experienced man as the Boss will out smart them by referring back to the Manager for confirmations.

There was no way any one can survived under such circumstances,I mean no experienced man can.In any case the Boss prefer Alex to train his own conductors as new man will not know the tricks to cheat the plantation.Alex had three conductors as his field staffs and a female as his office clerk cum store-keeper.

The conductors were allot to supervise only a harvesting contractor each.The spraying contractors were supervised by the Assistant.He also had to look into the harvesting.With Alex performing all the payments and check rolls he was thus left in a lurch,watching the day went by.He made his biggest blunder in making his immediate boss do every thing at the initial stage.

With that Alex had a better understanding of all about that plantation and very soon everything were at his finger tips.When he was well versed with all those he distributed the check rolls for all the conductirs to wok out,in a way easing his burden and another he trained all to be well versed with it.That put the Assistant out of place,knowing that there was no future for him within that plantation he was forced to look for greener pastures.

Alex increased his dominance as he went on to improve the other plantation in Kuantan.It was just as easy as Tavy Estate,with huge areas of neglected old rubber.No one had initiated to replant those areas citing in curring extra costs ext..But with Alex no problems,they had the necessary equipments and most important was the D4 Bull Dozer.

Although old the old faithful was still running fairly well and with that Alex replanted many more acres of hilly fields.One passerby even had the nerves to criticize Alex method in those replanting.Well Alex did do that at a very odd and in genius way.In flat and undulating fields he would request the diver to push all remaining old rubber stand together with the thick bushes from the inter rows into stacks and them set them a blazed burning off every things then transplant almost immediately.

The hilly areas were terranced and as they were terraced the wild growths were all stacked in the inter rows and burnt.It was no big deal just saving extra costs.That man took it as a joke at an interview with Alex for an Assistant position.Now with that kind of attitude adhering as he was interviewed will Alex ever considered him. Well he thought it was funny as a joke.Alex just gave it a chuckle and dismissing him told him to wait for his letter regarding that interview.He never bother to write him.Should you be the Manager will you employ some one who criticized you even before he was ever engaged.No,never absolutely no.

This joker was an Assistant to a neighboring plantation.In actual fact Alex did not employed him because his back ground was known to Alex before the interview.Apparently he had just returned from Indonesia where he was retrenched for getting into troubles with some body's wife= an Indonesian's.So he was never wanted.To engage him will be bring in some one to stab him in the back in time to come,how can he ever be trusted.Before his engagement he already making bad comments about his future boss,how absurd.

Of course Alex's position in that plantation was already well established,solid as a rock.It will take a storm or stronger a harricane to bring him down.The Boss had tested his honesty employing various means to track down any corrupted activities which he might have.Alex knowing those tricks never felled for them.With his bad reputations behind him,he one understood the Boss feelings and actions towards him,he definitely had to be careful.He had to be patient and preserverence because of his family.Their well being being his utmost priority.

Alex's determination and altitude saved the day for him.The Boss could not believe his own eyes,that a man such as Alex could be so honest beyond descriptions,any one in his shoes would have swindled the Company,but he never did.What ever the Boss harbor within him was his piority not of Alex concerned.

Alex main worry was to keep his job as long as he could to provide for his family that was what mattered most.He was looking far beyond his duly occupation and he definitely do not want a short term employment.Nor will any other attraction such as women distract him from his ultimate goal.

To say he abstained from women will be bluntant lie.for within his memories he still remembered a girl he once loved that was undoubtedly his first love.A dream girl he could never forget.What ever were in his mind cannot surass his love for his family.

CHapter 16 At a Dead End

With that failures he was now at a dead end,was it going to be his end in life.He was now forty-three.No ,he believed he still had a long way to go.Without money in hand he and his family needed to do something to survive on.

His wife was damn sure her family could give them temporarily shelter until he could find his own footing.Of course that one fat hope.Her mother unwillingly let them stay put at her plantation and she adamantly shot down any ideas they harbored.She believe their present there will eroded their pride in that town.Life had been unkind and extremely difficult towards Alex and family and they were seeking only temporarily shelter from the strong and unfriendly storm.Even a friend in need could be offered some assistance but here the odds were stacked against him.

Everyone sometime or other had their misfortunes,an up and down format in life.Fortunate ones do not experienced them like Alex.Even her own son had that shortcomings but that did not made her relent,apparently threw the blame on Alex for their misfortune. she stood aloft and proud as a peacock in pride.What were so proud of that pride?What she had it will forever be hers and no one can steal it away from her.Perhaps she as always had considered Alex an outsider.As the Chinese saying goes,"Daughters once married were likened to water splash out of the household.Once splash out it was gone with the wind never to return- no more acceptable to them as a family member anymore.

It was sad memories that at one stage Alex and family were already down , was nearly thrown out of her plantation,with her aggressively wanted them to leave to work for others as if the shame already bestowed were insufficient and had to be buried further,had it not been the timely interference by another son of hers.

The tears that flowed out were unstoppable and it remained a stigma in Alex's life forever.So that was why when he secured a position in the plantation may it be a tiny plantation he would do the utmost to preserve that job,dedicated to it with his entire life.No amount of money can erased those grieveneses incurred which almost put them on their knees.

But when things were down everything apparently seem against you.Even when speaking even on a telephone (on her phone} she will definitely shout out loudly why Alex were you so long on the phone?.Poor Alex had to endure this,even he was speaking to the Boss on a plantation job.Thereafter he abstained touching her phone even until today,all these badly memories lingered on.Events like this were unnecessary but when the chips were down the heavy stomps by others on you could be unbearable and so much heavier.

How to respect someone else who do not respect you one wee bit.All Alex can do was to remain silent.Should she not treat him like a son-in-law why should he called her mother-in-law,simple.This might upset the other siblings but was it his faults?Should the mother-in-law made it so distinctively clear that her sons were their in bonds and all undertakings.all other were outsiders.When there was a separation so loud and clear what could Alex do,only to look ahead stupidly like a bloody fool.At least where his position was in that family.

All these could be a blessing in disguise as because of these he strifed on in his new endeavor with a different attitude and determinations.Taking each working day cautiously by itself make to achieve ultimate success than only look forward another coming day.That changed in out look and attitude actually saved the day for him many atimes.Honesty and working hard beyond his own capacity ,diligently and always had the utimate end result be always be a plus sign in favor of the Boss.

Most important with those achievements there must be togetherness,food and happiness in his family,that was what really matters the utmost.He may have to toil all day but that does not matters as his family can enjoy.His failures had taught him how to survive and made the best in life.That why the fifteen wonderful years of good life enjoyed by his family.The Lord surely look after those to who strived hard honestly,Praise the Lord for his everlasting love.

In an unwelcome situation Alex and his family shifted into a rented terrace house in Bentong.With no way to go that was in fact a last resort.It was a three rooms terrace house costing $200/= rental per month.Temporarily he and his wife worked in the mother-in-laws plantation.

They had with them a van which was utilized to transport other tappers as well earning some transport fees.Work actually began at 5.00 a.m. each morning.Every thing went on smoothly without a hitch.Actually their moving to Bentong was they hope to secure a place to plant vegetables etc.etc., should thee be no other alternatives.

Those were the days when you required a work permit issued by the relevant Authorities to work in the small plantation as there were frequent military present there.The bandits have longed gone but this military still conduct a lot of jungle patrols there.However there was no intrusion incidents whatsoever.Permits were free and ahd to be renewed every year.

All were not fine when one fine day the mother-in-law filled with hatred ordered them to terminate working at her plantation giving a lamed excuse that the job done by his wife was not up to stand she set.Alex and wife were told to look for jobs elsewhere.This was a stab in their backs as not knowing much about Bentong where the hell other people will employ them.

They were already in a mass of troubles and being turned away so abruptly was leased they expected.Both husband and wife thus shed tears in grief at a point of going down on their knees.Who would not be?Being turned way from a place where his wife expected can give her refuge temporarily.Instead of helping send them packing.

Fortunately the timely interference of another brother stopped the rot and they were allowed to work there.The little income derived was just sufficient to cover their livelihood.All three children were transferred to schools in Bentong.Two girls in secondary schools and the youngest son in Standard six in a Chinese Medium school in Ketari.

Having been taught a severe lessons Alex slowly drew up courage to apply for a vacancy in a plantation in Pahang.Weeks later he was called up for an interview.The head office was in Kuantan and he went there in a taxi.He had anticipated a huge crowd at the interview but never,apparently he was the sole candidate for that position.

He met with the Boss who was quite impressed with him.They had a long chat where Alex told him much about himself.When it was finally over he was told to see his brother.Instead of showing him to his brother the Secretary by mistake ushered him to another executive of the company.Nothing good materialized with this meeting and he left keeping his fingers crossed.

He though all were lost when he did not received any letter of appointment weeks later.Saddened by this he returned to slog in that plantation with a thick skin adhered.Working with head bowed down with grinning his teeth all the time in shamed.Driving the workers to work and assisting his wife in her tapping.It surely was very hard work but for the sake of their children they had to shoulder on under the scornful eyes of someone who was so reluctant to offer them the aids they so required.Whatever it was he had to endure with a gobble.

Then one fine day a letter came requesting him to see the Boss immediately and he rushed down to meet the Boss.In surprised the Boss told hm that he should be working had he seen his brother that very day.But nevertheless the position was still intact and waiting to be filled.After which he saw the brother of the Boss,a Dato and he never made another mistake this time.

Few days later an appointment letter came requesting him to report for duty with immediate effect.It was a blessing indeed the Lord must have heard his grievances and granted him a relieved.His wife rejoiced at the news so were the rest of his family.

The days of having to help his wife to tap rubber will now be over but nothing could be taken for granted,so his beloved wife got to hang on and endure slightly longer until his position in his new appointment was secured.His wife helped him to pack before he left for the job.

The elder brother-in-law sent him to the town where the plantation was situated.It was Kampong Sri Jaya.Prior arrangements had been made with an executive to take him into the plantation from Sri Jaya.It surely was a long wait at the coffee shop.It was his first visit to that place therefore was a stranger there.He waited for more than one and a half hours before he finally appeared.

The plantation was a long way from that town,at least five over miles.Arriving at the office there were a host of surprises to welcome him.Firsty to astonished him was the wooden old building for an office.The executive introduced him to the staffs present there.There was an Assistant Manager and three other conductors.

The next surprised in line was the Manager's bungalow he was to reside in.It was a semi-D bungalow,with the first one occupied by the Assistant.The executive left him at the bungalow.He amazed to discover that there not much furniture in the bungalow and the beds were without mattresses.Well it surely would be a cold,cold night installed for him.

Only consolation was there was a motor-cycle and a Dathatsu jeep at his disposal.The Assistant must have laughed with his soul and maybe had anticipated that Alex would leave on seeing thise wretched conditions of the office and bungalow.He was overdue for a disappointment as Alex had come in to stay.He had no choice he had to remain and there was no turning back unless sacked.

Even should the condition be many times worst he would have to stay,for he do not want to return to a place where he and his family were never welcome.So nothing can obstruct him as he will definitely bite his teeth to overcome them with sheer grit and courage.Nor he wanted to disappoint his wife who had trusted him to perform.

With that jeep in hand he drove out to town to have his dinner that evening.That night he slept on without the comfort of the mattress.Those around must had laugh themselves out and expected him to leave the following morning.He dis appointed them by attending the muster and was much earlier than them at the office.

Later in the morning he meet with all the contractors of the plantations.From their eyes and body language Alex could feel their feelings as most of them had expected him to pack and had left by then.Armed with a plantation map he asked the Assistant to show him around the plantation.Later that day he called the head office about his requirements.

The amazed executive just laughed away promising to order all his requirements.Well at least he had to pass another two to three nights the comfort of mattress.Being a hardy man all these were nothing.Should all thought he will leave they were in for further surprises.He left the Assistant after two days and went on his own around the fields.Being an experienced planter all these were nothing.

For the initial few weeks he allow things to drift by as before,watching quietly ,noting and planning his next moved.By then,news had gone round that he was unsystematic when compared with the engineer from the Mill.The Dato was obviously shaking his head in disbelief that the Boss had selected a wrong man for the job.However he kept his cool.

With the passsing of the month he struck out showing his mental.First he ordered the bull doser to leave his grading of roads to established new bottom roads on all existing hilly areas,beginning from the young mature fields to the older fields.All existing bamboo grooves were cleared and pushed into nearby lakes.This moved pleased the Boss very much.With those roads constructed the Boss could go into areas he had never seen before.The clearing of all the bamboo grooves made those fields cleaner and clearer.

Now with all those new bottom roads all crops could harvested and fully recovered.Many areas not weeded properly by the contractors were all reviewed.thus they all have plenty to do which they forerly ignored.Within three months Alex's name
was no more unsystematic,and no one dared said he was not good enough.The Boss was full of praises for him.

The ignorant Assistant tried to scare him with all the rest of the paper work
which he seliently took over graciously with a chuckle.He surprised him by doing everything by himself.He did them to show him that he was an experienced planter and no amount of work could stop him or blog him down.With him performing everythings now the Assistant seemingly was left in a lurched without any responsibilities.He proved to him that without his assistant the plantaion can still perform.

Some times men in a fit of anger and in jealousy can be diverted to do stupid things
Of course who can blame him as when Alex's predecessor left the Assistant had expected to be promoted normally to fill in his place but never the Boss simply ignored him.Well,he should have crossed examined himself first as to the reasons why he was not acceptable to the Boss.

The Boss never like the job done by the previous Manager.In fact that Manager did not performed as per Manager should have as it was a known fact that he never go round the fields.He apparently was all the time conversing with all the contractors at the plantation's canteen.Of course being an ex-graduate of a Taiwan Agricultural University with no practical field experiences in a plantation,he could not have achieved anything good,let alone run the plantation

All field work were done by the Assistant and those work did not pleased the Boss,now should that be the case where will he stand in the Boss's eyes.Each time the Boss went around the plantation his anger grew and with the Mill's engineer breathing down their throats where will they be.Damn easy meat for the ferocious engineer to devour them each time the Boss came to the plantation.Poor thing????

Alex's family continued staying at that housing estate as their children were all school going.Shifting them to the plantation was never any better as the secondary school were a distance away and the standard of education extremely lower.So the children and wife stayed at Bentong while he worked far way but with no trouble as he can easy drive back home every weekends.

Chapter 15 Businesses Failures

Ten beautiful years drifted by in that plantation,some times success working for others can led one astray.Wild imaginations can easily give rise to false impressions.Working for others the risks involved were never his own either gain or lost,but going all out on his own capacities the risk were more venerable greater and bad decision devastating.

Having done well working for others does mean that on his own can be similar successful that Alex soon learned.That time rubber wood timber was an upcoming industry with promises.Alex having some capital soon was drawn into it.He a made a joint venture into it with a contractor friend.There was also another partner interested in the operation.The supposed paid up capital was only sixty thousand ringgit.

Armed with that they began operation in a movable mini-saw mill in Sg Tinggi Estate.As it was running smoothly Alex resigned from his position at St.Andrew Estate.As he resigned controversial issues were encountered at the raged of the Boss.The point was while attached to it Alex was the best Manager but on resigning overnight he was being condemned as the worst and corrupted Manager.Now where was the justice in these precepts,worked for them excellent but leaving them you were a rascal.Anyway that was life.The decision to leave such an employer was undoubtedly correct,perhaps a blessing in disguised.

The fact that I had stayed for so long was job satisfaction.Working in a place where you had the freedom to plant and changed a almost a whole plantation from an establishment not churning out much profits into a money earning concern was my greatest achievement definitely self gratifying and job satisfaction - for a job well done.The feelings were enormous beyond descriptions.Thus how much they valued him was never important.Being able to perform as you wished to extract out the best profit. .

Nevertheless he had it coming and had to face it and within that last month he was harassed by the unscrupulous Boss who had exploited him all those ten years with low wages and allowances doing massive jobs for him - jobs were always well done.Minor issues were stacked upon him and there was nothing he could do to defend himself accept to drag on till the very end.

At the end Alex shifted out off that wonderful bungalow to a new shop lot in town.The mini-mill was running smoothly and future looked promising.Production was also good with prompt deliveries ,full filing the orders of buyers.Initially they sold their timber to timber dealer in rubber wood but later sold to UMW furniture.Everything were fabulously in order.

However,suddenly their business took an abrupt turned,and everything seem to go wrong.First the timber they delivered were rejected or had their length reduced tremendously because according to the buyer did not meet their spec of requirements.Slight splits or minor tearing were cut off.Timber with black pigments were also rejected.Coupling with this came the question of mouldiness due to improper treatments with chemicals and whitening agents plus insufficient air drying,etc.What a set back?

The lost was very bad and ates up all the profits, in reductions of prices plus retreatments of all the rejected timber and air drying.At the end the mill was running at a lost.Wages of sawers had to be paid every week ends and timder logs supplied had also to be paid.In the end it was difficult to make ends meet.

As if insufficient troubles, the forestry set in to shut the mills claiming that operation was illegal.Various attempts to verify things with them were futile as no one seem to know what to do, accept to stop our operation.Rubber wood accordingly was never their jurisdictions but the mill was.What logic they definitely do not understand.There again precious time and money were wasted traveling from Rawang then redirected to Shah Alam.Further was a ding dong battle as they made to travel, to and fro from departments to departments ending with no valuable results.

Although chained they broke them and changed several avenues for mill from time to time,escaping their pursuit but to no avail,in the end all were lost out ultimately and had to call it off.Financially they were led down with so many commitments,wages for workers plus miscellaneous payments etc.,etc.,and the extremely late payments for timber supplied did little to make the running of the mill viable.The mill was thus abandoned and the business finally terminated with complete lost.

While operating the Mill he and his partner also started an Estate supply shop.Business was not good and the other partner left the join venture,leaving Alex to run it on its own.There was some business but insufficient to cover expenses .Nevertheless Alex struggled on going to get the business going.A bank loan was secured to a brother-in-law to lift up the business a little.The shop lot was also purchased. through loans from the bank.

He had valuable support from some planter friends and the local farmers also gave their valuable business.As the over head charges were low with his wife tendering the shop and he doing all the out door promotions and deliveries etc..He toiled on until 1985 where he finally surrendered all these endeavor.

His businesses were a total flopped due the following reasons. (1) Poor selection of business partners.Partners must be co-operative and worked for each other,sharing the same ideas.(2)Should have full knowledge in what business was all about,from raw timber to the finish product Inclusive of its treatments etc..(3)All accounts and monies spend should be clear to all partners.On the whole should the business be small better go it alone.Alex' s failures were lacking all those simple facts.

That was the whole story after he left the plantation and with that estate supply business his heart adhered to it all the same because he was constantly in touched with it.Now within those time while performing business many things happened within that period.

As he and his partners went about their business they had to entertain certain people of importance to their ventures.They entertained the plantation Managers for their contract on rubber wood.Taking them out for dinners and thereafter to the night lives of Kuala Lumpur.This was where Alex met many beautiful hostesses and bargirls.Getting drunk was a common affair but for business sake this had to go on and on.Valualble time and money were also lost throufh such activities.

They also entertained many Government officers in view of their sawing licence but to no avail and achieved nothing but foolishly lost unnecessary cash.There was a time some even demanded for money but with no promises attached,in such cases no money was paid out.Money spent here ate deeply into their capital.Thus another failure.

Alex in secret also went a step too far in playing around with a beautiful bar girl.She was very attractive with a lovely charming smile.Soft spoken.In a number of outings he subsequently was very attached to her as a mistress.While it lasted they had a wonderful time but due the poor performance of the business ventures as this were soon terminated.Alex soon learned that when doing business must concentrate fully in it.Full involvement was utmost important one misstep like this can lead to desacter.Well it a lesson well learned and paying a high price too.

Fortunately he had the present of mind not to look for Annie along the way.There was ample time each time he passed that village Ijok.Had he involved her on his route there will surely be more trouble installed but he held back,fearing the worst,A lucky move I presumed,.

With that Business coming to an end he was forced to sell that shop lot to pay up all the creditors but that still did not made ends met.There was no one to turn to but forced to leave without satisfying certain creditors.
With the closing of their business Alex had no where to go but retreated into Bentong town,hoping from there they struck out his next move.Subsequently Alex rented a house in a housing estate in Bentong.

Looking back,there was something spooky about the oil palm field opposite that shop lot.Alex many a times noticed some figures moving around,odd whitish apparitions.At a distance he could hear them crying out .those eerie and shrieking sounds,echoing in his ears,putting his hairs on ends -there were no mistakes those noises made by ghosts.Surprisingly they never did hurt anyone.Could be people slaughtered by the Japanese during their occupations.That piece of land belong to Stratmore Estate.

Now that I am on ghosts,let me tell about more ghosts in that plantation.At its entrance was the Group Hospital with only two wards and behind that was the burial ground.Many of the dead were buried there and that place was near to a river.Many a times especially on rainy seasons the burial ground was flooded and that was the time when after midnight you hear the cries of ghosts .White apparition drenching wet woul come out off their graves wielling.Many patients have seen them walking aroundand that was why the ward nearest were never occupied.For one not so many patients.No.2 patients dared not sleep there alone.

Somehow the dressers emplopyed there never sem to know anythings about them,so damn queered.Either they were acared and dared not talk about them or had no idea that existed.Strangers driving along that road had noticed white figures drenched wet walking on the road.They passed them without noticing much but when looking back they could see those figures floating above the ground not walking.On seeing this the pressed on their accelerator and drove ahead at great haste and speed.That really took the guts out of them

Stories like this were never widely circulated and I as a long time planter there have good knowledge of it.Traveling back from Kuala Lumpur can be very frightening especially when coming to the big bend before the grave yard of the Chinese Cemetery.Many terrible and fatal accidents had happened there,with most of the travelers killed instantly on the spot due serious crushed.Many atime head long collisions between vehicles.That was a notorious haunt.Alex was alawys very alert when passing that bend..

Old timers had seen ghosts along that bend and after that near towards the graveyard.This was where many saw a n xetremely beautful girl in white fluttering clothes walking along that lonely road.She had made many attempts to stop motorists for a lift,many on meeting this speeded awy in fright,but there were some kind hearts who woud out of curiosity gave her a lift.Only to be horrified to find her missing along the way.Should that happened to you what would you do?

Pressed on the accerlerator and speed on in fear or stop your vehicle to find ot where she had gone?My heaven,oh no never,most properly you or I would have frantcally speeded away.Those were the tales.Of course at that cemetery there were many more stories to tell.A short distance away in front of the cemetery was anold rilaway track.that was an area where the Japanese commited a lot of atrocities there.SCary tales of headless ghosts can be found there and loads of them there.

Coming back late at night nearing Batanbg Berjuntai was another plantation namely Java Selangor Estate
especailly at about 2.00 a.m.,Alex once noticed lights floating about.Drifting from tree to tree.He told his friend Ranny,"Look!!!!!! Ghosts".On clearing and nearer observations,"No,no not ghosts,but rubber tappers tapping in the fields near the main road"."What,tapping at 2.00 a.m.?".,said Ranny."Dass must be mad (Dass the Manger,their friend)"." He is trying to get more crop,he surly know how to drive his force out to work at the hour",said Alex.