The World of Tai Tai

On 24 th March 2015, I joined a small team of writers on a trip to Bario. The main objectives of our visit were to cover the 70 th anniversary of the Semut operative’s landing in the highlands and to interview the surviving local guerilla fighters and their descendants. Stephen Baya, the owner of the Junglebluesdream Art Gallery and Guest House, hosted us during our three-day sojourn. On first impression, the Kelabit man exuded a gentle bonhomie beneath his soft-spoken exterior, making us feel welcomed and at home. The homestay, which is built in the style of a long house, is perched on a dome-shaped hill overlooking a wide expanse of paddy fields with a stretch of abutting forest that belts its way along a rolling chain of bluish mountains. The vista offered us a pleasing respite from the workaday concrete forest we were accustomed to seeing in the city.  Almost every wall in the homestay is adorned with Stephen’s artwork. Painting is a deeply rooted passion o...

I had always been intrigued by the anniversary of the Semut operatives’ landing in Bario. When Jennie Soh, a freelance writer, asked me to join her on a three-day trip to cover the news in the highlands, I jumped at the opportunity and did some homework on the history of the Semut Operation before flying to Bario on 24 th March 2015. The trip was important to me because, for the first time in my life, I would be conducting interviews. My reading of Tom Harrison’s World Within provided me with the requisite information regarding the Semut Operation, a squad of platoons under the legendary Z Special Unit, which was part of the Allied liberating forces that came to Bario during the Second World War. Led by the writer himself, a major who would become the museum curator in Kuching after the war, the first batch of four personnel landed by parachute in Bario on 25 th March 1945. A day later, they were followed by the second batch of parachutists, among whom was H. J. Tradea, ...

  On 24 March 2015, I joined a small team of reporters on a trip to Bario. The main objectives of our visit were to cover the 70 th Anniversary of Operation Semut’s landing in the highlands and to interview the surviving local guerilla fighters and their descendants. Stephen Baya, the owner of Junglebluesdream Art Gallery and Guest House, hosted us throughout our three-day sojourn. On first impression, the Kelabit man exuded a gentle bonhomie beneath his soft-spoken exterior, making us feel welcomed and at home. The homestay, built in the style of a long house, is perched on a dome-shaped hill overlooking a wide expanse of paddy fields, which abuts a stretch of forest that belts its way along a rolling chain of bluish mountains. The vista offered a pleasing respite from the workaday concrete forest we are accustomed to seeing in the city.                      ...

My Ketua Bidang always reminds us to enter our classes with our record books. "If you don't bring it along with you," she warns. "You will face the risk of being severely fined or subjected to three month imprisonment." I thank her awfully for the warning. It makes me more conscientious and hard working in writing my lesson plans. However, in my humble opinion, you don't have to repeat it too often.  The more you mention it, the more I tend to think you are trying to threaten us. It is an accepted truth that a record book is the 'Periuk Nasi' or the source of income of every teacher.  Whatever you have written in the book is a concrete proof that you have planned and executed your teaching. I never subscribe to the practice of planning lessons three to six months in advance. Students are not as predictable as you think and what you have planned may not be situationally applicable in reality. It is more sensible to plan lessons three to f...

Time and again my sister reminds me not to be too compulsive in buying books. "You can buy, " she says. "But you have to strike a happy medium."  The books I buy are mostly novels. Travelogues come in a close second. Third are biographies. Frankly speaking, I don't quite like reading. Brisk walking and swimming do a better job in relaxing my mind. Subjecting myself to many hours of reading equates with a prolonged state of being sedentary, which is a health hazard. Somehow, in the name of my profession, I prioritize reading.  Without reading, I will end up like many teachers who hopelessly bank on commercially-churned out reference books for the teaching of writing. Regular reading makes me imaginative and strong in vocabulary, thus giving me an edge in teaching descriptive writing. At bookstores, I lay my hands on any genres of books, and wouldn't mind paying hundreds for them. For one thing, they are laden with the information I need for...