My name is Gana

  The Ministry of Human Resources had a number of Departments with specified functions. Of these Departments, the Labour Department, the Industrial Relations Department and the Trade Unions Department had officers known as Labour Officers on their payroll. They were interchangeable and had functions emphasising the nature of the Department. Of these the Labour Department is the oldest having its origins in the last century. The Trade Unions Department evolved from the late 1950’s when Trade Unions were set up to protect members. The Industrial Relations Department split from the Labour Department in 1967 with the introduction of the Industrial Relations Act 1967. As a result of this peculiar set up, there were officers who had spent their whole life enforcing laws in the Labour Department before being posted to the Industrial Relations Department or the  Trade Unions Department on promotion to a higher grade. The nature of work of the officers in the three Departments were var...

  Education in public schools was not readily available to everyone in the past. You had to be rich as your father had to make a donation to the school that would enable you to get admitted to a Government school. Otherwise you had to attend a private school where the monthly school fees could be exorbitant and above the means of poor parents.  My elder brother got admitted to a private school for these reasons.    When it looked like I might have to miss out on schooling altogether by reason of poverty as my parents could not afford the fees in a private school for a second child - an uncle of mine took me to his old school, Anglo Chinese Saxon School (ACS Ipoh) and told the    headmaster he was an old boy and that    I was his son who wished to pursue education in his school .  Thus it came to be that I was admitted to a Government school with my surname changed to Thamotharan (my uncle’s name). I was known as the son of Thamotharan for thr...

  Malaya had what is known as the Labour Codes before the advent of the Employment Act 1955.  These codes regulated the relationship between employers and workers who were identified as labourers in the Labour Codes.  The Codes had measures in place for the protection of labourers who were then largely rubber tappers and tin mining workers. When these workers had problems and issues they would report to the Labour Department. These reports were inquired into by the officers who would then deliver their decisions.    The Chinese had a Department known as a Chinese Affairs Department where complainants could raise their grouses and the Officers manning the Departments would perform similar roles as Labour Officers and intervene to obtain solutions for their complaints. The system worked as most employees then were either imported Indian or Chinese. The local indigenous population was not keen on working in the primary industries then.   All contents (c) Ganap...

  I am not sure of the present times but when I was in school, many schools had what was known as “Food and Fun” fairs to raise funds for the school’s operations. These were activities run by schools to raise funds for their charitable causes. Urban    schools used to have grand prizes at these fairs, as some rich parents were willing to sponsor expensive gifts like motor vehicles, and attractive electronic equipment. The poorer vernacular schools had to make do with what their poorer parent teacher associations could raise - they frequently tapped into the skill sets of some parents.    For example some parents excelled in culinary skills and could churn out very tasty meals when provided with basic cooking material that would sell well at    such fairs and help schools to raise funds for the school. I am sure some schools are already tapping into these talent pools and are able to raise funds despite the haram-halal debates.  But times have chan...

  The Department was religiously enforcing the Weekly Holidays Ordinance 1950 even after the introduction of the Employment Ordinance 1955 which had extensive provisions for the protection of employees including the provision of weekly day of rest, annual leave and Public Holidays. The WHO required the employer to close his business on one day of the week and to display a statutory Form known as Form A. If he had more than 5 employees he was allowed to operate on seven days of the week but to give his employees a weekly day of rest on a rotational basis. In this case he had to maintain a Form B to indicate the day of rest of his employees. Shops that had family members working were also covered by this Act. If the number of employees including family members was less than 5, the law applied. Officers from the Department would carry out checks known as Weekly Holiday checks on establishments to see if the law on Weekly Holidays was observed ostensibly to ensure family members had th...

After my Form Five, I threw away my books in glee, thinking I had reached the pinnacle in my pursuit of education. When I commenced working, I realised my inadequacy as I saw my bosses with degrees working at supervisory levels and earning much more than me and with more rapid progression in their careers. I then decided that I should also strive to improve myself academically.  I realised I had wasted five years of my life playing billiards and skittles at the club house while my classmates went on to Form 6 and then to University. After wasting    four years in clubs and watching my classmates pursuing university education I decided to do my Higher School Certificate. My family circumstances did not permit me to quit my job and pursue Form 6. I wished to continue working and then studying on a part time basis. I found attending Further Education Classed in public Institutes    was a waste of time as it required part time studies after working a full 8 hour shi...

  I was in Standard 3 when my teacher gave me a strange instruction: “Don’t bring books tomorrow. Just bring your empty bag”. I told my mum about this strange request by my teacher. My mum asked me whether I had been naughty in class.She was puzzled too and agreed that I need not take my books.  Various thoughts raced through her mind. This was the same teacher who had made me stand on the table for delay in payment of school fees - but the school fees were not due yet one that date. She dismissed all thoughts and did not wish to speculate further. She made me wash and clean the bag to make it presentable - in case I had to wear it over my head as punishment for some offence I had committed. I arrived the following morning with an empty bag and all my friends had a whale of a time speculating what was in store for me. My teacher’s class was the third one for the day. My teachers in the first two periods were about to thrash me for not bringing my books until the class monitor ...

When I was in my primaries I befriended a lame neighbour who was shunned by most of my neighbours. I remember we used to climb fruit trees while getting this friend to collect fruits that fell down when we plucked them.  My friends were very insensitive. While this friend collected the loose fruits that fell down when we had plucked the fruits he used to have some of the loose fruits that had come off from the bunches that got detached    when the bunches hit the ground. If our collection of fruits was not large enough my friends used to be unhappy and curse this friend of mine and accuse him of stealing the stolen fruits. I use to sympathise with my friend as the greedy ones up on the trees who    used my friend as a watchman,    were inconsiderate and would not give him a fair share when the loot was divided. Usually I used to share my fruits with him much to the annoyance of my other friends.  My able bodied friends used to call him derogatory ...

  I had some close childhood friends who left for India when their parents migrated to India. We had attended the same school for a number of years. I was too young to think of taking down their addresses and lost contact for a number of years.  Some 30 years later,   I had the opportunity to visit India when  my son found employment in India. I looked up a relative of the family who had migrated and was fortunate to find that he had their address in India. He told me the family in India was scattered. The eldest son was in Mumbai. I was not close to him though, as he was very much my senior. The rest were in Chennai and surrounding towns. He was not certain of their exact locations.   I had a friend who was a Christian nun by the name of Sister Selvi who travelled around Tamil Nadu to visit primary schools. Once when she came to Kuala Lumpur to visit friends I met up with her and casually related the case of my missing friends. She asked for details of the...