One of the most unforgettable stint during our 3 months training programme was the visit to
Teluk Sengat Estate, Johor Lama. It was a real eye-opening trip for us, especially for me,
C,
E and
G. It was a normal thing for
A cause he had once lived on an estate when he was growing up.
When we first got there, we were taken straight to the Estate Manager's bungalow, which were situated on the highest area in the entire estate.
Mr. Koddy (a.k.a
the drunken master) greeted us very "
happily". It was only 4 p.m. and he's already tipsy. He kept asking us our names and where we come from.
"What's your name? Where are you from? Oh.. I've been there before...".. (long pause...)
"What's your name? Where are you from?".... I guess from all the empty liquor bottles on the table, he must be really, really drunk by that time and would not remember a single thing.. All he know was..
" I am Koddy, K.O.D.D.Y.. And I'm the manager of this estate!". He should have added
"and I drink 24 hrs a day"..
Imagine our shocked when he wanted to drive us back to the place we were suppose to stay for the week.. In that condition? No way was I gonna ride with him. Luckily his jeep was too small to accommodate all 5 of us.. So, we went with the driver in the Trooper instead. However, we saw
The Drunken Master speed faster than the speeding bullet in front of us.. and we were afraid to wonder what it'll be like riding in the jeep with him...
It was really fun being the Trainees from the holding company. Everybody were suppose to treat us well so that we would not complaint about the trip to the top people back home. Hence, it explains why we were asked to bunk at the nearest resthouse (
which we found out on our last day, were built on a cemetery) instead of roughing it at the workers' quarters on the estate itself.
E was so relieved to find out that we don't have to stay on the estate. She was worried sick about the whole trip ever since that we found out about the trip.
Before we settled down,
Mr. Koddy had asked us to list down our menu for the entire week.
Hahaha.. We were stunt by the request, for we didn't know what was actually in store for us. And being the typical city
bitches that we were, most of the items in our menus were the typical things that we eat everyday (
in Kay El...). I can vaguely remember some of the menus...
B'fast
-Fried eggs - sunny side up (
yeah, we actually wrote this!)
-Hot dogs
-Baked beans
Lunch
-Ayam masak merah
-Sup sayur
-Telur bungkus
Dinner
-Burger
Ok.. the menu may seem normal to you.. but not to the
Teluk Sengat people... Kesian makcik restoran tuh duk garu kepala trying to figure out apa kebenda laa sunny side up tuh.. hehehe.. And the best part was, she tried her best to fulfill our lists, even though her son had to travel to the nearest town to get the hot dogs and burgers for us (
my god.. we were really ignorant jerks). Hey, don't blame us.. cause when we asked them what type of food are we suppose to list down, all
Koddy said was.. anything under the sky... so apa lagi.. tulis aje laa apa yang terasa nak makan.
Since there was no proper dining hall on the estate, we took our meals at a local warung near the resthouse. The place was actually very cool... It is next to the
Selat Teberau (
the Straits that divides Malaysia and Singapore) and you can actually see Singapore on the opposite side of the ocean. The warung, when we first arrived, was dead.. The only people we saw dining there are a few pakciks. However, after the news of the 5
out-of-towners arrivals had spread, the makcik's warung were filled out by lots of
jakun people, who watch your every move, and listen to every word you say. These
jakun mamats were all gawking at
G (
the cute one in the whole bunch) and really irritates the hell out of us all.. Nak makan pun tak senang.. Plus we were laughed at when we had to wait for our burgers from town.
The entire trip was filled with briefing on the entire operation the estate. We were brief on every aspect of running an oil palm plantation, from the very beginning stage of selecting the best baby oil palm and nurturing it at the nursery to the site preparation to the harvest stage and also the oil processing stage. It was very lengthy yet interesting lecture for you get to see the real thing and not just a chart explaining to you the entire process. However, everyone, especially
E, were really having a rough time in the hot weather and all the mosquitos around.
We had to wake up at 5 every morning to witness the morning roll call at the estate office. This is the time when all the estate workers assembles to receive their duties for the day. And what a sad sight it was.. Most of the workers are old makciks and pakciks, just like our grandma and grandpa, trying to earn their keep. I had the chance to talk to one makcik and she told me that her salary is just a few hundred per month. That is like 1/10th of what I was earning and still I was complaining bout how little the company was paying us.
I guess the HR people were smart to sent us there. At least now we know that there are other people that are worse than us and are working very hard just to earn a few ringgit per day. Really
kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang kind of situation. Hence, when we take our positions in the corporate world, we would actually take these people's interest into consideration before we make any drastic decisions. In that sense, the experience had turned us all into a better person (
I surely hope so).
