Pecah pinggan (the English version follows)

Semasa kenduri orang-orang Melayu terutama semasa kenduri kahwin biasalah jika beberapa pinggan mangkuk pecah. Tetapi keadaannya tidaklah teruk sekarang oleh kerana kita orang Melayu menggunakan pinggan mangkuk melamine untuk tujuan kenduri kendara. Apa yang saya nak cakap ini bukan cerita satu dua pinggan pecah. Tetapi ini cerita beratus pinggan pecah dalam masa kurang dari satu minit.

Tiap kali saya berjumpa dengan kawan-kawan sekolah menengah saya kami akan bertanya sama ada masih ingat peristiwa pecah pinggan. Tidak heran bila semua menjawab ingat. Untuk pengetahuan saya dulu bersekolah menengah di Sekolah Dato' Abdul Razak, Tanjong Malim, Perak. Sekolah itu sekarang telah berpindah ke Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Ia berlaku pada tahun semasa saya di Tingkatan Limau. Banyak pingggan mangkuk kami di dewan makan telah retak atau sumbing. Kami mempunyai satu badan yang dinamakan Food Committee atau Jawatankuasa Makanan. Saya kurang pasti sama ada ahli-ahlinya dilantik atau dipilih. Tugas asas Jawatankuasa ini ialah melihat keadaan di dapur dan bilik makan. Mereka memastikan dewan makan serta peralatan bersih dan makanan layak dimakan manusia.

Sudah tentu Food Commitee ini melaporkan ke pihak sekolah tentang keadaan pinggan mangkuk kami itu. Pengetua kemudian telah memesan set pinggan mangkuk baru untuk satu sekolah dan ia dihantar tanpa masalah. Tetapi ia tidak diletakkan di dewan makan untuk menggantikan pinggan mangkuk yang sumbing itu. Ini telah menaikkan angin kami. Ahli-ahli Food Committee telah berjumpa dengan Pengetua supaya menggantikan pinggan mangkuk lama dengan yang baru sampai. Tetapi permintaan mereka tidak diindahkan. Mengapa kami tak tahu.

Jadi ahli-ahli Food Committee memutuskan untuk memaksa pihak sekolah menggantikan pinggan mangkuk kami. Bagaimana? Dengan memecahkan pinggan mangkuk yang ada tak kira mereka retak, sumbing atau tidak. Ahli-ahli Food Committee kemudian pergi dari kelas ke kelas untuk memberitahu keputusan ini. Upacara memecah pinggan akan dilakukan serentak selepas satu makan malam yang ditentukan. Tidak ada ulangan atau 'retakes' mengikut bahasa filem.

Pihak sekolah telah terbau rancangan ini dan di malam penentuan guru penjaga harian telah masuk ke dewan makan seolah-olah cuba menahan kami meneruskan rancangan. Mungkin juga dia mahu lihat siapa yang berani memulakan kerja nakal ini.

Kami makan serentak seperti biasa. Selesai sahaja makan kami semua berdiri dan dewan menjadi senyap sunyi seketika. Kami berpandangan antara satu dengan lain seolah-olah mahu melihat siapa yang akan memulakan hempasan pertama. Tiba-tiba terdengar bunyi 'pang' macam pinggan jatuh di satu sudut. Kemudian diikuti dengan bunyi yang sama di sudut yang lain. Kemudian dewan berdering dengan bunyi hempasan pinggan mangkuk. Beratus-ratus pinggan mangkuk berkecai di atas lantai. Agaknya ada yang luka kena serpihan kaca. Tetapi saya tidak kena.

Bunyi ini mengingatkan kami kepada bunyi botol-botol kosong yang kami baling ke tembok terowong keretapi di bawah Bukit Aman setiap kali kami balik kampung bercuti dan balik sekolah semula.

Selesai kerja memecah pinggan kami pulang ke bilik asrama masing-masing. Pada keesokan harinya pinggan mangkuk baru siap sedia terletak di meja-meja makan kami. Kami jangkakan pihak sekolah akan mengambil tindakan terhadap ahli-ahli Food Committee. Tapi tiada tindakan lanjut dikenakan. Bagi saya pihak berkuasa yang memilih tidak mengambil tindakan apa-apa telah membuat keputusan yang bijak.

Smashing of crockeries

During Malay feasts or kenduris especially weddings it is normal to find a few broken crockeries during or after the functions. But the situation is not that bad now since most of us Malays use melamine crockery for those purposes. But what I am going to talk about is not about a few broken crockeries. This is about hundreds of crockeries being smashed in less than one minute.

Every time I met my secondary schoolmates we would be asking each other do we remember the crockery smashing incident. Not surprisingly we all do. For information I was schooled in Sekolah Dato' Abdul Razak, Tanjong Malim, a fully residential school which had since shifted to Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

It was in 1967 when I was in  Form Five. Many of our plates, cups and saucers in the school dining hall were cracked and chipped. We had a body called the School Food Committee. I am not sure whether the committee members were elected or appointed. This committee's basic job was to oversee the school kitchen and dining hall. They made sure that the kitchen and it's equipment were clean and the food prepared there fit for human consumption.

Naturally the Food Committee members alerted the school authorities about the crockeries' conditions. The school Principal then ordered for a new set of crockery and they were duly delivered. But for some reason unknown to us they were not sent to the dining hall. We students were irked. The Committee members talked to the Principal about releasing the new crockery set to no avail. No reasons were given.

So the Committee decided to force the school to replace the crockeries. How? By breaking the old ones whatever their conditions were. So the Committee members went around the classes telling about their decision. The crockeries smashing session would be done on one specified date after dinner. There would be no retakes like in movie production.

Somehow the Principal smelled our decision and during the fixed evening the teacher on duty was seen walking in the dinning hall as if to warn us not to do what we agreed. Perhaps he wanted to see who smashes the first plate, saucer or cup.

We had our dinner as usual. After dinner was finished we all stood up and suddenly there was a momentary silence in the hall. We all looked at each other as if to see who should begin this naughty act. Suddenly there was a clinking sound of a plate being dropped to the floor from one corner. Next there was a similar sound from another corner. Then in the next few seconds all hell broke loose and the plates, cups and saucers on the tables were smashed to the floor creating a ringing sound.

This sound reminded us of the sound we created when we smashed empty bottles against the railway tunnel walls below Bukit Aman every time we went home or returned to school. After that we simply left the dining hall and returned to our hostel dormitories.

The next day we were greeted by new plates etc. on our dining tables. We expected members of the Food Committee to be punished for planning this act. Fortunately the school understood our intentions and no action was taken against any body. I think it was a wise decision.