Peace Corps Malaysia

Letter from Victoria Institution to family Mar 8, 1966

Dear gang,

There I sat, happily collecting my students' homework, when Radio Malaysia played “Days of wine and roses“ – and that really messed the evening up, emotion wise. So I thought a quick note would be an order, and here it is.

Yes, all is in working order at good old VI; at the moment I am involved in everything from Charleston lessons to math exhibition projects, not to mention my 21 hours each week with 180 students. It’s a pretty good life, face it.

Minor excitement items: Mr. and Mrs. Kent (he heads CARE for Malaysia) had me over to dinner two weeks or so ago when Mr. Kent Senior arrived for a short visit: he is democratic party boss in California, or something like that, and learned I was here through his good friend, Mrs. Fowle (!)  We sat around, ate steaks from Australia, and fresh peas from New Zealand, and talked over the coming California elections (Kent can hardly wait to sink his claws into Reagan – he says the latter really blew the works in a few of his early speeches, concerning income, taxes, etc.). An evening like that sure feels good, you know?

Although I only see Americans about once a week now, (and just by accident, usually), I still value the contact with home, however momentary. When are you up river in Borneo, there would be reason to cut off all outside contact, I suppose, but KL has too close a relationship with the western world to warrant my artificially segregating myself from my fellow Americans. As a result, every two weeks or so, a group of us, volunteers, with occasional guests, gathers at Le Coq d'Or for food and conversation, and these meetings really complete my life. Peace Corps gossip runs high on the subject matter list, with Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and home close behind. I would gossip for you right now, but I have decided instead to record it and send it to you on a tape (3 3/4 in. pers, and you’ll need a stereo set up to pick up each of the four tracks). Be expecting about 1/2 an hour of The Inimitable One in Asia. 

Le Coq d'Or can’t be adequately described on tape, but I’ll give it a try. Last weekend I was tour leader for the VI Arts Society trip to Malacca – my favorite small city to date. We ate exotic delicacies (chrysanthemum juice, pigeon eggs, pig intestine, etc.), swam beside sandy shores, and slept not at all.  A successful trip.

Yesterday the embassy was stoned: I include the front page picture from the Straits Times, only because it graphically illustrates the efficiency of the police force: 4 out of 200 demonstrators were caught, while the rest, including the man in the picture, went about their business completely unobserved by the men in uniforms. Today the town is swarming with police, but today is too late. Oh well, at least I recorded the broken panes with my trusty Nikon. Poor old Bundy. And just last week the astronauts had such a good reception! Funny country. Incidentally, being a Peace Corps member, I manage to have lunch with them last Friday at the Merlin Hotel (the Hilton of KL), at an intimate garden party affair attended by 300. Pretty exciting, anyway. I felt pretty smug after hearing that one astronaut was suffering from gastronomic distresses incurred in Bangkok. They may conquer space, but never the Far East.

Work calls, so I will remind you of my recording again. Just started on channel 1, play at 3 3/4 in. per second, flip it over and play channel 3, flip it over for channel 2, and over again for channel 4.  Ask any tape recorder man, if you have troubles, and record something to send back, if you dare. Greek music, Bossa Nova, voices, Tiger barking, anything. All will be gratefully received.

Love and durians, Sam.

P. S. When does the speed reading info arrive?

P. P. S. Just read Thurber's book on Ross – oh boy, good stuff.

Letter from Victoria Institution to family, Mar 14, 1966

Dear parents, a short note. The Walkers (Mr. and Mrs. Neil Walker – you remember: the nice people I stayed with in Hawaii for two weeks while teaching school) will be in California this month, and plan on looking you up. Please make an effort to meet them as they are terrific. They will have Butch and Patrick, their two sons, along, and both are actually cute.

Sorry about the law against shipping dollars over here. Keep December vacation in mind. How does a big boat tour of the Far East sound? (Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tokyo, Manila, Borneo, and back to Singapore)? I can cover my own expenses (I’ve been saving over here), and you each can shell out about $350 for three weeks. Sleep late, eat plenty, hot water: three luxuries for me. 

Love and koochies, Sam.

Letter from Victoria Institution to mom, May 17, 1966

Dear mom,

Your itinerary arrived last week, and it looks like you and big John even topped Mimi‘s Greek island house. I want very much to hear your reactions to Belgrad and Dubrovnik, in particular. Wow, were you ever smart to marry a law professor, eh?

Lenny's news is fabulous! I’ll be writing him a huge letter in the next few days to get the ball rolling. I will also notify the head office here. This may sound like I’m jumping the gun, but why be half safe: the biggest pitfall for new volunteers is his placement, and I am in a nice position to help Len along that way. Incidentally, the headmaster of our school wants three more Peace Corps volunteers next year (I guess my debut was not all that bad), and I could easily swing Len to this place if he wants it. But that’s his decision: all I can do is fill him in with info.

I enclose two self explanatory pics for the family scrapbook. More later. Incidentally, have any of my slides arrived yet? I got my primary ballot in the mail today. Boo on Raferty. Yay for Brown. You still haven’t said a word about the speed reading course. Do I get the materials sent to me? Was it worth it? I am reading a lot these days on Southeast Asia, and I am interested in reading, even more, so help! Finally, I mentioned again a request for US stamps – maybe Bruce could send me a packet of old commemoratives from his collection. Oh, yes: don’t forget to bring along Kennedy half dollars on your trip. The perfect gift, believe me. Maybe you could even send me a few from Europe. I must sound like a beggar, but people over here are still mad about the Kennedys, and a little $.50 piece would mean quite a lot to them. Thanks.

You asked about summer vacations awhile back. The education system here doesn’t fit the US system at all: we have three vacations each year, one of three weeks in April (just completed), 3 weeks in August, and 5 weeks in December-January. The Peace Corps gives us a total of 45 vacation days during our two years duty, and any free time we have beyond those 45 days must be spent on some sort of “project “ (math seminars, building libraries, leprosy clinics, etc.) I am particularly fortunate to be at VI, for the school arranges, rather spectacular tours for the students, and if I go as a staff member, the Peace Corps will count it as a “project “. Thus, you’ll find me in Cambodia and Hong Kong, this August, and next December, I’ll be taking a five weeks trip to India. Ah, the simple life of the Peace Corps volunteer in the tropics. And Japan is looking very near for next April, if Len is willing.

You also asked about Vietnam, and why I haven’t talked it up in my letters yet. I haven’t talked it up yet for a couple of reasons. First of all, I am waiting to get the full Asian side of the picture before I make up my mind. Incidentally, this may mean a long wait: politics is not nearly as popular a topic of conversation over here as at home, probably because nobody ever wants to contradict or in any way disagree with anyone else. Thus, I read the pro-US StraitsTimes for my news, and I listen to Radio Peking for my propaganda, and I keep pumping my fellow teachers for their viewpoints – but it is a very slow process.

A second reason for not mentioning Vietnam to you, is directly related to the first: Vietnam is just not very big news in Malaysia! Sure, there are front page articles every day on the action, but these hold a reader's attention about equally with the movie reviews, the soccer and racing finals, and the rubber and tin prices. Vietnam to Malaysians is just as distant and foreign as it is to Americans, and just as incomprehensible. The fact is, I have to make a direct effort of will to keep up with the Vietnam news over here, whereas at home, it was the natural thing to do. Do you see my point? Vietnam is not just important to Malaysia the way it is to America, so why should I make a point of discussing it? This is a rather depressing state of affairs, for Malaysia, should be very much concerned with Vietnam, but you can’t change the people overnight – political maturity is a long, long way off for this country.

What I should mention in my letter is more stuff on Malaysia’s big worries: tin prices, the US decision to sell off its rubber stockpile, the national language campaign, confrontation with Indonesia, recognition by the Philippines, Malay privileges, etc., etc.; but I’m saving all this for my next letter, so hold tight.

John asked a pile of questions on VI in particular in his last note, and I’ll try to answer them in another letter. Let me assure you anyway that things are still dandy poo. My only complaint is a total lack of contact with the “outside world “, that is, anything outside of VI. To be specific, I haven’t met a soul in KL outside of my Peace Corps acquaintances and my fellow VI teachers. But such is the price for living in a student hostel and teaching 21 hours of maths each week to 180 boys at the best school in Malaysia. You can’t have everything.

Saw Electra today (saw it for the first time at home - with you?) – that type of film, if it ever comes, usually only lasts two or three days, so I had to hustle. The theater was empty. God, what a cultural vacuum.

Love, Sam

Letter from Victoria Institution to friends, June 1, 1966

Dear Gang, 

I have been a Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia for just over six months now, and my foot is finally in the door. I was a wide-eyed, camera-clicking tourist when I arrived in December, and an eager-to-please house guest in January, whose reactions to the food and the weather were a constant source of amusement. By March I was almost just another teacher, except for my funny accent, my shirts with buttons on their collars, and my $10 bicycle. Now June is here, and the novelty of the Big Western Milk Drinker is gone. This has stripped me of my presumed friendship with Elvis Presley, my imagined familiarity with all pop dances, my mythical palace in Hollywood and ranch in Texas, and my assumed acquaintances with top members of the Chicago crime syndicate. All that is left is Sam Edwards from California. It has taken half a year, but my foot is in the door.

Because I am a schoolteacher over here, my life quite naturally centers around Victoria Institution, the oldest school in Selangor (one of Malaysia’s 13 states), and the best in the country. VI began as a grant-in-aid school in 1894, in response to the British administration' s demand for a regular supply of government officers. The original funds included about 13,000 left over after the erection of a memorial to commemorate the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, and hence the name. The government took over the control of the school in 1925, but it was only four years ago, that the first non-English headmaster assumed control: the present, Mr. V Murugasu (an Indian). This man, my superior in every sense of the word, is magnificent. He knows the names, capabilities, and family backgrounds of every one of VI's 1200 students. He personally oversees all of their work and play, both in school and out. Every decision concerning the school, no matter how trivial, must cross his desk. Needless to say, he also thoroughly knows all of his teachers and administrators: how good they are, what they do with their spare time, how far they can be pushed, and so on. Even the usually sluggish Ministry of Education heeds his requests and suggestions. Mr. Murugasu is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent; he is largely responsible for VI’s present greatness. I should add that this type of educator is rare in Malaysia. Stories of administrative laziness, ineptitude, and even corruption are not unusual in other schools; in VI, they are unheard of.

Perhaps there is so little trouble at VI because the teachers and pupils have so little free time to manufacture it. I, for example, teach 21 periods of mathematics each week to four classes of about 45 students each, and I must correct every homework problem assigned. I also am responsible for training the water polo players, the pole vaulters, the broad jumpers, the triple jumpers, and the upper class girl  swimmers. Other duties range from supervision of athletic contests to lecturing on surfing in America. I have never been so busy in my life. But the students make us teachers look positively lazy in comparison: They each attend eight class periods a day, five days a week, they participate in athletics at least three times a week. (there are 12 sports to choose from, the most popular, being soccer, rugby, cricket, and badminton), and they must join several societies (of which there are 14, at last count). Most importantly, they must contribute to the traditional extravaganzas which periodically shake Malaysian schools to their foundations: speech day, sports day, exhibition day, etc. I don’t know how they do it.

I guess the distinguishing feature of Malaysian school life is "exam-itis". Every secondary student must take a series of national examinations, the most important of which are written and corrected in England. Good results mean admission to a commonwealth university, or a job with a decent salary; bad results bar any further progress. Exams determine the curricula for all Malaysian schools, and the syllabi for all the courses, and woe to the teacher who goes out of the required material in any way. I am a teacher of three exam year classes, so my students must spend about 2/3 of their time doing old examinations. The usual product of such a system is a student who can pass the exams with ease, but who hates his schoolwork because of them, and who has lost a great deal of his natural intellectual curiosity along the way. Until the exams are locally administered, or until a new syllabus is adopted (the new math is being talked about this year), my only hope is to jazz up my classes with puzzles, games, diversions, and even debates – anything to keep that spark of interest glowing. And this must fit into a framework in which the traditional master student relationship is anything but intimate.

By the way, my students are just great. In fact, two of my classes need a bit of jazzing down, they are so full of beans. We have political discussions every two weeks, when I bring the New York Times to class and they grill me on the American south, juvenile delinquents, President Johnson. (he’s not a big favorite with them), and our Vietnam policy (about 1/2 approve). On weekends they are beginning to invite me on their bike and foot excursions to the caves and jungles of the area. Last April holidays some boys showed me around Kota Baru and “little stop island “off the east coast of Malaya, and then August we'll be watching the giant turtles laying their eggs on the Terengganu coast. My relations with the staff are cordial, but begin and end at school, partly because of my preoccupation with the 30 boys, to whom I am dorm master, and partly because I am a bit young for them. Perhaps also they suspect I have a circle of European friends to keep me happy, as did my predecessor, I volunteer from Great Britain, who taught physics here last year. Actually my out of school associates number less than 10, and most of them are Peace Corps volunteers. As you can see, I would be very lonesome, indeed, without my students.

Kuala Lumpur has plenty of diversions to fill my all-too-infrequent free afternoons. The city itself is a fascinating, architectural jumble of English colonial houses, Moorish government buildings, a railway station straight out of the Arabian nights, and sparkling new mosques and office buildings. It is difficult to decide what era, or even what country you are in, from the evidence of the buildings alone, unless you catch sight of a typical Malay kampong (village) on the outskirts of KL, with its stilted and thatched houses, surrounded by hibiscus (the national flower),  shrubs.  and stands of orchids. I best like shopping along Jalan Batu for Indian and Thai materials and jewelry, or in the Chinese stalls along Jalan Petaling for artwork, strange medicines, and unbelievable foods. (Have you tried birds nest soup, sea cucumbers, jellyfish, monkey brains, dog curry, or shark fin soup lately?)  Petaling Street also has some wonderful pet shops, mostly stocked with songbirds (the best go for over $500, to be entered in the national singing contests), but including monkeys, lemurs, lorises, and honey bears. Malaysia is literally teaming with bizarre animals. when I tire of shopping, there are always movies (KL has about 10 theaters), soccer matches, or even rock ‘n’ roll shows at the national stadium. The ultimate in bliss is perhaps a shampoo at an all-girl Chinese barbershop, complete with warm water and long, sharp fingernails: 15 minutes for about $.15. I know one volunteer who can’t get through the week without at least two shampoos.

Let me in this letter on a rising note: the rumor is out the Leonard. Edwards may give up a promising lawyers career and join me in the tropics as a Peace Corps volunteer in December. And we have a third brother waiting in the wings. Watch out in Malaysia, here they come.

Sam

Letter from Victoria Institution June 8, 1966

Dear Gang,

Ah, a free day to write my Odyssian parents. Tell me about Vouliagmeni, and and Glyfadha, and the chicken place, and Sounion, and the music, and the ouzo!  Any changes? Anything gone?  Anything new? Face it, you are in the number one country again. Nice going. But you watch – I’ll head for it like a homing pigeon as soon as my term is up. If only Greece had a Peace Corps ...

Today is free, because today is the official birthday of the Sultan of Selangor (he celebrates his actual birthday, privately), and all the school kids are consequently required to sing songs and wave flags for him in the national stadium. I attended the extravaganza this morning for three hours, which worries me: I used to last only about 15 minutes before getting boredom sets in. Later in the morning, I sat through two hours of a cricket match in town, without a single yawn. This could be the New Sam Edwards emerging. There’s plenty of the old left, though. In the last two weeks, I bawled my way through Breakfast at Tiffany’s, A Patch of Blue, and a Royal ballet film of Fontaine and Nureyev kicking up their heels (and toes).  All my friends can’t figure out what there was to cry about at these shows, but then communication is still only skin deep.

Len wrote me a great letter, full of enthusiasm, and sprinkled with scores of questions. (“How many frisbees should I bring to Kauai?") He wants to teach English to 17–18 year olds in a big city. That sort of position doesn’t exist in Malaysian now, but I am working on it; his law degree may be a big help, too. In any event, he’s going to be set up properly in this country, or what’s the use of my being here in the first place? The buddy brother in Southeast Asia. Yada yada.

My class just won a debate with another fifth form class; proposition: “the US presence in Vietnam is justified".  My class took the opposition. I’m thinking of having them do it over so I can tape it and send it home. Could you use such a tape in your meetings, mom? I learned a lot from them, frankly.

Cambodia has been just declared off-limits to Peace Corps volunteers, so I may hit Thailand instead this August. The Philippines just recognized Malaysia, and regular air service has begun again. The rumor is out that travel to Indonesia will resume next month. Incidentally, notwithstanding headlines of happy ministers, a lot of people around here are mightily suspicious of Indonesia‘s sudden change of face. There may be fancy developments soon, so keep your eyes open. 

Sam

P. S. Thanks for all four of the itineraries. I’m passing them out on the street corners, and they are going like hotcakes. Please send another dozen with next letter.

Letter from Victoria Institution to parents, Aug 25, 1966

Dear parents, 

wow, what a trip you’ve just had! Three months of golf, food, weddings, and buying paintings*. And your regular cards and one big letter have all been most welcome. Except when you tell me about seeing Gisele, and things like that. Malaysia is lovely and all, but ballet we don’t got (in fact, just plain old music is pretty hard to find), so please don’t twisty the fork once you stick it in...

And now, for my unscheduled and dramatic tourist-topping announcement. While you were scuttling all over the continent in June and July, I was busily (and secretly) at work, planning my own August holidays. And the planning paid off rather well: three days ago, two other volunteers and I returned from the most exciting and trouble-free three week holiday in Japan you can imagine. We were non-paying guests of six Japanese families in succession, beginning in Tokyo, and ending up in Kyoto, and gang, we didn’t miss a trick. I’ll be sending a tape or two of our adventures as soon as the work load relaxes a bit, but until then let me confess that not one of us wanted to return to Malaysia after the delights of the Japanese people and places had worked on us. What a fantastic, lovely, cultured, warm country!  We also were guests of a family in Taipei for three days on the return trip. But wait for the tape, please. I have eight boxes of slides, a kimono, and several hero. She goes and Hiroshiga's and  Hokusai's as memories, which will duly be sent to you before the Incredible Creeping Green Malaysian Slime attacks them (as it attacks everything over here). What a place. Yada yada.

Hey, speaking of birthdays, boy, am I broke. Send large amounts of money in check form. You will never see it again. One further note: if you ever send new clothing again, rough it up and mark its value down as used clothing – then customs won’t hit me as hard. Thanks.

Two pictures enclosed – they are self-explanatory. I hope you are continuing to store all my stuff in one central location, because I can’t keep it here (ICGMS), and I plan on scrapbooking it when I return. And I don’t keep duplicates. Thanks again.

Home? I just may extend the year and finish when Len does. Face it gang. This country is too much. Lots and lots of love, Sam.

*Greek primitives, icons, and Yugoslav folk are?  How in can you get?

Note: I have sent a present to Big John, which should arrive in September. It is a lump of tin (Malaysia‘s biggest export) with the word FIKIR (think) on top. And that’s about it for Malaysian curios…)