At the end of 1970, I sat for the Malaysian Certificate of Education (MCE) public examination. After that, of course, it was about three months of doing little as my friends and I waited for the results. Come to think of it, I can't remember what I did in those three months apart from the little adventure I'm relating below.
Anyway, one of my cousins, also in Form Five but in a different school, asked whether I would like to join him on a short holiday trip to Kuala Lumpur. Immediately I had said yes to him because for the first time I could travel on my own outside my family.
Boy, if only I had known then the adventure we would get into! Soon after the new year began, we made our way down to KL by train. It was an uneventful journey but it had been raining heavily. When we arrived at the Kuala Lumpur station in the morning, we were met by my cousin's eldest brother. "Quick, follow me, we must get out of here," he ushered us out from the station.
The reason soon became clear. It had rained heavily and parts of the city were impassable to traffic. But somehow, we managed to make our way to the Selangor Mansion where he was staying. From the window of his flat, we realised that we had arrived in a flooded Kuala Lumpur. As far as our eyes could see, there was yellow, muddy water where the streets should have been. We took refuge in his flat for a day, I think, before we could leave and make our way to Petaling Jaya.
Fast forward 50 years to 2021 and a few days ago, torrential rain at the weekend in the central region of the peninsula left brought flood waters to Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam and Klang. History repeating itself? Yes, although it could have been largely avoided, in my opinion, if the government had given more attention to drainage amidst the country's development. Oh well.....
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