IN TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN’S FOOTSTEPS IN ENGLAND. – PART I.

…LOCATING THE THREE BUILDINGS IN ENGLAND WHERE THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA HAD LODGED AT IN ENGLAND IN 1919, THE 1920s AND 1940s.
By Mansor Puteh



(NOTE: This essay is posted in two parts with the second part being posted in four days’ time if I can find internet access when I am Nottingham, England. I am returning to the country again from 4 to 16 March, to visit Nottingham, Cambridge University and the City, London and hopefully Oxford, Liverpool some other places.)

I FIRST ARRIVED ON AIRASIA X AT STANSTED AIRPORT OUTSIDE OF LONDON ON 16 JULY, 2009, WITH MY NEPHEW, SHAHREZA WHO SERVED AS MY ASSISTANT WHO DROVE OUR RENTED CAR SO I CAN GET TO THINK AND SHOOT STILL PHOTOS AND VIDEO AS WE TRAVEL AROUND THE COUNTRY TO GO FROM ONE PLACE TO THE OTHER.

I THOUGHT IT WAS NICE TO FLY INTO STANSTED INSTEAD OF HEATHROW WHICH IS FURTHER SOUTH, SO WE GOT TO MISS THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION ON THE ROADS AS WELL AS PASSENGER CONGESTION AT THE AIRPORT.

We visited a Malaysian friend, Ajar Mohammed, living with her English husband, Colin Hewitt who took us to their cosy home in Hitchin for a snack and rest. I had not seen ajar in 21 years. She had had worked for a long time at the British Council in London before retiring few years ago.

My first stop was Cambridge where we visited Grange Road where Tunku had lodged at a house Number 11. We drove there after we had unpacked our bags at the lodge where we were staying at in Cambridge, so when we finally got to the road, it was almost dusk, but bright enough for us to be able to shoot video and still photos of the building.

The road was straight and long; and it was close to the university and St. Catharine’s College where he had studied at. So this is how they spell the name of the college instead of Catherine’s. The plaque at the college confirms this although some tourist brochures and information I got elsewhere said so.

I got to meet one of the tenants of the house called Anna, which she said has now been split into three owners, but the room on the third floor at the back now belongs to another person. The woman who came out of the house to greet us is Anna. She owns one part of the house.

However, we were not fortunate because the owner of the part where Tunku’s room was at called Tom, was not around as he was away from the city. I did not get to meet him until I left the city to go to Nottingham and on to London.

But I was delighted to be able to visit the house in Grange Road where Tunku had lodged at when he was studying at St. Catharine’s College and also visited the college and university.

And near the house where he had stayed at, there is a football field and club. So now I could guess how Tunku had become interested in the sport and making it in the university team.

I had read a bit about Tunku’s life from the many books and essays that had been written on him and also in my only interview with him and remembered how he became emotional when he talked about how he was not allowed to stay at St. Catharine’s College even for a term because he was passed over, because of the color of his skin, coming from Malaya then and not looking like the other local students.

The British Advisor of Malaya, William Peel was summoned by the Sultan of Kedah to come to Cambridge to explain to the dean of the college that Tunku was a prince in Malaya which shocked him. ‘Why didn’t you say he is a prince?’ asked the dean, who immediately offered Tunku a room.

Tunku declined because he thought it was already too late for him to stay on campus as he was already getting used to living off-campus and that he was about to finish his studies there.

Ajar came to visit us at Cambridge and together with my nephew, Shahreza, we drove to Little Stukeley. After some confusion on the direction we finally managed to locate The Old Rectory and met its current owner, Carmilla Payne.

She seemed to be quite surprised to see us knocking on her door and with my camcorder switched on, but was delighted when Ajar related to her how the first prime minister of Malaysia had once lived in her house, 90 years ago.

She then allowed us access to her property to shoot the building from outside, although she did not allow us to shoot the room on the fourth floor where Tunku had rented 90 years ago, because her husband had not returned home from work.

I was delighted to be able to stand outside of the building just admiring it, and thinking how 90 years earlier Tunku was there, with his friends and tutor. He was just 16 years when he first arrived to study there.

I discovered another thing which interested me. It was a horse racing track near Little Stukeley. Could it be the reason why Tunku became interested in horse-racing, even when he was in his adult and also prime minister he showed a tremendous interest in this sport and keeping horses, although I am sure he did not bet on them?

So I have managed two of the three houses where Tunku had lodged at in England, leaving with one more which is in London.

But before I could go there, I had to do some chores in Nottingham University and the City, where Shahreza and I stayed for three days. It was for me to look for the locations of a feature film called ‘Malaysian Snow’ which I hope to be able to do later this year. It is also going to be the first Malaysian feature film to be set in England, and on the experiences of a small group of Malaysian students. It is also my master’s thesis for my university in New York City.

The building in London where Tunku had stayed is in Barkston Gardens, a place I had not been to before. Ajar, Shahreza and I went there from Stevenage where Ajar had put the two of us, in her other house which was vacant.

The area in Barkston Gardens did not look old with the buildings being kept clean and tidy. There is a small garden in front of the four-storey buildings which stretch along the roads around it. And the building Number 9 stands somewhere in the middle.

I shot some video footage and still photos of the building, just as one of its owners was seen to be parking her vehicle outside of it. She was probably wondering what we were doing there outside of her flat, and we also did not approach her to explain why we had come there to shoot video and still photos of her house. Maybe someday, she will know why.

I am now almost done with the editing of The Residency Years documentary, with the shot in the police helicopter to be done on 27 August, which I want to put at the front of it.

The title of this documentary is based on the name of the official residence of the first prime minister of Malaysia, The Residency. Actually, it was the official residence of the British Resident of Malaya before it was taken over by the new Malayan government after its independence on 31 August, 1957.

My brother-in-law, Syed Abdullah and sister, Rokiah returned to the Residency on the first day of the filming of the documentary, and Rokiah noticed a safe which is in Tunku’s study. She remarked how it had not been opened before because they did not have the key or combination.

So I highlighted the matter to an editor of a local Malaysian English daily who put out the story on the front-page of his paper, The Malay Mail, which attracted considerable public attention and that of the government which found someone to open the safe few days later. And they found some 44 personal items belonging to Tunku which he had kept since 1970.

I didn’t realize the production of the documentary had managed to unveil the secrecy surrounding the mysterious safe, and perhaps on the life of Tunku, especially when he was a student at Cambridge in England, too.