Public schools bring us together

WHEN I was a small boy growing up in Tumpat, Kelantan, in the early 1960s, I had lots of Chinese friends. Some were also of Siamese and Indian parentage. We studied at Tumpat English School - the only primary school with English as the medium of instruction. The teachers were a mixed lot. We had Chinese, Indian and Malay teachers. Many were trained at (Malayan Teachers Training College) Kirkby. As children, we ate together at the canteen, played in the fields, roamed the padi fields and ponds looking for fighting fish and visited each other's houses during weekends. We never thought of the differences between us. Those were lazy, carefree days when parents did not interfere much.