read by a STARoba)
I REMEMBER my days in MCKK when there were two big no-nose being friends with the STARians.
Rivalry was intense and there were first and hockey stick fights on a number of ocassions when the two schools met for rugger, soccer, hockey or whatever it was we played those days.
They thought we were stuck-ups. We thought they were jealous.
In fact, it was so intense the STARinas would come out in full force to support their teams whenever we had to play at their field in Ipoh. Naturally, we returned the compliments when they came over to Kuala Kangsar.
I had seen a number of fights in my time, and even got involved in one at the STAR ground, albert with a King Edwardian boy from Taiping. It earned me a ripped shirt, a whack on the face and a childing from the diciplinary master, who, gratefully let me off with a warning.
My Mama would have killed me, although i think my late Bapak, an old boy himself, wolud have just the opposite opinion of the whole debackle.
I recently met a group of MCKK boys who accompanied a group from Modern School of New Delhi, an elite co-ed school of India, on a visit to Balai Bereita, and was surprised when one of them were buddies with STARians.
"You have got to be kidding me!" I joking reported, my mind playing back images of the STAR boys tauting us when Under-18 rugger team lost to the Edwardians at their school padang over and over again.
That, and the sight of some of my friends running helter-skelter when they were chased by a mob of STAR boys when they had ventured to the surau to pray.
"They even supported us when we were on stage debating! They clapped the loudest too," said the eager-eyed pupil.
At last, how times have changed. And yes, whatever my bloated ego wants to agree or not, it has changed for the better.
I remember when i did my A-level programme, and how we were pretty apprehensive about the prospect of having to share room with STARians.
It turned out to be youthful foolishness, as I found out, to my utter relief, that the STARians were friendly chaps.
There's a lesson to be learned from this: forgive and forget. ANd if these boys can do it, despite umpteen years of rivalry, and come together, I think that all of us, despite our differences, should also follow suit.
At the end of the day, the colour of our blood is still red.
To the new MCKK-STAR 'alliance' I salute you.
And just in case my executive director, who's an old boy of STAR, is reading this: I need a raise...
Yushaimi Yahya,
Deputy editor
