Those Were the Days: Funny, Crazy & Weird: 50 Malaysian Short Stories and Photos of the 1950s to The1970s

By J.H. Friele

Those Were The Days: on
Funny, Crazy & Weird
50 Malaysian Short Stories and Photos of the 1950s to the1970s

The book covers three decades of Malaysian social history based on
actual persons, true events and genuine stories.

Those were the days filled with joy, laughter and good memories...
This collection comprises 50 short stories set in Malaysia during
the 1950s to the 1970s. Carefully constructed and delivered with
a lot of heart, these uplifting stories are still relatable until today.

Friele's lively narrative revolves around his colourful experiences
featuring a touch of history and nostalgia. From the moment he
arrived in Malaya, his eventful days were dotted with a host of
sentimental, hilarious and crazy moments.

The author's love for this magical era shines through, along with
his in-depth observations and insights. With the author's unique
voice interspersed with a myriad of emotions, this collection offers
an unforgettable stroll down memory lane.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543904741

Book preview

Those Were The Days:

Funny, Crazy & Weird

50 Malaysian Short Stories and Photos of the 1950s to the 1970s

© Jürgen Herbert Friele, 2017

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any information storage, without written permission from respective copyright owner(s).

First Edition 2017

Cover and book design by

Bold Inspiration Sdn. Bhd., Penang

ISBN

978-154-39047-4-1

The Author

Jürgen Herbert Friele was born in Cuxhaven, Germany in 1939 and attended secondary and commercial schools in Oberhausen/Rhld. He trained in a chemical company, in 1958 obtaining his Diploma in Business Administration and in 1960 achieving English language certification from the Berlitz School, Oberhausen as a Foreign Correspondent and as an Interpreter for Economics. With a view to future overseas employment, in late 1960 Friele joined the parent company of Behn, Meyer & Co. in Hamburg and in late 1961 was posted to Kuala Lumpur. His first job was to market fertilisers and to visit the foreign owned plantations that utilised them. The planters had diifficulties over the pronunciation of the name Jürgen so he was given the nick name George, Georg being the equivalent of Jürgen in South Germany. Later George was expanded to ‘German George’ to avoid misidentification with others of the name George.

From 1964 to 1979 George was an active member of the Kuala Lumpur Hash House Harriers, the now worldwide cross country running club that had been founded in KL in 1938. In 1967 George was elected a joint master of the KL Hash where he is recorded as a Non-British Pioneer Member.

In 1970 George was posted to Penang as Branch Manager and the following year was promoted to be a director of Behn, Meyer & Co. In 1972 he was appointed German Honorary Consul at Penang and held this post until he was transferred back to Kuala Lumpur in 1976. In 1978 George married Eileen Khoo and from 1979 he and his wife travelled the world. In 1981 they bought a motel in Florida and managed it for three years before returning to the Far East. In 1984 George Friele re-joined Behn, Meyer & Co. in Singapore and in 1987 was conferred the Federal Cross of Merit (BVK) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the German President.

In 1991 George and Eileen moved back to Malaysia, living initially in Kuala Lumpur and from 1994 in Penang. Between 1998 and 2000 he was the President of the Malaysian-German Society in Penang and in 2000 was awarded the PJK by the Governor of Penang for excellent and praiseworthy services rendered to the people and government of Penang. George and Eileen are now retired but are still living in Penang. He speaks Malay, English and German.

During his many years in Malaysia George Friele has been involved in voluntary work serving as a Committee Member of the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Penang Branch, Honorary Secretary of the Malaysian-German Society, Penang, Committee Member of the Malayan Sub Aqua Club and as an Executive Committee Member of the Commercial Employers’ Association of Peninsular Malaysia. He was a Charter Member of the Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur North (now called Gombak), Director of the Rotary Club of Penang and Patron of the Malaysian Association of Productivity, Penang Branch from 1975 to 1977.

Throughout his life George’s passions have been Jazz music and worldwide travel; the latter attested to by his recently published book ‘Born to Travel’, in which he writes with gripping enthusiasm of his explorations from Alaska to Africa, to the ancient Silk Road and on to Easter Island and the Inca cities of Peru.

Preface

I arrived in Malaya at the end of 1961. My first job was manager of the Fertiliser Department of Behn Meyer & Co. in Kuala Lumpur, where I was to promote and sell compound fertilisers. A major aspect of the work was to visit estates, fertiliser dealers and relevant Government departments. My territory included the states of Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Pahang, including the Cameron Highlands, Trengganu and Kelantan. I regularly visited more than 200 European managed rubber and oil palm plantations, normally managing to cover two or three estates per day. Most of the managers were English, Scottish, Irish, French, American, Danish or Dutch citizens; they were all dedicated plantation managers of a variety of characters. Some were the serious type, others were fun loving, extroverted, odd and some even a little crazy. The visits to the fields and discussions on manuring programmes and crop protection were usually followed by the social elements of the visit. This meant discussing the latest happenings in Kuala Lumpur or world affairs, whilst enjoying some cold beers. In the course of my visits I heard many stories and experienced some of the incidences described in this book myself.

Another source of information for this book were the many expatriates I met in Kuala Lumpur as a member of the Hash House Harriers, the Malayan Sub Aqua Club, the Royal Selangor Club and hotel bars as well as pubs on the strip, which was our name for Batu Road.

In October 1970 I transferred to Behn Meyer’s Penang office beginning a new chapter in my career; it also allowed me to meet and know many more expatriates and Malaysians, all characters in their own way. The main places for socializing and meeting people were the Penang Club, the bar at the Merlin Hotel, Sumi’s on Beach Street and various restaurants and pubs in the town. I also joined the Penang Hash House Harriers.

One way or another, my transfer to Penang enabled me to collect a large number of short stories for this book.

Apart from the communist Emergency which petered out in the late Fifties the period from the Fifties through into the Seventies was a golden time for expatriates in Malaysia. In the Sixties I wrote to my parents in Germany that I was living in paradise.

Over the years I have collected very many short stories of the period and feel that they must not be lost in unrecorded history but should be preserved as a portrait of a magic and bygone era. I have included some short stories which are not funny, crazy and weird which relate to the same period and which are surely of interest, too. As a pictorial supplement I have added more than 100 photos and images from my personal collection in the section Down Memory Lane covering the period from the late 1940s to the 1970s. My wish is to share these images of the past with friends and with future generations who may be interested in this past. I have written the book as a hobby and with no commercial aspect in mind.

In order to protect the identity of the persons mentioned in my stories I have changed some Christian names and surnames, or not stated the latter at all. I have personally known many of these amazing people.

Several have now passed away but some are still around!

In conclusion I would like to thank my old friend Bill Hilston for providing me with a number of these stories. I would also like to record my appreciation to Tony Leaver for editing this book.

Last but not least I thank Dato’ Dr. Jennifer Low and Dato’ Michael L. C. Ong of the Quill Group of Companies, Kuala Lumpur, for their financial and logistics support for the printed copy of this book.

J. H. Friele

Contents

1The new Junior Assistant

2The Accident

3The Con-man

4The Remittance Man

5Beer was his Favourite

6Accident Prone