My Fond Memories Of Being A Kursus Pendidikan Pemandu (K.P.P.) Lecturer

I have been a “lecturer” or “penceramah” (if ever you can call me that) for the driving school / institutes for years now. For how long? To be truthful, I myself have forgotten track.

But barring memories fading, the first “ceramah” or “lecture” for the K.P.P (Kursus Pendidikan Pemandu), a 5 Hour course for potential would-be drivers, it is vividly remembered was held at the dome like building at S.A.M.P. or better known as the Shah Alam Motor Paradise circuit in Batu Tiga.

If you are a grand prix racing fan, you would recognize the building, for sure.

Before proceeding further, permit me to give you a slight background of the K.P.P. course. Actually, it’s a compulsory 5 Hour, grueling lecture on “how to prevent accidents”.

Even up to this day, new drivers have to attend this course first, prior to their sitting for the Highway Code Test. Only the institutes can conduct the above course.

Now, let’s get back to my first ever lectures at the S.A.M.P. circuit, Batu Tiga. Being a newbie, I actually did not know how to go about conducting such a course.

Armed only with a small text book and of course the over head projector, standing before a class of mostly adults would be drivers, it was, I tell you, a rather “shattering” experience.

But luckily that day, my “mentor” was a well known J.P.J. official. This was, remember, in the late sixties or early seventies. I can’t really remember. But I still recall the official’s name even today. But I choose not to divulge his identity, for obvious reasons.

The K.P.P. having just started or begun then, the J.P.J.’s were the ones responsible for showing us, the way to go about conducting the “kursus” or “lecturers”. Sadly, the driving school then had no experience, whatsoever.

The official took over conducting the lecturers first. He did the first half, doing three to four lecturers.

And what was I doing all these while? First, I was still shivering away, to tell you the truth. My heart was beating, boom-boodi-boom-boom, like Sophia Loren’s famous song “Goodness Gracious Me!”

But having witnessed the expert like official from the J.P.J. department conducting the earlier lectures, my confidence actually grew.

With teeth chattering and stammering away my words, thus began my first ever lectures or “ceramah”. At the S.A.M.P. in Batu Tiga, Shah Alam. That’s was in the 1970’s.

Over 30 years have elapsed since then. As I recall those first few years of my being a K.P.P. lecturer, a smile breaks on my face. I tell myself, how fast time flies. Today, I am still giving the 5 Hour K.P.P. lectures at my institute.

Why, some may inquire, am I still doing what I began 30 – 40 years ago? Even Michael Schumacher has retired. Why not this lecturer or penceramah? The answer is simple. Because I love to teach! Only a teacher knows my true feelings.