Hick's Bay

We grew up, feeling very much at home, by the sea. We love Hick's Bay, that special curve of a small white beach on the south side of the Tanjong Lobang Cliff.

As we grew older, we watched with alarm the stack falling apart so quickly. Waves hit upon waves and the cliff receded further inland, eating away earth, rocks and even into our happiness.

And then very recently man took over the natural events and plastered the cliffs with concrete, covered the white sand with soil brought by lorries and more lorries.

The cranes, the piling machineries started to replace the gentle bicycles,the solitary fisherman with his rod. The kampong scene was changed almost overnight to an offensive and aggressive grey concrete wall. They said that was to protect the coastline.

And in just a wink of an eye, our natural beauty, our natural history are all gone. A stroke of pen is more mighty than the greatest wave to hit on our shores.

We found a poem written by our mother when she was teaching in Kolej Tuanku Datuk Tuan Haji Bujang, formerly known as Tanjong Lobang School. As a teacher she tried her very best to coax out rhyme and reason in her students. Sometimes to our delight she would come home jumping with joy because her students could read and write!! And best of all, when she discovered a student who could rhyme, she would shout with joy.
And she would wish and wish that we could write well. We did try our best to ace the English subject.

Here's her poem dedicated to Hick's Bay, now all gone and literally concretised. When she wrote the poem in 1990, Hick's Bay was still our playground. How we miss it. We cannot show friends now where we climbed the first cliff, or took the first dip in south China Sea. We cannot tell Laura and Heather , if they should come again to Miri, that was where Laura was stung by a jelly fish and we were all petrified!! And perhaps we cannot tell friends any more that was where a local hero saved a lawyer who became a famous litigator. Hick's Bay has many memories for thousands of people, especially poor native students who came to study in Tanjong Lobang school in the 50's and 60's.

Such Moments as These

Such moments as these
I still miss the long wooden pier
Souls meeting souls at Hick's Bay,
Fleeting images just as near.

The sky's often blue
The sun's warmth spreads around
The sea's wondrous and bright azure
My heart's to them tightly bound.

What will lift my heart?
Tis the beauty of this bay.
And sweet desire n' memories
Forever in my mind will stay.