The Search For Ronnie - Pulau Gaya , Sabah .1995

This must be one of the most unusual experience I had in life. It happened back in 1995 when I was based in Kota Kinabalu , Sabah .I have heard from somewhere or somebody that Ronnie Leong was also in Sabah as a teacher however unable to pin point the exact location. I have not seen him for about 10 years since we left school.

So, I took the initiative to contact the State Education Department to enquire of his existence in the Land Below The Winds. The State Education officer who answered my call was helpful after I have explained my intention to locate Ronnie. He asked for my phone number to enable him to contact me if there is a Ronnie Leong teaching in Sabah.

Next day the Education Officer called and informed me that there's a teacher named Ronnie Leong teaching in Pulau Gaya , Sabah. Pulau Gaya is an island adjacent to Kota Kinabalu. Traveling there requires a boat and the journey takes about 30 minutes from KK. Pulau Gaya is known for sanctuary for immigrants from Southern Philippines, even the people of KK wouldn’t set a foot on the island due to its notorious reputation. Police and Army personnel are also barred from entering the island.

Since I already knew Ronnie's whereabouts , its time conduct the search. Just trying my luck , I may surprise him if he is still there and also for my personal engrossment in exploring unfamiliar places . My expectation to meet him was almost zero as the school hours ended about an hour earlier. Most students and teacher must be heading home by then I thought.

But I have made the decision to go, I drove up to KK esplanade hoping to charter a boat there . Along the esplanade there were so many boats of all shapes and sizes all for hire as sea taxi . Finally I met one Bajau boatman and he has agreed to take me to Pulau Gaya for RM20 . He also claimed he knows the teacher ( Ronnie ) from Semenanjung teaching in Pulau Gaya .

The boat ride took us exactly 30 minutes to arrive and as we were approaching about 50 meters from the school 's jetty , I saw a small framed and dark skinned man smartly dressed with a handful of female students sitting discussing something but they were distracted by my boat which went directly at them . As the boat gets nearer I knew that the small framed dark skinned guy was Ronnie , I got so excited that I shouted at him " Berok ! , Berok ! , its me Apek ! “ . I can still recall his facial expression of surprise and shock and confuse...really like Berok hehehe ( Imagine someone from the past came looking and found you out of nowhere at an unexpected places) . He then retaliated my call " Apek ! What are you doing here ?!” . The students around him giggles seeing their respectable teacher being called Berok and he calling somebody else Apek haha ! The Bajau boatman laughed hilariously.

I offered him the ride back to KK on my chartered boat.
Its was 10 years since we left school and never to meet until that day.

P/S -
Being our former School Librarian ,Ronnie later declared to me that back in our school days , I was the main suspect for smuggling books out from the school library , however there’s no proof to nab me !!!
And he was quite accurate ! hehehe.

P/S II , If you guys got story to tell , please email me. I will publish it here ok.

Wish You All A Happy Chinese New Year 2007.