“ORANG gila, orang gila!” A fellow Perakian shouted from the back of the classroom before other classmates burst into laughter on the first day of the orientation week where I was pursuing my diploma at the Kedah branch of Universiti Teknologi Mara in Merbok, near Sungai Petani, Kedah, 10 years ago.
Earlier, I told the class that I was raised and grew up in Kampung Masjid, one of many villages located in the small town of Tanjung Rambutan.
Until today, Tanjung Rambutan is famously known and closely associated with Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta (HBUK), one of four psychiatric institutions in the country apart from Hospital Mesra Tampoi in Johor, Mesra Bukit Padang Hospital in Sabah and Sentosa Hospital near Kuching, Sarawak.
Previously known as the Federal Lunatic Asylum, the century-old hospital started its operations on Nov 1, 1911.
Due to pressure from the medical fraternity over the negative perception triggered by the name of the institution, the hospital was renamed Central Mental Hospital Tanjung Rambutan in 1928 before it was changed again to HBUK in the mid-1970s.
Over the years, the iconic hospital has gone through many changes offering services not only limited to psychiatric treatments.
Today, HBUK provides other services, including physiotherapy, dental, basic healthcare and x-ray.
In the old days, the stigma surrounding mental health illness was rampant, people used to joke about Tanjung Rambutan since it is synonymous with HBUK.
At the mention of “Tanjung”, people, especially outsiders, who were not familiar or never visited the small town, would start imagining patients with mental health illness roaming freely creating trouble in the community.
This was, however, not the case with Tanjung Rambutan. People from different races embraced unity and lived harmoniously in the small town, located 20km from Ipoh, the administrative capital of Perak.
Similar to many parts of the country, the sight of people from the Malay, Indian and Chinese communities sharing a table eating roti canai together is nothing alien in Tanjung Rambutan.
The close proximity of two houses of worship and a mosque speaks volumes about the religious tolerance of Tanjung Rambutan folk.
Gurdwara Sahib, the house of worship for the Sikh community, is situated next to Arulmigu Samayapura Maha Mariamman Temple, whose “gopuram” (entrance tower) stands tall and is decorated with colourful statues.
Less than five minutes’ walk from the Hindu temple is Jamek Mosque, located on the southern bank of Sungai Kinta and surrounded by the Malay village of Kampung Masjid.
Like all kampung boys, I loved taking a dip in the river as it was a short distance from my semi-wooden house in Kampung Mas- jid.
Back then, there were no gaming consoles, smartphones or gadgets.
Hence, we made use of anything that we could find and the river was the playground for me and other children in the village.
It was the place for me and my friends to unleash our inner superhero, mimicking the likes of the fictional Japanese superhero Uchu Geiji Gyaban (Space Sheriff Gaban) or superheroes from Japanese manga series, such as the Kamen rider.
I frequented the river until an incident, in which I stepped on a piece of glass bottle while taking a dip.
I received eight stitches on the sole of my right foot. Since then, the Kamen rider in me kept away from the river.
Another iconic landmark of the small town is its railway station, located near HBUK. The train was a mode of transportation for locals to travel to Kuala Lumpur, Butterworth and Johor.
The railway station ceased operations several years ago. Since then, it has housed several restaurants attracting customers, mostly locals, as well as students from a medical college nearby.
As time passed, many young people moved to the big cities and Singapore for better employment opportunities and income, turning Tanjung Rambutan into a sleepy small town during the weekdays.
The small town, however, gets busier with locals and those staying in the nearby Lost World of Tambun heading for the Tanjung Rambutan market during the weekends.
Although I moved to another area when I was 8, I still remember vividly the fun time and life lessons that I had learnt from this humble town.
And, yes, there are “crazy people” in Tanjung Rambutan, but they are not as crazy as the rabble-rousers out there in other parts of the world.