CheGu Mohd Ghazali Hanafiah, Head Master of Sekolah Alam Shah, Kuala Lumpur, in 1969 to mid 1970. CheGu Mohd Ghazali came to SAS, I did not remember when, as the Assistance HM to CheGu Ariffin Suhaimi. He continued as the HM when CheGu Ariffin left in 1969 Jul. And I was sure that I was a total stranger to him then because I was accepted into the board of prefect only since Jun early.

Monday, September 15 1969 during the morning assembly, CheGu Ghazali Hanafiah, made the announcement that I was appointed Acting Head Boy, I would be the Head Boy 1970 of SAS; the 8th in SAS chronology. It was a surprise announcement to many pupils and prefects (and to me several days before when 'solicited' by Jalil, the 1969 HB). But CheGu Mohd Ghazali had something in his mind, something of a new 'investment' in the school. A precursor to what SAS was for from then on. He braved himself in it by putting his trust in me, unknown to him before that. I shouldered it for him and delivered, even though he knew it only later from a distance.

SAS HB was a pretigious position indeed. He was 'above the law'. He was houseless. He was second only to the head master. So traditionally SAS HB was picked from among those with high extra-curriculum activities, especially in the sports. And they were from the Arts stream; not yet from the science stream. There were obviously some presumptions associated with it. I highly admired the first two HB when I arrived in SAS: those of the 1967 and 1968. They were really big brothers. They were school football captains. However, none of the HB so far, since the pioneer 1963 HB, carried the school over the exam 'hurdles'. Those who made it were not HB; the heaviest were just prefects. Apparently being in such a school as SAS was just the beginning. It needed sustainence to be continued beyond the school. The previous HM just continued the traditional boarding school norms. This was the nich that CheGu Mohd Ghazali was going to revolutionise. But he knew he could not find yet a perfect person for his model. Nonetheless, he knew that he had to start, and get started with a precursor.

I believed in the short months before September 15, he studied my 'CV'. Obviously I was not perfect for his 'gauntlet', but I was just the nearest approximate. But I think he wanted first to change the background of arts stream to science stream. Perhaps the 1969 HB, Jalil told him a 'million lies' about myself. Perhaps there were many other perhaps.

CheGu Ghazali left the school in mid 1970, without being able to see the results of his 'experiment'. Friday May 29 1970 assembly (we had assemblies on Monday and Friday since March) was the last assembly for HM CheGu Ghazali. And that was the last day I saw him. He was moving on to the education department. I gave a short tribute to him at the rostrum before he began the assembly, and a present on behalf of the students, and Jariah, HG, gave another one on behalf of the board of prefects. He never said anything to me on his last day.

Perhaps he gathered the payoff of the 'gamble' he laid from different sources. I believed he acquired later that the HB he did not well-know that he appointed had successfully pioneered to crossing over the exam hurdles by getting for the first time the full certificate in the STP; he was from the science stream. He went through to the university and launched out from there, unlike before that. Many other of his colleagues had similarly went through. I believed he also knew that the HB that followed were also picked up based on his criteria. Yes, in Sep 1970, I named Raja Daniel as my successor (1971). He was one million time better than me. He is a physicist in TNB, his successor is a UM lecturer turned Vice Chairman of MIMOS, Muhamad Awang Lah (1972). I knew only up to the 11th HB, Shahdan (1973) who is a UKM-graduate medical doctor. SAS then began to grow its 'stripe'. It all started from CheGu Mohd Ghazali Hanafiah in 1969.