Autobiography - 7 | First Dojos

Q: You mentioned in the last episode that you were very motivated to give trainings and earning good money. Can you continue from there?

A: Yes, I was really motivated. I was teaching part-time karate while I was still a brown belt – I hadn't gotten my black belt yet. I was teaching doctors and my colleagues at the hospital. I had about 40 to 50 students, sometimes more, sometimes less. I was making a lot of money for a brown belt.

My teacher then asked for higher dojo fees, from $30 to $40. I bargained and gave him a little bit more. Eventually, I had more students in my dojo than in his classes and I was making more money.

Sometimes, when my teacher went to Japan or elsewhere, his brother, Andrew Chin, who was also a karate instructor, would teach. Andrew had dojos in various places in Malaysia. He would sometimes ask me to help him teach, saying some guys in the dojo weren't following his commands and were rebellious. To do this, I would take some days off from my hospital job. I would tell the doctors I needed one or two days off, and they would give me a medical certificate. I would then give the certificate to my engineer and go teach karate. My doctors were very friendly and helped me out.

Andrew Chin, a very nice and funny guy (God bless him), would say, "Come on, teach! Watch out for this guy; he's too funny with me and doesn't respect me. Give him something!" I loved kumite and hated kata and kihon. Kumite was the highlight of my karate curriculum. I would line up two lines and have them do kumite. When I got to the guy who was being funny, I would whack him, kick him, and hit him until he quieted down. I would visit all the dojos where Andrew taught. Sometimes, we'd sleep at his house and then I'd go to work the next morning. I often got medical leave to go and teach.

Workplace Troubles and Karate

My engineer wasn't happy about my frequent absences, but he couldn't do anything about it. I spent most of my time at work talking, doing karate, and hanging around with people rather than working. He tried to put me on night shifts so I couldn't continue teaching karate. I used to close the doors of my workplace and run away to teach karate, then come back during my working time. I did all kinds of stupid things just to make sure I was involved in karate and didn't care about my work at all.

This went on for a long time. I used the money I earned to start my own dojos.

Opening My First Dojos

After getting my black belt, I opened my first dojo in a small countryside city called Montin. If you're from Malaysia, you'll know where Montin is. This was in the late 60s. My second dojo was in Semenyih, and my third was in Port Dickson. I made so much money from these three dojos that I told my parents to quit their jobs. They didn't work anymore until they passed away.

I had my own car, a nice Toyota, and drove it to work. My engineer would park his old, rotten Ford Escort next to it. He wasn't happy to see a young boy like me driving a nice sports car while he had an old car. He put pressure on me, always telling me to do this and that, trying to control me.

Helping the Engineer

Eventually, a new engineer came along. He was a bit of a playboy, but a very nice engineer. I liked him. He had some trouble when some girls' boyfriends found out about him and beat him up. He came to the people at work for help, and they told him to go to Jamal, the karate man. He came looking for me at my house while I was on medical leave, supposed to be sick and staying home. I was out teaching. When I came back, my father told me the engineer had been there. I was scared, thinking I was going to get fired for being out when I was supposed to be sick.

I found him in his office and knocked on the door. He invited me in and was very nice. He told me about his problems: this guy was coming to the office, putting his leg on the table, demanding money, and sometimes coming to his house and beating him up. I said, "No problem. People told me I could help." I was becoming a small Robin Hood, helping people through karate. I told him to just call me when the guy came.

I was working in the air conditioning on the eighth floor. The telephone rang, and the engineer told me the guy was there. I came down and saw him with his legs on the table, talking with the engineer. I opened the door and asked, "Can I help you? Who is this man putting his leg on the table?" The engineer told me who he was. I pushed his leg down, grabbed his shirt, pushed him against the wall, and said, "Do you know who I am? This is my place. I am the boss here for this whole hospital. Nobody comes here and struts around and does something like that!"

I pushed him onto a chair and said, "One more time if I see your face here, it will be smashed!" I put my fist in his face and told him to get out of here. Then I opened the door and kicked him out. That was the last time he bothered the engineer.

The engineer was very happy. He came to visit my dojo, took me out for dinner that night, and asked what he could do for me. I asked him to give me day shifts instead of night shifts. He agreed, and from then on, I only worked day shifts, allowing me to continue teaching karate much better.

He also told me to put down two or three hours of overtime, so I used to write down overtime hours and get more money. The government cheats us by taking our taxes, so I cheated the government a little bit. It was a wonderful time working at the hospital with that engineer.