An Indigenous mechanic in a Bavarian Workshop
Meet Khamis - a BMW and Mercedes Benz specialist.
I was introduced to Khamis recently for servicing and since the job required more time than anticipated, I had to ask him a favour to pick up Maine at home as I had initially planned to pick her up for her tution class.
During the journey from Shah Alam to TTDI, we initially talked about usual car things and I asked him how he became a BMW and Merc specialist.
He started to rattle on about the technical aspects of all the latest BMW and Merc engines, spouting out names and figures with an Indonesian sounding like accent with his take on the pros and cons of valvetronic and kompressor engines.
I knew that that he was more than just talk, when he shared with me a recent incident when his towkay sent him to help a man in distress when his one month old S Class just stalled in the middle of a roundabout. He came with the portable computer in tow, did the diagnosis, but the computer still failed to detect the reason on the sudden engine shutdown.
Then he decided to backtrack the few meters of the car journey and found out that there was a pool of water which the owner drove into. After using his instincts, he finally managed to find the problem.
The driver hit the pool of water at such an angle that water was sucked into his air flow and into the engine. Wow….nobody thought of that. And true enough, this was the reason when they sent it back to the workshop.
Well, good for him you might say….they are a few chaps out there who are good in their trade.
I too had the same thought when our conversation switched to personal matters when said:
Khamis : Saya sebenarnya orang asli bang…
Poncho : Eh?….
Khamis : Saya orang Jakun dari Johor dan isteri saya orang Semai duduk kat perak..
Poncho : Oh….so you keturunan orang asli aje la….
Khamis : Tak. Saya memang hidup sebagai orang asli dari kechil. Saya tak pernah pergi pergi sekolah pun….
Poncho : Eh, abis tu macam mana awak boleh repair keta BMW dan Mercs dari atas sampai bawah?
Khamis : Saya masuk belajar kursus bengkeI IKM. lepas tu tawkey lama saya ajar repair keta. Mula2 keta jepun…lepas tu saya belajar buat BM dan Mercs….sampai sekarang….
I asked him how he learnt to read and write especially when using those complicated diagnostic machines and he replied:
"Ala….kita belajar je la bang….bapak saya dari kecil selalu kata jangan sekali-kali cakap kita malas atau letih. Orang asli kata apa kita cakap, mesti akan masuk ke dalam hati…jadi kita kena jaga apa yang masuk dalam hati kita…."
Wise words indeed. From a wise young indigenous man.
But what makes me really proud is that this is an orang asli who can dismantle and deciphere advanced german engines without even going to school.
Makes you kinda wonder why we all bother to slog ourselves in getting our tertiary education.
Khamis can be found at Autopex Glenmarie, Batu Tiga, Shah Alam.
I was introduced to Khamis recently for servicing and since the job required more time than anticipated, I had to ask him a favour to pick up Maine at home as I had initially planned to pick her up for her tution class.
During the journey from Shah Alam to TTDI, we initially talked about usual car things and I asked him how he became a BMW and Merc specialist.
He started to rattle on about the technical aspects of all the latest BMW and Merc engines, spouting out names and figures with an Indonesian sounding like accent with his take on the pros and cons of valvetronic and kompressor engines.
I knew that that he was more than just talk, when he shared with me a recent incident when his towkay sent him to help a man in distress when his one month old S Class just stalled in the middle of a roundabout. He came with the portable computer in tow, did the diagnosis, but the computer still failed to detect the reason on the sudden engine shutdown.
Then he decided to backtrack the few meters of the car journey and found out that there was a pool of water which the owner drove into. After using his instincts, he finally managed to find the problem.
The driver hit the pool of water at such an angle that water was sucked into his air flow and into the engine. Wow….nobody thought of that. And true enough, this was the reason when they sent it back to the workshop.
Well, good for him you might say….they are a few chaps out there who are good in their trade.
I too had the same thought when our conversation switched to personal matters when said:
Khamis : Saya sebenarnya orang asli bang…
Poncho : Eh?….
Khamis : Saya orang Jakun dari Johor dan isteri saya orang Semai duduk kat perak..
Poncho : Oh….so you keturunan orang asli aje la….
Khamis : Tak. Saya memang hidup sebagai orang asli dari kechil. Saya tak pernah pergi pergi sekolah pun….
Poncho : Eh, abis tu macam mana awak boleh repair keta BMW dan Mercs dari atas sampai bawah?
Khamis : Saya masuk belajar kursus bengkeI IKM. lepas tu tawkey lama saya ajar repair keta. Mula2 keta jepun…lepas tu saya belajar buat BM dan Mercs….sampai sekarang….
I asked him how he learnt to read and write especially when using those complicated diagnostic machines and he replied:
"Ala….kita belajar je la bang….bapak saya dari kecil selalu kata jangan sekali-kali cakap kita malas atau letih. Orang asli kata apa kita cakap, mesti akan masuk ke dalam hati…jadi kita kena jaga apa yang masuk dalam hati kita…."
Wise words indeed. From a wise young indigenous man.
But what makes me really proud is that this is an orang asli who can dismantle and deciphere advanced german engines without even going to school.
Makes you kinda wonder why we all bother to slog ourselves in getting our tertiary education.
Khamis can be found at Autopex Glenmarie, Batu Tiga, Shah Alam.
Posted by Poncho.
posted by Maine at 1:42 PM
<< Home