Secretary, Stenographer or PA?

When I started working in a government institution in 1985, there were three types of personnel assisting a boss: a stenographer, a secretary or a PA (not the insurance type). Most of them are ladies. I used to invigilate their exams too on behalf of the authorities.

Well I was a PA too once: to my father. In 1970s the only distant mode of communications was through letters. In my kampung Mr Postman comes only once-a-week on his trusted BSA red motorbike. He delivers letters, accept letters for posting from the villagers and selling the stamps too. My father used to communicate with my maternal grandmother who lived in Dungun - about 80km away and I was always asked to draft letters to my grandmother.

Usually my father gives 'notice' about the job during dinner. He would tell me that we have a letter to send to Grandma. After the meal, I would take a pencil and two or three sheets torn out of my exercise book. He would say - in our dialect - what he wanted to tell Grandma. I then wrote down in standard Malay his words, as speedily as I could so as not to miss any of his main points. After he finished saying his message, he asked me to read whatever that I have written. If he is satisfied that all that he wanted to say were in the letter, he would sign it. If he felt something was not right, he'd tell me where to put in more words or to expunge any. After signing the letter, my father would put it in an envelop - light blue in colour in those days - and seal it with a gum. A stamp has be bought from Mr. Postman, during his next visit to our kampung, who also collected the letter after the stamp was affixed on the envelop using...yes...saliva.

My father's letters to grandma were either in jawi or rumi depending on his mood. This task of drafting and writing my father's letters to grandma, I did since I was in standard two - believe it or not. And we used pencil as pen was too expensive at that time.

So was I my father's secretary, stenographer or PA? Whatever it is, this task provides me with more or less good writing skills which is useful in my later life!