Malaysia's Kampung High

I grew up with many adults in my village in Majidee in Johor in the 1960s who were stoned either on ganja imported from Thailand or pil khayal – ecstasy – bought from some pharmacist in the town of Johor Baru.

Had I not got hooked on books and slept with them and run around the kampung exploring the world carefully, I would have ended up as another Mat G…