Those were the days

IT IS often said that our schooldays are the most carefree days of our lives. While we may not have been aware of it at the time, those carefree days were, however, a significant influence on shaping our young lives. Beyond the school gates, history-making events in the wider world were also leaving their mark, on top of our personal experiences at Westlands.

This is a journey back in time to our Westlands years from 1960 to 1965.

1960

• The Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) ended on 31 July 1960 when the Malayan government declared the state of emergency was over.
• Russia shot down an American U2 spy plane. Its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was detained for two years.
• John F Kennedy became the President of the United States.
• Radio RAAF Butterworth was established.
• The movies we saw: GI blues (Elvis Presley), Swiss family Robinson, Spartacus (Kirk Douglas).
• The songs we listened to: Oh! Carol (Neil Sedaka), The twist (Chubby Checker), It's now or never (Elvis Presley), Only the lonely (Roy Orbison).

1961

• Tunku Abdul Rahman proposed the concept of a “Mighty Malaysia" consisting of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo, Brunei and Sarawak.
• Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth.
• On 13 August 1961, construction of the Berlin Wall began, cutting off West Berlin from all of surrounding East Germany and East Berlin.
• The movies we saw: Blue Hawaii (Elvis Presley), Guns of Navarone.
• The songs we listened to: Runaway (Del Shannon ), Travelin’ man (Ricky Nelson), Tonight my love, tonight (Paul Anka).

1962

• Detection of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba by American spy planes led to the Cuban missile crisis, a tense standoff between the two major Cold War nuclear powers.
• Marilyn Monroe, 36, was found dead in her bedroom.
• Sonny Liston defeated Floyd Patterson to become world heavyweight champion.
• The movies we saw: Dr No (first James Bond film), Lawrence of Arabia (Peter O'Toole), The Longest Day.
• The songs we listened to: Limbo rock (Chubby Checker), Speedy Gonzales (Pat Boone), Love me do (Beatles, debut single), Stranger on the shore (Acker Bilk), Roses are red (Bobby Vinton), The man who shot Liberty Valance (Gene Pitney).

1963

• The Federation of Malaysia was declared on 16 September 1963 with the merging of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak.
• Indonesian opposition to the formation of Malaysia resulted in Konfrontasi, the Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation that was an armed conflict but undeclared war.
• With the background of increasing guerrilla insurgency in South Vietnam, President Ngô Đình Diệm was overthrown and executed, along with his brother, on 2 November 1963.
• President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on 22 November 1963.
• Television Malaysia began broadcasting in black and white.
• The movies we saw: From Russia with love, The birds (Alfred Hitchcock), Summer holiday (Cliff Richard).
• The songs we listened to: I want to hold your hand (Beatles), Oh Malaysia (Anneke Grönloh), Sukiyaki (Kyu Sakamoto), Puff the magic dragon (Peter, Paul and Mary).

1964

• The Games of the XVIII Olympiad were held in Tokyo.
• In August 1964, the USS Maddox was involved in the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which led to an escalation of the Vietnam War and US involvement.
• Lin Dai committed suicide.
• Cassius Clay defeated Sonny Liston in a technical knockout to become the world heavyweight champion.
• The movies we saw: A hard day’s night (Beatles), Goldfinger, My fair lady (Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison), Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews).
• The songs we listened to: A hard day’s night, She loves you (Beatles), Hello, Dolly! (Louis Armstrong), Under the boardwalk (Drifters), Wishin' and hopin' (Dusty Springfield).

1965

• The American ground war in Vietnam started, together with the massive bombing campaign.
• Singapore was expelled from Malaysia, and became an independent nation.
• President Sukarno was deposed after an attempted coup, and control of Indonesia was transferred to General Suharto and the military.
• Muhammad Ali (who had changed his name from Cassius Clay) knocked out Sonny Liston in the first round of a rematch.
• The movies we saw: The sound of music (Julie Andrews), Doctor Zhivago (Omar Sharif).
• The songs we listened to: Yesterday (Beatles, a track on their Help! album), Satisfaction (Rolling Stones), Downtown (Petula Clark), Ferry cross the Mersey (Gerry and the Pacemakers).

-- Yeo Guan Khim --

The old angsana trees

SIANG JIN’S recollection of spots around the old school brings to mind these two old Angsana trees. Who still remembers them? They stand at the junction of Victoria Green Road and Mandalay Road, and are still very sturdy and strong. During certain times of the year, such as in March and April, the trees would shed their tiny flowers and the roads would be carpeted in yellow. The yellow flowers of Cheng Beng. Like the Westlands School buildings, they would have many tales to tell of young boys waiting beneath the leafy boughs for their parents or transport (no Bas Sekolah in those days, just private taxis or trishaws) to pick them up after school had dismissed. Did you wait here too?

-- Quah Seng Sun

Spots at the school — and snippets

ALL OF us came to school not knowing what to expect. For me, after a couple of years of fear and caution, the premises turned into a playground — and, in retrospect, I wished my parents hadn’t been so protective so I could have joined my friends more at school. Even then, I can recall a wealth of snippets.

This story is woefully incomplete. I hope my former schoolmates will fill in the blanks and, perhaps, turn parts of these notes into full-fledged stories.

Cheeseman Hall

• On speech day, we would hold our annual concert here in the evening. The art and craft exhibitions would be in the classes on the ground floor.
• On Saturday mornings, the hall would be our Cinema Club’s domain (for part of the year, at least).
• During weekdays, we used it for badminton, table tennis, etc.
• The school also held special assemblies, sometimes for performances like magic shows, in the hall.

The school field

• One of the largest among primary school fields, it can easily accommodate a 400-metre track. Sports Day was big, however, I can scarcely remember anything except the white wooden hurdles, the march past with our House flags… I should remember how we assembled, how athletics were conducted, how the scores were displayed, the free Milo, etc, but it is all a blank. What I can never forget, however, was Wolfe House, my house, was last for all the six years I was there.
• I recall playing football on the field but nothing much more. The sportsmen should give us a great story about the field.
• We played mata chat (cops and robbers). We might have played chiak bak there too. I am not sure, but we definitely did at PFS later.

School office

• The details of the school office elude me. I can barely remember Hanifah the office boy who went round selling stationery.
• The senior assistants, like Mr Teoh Chooi Hor or Mr Gotham, occupied a place there.
• Every day, attendance would be taken at every class and the books sent to the office. It was also the repository for all the reports the teachers had to fill in.

Canteen

• The canteen served drinks, tidbits, Indian Muslim mee (goreng and rebus), Penang Hokkien mee (10-15 cents a bowl), Indian popiah, etc. I need my friends to spell out the "etc". Canteen breaks were fun — we used to play a lot of games during the half-hour "recess". We should have a separate story on the canteen and break time.

Kachang puteh stall

• Strategically located near the canteen between class C6 and the new block, the lady's stall would sell kachang at only 5 cents per paper-made cone.

Library

• We had our regular library classes there — free time for most of us. Once in a while, the room would be used by the authorities for health inspection of the students. It was also used for vaccination (e.g. against TB) and inoculations (e.g. against cholera). The nurses would come with a boiler to sterilise all the needles before re-using them. One of our fears was getting a shot with a blunt needle.

Corridors

• WPS corridors were spacious, so while waiting to go to class, we would play games like tanchu (or jianzi) — kicking a shuttlecock-like toy made of chicken feathers weighed down by rubber from bicycle tubing. If we didn’t have the feathered version, we would tie frangipani flowers together and kick them until they turned brown and fluffy.

• We would also play cards — two boys clapping our hands with a card in each hand and letting them fall. The winner would be the one with the coloured side facing upwards. If they were the same (both coloured or both grey), it’s a draw.

Teachers’ common room

• One of the most shameful punishments, if I remember correctly, was to be asked to stand in the common room during break under the gaze of all the teachers.

Space between canteen and classes C5 and C6

• This was where we phak kan lok (played tops) and thee thok guli or main guli (played marbles) because the whole area was sand and stones, with hardly any grass. Remember the “chun” marble we called lunggu?
• Remember the phak chneow! of marbles when the bell rang for end of "recess"?
• When we played tops, there was a move called jingki in which we tossed-spun the top forward and pulled it back while it was spinning in the air — and then let it land spinning on our palm.

Flag posts

• We used to assemble before the flag posts for the flag-raising by the head boy and subsequently sing Negaraku.

Bookshop

• The bookshop was monopolised by United Book Company of Carnarvon Street. Each year we would try to buy as many books as possible from the bookshop according to the booklist. As the eldest, I did not have hand-me-downs so if we could not get them at school, the alternative would be to go to Carnarvon Street.

Hawkers at the gates

• The hawkers at the main gate served us drinks (5 cents a glass), tidbits (10 cents a packet at most) and iceballs. The syrup would come in different colours — red (rose), green and brown (sarsi).
• There was always a “draw” wherein we paid 5 cents, peeled off a piece of folded paper stuck to a large card to get a number. Once in a while we would strike — get a prize when our number corresponded with any of those on display. I cannot remember what the consolation prize was. A former classmate, Sukumaran, rightly calls this tikam.
• The hawker at the back gate sold sugar cane water and leong fun. Can cham (or mix). Can also tambah (add) a bit.

My class locations and teachers

• Std 1C, 1960, was in C3 (afternoon session under Mr John Low Thean Hock)
• Std 2A, 1961, in C12 (afternoon under Ms Chan Ai Mooi)
• Std 3A, 1962 (afternoon at C6 under Ms Khoo, then at WSS; later shifted to C13 in the morning under Mr John Low Thean Hock)
• Std 4A, 1963 (C3, morning, under Mrs Yeoh Poey Chee)
• Std 5A, 1964 (C7, morning, under Mr Thomas Khor)
• Std 6 Blue, 1965 (C12, morning, under Mr Tan Eng Chuan)

© Lim Siang Jin 2018

Please send your reactions to westlandsprimary65@gmail.com

Catchment area of Westlands Primary

THE STUDENT catchment area of Westlands Primary was surprisingly vast, stretching from Ayer Itam to Pulau Tikus and the inner city. However, the majority of us came from around the school in two clusters:

• First, side roads between the Pangkor and Larut Road intersections with Burmah Road, and 
• Second, to the south, Logan Road, Dunn Road, and MacAlister Road with all its side roads. 

Burmah Road used to be a small road that cut through some Burmese plantations leading to Pulau Tikus — an area with a sizable number of minorities e.g. Thais, Burmese and Eurasians. It was also a place where the richer folk in town, like the Babas of Muntri Street, built their second homes.  This is the reason so many roads near Westlands Primary had names associated with Burma and Thailand.

The other landmarks that defined our school's environment were, of course, the Chinese Recreation Club and Victoria Green. Their rich history deserves another story.

In this story, we want to see who among our small initial group lived where — the areas and the roads. We have linked all the roads to a website called PenangTravelTips to give us a short description of each. This is done with owner Timothy Tye’s permission.

Hopefully, some of us can elaborate on life on their own roads. For example, Suku talked to us about the Yap Brothers shop he frequented, and a coffeeshop at the corner of Burmah and Tavoy Roads which sold the “best pau”.

Do you have any reaction or a story to tell? Please send them to westlandsprimary65@gmail.com

Near the school (click on the road names for more info on the road)

• Burmah Road: Sukumaran, Chuan Keat, Ahmad Mokhtar
• Chow Thye Road: Seng Oo, Cheng Leong, Modushudan
• Dunn Road: Jin Kheng
• Immigration Road: Mun Sun, Soon Chneah, Teik Wah, Johnson Doss 
• Irrawaddy Road: Lim Seng Huat, Subramaniam, Swee Kheng
• Khaw Sim Bee Road: Boon Kheng
• Logan Road: Guan Khim, Oon Hup, Kah Kheng 
• Mandalay Road: Mohzani
• Pangkor Road: Noel Tan
• Salween Road: Foo Chun,  Loong Kong 
• Service Road: Ong Seng Huat, Seng Khoon, Kay Liang
• Tavoy Road: Soo Beng

Ayer Itam area

• Ayer Itam Road: Chien Ch'eng, Kumaraveloo, Arjan, Seng Leong
• Kampung Baru, Ayer Itam: Kar Keat, Gunaseelan 
• Reservoir Garden: Yoon Fatt 
• Zoo Road: Leng Kooi

Pulau Tikus area

• Birch Road & Close: Ewe Tee, Teong Hean 
• Burmah Crescent: Ewe Leong
• Cantonment Road: Siang Jin, Wing Keong
• Kelawei Road: Soon Hock
• Moulmein Road: Chee Beng

Others:

• Beach Street: Kin Tatt
• Caunter Crescent: Eng Hing
• Free School Road area: Teik Kooi
• Irving Road: Chong Yeang
• MacAlister Road: Tzu Tan
• Rope Walk: Keng Lam
• Scotland Road: Soo Heong
• Seang Tek Road: Seng Sun
  (Seng Sun's recollections of his old neighbourhood can be read here, here and here.)
• Tamil Street: Mohd Noor
• Weld Quay: Kah Wee

Please send your reactions to westlandsprimary65@gmail.com

Westlands School today

WESTLANDS SCHOOL does not exist anymore. Due to dwindling student population, the Education Department had converted the school into the Westlands Centre for Sports Excellence in 1992. Today, the place is also the home to the Penang Schools Sports Council (MSSPP).

When we visited the Westlands grounds on the afternoon of 12 Mar 2018, we found the place empty and serene. Obviously, no boys were running along the corridors or making the usual noise in the classrooms. This perhaps contributed to the nostalgia of visiting this old haunt.

The main building is almost the same as 50 to 60 years ago except for trees now lining the road from the entrance to the Cheeseman Hall.

The school bell remains hung on the first floor of the building above the porch. I wonder what it is used for nowadays....

This is the back of the school. In the old days, there was a one-storey structure in place of the present-day four-storey building. The canteen was located here, together with the toilets and the staff quarters.

The playing field is almost the same except for the presence of a permanent row of white canopies that are hidden by the trees to the left of the picture. In the old days, makeshift tents for the school Houses would be erected at the far end of the field during the annual Sports Day.

This is the Cheeseman Hall, named after Harold Cheeseman who became the Director of Education in Malaya immediately after the end of the Second World War.

The inside of the Cheeseman Hall today. The old school crest is still there above the stage although the position of the W and S have been switched around, and the motto had been changed to “Berusaha” to reflect the national language.

Interestingly, the background of the board that says “Dewan Cheeseman” is in red. If I remember correctly, red is the official colour of Cheeseman House at Penang Free School where Cheeseman started his illustrious teaching career in the Straits Settlements in 1907.

-- Quah Seng Sun --

The roads around Westlands

IN ONE of my earlier stories, A space called Westlands, I had included this map that I traced free-hand from the Kelly Maps that I originally found on the Internet. 

For those not in the know, the Kelly Maps is a collection of historic survey maps made of George Town, Penang Island and Province Wellesley. Between 1891 and 1893, FW Kelly supervised the block surveys of the entire of Penang and in the ensuing years until 1897, his block surveys were put together into a grid and thus forming sheets. These block surveys are now referred to collectively as the Kelly Maps. Thanks to FW Kelly, we now have a pretty good idea of what Penang must have looked like in the early 1890s.

Recently, I uncovered an undated map of George Town which I would place as maybe 1935 or 1936, basing this assumption on the fact that the Westlands School building was already on the map while the Anglo-Chinese School building (later to become the Pykett Methodist Primary School) was not. The ACS building was only constructed in 1937 and indeed, it was officially declared open by the Straits Settlements Governor, Sir Shenton Thomas, on the 11th of December that year.

What’s so fascinating about this meticulously-drawn map is that it still showed the four bungalows which were collectively known as the Westlands Bungalows as well as the Khaw Sim Bee Mansion (aka the Westlands House).

By 1936, there was already a through road that linked from the Westlands Bungalows to the Chinese Recreation Club. Although the CRC was established in 1892, their present grounds were only acquired sometime between 1903 and 1906. Their Victorian-style clubhouse saw light of  day in 1931 and until it was built, the club was using an old wooden bungalow called Eastbourne, located at the corner of Pangkor Road and Burmah Road, where the Queen Victoria memorial statue stands today. Westlands School was located on Victoria Green Road which was named after the Victoria Green of the Chinese Recreation Club. Skirting the southern boundary of the school grounds was Westlands Road. Maybe in 1936, it was still uncompleted or untarred but it was to connect Perak Road to Anson Road. Part of the road was later to be renamed as Khaw Sim Bee Road.

The renaming of roads in Penang probably began from 1941. The sharp-eyed scrutineer of the map would have noticed the presence of another road in the vicinity known as Westlands Avenue. That was indeed the original name of the present-day Pykett Avenue. In a tribute story carried by the Malaya Tribune of 9 Jan 1941, it read:

Westlands Avenue will henceforth be called Pykett Avenue in memory of the late Rev GF Pykett.

This change of name was made possible by an eloquent appeal by Dr Ong Huck Chye seconded by Mr HH Abdool Cader, before the Penang Municipal Commissioners at their first meeting of the year yesterday.

Dr Huck Chye declared that section 109 of the Municipal Ordinance which did not give the Commissioners any power to change the names of streets had been so amended by Ordinance 48 of 1940 that they now have the full discretion to do so as and when required.

He proceeded to give a concise history of the Anglo-Chinese School and the life of the late Rev Pykett, whose contribution to education in Malaya, he said, was by no means small.

Dr Huck Chye said:

“The Anglo-Chinese School Penang, one of the three leading English schools in this settlement, is celebrating its Golden Jubilee sometime in May this year. It is but befitting that such a memorable occasion be commemorated by the erection of a lasting monument in the form of a bust, or statue of its founder or pioneer worker or in the least by the naming of an important landmark or thoroughfare after him.”

© Quah Seng Sun 2018

Rediscovering friendship

LUNCH today at the OFA Restaurant (New Wing Look Restaurant) in George Town, Penang with three old teachers (yes, they are really old... all in their eighties) but they don't look their age.

Seated, left to right: Sukumaran, Hwang Hong Shi, Thomas Khor, Liew Chen Tong and Lim Seng Huat; standing (left to right): Lim Siang Jin, Quah Seng Sun, Ong Seng Huat, Tan Ewe Leong and Lim Chien Cheng.

Historical picture

FROM The Straits Times of 5th February 1935, here is a picture of the Westlands School when it was first completed. It is to be noted that directly behind the double-storey school building, hidden from view, was a single-storey block that comprised the canteen, toilets and the coolie quarters.

The school emerges

IT WAS not until 20th January 1933 that the Straits Settlements Government began asking for tenders to construct the school buildings. The tenders were advertised several times in the local newspapers in January and February of that year and closed on 17th February. 

For reasons unknown, the results of the tender were only announced at the end of the year. It would have been very easy to miss out on this brief, one-line story in the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser of 23rd December, 1933: “The tender of Messrs Swan and Dunn Ltd of Kuala Lumpur ($56,300) has been accepted for the erection of a new English school at Westlands, Penang.”

Because of this, the construction of the school itself was delayed by several months. In the 14th March 1934 issue of the Malaya Tribune, readers finally had an idea of the development:

Government is spending over $50,000 on an English school to occupy the vacant piece of land adjoining the Chinese Recreation Club, Penang. The proposed school will be at Westlands and the area of the site extends to seven and one-third acres.

The school was originally to have been built last year but work was not started on it until the beginning of this year. It is expected that the school will be ready for occupation before December.

The new school, which will face due north and south, is to replace the Government English School, the building at Northam Road, being at present empty owing to the students having been moved into Hutchings School. It will therefore be an elementary boys' school.

Messrs Swan and Dunn, Ltd, of Kuala Lumpur, have secured the building contract. The school will be a two-storey affair and the construction will, in the main, be of steel extension and concrete with steel rook trusses.

There will be twelve classes which will accommodate nearly 500 pupils, two common rooms for the boys, two teachers rooms and a headmaster's room. A hall 80 feet by 20 feet will be available for assembly, lectures, exhibitions or speech days by folding the wooden partitions between two classrooms. It is understood that ten teachers, with a headmaster, will complete the staff.

A tiffin shed of ample size will house the students during break hours. Shelter will be afforded the boys' bicycles in a specially-constructed shed. Coolies in the employ of the school will be provided with quarters adjoining the school premises.

There will be two tennis courts, a football field and three badminton courts.

By the end of 1934, the Westlands School had been completed and was ready to receive its first intake of new pupils. FC Barraclough was the first headmaster of the new Westlands School.

© Quah Seng Sun 2018

A space called Westlands

UNTIL 1957, there was only the Westlands School. In that year, another block of school buildings opened in Khaw Sim Bee Road and that became the Westlands Secondary School. The original Westlands School in Victoria Green Road thus became known as the Westlands Primary School to differentiate it from the secondary school.

But Westlands. What was Westlands back in the past before the Westlands School was constructed? Until the early 1930s, the area was reported to be a wide open space belonging to Khaw Joo Chie, one of the eminent sons of Khaw Sim Bee who, in turn, was the most eminent and illustrious scion of Khaw Soo Cheang. The Khaw family had their business empire in Thailand.

In 1919, the President of the Penang Municipal Commission stated at a meeting that Joo Chie had “placed 25 acres of land at Westlands for Municipal coolies to plant foodstuffs and had also given $200 as prizes to the coolies who grew the most foodstuffs on the land.” (Malaya Tribune, 16th May, 1919)

Logan Road, Perak Road, Pangkor Road and Burmah Road made up much of the perimeter of the Westlands open space. To the south-east of this land was a road known as Westlands Avenue. It was only in this south-eastern corner that several spacious bungalows had been erected.

There were four detached bungalows which together were known as the Westlands Bungalows, inhabited mainly by the Europeans. One of the former headmasters of Penang Free School, Ralph Henry Pinhorn, was known to have stayed in one of these bungalows. Another well-known occupant of the Westlands Bungalows was the Revd George F Pykett who was very closely associated with the growth of the Anglo-Chinese School in Penang. The Anglo-Chinese School later became known as the Methodist Boys' School. Directly opposite the Westlands Bungalows but facing Westlands Avenue was a mansion belonging to the Khaw Sim Bee family, known as Westlands House.

In the 1930s, these were the only references to Westlands that I knew of: the four units making up Westlands Bungalows, Westlands House, Westlands Avenue and the vast tract of open space called Westlands bordered by the five roads named above. Sadly, all five landmarks have disappeared from the maps.

The 18th December 1931 edition of The Straits Times had a one-line mention of Westlands as a “large open space” that had been marked out for road construction. Then on 20th February 1932, the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser reported that “a block of land about 7½ acres in Burmah Road, Penang, known as ‘Westlands’, belonging to Mr Khaw Joo Chie, has just been acquired by Government for a sum of $115,000, which works out approximately to $15,500 per acre. The site is intended for the new buildings of the Government English School at present in Northam Road.”

So there we have it, the first mention of a school going up in a large open space known as Westlands. But also interesting is the news of an existing Government English School in Northam Road which I shall write more about that in a later post.

© Quah Seng Sun 2018