Tan Kiar Lew, Headmaster (1939-51)

Tan Kiar Lew (right) with his eldest daughter Tan Ghim Chin,

youngest son Tan Teik Boon and grand daughter Tan Chui 

Peng. Chui Peng is Teik Boon's eldest daughter — 1973

This short biography of Tan Kiar Lew, one of the first Asian headmasters of Westlands School, shows the diverse interests of teachers of those days — in the subjects they taught, in extra-mural activities of the school and in Penang society as a whole. One of Tan’s sons, Tan Teik Beng, also had an illustrious career in education, holding such positions as Chief Education Officer in Johore, Penang and Selangor. The following is written by his youngest son, Tan Teik Boon, who worked with Shell.

Tan Kiar Lew with eldest grandson Tan Seang Hock in Hong 

Kong, Nov 1979. Seang Hock, like many of his other family 

members, went to Westlands Primary, then Penang Free 

School. Seang Hock's years in those schools were 

WPS (1958-63), PFS (1964-70)

Mr Tan was born in 1896 and he started work at the age of 19. He taught at the Penang Free School which was situated in town before it moved to Green Lane. He taught mainly English and his favourite subject, mathematics. His forte was in numbers and calculations, as he excelled in this field.

He was very active in scouting as a student and as a teacher. He attended scout jamborees locally as well as overseas and played a very active leadership role in this field.

He was transferred to be the Headmaster of Westlands School in 1939. He continued his active life in the school and brought about many changes to improve the school building, education, sports and extra-mural activities.

The May 1939 issue of the Penang Free School magazine says:
"Early this year, Mr Tan Kiar Lew left us to take up his
appointment as Headmaster of Westlands School. He has been
with the school for a long time, having taught for a period of
twenty-six years. We are proud of his promotion and extend
our best wishes to him."

An important activity introduced was Indian club swinging for the students. It gained popularity and was a spectacle in town — especially with the lights attached to the clubs swinging in unison in the dark at night concerts and exhibitions. Mr Teoh Chooi Hor (“water tiger”) was the teacher who brought up the school in this spectacular display.

His headmastering period was interrupted by World War Two, when the Japanese used the school for their own purposes. Mr Tan had to use the Japanese language for the then office administration, thanks to his earlier education in the Chinese language. He could interact the use of the two languages well.

He resumed as Headmaster of the school after 1945 and started to rebuild the school to its glory in 1946 till he retired at end-1951. The old teachers then included Bobby Goh, Abah Rahmes, Sheik Ji, Tang Gooi Kong, Lim Kean Chye and Teoh Chooi Hor.

Apart from education, Mr Tan was also active in public service activities during the pre-retirement and post-retirement period. He was active in the Penang Rotary Club, the Junior Civil Service Association, Hu Yew Seah and the Tan Kongsi. He also served in the Penang Cooperatives Society and the Penang Buddhist Association committees.

Mr Tan passed away in 1988, aged 92.

Golden Wedding Anniversary of Mr & Mrs Tan Kiar Lew: Mr Tan (in the dark suit) speaking to Datuk Koh Sin Hock at the celebration. On the left was Mrs Tan (Mdm Lim Chin Kim). The man giving a speech was Tan Sri Saw Seng Kew. The other person at the table was Mr Tan Cheng Tit, Tan Sri Saw's brother-in-law. The event was held on 27th December 1967 at the Chopsticks Restaurant, Hotel Ambassador, Penang Road 

Harold Cheeseman

IN MY opinion, there was more to it than simply naming the new hall at Westlands School after the retired Director of Education, Harold Ambrose Robinson Cheeseman (b.1890, d.1961). The connection between Cheeseman and Westlands School went far deeper than just the hall, as I will reveal in a later blog story.

In case anybody suggests that I have a fixation about Cheeseman in this Westlands School blog, perhaps I should explain that the influence of the former Malayan Director of Education loomed large in the annals of Education of this country. He wasn't just a Director of Education, or in his younger days, arriving at Penang Free School as an assistant master on an initial three-year contract, an Inspector of Schools in Penang or Chief Inspector of Schools who travelled all over British Malaya and the Straits Settlements.

There were two phases in Cheeseman's distinguished career in the Far East. The second phase was when he was an administrator in the Malayan civil service, beginning with his appointment as the Inspector of Schools in Penang. The first phase started as he arrived in Penang, fresh-faced and carefree as an 18-year-old lad, looking for adventure of sorts, no doubt.

Unlike the other European masters of his time at the Free School, he didn’t possess any academic degree and wasn’t armed with any professional qualification. But we’ve got to admire the man for his grit and determination because once his value was recognised by the British powers-that-be, he rose to the highest position in Education ever attained by a civilian or public servant.

While at Penang Free School from 1907, he was described by the former headmaster, Ralph Pinhorn, as a man with indefatigable energy. Very much interested in the outdoors and extra-curricular activities, he initiated the Scout movement in Penang Free School and encouraged St Xavier'’s Institution and Anglo-Chinese School (now the Methodist Boys' School) to start theirs too.

Cheeseman was a person most admired among the Scouters and even FC Sands, the Scout Commissioner for Malaya, looked at him with respect. Sands wrote once: “There is a man in Penang of whom I am terrified, and the words of wisdom which I utter will probably not impress him at all. He will probably 'turn and rend' me. However, I have the advantage (a mean one, doubtless) of being able to get the last word, and that gives me courage.”

He also started the Penang Free School Magazine in 1909, a publication which set the trend for other schools in the Straits Settlements and British Malaya to follow. The school magazines were produced periodically and wholly owned by the boys. By the way, Cheeseman's popular nickname among the schoolboys was, you guessed it right, “Orang Keju.” It was all in good fun but nobody else would have dared call him that except the boys he had taught.

During the first phase from 1907 till 1922, Cheeseman was:

• Employed initially as Assistant Master at Penang Free School on a three-year contract (1907);
• Appointed to command both the Penang Free School Cadets (from 1907) and Scouts (from 1915);
• Elected Secretary and treasurer of the Penang Football League (1912);
• Elected Vice-president of the Penang Literary Society (1915);
• Made Second Lieutenant of the Chinese Company (D Company) of the Penang Volunteer Corps (1916);
• Elected Vice-president of the Penang Schoolmasters' Athletics Association (1916); 
• Appointed Headmaster of Northam Road Government English School (Aug 1922);
• Considered the catalyst that set up The Old Frees' Association (Oct 1922).

Cheeseman was assimilated into the Straits Settlements civil service with the taking over of Penang Free School by the Government in Jan 1920. Subsequently, when he was transferred out from Penang Free School in Aug 1922, he was appointed as the first headmaster of the new Northam Road Government English School. He was at the helm of this new school for barely a few months before his abilities then taking him into the administrative side of education in which he remained for the next 41 years.

“In 1923, he became Inspector of Schools in Penang, and seven years later was the first Superintendent of Education in Johore, a new post which had been created in an enlightened State which desired to be as rich in education as it was in rubber,” according to a story in The Straits Times of 10th Dec 1948 to report his retirement. [Note: It was not seven years, as mistakenly reported by the newspaper, but five years between his appointments as Inspector of Schools Penang and Superintendent of Education Johore.]

From 1923 till the onset of the Japanese Occupation, Cheeseman was:

• Appointed Inspector of Schools in Penang (Jan 1923);
• Appointed Commissioner of the Boy Scouts in the Settlement of Penang (June 1923);
• Made Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute (Nov 1923);
• Appointed a member of the Board of Examiners in Languages (for Malay) for Penang (Jun 1923);
• Elected as Committee Member of the Penang Library (Mar 1924);
• Appointed Unofficial Trustee of Penang Free School (Mar 1924);
• Appointed Supervisor of Education, Johore (Mar 1928);
• Appointed Inspector of Schools, Singapore and Labuan (Apr 1934);
• Appointed Chief Inspector of Schools, Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States (Jun 1937);
• Appointed Deputy Director of Education, Malaya (Sep 1938);
• Elected President of the Singapore Rotary Club (July 1941).

At the time of the Japanese invasion of Malaya in Dec 1941, Cheeseman was already the Deputy Director of Education. When he was interned at the Changi Gaol and Sime Road Camp in Singapore, he organised lectures and camp schools for the adult interns and their children, numbering around 3,000 in all, at what was loosely referred to as the Changi University until the purge of the Double Tenth incident of 10th Oct 1943 put a stop to them. [Read a little about Cheeseman’s experience during his internment here.]

After the surrender of Japan in September 1945, Cheeseman resumed his work in the Education Department and soon afterwards, he was elevated to the post of Director of Education of the Malayan Union and later, the Federation of Malaya. He was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the King’s New Year Honours List of 1947. He retired in Dec 1948 and settled down in Kent, England. Cheeseman died in the town of Ramsgate in Nov 1961, aged 71.

© Quah Seng Sun 2018

Canteen food dilemma

THE  school canteen was not for lengthy sit-down meals with chit-chat. The older boys, especially, would rush in, get their food, wolf it down and run off to play – to make the most of the half-hour recess. Its structure was designed for a mad invasion of hungry boys and a mass exodus. There were openings everywhere for us to move in and out. To suit the circumstances, the fare served was local “fast food” (see a more detailed description of each below).

Our schoolmates recall that many of us did not eat canteen food. We brought our own or had it specially prepared and sent over. There were strong reasons for this.

Hygiene was a still a major problem in the 1960s judging from the various filmlets we were shown in the hall or at the cinema on how to cleanly prepare and consume food and drinks. I remember one whose essential message was: “Dig a well on high ground and the latrine on low ground, and not the other way around”. It was very graphic, showing how germs travelled via the moving groundwater from the latrine into the well if we did not construct them properly. Moreover, “Hygiene” was a part of the school curriculum.

Another reason for avoiding hawker fare stemmed from our parents’ early lives. Those times gave them a lesson in public health they must have carried into the 1950s (when we were born) and beyond.

During their childhood, in the 1920s, Malayans were already concerned about a wide range of prevalent diseases. At that time, the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) in Kuala Lumpur was conducting in-depth studies “into the causes, transmission, treatment and prevention of such diseases as cholera, small pox, leprosy, melioidosis, influenza, dysentery, rabies, tuberculosis, typhoid, filariasis, leptospirosis, dengue and scrub typhus.” Their findings were fed into the public health system.

Much of the progress in uplifting health standards was reversed in the early 1940s. “The period of Japanese Occupation in Malaya from 1942-1945 witnessed the breakdown of the high standards of disease control...” Read more about these conditions here.

It was against this background that our parents decided to be very careful about what we ate.

Back to the WPS canteen, the range of Penang “fast food” was rather wide and, I must say, it is enjoyable to recount the various ways we experienced them. Our friends, especially Ong Seng Huat, Ooi Chek Jin and Sukumaran, gave a fair bit of input:

• Indian Muslim mee goreng (fried) and rebus (boiled and subsequently drenched with a thick tomato-based spicy sauce): What I recall the most about this stall is that it allowed the older boys to queue up to fry their own. All we had to do was heat up some cooking oil and add a plate of ready-apportioned ingredients – noodles, ngeow choo chnee (a type of fritters) and fried tau kua (soya bean cake). There were two woks on two charcoal stoves for us and, therefore, there were two queues. As we fried, we could add all the sauces provided -- chilli sauce, tomato gravy, light soya sauce... The vendor would throw in a bit of taugeh at some point. At the end, as is customary with this dish, I assume the vendor would garnish it with a bit of sliced lettuce and a slice of lemon. I cannot remember.   
• Hokkien mee (prawn mee soup): Our Hokkien mee came in petite little bowls suited for little stomachs; those that are used now for bah kut teh in Klang or sold as antiques. The vendors would display clearly about 10 to 20 bowls of uncooked mee, taugeh and kangkong. Each time we ordered, he would throw the lot into a bamboo strainer, shake everything in boiling water and fill a bowl with the boiled items. After that, he would garnish with some small fried prawns and sliced pork and pour the soup over. Each bowl was 10 cents.  
• Sar hor fun: The Penang version of this dish comes with some pre-fried koay teow and bee hoon. A thick sauce, with chai sim (choy sum), sometimes char siew and prawns, is poured over them. This dish is additionally flavoured by pre-frying both noodles in a very hot wok to slightly char them. It gives the dish its distinctive flavour.  
• Koay teow thng: This dish of flat rice noodles with clear soup is prepared pretty much like Hokkien mee, with the main ingredients being koay teow, sliced fish cake and sliced meat. The secret in this dish is the garlic fried in lard. Combined, they give a distinct flavour and aroma to what seems rather plain. 
• Indian-style popiah (spring rolls): Indian or Indian Muslim popiah is different from the Chinese version in many ways: (a) Its main filler, the bangkuang or sengkuang (also known as hong kuak) is prepared with spices including turmeric, giving it a yellowish tinge (b) Its second filler is minced tau kua  fried with little unshelled prawns (c) The popiah is usually served basah or wet/drenched with soup (d) The chilli sauce is spread over the wrapped rolls. Our vendor, we are told by Sukumaran, plied his trade elsewhere too – at the coffeeshop next to Rex cinema.
• Drinks: I cannot remember much except that there was iced drinks with rose syrup. I was told by Seng Sun that the drinks stall lady also prepared toast bread with butter and sugar which he pretty much consumed almost daily.
• Tidbits: My friends recall that this stall sold, apart from tidbits, preserved fruit (e.g. sliced unripe papaya or green mangoes that have been pickled) and toys. It also had tikam, wherein students drew lots to get a prize.  
• Kachang puteh: The Indian lady at this stall, in her fifties and a bit on the plump side, always wore a saree. I can only remember her kachang puteh (two or more versions) and groundnuts. They came in long conical containers made of paper (not from newspapers but used magazines or old text books; today we call them “wood free” or art paper). 

© Lim Siang Jin 2018

Cheeseman and his hall

THIS IS the Cheeseman Hall today, both inside and outside, although I don't remember it being so garishly painted back in the good old school days. I understand that it is still being used for events. However, it was very gratifying to see that despite the Education Department having taken over the former Westlands Primary School and turned it into a Centre for Sports Excellence, the original name for the Cheeseman Hall was retained. The authorities could have quietly renamed it a long time ago and nobody would have been the wiser. There would have been no public hue and cry because hardly anybody today would know who the bloody ’ell this Cheeseman was. In fact, nobody would have noticed it except for us few diehard former Westlands Primary School students on a nostalgic visit to our former primary school. But the fact that they did not change the Hall's name meant that there was still a strong connection with the past.

When I was writing the story on the roads around Westlands, I had inserted an undated map of the area which I discovered in an old book. I surmised the map could have been possibly drawn in 1935 or 1936. Recently, I got lucky again. Just about a fortnight back, I unearthed from the archives of the National Library Board of Singapore an equally old map of Penang. Well, almost as old. This map was also undated but the National Library estimated that it was likely prepared by the Japanese before the Second World War that began in December 1941. Given that the Anglo-Chinese School building (now the Pykett Methodist Primary School building) was opened at the end of 1937 - and shown here as the encircled 21 in red - that would narrow down the date of the map to be between 1938 and 1941. A four-year-window. Like the 1935 or 1936 map I mentioned earlier, the Cheeseman Hall building was still not included in this later map. (Note: In the map from the National Library archive, the encircled red numbers were added by the Japanese – there were 55 numbered buildings in all - to identify the main offices, clubs, school, police stations, hospitals, etc, with each landmark given its Japanese equivalent translation.)

To be sure, the Cheeseman Hall building did not exist when the main school block was constructed in 1934. According to a newspaper report, whenever it was so required, 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.” (Malaya Tribune, 14 Mar 1934)

So when was the Cheeseman Hall built? Before the War or after the War? I’m sorry to say this but records are just not there anymore. But my nagging speculation is that the building could have been erected around or after 1948. You see, Harold Ambrose Robinson Cheeseman, after whom the hall was named, was the Federation of Malaya Director of Education  He retired at the end of 1948 after a long and illustrious career of 41 years in the service of Education. He had spent his entire career in the Malayan peninsula, having started fresh off the boat in 1907 as an assistant master in Penang Free School. After he retired as Director of Education, tributes to honour him went into full swing, such as the establishment of a Cheeseman Fund in October 1949 to commemorate his work in education (Malaya Tribune, 13 Oct 1949) and the naming of a road opposite Penang Free School as Cheeseman Road instead of Greenlands Avenue in July 1950 (Singapore Standard, 28 July 1950). Therefore, I wouldn't be too surprised if the Westlands School had also decided to name their new hall after Cheeseman too. The earliest mention I could find of a Cheeseman Hall in the news was in the 21 May 1951 edition of the Singapore Standard. [An update: I have discovered an earlier mention of a Cheeseman Hall at Westlands School. The Singapore Standard of 6 December 1950 mentioned the "Westlands School Speech Day and Exhibition (Chesseman Hall) 5.30pm.]

© Quah Seng Sun 2018

Treasure trove of teachers

Thomas Khor along the corridor at WPS, 12 March 2018:
Remember the walk (some say “swagger”) and posture?

WHEN WE met the former teachers Thomas Khor, Hwang Hong Shi and Liew Chen Tong on 12 March 2018, we quickly realised one thing: They are a treasure trove of information on the school. On the other hand, we, former students, could recall much much less.

Hwang Hong Shi, we know from his Facebook entries, has a lot of pictures on scouting. As a young man, he was deeply involved in the movement and at Westlands Primary he was a teacher of the former Raja of Perlis, the late HRH Syed Putra Ibni Syed Hassan Jamalullail.

Thomas Khor was very happy that the meeting jolted his memory of the old days. He spoke about hiking with the scouts and being active in badminton. One of us said, “The most we recall about you are your posture and the way you walked”. And he jokingly replied that it is a habit that is, at his age, potentially hazardous -- he doesn’t see what he is stepping on!

Liew Chen Tong, who taught us Mandarin, recalled vividly the WW2 days and what his family had to do to evade the Japanese.

We intend to interview them and others, and source more photos, to make the contents of this website even richer.