Accommodation crisis

About a century ago, the schools in Penang were bursting at the seams as the Straits Settlements government grappled with a severe accommodation crisis. Something had to be done, and the answer came in August 1922. 

At the end of the inter-school sports meet on the Esplanade, David Alexander Murray Brown, otherwise known as DAM Brown or Dammy Brown, who was a prominent businessman and member of the Legislative Council, hinted that Penang could see at least one new school opening in the next few years. It would be a much-needed development. The town’s main schools—Penang Free School, St Xavier’s Institution and Anglo-Chinese School (now Methodist Boys’ School)—were turning away hundreds of boys each year due to a lack of space. Things got so cramped that the Free School even resorted to holding extra classes at the Chinese Town Hall.

The government stepped in with a temporary solution by leasing a grand building at 11 Northam Road, which had formerly been the Hotel Norman and much later, a Chinese girls' school. This space was converted into the Northam Road Government English School—an extension of Penang Free School, so it seemed—and intended to ease the overcrowding until new school buildings could be constructed. The new school could accommodate up to 600 children in its primary classes. HR Cheeseman, formerly a senior master in the Free School, became the first headmaster. He was well known for his strict but fair discipline, passion for sports and tireless dedication.

The building had a large compound with enough space for drills and even a football match. It was leased from Thye Chee Tean and Tye Shook Yuen, executors of the estate of Tye Kee Yoon, a former Chinese Consul in Penang. In his will, Tye Kee Yoon had left funds for charitable causes, and his estate pledged $50 monthly to the school’s funds as long as the lease was in place.

Tye Kee Yoon's estate wasn’t the only benefactor of the Northam Road school. Four years after its opening, Cheeseman, by then promoted to Inspector of Schools in Penang, wrote a letter to the Penang Gazette and Straits Chronicle (22 June 1926), to publicly thank Lim Gim Kang and Lim Gim Hoe of Gim Lee Estate, Kulim, who had "offered to give annually, in memory of their father, the late Mr Lim Mah Yeow, the sum of three hundred dollars to be devoted to the purchase of prizes and library books for the Government English School, Northam Road, Penang. This generous gift is much appreciated and has been gratefully accepted.”

For a time, opening the Northam Road Government English School helped ease the schooling congestion in Penang. But barely four years later, the government was forced to open more temporary schools to meet the demand. One of these was the Farquhar Street Government English School, which functioned for four years. 

There’s scant information about this temporary school except that the double-storey building was located at the junction of Farquhar Street and Love Lane. When it opened in 1926, it relieved the Northam Road Government English School of some 210 pupils. Initially, there were six classes, consisting of one Standard III, two Standard IV and three Standard V. Three of the classes were upstairs and three downstairs, with 35 boys allotted to each class. The school's most famous pupil was Lim Chong Eu, the future second Chief Minister of Penang. After finishing his Standard IV here, the young Chong Eu went to Hutchings School before eventually joining Penang Free School. When the Francis Light School opened on Perak Road in January 1930, the boys from the Farquhar Street Government English School were absorbed there en masse. The temporary school was then closed, and the building returned to the Roman Catholic Mission.

Meanwhile, the government pressed ahead with its long-term plans. The new school facilities in Green Lane, known today as Penang Free School, its construction long delayed owing to financial depression, finally materialised. The older boys from the Free School were transferred there in 1928, leaving the Farquhar Street premises—now renamed as Hutchings' School by The Old Frees' Association—for the younger pupils. Two additional schools were also constructed for elementary education: Francis Light School in 1930 as mentioned above and Westlands School in 1935. These new schools provided ample playgrounds and gave the boys plenty of space to run, play and enjoy their breaks.

All these efforts, back in the 1920s and 1930s, helped ease the overcrowding crisis that plagued Penang’s schools for years.

© Quah Seng Sun 2024

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This story is based on a newspaper clipping from The Straits Echo (Mail Edition), dated 22 August 1922, plus other inputs, including:

- Pinang Gazette and Straits Chronicle, 1 July 1921
- The Straits Echo (Mail Edition), 19 January 1926 
- The Straits Echo (Mail Edition), 21 August 1929 
- Sunday Tribune, 19 December 1937

A friend indeed: Vincent Lim Ewe Tee, 1953-2022

By Lim Siang Jin

EWE TEE was my class monitor in Standard IC, Westlands Primary School, in 1960. We got on quite well and have been very good friends ever since. He lived a few roads from my home so it was very convenient to meet and play. And play we did! Like all other innocent and curious youngsters our age.

At his place, No 19 Birch Road, I remember going up to his room to spend time; it opened to a small verandah facing Gurney Drive. The bungalow was on the land where the 24-storey Sunrise@Gurney stands. Aunty, his mum, was a caring soul. She made sure I had enough to eat and drink while we played. I also remember his soft-spoken dad with a very kind face. He would drop me back home once in a while in their light-coloured car, probably a Hillman Minx. Uncle unfortunately passed away when we were at a tender age.

The Gurney Drive beach front in the 1930s.
Source: Aliran

The centre of activities, from 1964 onwards, was our area —  at the junction-enclave of Gurney Drive and Cantonment Road. Ewe Tee was part of our “gang” there. About 20-strong, we engaged in various formal games — badminton, football, rounders, table tennis, etc, many adapted to the environment we found ourselves. We also followed the annual calendar of state-wide youth activities involving marbles, kites, tops and cards. 

Numerically, we were big enough to play chiak bak, mata chat and kham bak chieu – so they became part of our repertoire of activities, many a time with creative variations, like hide-and-seek in the dark of the night (read more about these games here). And I would never forget how we stood under the scorching sun at the mouth of the big drain that ran the length of Cantonment Road — to catch measly catfish and chwee chiam (mini swordfish). The four acres we had access to, plus the beachfront, was a haven for children growing up. 

Ewe Tee was a good story teller too. Two of them remain etched in my memory. The first was his 1963 description of how he and his tent-mates probably encountered the lantern lady at Jubilee Camp, replete with details like a light moving outside their tent and raincoat dripping with red liquid the next day. My guess is that it was one of the scout masters making sure the boys remained in their tents! The second, in 1965, was an animated account of the second encounter between Cassius Clay (aka Muhammad Ali) and Sonny Liston, where the latter was KOed in the first round with a controversial “phantom punch”. The former had used a secretly-learnt karate chop, Ewe Tee insisted.

Ewe Tee, a school prefect at Westlands Primary School in 1965, was seated next to the form
teacher, Mr Teoh Chye Teik. For the caption and more photos of that year, click here 

In 2018, I asked if he remembered them. He chuckled and said no. Such are the strange ways our memories work.

I remember there was some healthy rivalry between us too. In 1965, both of us were appointed scout patrol leaders. We had to name our patrols after animals. I decided on the cobra saying it was versatile with a strong ability to protect itself, and attack if necessary. After some thought, Ewe Tee decided on the mongoose, telling me it was deft enough to defeat the cobra. I refused to believe that then, however in later years I found out that the mongoose indeed won up to 80 per cent of its encounters with the snake. 

Come Job Week, we would go jobbing together, going door-to-door to do odd jobs and collect money for the scouting movement. Focussed on the vicinity of Birch Road and places near the school, we learnt a fair bit about the places and its people — from the scrooge who squeezed the most out of his or her one dollar to the generous who gave us two and hot drinks to boot, and sent us off without lifting a finger.

Our friendship extended into Free School. Every school day in 1967-68, we would go to school together with Ooi Teong Siew and Ooi Peng Huat. Driven by Ah Eu, the family driver, every journey was filled with hilarity, usually derived from harmless pranks and disturbing girls along the way.

From the WPS Camaraderie page, 23 Feb 2018:
Farewell lunch for Ewe Tee (left) at Oriental
Pavilion Restaurant, Jaya 33, Petaling Jaya.
Click here for more

We lost touch for a number of years after PFS and caught up again in the late 1980s when he moved back to Penang with his lovely wife Kym. At the time, he was running a personal tour guide business and their son, Matthew, was born in our home state. In 1997, they moved back to England. After that we stayed in touch close enough for me and my family to visit his home in north London in the early 2000s.

He was very proud of and loved his family deeply. He spoke highly of his wife Kym, a Londoner who teaches children with special needs. Ewe Tee once said I could learn a thing or two from her if I ever wanted to do anything in the area. I was then exploring the possibility of coaching people to care for the aged. Matthew, their son, did very well in his studies scoring first class honours in mechanical engineering from the University of Nottingham and is now working in consulting for a technology company in London. It was very clear from our conversations that he was the apple of his eye. 

In the last 15 years or so, Ewe Tee would come back frequently to visit his mum, sisters Dawn and Grace, and close relatives. We caught up each time he came back and our friendship deepened further. 

During my last visit to London in 2018, knowing I would be alone, he meticulously advised me about the Oyster Card, places to avoid (“because you might get mugged”), the London Tube app, etc. I had wished to visit Kings Place, office of The Guardian newspaper, so he, Kym and I decided to meet there. After that we took a double decker down to Soho where we visited Liberty London and had dinner at The Real Greek. The day before I left, he came to Central London again and we spent many hours talking at a pub in Queensway. All these made my trip so much more memorable.

At the Real Greek restaurant, Soho, London, in April 2018, with Kym and Matthew

That was not to be the last time I met him. In late 2019, his mother passed away in Subang Jaya. He and Kym came back. Seng Oo and I, among others, met them at the funeral. Little did I know then it would be the last time I saw him in person.

During the Covid outbreak we spoke now and then, dwelling mainly on subject matters we agreed on and avoiding areas of contention — our political views had diverged over the years but that, we felt, should not come in the way of our friendship. My last series of contact with him was in end-August 2022, a week before his diagnosis. We shared our new-found interests. In the summer, the first in three years that was not snarled by Covid, he took a liking to lawn-bowling and had engaged in it many times a week, making new friends. On my part, I told him about my upcoming art exhibition, hoping he would be able to make it back in time. He mentioned he was looking forward to coming back to see his sisters in November-December 2022 after three long years.

That he would fall sick and pass away in three short months came as a complete shock to me. RIP Ewe Tee. We will miss you.

‘Give back to our children the spirit of adventure’

By Quah Seng Sun

WOULD YOU allow your son or daughter to take part in wholesome outdoor school activities like Scouting and Guiding? During our time, it would be an unqualified “Yes”! Today, it is a rhetorical question. 

Molly Ooi, who taught at Penang Free School in the 1980s and was Group Scout Leader (GSL) of 8th Georgetown (South) Sea Scouts Group and also Ranger Guider, laments that these activities have lost their shine.

“It’s such a shame that camping is now confined to the school field and not many students want to be Scouts anymore. The Scouting light doesn’t shine brightly anymore and Coronation and Jubilee Camps are both gone. Scouting and Guiding are both internationally recognised uniformed movements which prepare young people holistically for their futures.” 

Molly Ooi with the Sea Scouts of Penang Free School
in the 1980s

Together with her husband, David Hwang Hong Shi, who himself taught at Westlands Primary School in the 1950s and Penang Free School in the 1960s, she tries to burn the torch for these activities: “Parents should encourage their wards to participate. Don’t make them lose their sense of adventure.” 

Molly’s accounts highlight a few differences between then and now. One is the change in attitude, a sharp turn towards taking less risk among all the parties involved. Another is the diminished trust among students, teachers, parents and the various levels of administration. 

“Malaysian kids today have lost their sense of adventure. Many prefer to be hooked to their handphones. Parents are too worried about letting them out even for a nature walk. Teachers are afraid of taking them out in case accidents happen and parents sue them. And principals don’t want the hassle of paperwork and answering to the Education authorities in case something happens. Kids get to camp in the school field only when they can get a teacher to stay with them at nights — which is rare,” she says.

Molly Ooi with the Rangers of Penang Free School

“When I was young, we cycled everywhere and our teachers took us for all kinds of hikes and excursions. We visited factories and ate cookies, chocs and got other goodies, went to tin mines, all kinds of estates, farms and orchards (again free vegetables and fruits there), got special passes for movies like The Sound of Music and other interesting children’s literature and lots more. We had no handphones but we had fun outdoors with our wonderful, caring teachers whom our parents trusted.”

Molly’s own adventure with Scouting started in the 1970s. In a recent posting on her Facebook, she wrote that she had taken her Woodbadge Course while teaching in Malacca during those years. She became a Sea Scout Leader of the Open Sea Scouts troop there which comprised both Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. There were camping and canoeing at Tanjong Keling Beach. Today, there are no more stretches of clean white sand as the beach has been obliterated by hotels and apartments.

When she was transferred to Penang Free School, she became the warranted Group Scout Leader (GSL) of 8th Georgetown (South) Sea Scouts Group and also Ranger Guider. “Those were interesting years of camping at Camp Coronation, numerous hikes to Muka Head and Gertak Sanggul, over the Ayer Itam hill to Balik Pulau, Penang Hill and other adventurous activities and combined training camps together with 1st Georgetown (South) GSL Mr Khoo Poh Kheng and 7th Georgetown (South) Rover Scout Leaders (RSLs).

She offered two Internet links to Scouting: Importance of Scouting and Guiding in Schools and Scouting and World Development.

• Quah Seng Sun is one of three people who maintain this WPS blogsite. Recently he authored two books, Let the Aisles Proclaim: The First Two Hundred Years of Penang Free School 1816-2016 and Ten Thousand Prosperities: The Story of Ban Hin Lee Bank. Read more about him here.

ADDENDUM

A comment on facebook put the picture as taken after the PFS Scout Show in 1984. "It was one of those rare occasions that the Sea Scouts were in uniform (white shirt and navy blue pants). The whites were outstanding but the Scout Commissioner wasn't too pleased as this was against the norm. But somehow we survived," the writer* recollected as a response to this story.

He continued, "Sadly, those were the transition times from camping in the wild to camping in school, and the beginning of parental consent and the fear of the dangers of sea activities. We chose the former and at the end, our numbers were whittled down to what you see in the picture. Most of the time - practically every Saturday - that bunch of nutcase Sea Scouts were either at Pantai Keracut or Muka Head or canoeing round the island. We rowed canvas canoes. They were like bloody logs in the water!!! But with the choppy currents around Muka Head, it was a blessing.

"Those were the days... camping, backwoodsman, odd-job weeks, washing cars, cutting hedges for funds, Scout shows, Scout car racing, naval training, whacking our own paths to Pantai Acheh, licking limestones at Muka Head because we ran out of water, night hikes to Pantai Keracut, caught by the Police for sleeping in the cemetery with parangs after tiring out trying to grab the best bamboos, transporting 15-feet bamboos tied to two bicycles, and dragonboats. Camping at Youth Park was considered degrading to us. Yes, those were the days."

* The writer wished not to be named.

WPS staff in the mid 1950s

THE STAFF of Westlands Primary School in the mid-1950s. Only a handful of the teachers are recognisable. In the front row: Iskandar Md Ismail (second from left), K Balram (fourth from left) and Teoh Chooi Hor (ninth from left). In the middle row: Thomas Khor (second from left), Teoh Chye Teik (fifth from left), Hwang Hong Shi (sixth from left), Tan Eng Chuan (10th from left) and Lim Ah Loke (11th from left). In the back row, possibly Tan Seng Aun (ninth from left).

Balram was later to become the Headmaster of Westlands Primary. Iskandar, Teoh Chye Teik, Hwang Hong Shi, Lim Ah Loke and Tan Seng Aun were transferred to Penang Free School in subsequent years.

Flash back to school

TEOH SOONG KEE is a specialist doctor – an obstetrician – working in a private hospital in Ipoh. He has been there for decades, and often taking pride in the fact that some of the babies that he delivered were now grown-ups and turning to him to deliver their own. But Soong Kee, for all his settling down in Perak, was a product of three schools in Penang: Wellesley School, Westlands School and Penang Free School. Several years ago, he wrote a book, Young Emotion, in which he recalled his schooldays through poems, articles and short stories. Here is one of them.

Both my parents came from China. My father had three years of schooling and could just read the newspapers while my mother was illiterate. I never attended any kindergarten. Yet, schooling in Penang, especially in the Penang Free School, gave me a strong foundation for the years ahead.

Wellesley — Good conduct? 

When I went to Primary One in Wellesley School in 1953, I could not speak more than three words in English. The first words we had to learn were “Teacher excuse me” when I wanted to go to the toilet. However, I was good in arithmetic, perhaps from my coffee shop environment. Within a week, I was given some sums to do, and then I was transferred to Class 1D which was a double-promotion class. We had to do three years work in two. Not surprisingly, I was in 26th position in the first year, but I managed to rise to 10th position in the second year.

I still remember some of my classmates like Tan Poh Seng, Lim Eng Hong, Lee Chaing Hin and Chew Gim Hye. Later I found out that Teh-Tiong Sa was also my classmate then. I nearly got the prize for Best Conduct, but it went to Lim Say Kwee, whom I believed was the nephew to the headmaster. Our class teacher was a Eurasian, Mr Johnson. My mum would give me a raisin bun, a milk drink and ten cents for refreshments during recess. I remembered envying the other schoolmates who could go inside the tuck shop for noodles and ice-cream. Occasionally, a school boy would sell me his coupon for ten cents. It was a treat for me!

Each week, the dental nurses would come to our class to check our teeth. Unlike most pupils, I looked forward to the trip to the dental clinic as I had a pretty-looking dental nurse attending to me. I had not reached puberty yet so there was no erotic fixation! She did an excellent job and kept most of my teeth intact (with the black mercury fillings) till today.

Westlands — General knowledge prize! 

After two years, all of us were transferred to the feeder schools such as Westlands, Francis Light and Hutchings schools. While Wellesley School was only a five-minute walk from my rented room in Swatow Lane (famous for the New World Park ice kacang), I had to sit in a trishaw for a 20-minute ride to Westlands School. The fare was only $3 per month, but sometimes we had to cram six children in the trishaw. 

Since we were from the express class, we went straight into standard 4E. I had chicken pox during the mid-year test and attained 24th position in the class, but fortunately I improved to 5th place by the end of the year. I did better in the next two years, achieving within the top three positions. In Standard Five, I obtained 100 marks in four subjects, and that was in the days when it was not common to get such high marks. There was a special General Knowledge test in which I managed to win the prize. I chose a book titled “100 Great Lives” which is still in my possession. We had to sit for a statewide Form One entrance exam to stream the students to the secondary schools. The top 200 boys would enter Penang Free School. I managed to be the top student from Westlands but was beaten by a few others from Francis Light School including Dennis Lee. 

I was among the shortest kids in the standard. However it was an advantage for me as the children were grouped in four classes within the games houses according to height and not to age. So even when I was in Standard Six, I was placed in Class III, mixing with the younger students. I was even made Captain of the Class I football team! In Standard Five, I was called up to see the headmaster, once for talking during assembly and on another occasion for “fighting”! I remembered that I was in the same group with Oh Siew Leng while Ong Tat Teik was in the rival group. 

We used to have drama lessons every other week. I was rather enthusiastic and remembered how melodramatic I would be, playing the different roles in the sketches. In 1957, the year of our Independence, I was selected to be the voice of one of the characters in a puppet show at the combined schools concert. I acted as a Malay boy and I had to shout “Merdeka” three times in the closing scene. 

Penang Free School

I entered PFS in 1958 in Form 1A under Goh Teong Chye as our form teacher. He would ask all the students to contribute 20 cents per month to buy the daily newspaper, which he would read first. The next day he passed the papers to us to cut out the highlighted news for display on the notice board. I nearly won the prize for National Language (Malay language for the non-Malays).

The Malay boys were not eligible as they had to sit for the Bahasa Melayu test. However, Jammal claimed to be eligible, being an lndian Muslim, and he beat me by two marks for the National Language prize. One morning at the end of the year, there was singing in the class. I remembered singing a Russ Hamilton song “Tip Toe through the Tulips”, but received a lot of laughter. I had mispronounced the words as “Chip Choe through the Chulips”! The best singer that day was Ong Hean Beng. 

The next year in Form 2A, we were under Mr Cheng Hin who had just returned from Brinsford Lodge Teachers College in UK the year before. He was very enthusiastic. At the beginning of the year, he announced that the class project would be to produce a magazine. This was unheard of for such a junior class. However, we did produce the cyclostyled magazine and sold it for 20 cents. In the magazine, there was a quiz which we could send in the answers to him during the school holidays. I got the prize, as apparently I was the only one to mail in the answers. Knowing my interest on the stars, he gave me a book on Astronomy. I managed to achieve 4th position in the whole form, but the Form Teacher’s remarks on my report card were “good but rather playful at times!” 

Somehow I did not remember much about my Form 3 year except that we all had to study hard for our LCE (Lower Certificate of Education). In those days, with an LCE, one could join the government service as a policeman. I was second in the form for the school exam and obtained five As and two Bs in the LCE. 

With my marks, I was placed in the Form 4 Science class. Usually the top 40 students were streamed into the Science class but there were a few top students like Iyer (now Sulaiman) who did not like Science and went to Form 5A. We had to study three science subjects and two mathematics papers. We were glad that History was dropped. Dennis came to 5 Science but was allowed to sit for two science subjects as he took music as an examination subject. Several of us would cycle to Dennis home in Mt Erskine, especially when the rambutans in his garden were ripe. We produced a class magazine which we called “The Mad Mosquitoes”, an unusual name with no apparent reason! 

I managed to do well in Forms 4 and 5, being in 3rd and 5th in the forms respectively. For my Cambridge School Certificate (sometimes called Senior Cambridge) I obtained seven As out of eight, together with Tan Poh Hwa and Koe Chong Aun. I only got a Credit for my English Language but got a distinction A1 in English Literature! Thanks to Mr Bennet who helped us enjoy English poetry written by Keats, Shelley and Byron and even Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”. “If music is the food of love, play on!” We just have to pass the national language to qualify for the Malaysia Certificate of Education (MCE). We had to sit for the Sixth Form Entrance exam for eligibility to enter Form Six in January, as the SC Exam results would only come out by March. I was thrilled that I obtained the second highest marks in the state.

Tuition 

I never had tuition in all my school years. My parents could not afford the fees even though they were just about ten to 20 dollars a month. It was a credit to our teachers who taught so well, that tuition was unnecessary. Perhaps our parents were not so kiasu then. The only time when I needed extra help was in Bahasa Kebangsaan. So in Form Five, I enrolled in the evening classes held at Hu Yu Seah night school for just three dollars a month. We were even given a certificate after attending the weekly classes for one year. 

Some of us would meet in one of the homes to study together. More often, especially for those of us who lived in crowded homes, we cycled to the Penang public library to study and consult the reference books such as the Encyclopedia Britannica. We did not have internet Google then!

Teachers 

We still remembered some quirks among our teachers. Lee San Hoe was very superstitious and would become very angry when he saw two white chalks upright on the table. Another teacher Tan Ah Fee would sing out loud “la la la Speedy Gonzales”. Captain Mohd Noor (who used to be in the army) would ask us “how many gantang” when we returned from the toilet. His favourite suit was pink in colour. He also kept his shoes shining bright – some claimed that he would place his shoes under a lady’s skirt! He was particularly stern with the Malay boys. Another Malay teacher, Iskandar, was rotund in size but was very kind and friendly, offering to give free tuition in his home. Our first Malay language teacher was actually a Chinese, Beh Teik Chooi, who had remarried to a Malay lady. He was fond of telling us stories from the Japanese occupation. One teacher would teach us by making us spend the whole period, copying notes which he wrote on the notice board. Ambrose was the earliest to arrive in the school and the first to make announcement during the Monday school assembly. Our Form 4 PE teacher, Teh Keng Chooi, did the unusual, by getting our class photograph taken without our shirts, exposing our scrawny chests! 

Another teacher Khoo Tiang Lim claimed that he did not use soap for bathing, as it might wash away our natural body oil. KTL said to Wee Kyam Hooi, who often made humorous remarks in class, “you are allowed only one joke a year!” Our Biology teacher, Lee Eng Leong, corrected us when we used the word “hole” for the female organ. He insisted it was a “slit”. There was a very fierce teacher Teoh Cheng Hai nicknamed “bulldog”, but he was actually quite pleasant if we worked in his craft class on Saturdays. There were very kind teachers, but there were some who would throw chalks or even the wooden black board dusters at us. We also had our first lady teacher, who came as Miss Tan Cheng Ee, but later disappointed some of us when she became Mrs Oh Eu Kok. We used to make fun of her by sighing “OOOOOh...” Then we had an English retired army major, Edwards, who taught us Physics. His army discipline included a long ruler but tempered with gentle “Oh dear dear dear...” when we gave the wrong answers. 

One type of punishment imposed by many teachers in the lower forms was to make us write repeatedly, for example “I must not eat in class” or “I must not be late for school”. If we were asked to write 10 pages, our writing would be extra large but if we were to write the same sentence 100 times, we would squeeze the 100 lines on one page. On one occasion, we were asked to write the sentence “I must put a full-stop at the end of the sentence.” But a number of us forgot to put the punctuation at the end of some of the lines! C Ponniah would punish by asking the student, in his shrill Tamil accent, “Be mounted”, that is, to stand on the chair. 

Sports 

There were many opportunities to take part in sports and games. Every student learned how to play football, cricket, hockey, badminton and rugby, in rotation throughout the year. Tennis was more for the richer kids. We even had Additional Sports Day where every student had to take part in the  100 yards, 400 yards, high jump and long jump. Points were given for each student who achieve the qualifying standard that was decided according to the age group. I was able to get all the four points, just managing to clear the qualifying standards. One year, I was sick and could not take part. My house (Pinhorn, blue colour) lost the championship by two points! If I had been well, Pinhorn would have won! I was not good in sports but managed to represent my House in football, cricket (but never scored a run) and debate. 

School activities 

In the upper forms, we had to come back to school twice a week for two lessons, followed by extra-curricular activities which could be scouting, cadets, or band followed by games. There were many clubs and societies to join, from Science and History to Music and Drama, Photography, Gardening and Art and Craft classes. There were no religious or cultural societies then, although there was an informal gathering of Christians during the recess once a week in one of the teacher’s houses in the school compound. Dennis used to invite me to join them. On other days, a group of us grouped together during recess to share Smarties sweets, to be purchased by one boy in rotation. 

I took part in the Stamp Club, Craft Class, Science Society and the Music and Drama Society, Historical Society (it made interesting trips) and the National Language Society. For one whole year I was forced to join the Scouts, but I was not interested. I did not wear the scout uniform. However, I passed the Tenderfoot test and enjoyed the camping and hiking trips. 

In Form Lower Six, I was Science Editor for the Outlook magazine but in the following year I was asked to be sub-editor of the School Magazine by Yeo Guan Teik. In those days, we had to type the articles on the typewriter, and the printer used individual metal letters to set the pages. We often had to check the proofs again and again till the wee hours of the night. Even though I was a novice photographer, I managed to capture some images of memorable events, which were included in the school magazine. We started the first PFS Newsletter, a bi-monthly newspaper, but were asked by the headmaster to hand over to another editorial board headed by Srinivasa Iyer. 

The Sixth Form Recreational Activities (SFRA) was formed for those Six Formers who were not involved in any uniformed group or school sports teams. We played the miscellaneous games such as netball (the boys enjoyed playing with the girls, much to the horror of Ambrose), volleyball, table tennis and folk-dance! As chairman of SFRA, I was given the privilege to learn the new game of softball and even became an instructor (at least on the theoretical aspects). 

When we went into Form Six, we faced a different world. There were girls admitted to our class. There were not so many in the Science classes as in the Arts classes, but least most of the Science girls wanted to do Biology rather than Mathematics. The boys had to learn to restrain their pranks and jokes and show chivalry. At the end of the year concert, our Form 6 Sc Class entered a team of four boys and four girls called “Battle of the Sexes”. They sang a couple of humorous songs, (with lyrics adapted by me) entitled ”Woman is Fickle” against ”Man is Flirtatious”. One of the memorable lines was Poh Hwa who sang, “When will you be mine” and Ee Looi replied, “If you got the money, honey, I’ve got the time”! We won the Prize for best group performance!

Khoo Chuan Keat, RIP

ONE OF our schoolmates from Westlands Primary School, Khoo Chuan Keat, passed away last week on 20 February 2019. Only last December, he had observed his 64th birthday, as had all his friends who were born in 1954. Some of us will have known him since Standard One in Westlands Primary School and some others will recall knowing him from Standard Two or even later. Many would have even carried the friendship over to secondary school days and even after retirement but no matter when it was that we first met him, we are all agreed that Chuan Keat was a staunch friend.

Chuan Keat in Standard 1B, 1961. He was standing in the back row, second from left.

Teoh Chye Teik, RIP

IT IS WITH sadness that we report the passing of one of the former teachers of Westlands Primary School and Penang Free School. Mr Teoh Chye Teik was 83 years old when he died in Singapore yesterday. For many of my old schoolmates from Primary school, he was the Class Teacher of Standard 6 Red in 1965.

Teoh Chye Teik was an Old Free and he was selected by the then Headmaster of Penang Free School to join the teaching staff there in the late 1960s. He excelled in playing Cricket and Tennis, and had represented Penang and Malaysia in Cricket. At the Free School, he taught Mathematics.

Teoh Chye Teik attended the Bicentenary dinner of
Penang Free School in Oct 2016

One of our schoolmates, Siang Jin, penned this fitting eulogy to our old school master today:

“I remember Mr Teoh Chye Teik for a number of things:

(1) When a visiting West Indies cricket team played Penang during the time he was captain of the state team, he mentioned that he was blue and black all over and could hardly see the ball when the fast bowlers were fielded. The Penang side nevertheless tried to play their best against the Windies.

(2) Dato Tan Boon Lin mentioned recently that he specially selected many teachers for Penang Free School to beef up teaching and co-curricular quality. Mr Teoh was one of the hand-picked few.

From the 1971 issue of the
Penang Free School Magazine

 (3) He taught General Mathematics in the Arts stream and, according to Sukumaran, our classmate, he had a methodical way of solving matters like "plan and elevation". I remember that very well. That gave us a fighting chance against the Science boys.

(4) His sternness, which is appreciated by those who learned under him, is legendary. On his first day in Form 4A in 1969, he asked Michael Sak and me, with two others, to stand up and warned us that we should behave -- which we did. Subsequently, everything was OK.

(5) He was a dedicated teacher and coach.”

Hiking, Job Week and a bit of history: Scouting at WPS (1963-65) Part 3

HIKING WAS a very common activity for Scouts: We are thankful for photos of them. Westlands Primary is lucky that one of its scoutmasters, Mr Hwang Hong Shi, saw it fit to take and organise them in albums (above).

During our time at Westlands, the scoutmasters, Mr John Low Thean Hock and Mr Vellasamy, were not as adventurous as Mr Hwang Hong Shi and Mr Thomas Khor who took a group of 12 Scouts on a trek to Taiping and Maxwell Hill and back. Read here. Truth be told, our parents would not have given us permission to go on such a journey – not mine, anyway. Nevertheless, we had a few small adventures.

Hiking up Bukit Cendana: One morning in 1965 about 20 of us gathered at Mr Vellasamy’s home along Waterfall Road (if I am not mistaken) and headed for the Moongate. It was my first hill hike. On the way up the trail forked. Mr Vellasamy, in full Scout gear too, guided us up one path (the right); the left would have taken us up to Penang Hill. Read details here. Atop the hill was a dilapidated bungalow overlooking Tanjung Tokong, Pulau Tikus and the city. We stopped there for a small picnic. The building has, apparently, been burnt down. There are a few pictures of it, taken in the 1970s by Rob Dickinson, in this post here.

The view was breathtaking — the huge cluster of houses below set against the sea without obtrusive high-rises and the abundant greens; they made us very proud of Penang. We thought we had trekked through virgin forests but it was not true. The British had cleared much of Penang’s hills for the planting of spices in the 19th century. There were warnings of environmental degradation and their ill-effects (like climate change!) from as early as 1848. Read here.

Picture taken in 1930s or 1940s showing large patches of Bukit Cendana that had been stripped of vegetation. Source: anilnetto.com. Read his story here

Using the Mount Erskine route to reach here, we passed
through Pulau Tikus, Gottlieb Road and the cemetery.
Photo by Liu Ruxia on Flickr 

Journeying to Choong Lye Hock Road: After getting the Tenderfoot badge, we took some of the tests for Second Class. It involved a “journey”. A few of us decided to walk from the school to Mr Low’s house. It required us, among others, to draw maps, provide landmarks, name the roads and give directions. This is one of the reasons I cannot forget his address. Regretfully, the map book that I drew with meticulous detail is gone.

Job Week: Every Job Week, I would classify the people I do “jobs” for into three groups (a) donors (b) socialisers and (c) people who want serious work done. I would approach my grandfather, parents, uncles, etc, to donate on my Job Card before heading off to other homes. The uncles and aunties who wanted to socialise would invite us in for tea and biscuits after doing a token job like cleaning the wheels of their car or polishing shoes.

Mr John Low (right) with Mr Cheng Hin at the 2003 gathering

of Old Frees (1970-72), Bukit Jambul Country Club on 2nd 

February. We invited him because he taught many of us. 

Mr Low has passed on. When I went to fetch him that day, he 

talked about preparing to hike up Mount Kinabalu: “Once a

Scout, always a Scout,” as people say

The people I dreaded most were those who wanted serious work done. One old lady got us to weed an entire garden. While the space was small, just a patch in front of a linked house, the weeds were thick and there were numerous garden furniture (a swing and large stands for potted plants) that we had to crawl under. It was back breaking but, sportingly, we completed the job and was amply rewarded with a very grateful smile and one dollar to be shared among the two of us.

The general “Burmah” (including Salween, Tavoy, Irrawaddy and Mandalay roads) and “Birch Road” areas were our favourites because they comprised linked houses. The distance between the houses was much shorter and, if there were dogs, we could spot them quickly. The bungalows were probably more lucrative; however, the jobs could be more extensive and they probably had bigger dogs hidden away where we could not see. My friends and I generally avoided them – unless it was the home of a relative or friend.

There does not seem to be a coordinated effort to have Minggu Kerja for Scouts in Malaysia. It is still going strong in neighbouring Singapore which has the same Scouting roots as us. Read here.

Scouting in Penang: Some snippets

• The first Malaysian Scout Jamboree was held in Penang in 1966. According to a story in the Persatuan Pengakap Malaysia, Pulau Pinang website: “Jubilee Camp, the then campsite of the Local Boy Scouts Association, was transformed into the Jamboree Village with nearly 3,000 inhabitants of various colour, class and creed, adhering to the tenets of the Scout Law, which incidentally was the Law of this camp... Eleven countries, including Malaysia participated; 2,328 scouts from Nationalist China, Great Britain, India, South Korea, Laos, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia took part. The Chairman of Organising Committee and Camp Chief was Wong Pow Nee; it was declared open by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Sultan of Trengganu.” Read the story here.
• Claims made at the jamboree that scouting in Malaya was founded in Penang in 1908 via an experimental troop with the YMCA are apparently not true. According to Wan Meng Hao, co-author of Scouting In Singapore 1910-2000, “the photo of that 1908 scout troop was taken at Fort Canning, Singapore. Goh Guan Ho was working and living in Singapore in 1908. He had yet to relocate to Penang”.
• In 1934, Lord Baden-Powell and Lady Olave Baden-Powell made a visit to Penang, Kuala Kangsar, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur. In Kuala Lumpur on 25th Nov, the 77-year-old Chief Scout was quoted as saying to 30-odd Scouters: “You chaps won't get a chance to see me again. Let me shake hands with you.” He went on to have a word with all of them individually. The group was struck by his informality. It was indeed his first and only visit to Malaya. He retired from public Scouting in 1937 and died in Kenya in 1941. Read more here, here (The Straits Times, Nov 26, 1934) and here.

Scouting continues to be a strong movement in the country. According to a census taken in 2010 by the World Organisation of the Scout Movement, there were 48,394 members then. I purchased recently a translation of the book, Scouting for Boys, by Robert Baden-Powell. It gave me goose bumps to know what we read about scouting in the 1960s are still being read today but in Bahasa Malaysia. The 233-page translated book, Ilmu Pengakap bagi Budak-budak (shown above) sells for only RM13.90!

Aerial photo of the 1966 First Malaysian Scout Jamboree at Jubilee Camp. Source: Persatuan Pengakap Malaysia, Pulau Pinang. Read the story here.

This is the third of three parts:

• Part 1: Building character and skills in uniform. Read here
• Part 2: Camping and cooking. Read here

– Lim Siang Jin

Camping and cooking: Scouting at WPS (1963-65) Part 2

Jubilee Camp, Teluk Bahang 1958. Photo courtesy of Mr Hwang Hong Shi

TELUK BAHANG was a sleepy fishing village in the 1960s. To reach it from school, we had to take a Hin Company blue bus from Burmah Road to Tanjung Bungah, to a depot opposite Sin Hai Kheng Hainanese restaurant. At that stop, we had to alight and switch to another blue bus for Teluk Bahang. As Scouts, the main attraction of the area was Jubilee Camp, situated just after a promontory with huge rocks – a favourite spot for anglers. When we were camping, the Scoutmasters would go to a row of shophouses for provisions and its famous mee goreng. We were not afforded the luxury of this delicious dish as far as I can recall.

The campsite then, set on an undulating sandy and grassy incline towards the sea, had many matured coconut trees. There was a guardhouse-like structure at road level. This was where we kept our provisions and equipment. Nearby were one or two single-storey beach bungalows.

Coconut trees and undulating grounds: Jubilee Camp in the late 1950s.
Photo courtesy of Mr Hwang Hong Shi

In 1966, Penang hosted the First Malaysian Scout Jamboree at Jubilee Camp. Although it was touted as a most important event in the state’s scouting history, the charm of the camp site disappeared with it. The area was flattened with laterite soil to make space for contingents from 11 countries. For a week Jubilee accommodated nearly 3,000 people. I thought that greater care ought to have been taken to preserve the environs of the camp.

The following anecdotes on camping and cooking are from my three years as a Scout at WPS:

The “Lantern Lady” at Jubilee Camp: In 1964 (Standard 5), I was not allowed to go camping. Ewe Tee went and came back with the most amazing story. Jubilee Camp was apparently haunted. On some nights, a woman in white carrying a lantern would walk the area. She was said to have committed suicide because her husband had not returned from sea. Therefore, on few nights each month she would still go to the beach to wait for him. Ewe Tee said he saw her walk past their tent. The next morning a raincoat used to prevent rainwater from dripping into the tent had bloodstains.

Ewe Tee does not recall the story. However, another friend of mine, Patrick Choo, formerly from theSun, confirmed it: “I remember our Scoutmasters telling us stories about the ‘lady with the lamp’ and asking us to fetch water at night from the well.” Patrick was not from WPS but St George’s Balik Pulau. Their Scout troop used to camp at Jubilee annually too. My own suspicion is that it was a means of the Scoutmasters to keep a tight leash on their charge. They certainly could not afford to allow 12-year-olds to wander around at night.

Pranks at the camp etc: In 1965, when I was finally allowed to go camping, at Jubilee too, we did not see any ghost. A few other things were carved into my memory though:

• Colgate prank: Our boyhood activities were full of mischief. The Colgate prank kept me awake for most of the night because I knew, if I fell into a deep slumber, others might spread toothpaste on my face, or worst, in my pants.
• Going out for air: The other matter that kept me awake were the musty smell of the tent and the stench of our collective eight bodies cramped under 6ft by 8ft of thick canvas. They gave me hay fever. I was finally able to breathe properly by sticking my head out from under the tent. Luckily, it did not rain those few days.
• Soggy fried taugeh and burnt rice: Cooking the very affordable taugeh and rice in large aluminium pots (about 2ft diameter) over a makeshift stove was standard practice. It gave us a very soggy version of the vegetable dish. Often, the rice we cooked would be slightly burnt. Famished, we walloped them anyway.

The spring water tank in 2017: Disused and overgrown with weeds.
Photo by Lim Siang Jin

Cold spring water and dark nights: One of the iconic facilities at Jubilee was cold spring water that flowed into a large holding tank (about 5ft by 20ft). Some of us called it the “well”. The water then overflowed into a drain that led to the sea. To get to the tank, we had to walk along the drain and under a small bridge; above is the Teluk Bahang Road. The water was very cold. We shivered each time we bathed but it was fun. Sometimes we would see locals and picnickers there too – men, women and children – to bathe or to wash the salt off their bodies after a swim. Today the tank (right) is overgrown with weeds.

As Patrick said, fetching water at night was scary. So was going out to ease ourselves. There were no toilets then and we had to make do with the drain for any big job. The hurricane and carbide lamps helped a bit. Since they illuminated so little, a mere few feet, they constantly left us wondering what’s beyond the lighted space.

Chap chnai (Pacific mole crab) that is found in abundance occasionally at
Teluk Bahang. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Abundant seafood and dangerous currents: The Jubilee beach was rich collecting grounds for siput (tiny shellfish) and the chap chnai (also called the Pacific mole crab). They would appear as we disturbed the sand when the waves broke at the edge of the shores. They did not add much to our diet but food-gathering was good exercise. We were not allowed to swim though. We were told that beyond a few feet of the shallows was a trench that could swallow even the strongest swimmer. This could be true because the sandscape at the beach go through tremendous alterations over the course of a year. It would take very powerful currents to effect such change.

Mr Vellasamy was Class Teacher of 

Standard 4C, WPS, in 1963. This is the 

best photo I can find of him

Cooking with Vellasamy: As part of preparation for camping, Mr Vellasamy taught us how to cook – in school. Apart from the soggy taugeh and the occasional burnt rice, we cooked chicken curry. It was most memorable. First, we bought and prepared the ingredients — chicken (chopped into small pieces), sliced onions, grated coconut (from which we squeezed santan), curry powder, a slice of toasted belacan, coconut oil and salt. The oil and onions went in first into the heated pot; and then the chicken, curry powder and belacan. When the ingredients started to char, we added the santan and salted the curry to our taste. It was great stuff!

Mr Vellasamy has passed on. I have not met him since 1965. I have fond memories of him as a caring person who was concerned about our welfare and how much he could teach us.

This is the second of three parts.

• Part 1: Building character and skills in uniform. Read here. 
• Part 3: Hiking, Job Week and a bit of history. Read here.

– Lim Siang Jin

Building character and skills in uniform: Scouting at WPS (1963-65) Part 1

Scouts of Westlands Primary School, 1965. One of our Scoutmasters, Mr John Low Thean Hock, is on the left. We had two troops: 3rd Georgetown (North) and 15th Georgetown (North). Photo courtesy of Jim Lim Teik Wah

SCOUTING was fun, and usually the penultimate adventure for pre-teen urban boys. We got to wear uniforms with all sorts of insignias and familiarise ourselves with the pecking order they bring along; we learnt a lot of practical things like tying knots and lighting a fire; we experienced cooking outdoors; we went hiking and camping; we even worked to collect money for the movement one week a year — during the unforgettable Job Week.

At the base of these activities were some ground rules which we, in all innocence, imbibed. They spawned a subculture of organised character-building activities for a huge group of students.

Scouting for Boys, The Boy Scouts
Association 1963, printed in the UK.
Baden-Powell's Foreword in Pages vi
to ix are appended below.

Scout motto, promise and law — positive control: Scouting, like any other uniformed activity, was a form of group control. But it was generally a positive one for us – mainly because our Scoutmasters were people with the right values and, strong civic and environmental consciousness. Overall, I could never forget the motto “Be prepared”, telling us to be “always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty”. For the record, Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement, asked us to:

• Be prepared in mind by having disciplined yourself to be obedient to every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident or situation that might occur, so that you know the right thing to do at the right moment, and are willing to do it.
• Be prepared in body by making yourself strong and active and able to do the right thing at the right moment, and do it. 

Our promise: As a Scout we made the following promise: “On my honour I promise I will do my best – to do my duty to God and the King (or to God and my country); to help other people at all times; and to obey the Scout Law.” There were 10 parts to the Scout Law which instructed us to be: (a) trusted (b) loyal (c) useful and to help others (d) a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout (e) courteous (f) a friend to animals (g) obedient (to the orders of our parents, Patrol Leader or Scoutmaster without question) (h) happy (“A Scout smiles and whistles under all difficulties”) (i) thrifty, and (j) clean in thought, word and deed. Read more here.

If I had a bone to pick with the Scout Promise, it would be the unquestioning allegiance and obedience. However, as I said earlier, our Scoutmasters then had the right ethical mindset. As a result, being a Scout was a powerful character-building activity.

The scouting movement is still very much alive today. Far removed from its activities now, I am not aware of what is happening. I can only give snapshots of the past. At Westlands Primary, scouting was normally confined to those in Standards 5 and 6. However in 1963, Mr John Low Thean Hock, our Form Teacher in Standards 1 and 3 and a Scoutmaster, allowed a few of us (Ewe Tee and I included) to join in Standard 4.

In full gear before our time: Mr G D Muir, Chief Education Officer, inspecting 

a guard of honour by Westlands School Scouts on Parents Day 1955.
Photo courtesy of Mr Hwang Hong Shi, the Scoutmaster

What I have written in this story and the two other parts that follow are some views and anecdotes from my three years with our troop, 3rd Georgetown (North), which was run by Mr Low and Mr Vellasamy. Many of the pictures used to illustrate the stories were taken by Mr Hwang Hong Shi when he was a Scoutmaster at WPS in the 1950s. He has diligently kept and cataloged them in albums. We are very thankful for that.

Paraphernalia for uniformity and distinction: All of us were excited when we bought our first set of uniform from Stanley Scout Shop along Light Street opposite the Esplanade. I was taken aback by the range of things sold there. Even the essentials are enough to satisfy, for a while at least, a shopaholic:

• Neckerchief and a leather woggle with the Scout’s crest to hold the "2ft by 2ft" cloth together;
• A green beret which could be folded and slipped into the shoulder loop of our uniform;
• A belt to which we could hang pen knives, short rope, etc;
• Knee-high stockings with garters to hold them up;
• Khaki shirts and shorts (the colours of 3rd GTN).

We should note that many parents had to struggle to buy such uniform for their children while others could not join the movement because they could not afford it.

Tests for the Tenderfoot badge: Courtesy of Saw Lip Chye of 15th Georgetown

(North). He took the tests in 1964. The Scoutmaster who passed him was

Mr Chow Guan Foo. Assistant Scoutmaster Ramachandran was among his testers.

Mind-changing ways of a uniform: Donning a uniform had an impact on us. We felt more confident, more willing to work as a group, and a greater sense of identity. This could cut a few ways when it came to acceptability by others. On the one hand, it could instil a sense of superiority in us, a better-than-others attitude – that would have been bad. On the other, it could steer us towards service and pride, even professionalism, once we were led the right way within a suitable overall culture. A 2017 article in The New Yorker argues against the unquestioning acceptance of the upside of uniforms. Read here.

Rivalry as patrol leaders: Ewe Tee and I were great friends (we still are, until today — we meet occasionally in Kuala Lumpur and London). We were rivals too. In Standard 6, both of us were appointed patrol leaders. With that position came two stripes on our shirt pockets and the right to choose the name of our patrol. I chose to name mine after the cobra (with orange and black ribbons to be pinned on our shoulders). He chose the mongoose (brown and orange ribbons). The reason: Mongoose can kill the cobra. We had a good laugh and moved on.

Tests for the Second Class badge: 

Courtesy of Saw Lip Chye

The skills that never left us: Scouts, as their name suggests, were supposed to acquire outdoorsy skills. Even in the limited three years, we learnt a lot of those. Many of them have stuck with me for life:

• Knots and lashings: The knots I still use are the reef knot (to connect two ropes or strings so that the knot can be more easily undone), bowline (to secure oneself to others as we ascend or descend a steep slope), sheepshank (to shorten a rope without cutting it) and round turn and two half hitches (e.g. to secure a tree trunk to a post, etc). As for lashings, I have not used them for some time but, in a home setting, they were good for securing temporary structures in the garden like shades for plants.
• Lighting a fire: The requirements for lighting a fire for a stove (outdoor or indoor) are the same. For our exercise, we built a small half-foot tepee of splintered firewood in which we had some dried leaves or crumpled newspaper. Around the tepee were three or four rocks placed a few inches apart to form a well-ventilated stove. We were allowed to use matches to start the fire. The tiny flame had to be carefully nursed, fanning and blowing it lightly, until it became viable. As it grew, we added bigger and bigger pieces of firewood. I had wondered why it was so much easier to light fires at home, only to discover that we used charcoal or firewood dipped in kerosene as starters.   
• Basic First Aid: A few basic things I learnt about First Aid were how to clean a wound, cool down a burn and help someone who had fainted. I cannot remember if it was from the Scouts or from my father first. I have not done much more than that though. In another vein of thought, when we were young, it was reassuring that we went outdoors with Scoutmasters who knew First Aid.

After I joined Penang Free School, I stopped scouting. It was for the most trivial of reasons. My expectations were high and I thought about being welcomed. On the first day, instead of an uplifting talk, the troop leader gave me a dressing down for no apparent reason. It was such a contrast to my experience at Westlands. Disappointed, I left and never turned up again. I often wondered what would happen if I had appeared again a week later.

This is the first of three parts:

• Part 2: Camping and cooking. Read here
• Part 3: Hiking, Job Week and a bit of history. Read here.

-- Lim Siang Jin

Appendix: Pages iv to ix of Scouting for Boys: Foreword by Robert Baden-Powell