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

Great Howl of the Wolf Cubs

BEING IN a uniformed group was an exciting experience. The first opportunity at Westlands Primary came when we were allowed to become Wolf Cubs. That was in Standard 3. In our case, it was in 1962. We became “special” people overnight — for once or twice a month we dressed differently; we also had a set of rituals that distinguished us from the rest. We were made to feel that we belonged to a bigger body of people worldwide. We felt somewhat connected with nature with all the antics of boy-wolves. Somehow we didn't feel silly.

Our snatches of memory from those times, however, do not form a coherent whole. We could only remember:

• Repeating “dyb”  (do your best) and “dob”  (do our best) four times, 
• Standing in circles, 
• Doing the Cub salute with two fingers, the shape of our hand resembling a wolf, and 
• Being led by a leader called “Akela” (whom we cannot recall).

Baden-Powell's illustration 
in The Wolf Cub's Handbook (1916) 

showing how a Wolf Cub's squatting 
posture imitates a wolf at the Grand
Howl. Source: Wikipedia

According to the British Boys Scouts and Girl Guides Association (BBSGGA), they were part of a ritual called the “Great or Grand Howl”, one used by Cubs to greet their leader, Akela, the “Old Wolf”. It was created by Scouts movement founder Robert Baden-Powell, based on stories in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. Read more here.

The BBSGGA says that the Grand Howl takes place at the beginning and end of a pack meeting: “The wolves sit around the ‘council rock’ in a circle and, when Akela takes his or her place on the rock, they all throw up their heads and howl their welcome to him or her.”

Baden-Powell, in The Wolf Cub's Handbook, describes the ritual in the following manner:

Scouter: “Pack - Pack - Pack!” This calls the Cubs into a Parade Circle.
The Cubs reply as they run to their places in the circle. 

• Cubs: “Pack!”

As the Scouter enters the circle, the Cubs squat down on their heels with their “fore paws” on the ground between their feet and their knees out on either side. 

• Cubs: “Ah-kay-la! We-e-e-e-ll do-o-o-o o-o-o-u-u-r BEST!” On the word “BEST”, the Cubs jump to their feet with two fingers of each hand at the sides of their heads, to resemble a wolf’s ears.
• A Sixers: “Dyb - dyb - dyb - dyb” The word “dyb” means “Do Your Best” which is the first part of the Cub Promise and was the original Wolf Cub motto.

On the fourth “dyb”, the Cubs lower their left hands and the fingers of their right hands extend to form the Wolf Cub salute.

• Cubs: “We-e-e-e-ll dob-dob-dob-dob”, meaning “We’ll do our best”.

The above extract strings some of our memories together, however, we still want to add more details to our cubbing days. We hope that former fellow Cubs can add to it.,

Massive Grand Howl in Hong Kong: In 2016, the Cub movement in Hong Kong celebrated its 100th year anniversary with a huge Grand Howl. The video can be watched here.

Child abuse: We need a registry of the offenders

Reprinted from Malaysiakini,
Nov 9, 2018, with the permission
of the author. Read original here.

By Jim Lim

DEPUTY Minister for Women, Family and Community Development Hannah Yeoh made an important policy intention regarding the key issue of safeguarding children, that is, the screening of those who work with children.

For far too long, those unsuitable and those deemed “undesirable” have been allowed to destroy young lives, through a combination of general apathy on the part of adults and a lack of diligence by some children-affiliated agencies such as schools, care centres and orphanages.

Citing the high recorded cases of child abuse in the country — at more than 20,000 in the last five years — Yeoh rightly advised parents to exercise greater monitoring, to give them education on sex and care, and promised to provide greater support and counselling for victims.

Therefore, will focused attention and encouragement of parents and caregivers, with the strengthening of counselling resources at schools as well as widespread information about the Talian Kasih helpline be enough? Prevention efforts, access to the helpline and a post-trauma rescue service are a good start.

I hope the “work in progress”, as Yeoh stated, will spell out the message that child protection is the responsibility of all. It is not only the government alone but everyone! Sure, the government must show the lead, and must allocate resources to underpin its importance, but all sections in society must also act in support.

To start with, the government needs to get all the statutory key agencies to act together and to develop a joint policy with the sole objective of safeguarding and protecting children. Unlike the sexual offenders' registry, which has list of those convicted of a criminal offence, this process of eliminating those unsuitable is a “vetting and barring” scheme. The UK government does operate a scheme for this purpose and their own development and experience can be shared and adapted to the Malaysian context.

In my experience, the existence of a similar type of registry rests on the principles of civil law and the evidence sought is not along the desirability as with criminal law, which seeks a “beyond reasonable doubt” conviction. Rather it is loosely based on employment law, where evidence gathered is based around the “balance of probabilities”.

In the UK, there was a registry maintained by the Education Ministry of teachers who had been dismissed for gross misconduct (not criminally convicted) or medical/para-medical staff dismissed for professional misconduct. Details of such individuals would be stored in a register. All employing authorities (Education, Social Care and Health) would check with those lists prior to recruiting staff.

With such a safety-cum-screening resource in place, it would be “reassuring” to the public that service providers to children comply with this requirement. The ministry in Malaysia must proceed to set up such a register as a way of screening.

To further extend and continue the quality assurance of the establishments concerned, the registration of a service provider, e.g. a nursery (taska, tadika), children’s home (orphanage), all public and private schools and tahfiz schools, must be mandatory.

Unless establishments are subjected to checks and inspections, they should not be allowed a licence to operate. The registration requirements, therefore, must be strengthened and rigorously enforced and perhaps, as a sweetener to encourage good practice, tax incentives could be offered in return for strict compliance to those accepted standards.

I am sure many will look forward to an announcement on further details or an implementation timetable.

• Jim Lim is a former director of Social Services in a London borough and a former CEO of a charity.  He is a member of the Malaysian Association of Social Workers.  Read more about him here.

The area, it is a changin'

THE AREA around Westlands Primary has undergone a number of changes; a few of which are quite radical. Here are some photos with captions to illustrate them.

Our school has, of course, been turned into a sports training centre. The above is its official name: "Pusat Kecemerlangan Sukan Westlands" or the Westlands Centre of Sports Excellence. Read more about it here. A unit of the Penang Education Department, it also houses the MSSPP or Majlis Sukan Sekolah Pulau Pinang. Read here.

The former Rediffusion building has now been incorporated into the Penang Christian Centre, a part of the Assemblies of God, Malaysia. The PCC has two centres, the second in Butterworth. Read more about PCC here.

One of the bungalows along Khaw Sim Bee Road now houses Tadika Buddhist Tzu Chi. Read more about the Tzu Chi Malaysia, Penang branch, here.

Pykett Methodist Primary is set to become Wesley Methodist School Penang (International). According to Bishop Dr Ong Hwai Teik of the Methodist Church in Malaysia: "We are now once again called upon to further act on this mission call, this time in a different age and season, by returning to 'our roots'  to build a new school of 'Education with Mission, Excellence and Compassion' i.e. the Wesley Methodist School Penang (International). Work on the building of this new institution has begun." Read here

The block of buildings where Mrs Phipp's kindergarten used to be is now the Pinang A's Learning Center. Established in 2006, the centre uses the "Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) programme with an emphasis on holistic development". Read more about it here.

Westlands Secondary School remains the "School for the Gentlemen", however, it has added a covered court to be used for basketball and futsal (see below) next to its main entrance.

The Chinese Recreation Club has been renovated with restaurants and a new pool. Parts of the building, the pavilion for example, has retained its original ambience. Read more here.

Westlands boy getting recognised

A story that appeared in The Star newspaper's Metro North section yesterday (14th Aug 2018). Would you know Dato' Khoo Yeoh Gan Hong, the former Penang Scout Commissioner with a double-barrel surname?

If your eyesight's bad 😜 and you cannot read the text in the image above, this was the pertinent section that was written about him:

NINETY-YEAR-OLD former Penang State Scout Commissioner Datuk Khoo Yeoh Gan Hong was the oldest Scout to receive the Bintang Kesetiaan Mutiara during the World Scouts Day award ceremony at the Ixora Hotel in Prai, Butterworth.

Khoo, a father of five and grandfather of eight, was a school teacher before he joined the Penang Education Department as the Organiser of Schools. He retired from service in 1983.

“I urge youths to join Scouting and accept the challenges,” said an elated Khoo.

Recalling his trip to Melbourne, Australia, to attend the Scouts Jamboree from December 1948 to January 1949, Khoo said he boarded a train from Penangto Singapore.

“I was lucky to find some well-wishers who collected enough money to buy me a ticket on the boat.
“Upon reaching Fremantle, I took a train to Melbourne.

“I did not have a passport then but fortunately, a bank manager who knew me helped by standing as a guarantor for my passport application in Singapore,” he said.

Khoo added that he managed to make it in time for the jamboree’s opening ceremony.

“It was a long journey but luck was with me,” he said, adding that he would never forget all those who helped him attend the jamboree.

Khoo became a Scout in 1940 when he was studying in Westlands School. After the Second World War, he went to Penang Free School where he joined the Hamilton Scout Troop and studied there till 1948.

Hike to Taiping and Maxwell Hill, 1956

IN 1956, three teachers from Westlands School took a group of 12 scouts on a five-day hike from Penang to Taiping and up Maxwell Hill, and back. Two of the courageous and adventurous teachers were Thomas Khor and Hwang Hong Shi. The hike, which involved boys in Standard Six, took place during the year-end school holidays, from 17-21 December, 1956.

The teachers, now over 80-years-old, were in their late teens or early twenties then. In a recent interview with Mr Khor and Mr Hwang about the trip, they said they visited a large number of places and stayed at a government rest house when they got up Maxwell Hill.

They remembered distinctly one incident: Some time during the hike, probably near Taiping, they got drenched in the rain. It happened at a kampung and a very hospitable headman gave them shelter in a mosque. The village leader was very impressed that they had walked all the way from Penang. He even cooked them a huge meal of curry before sending them off again.

Mere words cannot describe the details of their trip, however, pictures can. The following, with captions wherever possible, are from the Hwang Hong Shi collection:

Taking a dip at the Burmese Pool. Hwang is on the extreme left. Read more
on the pool here

Stopover at the Ranting Waterfall, visible from Taiping. Khor is on the
extreme left; Hwang is wearing a hat. Read more  here

Taiping Lake Garden: First public garden established by the British in
Malaya. Read more here

Human pyramid at the Lake Garden. Get another view on the Lake
Garden here

Sri Maha Kalaliamman Temple, Maxwell Hill. Read more here

Mini-roundabout at Maxwell Hill (Bukit Larut). Read here about
Maxwell Hill

Maxwell Hill Youth Hostel (Rumah Tumpangan Pemuda Pemudi)

Perak Museum, Taiping. First museum to be established by the British in
Malaya. Read here

An express lane for the intelligent

AT THE tender age of seven, did you feel more intelligent that the boy sitting next to you in school? Whether you did or not, there was an attempt in the 1960s to push the more intelligent ones – or the pupils perceived to be more intelligent – more quickly through their primary education. A development arising from the Rahman Talib Report was the concept of express classes “for more intelligent children to complete their primary education in five years instead of six.” (The Straits Times, 14 January 1962) A Unesco paper in 1973, titled “The educational statistics system of Malaysia 1972”, gave more information:

At the beginning of the second year in a large primary school, the more intelligent pupils are placed in the express class based on their performance in the previous year, the recommendation of their class teachers and the approval of the parents concerned. They will remain in such class until they complete the remaining part of the primary education in the next four years thereby completing the primary education in five years instead of six. Prior approval of the Chief Education Officer must be sought whenever a Head of School wishes to start an express class. Express classes exist in a number of large primary schools and statistics on them are regularly collected. In 1971, the number of Express classes in West Malaysia was 98 classes with 3,835 pupils.

The pioneering Standard Two Express class
at Westlands School in 1962.

Thus in 1962, an express class was introduced into Standard Two in Westlands School. Ironically, many of my friends who were streamed into the first Standard Two Express simply had no idea why we had been so chosen. Guinea pigs, we turned out to be. Or whether our parents had been informed at the very least. Were we really that more intelligent that the rest of our classmates who did not go into the express class? On what basis were we chosen? Even the old teachers that we spoke to could not recall the criteria of selection. If I could remember correctly, one told me recently, each class in Standard One in 1961 were requested to pick their five best pupils to go to the express class the following year.

(As a footnote, perhaps I WAS a wee bit more intelligent at my young age after all. I do remember that in 1964, the school introduced an Intelligence Test for the first time in its history. Everyone took the test and to my surprise, I scored the highest marks among my peers, not only in the class but in the whole of Standard Five. But no prize was forthcoming for me, unfortunately. The school offered no prize for this test. Darn. The very first and only time I ever came out tops among the boys in any test and I got no prize, no recognition. Ha ha... 😜)

I have no idea how long the original Standard Two express classes lasted in the Malaysian education system. Contrary to the Unesco report I mentioned earlier, it was suggested in an academic paper, “The identification of gifted and talented students” by Siti Fatimah Mohd Yassin, Noriah Mohd Ishak, Melor Mohd Yunus and Rosadah Abd Majid, published in 2012, that the programme ended in 1970. I have also seen a short report in The Straits Times of 26 July 1968 that the Minister of Education, Mohammed Khir Johari, had wanted the express classes to be discontinued from 1969. The system was not good enough, he had felt. There were varying standards in different schools and he claimed that the pupils were admitted to express classes at the discretion of teachers and headmaster only.

Neither was this the only experimentation by the Ministry of Education. According to Abu Yazid bin Abu Bakar from the Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the Ministry of Education had intermittently introduced such express class programmes for pupils with high academic potential over a period of three decades (1960s through 1990s). In his paper, “Developing gifted and talented education program: The Malaysian experience” published in Jan 2017, he wrote that the express classes in 1962 gave such pupils the opportunity to accelerate their elementary education. “Likewise,” he added, “the Level One Assessment System in 1996 was a similar acceleration effort to shorten the elementary education of academically talented pupils. However, all these transformational efforts to develop programmes specifically tailored for gifted and talented pupils were short-lived due to factors such as lack of instructions, training, leadership and resources.”

© Quah Seng Sun

Pursuing unity through education

PRIMARY education in this country has changed a fair bit. Two major reports, the Razak Report (1956) and the Rahman Talib Report (1960), resulted in two pieces of legislation that, amongst other aims, made education a primary tool to foster national unity. As a means of unifying the country, their main focus was on making Malay the national language and English a lingua franca. The laws were also aimed at streamlining the school system.

Prior to the re-organisation from January 1957, there were two stages in a child's primary education, where teaching in the English language was concerned. First, he would have to undergo a basic elementary education for two years before he could move on to a primary school for the next four years. The smarter ones would then progress to the secondary school stage after overcoming some Government examinations along the way. Double promotions were already not unheard of, while there were many reported instances of over-aged pupils too. Too many, in fact.

A few primary schools were already considered as the feeder schools to Penang Free School. First, there was the Northam Road Government School which operated from 1922 to 1933. Hutchings School came into existence in 1928 after the Free School relocated to newer premises in Green Lane and the old premises in Farquhar Street was converted into the primary school. Then there was Francis Light School which was established two years later in 1930 and finally, Westlands School followed in 1935.

These non-missionary schools provided primary education in English from Standard Three onwards till Standard Six. So what about Standards One and Two? For these two years, a child would have to enrol in elementary schools such as the Hillview Government English School that was set up in 1924 (and which later became the Wellesley School in 1936).

When I was trying to get confirmation from a few people who were senior to me in age that this was their primary school experience in the 1950s, I learnt that they had indeed studied at Wellesley School for their first two years of education. After that, their parents had applied for them to continue with their primary school education, Standards Three to Six, at the Francis Light, Hutchings or Westlands Schools.

All this changed at the start of the school year in January 1957 as a result of the implementation of a new education policy. In May 1956, the Federal Legislative Council had debated and unanimously adopted a new 10-year education plan, called the Razak Report, which was proposed by the then Minister of Education, Abdul Razak Hussein. The following excerpt is extracted from The Straits Times of 17 May 1956:

“I ask the council to endorse the policy in this report so that with the dawning of merdeka we can provide a happy and glorious future for every child born in Malaya,” he said. “No member will blink the fact that our educational plan is ambitious, a challenge to the skill and resources of the Government machinery. The country is going through a period of political transition. Political freedom and full nationhood are round the corner. Therefore, as Malaya enters this new era in her history, let us give our children ideals and loyalties to which they can stretch their hands and which can promise them a happy and contented future. This report lays the foundation of a national system of education on which a united Malayan nation will be born and grow into a happy and stately manhood. I am grateful to the public for having received the report with understanding and support,” he added.

“Strangely enough,” he continued, “the little opposition there has been came from the Malays whom the report is intended to benefit. The Minister referred to a headline in a Malay newspaper which said: "The education report eliminates the Malay language. It gives statutory recognition to English and other languages...”

He commented: “Can a sane and sensible person honestly believe that this report has the effect of eliminating the Malay language when its main recommendation is to enlarge and enrich the Malay language and uphold and uplift Malay education? The report is centred on a policy to make Malay the national language of the country and to raise the standard and the status of the Malay language. In formulating the new education policy, the committee tried to meet the various viewpoints as far as it could. We could not meet fully all the viewpoints expressed (but we are under no delusion that we would have pleased everyone with this report. We would consider ourselves extremely lucky if we had pleased the majority of the people.”

Razak said that the committee had borne in mind the importance of bringing children of all races under a national system of education, and recommended that there should be a uniformity of conditions and a common content of syllabuses. “We strongly believe that one of the essential elements in the building of a united Malayan nation is that children of all races should learn the same things in the same way at school,” he said. “They may not initially learn them through the same language but so long as they learn the same things about Malaya we consider this country will have gone a long way towards establishing a national system of education. This as stated in our terms of reference, ‘would satisfy the need of the people and promote their cultural, social, economic and political development as a nation’.”

The report recommended that there should be a variety of primary schools falling into two broad types – standard primary schools with Malay, the national language, as the medium of instruction, and standard-type primary schools in which the medium of instruction may be Kuo Yu or Tamil or English. In the standard primary schools English will be a compulsory subject, and Kuo Yu or Tamil will be taught if there are 15 or more children whose parents want them to learn these languages. Malay and English will be compulsory in standard-type primary schools. There will be established one type of national secondary school where the pupils work towards a common syllabus and to the same final examination. Malay and English will be compulsory.

Razak said: “English is still essential for use, particularly for dealing with the outside world. Therefore, the report recommends that English should be compulsory.”

On the development of the Malay language, the Minister said: “As Malaya grows into a nation, it is desirable that there should be a national language which can serve as a medium of communication among the people of all races domiciled here. Having accepted Malay as the national language, it is the duty of the Government and the people of the country, not only Malays but of all races, to do all we can to develop, enrich and enlarge that language so that it will be able to give expressions to our thought and ideas on science, economics, philosophy and the like. I can assure this council and the country generally that there is a field of opportunities in this work. the establishment of a literature agency is well in hand. This agency will be entrusted with the main task of producing books of literature in Malay not only for schools but for the general public. The report recommends as a matter of urgency the establishment of a language institute which will, in the main, train teachers for teaching Malay.”

The Rahman Talib Report of 1960, which was incorporated into the Education Act 1961, went further to speed up the process of national integration and unity through education. This 1960 report fine-tuned the proposals made in the earlier Razak Report and among the recommendations made were to make the Malay language the main language in schools, the Government providing free primary school education and automatic promotion till Form Three, an emphasis on religious and moral education, stressing on Membaca, Menulis dan Mengira (reading, writing and arithmetic) as fundamental education skills, stressing on a Malayan curriculum, providing an opportunity to continue education from nine years to 11 years, and streaming upper secondary education into either academic or vocational depending on the pupil's aptitude,

A consequence of this 1960 report, approved by Parliament in August that year, was that there would be universal free primary education in all fully-assisted schools as from January 1962. I remember being told by the class teacher that school fees would no longer be collected at Westlands School. I also remember that when I was in Standard One, I had to bring $2.50 to school at the start of every month and the money was carefully tied up in the corner of a handkerchief so that I wouldn't lose it. Another result of the implementation of this report was that the “standard” and “standard-type” schools would henceforth be known as “national (kebangsaan)” and “national-type (jenis kebangsaan)” primary and secondary schools.

Abdul Rahman Talib was appointed Minister of Education in January 1960, taking over from Razak. One of his first tasks was to send a message to all schools calling on the pupils to study the National Language. This was in conjunction with the country's first National Language Week. A month later, he chaired the Education Review Committee that had been formed to consider, among other things, the financial implications of introducing free primary education in Malaya.

The committee’s report was published on 3 Aug 1960 and predictably faced objections from Chinese language educators in the country who charged that “Chinese secondary education would be eliminated and that denial of public examinations in Chinese amounted to ousting the Chinese language from the education system.” But in reality, for the first time in the country, free primary education in Chinese - and also in English and Tamil – was to be available to all who wanted it. There were specific provisions for the study of the Chinese language and literature at both primary and secondary levels in the fully-assisted schools. And there was nothing to prevent the establishment of independent schools teaching in whatever medium they chose. (The Straits Times, 8 Nov 1960)

As a footnote, I had also touched briefly on the Razak Report in Let the Aisles Proclaim:

In September 1955, the Government appointed the then Minister of Education, Dato’ Abdul Razak bin Hussain, to head a committee to examine the existing education policy in the Federation and recommend a new national education policy which would be acceptable to the people. The committee’s terms of reference were to “satisfy their needs and promote their cultural, social, economic and political development as a nation, having regard to the intention to make Malay the national language of the country whilst preserving and sustaining the growth of the language and culture of other communities living in the country.” Between September 1955 and April 1956, eight meetings were held before the Report of the Education Committee 1956 was released in May.

The main principle of this Razak Report, implemented by means of the Education Ordinance 1957, was not new. Education as the instrument of nation-building was already the basis of the Barnes Report and the Education Ordinance of 1952. But where the Razak Report differed was the elevation of the Malay language to the dominant position in the education system. Ultimately, the Malay language would be the main medium of instruction in schools but in the meantime, the report provided for Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil schools to continue at the primary school level, and Malay and English schools at the secondary school level. The Malay-medium schools would be known as “national schools” while the others were “national-type schools.” All schools would be funded by the Government and use a common national curriculum. Among the other recommendations in the report were that Malay and English should be compulsory subjects in all primary and secondary schools; instruction in Kuo-Yu and Tamil should be taught in all aided primary schools when needed; the Lower Certificate of Education and the Federation of Malaya Certificate of Education would be introduced for candidates from all secondary schools, and a Board of Governors would be established in schools.

Reference: Quah Seng Sun. Let the Aisles Proclaim, pp.200-201. Publisher: The Penang Free School Foundation (2016)

© Quah Seng Sun

Letter to Wan Azizah, Minister for Women and Community Development, on improving social care in Malaysia 2018

Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Dear Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah

As the Minister for Women and Community Development, I am writing to you as I wish to convey my observations and concerns regarding social work and the social care sector in our country. The main concern is on child protection and the protection of vulnerable adults.

I returned to Malaysia from the UK over 6 years ago and was very much hoping to contribute to the development of the professional social work service. I applied for my return through (and which was subsequently endorsed by) the Talent Corp “Returning Expert Programme.” 

My entire working career in the UK was in social work, particularly in London Local Authorities (20+ years) ending up as Chief Officer/Principal Advisor and a Director of Social Services. I was a CEO of a “mental health and supported housing” Charity in South East London. I was also a Judicial Member of the Care Services Tribunal, set up to protect children and vulnerable adults and was an External Examiner for Universities programme for social work education and qualifications. Prior to returning to Malaysia, my own Government-approved UK Company provided services to children/young people with special needs and challenging behaviour (including child refuges or unaccompanied minors). 

This letter is in some ways an appeal to you, to implement in my view, much overdue action towards the improvement of services for our fellow citizens, in particular those least able to care for themselves.

Perhaps you are aware that the Care Services sector (specialist day care and residential care) for children with disabilities/special needs and for “vulnerable” adults is variable in standards and quality and remains unrecognised and neglected. Apart from the few Government-run establishments, most of specialist provisions are within the private and the voluntary sector (NGOs). 

It is the case that social care and support services currently provided are not formally “registered or regulated” over the way it delivers its services. Without any proper safeguards, there is a real risk that service users may not be adequately protected. As reported in the media there have been instances over the years of abuse and institutional neglect of residents in many of the care services establishments. Therefore, this is a public safety issue.

There is a need in my view to introduce “regulation” in order to instil not only public confidence, but also promote good services. If clinics, hospitals and schools are regulated why are social care provider-establishments exempt?  

My next main concern is towards a professional service that is sadly (woefully) least understood and so far unrecognised in our country. I am referring to the current disappointing situation regarding mainstream professional “social workers”.

Social workers, although unqualified in this country are at best university degree-trained and at worst, untrained. This occupation involving “social care” needs to be accorded appropriate recognition by the country and this could come about through the draft Social Worker’s Act, currently going through its technical assessment process.

This proposed legislation sets up registration for those using the legal title of “social worker” and sets standards and competency for practice. To be called a social worker, one needs both the required academic qualification brought about through higher education and appropriate practice experience. In short, the country needs to professionalise the social work service, of which the Social Workers Act is only a necessary beginning.

In summary, a statutory agency, that is a “Care Services Commission” needs to be considered, whose regulatory duties embrace “fitness to practice (people) and fitness to operate (organisations)” criteria. We would benefit from enacting legislation to ensure there are suitably qualified and professionally trained social workers in this country. I hope therefore, that you are able to review the current draft legislation with the aim of expediting parliamentary approval. It has been delayed through endless bureaucracy for far too long.

In the longer term, the way which social work and welfare services are provided could benefit with further decentralisation and localisation “at the point of delivery” for greater accountability and transparency. This bold re-organisation could compliment PH’s longer term plans to restore local government elections and accordingly, give greater duties and powers to Local Authorities. In my view, local communities often know what they need and the best ways to provide for those needs. 

I have attached an Appendix (see below) which provides some background and context around my concerns. I am a member of the Malaysian Association of Social Workers, an organisation that has been campaigning on the issues above although this letter is written in a personal capacity.

Finally, I would be delighted to provide further clarification and details if necessary.

Yours sincerely

Jim Lim Teik Wah

Read more about Jim here.

APPENDIX: Social Workers’ Act and social care services regulation

Social workers, despite years of trying to “be heard” have been unsuccessful in securing the previous government’s commitment to the required legislation to professionalise their status and the consequent steps towards regulating the social care sector.

Social work is a professional activity recognised throughout the world but unfortunately, the roles and functions appear least understood in our country. In addition, social workers often deal with complex problems affecting individuals and families and those problems, or its resolution or treatment can carry considerable social stigma.

There are six universities in Malaysia running undergraduate degree programmes in social work and a shorter Diploma in Social Work programme at a further education college in KL commenced a year ago. 

In spite of this and despite international recognition for our local social work professionals, both in academia and in practice, there have been little progress achieved in terms of formal recognition or, in terms of “professionalising” the service, and with it, the standards, quality and regulation that follow.

What is the current state of play?

Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat (under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development) is the statutory agency for a range of generic welfare services dispensing services and, intervening into the lives of individuals and families, principally “to protect, to assist and provide”. In addition, there are numerous voluntary organisations (NGOs) providing a wide range of services and to a many sections of the community. Malaysians are fortunate to have the many voluntary and charitable services evolving from its diverse religious and temperate societies.

However, there is a need to improve overall service delivery and this concerns public safety. How is the public to understand or be assured of a service which at the moment does not subject itself to inspection or regulation? For some services there is minimal registration for administrative purposes only but not regulation in terms of service standards and quality. 

As social work services are often delivered by “people to people” directly, is it not reasonable that we understand the professional ethics which govern its practice and ensure there is appropriate regulation over their professional conduct and suitability or fitness for practice of the social work practitioner, in the same way of doctors, dentists, nurses and other Para-medical staff?

The draft Social Workers Act which I believe is currently undergoing its technical appraisal processes have been rigorously ‘peer-examined’ too. In my view, this important piece of legislation is long overdue. 

The Act essentially legalises the job title of “social worker” and sets out mandatory standards for qualification as well as practice competencies. In line with many developed countries, it is time Malaysia join the wider community of social work.

There are numerous areas for improvements and existing social policies covering vulnerable adults, the elderly and children and families can benefit for an updated review and assessment as to its take-up as well as effectiveness. Some may require “replacement legislation” to reflect and accommodate the rapid social changes.

What is essentially the concern for social workers?

To simply put it, “social work intervention and social work services” fall under 2 distinct categories, warranting action and service provision.

The first covers services “safeguarding and protection” and,

The second is concerned with “maintaining dignity and enriching lives”

Safeguarding and protection services would be particularly relevant for children who are abused, families under stress, living with disabilities as well as vulnerable adults with disabilities. 

Maintaining dignity and enriching lives would relate to people with severe handicaps, elderly people living with dementia and in some cases, marginalised communities.

At present, most social work intervention is effective when there is high quality practice or professionally competent services, supported by well managed teams and organisations. Social workers must be “competent” in undertaking assessments and formulating plans working with relevant multi-disciplinary agencies and client/user groups. Social workers can make a difference to people’s lives working in different settings, statutory (government, judicial, educational) and non-statutory (social, community, NGO).

The main concern of social workers throughout the country is formal recognition of the work they do or can do. They are operating without formal professional recognition and often, other public service agencies fail to appreciate their role. The public can be at risk if there is no formal register which bars those unsuitable to work with children or vulnerable people. The recent Sexual Offenders Act is a case in point although there has not been any evaluation published since.

The short-term: To urgently have the draft Social Workers Act passed by Parliament. Equal Consideration must be given to establishing the institutional resources to effectively fund and manage the implications and consequences arising from the Act. To introduce appropriate regulation to the social care sector to protect the public.

The longer-term: To reorganise current “institutional” welfare provision with the aim of decentralisation or localisation of services to the respective state level. 

• I presented a paper on “social services planning” with the theme of decentralising services to local level at an ASEAN conference on Child Protection in KL in November 2012. Read here.

The longer-term may also focus on further education and training matters and the setting up of a working framework for inspection and regulation of establishments, centres and homes as well as statutory mechanism for vetting and barring schemes on suitability. 

I know that this may appear a long wish list but as social work had been accorded scant attention in the past, the new Government must try to “catch up” in order to help raise standards and improve responses and services to all categories of vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens.

• There was a study by external consultants commissioned by Agensi Inovasi Malaysia with their findings report for consultation in March 2017, called Innovating Malaysia’s Social Sector. This study attempted to calculate financial costs in social interventions and services and my criticism is that it hardly mentioned social workers or to the many unsung heroes working in the social care sector. The results or outcomes of this study have so far not been shared.

A treasure I cherish

ROSELY AHMAD is someone we bumped into in the Down Memory Lane (DML) group on Facebook. Like our merry band of former schoolmates, he is a child of the 1960s. We were amazed by his fantastic recollection of a particularly memorable incident that occurred to him during his schooldays at Westlands School. He said we could use it in this blog and thus, here it is:

A TREASURE I CHERISH by Rosely Ahmad 

I got this when I won a “Pop Quiz”
contest in Primary 6 @ Westlands Primary School in Penang during the School Concert Day.

There were only four contestants representing the smartest from each class and Std 6 had four classes... A, B, C and D. I belonged to Std 6D. I wasn't the smartest kid in 6D however, but I was not the dumbest either (although I was among those few from my class running for that dreaded title). I was forced to enter the contest because the smartest kid in my class suddenly got food poisoning, and at that time I happened to be on stage.

There I was on stage with the other contestants and still wearing a “gown” (if you all remember, in those days girls loved to wear gowns. If you guys are wondering why I was wearing a “gown”, it was because we had just finished an act titled “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and I was that kid that couldn't play the part of any of the seven dwarfs. Westlands was an “only boys” school.) 

Each one of us was given a question to answer, failing which he would be eliminated and the question passed to the other kid.

The teacher might have thought I would be eliminated in the first round, and yet I managed to survive till only two of us were left (me and the smartest kid of class 6A). 

I still remember the winning question. The teacher asked that kid. “Cassius Clay (at that time he wasn't called Muhammad Ali yet) is well known for boxing. What is the Malay word for boxing?”. When the “smartest kid” of 6A couldn't answer, the “not so smart kid” of 6D created history 😁

Anyway I got that book as a prize and the One Dollar note was from my dad. It still looks brand new.