Mid-Week Thoughts - On "Ye Olde Schools"

There is something about traditions – school traditions, I mean. The ones you observe from your first day at school, because they are the rules, and the ones you follow because everybody in school does so. Over time, you realized that it was these traditions that mould you character and your values.

These traditions, collectively, became an “institution” within an institution (that is the building that houses the school). The latter institution represents the “face” of the school. The former the “body” and through which the pupils grow, much like the living cells in you.

Where are they now, the schools that were so rich in traditions and through whose hallowed corridors many of us had passed through, from the kampong lad or lass to putra(s) and puteri(s)?

For many years now, I had felt that they were all but forgotten. Some had been “removed from the face of the earth and discarded into the dustbin of history”, a Mrs. Chan Mo Yin wrote, in a letter to the Star, about BBGS yesterday. Others exist but in name only - the traditions and all, being paid lip service to, only.

And so it was indeed a pleasant surprise, when last weekend, I came across a story Grand Tradition (about Malay College, Kuala Kangsar) in NST’s Nuance and an opinion piece on premier schools in NST itself (though I was pissed, that the writer omitted to mention my alma mater, Malacca High School, 177 years old going on 178 come October, 2004 and the second oldest school in Malaysia).

Be that as it may, I am, at least happy that some people have started to ponder, as Mrs. Chan said in her letter, on “the need to revive the former premier schools of the country.” It may be “all talk” now but, who knows, if the momentum catches on, someone might just agree to “walk the talk’’.

Brendan Pereira, the writer of the piece on premier schools, sees these schools as a way out to stop the rot (of falling standards in Malaysian schools) which he attributed to “neglect and too much meddling from a Government more interested in democratising the education system than allowing an elite system to flourish, resulting in premier schools becoming ordinary schools with glamorous names.” He quotes Tan Sri Dr. Noordin Sopiee, CEO of Institute of Strategic and International Studies, as having said, “We have got to return to a more elitist education system. The premier schools will drive up the standard of education and produce the talent the country needs.”

I look at these “good” (prefer this word to “premier) schools in another light. They can provide an insight into why polarisation was not much of an issue back then, compared to present day national schools. In fact, I thought about this way back in 2000, when Vision Schools were proposed and polarization problems in local varsities highlighted. An extract of my opinion, posted in Uncle Yap’s (my good friend and UM mate) Beritamalaysia list, is reproduced below, if you care to read it –

Then it dawn upon him, in rewind mode, that the crowd in the common room (of 2nd. College,UM) that day were all products of those schools so rich in traditions – SAHC Alor Star, Penang Free, Ipoh Anderson, MCKK, VI K.L., KGV Seremban, Melaka High, Johore English College, the Saints and La Salles, the Methodist schools (ACS and MBS). Traditions born out of a school culture which, academic excellence aside, emphasised the importance of esprit de corp.

Thus a student is taught that, irrespective of the other student’s race, religion or creed, they are both one in pursuit of greatness for their “community”. This is the only identification allowed and so at different levels a student is a class mate, form mate, house mate, team mate, hostel mate and school mate – yes, “mate” in every sense of the word, the Australian colloquial usage of same included.

And if at times there arose the need to whip up adversarial emotions, in defining “we and them”, “them” was always either “those form five science b******” (yes, using swear words was part of the culture, unofficially though) or “the fools from yellow house” or “those arrogant boys from that s*** (not in the sense expounded by Shannon) school” or other labels which was totally neutral as to ethnicity and faith.

Little surprise then, entering institutions of higher learning was a breeze. Having been nurtured and imbued with values promoting “oneness” with all and sundry in one’s “community”, it was just a matter of seeking new affiliation and allegiance. Thus the “mate” thing continued, albeit with new labels, like roommate, block mate, college mate, course mate and varsity mate.

Blogging on this topic, about the schools of old, arose out of nostalgia. But at the same time, it is to share experiences that I think could be useful in understanding what has gone wrong with our schools all these years.

We Are The Champions

They sang –

“We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'cause we are the champions”

(Applause)

They bowed.

No, it was not Queen, the band.

It was the Highbury faithful in the North Bank stand and other Arsenal supporters around the world toasting their club last night.

The scene described above may be just a figment of my imagination, but what the heck; it won’t detract from the fact that Arsenal is the Champion.

Winning the 2003/04 English Premier League title was the cake. The icing though, was going through the whole season undefeated. A feat last achieved 115 years ago by Preston North End in 1888/89.

And what a season it has been, the high points and low ones, notwithstanding. Will the supporters subject themselves again, in the coming season, to this emotional roller-coaster ride? You bet they would.

It is said that English football clubs have become the new plaything of the rich and famous.But for mere mortals like us, the fans, it is all about PASSION – yes, passion for the club.

How would you explain, it was otherwise, when –


you put on your replica jersey to go watch your club play….on Astro, in the living room

you get up in the wee hours of the morning, to answer the call of nature, but ended up logging in to Arsenal.com for the results

You splash a hundred pounds, just like that, at the Arsenal shop but kept multiplying everything by six at Mark and Spencer and ended up buying only a 3-part set of briefs


The things we supporters do at times.

Anyway, as my 3-year old grandson Adam (mimicking Sherby and Paul of Celcom’s In play advertisement), told me a couple of weeks ago, “Live the passion, lah!”

Indeed, Adam, I will.

About Mothers

A slight “hiccup” caused the cancellation of the family’s plan to take Tammy out to celebrate Mother’s Day. The flu bug got to her first.

With time to spare, my mind drifted to the significance of having the annual mother’s day and, for that matter, also the one for fathers.

The cynics would say its all commercialism, to make florists, restaurants and hotels happy not the moms. If one really cares about one’s parents, they would add, one do not need a special day to express the fact. Many would agree with them, I am afraid.

I choose to look at it more positively. If the mothers and fathers feel happy about being honoured, pampered and being together with their children and grandchildren on this day reserved for them, what’s the harm?

In a way I am glad that the media, year after year, reminds us of Mother’s Day. Which translates into keeping us reminded that what we are today have their foundation in our respective mothers’ love, efforts and sometimes sacrifices.

And talking of sacrifices, I find it gratifying that, for their Mother’s Day story this year, the Sunday Mail salutes that special breed of mothers, the ones with disabled children and who are “determined that their angels should live as fulfilling a life as possible”, whatever it takes.

To quote one mother featured in the article, a MAS training executive by the name of shahrial Kalis Husni with a 20-year old autistic son –

Don’t feel sorry for me, I never see it as a sacrifice. It’s what any parent would do for their child. In fact, I feel sorry for mothers who throw away their babies, healthy or otherwise. They don’t get to watch their babies grow. They don’t get to cry tears of joy through those experiences.

They don’t get to hear what my Shahrial said one Hari Raya a few years ago, when I gave him his new baju Melayu. He raised his hands and in his special speech, cried out: “Alhamdulillah!”

I join in saluting these mothers, and to a colleague and friend, who is in the same position as this ladies, I say this, “keep your chin up” and draw inspiration from these special women.

Pure Mind, Peaceful Society

There’s something special about places of worship.

Here I was, late this morning and among the throng of worshippers at the Buddhist Maha Vihara (the Buddhist temple complex in Brickfields) to celebrate Wesak day, patiently waiting in line to be sprinkled with “blessed” water by the monks. To my left other lines were forming, this time for entering that part of the temple complex where prayers are carried out. All the people there, young and old, were equally patient, standing in line and without any jostling.

It was as if everyone was at peace with one another and with the surroundings, this despite the big crowd (it was multiracial – Chinese and Sri Lankans devotees and a few of other races, Caucasian observers, et al), the mid-day heat, and the smoke from burning incense that keeps getting into one’s eyes.

If it has been at some other place and some other time, the crowd and the heat, together, would have been a potent brew for losing tempers and whatever comes after. That is why I say that places of worship are special.

Perhaps, its because when we visit these holy places we make a conscious attempt to clear our mind of “impurities” –. hatred, greed, anger, jealousy, malice, ill will, fear, to name some. The Venerable Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda, Chief High Priest of Malaysia and Singapore, in his Wesak day message in Maha Vihara News said, “When these (impurities) are not actively present in the mind, then we regard the brightness that temporarily appears in the mind as happiness”.

And so it was appropriate that the theme chosen for this year’s Wesak day celebration is – “Pure Mind, Peaceful Society”. As individuals, it is within our capability, even if it is only for one day out of 365 days (like my case), to look inward within our self and conquer all that is not right in our thoughts and feelings.

But in the larger context of the world we live in, however, “purification” of minds is no easy task.

How do you tell the likes of those responsible for the Holocausts, the Cambodian “Killing Fields”, the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and Rwanda and the assassinations in the West Bank and Gaza that they should not have so much hatred for their fellow beings? How do you tell the Neocons not to make war in the name of liberation when it is all about greed (read oil)? And how do you tell the people whose land had been taken, the freedom fighters and terrorists, too, not to suicide bomb but contain their anger?

Thinking of all this, one can only despair.