1966 - rome was not built in a day!

( Click on picture for enlarged view).

My 14 year old son does not enjoy school. Dammit, that is a crying shame!! In my VI days, I spent more time in school than at home.

My daughter on the other hand, has managed to find a circle of friends and get herself into the school volleyball and cheerleading teams. Girls do mature faster and seem to adjust to school better than most boys.

But the current school system does not seem to actively encourage students to partake in extra-curricular activities. Paper chase is the end all and be all of it. They get there completely through personal initiative or prodding from parents. And that is THE damning indictment of the current schooling system in that it fails to produce enough thinking and all round students.

I was reminded recently by my old VI classmate and buddy Dr.Chew Yoong Foong about a ‘hilarious’ incident involving 1972 Lewis Scholar, Lim Theam Siew. In the ’60’s The Headmaster, Mr.V.Murugasu, would appear in class and personally hand out the Report Cards (RC) to each student at the end of each term. When it came to Theam Siew’s turn, Muru asked, “First in class, first in Form, first in Maths. What games or societies are you involved in, young genius?”

Theam Siew, by now reduced to a quivering mass of jelly croaked, “Nnnone, sssssir!”

To which Muru predictably responded with, “Well, bend down, that’ll be three strokes then!”

I am glad to record that Theam Siew, a lovely fellow, ended his tenure in VI as Co-Editor of the school magazine ‘The Victorian’ and as Secretary of Sultan Abdul Samad House and the Automotive Society. If I am not mistaken, he participated in inter-house debates and science & maths quiz and exhibitions as well.

So, the VI system was very clear. Exam results were of course the main priority. But, you had to be a member of at least one ‘uniform’ group and one society, and if you were not good enough to make it into the School 1st 11 and reserves games’ teams, you had to turn out for the inter-house games. Weekly swimming and twice-a-week PE (Physical Excise) classes and the Annual Cross Country Run (3 1/2 miles) were compulsory for all. If one really had a medical condition, one could get exempted from games, but not from participating in societies, debates, school plays/dramas and exhibitions. Hence, there was no discrimination against those who were physically not suited for sports. At the very least, you had to turn up regularly to cheer and support, the school teams when playing at home or away or your house team or even your Form team in games and debates.

The proof of the pudding was that you had to get your participation acknowledged and signed off by the respective teacher in-charge, in the Report Card BEFORE the RC went to the HM. God forbid the RC should go to Muru with a blank page!

What did all this mean?

Students were compelled to mix. Rarely did anyone remain isolated without a friend or two in school with whom they shared common interests and built up lasting camaraderie and friendship that would surpass school days to the grave. And that is important. When interviewing young applicants for management positions, I have frequently come across many with stellar 3.80 GPA and nothing else. They tend to get defensive when asked whether they participated in any extra-curricular activities while in school or Uni. “What’s so great about sports or scouting?” they would counter, mistaking my line of inquiry. Organizations look for team players, leadership qualities and out-of-the box lateral thinkers and problem solvers. A 3.80 GPA alone will not reveal an interviewee’s ability to fit into corporate culture.

And so it was that we were introduced in 1966 to Debating, by Mrs. Chong. The first topic for the inter-Form 1 debate was ‘Money Is the Root of All Evil’. And she deliberately curtailed the title, leaving some width for the proposers and opposers to take the debate to another level, for Alexander Pope had actually said, 'For the Love of Money is the Root of All Evil' which is a completely different proposition!

Each team comprised 6 students. Speaker 1 (who also did the rebuttal) was allowed 3 minutes since his speech would include the preamble, while Speakers 2 and 3 spoke for 2 minutes each with an 3 additional minutes allowed for the rebuttal. Speakers 4-6, who were there to learn about public speaking, spoke for 1 minute each but their oratory earned no marks for their team. While the 3 teacher-judges totted up the marks, anyone from the audience could step forward and present his views on the topic for the day. There was one over-riding rule and that was no one was allowed to read their speech. They could jot down the main points on a scrap of paper to refer to, but wholesale recital was not permitted. The debate would be presided over by a student Chairman and a time-keeper with wrist-watch and bell. Speakers lost points for exceeding the time limits.

While English was my forte, standing in front of an audience of 90 students and arguing about the pros and cons of money and evil was decidedly not; more so, since students and teachers from other Forms and seniors too would attend for the fun of it. As we were novices, we were fully capable of making ourselves look like the southern view of a northern bound ass, because we had to utter pompous phrases like ‘My honourable speakers from across the floor shed heat, but not light!’ or ‘The Honourable 1st Speaker has a point. That’s all. A point! For 3 whole minutes of verbal diarrhoea?’ You could not dismiss the opposition by saying “You are lying!” or “You are talking through your hat!” or “You are stupid!” with which you often won arguments at home with your younger brother. Here, you had to be logical and/or witty.

The main speakers were Raymond Hui Hoong Fai (perennial teacher’s pet), Mac Kean Boon and Ranjan Nitchingham. The Nitchingham brothers and sister shot to instant fame as the ‘Missing Links’ when they won 1st prize in the ‘Vocal Group’ section the 1970 Talentime competition with their melodious rendition of the Mamas and Papas hit ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’. I was chosen as Speaker 5, with the 4th and 6th being Jaspal Singh (now Engineer and CEO Metroline London) and R.Mahendran (now doctor). That pleased me since even if I screwed up, the marks would not be affected. We had one practice session to polish up our speeches as Mrs. Chong vetted them, especially those of Speakers 1-3 and advised on the possible angles of attack in rebuttal.

The teams gathered for the 1st Olympian debate - 1 North vs 1 South- at the refectory room directly across the road and opposite the permanent tuck shop, at 2.00 p.m. There was much banging of tables and hooting and laughing as most speakers made mistakes in delivery and slip ups in pronunciations.

Then came my turn.

As I pulled out my referral scrap of paper, the audience went absolutely quiet. I was pleased with this respect which is not normally accorded to Speaker 5. Perhaps they knew something about my abilities that I was ignorant of. Anyway, I launched into a vociferous defence of the motion for the day as a proposer and was waffling on about how the evil Rothchilds brokered Word War 1 & 2 for profit (as tutored by my father) when suddenly I got a knuckle knock at the back of my head that stopped me dead in mid-sentence. I was about to shout ‘what the f...!’ as I turned around and immediately froze and gagged up. There was Muru standing right behind me!

“Don’t look at the paper, don’t slouch and speak up when debating,” warned Muru as he made his way to the exit. He had been standing behind me from the very second I had stood facing the silent audience!! How from that nadir, dpp emerged the 1st Speaker for the School Debating Team in 1972, must remain a mystery deeper than that of virgin birth! Oh, we would debate about ‘Country Living is Better than City Living’ or ‘Man Proposes, Woman Follows’ and ‘The United Nations is a failure’.

The School Exhibition was held in conjunction with Speech, Concert and Prize Giving Day. Every class had to audition for Speech Day with a presentation; it could be anything – a play, comic routine, solo magic show, song & dance, whatever. Mrs. Chong picked me to mouth the immortal line "Will you marry me?” on bended knee and holding a bouquet of plastic roses to a dolly made-up Chong Ket Chong, in 1 North’s bid for the Oscars. Suffice to say we did not make it to the finals and a promising Hollywood career was dashed at the starting block; for ‘the good is oft interred with the bones’!!

The teachers themselves, as related to me by Mr. Chung Chee Min (CCM ex-Victorian and teacher 1965-67), put up a surprise delightful comedy performance hit for Speech Day Concert 1966 (photo above). The ‘classroom’ sketch was conjured up by CCM with Vinayak Pradahan (1968 School Captain) presiding over as the Form teacher of non-existent class L6A3 whose students’ roles were played by members of VI’s teaching corps such as Edward Dorall, Bernard Koay (who always walked around the school on the balls of his feet as though looking for a fight with anyone, male or female!), Miss Siew Moo Lan and the ever-popular (and ooh, so sexy) Mrs.Lee (sigh!).

The teachers had to rehearse secretly in the staff room after school. There was nowhere else otherwise they would have been seen. Even Che Gu Othman was in the act!

The skit began when the curtain opened with the class seated with their backs towards the audience so they would not recognized. It was a typical scene before the "teacher" arrived: Boys fooling around - CCM was tossing a basketball about, being the school basketball master after all! Then Vinayak entered and they all stood up. And scowling, he gave the "pupils" a dressing down. A few recalcitrant students - Edward Dorall and Bernard Koay - got up to challenge the teacher. And here's every VI boy's (wet) dream: Vinayak gave Bernard a tongue lashing and stared him down. He had turned the tables on Bernard for once and only once ever! In the end, the "teacher" ordered everyone to stand up, line up and march away. This was when the audience got to see the faces and recognize the pupils as the teachers!!

That same concert had Vinayak's class 5B1 winning the senior trophy. They had abandoned their form teacher for advice and turned to CCM to coach them. The item was entitled : "An analysis of humour" a zany look at how we make people laugh using banana skins and cream pies. They had a mad scientist (Vinayak, who else?) supervising experiments on how people slipped on banana skins in the funniest way. The principal guinea pig was plump Radhakrishnan who actually had to fall on a real banana skin. Vinayak's helpers (which included the late human rights advocate Azmi Khalid) scribbled notes furiously with each thud on the floor. The cream pie experiments were hilarious. (The pies were actually shaving cream on paper plates). There was a serial pie throwing sequence and a surprise pie attack on Vinayak himself in the climax, etc. (See photo).

Radha was the younger brother of VI Biology teacher, 'Young Andy' (Anandhakrishnan).

The surprise act at the end of the 1967 concert was the Lion Tamer staff/pupil act (photo above). You will recognize Radha and Donald Lee as "lions" with CCM as the Lion Tamer. CCM was turning the tables on the famous act by using boys to behave as lions. CCM wore a fake beard, making him resemble a lion. It was pronounced the best item actually but they couldn't collect as it was not officially entered as an item.

These were really grand, superb and spectacular affairs, ranging from Cadet Corps Guard of Honour, Band Tattoos, intriguing exhibits from the Arts and Science & Maths societies like paper-mache world maps and manufacturing banana and pineapple scents in the lab, a massive tree house constructed by the Scouts, Red Cross rescue demos and many more which had the crowds thronging the school. In 1972, the Automotive Society came up with ‘Motor Victoria’, an amazing motor scooter. (Whatever happened to Lian Liong Teck, the inventor?). The 1968 75th VI Anniversary celebrations were topped at Speech day with the arrival of the special guest of honour, the beloved ‘Tunku’, Malaysia’s first Prime Minister. The Tunku’s wife, Puan Sharifah Rodziah gave away the prizes which unlike the books and trophies of other years, consisted of a specially minted silver medal with the school logo on it. dpp was one of the lucky ones that year!

In 1966, one of the classrooms was converted by the Science & Maths Society into a lab for conducting IQ and Psychology tests, such as the curious Rorschach Inkblot Test. Just as I, who was in Form 1 and dwarfed by seniors, was plucking up enough courage to give the speed reading test a bash, one of the teachers stepped forward to go for it as well. The test consisted of two paragraphs of text typed backwards and your IQ would be graded according to the speed with which you completed the reading. This teacher completed the test and we all stared in awe at him as his score was read out – 150+. Genius level! The teacher was none other than Chung Chee Min. I quietly slunk away in case I turned out the score of Equus Asinus (donkey)!

They came from as far as Penang Fee School and Johor English College; the VI Exhibition Day was something to behold. The piece de resistance was the Fireworks Display put together by the Science & Maths Society. I never found out who started that tradition but the whole effort was awesome since it was all done in-house, from mixing the chemicals and propellants to sourcing bamboo to make strips for the rockets.

There were many other avenues for students to excel in - Basketball, Netball, Tennis (not so popular then), Philately, Photography, Persatuan Bahasa Kebangsaan, Chess, Cultural Society, Scientific Victorian and more. The school regularly produced plays directed by Mr.Edward Dorrall such as ‘Arise O Youth’, ‘Look Back in Anger’ and ‘A Tiger is Loose in Our Community’ with a cast comprising students and teachers with no prior professional experience whatsoever! These plays were also staged at the Town Hall for the general public.

You can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. So, they say. But, many in VI discovered and realised latent talents and dormant potential which they developed and honed because the system pushed you beyond the water’s edge, and sometimes just plain threw you in the deep end without a life-jacket. There were the shy ones, the laid back, the unadventurous and the ‘muggers’ types who needed to be told that as far back as the times of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle before 300 BC, scholars were encouraged to engage in oratory, wrestling, gymnastics, the odd drinking binge and a wanton orgy or two!! And that the Olympic Games (776 BC) predated the three philosophers supreme.

(If you have an interest in mythology, you would have read about the slayer of the Gorgon Medusa and the Kraken, Perseus, (son of Zeus and Danae), who the Oracle at Delphi predicted would be responsible for the death of his grandfather Acrisius at the precursor to the Olympic Games at Larissa).

For it is foolish, brave youth which needs to be prodded, dared and challenged to claim Excalibur, slay fire-breathing dragons, win gold fortunes and seduce sexy, golden haired '10' Bo Derek-like maidens fair sporting crazy tantalising rasta plaited hair !

Oh, and where were we? Ah, yes! Older and old men are too careful, hesitant and calculative!

More and more frequently, this education system produced those occasions and those students and those performances that justified all that pushing, pushing and pushing. There was a flurry of max 5A’s HSC, 8A’s Cambridge and 7A’s LCE students and winners of prized Full Colombo Plan Overseas Scholarships, some of whom had to qualify by attending a testing stint at the Outward Bound School Leadership Course.

After all these years, one incident stands out in my mind. That is the Annual VI vs Federal Military College (FMC, now Royal Military College or RMC) Athletics Meet held at the FMC grounds in Sungei Besi, KL, on 25th June 1966. After five long years, VI wrested the Dr.Lewis (VI HM 1956-62) Challenge Trophy back from the clutches of FMC at th end of a full day of rigorous, fair competition. The School Athletics Captain claimed the Trophy and then did not just rush back to do the conga with his team of heroes who had individually and collectively contributed points to the eventual victory. He spun around and walked over to HM, Murugasu, and presented him with the Trophy. Now that was a gesture of pure class and could not have been rehearsed. It was a simple act of spontaneity that had every Victorian there breaking out in applause and cheer.

That athletics captain was none other than the redoubtable and irrepressible Nah Seang Hoo. The older inspired the younger. The baton was passed successfully. We etched it into the ROM/RAM hard discs of our still untouched muggy brains!

Sadly, the VI-FMC Meet was discontinued after 1966. But the tradition to excel had its roots in as far back as 1955 when Mani Jegathesan (later Dr.M.Jegathesan, who, at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, became the 1st M’sian ever to qualify for the 200m semi-finals) joined VI for a year, and the legendary 1936 ‘Hitler Olympics’ Quadruple Gold Medallist and black sprinter Jesse Owens visited VI for a coaching clinic as did Olympian Parry O’Brien (shot putt and discus) in 1957.

Rome was not built in a day!!

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1966 - of golden fleece and heroes

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Twelve and thirteen year old boys tend to hero-worship their elders. In primary schools such boy-leaders who truly lead are rare and that has everything to do with puberty.

Thus, in Pasar Road English School 1 (primary school) the teachers led the way. Outstanding among them was Mr. Paul Lee, my class and English teacher in Standard 6 in 1965. He coached the school Under 11 and U12 football squads and was the Prefects’ Master as well. This was the era when even primary school teachers turned out for teams in the Selangor Football League and league matches were played in PRES’s soccer pitch. From 1963-65, most of my December and March school term holidays were taken up by thrice-a-week football training at PRES under the wings of Paul Lee, such was his enthusiasm for football and dedication to its cause.

Another who stood out was Mr. A. Vaithilingam or ‘Vaithi’, now the President of the Hindu Sangam of Malaysia. Vaithi was the Athletics Master. Every Sports Day he would be seen starting off all the relays with his capped pistol which went ‘Bang!’ and for which he would tell us “you need a police licence, don’t play the fool boys!’ in hushed tones. We did not know the difference between a capped pistol and a condom. We imagined he always carried this pistol in the voluminous pocket of his even more voluminous long pants. That was enough for us to keep a healthy distance away from him and accord him some impressive respect. We knighted him ‘Son of A Gun!’

I greeted Paul Lee in the VI School Office (where he was visiting) sometime in 1971, but he did not recognize me. I was stunned when ‘Cobra’ or ‘One-eyed Selva’ as the hockey boys dubbed the school Chief Clerk who replaced Richard Pavee, chipped in with ‘Hey, Paul don’t you remember him from PRES. Remember that U11 football final in Merdeka Stadium?” Mr.K. Selvanayagam had also been the CC in PRES all those years ago. I used to go to Merdeka Stadium with my brothers to watch the Selangor State Athletics Meet (1963/64/65) which took place late evenings to nights. VI students like Eddy Lee, Wong Mun Fui and R.Thillainathan (UM Econs Gold Medallist) competed with national athletes. I met up with Dr.Thilli (PhD) a few years ago at Wisma Genting (he's been Genting's Economic Advisor/Director since the '80's) to discuss a proposal for land acquisition from the Company I worked for. He's now a vegetarian and he was pleased as punch when I mentioned his athletics days in VI and about having seen him in the 100m sprint at Merdeka Stadium! Dr.Thillli used to live in one of the Government Quarters houses facing Jalan Davis Schol off Pasar Road, during his VI days.

Cobra was both a hurdler and sprinter. He played at full-back for the inaugural 1972 VI staff-students’ hockey team which participated in the Selangor Hockey Association Division 2 League Tournament. That team included Mr. Daniel Chan (my Bio teacher in F6) and Mr. Robin Goh the Malaysian international. What a thrill that was, being coached by and playing alongside Robin Goh and Yang Siow Meng, another international who was the players’ player when it came to stickwork wizardry!

It may be a little pompous and even downright silly talking about Separation of Power for a school like Victoria Institution. I mean we were not a Government. But VI ran like that! There was the HM, Mr.V.Murugasu who was everywhere, the teachers who were everywhere and the Prefects who were everywhere. All day long! And sometimes, all night long too! Each knew his duty well and took his role seriously and conscientiously. All of them were working Executives; there was no place for sleeping partners & Chairmen or lawyers with watching briefs. The Prefects were the bridge between the HM and the teachers and the ones with whom we came into contact the most. There was no place anyone could hide and goof off. That applied to the school Mandors (labourers) and Watchmen (jaga who resided in the VIOBA premises) as well.

Inevitably the Prefects were the games’ and House Captains, as well as Heads of some of the societies. In some instances the leaders were the august members of Club 21 who were selected based on their outstanding contribution in any field including being top students in the public examinations. There was much mentoring of new leaders from the old guard which made life that much easier for the teachers in charge of various activities. The 1st and 2nd KL Scouts had student Assistant Scout Masters (King Scouts) who were the guys who actually ran the show, jamborees, camping, ‘akela will do our best, dip, dip, dip, dop, dop, dop!’ and all. Even the School Librarian and Red Cross Chairman were recognised and admired. (Remember Melville Jayathissa who joined the British Council Library? He was passionate about the library and books. Or Yap Chin Seong in 1972?).

There was not a single student who at some stage in his life in VI did not secretly or openly harbour ambitions of being appointed to the Prefects’ Board. There was something impressive about these ‘Blue Shirts’ who wore their white jackets and stalked the corridors or stood by the doors of the School Hall during Assembly days, while the School Captain and Vice Captain stood to attention in front of the Assembly with their backs to the stage where the HM performed in front of the seated teaching corps!

My first run in with a Prefect, about a month after school started, was a disaster. It cost me serious money. Twenty cents! Due to a particularly rainy weekend, I had not bothered polishing my white Bata canvas shoes (remember ‘Mula mula ke Bata, kemudian ke Sekolah!) with liquid white Bata polish, normally applied with an old toothbrush (sponges came into vogue a year or two later). This was also well before the era of electric hair dryers!

The shoes were actually quite clean except they had green rubber strips at the side and back portions that covered the ankles, heels and insteps. This was the original Badminton Master shoe. VI school rule number 1,000,001 dictated the green strips HAD to be painted over. On reaching school, I tried to shield myself from the prefects by keeping to the shadows or walking in the centre of a circle of friends. But I could not escape the piercing and penetrating gaze of hawkeyed and bespectacled (yes, you guessed it – standard black, plastic Elvis Costello type frame) Soo Sun Wah (Badminton Cap) who commanded me to the Prefects’ Room.

There I was ordered to paint over the by now totally remorseful, thoroughly ashamed and repentent serially homicidal green strips as well as the rest of the killer shoes. As I was about to walk off after completing the job, Sun Wah pronounced the death sentence on me. “That will be 20 cents,”he whispered, like Brando in ‘Godfather’. I blanched! 20 bloody effing cents??!! That was all of my pocket money for the day. I mean, we were not poor, but were not swimming in it either, with 4 other schooling siblings in my family of nine, and the odd uncle or cousin who would set up camp for a month or two at a time. I brought buttered, and jammed, honeyed or cheesed, bread wrapped in waxy Soutern Bakery original bread wrap paper and water in school-purpose water bottle (filled with tap water, red syrup or Milo) for my mid-morning repast; every day! (Yes, those were the days you could drink water straight off the tap without boiling it. Expensive water filters, di regeur nowadays, were practically unheard of). I would rush home (via infamous school bus) and wolf down my lunch before cycling or walking back the 3-odd miles to VI before 4 p.m. The 20 cents were for a bottle of Coke or Pepsi after evening games.

So, I coughed up, but very, very reluctantly like a Scotsman having to pay for a round of drinks. As a silent sign of protest, I quietly pocketed the toothbrush! That must have caused a major investigation and scandal of Bernie Madhoff-like proportions among the prefects and the school auditors!

It was not until 1968 I think that Bata had a competitor in Fung Keong Shoes. When my father suggested I switch to Fung Keong, I went into fits and tantrums. In today’s terms, that would be like substituting Nike with Bata! But I eventually relented for that other reason - there were no green or red strips! The shoes were completely white and maintenance would be less tedious. The next year Balraj appeared for hockey training with a snazzy pair of black canvas rubber studded Fung Keong boots, ideal for hockey but not football. The entire team switched to Fung Keong.

From my own experience, I can certify that prefects were chosen solely on merit. That did not mean that all who deserved were appointed to the VIPB or that every prefect acquitted himself well in his role as VIPB member. Some missed the cut in a particularly competitive year when places were limited; in other years politics did interfere with the process. Admittedly, there tended to be a bias towards sportsmen. But without exception, I have found that those who had successful careers after leaving school were never one dimensional! Their interests included sports and/or active interest in music, the arts, cars, politics etc. and what have you.

Thus when Kwan Poh Woh (Drum Major/Horticulture Soc) was appointed prefect in 1972, there was some raising of eyebrows! But if you think leading the VI School Band with some 30 musicians is a piece of cake, think again! There were very high expectations on the Drum Majors who each year had to introduce new tunes, innovate with lighted caps and formulate complicated marching manoeuvres and drills for Speech Day Tattoos which were held at night. There were interminable practice sessions, full-dress rehearsals and performances under the blazing sun (e.g. on Sports Day). One year the band innovated with a jazzed up version of 'Negara Ku' (yes, they were ahead of Mahathir) and got a thorough shelling from Muru to revert to the original version! The leader had an obligation to maintain traditions, train the new recruits and leave a lasting legacy. It was a thinking job full of stress and pressure. Poh Woh had to master the triple-loop baton throw (degree of difficulty - 10.0!) for the 1972 Malaysian Schools Band Display at Merdeka Stadium, where VI had three Drum Majors (the other two being Jacob Thomas now (Msc Econs & Finance) MD of Mav Cap in KL and Lye Kim Loong) who tossed batons to the heavens and caught them perfectly in their descent!!

If in recent years VI Bands twice won the World School Bands competition held in Europe, it had its beginnings all those years ago! Don't forget, Poh Woh was PRES 1 School Captain in 1965 where he was also a member of the school band and played (obviously) the Base Drum!!. There are no coincidences in life! (That '65 PRES 1 school band was led by a VI '66 virgin, A.Sivandan (now Dr.Sivandan) who was the youngest of the Arul brothers from Ring Road near Pudu Railway Station and San Peng Road. The Arul brothers all led the school band in their respective years, under the tutelage and leadership of handsome Mr. Ng Seng Kiat at whose wedding the PRES 1 band played Elvis Presley's 'Wooden Heart.' My elder brothers were in the band, but me, I was too shy to sign up! Both Poh Woh and Sivandan are in the photo of the PRES 1 Prefects' Board of '65).

At the end of this post, I shall list some of those I feel ought to have been installed as prefects in 1971 and 1972, but missed out. That’s purely my opinion.

The 1966 School/Hockey Captain was Tan Kee Kwong (son of Dr.Tan Chee Khoon, founder of the Labour Party and Gerakan and leader of the Opposition in Parliament). I never came into contact with him except at an ‘old boys’ gathering a couple of weeks ago! He’s now a PKR member, following a spat within Gerakan.

The School Vice-Captain/Athletics Captain was Nah Seang Hoo who also represented VI at Rugby and Cricket. I was in awe of him. There is this picture in my mind’s eye of Sports Day 1966. I am in my Hepponstall House tent right across the other side of the tracks opposite the Games Pavilion. I see from the corner of my right eye this blur of combined silver bullet and gazelle hop, skip, jump and hurl itself over the sand pit for a new triple jump school record. That was Nah. None had expected him to clear the triple-jump sand pit at its farther end. Believe me, that 14 odd metres leap was something!

Nah oozed leadership and he drew all around him wherever he went. He had great charisma. Nah had brains as well. After qualifying as a doctor, he could be seen jogging in the school field some evenings and he even coached some cricket. There were a few occasions in 1974 when I stood at one end of the cricket training pitch catching and throwing back the ball, as he demonstrated to Chew Weng Kong, (1974 School/Cricket Captain), the art of swing bowling. Nah came prepared with a can of leather polish and cotton towel to prime one side of the cricket ball!

My last encounter with him was in 1975 when he picked me up from my house in Kampong Pandan Indian Settlement for a VIOBA vs PJ Club friendly cricket match played at VI. I was not a slow fielder on the grounds by any means, but Nah made me look pedestrian by comparison. He bowled, batted and fielded pace.That VIOBA team included 'Vinny' Vinayak Pradhan (1968 School/Cricket Captain/Victorian Editor) who my good pal A.Balachandren (1971 Prefect/Cricket Captain) once complimented as ‘an uncanny captain’. There was an incredible running catch that Nah took to dismiss James Niles’ hook to fine leg that day which had Vinny shaking his head and exclaiming ‘not many would have made it to the ball, let alone take the catch!’ Although I played cricket for the VI teams of 1971 & 1972, I was under no illusion as to my prowess. Had I been a senior during the times of the VI cricket teams of 1966-70, I would not have made ‘water boy’. Seang Hoo is also famous among prefects for his watercolour portrait of JFK which still hangs in te VIPB room! Nah’s younger brother, Seang Chew (1968 School Vice-Cap & now an architect in S’pore), was no less a talented cricketer and all rounder.

(Another who seemed destined to lead and is still much admired by me as well as by his contemporaries and peers, is Yap Kian Fui who was School Vice-Captain of PRES 1 (1964) and School Captain of VI (1971). I first met him on the PRES football field in 1963 where he was the speedy right winger. He was Sportsman of the Year in both PRES 1 and VI (jointly with Raja Ahmad), as well as Victor Ludorum (Champion Athlete) and academically gifted as well. He was yet another successful product of Imbi Road & PRES 1. I was very moved and really felt honoured when he recently invited me for his son's wedding dinner at the Marriott Hotel in KL!)

The 1966 batch of students had some really outstanding prefects and students, many with brains to match their brawn. Several returned the following year as Temporary Teachers who were in every sense as good as, if not better than some of the regular teachers.

Among the prefects were Pong Kai See (football /rugby), another of my idols and his close pal Dr.Yong Siew Onn (Victorian Editor/rugby) who taught us general science for 1 term in Form 2 North and made it fun. Kai See was a max 5A’s HSC student. When I met him recently I mentioned remembering he was awarded a Colombo Plan Scholarship for overseas Uni. He corrected me that he had been offered 2 scholarships, the Rubber Research Institute Scholarship being the one he accepted to study in UK! More amazingly, his varsity and flat mate in London for 2 years was his intense scholar-rival in school, Yeoh Oon Hock (also max 5A’s HSC). Ramasamy (Prefect/Athletics/Football/Scout) was chuffed when I likened his football style to that of the great Eusabio who destroyed Korea and England in the 1966 World Cup! Tan Kim Chuan (1967 School & Football Captain/Athletics/Rugby), another of the VI greats, coached our victorious 1968 U15 Football team for which we presented him a trophy of appreciation. From him we learnt about team spirit and to play a more adventurous and daring style of soccer. He taught geography. Nice guy Prefect/Asst. Scout Master Lum Chee Soon was renowned for that slash of brylcreamed hair which slung across his forehead in an arc which he would frequently comb into place and fondle. Chee Soon is now an Econs lecturer at the Capilano University in North Vancouver.

Then there were Club 21 members like Leong Weng Chiew (Senior Debater) who briefly taught history and made it lively. In 2004, I spent 2 weeks in Lahore, Pakistan with Weng Chiew as corporate lawyer for a M’sian Plc I worked for, trying to seal a corporate deal and the most miserable of Joint Venture Agreements! Melville Jayathissa drummed the little known life-cycle of the cockroach into our flea bitten brain in 1968. Cyril Gaudart held the M’sian Schools’ 100m sprint records, while Ishtiaq Mobarak Ahmad (my senior in PRES 1) still coaches the national hurdlers, having made an appearance in that event in the 1976 Montreal Olympics! Zainon Mat, as I mentioned earlier, later played for and captained Malaysia in cricket. Zainon was a javelin champ as well. P.Paramjothy was appointed to Club 21 by HM Muru, the Monday following the Saturday he dropped the baton in a 4x100 inter-schools relay, had the presence of mind to quickly pick it up and make ground for the last-leg to come home second! Good and sporting character was well rewarded.

Awang Goneng, author of ‘Growing Up In Trengganu’ is none other than Wan Ahmad Hulaimi, who won the 1st prize in the Literary (English) Section of the ‘Victorian’ while still in Lower Six A1 in 1966. I contacted him by email last year courtesy of Chung Chee Min (VIOB and VI teacher 1965-67). I mentioned to Wan about having read his article in the ‘Victorian’ titled ‘The Italian That Refused To Go P-i-i-i-i-ng’ (2nd prize, senior section '67) about his Vespa scooter. He duly apologised to me for haunting my brain all these years! Astounding too, is it not, that he was Chairman of the VI Judo Club! And who says Malays of rural origin can’t master English? If the mountain cannot come to Mohammad.....!

Oh, there were others and many memorable events.

But in sports, none stood out in 1966 more than the showdown on Sports Day between Nah Seang Hoo, the School Athletics Captain and a relatively unknown Harpal Singh, for the most coveted of Victor Ludorum Trophy. Both represented Sultan Abdul Samad House (purple colour). Nah had already bagged Golds with new records in Triple Jump, Long Jump and of all events, the Shot Putt!! Nah’s putting technique and fitness must have been supreme, given there were more Herculean looking athletes in school and Nah looked like he could not possibly heave a feather over his shoulder!

The quiet and studious Harpal took Golds in the 800m, 1,500 m and 3,000 m races. Word got around the field that the challenge for the Victor Ludorum would go down to the wire. Every student, teacher and guest present lined the edge of the 400m grass tracks to witness the outcome. The roar was incredible from the moment the starter gun went off till Nah just pipped Harpal to the tape for a great win. We cheered from beginning to end. And then some more as Nah shook Harpal’s hands, did a victory lap and later lifted the Champion’s Trophy! Neither race (no pun intended), nor religion nor creed mattered. And I would have cheered just as much had Harpal won, though neither Harpal nor Nah was from my House.

For once, we would remember who was runner up!

- to be continued

donplaypuks

Those who should have been appointed prefects:-1971
Lim Shook Kong (School and State Badminton/rugby/Club 21)
Bryan Pereira (Rugby/Athletics/Club 21)
Pritam Singh (Cricket/Hockey/Club 21/Civics Soc)
Wong Chee Wai (Athletics/Club 21)
Abdul Halim (Water Polo Captain/Swimming)

Tan Lip Ping (Football/Athletics/Hepponstall House Vice-Cap)

Simon Yap (Treacher House Captain/G.Student)

1972

Cheah Peng Keong (Hockey/Civics Society/G.Student)
Chew Yoong Fong (Hockey/G.Student)
Teoh Siang Chin (Life Saving/Swimming/Water Polo/G.Student)
R.Pathmanathan (Athletics/Debater/G.Student)
Yap Chin Seong (Club 21/School Librarian/Science & Maths Society/G.Student
Yap Teong Choon (Swimming/Water Polo/Treacher House V.Captain. G.Student)

Jaspal Singh (Cricket/Science & Maths Soc/Seladang/Horticulture Soc. G.Student)

The top 4 names in the 1972 list above are all highly qualified and respected doctors today. Siang Chin is ex-President of the Malaysian Medical Association. Yap Chin Seong is an outstanding Engineer while Dato Yap Teong Choon is co-majority owner of Sin Heap Lee Plc, listed on the KLSE. Jaspal, probably a PhD, is an Engineer who is the CEO o f Metroline in London, UK and a top civil servant in Singapore. I think VI was the poorer for their omission from the VIPB.

*1 G.Student – good academically

1966 - the vi teachers

(Click on pictures for enlarged view).

The line up of teachers in Form 1 North was:-

Class,English,Art - Mrs.Chong Hong Chong,College Trained
Maths - Mr.T.Rajaratnam,College Trained
History - Mr.Kok Hee Fatt,R.T.C. Trained
Geography - Mr.Teh Mun Hing,R.T.C. trained
National Language - Cikgu Noran,Language Inst.Trained
General Science - Mr. Loong Nyi,R.T.C Trained

None was a graduate, but they lacked in nothing for that. The system was such that you had monthly tests, as well as mid-year and final term exams. And lots of homework! Even if you were involved in official school extra-curricular activities, the teachers brooked no excuses. They were constantly on your back, to make up for whatever they lacked in making you fully understand the topics as not every teacher was an excellent communicator.

It was a system that worked well because the teachers cared and kept you on your toes. That saved you from last minute cramming for tests and exams. It also gave you more time to work on your ‘grey area’ topics and revisions before the end-of- the- year exams.

English was the medium of teaching and essay style answering for History, General Science and Geography was in force. By the time we reached Form 3, additional ‘objective question papers’ and 2HB pencils came into vogue for Maths, History and Geography. The short answering system now used ubiquitously is one of the main reasons for the decline in English language standards over the last 40 years.

I have already written about Mrs. Chong and her diligence in drilling into us the rudiments of English language, though she had her odd cranky moments too. I was reminded by A.Ramachandran about an incident involving Teoh Siang Chin (now doctor and ex-President of the MMA). While Mrs. Chong was blathering on about prepositions and conjunctions (another of those really interesting topics like the sex life of the Malayan rhinoceros beetle) Chin’s gaze was affixed in the direction of the Sports Pavilion clearly visible through the open doors of 1 North. When pounced upon by Mrs.Chong, Teoh, startled out of his reverie, blurted as he pointed with his fingers, "Two dogs fighting teacher there!”.

‘No,” corrected Mrs.Chong, “You mean, Teacher, I was distracted by two dogs copulating over there by the Sports Pavilion,” as she copped him a couple over the ears and thrust and ground her English Grammar Textbook in his face!

Teh taught us this cute little trick of making small cardboard cut-outs of the outlines of country maps which you could use when taking down Geography notes. This was a great help for students like me, whose magnificent free-hand drawing of the map of peninsular Malaya was once famously described by relief teacher Mrs. Lee as ‘Whoa, what have we here? Picasso? A real jambu looking bulging brinjal’! Mrs. Lee was one of those female teachers whom even the F1 boys would check out as we passed her along the school corridors! Ask Cheah and Fong, and they will fall over laughing when reminded of Teh’s peculiar pronouncing of ‘Wanganui’, ‘Taranaki’ and ‘Rotorua’ when introducing NZ geography. Teh was strict, but fair.

T. Rajaratnam was of course of the same ‘fire and brimstone’ mould as Valentine Manuel. He was also the revered School Cricket Master and coached hockey as well. But, unfortunately, by the time he came upon our batch, he had lost one leg below the knee, to cancer. So, it was a somewhat subdued Raja who taught us Euclid’s and Pythagoras’ theorems. The feather duster was his weapon, though in 1966 Raja wielded it relatively sparingly. Sadly, Raja succumbed to terminal cancer in 1967 at a very young age.

I still believe that this ‘old’ system of teaching Maths from foundation, theorems and proofs leads to a better understanding of the subject as well as to a nimbler mind. This is as opposed to the modern method of heading straight to the solution and short-cuts to solving problems. Only a month ago, my neighbour’s son who is in F2 came to seek some help from me on ‘construction methods’ with compass, protractor and all. It was clear the teacher had not shown him why the construction of the 60 degrees or 30 degrees angles from right-angles and arcs was correct. ‘In the old days’ Raja would have first talked about the equilateral triangle and then proceeded to ‘prove’ his construction as ‘100%’ correct’ QED! (Or am I the odd one out, old fashioned?).

Now, Kok Hee Fatt was a different kettle of fish. He would blow hot and he would blow cold. He eschewed the lecture style of teaching for the blackboard. You had to copy his History notes rapidly. The chalk duster in his left hand would fly in pursuit of the rapidly moving chalk in his right hand like hounds after a panting fox in bloodsport hunt. But he came prepared for his lessons as the facts were a lot more than you could get from your text-book.

Once, he had given us some homework to be handed in the following day. Now, we have all had this experience where we would take extra, extra, extra care to pack the homework book in our satchels the night before so that we would not have to earn the wrath of the teacher. And the following day, sure enough, when the time came, the History homework book was missing from my bag (I found it later under my work table at home)??!! I panicked when Kok confronted me. I pleaded that I had actually completed the homework in class the previous day before going home. Kok not only laughed but sneered as well. He smelled a kill! Kok was famous for his stomach corkscrew twist-pinch and I stood there white-faced and zombified, not unlike a hypnotised rat waiting to be swallowed whole by a python or anaconda!!

Just when all seemed lost, my good friend Kow Yoke Wah (I don’t know what possessed him, but I would have given him the Victoria Cross were it within my powers to do so) stood up and blurted out that what I said was true (and it was). That saved my bacon! Yoke Wah’s wealthy family operated a chicken farm at the back of Imbi Road Postal and Football field. As far back as Standard 4 in PRES 1, I would walk with him from his ‘farm’ to the mamak bookshops in Jalan Imbi to buy the latest editions of Enid Blyton’s ‘Secret Seven’, ‘Five Find Outers’, ‘Famous Five’ etc, and after reading them, exchange books with him. Later, Abdul Jalil, another '66 virgin, lived in the upstairs of one of these mamak shops, as did Santhiranathan and his elder brother, Mr.Selvanathan, a BSc who taught Additional Maths in VI in 1970!

Kok Hee Fatt was also in charge of the Under 13 Football team which I captained in 1966. (You can see that gained me no favours with him). The team included one, a then relatively shy and unknown, Mokhtar Dahari! I shall devote a full posting on Mokhtar Dahari the legend, later, and about how we almost came to blows in Form 2!

Our team won all the preliminary inter-school games, some by huge margins. The matches would have been played under a Sahara sun with the mercury steaming out of the thermometer!! Just to rub it in at home matches, Kok would get us all to run a couple of times more round the 400m athletics track and up and down the hill slopes, AFTER a full 90-minutes inter-school match. This would be done in full view of the defeated opposition which would still be panting and quaffing from plastic cups the post-match iced lemonade supplied in plastic pails by Tuck Shop Boss Man, who attended most of the soccer matches played on home ground, especially the Under-20 games. (He once turned up in Kuala Kangsar to witness the annual VI-MCKK soccer showdown, such was his enthusiasm, devotion and support for VI soccer! In later years we would, during centralised Hockey Training, flirt with his friendly and giggly daughter Ivy, who helped out at the Tuck Shop and brought the iced drinks on to the field as well). There is a cricketing term and strategy invented by Alan Border, ex-Oz Test Cricket Captain (1984-94), called ‘Mental Disintegration’ meaning, to further grind into the dust and grime an opponent already facing humiliating defeat. Kok was clearly way ahead of his time!

But in the finals against St,John’s Institute, played on a somewhat wet and muddy soccer pitch at Brickfields Road School, we were unexpectedly undone 2-0 by the brilliance of SJI’s Johnny Loon Tsai, who in later years played for Selangor Schools. I had performed dismally. Our team included, besides myself as centre forward and Mokhtar Dahari as inside left, other regulars like ‘Thunderkicks’ Fong, left winger Amiruddin, Sallehuddin, Indran, Shook Keong, Liow Soo Chong as goalkeeper, Ket Chong, Balraj and Abu Bakar (who scored the winning goal for us in the U11 finals played at Merdeka Stadium between PRES1 and Prices Road Primary School in 1964). There was also Ee Beng Yew (2nd goalkeeper), who unleashed an amazing, brilliant and winning 45m drop kick goal from beyond the half-way line at the Royal Selangor Grounds to secure a famous Dr.Lewis Trophy Rugby Finals win against RMC in 1970.

Kok did not attend that final U13 final as it was inexplicably played during school hours (10 a.m.) a few days before the end of 1st Term. When I returned to school and gave him the bad news, he was furious and ordered me to report the result to HM, Mr.V.Murugasu. That’s when my better instincts got a firm grip on my regimented senses. I pretended to head in the direction of the HM’s office upstairs and when Kok was out of sight, veered to my classroom. I knew better than to approach Muru with such bad news, the reward for which would have been nothing less than six of the best! For the next couple of days, Kok would look quizzically at me, wondering why I looked normal, if not cheerful, after a visit to Muru’s office!!

But for all that, to paraphrase Bill Cosby’s message to his wife, “I love him more today than I ever did back then all those 43 years ago when he ordered me to go to Muru as the sacrificial lamb’!! Ha, ha! Sometimes, when I lie awake late at night in bed, the ghost of a smile would stretch my face, and a chuckle or two would leap out, which would have my wife querying if I’d finally lost it!

Loong was good at General Science and popular with all the boys. Again, respect was given whether they were strict or not. Rarely did we go overboard with any of these teachers. Once a month we would have a double-period session when we could ask him any (reasonable) question on science and he would answer it. To my amazement he patiently explained to the class my smart-arse question about how trees became petrified (like us F1 students when Manuel or Murugasu appeared). I still don’t understand it!

Form 1 hockey also came under Loong’s portfolio, but there was no inter-school competition (only Under 15). I remember him warning me about deliberately under-cutting the ball, which, if one was not careful about, could cause serious injury to someone on the field. But, such unsporting behaviour was never in my mind. I explained to him that the grass had not been cut on the practising pitch, and so whenever I took a big swipe at the ball, it was already sitting on top of a plateau waiting to do a ‘Houston, we have lift-off’! We graduated from 'firewood' hockey sticks in PRES to zinging Indian 'Chakravarti' and Pakistani 'Karachi King Super' brands which we cherished ownership of, like Gold!

We were prepared well by Loong for the final term exams and I fancied that I was above average in science. Unfortunately, the paper was set by Valentine Manuel. To this day, I think Manuel deliberately set that question which had everyone reaching for the scoped Magnum 45 with the cyanide tipped dum-dum bullets that would make a narrow pinpoint entry in the frontal lobe of the skull, but blow everything out the back, leaving a gaping hole in the rear of the head the size of the Grand Canyon. The cyanide was added to make sure the job would be done if by some miracle the victim still survived the blast. If we had a handheld grenade launcher with heat seeking missiles attached, we would have brought that into play as well, just to be absolutely sure!

The famous exam question was “What are the two systems?” I swear that is exactly as it was framed 43 years ago. No more, no less!

This stumped me when I first read it and so I moved on to other questions. I had a spare couple of minutes towards the end, and wrack my brains as I would, I could not crack it. What 2 systems? Chain and Pulley? Eastern & Western? Science and Religion? English & Malay? 5-3-2 and 4-4-2? It eventually dawned on me that it must have something to do with Science. Feet and Inches? My desperate Genting Casino answer was Centigrade and Fahrenheit. Boing! Wrong!

Well, Manuel’s answer was CGS and FPS systems – Centimetre, Gram, Second and Foot, Pound, Second. Maybe 3 guys out of a total of 180 students got it right, and that too I would wager was by pure guesswork. It was nowhere in out textbooks or notes. You lost 1/2 mark if you did not submit the abbreviated answers or include 'systems'!! In a competitive school like VI, the difference between the prize-winner and the next 20 top scorers could be as little as two marks!

Cikgu Noran was the quieter type and spoke English well. But the rules for learning Malay were simple. You could not speak in English during his classes or use modified English words in comprehension exercises or essay-writing. Even ‘Hospital’ was disallowed. It had to be ‘Rumah Sakit’. We learnt pure, unbastardised Malay. Where now is the ‘Campaign for Pure Malay Language?’ In tatters, that’s where! Noran also stood in as cricket coach for the junior squad. He really had no real knowledge of or enthusiasm for Cricket. But he would nevertheless turn up punctually for all the practice sessions and stay till the end. That was enough for the students who were often coached by the senior players like Zainon Mat, who eventually captained the Malaysian national team.

And that was the thing about those teachers. They would turn up in numbers for the practices, inter-school games and society meetings late afternoon. I don’t know if they were paid any allowances for these after-school activities, but such dedication deserves being worshipped. These days, students could count themselves lucky if the teachers made it to the classroom during normal school hours consistently! No doubt, The HM, Muru’s, leadership was the driving force, but the commitment from the teachers then was unwavering and awe inspiring.

As for Valentine Manuel, what can I say? We all had a love-hate relationship with him. At sharp 7.25 a.m. you could hear the ‘phut, phut, phut’ as his smoky Yamaha or Honda struggled up the hill to get to the parking area and to class or the Sports Pavilion (he was in charge of PE classes, Physical Exercise, as well as Athletics) before Muru spotted him. It was obvious he had splashed talcum powder on wet face in a hurry, because it caked in splotches on his cheeks. And he walked like a snorting, stalking bull which intimidated even the hard-crusted Rex Theatre 08 (Kosong Lapan) gangsters in school. Amazing that he later successfully gave up teaching for the legal profession!

The fact that he was not my General Science teacher did not mean I was spared his rod. Among my hand-me-downs was a well-thumbed copy of the Form 1 General Science textbook, which had been revised. So, before Loong’s lessons started, I would dash over to 1 East and borrow the new edition from fun loving and cheeky Michael Nettleton (ex-PRES 2) who was in the same football squad as I. Michael was poetry in motion in the 110m high hurdles. He had an elder brother, Harold Nettleton, who had some run ins with Manuel. The Nettletons had Portuguese blood. Michael was among Manuel’s ‘favoured’ students and across the length and breadth of the corridor we could hear the frequent calls of ‘Come to the front, De Melo’ followed by the thwack, thwack , thwack of feather duster on school pants. De Melo is a slang for the Portuguese, I believe.

As bad luck would have it, Manuel spotted me borrowing Michael’s book. Manuel had seen me before on the football field, but that cut no ice with him. We were both summoned to the front of 1 East and received 3 cuts from his infamous feather duster on our palms, in front of the whole class which had no idea why we were being Manuelized. I don’t recall if I said sorry to Michael, but that evening I begged my grandfather to use his Court and Police connections to have Manuel arrested under the ISA and locked up forever!!

On another occasion, it so happened that a taxi disgorged its passengers in the main porch of the school while classess were in session. I North was the 2nd class to the right of the porch and 1 West, the 2nd on the left. In between were 1 South and 1 East, with 1 South and 1 East separated by the main hall way leading to the common corridor. Just after that period was over, in stormed Manuel, and without so much as an ‘excuse me Mrs. Chong’ demanded that all those sitting in the row immediate to the porch side step out. Nine were each given 3 strokes of the best for failing to inform the taxi driver that it was against school rules to drop off passengers at the main porch, followed by Manuel’s ringing ‘Damn swine, now you will learn!’ All students seated in similar rows in the others 3 Form 1’s also received the same punishment. Fortunately, I was in the second row! But for the rest of the year, we all kept one ear and one eye in the direction of the main porch whatever lessons were on. We were terrorised and half stressed out by Manuel’s unpredictable mood swings.

But perhaps it is that incident over ‘Manual Labour’ headlines in the NST that takes the cake.

The school field tended to get waterlogged after even a moderate downpour and so plans were drawn up to lay pipes to improve the drainage system. Presumably some Engineers had been engaged to carry out the survey and draw up the master plans. One fine day, all those in F1 – 5 were told we would have combined PE classes the following week. Other lessons were re-scheduled to accommodate it. When we assembled on the field that Tuesday morning, there stood Manuel, with engineering plans in hand, and directed us to assist the school ‘Mandors’ to gather changkuls, dig, fill up coconut-fibre baskets and deposit mud and earth by the land at the edge of the field! The grass was marked over with turpentine and chunam (limestone) for the drainage lines. This went on for a few days with different batches of students, before someone leaked it to the Press (I swear it wasn’t me or my brother). 'Breaking News' screamed the NST and Malay Mail with pictures and all. The School denied it, but as sure as the sun rises in the East, it happened!

I noted some years later that Manuel reserved this ogre pose for the fresh batch of Form 1 students. It got much easier and relaxed with Manuel in Forms 2 and 3.

The other new thing we encountered in Form 1 was swimming lessons. VI was the only secondary school in Selangor, probably in the whole of Malaysia too, with a 25m enclosed swimming pool within the school compound. Some years later, we would climb on to the flat open roof-top of the pool to watch for free Malaysia Cup Soccer matches being played at night in Merdeka Stadium as we had a clear view from atop over the school side of the fence and walls that separated the stadium from the school.

Before that I would occasionally head to the Weld Road Public Swimming Pools (at the back of the now defunct Edam Seafood Restaurant) where the Pavilion Mall now stands, for a dip with friends for 20 cents entrance charge. I took to chlorinated water like the Apache Red Indian to soap bath. I would immediately get into sneezing fits.

Swimming lessons as the 1st or 2nd period in the morning sure was a bitch!

We had to don proper swimming trunks AND approved rubber swimming caps in the changing rooms, wet ourselves in the freezing common showers, dip our feet in the chemical bath and then line up by the pool side by which time Sawn Off Broomstick Handle (SOBH – refer to posting on 8/6/09) would be waiting for us. If it was a particularly windy or chilly morning, that, as SOBH said ‘is your bloody problem, I’m not your fairy godmother’.

Many made the fatal mistake of turning up for the first ever lesson without swimming caps.

SOBH’s punishment for that oversight was two full-swing resounding thwacks on the meaty part of the buttocks with a sawn off broomstick handle. Thus another legend was born. Among the legendees who wore the painful welts and bruises for a week or more were TA Mohan (now consultant surgeon), Teh Kim Hock and Mac Kean Boon.

They were culled like poor, innocent baby seals in a Norwegian slaughter fest frenzy! I and others like Fong and Cheah escaped the massacre as we had borrowed approved rubber swimming caps from elder brothers in VI!!

Scoreline: SOBH 2, PRES 0 !!

- to be continued.

AKAN DATANG - what's the connection between Awang Goneng and Judo? And what has the great Eusabio to do with Ramasamy? Ramasamy who? you say? TUNE IN 1st JULY 2009

1966 - the virgins' year. getting to vi and form 1 north.

Officially, school opened on 10th January 1966. It was a Monday. But there was no Assembly at the School Hall that Monday. This was deferred to the following Monday, so as to give sufficient time for new students in Forms 1, 4 and Lower 6 to settle in, and more importantly, to learn the School Song and other protocols, especially the voluminous ‘School Rules’.

Some of us approached the gates of Victoria Institution (VI) with some trepidation and some anger too, that morning. We had been initiated (and how!!) into a new disciplinary system even before secondary school had started and we were officially ‘Victorians’. (Refer blog of 8th June 2009 - an auspicious beginning). I was still seething in well-disguised anger, and thoughts of law suits raced through my mind every now and then. The fact that my grandfather worked at the Hill Court and my maternal grandfather was a lawyer must have had something do with that arrogant, juvenile attitude!

By comparison, life in Pasar Road English School 1 (PRES 1) had been a holiday camp filled with fun and parties; a wonderful dream. I lived in the Govt Quarters in Jalan Pelandok in a single-storey semi-detached house with ample green and angsana, frangipani and jambu trees in front, side and at the rear of the house. My immediate neighbour was a Malay family with 3 girls and 2 boys, one of whom, Din, was of the same age as I. Morning school sessions would commence at 7.30 and Din and I would leave our homes at 7.15 and walk the short 50 metres to school. Our primary school system was such that we would switch with PRES 2 in July, from completely morning to completely afternoon sessions. The morning session would stretch from 7.30 to 12.30 and the afternoon from 1.00 p.m. to 6 p.m.

VI, with its single morning session system, was a whole new ball game and getting there, a strain on my nerves.

My elder brother and I would wake up at 5.30 a.m., brush teeth and attend to toilet calls and functions, have a quick bath in freezing cold water #1, get dressed, swallow a couple of slices of bread with butter and jam washed down with coffee (not tea, Ovaltine, Horlicks, or Milo) prepared by Mum, exit the front door by 6 a.m. and quick-march the quarter mile to the School Bus stop near Star Theatre opposite the Pudu Market in Pasar Road. That last time I drove by, that spot was occupied by a RHB Bank branch.

The rickety and smoky School Bus, operated by the Toong Foong Bus Company, would arrive at sharp 6.15. The same silent Indian driver and bespectacled Chinese conductor/ticket collector served us from 1966-1970. The Chinaman wore a pyjama kind of shirt and draw-string long pants, always, and was for the most part sullen and rude. But he warmed up to the regulars in later years. The driver, however, remained the Henry Fonda strong silent type till the last! Neither spoke English, so we communicated in broken Malay. We never knew their names, but we named the Chinaman, Psycho, and later affectionately, as Gila (mad)! Rare was the occasion when either one of them smiled, or God forbid, laughed. It must have been a terribly hard and stressful vocation. And we boys were not exactly the easiest lot to handle, especially on the journey home when we could be pretty boisterous.

You either bough the Monthly Pass or paid cash daily (15 cents) for the tickets. From the 1st pick-up point in Pasar Road, the bus would collect VI students on its way through Cochrane Road, double back through Shelley Road past Convent Peel Road (Girls’) School and turn left into the junction where Kedai Arak Tsin Tsin (Tsin Tsin Liquor Shop) and the Cheras PWD grounds stand. Tsin Tsin was owned by the family of my PRES 1 classmate, Tan Seng Tee, who also made it to VI. The family lived on the 2nd floor of the timber constructed ‘coffee shop’. Seng Tee, who was among the top students as well as a scout and junior librarian, left for Down Under in 1971 after the F5 MCE exams. I managed to contact him after a hiatus of some 40 years; he’s now a finance and biz consultant and was a biggie accountant/FC type at the Stock Exchange in Sydney.

From Cheras the bus would make a beeline in the direction of Pudu, passing on its right the Pudu Post Office and on its left the Pudu Fire Station, Railway Station Eurasian Recreation Club and turn left into Shaw Road at Pudu Prison (opposite Berjaya Times Square which was then the palatial home and grounds of, Loke Yew?). The elevated highway and flyover just before Klinik Leela Ratos after Tsin Tsin were still some years off in the future.

About 50m after the left turn at Pudu Prison, the bus would hang a right at the roundabout, exit left, speed 50 m and turn left into Jalan Stadium Negara and drop off the VI students just outside the school gates at the top of the hill at the back of Stadium Negara. If you missed the School Bus, you were in trouble. The commercial buses which stopped, dropped and picked up passengers all along stops that route would not get you to VI on time. That meant an inevitable confrontation with the Prefect on duty just inside the school gates to apprehend latecomers, and, nightmarish DC (Detention Class).

Which meant missing the noon School Bus and possibly a 3 mile walk in the burning sun after crossing the Pudu Railway Tracks, to home in Jalan Pelandok. Worse still, DC in VI was rarely just ‘write 1000 lines why I must not be late for school’. It possibility meant polishing all the door hinges at the School Hall, sweeping the leaves, branches and debris and clearing the drains at the main car park or tidying up the School Pavilion and store-rooms there. However, the crème de la crème punishment of it all was the dreaded cleaning out the squatting stalls and urinals at the boys’ toilet, affectionately referred to as 206 from the municipality number plate at its stinky entrance!

Most of us would be in our classrooms by 7. After placing your schoolbag on the chair (you could not leave it on the floor or desk – against school rule no. 2,000,065) you would have to attend to one of the morning duties assigned to you by your Class Monitor. These duties could be any of sweeping clean the classroom, wiping clean the blackboards in front and back of the room with a damp cloth, dusting the duster free of chalk dust on the cement top of drains outside the classroom (and hiding the feather duster) and ensuring new chalk was laid out on the wooden running board for the teachers, polishing the door hinges either at the classroom or the School Hall, wiping clean the classroom doors and glass panels or arranging the desks and chairs in straight rows. The arty students would be assigned to write and colour up the ‘saying of the week’ or some famous quotation.

All this had to be done every day (Mon-Fri) before the Prefects came at 7.15 onwards to award marks to determine who won the ‘Cleanest Classroom of the Week’ competition. The winner would be announced during School Assembly every Monday, whence the respective Class Monitor would proudly walk up to the stage to receive the plaque from the HM, in front of the whole school. Some took this competition so seriously, so much so that a precedent was set in 1968 or 1969, when an enterprising Class Monitor got all his classmates to chip in to buy paint and paraphernalia and had their classroom completely re-painted by themselves! All those from the ‘Dirtiest Classroom of the Week’ would end up in DC.

As soon as you finished your chores, you either headed for a quick snack at the Tuck Shop (nasi lemak, fried mee hoon, mee rebus, laksa, buns, toast, tea, coffee, iced orange squash, bottled pop drinks) or trudged towards the spot assigned in the Quadrangle to line up with your classmates for the 7.30 bell to ring. The official School Bell Ringer, a student, would be appointed every year from one of the classes nearest to the School Office on the 1st Floor, for this purpose. This same guy was responsible for sounding the bell to mercifully end the 45 minutes subject periods! You could not return to your classroom, loiter around the corridors, Tuck Shop, or anywhere else once the Prefects marched out in numbers and asked you to go ‘line up’.

Once you lined up, you could not horse around or chat with your classmates. If spotted by a Prefect, you could be let off with a stern warning or be put down for DC. If spotted by one of the ‘strict’ teachers, or worse still, the HM who would often be patrolling the upper corridors before the bell sounded, it usually meant six of the best!.

Of course, new students like us had no classroom or spot at the Quadrangle to line up. So, we were directed to the School Hall and sat on the floor. Our bags were filled with new text books, exercise books, pencil boxes and the like, We had been given the book lists during the December holidays and had bought all the necessary stuff at the VI Book Shop in that room at the back of the School Hall near the dungeons where ghosts of prisoners tortured to death by the Japanese in 1944-45 are said to still roam at night. We also shopped in specialist stores like Anthonian Book Store in Brickfields or the mamak ones near Naina Mohammad opposite Bangkok Bank near the Central Market. In my case, there were several hand-me-downs from my brother.

Surprisingly for us, the first day of VI was chaotic. The list of F1 students and assigned classes were not up on the school notice board. So, all these new faces, teachers, were running up and down the staircase leading to the School Office, trying to sort out the unexpected hooha with the Chief Clerk, the evergreen Mr. Richard Pavee and his assistant, Ms. Anna Yap (who later became Mrs. Anna Pavee). Meanwhile, we were moved from the School Hall to the School Refectory (opposite the Tuck Shop) as the HM did not like the cacophony there. The Refectory was part mess hall, part study room and used in the afternoons for inter-class debates and other society meetings. The following year, it was converted into the Junior Library. Others took refuge in the shade of the Basketball Court next to the School Hall, shepherded over by some Prefects.

Eventually the list emerged. We were divided into 4 groups with the classes named after the 4 compass directions. I, together with Cheah and Fong from PRES 1 ended up in Form 1 North with pals like Ng Chee Peng, TA Mohan, Kwan Poh Woh, Kow Yoke Wah, cousins Mac Kean Boon and Mac Yin Tee, and others. Balraj and Indran were placed in 1 South and Liow Soo Choong (No.1 sprinter/athlete, soccer goalkeeper and table-tennis player), a close pal from PRES 1, in 1 East. After F 5 in 1970, Liow, due to family circumstances, started work at the newly opened casino at Genting as Croupier who rose up the ranks to Supervisor, Casino Executive, Casino Shift Manager, Slot Shift Manager and Admin & Training Manager. When he retired from Genting last year, he had been the Assistant Vice-President of Surveillance for the previous 6 years. He was recalled from retirement by his friend and ex-superior officer to help him out in Resorts World Sentosa in S'pore. The majority of the 45 students in F1 North were from PRES 1 and 2. A few others like Rama (now Retd. Major) and Sallehuddin came from schools like Batu Road, Maxwell and Brickfields.

Our class teacher was Mrs. Chong Hong Chong who led us to our classroom on the ground floor just opposite the HM’s, Teachers’ and Staff staircase next to the School Hall. We were thus guaranteed that the HM and every teacher would pass by our class at least twice a day. We were cowed even before we had settled in! Mrs. Chong was still single then, but later that year or the following year, she married another teacher from PRES 2.

Mrs. Chong immediately began to mark attendance. When she came across my mile long name, she casually dubbed me ‘Longfellow’ which caused me to blush and cringe as the others burst out in guffaws. I silently cursed my father!

But, Mrs. Chong drummed and laid into our thick heads the foundations of English grammar, vocabulary, comprehension and essay writing and for that, no amount of thanks or praise could be too much!

But, I nevertheless exulted. My brother had warned me about a particular teacher to be avoided at all costs. I said a silent prayer of thanks to the Lord.

My General Science teacher was NOT Valentine Manuel!!

- to be continued

#1 I had an over-enthusisatic disciplinarian-type uncle who insisted on us taking a cold bath every morning before heading for school. I use the word 'bath' loosely, since we did not have a long-bath or shower in the bathrooom. We had, as was common then, a huge glazed clay Chinese earth-brown colour pot with dragon motif on the outside and all, from which we drew the freezing tap water with a plastic scoop. The trick was to douse yourself with one scoop of water, soap like lightning, fling another two scoops of water, grab the towel and shiver all the way to the room and don your uniform before you contracted some fatal lung disease or collapsed from hypothermia! Mercifully, my father, who was the senior brother, over-ruled my uncle, but not until the next year!