1968 (part 1) – some are born to teach

To paraphrase Shakespeare’s famous quote about greatness and fate from Act II, Scene V, Twelfth Night:

Some are born to teach. Some achieve teaching greatness. Some have teaching thrust upon them.

To this we have to add what is a sad situation in our education system today:

Some (maybe many) thrust themselves upon teaching as a desperate last-gasp choice!

In one spell-binding 45 minute virtuoso performance, N.Sivaratnam (B.A. Hons, UM) took us from Jean (John) Jacques Rousseau, Robespierre, Danton and Marat to the struggle among the monarchy, aristocracy, bourgeois (middle class - pronounced as boor-zhwah) and the proletariat (working class) that culminated in the French Revolution of 1789-1799. We cheered when King Louis XVI was guillotined and wept when Marie Antoinette met the same fate. We imagined Louis was an ogre and that ‘Marie Antoinette’ was a virgin, who had she but met one of us gentle Malaysian VI boys, would have been served a better life and fate!

For a brief moment at the end of his stand and deliver lecture, Siva paused as though expecting a burst of applause. He then immediately turned left and fixed a penetrating gazed at me. I was seated in second place, first row nearest the classroom main door from the corridor, school hall and HM/Teachers staircase side, behind Ramachandran, who by then was a Lance Corporal in the VI Cadet Corps.

‘What were the main causes of the French Revolution and what part did Rousseau play in it?’ fired Siva slyly as he bazooka’d off a vacuum seeking salvo of stealth missiles at me.

I stood up as was customary, but nothing would come out of my mouth as my mind was still on fantasy mode with ‘petite Marie Antoinette’, so beautiful to the ear was the sound of that Austrian-French name. But before anyone could utter another word, the alarm clanged. Period over! The entire class burst out in laughter. They knew I’d literally been saved by the bell. Among my classmates then were T.A. Mohan, Mahendran, Raja Nong Chik, Seng Tee, Thiam Siew, Jaspal Singh, Sarmukh Singh, Peng Keong, Yoong Fong, Liong Teck, Chee Keong, Poh Heong, Tai Kwong, Teik Chen, Poh Woh and Mac Kean Boon.

A good teacher’s main job is to INSPIRE the students to greater heights. Then, teaching AND learning become a piece of cake!

That year, I could have recited the history of the French Revolution backwards! Such is the power a true teacher exercises over his wards.

The year was 1968. The class was Form 3 East.

I suppose Napoleon Bonaparte should have followed next. Instead it was Mrs. Elizabeth Vaz (B.A./B.T. Travencore, Kerala, S.India. Anyone know what the B.T. stands for?). Anyway Siva only taught us that 1 time. The next week, the teachers’ schedules were rearranged and Mrs. Vaz who was our Form Teacher, had her portfolio expanded to include English and History.

That was perhaps the last occasion Siva taught the Lower Forms. Siva later coached the successful 1972 VI Senior Debating Team against MBS KL for the Annual Dato Thuraisingam Shield. That team comprised myself, R.Pathmanathan (Dr.), Sally Chong Siew Moi (LLB), Ms. Kok Chew Leng and Ms. Wong Kim Lin (LLB). The motion for the day was 'Capitalism is Better Than Communism'.

N.Sivaratnam, I was told, had originally attended the National University of Singapore where he had a run in with LKY as a vocal student. He was then 'persuaded' to go study at UM in KL. I recall that circa 1975, he married the lovely Ms Maimon from the VI admin office. But there's no doubt he was an inspirational teacher who was held in high esteem by the students who were fortunate to be taught by him. Once in 1972, when was I bivouacked at the VI Senior Hostel for centralised hockey training, I spied upon him in the Common Room late at night poring over notes for the next day's lectures. Another teacher who was seated next to him, young A.Rajasingam (Athletics/English), looked up at me from the books he had been marking, smiled and remarked,"You think our day ends at 12.45 p.m.?" Money CANNOT BUY that kind of honesty, integrity and dedication.


Mrs. Vaz was better than average at both English and History, except she had a mild ‘yindian yaccent’ and made us remember for an eternity that Jose Rizal was the greatest freedom fighter from the Philippines. We would all titter whenever she said ‘Joes Rizal’ because WE ALL KNEW, having been weaned on a diet of TV cowboy programmes and movies that the skinny tortilla and taco chewing and farting beans wolfing measly-moustachioed Mexican Manyana robber was ‘Hosay’ although spelled ‘Jose’. Now I ‘m not so sure after EPL English commentators referred to ‘Joesay’ Mourinho when he was manager at Chelsea. Help!!


For dedication, hard work and caring about her students, you could not fault her. What was missing somewhat was a certain sense of humour and fun. But that is true of almost every female teacher I have come across or should I say who has come across me? Hmmm?


Perhaps Mrs. Vaz’s true calling came when in the 1990’s she set up in PJ the ‘Ozanam House’, a temporary shelter for unwed mothers, battered women, the homeless, abused, abandoned and neglected children, for which charitable cause she has tirelessly raised millions of $ over the years. God bless her beautiful soul!


By the time we entered Form 3, most could float, tread water and at the very least swim the breast stroke a couple of lengths (50 metres) while others had advanced to free style, back stroke, butterfly stroke and even diving from the spring board. There was not much teaching or coaching that Arthur Marsh, a Eurasian teacher, had to bother with since the idea was to ensure most knew the basics. So, ‘free swimming’ was the order of the day while others played water polo or just horsed around.


In studies, Spiderman Renggasamy (some called him Ringo Samy after Ringo Starr of the Beatles, though Rengga bore no resemblance to him whatsoever) spun on with his humourless General Science though few found it a difficult subject. Gigantor Gengadharan would drone on about bud grafting techniques, pit latrines and compost heaps while the entire class dozed off dreaming about a Utopian world without Agricultural Science. What stunned me was that Lian Liong Teck who scored 7A’s in the LCE later, got an extra couple of marks for illustrating his term test paper with a sketch of a farmer planting wet padi! How come he had been awake, huh? Where did he go wrong?

For National Language we had Cikgu Othman who was the highly respected Chief Coach of the over-achieving school football teams. He was always immaculate in his attire, punctual for class, and as for football, very methodical in his approach to teaching BM. Right at the beginning of the year we were all given a list of the known peribahasa (proverbs) and simpulan bahasa (simile/figure of speech) we had to learn by heart, so that by year end when we sat for the LCE (SRP exams), using them in karangan (essays) and answering that specific part of the BM paper on peribahasa and simpulan bahasa was a breeze! But not before many had fallen victims to Othman’s favourite forms of punishment for laxity or laziness, which were:

1. being made to stand on one’s chair which became lethal (minimum - 3 of the best) if HM Murugasu happened to pass by the classroom!


2. doing twenty squat-ups while holding on to the earlobes cross-armed (mild)


3. ear lobe pulling (severe).


No one slept, complained of boredom or lack of humour and fun on Cikgu Othman’s watch!


Who suffered us in Maths? My memory fails here. I vaguely recall Mr. Chua Hock Soon may have had a stint? Anyone out there who can help?


But sometimes it’s not just the lessons we learnt in the classroom that shaped us.


It was a very frustrating year in football for me. By now, my shortsighted eye condition had deteriorated to an extent where I could not play football without wearing (plastic framed) spectacles. Once during practice and once during a friendly inter-school game, my glasses snapped at the plastic nose bridge as I jumped to head for goal. Competition for places in the U15 Team was intense and a centre forward who developed a phobia about heading the ball was a liability to the team. So, following team discussion with coach ex-School and Football Captain Tan Kim Chuan, I switched over to the insight right forward position to minimise the danger of glass lens shattering into my eye and the double whammy on my father’s wallet!


Sometimes, depending upon the situation in a particular game, I would also play on the left wing. This was not difficult for me as I was the only player in the team who was ambilegstrous! But this only brought me into conflict with Michael Nettleton who was a natural leftie (more of that later). The right wing was the sole preserve of ‘Thunderkicks’ Chew Yoong Fong who was the team’s permanent nominee for free kicks and penalties, such was the power and accuracy in his legs. So much so that Mokhtar Dahari who played at inside left forward and others like me who had only moderate power in our dead-ball kicks, would consult him during shooting practice on the target wall constructed at the far right corner of the school field. We were probably the first school in Malaysia to have a football shooting practice wall! Many a wayward smash would end up in the valley behind the wall, which was fenced up and at the right corner of which FAM House still stands. When we had centralised football training week in school, team spirit demanded that we sneak out after midnight to the valley and fence to peep at courting couples in cars parked on the side of FAM House!! Membership had its privileges!

Mr.R.Seshan who taught Maths in the lower Forms was another graduate from the corps of blood and gore teachers (though somewhat tame by comparison with Manuel, Rajaratnam, EJ Lawrence, Bernard Koay and Muru). He was officially the teacher in charge of U15 football. But if Seshan had ever donned a football boot or been near a soccer pitch, I’m a monkey’s uncle. But to his credit, he would turn up for most of the competition games to give moral support.

The U15 Football squad which played in a 5-3-2 attack oriented formation that year comprised:


N.Indran (Captain/Centre Half), Ee Beng Yew (goalkeeper), Lim Shook Keong (left back), Chan Ying Pooi (right back), Sallehuddin (right half), Hew Heng Foo (left half), Chong Chung Kian (center forward), Mokhtar Dahari (inside left forward), myself (inside right forward), Michael Nettleton (left wing), Chew Yoong Fong (right wing) and Vincent Sya Wooi Keong who came on as substitute and floated between right half and right inside forward. The real strength of the team lay in the rock solid defensive skills of Indran, Beng Yew and Shook Keong; rarely did any team score a goal against us. But teams do not win games by only defending. Our main scorers were Chung Kian and Yoon Fong while I and Mokhtar chipped in here and there.


So, when we boarded the train with the senior U20 Football squad and supporters for the annual fixture against Malay College Kuala Kangsar held on Saturday 16th March 1968, it was a supremely confident and swaggering group that headed there. None even remotely harboured a smidgin of a negative thought of losing!


Two weeks later, on 29th March, we would encounter La Salle Sentul in the finals of the Football Association of Selangor Cup for the U15 Championships at the Imbi Road Postals Grounds. It would be our second encounter with Mickey Yap, Shubon and Ramond D’Silva of La Salle whom we had defeated 2-1 earlier in the preliminary fixtures. Mickey, Shubon and Raymond would join us in VI the following years!


But that trip to Kuala Kangsar and football match with MCKK was something that all who played for the teams or came there via train, car and bus loads to cheer would never forget. The players, teachers-in-charge, some prefects and supporters had first met at school that Thursday evening to check attendance. Then they marched in pairs all the way to the KTM Railway station a couple of miles away in Jalan Sultan Hishamudin with its beautifully Moorish architectured construct, to board the night train which departed about 9 p.m. Inevitably there were delays at several junctions and we arrived at KK at about 2 a.m.


Among this group was one, Daya Singh, a hockey talisman, athlete, footballer, cricketer and an extrovert whose normal explosive whooping laugh could be heard all over the school. But on this trip he strangely kept to himself throughout the ride, choosing to play a harmonica while stretched out along the overhead luggage rack of the train; it was that packed! Not surprising, since a week later he, along with Wong Chee Kong and Julian Fong were appointed to the VI Prefects’ Board!


- to be continued (next instalment – more about MCKK, FAS U15 Cup Final, Michael Nettleton, Mokhtar Dahari. As well as Raja Azlan & Hariharan (Ramachandran’s younger brother) from the U15 hockey squad).

1967 – a honeymoon year (part 2)

‘to help other people at all times and to obey the Scout Law’

(click on picture for enlarged view).

VI is pretty unusual in that it has two Scout movements, 1st KL AND 2nd KL. Having been a keen Cub in PRES 1, I signed up for 1st KL in January 1966, prompted also by the fact that some of ‘my gang’ had enlisted. They included my hockey buddies Cheah Peng Keong and Chew Yoong Fong, Yap Meng Teck, Chan Heng Yooi, Kow Yoke Wah and silken sprinter T.A. Mohan Arasu whom everyone knew because his father was the well known and highly respected doctor who ran that famous private clinic in Ipoh Road – Arasu Clinic. Of course, Taman, misread from T.A.Mohan in the register by T.Rajaratnam, followed his father’s footsteps, and is now an established doctor himself.

The three of us together with Yap Lip Sin, Lee Chee Meng, Wong Kam Choong and Ming formed Woodpecker Patrol, led by Third Former Patrol Leader Wong Joon Owang or ‘Joe’ as he was universally called. Boys being boys, Woodpecker Patrol changed its name to Lion Patrol a couple of months later to stop the taunts of ‘peckerheads’. The 1st KL Boy Scouts were about 100 strong with Patrol names very evocative of the wild savannah, nature, jungles, plains and rivers, like Beaver, Bull, Eagle, Falcon, Kingfisher, Owl, Panther, Stag and Swift and of course, Lion (peckerhead) Patrol.

But my time in the Boy Scouts was short and somewhat anti-climactic. The main problems were associated with my diet, as my family was totally vegan, AND Saturday troop meetings and competitions, week-day Patrol gatherings and term camps tended to clash with football practices and matches. But nevertheless I enjoyed that year and a bit and wish now I had persevered.

For our first-ever Saturday afternoon Troop Meeting on the lawn opposite the mini-roundabout near the 6th Form Block area , I arrived in full regalia with uniform, cap, scarf with leather knot holder, stockings with garters and Patrol and 1st KL badges. However, I had a problem in that I did not have time to buy a proper pair of shoes and had borrowed my brother’s cadet corps green jungle hiking boots which were acceptable except they stood out like sore thumbs among the sea of black shoes. TA Mohan of course spotted it like a hawk and soon everyone was ribbing me about insulting both the cadet corps and the boy scouts. At the ragging that followed that investiture ceremony, I got a scarf-whipped a bit more than the other greenhorns for my new found fame, while made to run up and down the slopes leading to the school sports field, between rows of senior Boy Scouts!!

Joe, a bit severe looking at times, was a great and knowledgeable leader who was later appointed to the Prefects’ Board in 1970. He had a deceptive tough side to him. Once when Lim Seng Chuan was getting a bad mauling from Tan Joo Ann in a ‘friendly’ Scouts’ boxing match, Joe volunteered to take on Joo Ann and inflicted such a terrible beating on him, the match had to be stopped. Joe probably secretly carried weights and worked out, though you couldn’t tell from his lean frame.

Soon after joining the Boy Scouts, we were off one Saturday after another on inter-patrol games and exciting group activities. We’d bicycled together with members of Falcon Patrol under Yip Kai Onn to John’s Valley in Jalan Duta for night BBQ. In pitch dark conditions, Joe taught us about constructing the BBQ pit, frame and about starting and stoking a fire with very basic materials like matchsticks, candles, newspapers, dry wood kindling and leaves. The chicken had already been pre-marinated, but it did not help that half way through, a light drizzle started. That was the 1st time I tasted BBQ chicken. It was half cooked, half burnt and rubbery, but the toasted dark sweet soy sauce was tasty! We all huddled under an extended poncho as the rain got a bit heavier and sent a chilly wind up our Khyber! We cycled home about 2 a.m., half soaked and half starved.

Cake baking competition took place in pits dug in the grounds of the grassy knoll in the school car park using biscuit tins as containers. All ingredients were mixed on the spot that afternoon and the cake baked au naturel over wood fire with the earth pit serving as the ‘oven’. Again, proceedings were interrupted by a massive downpour and all Lion Patrol could present to the Assistant Scout Master (ASM)judges was a half-cooked soggy mess, which was still better than some of the other Patrols’ ‘cordon bleu’ stuff which did not even make it to the earth oven!

The Annual Treasure Hunt was part of the Inter-Patrol competitions to determine the Champion Patrol at the end of the year. Clues were written up by the Committee of Patrol Leaders and secreted in places like the gates of the Ampang Road Police Station next to where Yow Chuan Plaza now stands. The competition would run from 7 p.m. till 3 a.m. the next day. Patrols would cycle like fury, criss-crossing KL from clue to clue to be the first to claim the ‘treasure’. My name made its entry into the Lion Patrol Log Book as the person who solved the cryptic clue ‘I am cold’ written on a piece of paper. From those primary years reading Enid Blyton’s ‘Fatty and the Five Find Outers’ I had learnt that you could write ‘invisible’ messages with pen nib on paper, using fresh lime or lemon juice. The ‘invisible’ words would come alive if you ran a warm iron over the ‘blank’ paper or placed it over a candle flame. Another clever clue the leaders came out with was one that required finding the roots of a quadratic equation and applying Pythagoras’ Theorem!

We eventually ended up looking for the final clue in Assistant Senior Scout Leader (ASSL) Liew Kon Wui’s (or was it Lum Chee Soon’s?) bungalow house in Jalan Inai in Jalan Imbi. After Panther Patrol led by Chu Kam Choon were declared winners, we tucked into a hearty meal of piping and chilli hot hokkien mee, yin yong kung foo chow noodles, fried keow teow and friend mee hoon washed down with lashings of iced sunquick orange juice and F&N lemonade cordial. Then some settled down for Carroms while others just plunked down for chit chat and then slowly left in drips and drabs and cycled home at 5 a.m.!

There was Castle Camp in Gurney Road not far from the Army Camp, where you went to compete in Obstacle Course which included rope/tree climbing while elsewhere we practiced first aid, knotting, tent pitching etc and practised singing songs for the Annual Parents’ Campfire, songs like ‘Over hill, over dale, as we hit the mountain trail’ and the evergreen Jambalaya, If I had a Hammer, Waltzing Matilda and High There in the Deep Blue Sky (Rabbit Song?).

1st term Troop Camp was held in Camp Semangat at the National Scout Camp, in Cheras. Lion Patrol emerged the champs, topping the various disciplines as well as both the campfire sketches where my comic acting skills came to the fore. We were isolated from civilization for a week, slept 4 to a tent with no pillows and on tarps laid over damp, cold earth, hiked to waterfalls through raw jungle and play-acted first aid at accident rescue scenes and more for marks. We even swept the cooking competition (though my contribution was nothing more than slicing and dicing vegetables, preparing the dinner table and serving the Seniors/Judges and washing up) because we had Ming who at 13, helped his father run a ‘chap fan’ stall back in town! Each patrol had to safeguard its own turf and Joe taught us this fantastic skill of constructing a swing-gate entrance for our ‘house compound’ using a string-strung stone twisted over wood and employing the simple mechanics and laws of motion!

The 1st KL ASM’s like Ramasamy, Robert Ng Sing Peng (elder brother of Ng Chee Peng, my classmate who was himself ASM in 1972) and Lum Chee Soon as well as ASSL’s like Yap Piang Kian were there to co-ordinate all activities. Our 1st memorable campfire began with ASM Oh Seong Lye, Prefect and my House (Hepponstall) Captain reciting the incantations of ‘To the North, To The South, To the East...’ as he prepared to extend lit taper to set the woodpile on fire. There was much hooting and laughing as the seniors too acted out some hilarious sketches, but most of all it was the singing that established camaraderie and made it a night to remember even after 40 years!

During a session of scout inter-patrol water polo, Robert saved my live! I developed a cramp in the deep end of the pool and before I knew it, I sank like a stone and was struggling to make surface. Suddenly I heard a splash overhead and these huge arms circled me from behind and hauled me on my back over the pool’s edge and started pumping my chest, all the while asking me if I was ok. Fortunately, I had managed to hold my breath underwater. A few seconds more and I might have been done for good. My gratitude to Robert, whom I met again in June this year at a VIPB reunion after a hiatus of 40 years, is eternal.

But my Boy Scout career floundered as I could not get my Tenderfoot Badge, which is really the most basic of hurdles. I’d gotten through all the other tests like Scout Laws, First Aid, Physical Exercise, Campfire and Tent Pitching. But when it came to knotting, I managed to get my knickers in a twist. I’d practised till I could tie all the knots behind my back in total darkness. But for the 1st test, Senior Patrol Leader Wong Twee Juat set a time limit of 1 minute for 6 knots. All of us failed to beat the buzzer by a few seconds. At the repeat test a week later, Twee Juat threw in another googly. We had to tie all 6 knots - reef, rolling hitch, clove hitch, bowline, sheet bend, sheep shank – in exact sequence on the same rope!!

It was at this point that I rebelled and refused to take that final test a third time. I figured we were being messed around with. I could not work out if he was just bored and deliberately making it difficult for us or he had a natural mean streak in him. I mean, some of these knots, we were never going to use (and still haven’t) like the ones for tying goats and horses while we moseyed over to the OK Corral Saloon Bar for some neat whiskies, were we?! 6 knots on 1 rope? Which Armageddon was that going to be employed in? So, one thing led to another and I never made Tenderfoot. This was a huge embarrassment to me personally as I had ‘do or die’ ambitions to emulate my elder brother in Cochrane Road School who was close to a King’s Scout Badge, having secured his Bushman’s Thong (nothing to do with Transvaal Beach underwear)!

In ’67, Our Patrol leader was Christie Tan Tiong Tee (now Dr.) who is one of the most pleasant, nicest, understanding, patient and gentlemanly student/person I have ever come across. It was not surprising he made it to the VIPB in 1971, given that in addition to his superb leadership qualities, he also represented the school in Rugby and Swimming/Water Polo. I missed some of the early scout meetings in January and February when it clashed with football. Moreover, my father was not too happy with all these excursions and I had to allay his suspicions by spinning him about eating a lot of bread, butter and jam and chapatthi and dhal on these trips and camps.

Matters came to a head one Saturday afternoon as I was lying in bed with high fever and ASM Liew Kon Swee popped over to my house to check up on whether I was skiving or what? My father, a man of few words, explained to him my condition, but Kon Swee insisted on sighting me, at which point my father, not used to having his words questioned, sent Kon Swee off on his bike! Immediately, my father sat down at his desk and drafted my resignation letter from 1st KL Boy Scouts, which I presented to Christie a few days later. There was no Court of Appeal as far as my father was concerned. My father would never say it aloud, but secretly he was chuffed that two of his sons had made it to VI. But he too had his limits and any infringement of that total vegan diet thing was the last straw.

Kon Swee, who did not know of my vegan problems, would not accept my resignation letter just like that. He insisted I attend a sort of ‘court martial’ with the other ASM’s in the temporary scout den (previously the caretaker’s shed) opposite the VIOBA building, within the school field area. As it was fated to happen, we had football practice under Peethaparam, and I could not, dared not, get off at 5.30 p.m. for the ‘court martial’. When I arrived at 6, I got a shelling and that was that. There was no way I was going back to Lion Patrol and 1st KL!

But you see inflated ego and puffed up false pride are like that!

More than football, cricket and hockey, it is these group activities like Scouts, Cadet Corps, School Band and others that shape character, develop leadership qualities, discipline and living skills, engender camaraderie and lifelong friendships. As 13 year old Boy Scouts, we would place hands over each others’ shoulders round camp fire and sing ‘Ramasamy, son of Mani, drank some toddy, thana nay, thana nay...’ smile at one another and burst out laughing in complete innocence .

If I could have a second chance and go back in time, I would crawl on my knees and beg to be re-instated to 1st KL to earn my Tenderfoot, 1st Class and Kings Scout Badges.
- to be continued

1967 - a honeymoon year (part 1)

or how i discovered Pussy Galore!

(click on pic for enlarged view).

The Third Man TV Series Theme Song

The Third Man Movie Theme Song




Paladin Ballad




Stingray Marina Theme Song

Being in Form 2 is like being in Form 4. They are regarded as the honeymoon years. These were non-public examination years and so most got through with the minimum of academic effort, though ‘minimum’ in VI could be more than a handful elsewhere.

To our surprise, our Form and Art teacher in 2 North was the same as in Form 1 North, i.e. Mrs. Chong Hong Chong, who continued whipping us into shape to master the England! She introduced us to more public speaking with a weekly Tuesday session where randomly picked students had to present the class with a speech on any subject of their choice.

This was the era of many cops and robbers TV SHOWS like ‘Arrest and Trial’ with Nick Anderson (Ben Gezzara) as the thinking man’s cop who made the arrests and John Egan (Chuck Connors) as the thinking man's defending attorney who invariably put the right man behind bars and cleared his client. Then there was ‘Highway Patrol’ with the flabby Chief Dan Matthews (Broderick Crawford) with his famous by-line ‘Ten Four, over and out!’ Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) was the American attorney who, with the aid of his leggy assistant Della Street and private detective Paul Drake, always got his man to confess on the stand with his brilliant and intuitive cross examination. Burr also played the lead role in ‘Ironside’ as the brilliant and intuitive wheel-chaired ‘consultant cop’ who, with the aid of his leggy assistant Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson) and Sgt. Ed Brown, also always got his man. From reading the Perry Mason novels, I learnt the theory of firing bullets from murder guns into test chambers of layers of cotton wool and examining them under a split microscope to match striations and grooves on bullets and casings.

Most compelling of all was the mega series about the Fugitive doctor who never stopped running from an acerbic and sour Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse). Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen), innocent victim of blind justice, took 4 years to track down the one-armed killer who had offfed his wife. Or as a wit at VI (I can’t remember who) said, ‘Dr. Richard Kimble, innocent victim of QM Productions(the show producers)'!

Then there were the Spy TV series and Movies. Roger Moore, as the suave quintessential English Simon Templar in the ‘Saint’ (novels by Leslie Charteris who was half English, half Chinese) and ‘James Bond’ had an electric effect on me. I would spend hours practising with a hand held mirror to arch both my eyebrows exactly as Roger Moore and Ben Gezzara would.

By ’67 I had made my way through Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels starting with Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia with Love, Dr.No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me and OHMS. You Only Live Twice was my favourite because the movie version had a skimpily clad Mie Hama as Kissy Suzuki and her ample charms were displayed in full colour in the ‘Movie News’. Who can forget ‘You only live twice; once when you are born and once when you look death in the face’ as Bond/Connery nookied (or as we say in Tamil, ‘madakkaran’) and rogered Kissy/Mie!

Ian Fleming had of course all along preferred a terribly upper class British Bond like Roger Moore. So, how the Scottish Sean Connery got the plum part beats me! He was given those immortal line to say to another skimpily clad and beautifully endowed Ursula Undr...er no, Andress as Honey Ryder. ‘My name is Bond, James Bond’ created loads of spoofs such as ‘My name is Bon, Simon Le Bon! Luckily for Connery, it was not Steve Stanley Bond or Connery’s career would have been offed then and there with ‘My name is Bond, Shteve Shtanley Bond!’ Note that whatever role Connery plays, he never loses his Scottish accent. If he were playing the part of an alien, you can imagine him regaling us with ‘I come in peash, I am from the planet Shaturn!’.

Rama and I watched a midnight doubleheader of ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Thunderball’ at Federal Theatre in Sentul with complimentary tickets obtained from piecing the Jigsaw Puzzle pictures (over six, monthly issues) in the ‘Movie News’. I bicycled all the way to Rama’s house in Gurney Road one Friday evening, spent the night at his house after the movie, and cycled back home to Pasar Road late Saturday morning, after feasting on a delicious carrot sambar and veg/rice lunch prepared by his ever-smiling, gracious, friendly and chatty mother!

I imagined I was Michael Rennie, the tall, elegant, handsome, debonair and mysterious English spy Harry Lime in the ‘The Third Man’ based on the novel by Graham Greene, smashing my way through Viennese espionage rings with that eerie signature tune in the background. Remember, ‘teng te tang, te teng te tang, te teng te tang,.teng te teng te taaang..?’ (refer video). Rennie was also Klaatu the alien who lands in his spaceship with Gort the robot in the 1951 black & white original version of ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’.

Guns and bullets were well represented by Westerns TV series, now a practically dead genre. There was the incredibly handsome Gene Barry as ‘Marshal Bat Masterson’ with its theme song of ‘Back when the west was very young, there lived a man name Masterson...the fastest gun....they called him Bat, Bat Masterson...’. And who could forget that rugged gunslinger in all black, Paladin, played by black moustachioed Richard Boone with his calling card of ‘Have Gun, Will Travel.’ Soon in VI it was ‘Have Boots, Will Kick’, ‘Have Hockey Stick, Will Hook’, ‘Have Prefects, Will DC’, ‘Have Manuel, Will Cane’ and ‘Have Miss Ooi, Will Bond’! The theme song was not bad either with ‘Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man... Paaa-l-l-l-l-a-din.’ (refer video).

‘The High Chaparral’ (with due apologies to the Indian Kampong Buah Pala in Penang) was a big hit for two reasons; the sexican Mexican Manolito (Henry Darrow) the ladies’ man, and the dark (and we all had dark thoughts about grilling her slowly over a roasting hot bed), tempestuous and to die for Victoria (Linda Cristal).

Of course Paladin, like Bat Masterson, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Johnny Ringo, Manolito and the Henry Fonda silent type Virginian of the eponymous TV series were all ‘the quickest draw in the west’ who could ‘slap leather’ more rapidly than a dang bob-tailed raccoon whose butt was on fire and being chased by a rattlesnake fleeing from an Apache Indian loin cloth hunter out in them there dunes and dusty sun-setting hills of the wild, wild West in Utah, Wyoming and Arizona!

So, when picked to talk to my peers, I had visions of introducing them to the concepts of space and time travel involving Paladin, a dark alien half man half robot leather slapping neutron powered colt 45 toting universal cowboy super spy cop lawyer medical detective searching for his kidnapped sexy mermaid wife Marina who never speaks (from the British ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’ TV cartoon series which spawned Stingray – Mariiiina, that one Mariiina, why don’t you whisper, the words that my heart, is longing to hear...Mariiina... (see video)). His quest takes him to Hollywood where he battles an inter-galactic Klingon OxCam based espionage ring hell bent on blowing up Earth. Paladin is aided in his quest by the ever compliant and supine Universal Sorority of Pussy Galores for whom the Planet Earth moves and then stops! In the intro, Paladin steps out of his photon powered spaceship on a beach in Santa Barbara and utters that unforgettable line ‘My name is Paladin, shon of Aladdin from the planet Gelatin. Well, you see, my Paladin was a wee bit Scottish too!

I couldn’t quite see where all this was all heading to, and besides I realised I‘d have a tough time explaining to Mrs. Chong about Pussy Galore. When I first encountered her name in ‘Goldfinger’ while reading it in Standard 6, I was unaware of the double entendre; Ian Fleming or producers Saltzman & Broccoli had a fetish about it for all the femme fatale in Bond movies! The only Pussy I knew back then was of the mangy furry four-legged variety with mice in its mouth and which meowed all night in the back alleys of Jalan Pasar and Imbi!

Eventually I made a presentation titled ‘Crime and Detection’ and talked nervously about police investigative techniques on matching bullets to guns, fingerprinting, collecting blood samples for forensics and profiling rape artists with sketching identikits from descriptions by victims and witnesses. There was a fairly appreciative applause when it was over. I had sweated buckets! During the mid-day break, R. Jayabalan (now in Insurance) who joined VI in 1967 came over and congratulated me and posed,“That was really interesting you know. Where’d you get all that info from? Your father a cop?” A lot of it was also in the Book of Knowledge Encyclopaedia!

I had a habit of blessing teachers with nicknames and 1967 produced a fair harvest. Much of my overactive imagination owed its inspiration to Marvel Comics and TV cartoon series. For General Science we had ‘Spiderman’ Renggasamy (RTC Trained) who was skinny, tall and had these long spindly arms and legs. His by-line was ‘don’t be naughty, boys!’ and ‘idiots!’ when the wind got up his tail. But, he would reach for the feather duster only as a last resort. Spidey, who always wore white shirt and black long pants, was a dedicated but not over-inspiring mentor.

Then there was ‘Gigantor’ KP Gengadharan Nair (College Trained, London) who later took up law and became a highly respected High Court Judge and a Dato. He passed away peacefully on 21st April 2007 at the age of 63. But in his youth Genga was portly to say the least, and when lecturing on Agricultural Science, had a tendency to stand as if he were at attention with his arms by his side, a picture perfect copy of the Japanese Gigantor Robot cartoon character getting ready to take off into space to the refrains of ‘Gigantor, Gigantor, Gigantor, Gigaaantor, Gigantor the space age robot...’ Agri was a new subject to which most of us took to like splendid alaskan arctic ducks to an Amoco Cadiz oil spill and never encountered it again after Form 3. Gigantor was a bit aloof and could be mean and vengeful in his punishment, though he was not quite so trigger-happy as Valentine Manuel or Muru!

For Swimming, we had ‘Emrican’ (that’s the way he pronounced ‘American) Robert Pachymuthu. Besides coaching Cricket, Robert also taught English and was popular among the students. To us, he was a gift from the Gods after Sawn-Off Broomstick Handle (SOBH) the previous year! Robert was himself an ex-Victorian and had established a schoolboy cricket record of scoring a century against Selangor Club at the tender age of 13 or 14! He resigned in '68 to get his BA and returned to teach us General Paper in 1971. Teh Mun Hing continued efficiently with Geography. We had a succession of relief teachers for maths after the untimely passing away of ‘Fiddlesticks’ T.Rajaratnam (cancer) in June 1967.

For History, there was Lim who was excellent especially on the Roman Empire and our vocabulary soon extended to Goths, Visigoths, Barbarians, Mongols, Huns and their fraternity to whom mere hand to hand combat was a sport for their ladies and raping a breakfast past time. We also had a succession of ex-student temporary teachers in the early part of the year like Yong Siew Onn (General Science), Leong Weng Chiew (History), Melville Jayathissa (General Science) and Ng Hon Yuen (Geography) about whom I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs. They were, though untrained, all exceptionally good teachers. Weng Chiew encouraged us to visit the Upper Six Arts Classrooms and read the best of the essays on specific historical events such as the French Revolution and World War 1, pinned on the notice boards. Hon Yuen, now an architect in KL, engendered great fun and was actually attending Lower 6 evening/night classes, but later found a place in Lower 6 proper and became one of us. In 1968 he won the Talentime contest strumming his guitar and singing Trini Lopez’s version of ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon’ which was banned by the Government later for its supposed connotations to marijuana! (Lopez's version, though not so well known as The Mamas & Papas original was also my preference).

The school had a new Sports Master, 'Lenny' De Vries, a M'sian Eurasian who was outstanding throughout his tenure in VI as teacher, disciplinarian, mentor and especially as cricket and hockey coach. In 1970, he left for Canada to earn his PhD in Sports Science. He commanded the respect of every student who came into contact with him. Lenny coached our victorious 1968 U15 Hockey Team and taught us startegic team play such as 'attacking in triangular formations in either flank' and 'kasi makan defensive feints'.

More than that, Lenny led the VI Cricket team to its 1st ever Navaratnam Shield semi-finals, after HM Murugasu and the Board of Governors succesfully secured a court order to force the Selangor Cricket Association (SCA) to reverse their decision to disqualify VI who had given a strategic walkover to Selangor Eurasians a day or two before May 13th 1969! Eventually, VI lost the semi-finals played at the PWD Cheras grounds despite a fluent top score of 20-odd runs by Lenny which included a classic cover drive that just failed to go for 4. 'Billy' Achen Balachandren (VIPB and Cricket Captain 1971) tells me that there were several contentious decisions made by umpires like Christie Sheperdson of NEB that day including a crucial one against Terence Jayatilaka (bowler), who with Lenny and Bain Saurajan were the 3 teachers in the VI team. There was much acrimony in the cricketing circles in Selangor then that a team of mere schoolboys in short pants should have gone to court and advanced to the semi-finals of one of the most pretigious Club cricket competitions in Malaysia.

Notwithstanding the loss, it was an incredible performance by a team comprising mainly schoolboys pitted against the might of teams like National Electricity Board (NEB, the forerunner to TNB), Tamilian Physical and Cultural Association (TPCA), Rubber Research Institute (RRI), Selangor Club (The Dog) etc., who all had had a sprinkling of past and present National cricketers! The stylish Terence Jayatilaka taught us English Literature in F4 (1969).

Dr.Leonard De Vries was at one time attached to the Sports Science Faculty of USM Penang and is now President of the Malaysiam association of Sports Education, Sports Science and Fitness as well. He also consults for the National Sports Council (NSC).

In football, there were only 4 of us from F2 in the U15 squad of 18 players – Indran, Hiew Heng Foo, Mokhtar Dahari and myself. For some peculiar reason known only to the organizers, several of the preliminary inter-schools matches were played at the grounds of the Cheras Road Boys School near the Lady Templar TB Hospital which was closed down in 1985. The other 3 ‘juniors’ and I spent most of our time in the reserves and got only a couple of full games during the entire season. On another occasion in Cheras, where we had to head for by Toong Foong bus (no school van for U15 players), captain Ezani Bakar finally called me up for a full game. But as we warmed up, for the first time ever the referee asked everyone to produce their IC’s which I had left at home. I was sunk and totally devastated as Mokhtar Dahari replaced me!

We lost 1-2 to MCKK at home that year and to St. John’s by a penalty in the U15 inter-schools finals at TPCA Stadium in Princes Road (now Jalan Raja Muda). Bryan Pereira was the distraught, inconsolable goalkeeper that day. But, it was a good team with many fun guys like ‘thunderkicks’ leftie Sugunabalan, Raja Ahmad, Zainal Ibrahim, Eddy Chong Kwong Chin, Dave Chin Peng Hoon and Chan Heng Kwong (the last 4 were all from PRES). Our coach was senior player Wong Toon Say, of Korean origin, who scored a rousing 1st goal with a fabulous left leg smash from way out on the left winger’s side in the seniors’ 5-1 thrashing of MCKK at home. Cikgu Hassanuddin, the dedicated Master-in-charge of the VI Cadet Corps and Band, standing next to me near the school Pavilion, described it as 'a copy-book goal. wonderful!' The MCKK goalkeeper stood no chance of saving it.

The VI senior U20 and U18 football squads were all-conquering that year, sweeping the Khir Johari and Dato Yahya Cups. Enthusiasm was so great the school entered two teams for the KJ Cup! The legends of the team were Zakaria Sharif, Ganeson, Tan Lip Tiong, Dina Bandhu and Tan Kim Chuan (Captain) with inspiration coming from the man in charge of it all for many years, Cikgu Othman.

to be continued.

dpp

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!!

donplaypuks®

1966 - of golden fleece and heroes

(Click on pic for enlarged view)

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