Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 01-07-12 22:38
My Family in the British Colonial Malaya - 1858 to 1960 (5)
100. I begin to study in a big school - 1954
1954 came and I was very excited because I was going to study in a big school
in Ipoh. The school was called Anglo Chinese Continued School (ACCS). It
was an afternoon school and the morning school was and still is called Anglo
Chinese School (ACS)[*1A], situated in Lahat Road, just before the big roundabout.
Indeed it was a big school and when I arrived at my new school, I was holding
Mr Yao's letter of introduction. I was allocated to study in the afternoon
session. Since it was my first day at such a big school I did not know where
to go to look for Mr Yao. I asked someone where was the Principal's office.
I was showed the way and I went in to see his secretary. The Principal,
Mr Wong Wai Nam was already been told by Mr Yao that I was a new boy from
Pusing. The Principal was a very busy man. After reading the introduction
letter Mr Wong told his peon to call for Mr Yao who came to meet me and
registered my name in the school register. I was taken to a Standard Six
class as there were five or six Standard Six classes. Mr Yao introduced
me to the form teacher who was called Mr Sohoh, an Indian. I was surprised
to see all my new classmates were so young. I was much older, taller and
bigger size than all of them. I recalled that I was taller than Mr Sohoh
who allocated me to sit at the back of the class.
Every Friday all the Standard Six classes would attend chapel. I had never
been to such a big a church before. There was a little Methodist Church
in Pusing at Lahat Road and I had attended Sunday school a few times. After
Sunday school the priest would distribute biscuits or cakes to those who
had attended. Usually, a few days before Sunday school a notice would be
put up in the notice board in front of the church saying that cakes would
be provided after Sunday School. Then that Sunday School would be crowded
with kids including me. If no cakes or biscuits were mentioned then it would
be an empty Sunday School. Just like those "Rice Christians in China in
the old days". I remembered that a widow and her daughter lived in the church.
Years later, the widow remarried when her daughter grew up and she worked
and lived in Ipoh. Then nobody lived in the church. There was piano in the
church and there were many kids went to play the piano until it was spoiled.
The church was then locked up until there was a Sunday School.
When I first entered the school church I was excited as I had never been
to such a big church, a Wellesley Church, although I had been to Chinese
temples. I learned how to sing hymns. It was the first time that I heard
about Jesus Christ. Since I was a new boy in the school, the teacher in
charge gave him a little red book about the life of Jesus Christ. I studied
a lot about Confucius but had never heard about Jesus. I told the teacher
in charge that I had no idea who was Jesus and I thought he was a Chinese
and how come I never studied about him in Chinese school. The boys laughed
at me. My command of English was not so good therefore I did not read the
little red book. As years went by I learned how to sing many hymns. I also
learned many English and Scottish folk-songs
All the subjects were easy for me except English as I was from Chinese school
and my command of English was hopeless. However, by the end of the year,
after the three terms examinations my position was third in the class. A
Hakka boy called Ho Kam Ho (何金和) from Chemor town was the first boy and
Lim You Shan (林友山), a Ipoh boy, was the second. Due to my age, I did
not want to be promoted to Form One but wanted a promotion to Form Two that
meant double promotion. I went to see Mr Yao Xinhua, the school supervisor
and told him that I wanted to skip Form One and wanted a double promotion.
I was very happy because Mr Yao agreed. Therefore I was promoted to Form
Two the following school year.
I had a good friend by the name of Wong Kon Nam (黃官南) who was same aged
as I am. He was studying Standard Six in Royal English School (RES) Batu
Gajah. We played badminton in the afternoon after school when we were at
Chinese school. Since I started studying at ACCS in Ipoh in the afternoon
session, and he continued his education in RES in the morning we could only
played badminton during the weekends. Seeing me studying in Ipoh he told
his father that he also wanted to study in ACCS.
One day, during school day I went to see Mr Yao and told him that my friend
Wong Kon Nam wanted to study at the school too. Mr Yao said that it was
a good idea because I would have a friend to keep me company since I was
the only student from Pusing. When I told Kon Nam what Mr Yao had told me
he was very happy. He told his father, Wong Yun (黃雲) that the next year
he would follow me to study in Ipoh. Wong Yun was happy too because RES
was only a small school with a student population of about 300, whereas ACCS
was a big school with more than one thousand students. We continued to play
badminton during the weekends and awaiting the the next year to come.
During this period, there were fewer gunfights in the jungle between the
Hill People (Communists) and the British soldiers or the police. Many Hill
People came out from the jungle and surrendered to the police, due to the
shortage of food in the jungle as the rubber tappers could not bring food
out from the town. The police manning the checked points on the road leading
to the jungle were very strict. They checked all the rubber tappers' bags
and even searched their bodies and making sure that no food was smuggling
out, before the rubber tappers left the checkpoints. Owing to this restriction
the Hill People were receiving less and less food. The Hill People had come
to the point of starving. It was between starving to death or leaving the
jungle camps to surrender to the police. Occasionally, one could hear the
'Voice Aircraft' flying overhead calling the Hill People to surrender through
loudspeakers. Usually it was broadcast by one of the former ex-Hill People
who had surrendered. He could introduce himself and calling his ex-comrades
to come out from the jungle. The aircraft would fly round and round over
the rubber plantations. Usually the aircraft came in the late afternoon
when all the rubber tappers had returned home. During this period the armed
Hill People in Kinta district had lost the war and the main force had retreated
north to the Thai boarder. There were very few Hill People left in the jungle
and their leader, Zeng Gengyou (曾庚友) was still alive leading his men fighting
the British.
[*1A]
From Hakka Forum by KM Hew, a retired practicing medical doctor
Anglo-Chinese School Ipoh
The Treaty of Pangkor in 1874 led to British intervention in the Malay States.
The British took over control of the state of Perak where Ipoh the Big Hakka
Town was located in the centre of the richest alluvial tin ore deposits
in the world.The British colonial authorities were only interested in exploiting
the natural resources like tin and later on rubber. They were not interested
in non-profit making activities like education. It was left to the missionaries
to introduce English education to the Malay states. In this respect the American
Methodist Mission played a leading role. The American Methodist Mission had
already started evangelical and educational activities in China following
the first Opium War in 1842. They started the Anglo-Chinese College in the
treaty port of Foochow (福州 Fuzhou) not only to impart English education
but also to train the local staff in evangelical work. Similar activities
soon spread to Nanyang (南洋 Malaya and Singapore). In 1891 the Anglo-Chinese
School was started in Penang, followed by the Anglo-Chinese School in Singapore.
In 1897 the Methodist Boy's School was started in Kuala Lumpur. Reverend
Horley then went to Ipoh to start up the Ipoh Anglo-Chinese School. A large
piece of land (4 acres) in the Old Town bounded by Lahat Road at the front
and by the railway line at the back was chosen as the site. An imposing
brick and stone building sitting on top of a small rise overlooking Lahat
Road was erected to house the secondary school. Separated by a playing field
at the back a two storey timber building was built for the primary school.
Along the railway line and adjacent to a football field a smaller two storey
wooden building was used as a hostel for boarders and this was named Horly
Hall after the founder.
From the start the Ipoh Anglo-Chinese School enjoyed the wholehearted support
of the Chinese community. The school was blessed by a succession of dedicated
and able Principals.After Reverend Horley came Dr Proebstel, then Reverend
Ralph Kesselring. Reverend Percy Bell took over in 1936 until the outbreak
of the Pacific War that ended English education for the duration of the
Japanese Occupation, (three years and eight months).
Posted to Overseas Chinese Forum at asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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