Wednesday 30 March 2011

THE LATE TUN HAMDAN AND MR MARSHALL IN MEMORIUM. AND IN APPRECIATION OF MR MICHAEL LIAU

  In early  January1957 I received a letter from the Ministry of Education  that I was to report to the Malay Secondary School Ashby Road Ipoh. All by myself I took a train to Ipoh. A chartered bus with a teacher, whose name I later found out to be Mr Lau Hut Yee, took me with other boys to Ashby Road. Subsequently I found out four other friends from my class in Kuala Lumpur were also selected to join the School.  They were the 2 Abdul Razak Yahyas (one from Beranang and the other from Klang),  Hamid Mohd Nor ( who  had passed away a few years ago) and Supaat Simin.

 I was quite disappointed to find that School was a former British Military Detention Camp comprising of dilapidated wooden buildings with common bathrooms and toilets using the buckets system. Little did I know then that the School was to change my life. 

We were in Form One when we were in Malay Secondary School in 1957. It was a fantastic year as far as our education was concerned. Although our command of English was still very poor all lessons were done in English with the exception of Bahasa Malayu and Ugama. Our handicap in English was more than compensated by the group of very dedicated teachers we had. We must make mention of some of them. This group led by the Headmaster the late Tun Hamdan bin Sheikh Tahir consisted  of Messrs Lau Hut Yee, Anthony Marshall, Baskaran, Michael Liau Tet Loke, Sundrakarean, Mohammad Perdaus and and the late Encik Abdul Aziz Wok and Mr Choong Swee Chin. There were other equally good teachers but they did not teach us. I remember the late Encik Abdul Latif Shamsuddin, Encik Ruslan Ahmad and a few others. They taught the Remove classes. They spared nothing to make sure we had the best all round education.
The Headmaster introduced us to many new things. There was the Monday morning assembly. At these assemblies held in open air he would dress in his impressive academic University gown complete with cap and mortar and  mount the improvised wooden stage and without fail deliver  stirring speeches in his thundering voice urging us not to waste the opportunity of making good in life through education and hard work. Besides his attire his speeches cannot but inspire us.Then  the teacher on duty would report major events that had taken place the previous week. This is followed by a representative from every class making a short speech or reciting a poem in English. This is to give us the chance to learn to speak in public with confidence in Eglish.  I once recited a poem entitled “IF” by Rudyard Kipling. I still remember a few lines like;
          “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you
            If you can wait and not be tired of waiting
            If you can dream and not make dreams your master
            If you can……..walk with kings – not lose the common touch
            Yours is the Earth and everything in it
            And – which is more – you will be a Man my son
   The Headmaster insisted that every student took active parts in extra curricular activities like sports and the various societies that he asked to be formed e g  the English Literary and Debating Society, Historical Society and Geographical Society to name a few. Every student was to join a uniformed group like the Boys Scout, Red Cross Society and Saint John’s Ambulance Brigade. I became a Committee member of the Historical Society.  I was very active in the Red Cross Society. As the School was in a temporary premises and it did not have any sports facilities to speak of, the Headmaster personally organized the preparation of a sports ground and a Basketball court (the one game we were told that he was good at) on an empty piece of State land near the School. A padder tennis court was built behind the Dining Hall.  I was extremely pleased because I had played this game when I was in the primary school in my kampong. A notable player was Badli Awang Chik (Now Datuk) who had already played tennis in his home town Kuala Trengganu.  Badli was also the first Head Boy of the School, a very fitting appointment and he held the appointment until he left School in 1961. Another good player was Adzmi Abdul Wahab (now Tan Sri). They subsequently became School players. Adzmi and I later were brave enough to participate in the Malayan Youth National Championship and Malay Youth National Championship held in Kuala Lumpur. We were always kept busy with all sorts of activities. What we looked forward to were the excursions to various interesting places in Perak like the “Mengeluchur” (A water slide of some sort in a river somewhere in Kuala Kangsar) Chong Sam Tin Mine, Sam Bhun Thong Cave and Cameron Highlands Hydro Electric Dam.
He encouraged us to attend plays put up by other more established schools in Ipoh. We remember attending a Shakespearean play staged by the Anglo Chinese School. We think this led us to stage a Malay play entitled “Nyawa Di Hujung Pedang” written by Ahmad Murad Nasaruddin. I had a minor role in the play, a role I was not very proud of. I was asked to play the role of the mother of the heroine Juriah played by Mohammad Wahab. We even attended a Cello presentation in town. We also cannot forget marching to the town padang  to hear an American Red Indian named Tom Two Arrows speaking. We cannot remember what he spoke about. However we had the opportunity to see a Red Indian in person.
The Headmaster did not neglect our religious education. Although we did not have a fulltime ustaz a temporary part time one was engaged to teach us religious lessons. Every Friday we attended Friday prayers in Ipoh town. Ipoh at that time had two main mosques, one in the town itself and the other in Kampong Paloh. The Religious Department ruled both mosques cannot be used simultaneously. So each mosque took turn to be used for Friday prayers. We wondered if this was a right ruling. Why cannot they be used at the same time? There were enough worshippers for both mosques.

The Headmaster made sure that our health was looked after. If we were sick we would be sent to the Ipoh General Hospital for treatment. We were also sent for regular dental check-up at the Government Dental Clinic in town. Some of us enjoyed this trip to town for the dental check up. One got to ride in the Headmaster's Austain of Englad car and some time to roam in town. Mr Liau did not like his Mathematics class being interrupted by these trips and would announce the names of students going to dental clinic by saying, "the following boys with bad teeth please get lost from my class!" 
 I was particularly close to my Class teacher the late Mr. Anthony Marshall who also taught English and English Literature. It must have been his influence that I became quite proficient in English something that I  cherish and love to this day. Mr.I think Mr Marshall liked me and we developed a very special relationship. It was Mr. Marshall who picked me to be the  School Magazine's (Perintis) General Editor, a position I held until I left School. However although Mr. Marshall was a first class sportsman he failed to make me a sportsman. It is not that he did not try but I was just not the type who can be made a sportsman. However  Mr.  Marshall made me interested in sports. I could not play Cricket but I became the Scorer for the School team. I was a Touch Judge for rugby and I could umpire most games. It was Mr. Marshall too who instilled in me the finer points of public speaking. I was very proud that I delivered the welcoming speech when the last British High Commissioner Sir Donald MacGillivray  visited the School that year. The country was about to achieve independence on 31 August 1957 and Sir Donald was on a tour to bid farewell to the country. I was also active in the School English Literary and Debating Society. All these were the result of the influence Mr. Marshall had on me.
Mr. Michael Liau taught us mathematics. He was a very good and effective teacher. We cannot forget until today almost all he taught us.  I liked mathematics so much that I took Additional Mathematics at the School Certificate examination and took Mathematics at the Higher School Certificate examination although I was in the Arts Stream. We can still remember “phi” is the ratio of the circumference of a circle over its radius and is 22 over 7. He taught us how to remember certain things easier for examples the square root of 3 is “I promise may be” meaning 1.732 and that of 2 is “I wish I know” meaning 1.414. Although he taught mathematics he was a very well read man. In teaching what is "circumference" in mathematics he introduced us to Sir Christopher Wren the Architect of Saint Paul’s Cathedral London. He told us that the builders of the Cathedral wrote in the ceiling of the dome of the Cathedral “ Si monumentum requires, circumspice” (If you seek his monument, look about you). That is how he introduced the subject ‘circumference’. (I was very fortunate to have gone up to the dome of Saint Paul and saw for himself that Mr. Liau was absolutely right) Mr. Liau is now Dr Liau having obtained his doctorate in psychology from an Australian University. I am very pleased that Dr Liau and I are still in touch. He never failed to call me to wish me Selamat Hari Raya. His excuse for calling was that he did not agree trees should be cut down to make greeting cards!



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