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English College Johore Bahru: Rewriting History

The New Straits Times today has a potted history of the English College (or Maktab Sultan Abu Bakar) which does not do justice either to its history or its role in the growth of education in Johore, and Malaysia. It began, as the piece notes, in 1914. At that time, only government servants could send their children to government schools, and the intake until the mid-1920s were Malays. The reorganisation in 1928 after Mr H.R. Cheesman was appointed inspector of schools opened its doors for the first time to children of those not in government service. This accounts for why many prominent Collegians -- Tun Hussein Onn, Tan Sri Philip Kuok, his brother, Robert -- began their early education at the Johore Bahru Convent. The English College was part of the Macaulayian desire for schools to train clerks to be subordinates to the British administration. It was in that connexion that these changes surfaced.

Be that as it may, it turned, like the other premier schools in the Peninsula, into excellent educational institutions. But the exclusivity these schools had showed until independence. In 1956, the English College was only one of about a dozen schools in the country providing pre-university classes, limiting the growth of graduates. It was only after independence that education burgeoned into the growth industry it now is. From the dozen students in 1914, it went up to 143 in 1928 to about 600 in 1956, when I left it, to 1,700 now. Most students dropped out of school after their Junior Cambridge School Certificate, and those went on for the Senior Cambridge School Certificate had higher education in mind. Its elitist role remained until the St Joseph's School was set up in the 1950s, the first non-governmental primary school for boys to be founded in Johore Bahru. There were a couple of private schools: the Public English School and the school that the Rev. G.E. Stephens ran after he retired from the education service; but they were for those who dropped out of the mainstream.

The English College retained that hold among students, especially when many came from the outlying towns for the Form Six. The NST articles does not do justice to its distinguished alumni. Such members of the Johore Royal Family who went to English College, like the Sultan, did not complete their education there but went on to schools overseas. So, the choice of distinguished alumni is unfortunate: the list is more distinguished than what is provided. Besides Tun Hussein, Prof. Ungku Aziz, Dato' Syed Hussein Alatas, the late deputy prime minister, Tun Ismail Abdul Rahman, his brother Sulaiman (also a cabinet minister), the Kuok brothers, their brother-in-law, Mr Leslie Cheah, at least one Lord President, numerous judges, two armed forces chiefs of staff, Prof. Toh Ban Hock of Sydney University, Prof Louis Lim. Even Tok Mat, who is listed, would agree that our class mates Ban Hock and Louis have their reputations etched in stone and ours ours on sand.

Mr Justice Rajendran of the Singapore High Court, Mr J.B. Jeyaratnam, the opposition leader, the late Mr P. Coomaraswamy, speaker of the Singapore Parliament, the late Mr Justice M. Karthigesu, are also from the English College. (An interesting fact: The man who taught Tun Hussein at the English College in the 1930s went on to higher things, ending up as Mr Justice Good, the same man his pupil re-appointed to hear ISA appeals after he became prime minister in 1976; this Mr Justice Good was the elder brother of Sir William Goode, the last Governor of Singapore and of British North Borneo (now Sabah)). Louis Lim's father and one of my teachers, Mr Lim Teck Siang, who died last year at 89 in London, while visiting his son, composed the school's anthem in 1969 -- this I did not know, although I kept in touch with until his died.

The focus of the school has changed, as it must. But it remains the centre of excellence in Johore as it always has been. It has lost its special position in Johore -- there are schools as good if not better in the state than the English College -- but not its commitment to excellence. The school began in the old Johore Palace by the seaside, shifting to its new premises in 1930 a quarter of a mile down the road. Sultan Ibrahim, the grandfather of the present Sultan, was instrumental in setting up the school; but neither his son, Sultan Ismail, nor his adopted son, Dato' Onn bin Jaffar, studied at the English College; they had been sent to England to study at a private boarding school by then. There is more to history than the mere recitation of dates. When the history of education in Malaysia comes to be written, the English College would loom large in any. But one does get a sense of that by reading the NST article. A pity.

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my