How one Malaysian school became a bright spot in colonialism’s dark legacy

http://m.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2038580/how-one-malaysian-school-became-bright-spot-colonialisms

N. Balakrishnan celebrates the founding two centuries ago of Southeast Asia’s oldest English school, which gave generations of youth an education not just of the mind, but also of the heart. 

N. BALAKRISHNAN

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 20 October, 2016, 12:39pm

UPDATED : Thursday, 20 October, 2016, 12:39pm

The Penang Free School. Minority voices have been saying that the old school was a colonial relic best forgotten.
But while the school may have been “elitist” in one sense, it was also an avenue for social mobility for many.

Neither of my parents knew any English. The reason I can write passable English is down to the schools I attended in Penang, Malaysia. Penang Free School, my secondary school, celebrates its 200th anniversary on October 21. It was established three years before modern Singapore was “founded” by Stamford Raffles, and is the oldest English school in Southeast Asia.

The school’s storied history reminds me of the Janus-faced nature of British colonialism in this part of the world. One article of faith since my youngest days has been that colonialism is an evil system. Today, however, I realise colonialism has its merits; it moulded me and many generations in Malaysia in more ways, both positive and negative, than we would like to admit.

The founder of Penang Free School, English clergyman Robert Sparke Hutchings, who died of malaria in his 40s in Penang, proved that not all who worked for the East India Company were exploiters. He seemed a farsighted man, who wanted to ensure the school was free of religious control.

Malaysia’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, and the nation’s best known actor P. Ramlee, were educated there, along with many academics and Dr Wu Lien Teh, the physician who was instrumental in fighting the plague in China by recommending the cremation of victims, a revolutionary idea at that time.

Minority voices have been saying that the old school was a colonial relic best forgotten. But while the school may have been “elitist” in one sense, it was also an avenue for social mobility for many. It also taught us the quaint notion that duty and team spirit are more important than “winner takes all” individualism. As one classmate and good friend said, the school was built to produce the self-sacrificing civil servants needed to keep the empire going, except that the empire it was meant to serve collapsed but the school kept churning out students with character anyway.

The result is that Free School boys, particularly the Chinese and Indian Malaysians among them, can be found scattered around the world, since opportunities became narrow in the modern Malaysia of ethnic preferences.

Both Abdul Rahman and P. Ramlee died poor. I cannot think of any Malaysian prime minister or famous actor today who will die in anything but extreme luxury. The values taught by the school may seem absurd in contemporary Malaysia. But looking at the greed and selfishness that is not only prevalent but admired today, I think maybe Reverend Hutchings should be seen as an inspiration. On October 21, for the first time in my life, I will be sincerely toasting the merits of colonialism.

N. Balakrishnan is a Hong Kong-based businessman.

50 going 17?

31 years ago, they all left to start journey to their future, armed with the scroll of their knowledge. In their long treacherous and arduous journey, they must have swam through many sharks infested waters weathering through inclement weather. Some would have hit the jackpot; some into bottomless pit; some through bad decisions of life; some with incurable maladies; some through painful divorces; some trapped in the clutches of the black dog; some ventured into untested territories and God forsaken places; some happy; some sad and some were ashamed of their absence of achievements.
The idea of getting together at 50 mooted about a year when YTH got a handful of people together for a simple dinner. It was followed a series of small meeting here and there. The killer shot materialised when my better/other half schemed my 50th surprise birthday party.
All salutations to geeks who started social medias.
With the help of emails, WhatsApp, FB and mobile communication, the number of attendees kept on snowballing. The excitement was set to motion via WhatsApp and FB Group. The number of participants swelled to its maximum number and the alert button kept on bleeping. The messages kept on coming on the minute and suddenly the 50 years olds were acting like 17years olds, gazing at their smart phones every other minute and overtaking their children in the number of messages received on the social media.
Old stories and photos made their way to rekindle old fond memories. Our brilliantly creative art prodigy, DTBT, took a trip up north to snap brilliant pictures of the Alma Mater from various angles to further set the mood going.
Finally on the day of reckoning, close to 80 people zeroed on the venue of PFS '63 GTG Five-O from near and far - as far as both ends of the Peninsular, Sabah, Indonesia and USA. JT took 10days leave for his busy paediatric practice just to join the fun. Fun, a rocking good time they had. Seeing each after 30 years brought laughter and smiles that which no laughing gas, SSRI or LSD could. All the accolades and prefixes were out of the window. Everyone was on first name basis, as they always knew. There was so much so roars of laughter that day that the restaurant would probably have second thoughts if we were to have our second gathering there again for fear of driving patrons away.

Everybody was 17 again, retelling and reliving the teenage escapades. Untold stories about their pranks with teachers and friend came to the surface. Poking jokes at each others appearance was also another favourite talking point. Mega pixels after mega pixels of pictures were taken again and again to immortalise the union.
The shower of joy lingered on until way past the closing time. The fellowship continued later at various eateries around town in smaller groups.

For more than 4 hours, the 80 odd 50years old were acting like 17 year old like how they were some 30years previously. Every good thing  must come to an end. All when back happy for while, back to face reality of life and its intricacies.

50 years olds

It used to be their playground!

Values changes as seasons change?

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

This movie has initially not released for consumption of general public as it depicted Germans (at least one) as level headed and British as gung ho fool hardy lads! There also uncanny resemblance between Churchill and the main character of the film, Clive Candy who had both served in WW1 and Boer War in South Africa.
It starts off sounding like a satire of sorts with the bumbling British soldiers ambushing a Turkish sauna holding a General Candy as captive. Apparently, the war did not start till midnight and that the young punks had broken a gentlemanly rule of conduct!

The young swashbuckling Lt. Candy

Major General tells his life story in a long flashback.
His story takes through the time after the Boer War in 1902 all through the WW2.
As a lieutenant, he had gone to Germany on the invitation of an English governess in Germany (Edith, Deborah Kerr) to investigate the bad press spread in Germany regarding the English. Candy creates a political row by insulting the Imperial German Army. As a way to deal the tension, he is summoned to engage in a fencing duel. His opponent is Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff. Both are injured but later becomes good friends despite the differences in their ideologies. Edith who visited both of them ended up marrying Theo even though Candy realised that he had fallen for her.

Deborah Kerr

Fast forward, now Brigadier General Candy marries Edith's sister, Barbara (Kerr again) after the WW1 and believes that Britain won the war because of his philosophy of "right is might". Doing the right gentlemanly thing won the war. Theo is tracked down as a prisoner of war but he is cold towards Candy. Theo thinks that the British would treat them bad but Candy was cordial. Theo returned home.
Fast forward again, and now it is WW2...1939

But the war starts

at midnight!

Theo is now at the immigration counter in England trying to gain entry. In his lengthy heart warming speech, he tells the officer of how his two children had embraced the ideology of the Nazis. Since his wife had died, he does not fit into Germany. Candy vouch for him and takes him home.
The final part of film shows Kerr in another role as a private, Angela and Candy's driver. Candy retires but is cajoled to join the Home Guards to protect their homeland in the Battle of Britain. Candy's house is destroyed in the blitz and is filled with water. That is when he retires to the club where he was ambushed in the beginning of the movie.

Friends after all these years

The young officer who led the attack was Angela's boyfriend. Realizing that times have changed and nobody fights war the 'gentlemanly' way following rules and regulations, he decides to forgive Angela's boyfriend and invites him over to dinner. He realises that he had kept the promise that he had made with his deceased wife - that he would never change even if the house is flooded; here his house was drenched and filled with water and he is stuck on his old ideology.
The movie ends with Candy saluting the new guards.
I could not help it but compare this movie to James Cagney's patriotic movie done around the same time on the other side of the Atlantic, 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'. At the end of both movies, the actors salute a marching band as the new generation takes over with their new ideas.This is another entertaining movie with excellent dialogue with plenty of wit and eloquence which is dearth in most movies these days. Creative articulation is replaced with creative provocative postures of actors indulged in various sinful activities!