or a school that has weathered
an administrative shift from private trusteeship to
public governance, a change of grounds from High
Street to Petaling Hill, evacuation during the worst
war to beset the world and a threat by the State
Education Department to alter its 90-over-year old
name, the hundredth anniversary marked a triumphant
survival. But even more, the centenary of the
Victoria Institution saw a well-deserved celebration
of one hundred years of fine tradition. Yet, this
anniversary was not to be for the school alone.
This was a celebration for the whole of Kuala Lumpur
as expressed in the dedication on the first page of
the Centenary Speech Day programme book: "A
tribute to the founders and the people of Kuala
Lumpur without whose efforts this school would not
have risen to such eminence."
Anticipation and groundwork had already been mounting since the late 1980s. In the Prefects Board report in the 1989 Victorian, it is noted that .....the Board initiated special projects to instil the Victorian spirit especially amongst the first formers. In these projects, we incorporated the history of the school and various patriotic elements to achieve our purpose. We also formed a cheer squad (with the Athletics Club) for football tournaments. The first formers were selected because they will be in form 5 when this school celebrates its hundredth anniversary in 1993. (translated). Indeed, the prefects bore a pivotal role in preparing the school. At the orientation sessions for new students and in the School Captain s speech during Founders Day, words like centenary and anniversary seemed obligatory. During my Form 1 orientation, the School Vice-captain, Ong Chin Siong, conducted a session on "The Administrative Structure of the V.I.". He prefaced his talk with the words "Pay attention so that in 1993, you know how to organise events and activities."
Yet, 1893 has not invariably been the sacred year of reference. For instance, in 1954, the school celebrated its Diamond (60th) Jubilee. The Victorian of that year was entitled The Diamond Jubilee Edition. In a now widely used photo, the then headmaster, Mr A. Atkinson, is seen cutting the anniversary cake at the Prefects Ball. One wonders if there was something amiss about 1954? However, this apparent oddity is justified by the year 1894 being the year when classes officially started . The Straits Times of 2 July 1894 records that The Victoria Institution was completed yesterday and is now ready for opening . And in Dr R. Suntharalingam s A Short History of the Victoria Institution, it is noted that ...The official opening of the School in the new building was fixed for 30th July 1894 . And that is not the end of the conundrum. In Dr Suntharalingam s volume, he also remarks that though the V.I. building was not ready, the Government English School was used so that classes of ...the Victoria Institution commenced its career, though not within its own walls, on the 15th January 1894 . Even if one accepts 1893 as the year of establishment, one could still argue that it was 15 June that saw the school s birth when the Board of Trustees was appointed, as mentioned in the 1954 Victorian. So, should the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the V.I. have been celebrated on 15 January 1994, 1 July 1994, 30 July 1994, 15 June 1993 or 14 August 1993?
Nonetheless, most people agreed that 14 August 1993 was to be the proper date to celebrate. Indeed, who would deny that the V.I. was conceived on the day when Lady Treacher laid the first stone and plaque, which today reverently gazes across the grounds from one side of the school porch. Besides, its 75th anniversary had been celebrated in 1968 under the headmastership of Mr V. Murugasu. Many former Victorians will remember the celebrations with fondness. The longest serving teacher in the V.I. of all time, Mr R. Thampipillay, was then 90 years old but was still able to attend the Speech Day as a special guest of honour. Victorians rushed to buy memorabilia like pins, medals, trays, cups and files which were issued for the occasion. However the highlight of the celebrations must have been the arrival of the Minister of Education, Encik Khir Johari (now Tan Sri) by helicopter to officiate at the Speech Day on 14 August 1968.
If that was 1968, how much
more impressive would 1993 have to be? Under the
patronage of prominent V.I. Old Girl, Datuk Seri
Rafidah Aziz (the Minister for International Trade
and Industry), the Centenary Celebrations Committee
was set up to meet the challenge.
Chaired by Tan Sri Zain Azraai, then Chairman of
Malaysia Airlines, it consisted of many eminent
personalities like Dato Siew Nim Chee (former
Chief Economist of Bank Negara), Dato Dr R.S.
McCoy (famous obstetrician and nuclear disarmament
advocate), Dato Jaffar Indot (Managing Director of
Shell) and Dato Zaman Khan (CID Chief). Members of
staff on the committee included Puan Robeahtun (the
then headmistress), Puan Fitriah Yusof and Tuan
Syed Abu Hassan Syed Mohd. Noor (the Senior
Assistants), Mr Ngui Thiam Khoon and Mr T.
Thiruchelvam (two current teachers who were also
Old Boys). In all, there were 17 representatives
of the V.I.O.B.A, the V.I. and the Parent-Teacher
Association on board (the full list of names can
be found in Victoria Institution: The First
Century, 1893-1993 by Mr John Doraisamy).
This was the committee which co-ordinated the
seven defining events of the year, namely, the
Cross Country, Sports Day, Tattoo, Concert, Speech
Day cum Open Day, Countdown Open House and The
Dinner.
However, it was not just
officialdom that left its mark on the celebrations.
The resourcefulness and energy of the present V.I.
boys, too, would not be suppressed, as we launched
ourselves into activity hyperdrive. We decorated
our classes with school crests, pinned up posters
featuring prominent old boys and wrapped our wooden
desks with assortments of newspaper cuttings. (Of
course, being the boys we were, many of these
eventually fell into disuse but the main ornaments
like the crests were always well-kept. After the
Centenary Dinner I remember personally asking the
waiters at the Shangri-La Grand Ballroom to remove a
few crests for me to take home. The crests were neatly
cut from polystyrene boards and spray-painted and were
used to decorate the Ballroom for the Dinner.)
Meanwhile, as in 1968, a huge array of souvenirs was
produced by various clubs and societies. Call it
commercialisation or call it mercenary but nothing
beats the thrill of owning a shirt, pen, key chain,
tie pin, file holder or umbrella embossed with words
like V.I. , Centenary or Excellence and with
images of the clock tower. Despite outgrowing some of
the shirt sizes, many of us still proudly keep and
covet these items today!
Anticipating a prodigious chain of events to be announced and organised by the Centenary Committee, I was rather dumbfounded when it was the Bukit Bintang Girls School that first stole the attention of the media. They, too, were one hundred years old. On January 1, 1993, they organised a massive carnival which included an exhibition of things antiquarian and historical, a parade and performances on their grounds, which welcomed thousands of present girls, Old Girls, old staff and many friends and well-wishers. Later, a feature article of their Centenary Song appeared in Utusan Malaysia. Then, in May, their celebration culminated in their Centenary Dinner at the Putra World Trade Centre Merdeka Hall. With the Hall squeezed to capacity, the organisers had to turn away many people who tried to book their tickets too late. Old Girls and staff had returned from all around the world for that once-in-a-lifetime event. It was, indeed, an extraordinary series of events with us Victorians watching from the sidelines!
But the V.I. was not to be left
in the lurch. On 17 January 1993, we started to hog
and subsequently stayed in the limelight of the 1993
calendar. The Cross Country was the first
celebration.
The route would take us from the V.I.
to Loke Yew Road, then across into the Jalan Bellamy
Chinese graveyard. Then emerging from the side of
Kuen Cheng Girls School, we would run down Jalan
Syed Putra to the Chinese Assembly Hall, up Jalan
Changkat Stadium and then back into the V.I. for a
sprint down the synthetic track to the finishing
line at the other end of it. There was an Old Boys
section too. I remember that morning clearly as the
V.I. field was bathed with resplendent colours
emanating from the different house shirts, the
Milo signboards and the balloons that lined the
track. There was something more than the eagerness
to win. The Centenary excitement was starting to
build up. As one entered from the side gate of
the school, one could see a large white balloon
stretching high into the air from the middle of
the field. On it, the V.I. crest and the numbers
1893 and 1993 . Just under it was a blue banner
that read V.I. - 100 Tahun Kecemerlangan.
Imagine the spirit that suddenly infused us.
One would think that the run would have sapped much of our energy, but we rejuvenated ourselves by tapping into a source more potent than the physical sciences can explain - the V.I. spirit. We knew what was coming, and we were eager for it. We were not disappointed for soon Mr Robert Sundram and Master Chan Hee Yew (one of the oldest Victorians alive and one of the youngest respectively) walked to the centre of the field to perform the Centenary launch. Every Victorian there then huddled closely, forming an enclosure, as if to ensure that those 2 special people in the centre would not fail in their tasks. They didn t. Soon, the balloons were adrift in the sky, and the throng burst into a thundering V.I. clap that shook the highest heavens. The celebration of V.I. s hundredth year had begun.
Three events followed closely on each other s heels - Sports Day on 20 February, the Tattoo on 10 April and the Concert by the band on 8 May. It was gratifying to see Puan Robeahtun holding the V.I. so dearly and closely to her heart, as she tried to revive various traditions during her tenure, one of which was the house-tent competition. (Interestingly, she was a V.I. teacher for 15 months between 1973 and 1974). After a lapse of over a decade, in 1993, metal sheds were constructed for every house during Sports Day. And for the marchpast, the house captains were dressed to look like the personality their house was named after. These arrangements must have thrilled the guest of honour, Old Victorian Dato' Dr Mani Jegathesan, once the fastest man in Asia (he bagged three gold medals at the Asian Games of 1966). The day (and the lead up to it as well!) saw a titanic battle between Shaw and Sultan Abdul Samad. Rubendra Gnanalingam (Shaw Captain for 1993) recalled that never did he rest in the days leading up to Sports Day. Even when he had seemingly completed his house tent, Rubendra was still scouting meticulously for space to put up additional decorations. Both Shaw and SAS were sitting on over 600 points with fewer than 5 points separating the two! At day s end, as if lifted by unseen spirits in a tribute to an inspiring headmaster, Shaw pipped SAS by just 2 marks; both houses were sitting on over 800 points! The Grand Old Man would have been pleased!
V.I.C.C. Band performing the Tattoo for the Guest of Honour the Minister for Defence, Dato' Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak
Meanwhile, the Band and infantry Cadets played their parts as they put up enthralling shows for the Tattoo and the Concert. Besides traditional performances like marching formations and drum shows, the Tattoo also saw a mass band performance combining the V.I. and Assunta bands, a ceilidh by the PJ Scottish Country Dance Club and a show by the Tunku Kurshiah College band. The repertoire for the evening ranged from modern hits like Once Upon A Time In China and We Will Rock You to classics like Glendaruel Highlanders. The Infantry Cadets presented their precision drills and battle formation. A 44-page souvenir programme, befitting the pomp and circumstance of the evening, was published. It contained articles on the history of the V.I. Cadet Corps, reports and goodwill messages from two longest serving commanding officers of the V.I. Band, namely, Mr Jimmy Chu Sin Sang (band master between 1975 to 1988) and Captain Hassanuddin Abdul Aziz (band master from 1960 to 1971). However, it was the size of the crowd that one will remember most. Finding no place along the corridors and guest seats, Victorians and visitors stacked chairs and tables to create terraces that made the quadrangle look like a stadium. Many more flocked to the roofs of the corridor along the hall and the swimming pool. Danger was seemingly not anyone s concern, nor was mess as people jostled for space even along the drains!
It might be easy to say that this large turnout was because the Tattoo was a free event, but how does one explain the bustling crowd at the City Hall during the Concert? Victorians and non-Victorians who simply could not get tickets - prices were RM5, RM10, RM20, and RM30 - were content to squat outside the auditorium and watch the performances on small televisions. Those inside the hall were treated to a sumptuous display of talent by a 43-piece orchestra (consisting of the V.I. bandsmen), a dikir barat and a gamelan group. Indeed, the venue was most appropriate, for through this event, the V.I., with its talented sons and daughters, was paying tribute to the people of Kuala Lumpur. This Concert was organised by Mr Jimmy Wong Yew Mun, whose undying devotion to the Band made this his fourth V.I. Band Concert since the inaugural event in 1979. The Concert was graced by the presence of the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur Dato Dr Mazlan Ahmad while the guest of honour at the Tattoo was the Minister for Defence, Dato Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak.
Soon, May was over, and then June, and July also drew to a close. Everyone was wrapped in a frenzy of activity. Teachers and students were busily cutting, sewing, drawing, painting, arranging, typing - the list goes on. Most normal classes were suspended as the school geared up for the most important week of the year. It would begin on 7 August with the Speech Day in conjunction with the Open Day exhibition for 2 days, followed by the Centenary Countdown: V.I. Open House on the night of 13 August and would finally climax on 14 August with the Centenary Dinner at the Shangri-La Hotel. I was shuttling between assisting the head teacher of Kemahiran Hidup in setting up one of the many exhibition rooms at the new Form 6 block, helping the scouts in their gadget construction on the field, and coaching the choir with the Centenary song. Boys, girls and teachers stayed in school until late at night. Many even stayed overnight as D-Day approached. It had been many years since the V.I. had set up exhibitions on the scale of the glorious Science and Maths Exhibitions and Arts Expos that welcomed the public into the school. In fact, it used to be said that the Exhibitions were of such high standards that even university students would learn much from them. The V.I. Exhibition was to awaken in this Centenary year after a long hiatus, to once again prove the mantle of Victorian prowess.
With all this effort which showcased the V.I. s brilliance at its fullest, it wasn t surprising that the Minister for Education, Dato Amar Dr. Sulaiman Daud, who was the guest of honour for the Speech Day, was deeply awed. Awed by the displays that ranged from nitrogen superconductor demonstrations to recitals of Mark Antony s funeral oration (the speaker was appropriately dressed in a toga) to the Scouts sturdy suspension bridge on the field. Whatever corner one turned to in the school, there would be a Victorian - smartly attired, whether in their cadet greens or band ceremonials or scout uniforms or in their ordinary olive green and white, and radiating a merry glow on their faces. Even the teachers wore batik or baju kurung of the same material and design, specially tailored for the Centenary celebrations! Everyone was proud to be in school, even on a Saturday and Sunday evening to help in the Open Day, tirelessly giving directions to confused visitors, inexhaustibly explaining each exhibit or simply just lending a hand.
From left: Minister for Education greeted by Puan Robeahtun; trying his hand at batik design; visiting the science labs; presenting prizes and awards.
Indeed, inspiration was not scarce in supply. The V.I. Exhibition and the newly-built Form 6 Block near the V.I.O.B.A. were declared open by the Minister shortly after he had officiated at one of the most important and solemn functions of the V.I. calendar - the Speech Day ceremony. Tan Sri Zain Azraai, in his message in the Speech Day programme book, said, " Every student who sets foot into this school is duty-bound to ensure that its excellence never fades. Excellence in academia is mandatory. Success in sports and other fields is a priority. Only the highest standards of achievement are acceptable. Discipline is maintained at the highest order. These obligatory demands on the students to maintain the excellence of the V.I. are indeed onerous " (translated). Such reverence for excellence has been a cornerstone of the V.I. since its inception, and this Centenary Speech Day was preserving that legacy. Puan Robeahtun, in keeping with time-honoured tradition, donned her academic gown, reminiscent of those worn by the medieval scholars of Cambridge and Oxford. The top scholars from each Form and the recipients of the Full Colours for co-curricular excellence were acknowledged at the ceremony. And in his speech, the Minister lauded the V.I. as the supreme breeding ground of society s leaders. Then, with five strikes of the specially crafted Centenary Gong, he launched the V.I. Speech Day and the Centenary Week. Doubtless, this was a ceremony above all ceremonies.
Then the big night arrived -
Friday, 13 August 1993. The car park along the
swimming pool was turned into a street of hawker
stalls, classes on the ground floor of the main
building transformed into game arenas run by the
students and the hall set up with a projector
screen for a slide show. But the centre of
attention was to be the sizeable stage on the
quadrangle in front of the stairwell leading up
to the Form 5 classes. There the crowd was
thickest. There were performances from various
groups like the Old Boys band and the V.I. choir.
How the throng was entertained with I Will
Follow Him (adapted from the jazzed-up version
from the movie Sister Act), the Centenary
Song and many popular tunes, new and old like
Shanghai Beach and Blue Moon. It
was a casual night boys were dressed in casual
but smart attire, the old heartily chatted with
the young, howls of laughter periodically rattled
the different corners of the quadrangle what a
night!
One of my most enduring memories is of THE Dr G.E.D Lewis. Not a strand of grey hair was out of place as he attentively watched and listened to the night s festivities, grinning at passing quirks like sexagenarian Mr Yeoh Cheang Swi s slick dance moves (to upbeat rock music!) on centre stage! Though my first and last chat with Dr. Lewis was short and awkwardly littered with perfunctory remarks like "What a great night" and "Enjoying it?", that memory will linger forever. It was a night of meeting legends. Tan Sri Dr Tan Chee Khoon, despite his partial paralysis, was wheeled into the quadrangle where he stayed till late that night. Malaysian cricket great, Mr Hector Durairatnam, whom I had not previously known, chatted with me like we were old friends. There were no barriers. When the large, 3-metre high painted cardboard clock (with manoeuvrable clock hands) and the Centenary Gong were carried out to the centre stage, all other activities ceased.
"Ten, nine, eight..... two, one..." Great throaty roars soared from the crowd to carry those words towards the stroke of midnight, at which instant the School Captain, Shahrin Albakri Mustafa Albakri, pounded the Centenary Gong. He did it eleven more times to ring in the School s One Hundredth Birthday. Then, with heart-lifting gusto, the first strains to be heard on the grounds of the V.I. on 14 August 1993 were "Let us now with thankfulness....". Tan Sri s, Dato s, and the young Victorian who had just joined Form 1 - everyone was transfixed by the power of the six verses of the School Song, three in English, three in Malay. Everyone had tears in his eyes.
Left:Dinner Venue; Centre: The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Zain Azraai, the Sultan of Brunei; Right: General view of the celebrants.
The same nostalgia permeated
the Grand Ballroom of the Shangri-La Hotel on
the night of 14 August 1993. I must admit, for me
it was like "Tan Sri here, Dato there, but
not a single one I know", until His Majesty
walked in. In a procession led by the V.I.
bagpipers, the Sultan of Brunei, accompanied by
Dr Mahathir and a host of dignitaries entered the
ballroom as the Guest-of-Honour for the evening.
Today, I still amuse myself with the memory of
what happened next. As His Majesty arrived at
his seat, he continued standing, and so did the
rest of the guests, except for one. Me! But it
wasn t out of disrespect, for I was the pianist
entrusted to lead in the singing of the school
song. Indeed I was humbled by that experience,
for the emcee, Mahadzir Lokman was standing just
metres away from me; he was the school pianist in
the 1970s. A few metres away, too, was the tall,
unmistakable figure of General Tan Sri Dato Seri
Hashim Mohd Ali. He was seated with his brothers
Dato Jaafar Mohd Ali and Haji Zain Abidin Mohd
Ali.
Imagine the suspense and confusion in that Ballroom if, at that moment, my fingers had been stricken with arthritis and had refused to descend on command onto the keyboard or if they had done so but the M.B.S. School Song had thundered out instead! But play I did and correctly, too. Who would dare to hold up one hundred years of the V.I. in the presence of the following people?
H.M. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah
(Sultan of Brunei and Victorian of the early
1960 s)
Hon. Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (Prime
Minister of Malaysia)
Datin Seri Dr. Siti Hasmah Mohd. Ali
Dato Amar Dr Sulaiman Daud (Minister for
Education, Malaysia)
Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz (Minister for
International Trade and Industry, Malaysia and
Victorian
1961-1962)
Tan Sri Zain Azraai Zainal Abidin (Chairman
of the V.I. Centenary Celebrations Executive
Committee, Chairman of Malaysia Airlines and V.I.
School Captain 1953)
Dato' Siew Nim Chee (President of the V.I. Old
Boys Association)
Dato Jaffar Indot (President of the V.I.O.B.A.
Endowment Fund)
Puan Robeahtun Dato Haji Ahmad Damanhuri
(Principal of the V.I.)
Tan Sri Mohamed Basir Ahmad (Chairman of
Malayan Banking Berhad)
These dignitaries were seated at Table A. Next
to them was Table B around which were gathered
several former V.I. headmasters and two very old
Old Boys, namely,
Dr G. E. D. Lewis (Headmaster 1956 to
1962)
Mr V. Murugasu (Headmaster 1964 to
1969)
Mr Victor Gopal (Headmaster 1973 to
1976)
Mr Abdul Rahim Che Teh (Headmaster 1976
to 1978)
Dr Abdul Shukor Abdullah (Headmaster 1980
to 1982)
Mr George Yap Swee Fatt (Oldest Old
Boy)
Mr Leslie Mervyn Keun (Second Oldest
Old Boy)
the Dinner was a fitting
celebration of George Yap's school and George
Yap's grandfather's town, both of which have
risen from nothing in the 19th century and
flourished hand in hand to become vibrant and
famous institutions admired far and wide.
Mr George Yap together with Mr Leslie Mervyn Keun
and Mr Robert Sundram, being the 3 oldest
Victorians, were given the honour of cutting the
Centenary cake. Meanwhile, admiration for the
school inspired the guests to willingly part
with RM100 for a historical memento - the
centenary book Victoria Institution: The First
Century, 1893 1993, authored by Mr John P.
Doraisamy. A St Paul s Old Boy, he taught
English and Economics at the V.I. from 1955 to
1963 and in 1966. The financing of this ambitious
project, which took Mr Doraisamy 6 months to
complete, was underwritten by Mr Siew Nim Chee
(now Dato ), the then president of the V.I.O.B.A.
The V.I. Centenary Year was not just a
celebration of grandeur - many other less
publicised but equally significant happenings
punctuated the calendar. Take the scouts, for
instance. For many years, First K.L. and Second
K.L. had travelled their separate trajectories.
Yet in 1993, both troops agreed to organise a
combined campfire to mark the special year for
the V.I. Even more remarkable was that the
successful campfire, held on Saturday, 26 June,
was fully organised by the students without the
assistance of the school administration or the
Centenary Committee. Nonetheless, it was not just
the students who were filled with Centenary
excitement. Parents were involved too. Mr G.
Gnanalingam, the father of Rubendra (prefect and
Captain of Shaw House) generously financed the
construction of a permanent V.I. museum, which
was officially opened on 11 August 1993. And the
Old Boys? Ah, who can forget images of Old Boys
like Dato Siew Nim Chee who in his signature grey
suit, would many a day sit in the school canteen,
slowly sipping his tea? Or seeing Tan Sri Zain
Azraai frequently marching along the school
corridors despite his heavy schedule of
appointments as a leader in the corporate
world? 