Studying in St Paul’s School from 1988-1994
was the most memorable period of my life. Today, after leaving St Paul’s 16
years ago,I have a good opportunity to recall these
wonderful reminiscences.
I hailed from Kg Padas Valley or “Api Chai”
in Hakka. The distant of my house to the school was about 4 km. School days was
a routine like each morning, I would have to wake up very early, around 5.30 am
to get myself ready together with my other siblings. Life was poor for us those
days. My mother had to wake up much earlier to prepare breakfast for all.
My
father was a truck operator and each morning when he leaves for work, all his
children would have to ‘tumpang’ on his 6-ton truck to the school. The journey
was about 30 minutes on the then dusty gravel road bouncing up and down on
potholes b4 approaching the famous Beaufort Bailey Bridge that spanned across
to the town and finally to the school.
As a student in St Paul’s, Iife was
enjoyable as I have a group of pleasant classmates and most of them were
classmates since Bridge Class to Form 5. In the primary, I actually came from
Kung Ming School. Thus, The bond and relationship cultivated amongst us in the
secondary were even stronger. Indeed
that was the motivation of going to school every day.
In school, I involved very much in
co-curricular activities. I was a member of the Leo club and it was here in the
club that I learnt how to be an effective leader, how to work independently,
and how to organize projects and achieving it. Besides, I was also a member of
the Ping-Pong Club and a keen player. Owing to my love for the sport, an
opportunity was given to me to join the School team and we participated in
various competitions. In records, our team managed to maintain the Championship
Cup for 3 consecutive years. The cup was still kept at bay in the school as at
today. Indeed, It was proud to be part of the victorious team. On top of Ping
Pong, I was also active in sports like Basketball and ever represented St
Paul’s team in many competitions but we have never won any good championships
except for 1st runner up. Apart from that, I was also a member of the Chinese
Association and a committee member.
In the mid-90s, Internet was just launched
but we never have an idea what it was about. Computers were available but for
me I could never afford to have one. On our studies, we have to depend a lot
from our teachers to give us notes and guidance as to face an examination. Of
course, on our part, we took our initiatives to go to the school and public
library to get more references on our various subjects. The Public library was
our fond place to go. It was located at the 1st floor of Lo Chung Park and was
always full of students from various schools in the Beaufort district.
Normally, after school hours, several from
our batch mostly boys would return to the school as if it was our second home.
Here, apart from discussing tough lessons with our teachers who stayed in the
boarding house, we played games at the school compound later in the evening
before heading home. Approaching examinations would be a busy time. Those days,
examination papers were cyclostyled unlike today we have the photocopy machines
to do the job. Teachers were very busy typing out question papers so this was
the time we, the students will offer our help to them.
Those days, the teachers and students were
deemed close. I could still remember one of our fond teachers, Cikgu Nor Azlan
who was a helpful and caring person. There was no race discrimination. In fact,
he had helped me a lot in my studies and he was also my ‘Red House’ sports
master. In fact, I was physically a short person but through his coaching, I
was able to participate even in the high jump event that has stunned many. I
got the 1st runner up for the event. Another fond teacher was Cikgu Norzam, the
discipline master. He was another stern teacher and tolerates no nonsense. Some
mischievous students were even caned by him. In fact, he was actually
concerned, as he wanted the students to behave properly. Our principal was Mr.
Ng Kim Huat, a highly inspired person and always supported his students to take
up activities in school rather then ‘lepaking’ around. He would always endorse
funds for most of the school projects and curriculums.
During my year in Form 4, that was the time
I first met my girl friend who was studying in Bridge Class. It was ‘love at
first sight’. Many said that love relationship in high school was transient and
would never last long, but I proved them wrong. Indeed, our relationship
persisted until we left school and finally today she became my wife and we had
a kid. I felt very proud to have a St Paulian wife indeed.
Beaufort is a little town. In the weekends,
apart from visiting the Saturday ‘Tamu’ or watching a movie in the only cinema
available, there were no other significant places to go. Our pass time is to
roam around the ‘kampung’ vicinity cycling, shooting birds or fishing in the
rivers. Besides, as I came from a poor family, I have to assist my parents to
tap rubber, and sometimes have to be a nursemaid for my younger siblings and
relative’s children while the adults have to continue working even in the
weekends. During school holidays, I have to find some part time jobs like
working in the orchards to earn some pocket money.
By and large, I would like to thank St
Paul’s School again for providing me the fundamental basics that had granted me
a sound confidence to build my business career today. The school motto “Strive That Ye May Obtain”
shall persist in my heart forever.
By:
Chong Ket Leong
(1988-1994)
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