It is an undeniable fact that school days
are the happiest days in one's life. 37 years after graduatingfrom St. Paul's
Secondary School, Beaufort, I still can remember vividly those happy and
glorious days.
Those were the days that we were care free,
without any worries of having to earn a living; without worries on our state of
health as we were young and energetic; without worries on which political party
to vote during the general election; without worries on the ever increasing
price of everything we use and eat; without worries on which smart phone to
possess and which notebook, netbook or ebook reader to own so as not to lose
face and lose out when to our classmates or peers.
In the 70s there were only a few cars in
Beaufort town and only 2 to 3 teachers can afford to own a car and drove to
school to work. None of the students had any car. However majority of the
students own a bicycle - the king of the road at that time! The population of
bicycles during school days was so large that the school had to provide a
special "Bicycle Shade" for them. No such privilege for the teachers
who came to school with their cars. Those cars, even though owned by people
like the Principal Mr. Goh Chit Yong had to be parked in front of the school
administration block, under shine and rain! For those students and teachers who
did not own a bicycle, they had to commute to school by "Walks"wagon!
Public transport at that time was very poor. One may have to wait for hours
before a "Land Rover" with a wagon trailing behind would come along.
There were no school buses or public buses in Beaufort then. And then those
students from Bongawan and Membakut would have to come and go back by train.
During the early 70s quite a number of
qualified teachers who came from overseas like Mr. PS Bell and Miss Janie Bell
and Father Colin Hurford had left us. Even Mr. Noel Chin and his wife and also
his brother Mr. Peter Chin were transferred to Kota Kinabalu. Mr. Goh Chit Yong
was appointed as the Principal to succeed Mr. Noel Chin.
To replace those who had left, the school
employed some very young teachers from Peninsular Malaysia. Some of these
teachers had just completed their Higher School Certificate and were recruited
to teach us who are in Form Four and Five. Undoubtedly there were just a few
years our senior. Among those were Mr. Lim Kar Keng, Mr. Yew Choo Khan, Mr.
Looi Chee Thong, Mr. Voon Lun Chong, Mr. Leow Guan Hin, Encik Wan Sham Ismail,
Encik Maarof, Encik Abdul Rahman, Mr. Liew Kai San, Miss Theresa Liew and Mr. Dhana
Palan. They taught us Science, Mathematics, English and Malay. Since we were
almost of the same age, we could communicate in the same frequency. We were
teachers and students during school hours, but we were friends after school
hours. We used to spend a lot of time together going outings, playing games and
of course partying. As far as I know 3 of them even married Sabahans (2 of them
St. Paulians) and settled down in Sabah and produced Sabahan offsprings.
As we always gathered around those young
teachers, we were highly motivated in whatever we did. It would not be complete if I do not
mention the famous "floods" of Beaufort - the Venice of the East.
Every year Beaufort was flooded several times. And inevitably our school also
came under several feet of water. Those boarders would have fun time with the
floodwater, but they have to cook their meals on the verandah of the Boarding
House as the kitchen and also the staff quarter were also under several feet of
water. In the 70s there were no more cooks employed to cook meals for the
boarders, they have to cook their own meals. Those teachers whose beds were
floating on the floodwater would have to move their belongings to stay with the
boarders. Then after the floodwater subsided, we would have to clean up the
whole school!
The floods used to last one to two weeks,
no wonder at that time not many of us can score good results in our
examination! If you get a Grade 3 in the School Certificate Examination, you
we're blessed. If you scored Grade Two you can proceed to study Higher School
Certificate in Kota Kinabalu. If you score Grade One, you were Great! Compare
to now, scoring 8As or even 10As in PMR or SPM is only like a piece of cake.
You can have it and eat it. Besides the disruption occasioned by the floods,
there were also very few reference books and study packs available. There were
hardly any past year examinations papers for use to know what the questions
would look like. We were like commandos, just went to the examination hall and
start shooting blindly.
One of the areas, which
our students excelled in 1973, was sports. In that year we managed to beat St.
John Secondary School, our archrival, to become the Beaufort District School
Champion! The first time in many many years! What a joy it was for all of us
that year. Sports history was finally made.
We had never seen any model answers to the
past year questions. There was totally lack of reference material for us. We
just depend on the textbooks and notes from the teachers. Students nowadays are
a lucky lot. They can have access to past year’s questions and answers, lots
and lots of reference books, study packs and even forecast examination
questions and answers! They can also engage tuition teachers! During our days,
we were our own tuition teachers.
Although there was lack of facilities
during the 70s, we made do with what we had. And most important of all we had
fun and friends. The friendship among the Ex-St. Paulians had solidified
throughout the past 40 years. Because of the quest to maintain the relationship
and friendship, under the proposal and encouragement of our Chief Minister
Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Aman, who himself an Ex St. Paulian, the St. Paul's
Alumni Association was formed and registered on 1st September 2009. The first
term of the committee members of the Association was elected in May 2010.
I still treasured my school days in the
70s. Working life is inevitably tough, but whenever the going gets tough, I
would travel back to the happy days of the 70s to draw happiness, encouragement
and inspiration. Those were the days!!
Contributed by
Datuk Chin Chee Kee
(1968-1973)
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