BY :- Mr. Leow Hin Guan - Former Teacher of St Paul's Secondary School, Beaufort.

 “ …..In life, many things are destined to happen the way he deems appropriate.   One can try his or her level best to influence the end result, but until the scenes unfold one by one, one never can tell for sure the eventual outcome………. “

 5th May 1970 was destined to be the day that changed my life. For, on this day, I boarded a plane in Penang for Sabah to take up a teaching post with St Paul's Secondary School, Beaufort.

A month before, I had attended an interview in Penang. The then principal, Father Hurford, had come to Penang to get to know two potential candidates. As it turned out, both short-listed candidates did not show up. I did not write in for the post advertised by the school earlier. I had gone there to meet Father Hurford because my friend WH Wong had a change of mind after getting admission to a teacher training college. So there I was, introducing myself to the principal. I took up this suggestion to try for the job as I was then still waiting for the result of my application to join the University of Malaya (MU). Two weeks after the interview, I received a letter from Father Hurford, informing me that I had been selected to teach. I had a hard choice to make, for, in the mean time, I also received a letter from MU that I was given a place in the science course.

Although it was not a course of my choice, it was still from MU, a very good, and prestigious local university. On the other hand, I was not sure whether I could get enough financial support from my parent. This matter had not crossed my mind when I made the application to the MU. My father was then operating a wantan noodle stall in Alor Setar, Kedah. I had been assisting my father in the noodle business since I entered primary 5. Although in the two years I was studying in form 6, my younger brother had also started helping in some way, it was I whom my father depended on, mostly.Life had not been easy throughout my years in school. Having to wake up early for school despite going to sleep late is one thing, having also to ensure cleanliness and orderliness of my class was another.

The class monitor's baton was passed on to me midway through form 4, when the then incumbent, Idris, was promoted to school prefect. A class monitor's job was a lot more then simple supervision of the class. The job involved daily marking of attendance register, ensuring the class duty roster was followed, collecting school fees, paying them to the school clerk, and getting and distributing receipts. As a result, I often had to miss some classes, particularly at the beginning of each month. Although I was also the class monitor in form remove, the job then was much simpler. But thank God, we were able to come within respectable grading for cleanliness. Looking back, I was glad that I was given the trust and confidence by my teacher to shoulder that responsibility. It toughened me up.

Studying overseas was out of the question. My parent had 8 children, I was the second eldest. Two years earlier, my older brother had followed and worked in a circus group around the region and he's stuck with it.The annual tuition fees in MU was going to be RM 5,000. Lodging and other living expenses would be another RM 200. That's a basic RM 600 per month. I discussed the matter with my parents. They told me they could not afford it. That seemed to settle the issue. I quickly went to apply for a passport the next day. I needed one to get into Sabah - 'the Land below the Wind' After which, I sent a telegram to Father Hurford to let him know I accepted his offer. Father Hurford also mentioned that I was to enter Sabah on a social visit pass, and then apply to the immigration department in Beaufort later, since the school had already obtained approval in principle from the immigration department.

Father Hurford

I arrived at Kota Kinabalu (KK) in the afternoon. I could not see very much of the town from the air as it was raining cats and dogs during the approach. Immigration procedure was simple and quick. As I came out of the arrival hall and looking for Father Hurford, Father Briggs came forward to ask for my name. He apologized that Father Hurford could not make it to KK that day but would be coming the next day. I was to put up the night at the office quarter of the diocese of the Anglican Church in KK. I had not had good sleep the previous night. So I straight away went for a nap after Father Briggs left to tend to his work. I only woke up 3 hours later. Father Briggs had by then left for his residence, but he informed his lady assistant to take me out for dinner that night.

The Journey to Beaufort

Beaufort is an interior town, about 90 km to the south of Kota Kinabalu - KK's old name was Api-Api. The locals seemed to prefer the shorter name. The only road to Beaufort was of gravel, which was maintained by the state Public Works Department. It was not an all weather road at the time. One needed to check with the PWD to find out whether the road condition on that day was fine for otherwise. The majority use the diesel powered train to ply between Kota Kinabalu and Beaufort, including Tenom a little further. The third mode of transport was the rail-car, a 6-seater car that runs on the same railway track.

Father Hurford chose to ride on the rail-car with me as he wanted to return to Beaufort early. All railway tracks in West Malaysia was of the narrow gauge. Sabah was no exception, being a product of the British era. The rail-car left the Tanjung Aru station at about 3.30PM. It was my first rail journey, and I must confess I did not have very much liking for it. I could not see what kind of speed the rail-car was going as I was facing the rear. But I can tell you it was a real bone shaking experience.

There were a number of curves and when the rail-car negotiate these curves, I could feel the car simply swinging from one side to the other, the screeching sound of the wheel gave me some hair raising feeling. I clung to the side window sill, hoping this would prevent me from being thrown out of my seat. Father Hurford was sitting in the other corner on the same row. Twice, he turned to me and asked "are you alright?". I managed a broad grin to acknowledge his concern, and said I was OK. Deep down though, I wasn't feeling that comfortable. After passing Putatan, Kinarut and Kawang, we arrived at Papar. the next big town along the way. I could see Papar was a place with a bit of old charm, with a number of churches, their spire projecting high. Kota Kinabalu was, and still is the largest town in Sabah. Still, the atmosphere one could feel was one of slow pace of life. With Papar, life seemed to be even slower. May be it was still early for people to get to the station for the next train.

The rail-car only stopped for about 10 minutes, basically to upload 2 more passengers and to wait for the opposing train to pass. After Papar, it was non-stop through Kimanis, Bongawan, Membakut, and Lumat before getting into Beaufort. As the rail-car sped through the Borneo jungles at certain stretches, we caught glimpses of orang-utan and monkeys.The weather had been good, shining brightly when we rode through seasides after Papar. I had to cover my head with another shirt as the evening sun was giving my left cheek some burning sensation.

Sabah's old name was North Borneo. Access to the interior of Sabah had been difficult due to the high mountains - the Crocker Range - that block the western plain from the eastern part of the state. At 13,455 ft., Mt. Kinabalu is the highest peak in Malaysia and also South East Asia. It was strange that I did not go climb Mt Kinabalu then but came back more that 30 years later with my family to do it. Because of this range of mountain that stretch parallel to the coastline from the north to the south of Sabah, the interior part of the state had been lagging behind in terms of development. I was wondering at that time what kind of place could be for Keningau, or Tenom, and the like in the interior, looking at some of the one-street towns that the rail-car passed through. It was to be a surprise to me later when I visited Keningau and Kuala Penyu, thanks largely to the hardy Landrovers that frequent the Beaufort roads. I shall also share with you my experience of having crocodile meat at one of my student's house in Kuala Penyu. Suffice to say for the moment that it tastes like chicken.

At about 5.30 pm, the rail-car finally pulled into the Beaufort Station. As I stepped onto the platform, I took a quick glance of the whole place. It was not much different from what I have seen in Papar, and Tanjung Aru, a basic brick and timber utility station enough for the sparse daily traffic. Father Hurford went out of the station to bring his car to the front. It was a Volkswagon. I got in with my luggage on my lap and we headed for the school. As the car turned out to the main local road, I noticed two rows of timber shops perched on top of concrete stilts.

There was a flight of about 15 concrete steps to the front. From the side of one of the rows, I also noticed two small boats tied to one of the pillars. It did not immediately occur to me then that these were sure signs of a flood prune area, for I was pre-occupied with where I was to put up. The local main road was a two lane thorough-fair, good enough to speed at 60 kph. in both directions, though there was no white separation lines in the middle, opposing vehicles seemed to be well behaved.

It took less than 10 minutes to reach the school. Having had a glimpse of the school while getting into the town, I was expecting to see only a few classrooms with extra rooms for experimenting with science subjects. After all, Father Hurford had told me at the interview that the enrolment of the school was around 500 pupils. The Volkswagon went straight into the school compound, and stopped in front of one block of two story building. It was the boarding house. A few pupils were sitting at the step of the entrance, but came forward to offer to carry my suitcase.

We went upstairs. At the corner of the boarding house upstairs overlooking the entrance was a suite, complete with a lounge, bedroom, and attached bathroom. After opening the front door, the assistant boarding house captain, Gan Seng Chu, handed me the keys. The room was neat and tidy, obviously well prepared for my stay. I learned later that the former boarding house master, Mr Chin, used to stay in it, but had left the school since to further his studies. During his tenure, he had been very strict with the boarders. I was not told then that I was to assume that post until about two months later. But my first impression with the boarders seemed to be good. Credit must be given to Father Hurford for good disciplines among the boarders.

I tried to put all of my personal belongings in order, and then went for a shower after everybody had left. That night, I joined the boarders in having dinner at the main dinning hall downstairs. It was simple but good. Together at the table was Mr Lee, who taught at the primary school, and Cik'gu Wan Sham. Wan Sham was a very jovial person. I shall talk more about him later. Lee left St Paul's Primary School end of 1970 to return to Penang.

The boarders had taken it upon themselves to wash their own utensils after each meal. There was also someone to clean up teachers' plates. Before I went upstairs again, I asked the boarding captain for information about their daily routine. This was to enable me to prepare myself for the next day.

Going To School, Again

That night I sat down to write a letter back home to my parents as I am sure they would be quite eager to learn of my well being. It was a good thing I brought some envelopes along. Before I went to bed, I made sure my alarm clock was working.Some how, I slept well that night. After having some light breakfast prepared by the boarders, I walked to the staff room. As expected, a lot of eyes were on me. A brief self introduction told me that most teachers came from outside Sabah.

The school bell rang loud and clear at 7.30 AM. I followed my new colleagues to the Monday assembly ground. In front of all the students, Father Hurford introduced me. There was a moment of murmur. Everybody turned to my direction. Then someone started to clap his hands. The rest then followed. I waved back to acknowledge their enthusiastic welcoming gesture.

The assembly was over in 20 minutes. Most of the teachers proceeded to their respective classes, and I made my way back together with Father Hurford to his office. Pointing to the time table on the wall, he asked me to take over an English lesson class for Form 2A, and a Form Remove class - if I can still recall, it was Remove B. The English class is to begin just before break. I had some time to consult Father Hurford for some teaching material.

English grammar had been my favourite topic. I loved it not because it's easy, but because I could easily copy my former English teacher's way of presenting grammar as a living subject. My first teaching session went on well. The students were generally quiet type, but they did well to partake in my lesson.

Father Hurford came to my class mid-way, unannounced, to observe how I was doing. He did not stay long though. I felt a bit nervous with somebody literally 'checking every minute' of my work. I think my students sensed it when they saw me glancing at Father Hurford several times. It was my first teaching experience. I wouldn't know how and what Father Hurford had in mind during and after that lesson. What was my score on his card? Did I fare well? I consoled myself that I did not do badly. The class responded well, could understand what I was trying to say. But then again, it was Form 2A, not 2F. Father Hurford never said a thing to me once. In retrospect, I wished he had. Then I do not have to guess, till this day. It did not occur to me that I should ask him instead. May be I should have, may be, may be. I really do not have an answer.

As I walked into Form 2A classroom, all the students stood up and said, "Good morning Mr Leow". This was something quite different from my own school where we always greeted man teachers as "Sir". I then followed with "Good morning class. Please sit down." I told them I came from Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. Some gave me blank look. So I drew a simple map. Form 2A was quite a class, with all girls sitting in front and boys at the back. I was later to learn that the age difference between the youngest and the oldest in the same class is 3 years. No wonder a few were taller than me. But that did not mean the younger ones were any less smarter. One girl sitting in front was barely 4 feet tall. She was able to give me all correct answer every time.I studied in a Chinese language primary school. Believe me, most of us who were to join an English secondary school later scored high marks for English grammar. Most of Form 2A students came from Chinese medium primary school. They could not speak as fluently as those from purely English medium school due to lack of practice. So I tried to get them to think and converse in English every time I had English classes with them.

The boarding house duty for each student was very well organised and everybody knew exactly what was expected of them to perform each morning and the evening, thanks to the efficient Demson Tom, boarding house captain for that year. Demson was also the school captain. I was also to teach English to Form Remove B too. That was the last period of my first day in St Paul's. This was a big class of 43 students, I remember. While walking to the class, I could hear their noise from afar. It's a vast difference from 2A.

Remove B students all came from rural areas. English was their weakest subject. There weren't any workbook for practice apart from those in the class. That meant improvising quite a bit of home work for them, and a lot of one to one counseling in the class to the very weak ones.

Life in the Boarding House

The boarding house is a two storey structure with two blocks of it joined by a central staircase, and an air well. It's a simple building to house about 40 students from outstation. The inmates came as far as Kuala Penyu, Keningau, and Sipitang.

Those days, the only road linking Beaufort and other towns in the interior and the west coast of Sabah was a gravel road. It stretched as far as Kuala Penyu and Keningau. Even then only land rovers were able to ply on them. So a boarding house for these students had made their lives so much easier. It was a few months later that I had the opportunity to go on that road to Kota Kinabalu with Father Hurford, in his ever dependable Volkswagon. I shall have more on that journey later.

The boarders used the shower facilities from the school wash room, so it became part of their duty to clean it up every morning before the other students came in. I was quite amazed that they have been doing it so well for a very long time.As the new boarding house master, I was entrusted with the money for daily marketing purchases. They take turns to go to the market in the early morning, a mere 15 minutes walk. Being local produces, daily purchases were cheap. The boarders got to get meat daily, and fish almost on alternate days. The usual combination was 2 vegetables with a meat. Sometimes there was soup.I took the same thing the boarders took. With the good cook the boarding house has, I could not complain at all. She was good at it. Wan Sam, a Malay teacher from the Peninsular, was more discerning in taste. He could not go without curry. So, he often put in his own extra ingredients to make his stuff hot and spicy. I don't fancy spicy food, but I did get to taste one of his great cooking, very appetizing indeed.

Wan Sam was a great singer too. One of his favourite tunes was from P Ramlee. You could hear that during his cooking time. It was amusing to watch him. Boarders liked him because he was approachable, takes everybody as his friend. I learned that he had arrived just a month earlier than I did. He stayed on however, longer than I did. Each time it floods, he will pack his bag and go to the students' dormitory to sleep a night with his students. This yearly flood must have been a part of the lives of all Beaufort residents. They can't escape from it.

Apart for Wan Sam, there was another teacher Mr Chung staying in the teachers' quarter. He liked to play his gramophone loudly so all of us could also enjoy the music. Guess what, I was so 'infected' by his favourite oldies.  “Quando, Quando, Quando” by Engelbert Humperdinck, I can still 'feel' the song ringing in my ears. Nowadays I would make sure I get a ticket to attend any concert by the great singer at Genting Highland, whenever he's in Malaysia. Make no mistake, I don't just like oldies, I also listen to Maroon 5, Carrie Underwood, and such like. A superstar is a superstar, whatever their era. They are always captivating.

The Beaufort market is a stone's throw from the school. I normally would take an evening walk everyday to the market to see what they have on offer. During the weekend, the surrounding areas would become very lively because of the 'Tamu', the local word for weekend market. It's time for the rural folks to bring their produces from their farms in the interiors to the towns. The things on offer are basically agricultural products, less of handicrafts,which I had wanted to see. I did get a musical instrument which is of Kadazan origin. It's a 30 cm long gourd with a long hollowed out stem, and additional hollow bamboo sticks added to make it into a wind pipe instrument. I paid RM5 for it.

On a Mission, for my Future

My mission there in Beaufort was to save sufficient money for my future university education. I had given myself not more than 4 years, hopefully less than three. My initial salary was RM180 per month. This was increased to RM250 after presenting my original Higher School Certificate (HSC) to the authority. Based on inflation rate of 3% p.a, that's equivalent to RM2,000 today. Not bad, considering that an hons.graduate teacher with diploma in education started with RM600.I managed to save RM200 per month initially because the school provided everything else. I reckoned then that if I could continue to save this amount every month, I should have a good chance of getting into a local university after three years. However, my hope was temporarily dented with the departure of Father Hurford. I stopped taking food from the hostel, when I had to pay for it after his departure.

St Pauls' Secondary School, being a mission school, had to find half its own yearly funding by going to the public for donation. This came in some form in advertisement in the school magazine. But, over the years, it's been getting more difficult to solicit funds. So there was a need to cut expenses. I could understand why the new principal needed to cut those perks given to us earlier. Few wanted to come to Sabah to work, much less as a teacher. So the school had to give some extras to attract new teachers from West Malaysia. There simply weren't enough from Sabah itself. But, when more came to work in Sabah the following years, things began to change. The amount I could save dwindled to RM120 per month, when we moved out to stay at the former house occupied by Mr P S Bell. Three of us West Malaysia teachers, started to pay a nominal rental of RM30 per month each to the Diocese of the Anglican Church, which owned the house. We then started to cook our own food.

The year 1970 was memorable in that a number of teachers came and went away. I also saw the departure of Father Hurford. The students organised a farewell party for him. Father Hurford could dance well. He did a few numbers with some girls students and Jenny Bell, one of the teachers. Musical band for the night came from the students themselves. I can still recall one of my favourite songs of the night, “ Kembalilah Sayang”. That night I did not know how I could sing the 'Smile'. It was Jenny who insisted I do, saying I only need to follow the tune of 'Auld Lang Syne'. It really was all smiles when I finished. To this day, I can still vividly remember the whole lyrics.

 

This has left some formidable work to be completed by the incoming new principal Mr. Goh Chit Yong. I have mentioned previously that as a mission school, St Paul's Sec. School had to source half of its yearly expenses from the public. This was going to be a big headache for the new principal as donations were more difficult to come by. Nevertheless, with the untiring effort of the new principal, the project was successfully completed. I was later to learn that the school had to take a loan from a bank to fund part of the project expenses.Over the half year or so with the school since I arrive at Beaufort, I had come to know Mr Goh personally as a very dedicated teacher, man of few words but hardworking. He could be humourous at time. Being local, he commanded a lot of respect from the public.

The year 1971 also saw the departure of Mr PS Bell and his daughter Jennie. Mr Bell used to teach science subjects while Jennie taught English. The whole family left for England. The house they vacated was later to become our teachers' quarter.

The  Teachers' Quarter

The house was of Malay style, built on stilts. There was one master bedroom and 2 more rooms for 3 of us Malaysian teachers. The front veranda is a specious open lounge with comfortable rattan furniture. The kitchen, bathroom and toilet facilities are attached to the rear of the house, with steps down from the connecting corridor to the rooms. The walls were all of timber planks and roof of zinc. With the hot sun in Beaufort most of the day, the roof would prove to be a bit more uncomfortable, even though there were asbestos board ceiling. Luckily, the house was at the foot of a hill lock. It largely shielded us from the evening sun.

The relationship amongst the teaching staffs, were always cordial. We tried to help in whatever way we could to put the school on better footing; Those days, the arrangement of time table was a big jigsaw puzzle. We did not have any computer, nor any program that we could use to juggle any changes to meet departing staff. What we had accustomed to was to juggle over a hundred coloured acrylic tiles on a big board. Each of the coloured tiles would represent a certain staff with his/her subject name taped on. The colour difference let us know at a glance whether a certain staff had been double tagged at the same time slot, or have more than his/her fair share of subjects.

The beginning of 1972 saw the largest staff movement. About half of the staff are new. So, instead of just filling the blanks, we found it more practical to take down all the existing tiles and do a completely new one, even though the subjects taught by existing teachers remain almost the same. This was to take us more than a day to complete.

The beginning of a school year has always kept us busy, not only to deal with the new time table, but also getting info on the number of new text books to purchase. We had to make bulk order from Kota Kinabalu and we did not want to order too many or too few. It's a tough job assigned to me by the principal. Luckily I did not have to do the bulk purchase but merely in charge of retail sales from teachers. All the orders have to be made thro' the form teachers as we could not handle any individual purchase from students. We had space constraint.

All the teachers' book orders were made with 2 copies of sales request. One teacher was not pleased that she had to write the order twice, but she understood the reason and co-operated; The school did not have any photocopy machine, for one such machine would have cost the school over RM8,000, not to mention about the expensive refill cartridge and photocopy paper. Just like all the regular tests in class, the sales order forms were cyclostyled on the Gestetner duplicating machine. The thick and rough cyclostyled paper was not suitable for carbon copying. Nevertheless, the whole process was completed smoothly and we sold almost all the books we purchased from bulk supplier.

The duplicating machine was mechanically operated - it could also be run on auto electric mode, and gave no problems even with prolonged and heavy usages. Before one can cyclostyle anything, one must prepare the negative print on a stencil (cut a stencil). The mechanical type writer we had was perfect to do the job, and that's where I polished up my type-writing skill.

 

The Teaching of Mathematics and Additional Mathematics

 

As someone schooled in a science stream all through my life, and having taken pure and applied maths as major subjects in form six, it was natural that I was to be teaching maths subjects in St Paul's Secondary School.

Unlike economics, mathematics is an exact science. The latter deals with numbers and  measurements. In lower forms, the maths taught therein were elementary. It was meant to prepare students to be able to count and also be able to attach values to the things they see everyday. In other words, to have a rudimentary concept of numbers.

 

I found that even during my school days, there existed a big gap between the maths of form 3 and 4. This was brought about by the introduction of new formula and theorems in the form 4 syllabus. The mathematics syllabus of St Paul's was no different, with a big twist. My former school, being a large school, have a more distinct separation of students into science and arts streams. So, for a class like form 5A, the differential understanding of the subject of maths was not as marked as in St Paul's. This presented some difficulties in teaching – how to reconcile the weak with those fast learners?

 

In the psychology of teaching, it was recommended that a teacher should classify the class into 3 categories: the best, the average and the weak. But when one is new to the class, it takes time to find out who are in which categories, either through written test, or observing their reactions to certain questions. Since mathematics is an exact science, it would seem that a subjective test would reveal more info of their understanding, judging by the way they posted their step by step answers.

 

1972- The Year of Rapid Changes 

 
The beginning of 1972 saw a number of young West Malaysian teachers joining us as temporary staffs.  Among them were Dhana Palan, Yew Choo Khan, Liew Kai Sun and Lim Kar Kheng.   Kar Kheng told me he hoped to pursue a law degree in 6 month's time.   That was January '72.  By the time I left, he was still happily teaching.   

The teachers' salary then was low compared to other professions.  It could be the reason very few would like to take it up as permanent job.  After Sabah joined as part of Malaysia, the whole package was revamped  to make it more attractive and to be in line with the rising cost of living.    That revision was undertaken by a committee headed by En Abdul Aziz and presented to the government in 1971 for adoption.  As a result of the revision I got a windfall of a few thousand Ringgit which was sent to my home town by the school.    This windfall actually helped to lessen my financial burden while pursuing a course in architecture in the famed Sir J.J College of Architecture.    The college's syllabus was modeled after the requirement of the R.I.B.A (Royal Institute of British Architects)

Teachers in West Malaysia come under the civil service umbrella.   They get pension after retirement at 55.  However, in Sabah then, I was to contribute to a teachers' superannuation scheme.   The school made a deduction every month and remitted it to the scheme, whose main office was in Kota Kinabalu.   It was a sort of Employee Provident Fund.   A year after I left Sabah, i wrote to them to ask for refund for my contribution.    They wrote back to say that I could not get any back as my stay in Sabah was a few days short of two years.  Gosh.  I had not followed up on the matter again after that, and I am not sure whether the scheme still exists today.

 

My Departure from Beaufort and Sabah

  

I went to Beaufort with a clear vision and mission, and I steadfastly adhered to that path.   So when the time came for me to leave, it was a bitter sweet feeling.   Bitter, because I had come to love the school, its students, my colleagues and the small town environment.    I had kind of got used to living that life.   Sweet because I was at last on the way to realizing my dream of a tertiary education, never mind that it's not an Ivy League college or university.   I was thinking then, had God finally answered my prayer,  after He failed me the last time?

During the two years in Sabah, the communication mode between KK and Beaufort remained the same. So, I was to take the same train to KK, before flying back to my home town Alor Setar, via Penang.  

That morning, almost all my form Three A students came to bid me farewell.   I also saw some of the boarders at the Beaufort station.   It did not take long for the home journey to start.   As the train slowly picked up speed, I waved wildly to my students.   Reluctance to leave was written all over my face. It was a coincidence that one of my students, Doris Pang also boarded the same train to KK, then to England to take up a course in nursing.  Her parents and I saw her off at the KK airport, before I boarded my flight later that evening.  

In life, many things are destined to happen the way He deems appropriate.   One can try his or her level best to influence the end result, but until the scenes unfold one by one, one never can tell for sure the eventual outcome.

Bye-bye Beaufort for now.  I shall return one day, I promise……

That was 04 June 1972 .