SXI Chapter IV

TheXaverian
Journey

Chapter

IV

SXI attap sheds, 1946.

Assembly time at 8:00 am. Recess time at 11:00 am.
24 The Xaverian Journey

IV

Everyone indoors at 1:30 pm. Re-openingof
St Xavier’s aer
eWar
1945-1957

St Xavier’s reopened two weeks after the Japanese surrender. Students
were temporarily taught in the buildings of College General, the
Catholic seminary located in Kelawei Road, Pulau Tikus. On 10 January
1946, students were moved back to Farquhar Street.

Classes in Attap Huts

Until the new building was built in 1954, classes were conducted in
makeshift attap huts, which were hastily erected in the school field
fronting the sea. Driven by a desire to provide education for the youth
of Penang now that the War had ended, SXI resumed its role as one

Re-opening of St Xavier’s after The War 25

of Malaya’s principal schools. Students have recalled that this was a
time when they came to school with slateboards and chalk for writing,
spelling and mathematics, for paper was scarce after the War.

Below we reproduce an extended recollection by Br Michael
Paulin Blais of that immediate post-War period. His recollection of
the conditions in Penang and in St Xavier’s then, is perhaps the most
graphic that we have available.

A little background on him: Br Michael, too, had been incarcerated by
the Japanese in Changi during the War. He returned to Canada on home
leave and recuperation for a brief period after his release. In November
1946, Br Michael, together with fellow Canadians Br Lawrence Spitzig
and Br Anthony Knoll were bound for Malaya with a stopover in Ireland
first. Hence they boarded a ship from Halifax for Ireland. Due to the
unavailability of shipping transportation, they had to await in the UK for
two months before they could board the vessel “Andes” on 20 January
1947 from Southampton bound for Singapore. After three weeks’ travel,
they arrived in Singapore. Br Michael himself next boarded a train,
ultimately arriving in Penang on 13 February 1947. Br Michael recalled:

I was the first to come back after the war among those who went
home to recuperate…it is a bit worse than I thought. It will take
some years to return to standards we had before the war. We are
using copy-books as toilet-paper…no tooth-paste.…Big bananas
for the superiors and small bananas for the common mortals. No
table-cloth…ice, only for the big shot!

No radio, no newspapers in Penang…They had told me “Don’t go
to Penang, it’s the worst place in the District”. I came all the same
to encourage those working here. All together we can do a renewal
and make it good, excellent, indeed the leading school in the
country. Let’s try.

Penang has been badly bombed…a lot of ruined houses are still
to be seen, though the rehabilitation programme has made great
progress. The Brothers are living poorly. All of them are under the
same roof in Pulau Tikus. SXI staff has the top floor and a dining
hall on the ground floor. All share in the toils to be done around
the house.

On the new field, in town, the Brothers have built some attap
houses to shelter the classes…The roof is made of palm-leaves.
When it rains, the water comes through. It’s at its best in the hot
sun! It gives shade. Then the rain finds its way through the fronds
and drops on the children underneath…the kids put newspapers
over their heads or open umbrellas to remain dry…It is very poetic
but not very much so during the monsoons. The fun is quickly over
and the students shiver with cold and feel miserable!

26 The Xaverian Journey

Some 20 classes are under palm-leaves….four of the classes have The Brothers and Lay Teachers of
found cover in the convent, where there is plenty of space. A door SXI, November 1948. The raintree
was cut into the wall and a wooden staircase was put against it to in the background provided ample
climb up to the opening. shade during the school assembly.

In front of the Director’s Office there is a huge raintree where the
old school bell hangs. It is rung now as it was in the old days, for
the assembly and for the change of lessons. It is a souvenir of the
old building, across the road. SXI school was destroyed completely.
Only broken walls are left, shaking in the wind. It will have to be
flattened for security’s sake. Planning for the new one [school] is to
start in earnest….

The school population is different too…all the children being
over-aged for their grades. They lost four long years during
which children over 13 years had to work to help [the Japanese]
Prosperity Sphere. They had learned a new language to survive,
a language that is not accepted anymore in the curriculum. The
boys are divided into classes according to age and size…later the
brain IQ took over. They have to sit for examens controlled by the
University of Cambridge…

I will take the top class in the Branch School, Pulau Tikus. That
class is called “Cambridge Class”. I will teach all subjects to 45
students, all big boys, willing to learn, ready to work and very
docile. I threw myself into the work without any question asked.
They gave me the programme and I did the rest.

(Blais 1982: 49-53)

Re-opening of St Xavier’s after The War 27

Signage of the construction site. Inspite of challenging conditions, enrolment had reached 1,560
Construction of the new SXI. pupils by 1948, considerably higher than the 1,100 to 1,200 pupils
Brothers visiting the construction site. average in the 1930s. When Br Fintan was appointed to head St Joseph’s
Training College in 1953, Br Anthony Knoll, who had travelled from
Canada with Br Michael Blais, was appointed Bro Director of the
Lasallian community and school. He was assisted by 18 Brothers and 55
Lay Teachers. It became their joint responsibility to restore SXI back to
its glorious pre-War days. The first urgent task was to rebuild the school
physically and this meant sourcing funds for this purpose.

School Building Fund Committee

Hence, a School Building Fund Committee was set up and headed
by Mr Heah Joo Seang, an old boy who was also a rubber magnate
and philanthropist. Mr Khor Cheang Kee, yet another old boy and
a journalist, assumed the role of Secretary. They were ably assisted
by Senator Cheah Seng Khim, then president of the Old Xaverians’
Association.

The new building was designed by Mr Pengelly of the Municipal
Council of Penang and it was estimated that the new school would
cost almost two million dollars. There would be five blocks including
a science department, a school hall with a stage costing $100,000, and
58 classrooms (Sunday Times 2 Aug 1953). In his memoirs, Br Michael
Jacques, who assisted Br Anthony Knoll, stated that a large part of the
funds was expected to come from war damage claims equivalent to
$900,000. The Education Department would grant another $600,000
while the school had to find the remaining $300,000 “to be raised in
whatever legal ways it could”. In fact, more than that amount needed to
be raised because, as Br Michael Jacques stated: “the promised funds
did not come in very readily” (Jacques, 2010: 170).

Meeting of Building Fund Committee headed by Mr Heah Joo Seang.
28 The Xaverian Journey

Official Opening of new building of SXI by Mr J S H Cunnyngham-Brown on 5 August 1955.

Lottery draw of SXI Building Fund – A “Dollar-a-Brick” Campaign. Mr Heah Joo Seang.

Accordingly, the Committee launched a nationwide appeal to
rebuild SXI, apparently the most destroyed of the Lasallian schools in
Malaya. A “Dollar-a-Brick” government-approved lottery contributed
to this fundraising effort while Mr Heah personally donated $50,000 to
the Building Fund.

In an interview with the press, Mr Heah declared: “The present
generation of Xaverians have been carrying on under extremely difficult
conditions and they fully deserve the fine building which will be the new
St Xavier’s in 1954. The Christian Brothers have shown great faith in the
project and their achievements during the past six years in the present
makeshift attap building is a near miracle” (Sunday Times 2 Aug 1953).
On 5 August 1955, Mr J S H Cunnyngham-Brown, then president of the
Municipal Council of Penang, officially declared open the new building
of St Xavier’s.

Re-opening of St Xavier’s after The War 29

“From the old to the new school” by John Lee Joo For, former student and teacher
of SXI who became one of Malaysia’s outstanding artists.

30 The Xaverian Journey

Re-opening of St Xavier’s after The War 31

32 The Xaverian Journey

Re-opening of St Xavier’s after The War 33

No. 7 Leith Street, home of the Brothers’ Quarters and
Brothers & SXI boarders during the Boarding Department
interim period.
During this interim period, the Brothers’
Quarters and Community House was located
in 7 Leith Street, which they shared with a small
number of boarders. After the new building
was ready, an entire three-storey wing, next
to the new school chapel, was dedicated as the
new Brothers’ Quarters and Community Hall.
As more space was made available in 7 Leith Street, the SXI Boarding
Department expanded to pre-War levels, and survived into the early
1970s, after which it was gradually phased out. By that time, good
secondary schools like SXI were available not only in urban centres but
throughout the country. A related reason for the demise of the Boarding
School was the conversion of the medium of instruction from English
to Malay beginning from the 1970s (more of this, later). With this major
change, it was no longer attractive for students from Indonesia, Burma
and Thailand to become boarders to study in SXI.

Revival of St Xavier’s

Prior to the Japanese Occupation, all the classes from Primary 1 to
the Junior Cambridge and Senior Cambridge Certificate were housed
in the same school building under the overall charge of the Brother
Director. There was no separate primary section although a Brother
Supervisor assisted in the management of the younger boys (Primary
1 to Standard 4). In the 1930s, perhaps due to the economic depression
which dampened the demand, the average enrolment for each class was
between 20 to 30 students.

The Branch School in Pulau Tikus which had been converted into the
Japanese School, and then a Japanese naval workshop, also readmitted

The Branch School conducted classes in
the Poh Thye Building in Pulau Tikus.

34 The Xaverian Journey

students after the War ended. From 1947 to 1951, the Branch School
operated as a full-fledged school with Primary to School Certificate
classes. After the new school in Farquhar Street was ready, the School
Certificate class was transferred from Pulau Tikus to the new school in
George Town.

St Xavier’s “Private” School

In 1950, upon the initiative of Bro Director Fintan, the “St Xavier’s Br Director Fintan (1947-53) was
Continuation School”, a “private school” that would conduct classes largely responsible for post-War
in the afternoon, was opened. Initially, one part of the school, the reconstruction and rebuilding SXI.
primary and lower secondary classes, was located in Leith Street. They He also started the Private School.
started classes at 2 pm each day. The older Form 4 and Form 5 students,
however, attended classes in Kelawei Road.

The Private School provided opportunity for students who were
over-aged, or with other constraints to continue learning, in order to
make for themselves a better future. In this regard, the Private School
catered for a special group of “the Last, the Lost and the Least”. One
of them was Muru, who was born in India and could not be admitted
into SXI until his 4th Form when then Minister of Education Khir Johari
announced a dispensation for a small group of “lucky” non-citizens.
Muru would do well. He went on to Form 6, then to the University of
Malaya, and distinguished himself as a senior manager in the Penang
Development Corporation overseeing the completion of KOMTAR
Tower.

There was a popular demand to attend the school since it was
initially the sole private school in the English-medium in Penang.
Youths who had not succeeded in the Standard 6 assessment, the
Lower Certificate Examination (LCE) and in the School Certificate
(SC) examination enrolled in the St Xavier’s Private School to re-take
the compulsory public examinations without which the students could
not further their studies. Enrolment in the school soared during the
1950s and early 1960s. A total of 946 students was enrolled in three
primary and 16 secondary classes in 1959. There were more than a
thousand students in the early 1960s. Indeed, many of these students
performed well in the compulsory examinations the second time
around. Many also improved their command of the English language.
The students were also involved in extra-curricular activities and
produced outstanding football and cycling teams which held their own
against the best school teams.

The first Principal of the school was Mr Charles Reutens, who
was assisted by Mr Chow Ted Yoon, Mr G.Langan and Master Willy
Williams. In later years, they were ably assisted by Mrs McGuire, Mrs
Gunn Chit Thye, Mr S Francis Xavier, Mr Khaw Bian Teng among others.
A few Brothers, especially those near retirement, would be assigned to
teach in the Private School, among them Br Thomas, Br Cornelius, Br
Denis and Br Francis during the 1960s. In the early 1970s, Br Michael
Paulin Blais would also be assigned as Supervisor here. Helping out

Re-opening of St Xavier’s after The War 35

these teachers and Brothers were a few former SXI students who
were keen to become teachers and were awaiting their admission into
teachers’ training colleges. Other SXI teachers like the Arts instructors
helped out on a part-time basis. In this regard, Br Joseph Yeoh who was
attached to the SJTC, assumed responsibility for religious instruction
during the 1960s.

The Private School saw a significant drop in enrolment when the
change in the medium of instruction (from English to Malay) occurred
in the national education system in the early 1970s. Many of the older
teachers could not cope with the new requirement. The end of the
school occurred in 1991 when the Education authorities announced
that, henceforth, the LCE would be abolished and that there would be
automatic promotion into Form 4. Thereafter, the premises in Kelawei
Road were leased to an International School.

Assuming responsibility for
“Associated Schools”

Beginning from the late 1940s and into the 1950s, the La Salle Brothers
in St Xavier’s Penang were also required to assume control of several
“associated schools” previously run by the Catholic Church parishes not

Assumption School.

St George's School Balik Pulau.

36 The Xaverian Journey

only in Penang, but also in Kedah and Perlis. These were Assumption Mr Tan Kim Lum.
Primary School in Butterworth (1947); St George’s Primary and Br Brendan Hare.
Secondary Schools in Balik Pulau (1953); St Patrick’s Secondary School
in Kulim (1953); and Stella Maris in Kangar. These were additional to
St Theresa’s Primary and Secondary Schools in Sungai Petani wherein
control had been assumed by the La Salle Brothers earlier, in 1929.

Of these schools, a close relationship was established especially with
Assumption School. It was established as a primary school in 1933 in
Jalan Bagan Dalam just next door to the Church of Nativity of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Butterworth. Initially, the school was run by the church
authorities. It was only in 1947 that the La Salle Brothers took over
the school. Under the Brothers, a new block was built. With additional
space available, the school also started lower secondary classes with the
understanding that the pupils would transfer to St Xavier’s Institution,
a ferry ride away, for their upper secondary education. Among the
longer-serving and more outstanding head teachers were: Mr Tan Kim
Lum (1958-66), Mr Lee Ah Bah (1970-76) and Br Brendan Hare (1976-
83). In 1995, fire gutted the school. It was at this point that the Church
authorities and the Brothers reached an understanding to withdraw
and hand over administration of Assumption School to the Ministry of
Education. For the next ten years, the school “squatted” on the premises
of SK Sg Nyior. Finally, in 2008, Assumption School moved into its own
premises, a new three-storey building beside SK Kuala Perai in Jalan
Bagan Dalam.

St Patrick’s Secondary School in Kulim. St Theresa’s Primary and Secondary Schools in Sungai Petani.
Re-opening of St Xavier’s after The War 37