IMR455FindingAids

School Prefect 1930

Standard 8A 1949

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Cricket XI, 1948 V.I

Gee Whiz Talent Show, May 25, 1959

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After school activity

Speech Day Concert 1958

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Speech Day Concert 1959

Talent Time 1959

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The Kaverley Duo Entertainment 1959 Sixth Form

Memories of School Day

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VI Sport Meet 1959

V.I Hockey First Eleven 1964

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School Trip to India

1959 School Athletes

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Cadet Group of Victoria Institution
Accession Number: 2001/0052997W

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Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, Birthday Celebrations. Victoria Institution Cadet Corps On Parade In A
School Children'S Rally, Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur
Accession No: 2001/0025740W

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Cadet Corps. Victoria Institution
Accession No:1957/0108738W

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Science Evening Classes, 1932
Accession No: 1957/0274146W

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Educational Policy Of Victoria Institution
Accession No: 1957/0114603W

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Annual Examination - Victoria Institution
Accession No: 1957/0106437W

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CHAPTER 4:
ALUMNI

ASSOCIATION

http://keehuachee.blogspot.com/2017/05/part-1-victoria-institute-old-boys.html
https://myvioba.wordpress.com/

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Persatuan Penuntut Melayu, Victoria Institution 1945
Accession No: 2001/0049513W

V.I.O.B.A is a Victoria Institution Old Boys’ Association. This was their Clubhouse that build
since 1954

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Sultanah Kalsom The Sultanah Of Pahang And Tengku Temenggong Pahang With Members Of
Vioba

Dato Andrew Abishegam In A Bespoke Suit In Honour Of Vioba'S 50 Glorious Years

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RM800,000 raised for VIOBA foundation

Performance on VIOBA Foundation 50th Golden Anniversary Charaty Extravaganza 2017

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Datuk Jaffar Indot, Datuk Siew Nim Chee, Datuk Harun Idris and Datuk Mustaffa Md Ali blowing
out the candles at the VIOBA dinner celebrating the Association's 75th Anniversary.

VIOBA Annual New Year's Eve Dance at Hotel Majestic (early 60s)

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Tun Abdul Razak Bin Hussein represent the golf group of Old Student Maktab Melayu verses
VIOBA, Kelab Golf Diraja Selangor

Accession No: 2001/0039295W

V.I. Alumni Frand Gala Gathering 2018

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Member of V.I.O.B.A

Reunion Banner is passed from the VIOBA Singapore
President Wayne Soo to the VIGGG Chairman Ngui Thiam Khoon

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Sultan of Selangor laid the foundation stone of the VIOBA Club House on 30th July, 1954

V.I.O.B.A 90th Anniversary

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V.I.P Sing their School Song on 90th Anniversary Celebration

Vioba’s Member of the year 2007

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Member of Vioba on 1930 VI Cricket XI Reunion on 1960

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Petition By The Old School Boys Of The Victoria Institution For Free Pardon To Mrs. Proudlock
Accession No: 1957/0158313W

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CHAPTER 5:
NOTABLE ALUMNI

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Asks That His Brother Raja Abdul Murad Who Was Admitted In The Victoria Institution May
Get An Allowance Of $6.00 Per Mensem

Accession No: 1957/0157154W

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Mohamad Khamis, Mohamad Syed And Musa Scholarships Of $5 Each For Attending Victoria
Institution

Accession No: 1957/0102721W

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Mr. C.C. Thompson Is Authorised To Sign As Honorary Treasurer To The Trustees, Victoria
Institution, Kuala Lumpur

Accession No: 1957/0162404W

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Tun Ismail bin Mohd Ali on his V.I. School Days
Tun Ismail bin Mohamed Ali, the oldest of many brothers in Port Klang who were distinguished
in the V.I., was born on September 16, 1918. And in the life of the country. He studied at a Malay
school and was enrolled in V.I. Between 1931 and 1938. A day at school on the V.I. He looked at
that school as his second home, incredibly happy. In an era when Kuala Lumpur’s traffic was
extremely light it cycled to school. During the V.I. Tun Ismail was regularly interested in the
scouts; he swam, badminton, and gardened. He's been a prefect of Shaw House. He was the second
Malay to win the Queen's Scholarship in the region.

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Picture of Shahriza Hussein

Shahriza Hussein was at the V.I between 1956 to 1962. Between Form 1 to Upper 6. During his
tenure he had two Headmasters, Dr. G. E. D. Lewis and Mr. Alan Baker. On 30 August 1957 he
took part in the opening ceremony at Stadium Merdeka. Following his H.S.C., Shahriza went on a
Colombo Plan Scholarships at Monash University in Melbourne to learn about his B.A. Five years
later Hons and Dip. Ed returned to Alam Shah Secondary School as professors. His Cert TESL
was gained from Singapore during this time. He was transferred as Exam Specialist and
Curriculum Designer to the Ministry of Education after four years' teaching. He was sent to the
United States to receive a certificate from the Educational Testing Service, Princeton.

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Picture of Tuan Syed Shaidali bin Asgar Ali

From May 1898 to December 1908 Tuan Syed Shaidali bin Asgar Ali was a pupil in the V.I. He
was an excellent student, athletic and football excellence. He was an outstanding all-round. In his
final year in the V.I. he was a captain of the second sport. He was the 1906 Rodger Scholar, and a
great student. In January 1909, he became a professor at Anderson School, Ipoh, and then head of
the Kuala Kangsar, Parit, Tapah, and Batu Pahat governmental English schools. He believed
fervently in education and raised Malaysia's economic situation.

A keen sportsman, he also took polo and played with the sports leaders of Malay Royalty. In 1922,
the latter visited Malaysia and played polo with the Prince of Wales. He fought against the
Japanese in Singapore as a British military captain during the Second World War. In 1952, he was
awarded several prizes after the war, including the MBE. As it was more commonly known, Capt.
Syed Shaidali led a group of veterans at the Selangor Padang parade on Merdeke Day of 1958.

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Picture of Mr Pavee
In April 1918, Mr Pavee first joined the V.I corridors as a pupil in Standard Two after having
studied at the Methodist girls ' school as a Primary and Standard One student. At this time the
Victoria Institution had floods regularly on high street (now the Jalan Tun HS Lee) and the boys
even saw crocodiles squabbling in the sun on the rivers of the Klang River injuring the school on
occasion. The classes at the ancient V.I were for nursery, second, first to seven grades, Cambridge
Junior and Cambridge Senior.

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Remembering Azmi Khalid, Human Rights Advocate
Azmi, the fourth of eight siblings (four sisters and three brothers), was born at Sungai Petani in
Kedah on 29 October 1949. Born in Kedah, after a regular move of his father's work, Azmi spent
his early primary education in many other parts of the country. His father was then the cooperative
official Encik Khalid Ariffin and his mother was a homemaker, puan Asma Haji Che Man. The
school was Sultan Abdul Hamid College at the Alor Star, and then the Victoria Institution (V.I.)
at the Kuala Lumpur. Azmi studied at two different high schools. He had lovely V.I. memories.
He made a lot of good friends, who were staying until the end.

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Patrick at Klang Gates (1962) Patrick in the VI art room

Patrick was born in 1932 in Kuala Lumpur and studied at St. John's Institution and Victoria
Institute (VI). He taught at the Kuala Lumpur Methodist Girls ' School from 1956 to 1963 and then
at VI. He first gained attention by winning the top prize of 3,000 in the competition in Manila,
with his Batik Malaysia, depicting Malay kampung damsels hanging their sarung on the washline.
He was then a clerk in the Ministry of the Federation. He flourished with WAG and artists led by
Peter Harris.

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PATRICK Ng’S ARTWORKS

Spirit of Earth, Water and Air (1958) Self-Portrait with Friends (1955)

The mystical synthesis of its complex regional faith systems and its remarkable vision is not

comparable to His spirit of earth, water and air (1958), a boarded magnum opuum oil, which is

part of the national art collection. This painting has been exhibited from Singapore to Japan in the

past few years in important themed displays. Patrick Ng Kah Onn remained, despite all the
acclaims, highly innovative and of course talented. Accounts of Patrick’s ten-year meteoric

development from 1955 when he took art seriously and, more so, in his 24 years in London when

he died in June 1989 from liver cancer at the age of 57.

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Datuk Ahmad Zainal Abidin bin Muhammad Yusof, was a career diplomat in the 60s and
70s. In the later part of his life he was Malaysia’s Keeper of the Rulers Seal, before his premature
death in 1992 at the age of 66. He was born on 14 September 1925 in Kuala Lumpur., Malaysia
and was the second child and eldest son of Muhammad Yusof bin Ahmad and Che Wan binti
Zainal. He was a direct descendant of Dato Awaluddin, a Bugis aristocrat from Riau in Indonesia,
who in 1783 had given up his princely life to settle down in Linggi, a village where a small Bugis
community in Negeri Sembilan still exists until today. Ahmad Zainal grew up mostly in Kuala
Lumpur and went to Batu Road School instead. His mother originated from Gujarat, India.

The Malay College, Kuala Kangsar was the secondary school that Ahmad Zainal went to
from 1939 to 1941 prior to World War 2. After his mother’s demise in 1942 his father an
educationist and expert in the Malay Language, was deployed to Tenri in Japan. Together with his
elder sister and two younger brothers Ahmad Zainal went through very hard times in country
engulfed by war.

After Japan surrendered in 1945, the family returned to Malaya and Ahmad Zainal enrolled
in the Victoria Institution in 1946, to resume his education at the age of 20. He was the hockey
Captain of Shaw House. After sitting for his School Certificate exams in late 1947, he was
appointed a temporary teacher at the V.I in 1948.

Ahmad Zainal (second from right) at the V.I. - 1946

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Standard 8A (Form 4 today) - 1946. Ahmad Zainal is seated at extreme left

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Harry Lau got his early childhood education in the St Mary’s Kindergarten, and later at the
Batu Road Primary School he went to the Victoria Institution to continue his secondary education,
which in that era in the Cambridge School Certificate examination.

Harry Lau’s scholastic ability is best attested by the fact that he was one among only three
candidates who were allowed to sit for a highly competitive examination, namely, the renowned
Queen's Scholarship examination in the year 1939. Harry Lau was among the high achievers but
there was only one Queen Scholarship award for the entire Federated Malay States and one for the
Straits Settlements. The truth is that, in those days, there was a total dearth of facilities for higher
education. Harry, like some others, may not have made it to the University but they were good
teachers.

Harry Lau became a teacher at the Victoria Institution after the Second World War. He also was
in charge of the school book shop. Members of this congregation who are his former students or
teachers of the V.I. have cordial memories of Harry. In my years there Harry’s book shop was a
veritable second teacher’s room. We sat around the large table listening to Harry’s stories about
the old school and of numerous colourful personalities. There was also a small group who would
adjourn with Harry for lunch on Friday afternoon to some restaurant or other. The man was
gregarious by nature and he had a ready smile and a good sense of humour.

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The Top Gun trophy is a singularly American accolade and is conferred to the best in class
of the specialist United States flying school for advanced ground- or carrier-based fighter pilots.
The trophy itself is not ostentatious - nor is it even well made - and belies its intrinsic value. Its
true worth lies in the honour of winning it, as an evidence for being the best of the elite. Hand-
picked applicants to the school are not restricted to the United States military alone but may also
include nominated pilots from other nations who fulfil the exacting standards the school demands
as a necessity to entry for the advanced course and assessments.

Long before Tom Cruise’s unbelievable exploits of bravery and bravado (not to mention,
romantic involvement) as the macho "Maverick" on the silver screen in the Oscar-winning movie
Top Gun in 1986, the Victoria Institution and Malaysia bragged its own, and very real Top Gun
twenty-one years earlier in April 1965.

That Top Gun was Flying Officer Bhaskar G. Raye, a pupil at the Victoria Institution from
1956 to 1960. He shunned the (almost) mandatory and often terrifying noms-de-plume adopted by
applicants for the course but went simply by the sobriquet of ‘Togo’ – his nickname from birth
(March 1943) after the victorious and celebrated Admiral Heihachiro Togo of the 1904-1905
Russo-Japanese naval war. Apart from captaining the Thamboosamy House cricket team, he was
also the school cricket secretary in 1960.

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Bhaskar (seated second from left) beside Dibakar, Captain of the victorious VI Cricket Eleven
(1960)

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Tan Sri Dato' Dr David Tan Chee Khoon, born on 4 March 1919, was a V.I. student at High Street
and later at the new V.I. in 1937-1938. He is perhaps the most renowned and respected Malaysian
opposition leader of all time. He was also a most selfless doctor, a tireless educationalist, a humble
Christian and an avid reader and writer to boot. His two sons — Tan Kee Keong and Tan Kee
Kwong - were Victorians (and doctors) as well. The latter was also the V.I. School Captain in 1965
and is now the Deputy Minister for Land and Co-operative Development. Tan Sri was close to his
alma mater, and he even attended both the Centenary Countdown and Centenary Dinner in 1993.

Chee Khoon had his early education at the Pudu English Girls' School, before going over
to the Victoria Institution on Jalan Bandar. His contemporaries included Ong Yoke Lin (later Tun
Omar Ong and a Cabinet minister), Frederick Arulanandom (later a judge, and brother of Ross, a
V.I. Queen's Scholar), and Toh Boon Huah (later a redoubtable V.I. Science Master). Later, he
transferred to Kajang High School, which was nearer to home, where he remained until 1937.

At Kajang High School, Chee Khoon hoped eventually to win the Queen's Scholarship to
study medicine in England and communicated his aspirations to the Headmaster, Mr C.E. Gates
(who was later to become the V.I. Headmaster). Knowing that a language paper was compulsory
in that exam, Mr Gates undertook to teach Latin to Chee Khoon personally. Such was the devotion
of Mr Gates that when the Headmaster returned briefly to England on leave, he corresponded with
Chee Khoon to ensure that his pupil's progress in Latin was not impeded. With that language
requirement fulfilled Chee Khoon joined the V.I. again. There, he became a prefect and an active
debater.

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Born in Kuala Lumpur on 4 April 1924, the infant Fu Ho was already excited to go to
school when he was barely five years of age. His father was Chan Ping Kee, a court interpreter
and an ex-Victorian to boot who had attended the High Street V.I. until 1917. At first Fu Ho get a
Chinese education at a private school, but later joined the new Victoria Institution where he was a
brilliant student throughout his studying. He won the Sir George Maxwell Scholarship and the
Treacher Scholarship (for being first in Form Four) in 1940. His colleagues recalled him as a lad
with a great personality, good in English and Science, and destined one day to win the prestigious
Queen’s Scholarship for undergraduate studies in Britain in 1943.

Even he got brilliant results, there were no post-secondary matriculation classes re-
established as yet and so all hopes of ever landing a Queen’s Scholarship faded. However, the
colonial government unexpectedly decided to change the rules for the award; henceforth, the
scholarship would only be for postgraduate studies. Fortunately, Fu Ho applied for and was
awarded a Malayan Government Scholarship for a general science course at Raffles College,

Singapore. He left the V.I. in March, 1946.

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Fu Ho win the prestigious Queen’s Scholarship for undergraduate studies

Lim Chooi Tee joined the V. I. in 1956, the youngest brother to four others who had preceded him
- Chooi Seng, Chooi Cheah, Chooi Kui and Chooi Per.

His sporting prowess began to show when he was only in Form Two - he was recruited
into the School Table Tennis and Athletics Teams. In 1958, the first titles started rolling in when
Chooi Tee became the Junior Table Tennis Champion. For good measure, he partnered Lee Teng
On to win the Junior Doubles Championship as well. As if that was not enough, in the Open Singles
championship, Chooi Tee, then a mere Third Former, took on the School Champion Lum Mun
Kong to become runner-up. In the Open Doubles, he and partner Phang Fatt Soon became runners-
up as well, losing to a pair of seniors. In that same year, Chooi Tee turned out to be born with fins
as well and so joined the School Swimming Team and the School Water-polo Team. In between

dips he won his Bronze Medal in life-saving. He was among the second batch of pupils to be
awarded the coveted Club 21 merit badge. At year's end, when the regular Prefects took leave

to prepare for their final exams, Chooi Tee was among the group of Temporary Prefects recruited
from Fourth Formers to maintain discipline in the school.

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Kamal has sold more records internationally than any Malaysian artist (P. Ramlee included). He
used to release recordings in 21 countries in every continent. He has sung for Queen Elizabeth
and other royalty, counts media moghuls like Rupert Murdoch as friends, kept (and still keeps)
correspondence with sporting greats such as world cricket legend Donald Bradman, and has won
coveted music awards to fill a trophy cabinet many times over. Kamahl was also deemed the
undisputed successor to the illustrious Frank Sinatra for a song that is now a signature work of
Kamahl’s. Yet few Victorians are aware that they share a common V.I. heritage with this
international celebrity.

Kamahl studied from 1946 to 1952 at V.I. this Loke Yew House boy (in his official
biography, he is incorrectly recorded as a Shaw House boy) defied his parents’ expectations and
applied his enthusiasm to hockey and soccer for his house, and played cricket for the school.

His parents had wanted him to study however he had preferred sports. Padder tennis was
new and so he blazed a trail for it. In April 1952 the VIOBA announced it was organising a two-
day Grand Carnival and Trade Fair in the school premises to raise funds for its clubhouse and it
needed attractive posters to lure the K.L public. Kamahl decided to enter the design competition
for the posters. Astounding everyone else, two of his designs clinched second place. In 1952 photo
of the V.I.’s graduating class, Kamahl wear a black suit, marking him out prominently amidst the
sea of traditional white-suited classmates and teachers. Yet, he was no nasty rebel. In Kamahl’s

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leaving testimonial, the headmaster, Mr J.N. Davies (an Englishman from Birmingham) wrote: "A
most conscientious, pleasant and reliable personality. Well-balanced.

Tai Fung had joined the V.I. Like the others of V.I. boys, Tai Fung was always an
enthusiastic participant in school sporting activities He was YKS basketball captain from 1958 to
1960 and was made the House Vice-Captain in 1960. Plus, he was a committee member of the V.I.
Photographic Society. His camera-craft won him a consolation prize in the society’s annual
photographic contest. He was an artist too, serving as Vice-Chairman of the school's art club. (This
interest persisted into his working life; Tai Fung prefer to collect Chinese and Asian art work so
much that his home soon resembled an art warehouse.) His artistic talent saw an outlet in the annual

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Speech Day art exhibitions as well as in the design of stage sets for the tradition annual school
plays staged for the public. Tai Fung was the main set designer for the V.I.'s 1958 Chinese
play Lady Precious Stream and Drama Society's two one-act plays the following year and was the
typical all-rounder Victorian - scholar, sportsman, and gentleman.

After V.I., Tai Fung entered the University of Malaya as an entrance scholar to read
economics. He even led a student delegation to Germany for three months on a study/work
experience programme. Pantai Valley was where Tai Fung met his future wife, Kuok Siew Choong.
Tai Fung was always polite and friendly to all people and never boastful.

After graduation and marriage, Tai Fung was recruited as personal assistant to the M.D. of
Malaysian Sugar Refinery in Prai – the first such refinery in Malaysia - owned by the Kuok Group.
Three years later, Tai Fung joined the parent company in Singapore to become a sugar trader. He
moved to Hong Kong in 1978 to join Kerry Trading Co., another member of the Kuok Group.
Initially he was very involved with sugar trading but his responsibilities widened as the company
expanded. He was Chairman or CEO of Kerry companies that dealt with foodstuffs, beverages,
oils and grains. In the past few years Tai Fung was mostly involved in the Coca Cola business,
with the Kerry Group appointed as bottlers in China, a business he was passionate about.

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3.0 CONCLUSION
Finding aids are essential tools to convey information about archival materials to users. Archival
finding aids provide researchers with information about the contents and nature of documentary
materials in archival repositories. Finding aid may be published or unpublished in a variety of
forms including print, microform and digital media. Despite their variety and evolving forms,
effective archival finding aids share certain characteristics both in the information they convey and
the ways in which information is presented and being retrieved.

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REFERENCES
Arkib Negara Malaysia. (2020). Online Finding Aids. Digital Archive. Retrieved from

http://ofa.arkib.gov.my/ofa/digital/index?OfaSolr_page=1&pageSize=10
Chung Chee Min. (2003). The School at the River Bend. Retrieved from

http://viweb.school/viOldVI.htm
Mohd Shahrizan. (2015) Victoria Institution Old Boys’ Association. Retrieved from

https://myvioba.wordpress.com/
Kee Hua Chee. (2017). Victoria Institute Old Boys Association (Vioba) Celebrated Its 50th

Golden Anniversary at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Grand Ballroom Graced By Her
Royal Highness Sultanah Kalsom The Sultanah Of Pahang and Her Son His Highness The
Tengku Temenggong Tengku Fahd Sultan Ahmad Shah And Presided By Vioba Chairman
Dato Sri Andrew Abishegam and Board Members. Retrieved from
http://keehuachee.blogspot.com/2017/05/part-1-victoria-institute-old-boys.html
The Victoria Instittion. (2020). Victoria Institution Web Page. Retrieved from
http://viweb.school/vihome.htm

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