Penang Free School

It has been 210 years since a Reverend Robert Sparke Hutchings from colonial England had the foresight, took the courage and established a fledging high school on a settlement in the tropics so far away from his home county in Dorset. This school was founded on a then bold idea of admission of students from any religious or cultural background. It was on an island off the coast of the Straits of Malacca, in an age of maritime adventure in a part of the world where European powers had been competing for the riches of the Spice Islands. This island is Penang, which now lures tourists, overseas retirees, investment options and social influencers. At that time, in 1816, when the Penang Free Scbool was founded, her relatively liberal and progressive principles of operation and existence went against the grain of educational institutions founded on Christian religious orders. The word “Free” emphasised the freedom in several aspects - the freedom to develop one’ s mindset, the freedom of “why not” and the freedom to mix and exchange ideas in a diverse society of George Town. I have been fortunate that my parents encouraged me and I spent seven years in this institution, the oldest school in South east Asia established by the British. The school buildings still exist in good form in the 21st century, with columns of white, inspiring passage ways and spacious areas of green turf. Alumni of PFS (fondly calling themselves Old Frees) are spread all over several nations. English was the lingua franca inculcated in the hearts and modus operandi of the students who passed through her hallowed hallways. The colonial language bound the network of youngsters each with their different mother tongues on the island of Penang. This extensive dominance of English has been whittled away in PFS as the governing political authorities escalated the prioritisation of the Malay language. Today, Putonghua ( simplified northern Mandarin) has gripped the loyalty of the overseas Chinese diaspora, descendants of people who left the shores of dynastic and 20th century China. Singapore elevated the use and knowledge of spoken and written Pu Tong Hua ( the “people’s common tongue”, as opposed to the variety of other languages within China itself) - and the rest is history. Visit PFS today and one can sense past sensations of competitive sports, of sweaty adolescence, unity in group singing and rituals of fraternity and the tension of sit down examination halls. I can easily recall the crowdedness of where we parked our bicycles, seemingly quiet afternoons of sitting below hundred year old trees and the calmness of going early at sunrise to classrooms. We as students were divided into different sports teams, named mostly after past head masters with surnames like Cheeseman, but there was also one sports house called Wu Lien Teh. This was in honour of a significant epidomologist in northern China at the beginning of the 20th century. Lien Teh grew up in colonial Penang, was a PFS alumni and is also credited with effectively showing the benefits of masking up as working protection against respiratory infectious diseases in public. Yes, that very same facial mask the contemporary world got used to in the face of the Covid 19 pandemic in the years 2020 to 2021. To be a Free alumni holds a special inner joy, but also made us want to contribute to the world in whatever small or larger way as an adult, far from the heady teenage years of the past. The daily encouragement of teachers, that special feel of assembling in the school hall and the sense of belonging to a unique entity inevitably gets into our blood veins and inner purpose. Every 21st of October, the grave of the dear Reverend Hutchings is visited by old and current students, to show respect for a special human being whose efforts go beyond the limits of time and geography in inspiring each one of the students to do better for the world. The grave is kept safe at the Northarm Road Cemetery in George Town, now a UNESCO world heritage site. Every 21st of October, alumni still meet up for a meal, whether in Penang, elsewhere in Malaysia or in a foreign city, like a gathering tribe, to reconnect with past classmates and other people who have gone through the PFS experience when our minds were still absorbing and developing. Predominantly a school for boys, girls were eventually admitted into the final two years for the HSC examinations. The females joining us as classmates came from totally all girls schools - and one can imagine the electric like social implications of adjustment, wonder and growth for everyone involved. When reunions occur, most of us forget our various positions and roles in adult life. We choose to, however temporarily, revert to memories of innocent times growing up, comfortably under the banner of that educational entity that gave us a mix of discipline, personal learning, hazy days of friendship, laughter and tears, crossing beyond our fears and finding channels for our ambitions. I can still visualise the aged dark brown desks. I recall where my fav mates sit. We wore uniforms of white to reduce the effects of the cruel heat of the midday sun. We loved time out on the courts or field, but especially more on excursions further afield, whether as scouts on the water along Penang Island’s northern beaches or in private socials up Penang Hill. There were the performing arts on stage, creative paintings and more. I especially value the magic of Friday afternoons, just after school, when my mates and I could do something special together before heading home. 27.10.26 #yongkevthoughts

Somewhere In Time

Some views hold that time is just a useful invention of humans and not a natural phenomenon. Time management is the basis of human society. Without the structure offered by time, a calendar and scheduling, civilisation would not have progressed. As you may have heard, time moves like the flow of a river. The waters pass by a bank, but it is never the same water. Moments to us can be compared to that flowing water. Each of us can reflect on that moment we remember with relish - but we will never be able to go back to that moment again. Time seems to go fast or slow down according to our emotions, how busy or not we are and when we are preoccupied with other things. Time is realised to be more finite once a person grows old. Time we have will not regenerate but brings each of us to recognise more of the impermanence of things. Forces of Earth remind us daily of the progress, completion and renewal of time in our lives. Sunrise, high noon and sunset. Perhaps more meaningful than feelings of the acceleration of time experienced in our personal lives is how and what we use time for every day of our lives. When one sinks into our interests, career and our loves, we can be less conscious about time. It does not matter about where all that time went, for we have focused and indulged into what we like to do with that dosage of time. It is only when we have a day when we are bored or feel stuck in a day of no progress that most likely we feel that time is moving so slowly. So how we feel about the progress of time has nothing to do at all with time. It is more about what we personally do with ourselves - and with our own time available to us. Giving your own time to someone else is a precious gift. #yongkevthoughts

Resilience and Challenges

The West would not necessarily be unable to cope with changes in the future. Resilience of a society can be more important than its wealth. Wealth does fortify economic resilience but not necessarily on other fronts. Resilience can be strengthened in the way society is organised ( informally and formally); cultural attitudes; recognition of her Achilles heels and doing something effective about it; and having a foresighted leadership. Most nations are still reckoning with lack of pre-emptive planning, effective risk management, business continuity preparation and forward thinking. What happens when one loses demand for a produce or product which has previously built up a society? Are the key institutions in my country remnants of 20th century needs rather than tools for a changed future? Some nations used to rule the waves but have not fully embraced the realities of increasing competition. Some societies have been in the comfort zone for too long and perhaps lost the hunger to constantly improve. Yet others are obsessed with other drivers that distract with building up their resilience. What had made particular nations wealthy in the past may no longer be relevant. Failure in adopting sufficient technology, political willingness, independent security, investments and strategic advantage to propel forward are telling signs of national erosion. Leaving critical fronts like relevant education, ownership of vital societal assets and outsourcing to the so called free market forces can be a capitulation of governmental responsibilities to commercialisation. Growth of wealth also exposes a society to new vulnerabilities and dependancies. The sustainability and growth of wealth has a cost to pay for never ending GDP growth and consumer spending. I take for granted how my fast accessibiity to data and information or digital payments relies on the internet, data centres and wifi always working. Greater mobility in air, sea and land travel is paid for by environmental pollution. The energy grid breaks down when demand spikes everywhere all at the same time in a society. There is a hidden cost to upholding how modern societies work. Such dependencies are increasingly controlled by the growing few who and which can manipulate the world with greater ease, funding and connections. Humans cannot escape interactions with so called Nature. Technological advances seem to be the forte of the human mind and capability. Depletion of natural resources, climate change and biological interference are just some examples of the downside. Global wealth enhancement has also come from increased linkages in trade, finance, supplies and dependencies. Globalisation can be a two edged sword in all meanings of the phenomenon. Does it require a hierarchy of varying levels of development in different societies to sustain and drive the growth of wealth? Lower labour costs in less developed societies were what made massive manufacturing hubs work. With AI, robotics and advanced mechanics already working, the equation can leave out much of human input. Are extensive channels of migration revitalising Western societies? The lack of population growth in richer societies ( especially at below replacement levels) has had this matter mitigated partly by the arrival and settlement of foreigners. Overall, Earth has never been populated as before. At the same time, personal wealth is significantly concentrated in fewer individuals. We recall the collapse of empires, city states and nations in history due to catastrophic natural episodes, plaques, removal of trading advantages and unexpected Black Swan events. How societies are organised in governance have an impact on wealth and the ever assumed expectation of continued rise in prosperity. Politicians in most countries do not have to undergo a formal training certification or a rigourous regime of performance evaluations to reach the top. Is the contemporary state of so called Western civilisation nations ready to take on the challenges of the rest of the 21st century? The European states used the power of sailing winds to explore and utilise lands for resources, political control and cultural expansion. What is the equivalent of such sailing ships in this century? Is it a hold on modern weaponry, or holding on to an economic dominance? Is it as simple as being able to manipulate other countries as you have something that most other nations do not? #yongkevthoughts