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