SARAWAK, the land of many and a model for political stability and racial harmony, is in the midst of claiming her rights and entitlements granted to her at the formation of Malaysia 53 years ago. It is fitting now to look at some of her past events, personalities and uniqueness in various aspects to draw inspiration and wisdom.
Beginning today, we will publish some passages in the book “Sarawak Book of Amazing Facts and Records” which was published in 2001 for our readers’ enlightenment and enjoyment.
First Government
Malay School
The first Government Malay School, which opened in Kampung Jawa, Kuching in 1881 was later named Madrasah Melayu in 1931.
The boys in the upper classes were taught to be teachers upon their graduation.
The school ceased to exist when all the students were moved to join SMK Green Road in 1963. The original premises of the Madrasah Melayu School were then renovated and used for various educational purposes before being converted into the present Islamic Museum.
First Malay School
According to the Sarawak Gazette of 2 July 1883, the first Malay school in Sarawak was opened by the Rajah.
This school had its origin in the house of Abang Mat Kassim who taught the neighbourhood boys together with his own sons.
This attracted many others and the increase in the number of students prompted the government to provide a master to teach them reading, writing and arithmatic. To accommodate all these students, a school was built in Abang Mat Kassim’s village near his house and mosque.
First Mission School
In 1848, Reverend F. T. McDougall and his wife arrived in Kuching with two missionaries and founded the Anglican Church in Borneo. Rajah James Brooke permitted them to start a school at College Hill on the other side of the river, directly opposite the fort where he was residing.
Originally named the Kuching Mission School, it was subsequently renamed St. Thomas’s School. This first mission school in Sarawak had 50 pioneer students who were taught by Henrietta McDougall. The number of students increased rapidly and three additional teachers were recruited in 1851.
In 1870 the school was relocated to the site of the present St. Mary’s School. In 1885 the new St. Thomas’s was built in Jalan McDougall, Kuching where it still stands.
First Roman Catholic School
Rajah Charles Brooke gave the Roman Catholic Mission a 10-acre piece of land on which the industrious priests erected a structure comprising four large rooms with a chapel in the centre. Early in 1882, Father Gossens, a 28-year-old Dutchman, opened a school with an enrolment of 20 boys. It was named after St. Joseph, the patron of the Mill Hill Missionary Society, and Fr. Gossens was its principal until 1883.
The first student, Thomas Lee Shin Siong was admitted on 24 April 1883 at the age of seven and paid school and boarding fees of 50 cents per month. The school attracted students from all over Sarawak, North Borneo (Sabah) and Kalimantan or Indonesian Borneo. Stanislaus Tai Fook Chong, another student, later became the first local teacher of the school in 1888.
On 25 March 1883, a young Tylorese priest, Father Anthony Haidegger, arrived in Kuching to take charge of St. Joseph’s School. Known as ‘The Father of the Poor,” he was the school principal for over 48 years until his retirement on 1 August 1931. The original copy of the ‘School Rules’ in his own handwriting states: “St Joseph’s is a school for boys; it is established to give a good Christian education”. He was responsible for developing the school, giving it a character and spirit with which it became identified.
The old wooden shack school was expanded in 1886. The Sarawak Gazette records that the school “was enlarged by the addition of a large, wooden building”. This was a 2 storey building erected behind the present Mill Hill block and affectionately known among the Old Boys as “Noah’s Ark” until its demolition in 1938. The school moved to this building in 1887 where there were 40 students in Standard I, II and III classes.
On 21 December 1894, Rajah Charles Brooke opened the new school building while the schoolboys sang the Sarawak anthem. The Sarawak Gazette of January 1895 described the new St. Joseph’s building as “the largest private work carried out in 1894 and the largest building in Kuching.”
Fr. Haidegger financed the school expansion through his own inheritance. He left a large farm in Tyrol, Austria, to his brother in exchange for 1,000 Austrian “gulden” or florins to the Catholic Mission in Sarawak each year and used the money to develop the school and support the poor.
(To be continued)
