Sibu Tales : Tung Hua Primary and Secondary School

The Tung Hua School  at Queensway (later Tun Haji Openg Road) was established in 1922. The founding fathers were Chiong Swee Nguong, and Kong Chu Soon who valued education for the new generation, especially those who were not in school due to lack of facilities. Land was probably donated by the two founding fathers.

1936 - 1942

It started as a thatched wooden school with only primary levels. But by 1936, there were enough students for Junior School.  More members of Board of Directors were recruited and teachers engaged.

It was reported that just before the Second World War it was already very well established with good classrooms, a kitchen for boarding students (which was very essential facility) , library, school garden and water tanks.

The kindergarten was the pride of the school.

One of my aunts went to school there and related some very interesting stories of taking a bus to the school on Sunday afternoon after spending t he weekend at home. The bus driver was rather unpleasant in character and was not kind to the students who took the bus. 

She also said that during the Japanese time, before the school was closed, as boarders she and her brother had to collect fire wood, and they had to cook their own meals. But fortunately t he school closed not long after the Japanese took over the management and she and her brother went home to shelter themselves from the Japanese. They chose not to study Japanese because they lived too far away

Unfortunately when the Allied army planes flew over Sibu, they dropped a bomb on the kindergarten and hostel buildings causing a lot of damage and heart breaks to the students, board of management and the community. According to a relative, the bomber planes targeted clusters of bigger buildings in Sibu where they believed the Japanese were billeted. Sibu town was damaged by at least two bombs, Sg. Merah by one bomb and the Sibu airport, one bomb. Another bomb was dropped near the Lau King Howe Hospital, but luckily it did not hit the hospital directly. The resulting fire was quite big

At that time one of my distant aunts, Lau Nga Hung (who went on to be the first Foochow lady Principal of a school later in the history of Sarawak), was a teacher there, and later principal.

A single lady, who saved a lot of money founded Sibu Secondary (Private ) School later. Today at the very site of her land stands the Sibu Medical Centre.

Today this school is still a leading school in Sarawak and is an aided government school.

Kwong Hua School and Rev Wong King Huo

 The Kwong Hua School was established in 1916, making it one of the oldest Primary and Junior High schools in the Rajang, founded by the Foochow Pioneers.

The man behind the founding of the school was the far sighted Rev Wong King Huo. He was supported by the group of hardworking Kutien Foochow pioneers like Ting Hing Yu of Sg. Sadit. The first classes were taught in the family home of Ting.

(This photo was sent by Rev James Hoover to the USA, Methodist Conference. He is in the photo with Rev Wong King Huo's family) 

In 1919 Yek San Dak donated a piece of land for the school to be built much to the excitement of the villagers of Nang Chong, San Hor Chong (Sg. Sadit) and even Sungei Merah. It was a good school for both boys and girls who could not go to school in Sibu.

One of the earliest Headmasters of the school was the father of Temenggong Ting Lik Hung , Ting Chang Tang (who was a landed, educated, rubber planter as well)

After that there was a long series of Headmasters. The Japanese Occupation closed the school for a few years.

After the war  the big school supported by the Chinese community continued and prospered.

There was boys hostel facilities for those boys who could not go to Chung Cheng School. Girls from the vicinity came, instead of boarding in Yuk Ing Girls School.

In 1949 the school had enough funding to split into Primary and Secondary school as the school population was growing, with more day scholars due to the increase in population in the region. 

Graduation Day, 1949, January 15th photo shows how much financial assistance the local people were able to provide for the establishment of the school, and to build such a big school with belian.

Indeed Rev Wong King Huo started a good school with a good vision for the convenience of the the rubber tappers' children.

(According to family stories, my uncles Pang King and Soon King attended this school after the war before they went to study in Singapore where they gained an English education. I believe my uncles must be in this photo.)

Imagine and Retreat : One Hundred Acre Wood

My Primary School days in Sibu at the Methodist Primary School were memorable for a few things. One was the class library ran by the English teacher, who would opened the classroom cupboard and organized 10 minutes of class silent reading time for English. We would each return and borrow books, some times two at a time, for a week's reading pleasure. We had English Class Library for all six years of our primary school. I even won the best reader in the class when I was in Primary Six. That was one of the few small awards I won. And honestly speaking, I did not win many prizes in my life.

Through my reading I met many characters and that was very important in my young life. I started have imaginary friends and they popped up every where.

Life can be quite lonely in a big extended family - there were the usual- the pecking order, the bullying, someone was allowed to speak louder than others, the cold shoulders, the uninvited guest, the in laws who were ignored, lots of showing off, and cold wars, etc. All these are today, meat for Korean and Chinese drama. Yes, we had most of the drama in our family. Truth be told!

When things got rough, I would retreat into the One Hundred Acre Wood, thanks to Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin. Perhaps this kind of retreat helped me have selective memory. Some of the real incidents were just vague memories.

The One Hundred Acre Wood is not in Sarawak. It is from a book, Winnie the Pooh, which we read when we were young.

Winnie is a bear and is a HE.

Christopher Robin, the little boy, and Winnie the Pooh were friends and they had many adventures together. A.A. Milne fired the imagination of millions of children through his writing.

I would one day like to visit this place, and IMAGINE once again what it is like to be happy and with good friends.

The Hundred Acre Wood of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories is in actuality Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, England, where the Winnie-the-Pooh stories were set. A. A. Milne's country home at Cotchford Farm, Hartfield was situated just north of Ashdown Forest, and Five Hundred Acre Wood is a dense beech wood that Christopher Robin Milne would explore on his way from Cotchford Farm onto the Forest. Five Hundred Acre Wood is long-established, having been originally sold off from the Forest in 1678. The wood remains privately owned, being part of Buckhurst Park estate,^[1] and is not therefore generally accessible to the public, though two footpaths which are public rights of way, one of which is part of a long-distance footpath, the Wealdway, cross through the wood and may be used by members of the public. (From Wikipedia) 

Yuk Ing Girls' School : Bathrooms and Chamber Pots

There were not attached bathrooms in the Boarding School in those days.

How did the girls manage at night?

There were two chamber pots for those who needed to ease themselves.

All the boarders lived upstairs and it was not possible for them to go downstairs at night to ease themselves in the out houses. It was also too dark for them to go downstairs.

The older girls who were the cooks during the day had to empty the chamber pots which would be so full the next morning. And the duty roster was strictly followed with Mrs. Hoover checking on every one.

According to my Aunt Chiew, it was really difficult to bring the chamber pots downstairs to empty. the older girls really learned to balance well.

Sibu : Sack Race for School Sports Day

The sack race was a popular school sports event.

When I was in the primary school, we had boys and girls' sack race and every kid wanted to take part. However during school sports day, only some were selected to take part. There was no heats for the race. Even though I was below 12 years of age, I already felt that some teachers were showing favouritism by selecting their favourites to take part and they walked away with the special prices and trophies. Many were never on the list of any thing. 5 decades later, I realized that in life, many of us are not on the list for any thing due to "selection process", and those on the top never put a good word in for just any one except their own.

Some teachers even tried their best to disqualify those they did not like!!

Any way, some great boys and girls were able to win in some events which called for strength, special skills and techniques like High Jump.

The participants placed both of their legs inside a gunny sack. They either ran with their feet at the corners of the sack, taking only the length allowed by the sack or hopped all the way the finishing line.

It was a very funny event. We had a lot of fun taking part or watching. However at the end of my primary school (Year Six) only the boys were allowed to take part.

In later years, it became part of TELEMATCH.

Telematches were more friendly and everyone could be winners.

Seniors from Yuk Ing School of Sibu

This is the first batch of girls who graduated from Yuk Ing Girls school. My aunt Lily is the tallest girl , standing in the middle . It must have been a proud moment for her. She remained close to Mrs. Hoover to the end. Mrs. Hoover passed away in 1962, in Perth.

It was part of Mrs. Mary Hoover's syllabus - dress making. All girls could only graduate when they completed making their own graduation suite of white blouse and white trousers, as seen in this photo. My fifth Aunt, Grace is in this photo.

She went on to be the first Sibu, Foochow girl to graduate from US university in 1957, and to become the first woman DEAN of Methodist Secondary School. It was said that she decided to return to the US to study more. But then many women also said that she found the Sibu community a bit too chauvinistic to her liking. Those were the days!! I can totally understand.

My Third Aunt, Pearl, is third from left, seated.

If I find new photos I will add...

Guong Ann School Teacher : Madam Ting Nga Kwong

Tribute to teacher Ting Nga Kwong of Guong Ann Primary School, Sg Merah.

Ting Nga Kwong was a young girl who had to walk to many places to pick bamboo shoots, tap rubber. Her family planted padi in 6 Kii (now Lucky Lane area) in Sibu.

According to her, she was fortunate enough to go to school from Sg. Antu as  by the 40's many Foochow parents were able and were willing to send girls to school, especially after the war. She completed her Senior Middle School or Kou Chung, in Methodist Secondary School, in 1956.

It was most probably due to the pastors, like Rev Ho Siew Liong,who encouraged Methodist Foochow parents to send their children to school..As a young girl she used to learn all about the Bible from Rev Ho in Sing Ang Church.

And their group accompanied Rev Ho when he visited the more ulu places are Ulu Sg Merah.

School fees were only 3 dollars per month and very often upon request the students could be given remission of fees by the missionary teachers and Dean. In those days, the term DEAN was used.

One incident she remembered was this. That was only one plank walk for the group to cross the river. Rev Ho crawled first across the small plank and it was safe. After he successfully crossed the small plank walk, the rest followed, They were all very brave to follow Rev Ho in this way. Life was tough but they were very faithful in spreading the Gospel.

Another important aspect of her education was how she learned Bahasa Malaysia in the Sibu Night School after she passed her Senior Middle Three in 1956. She and her friends studied in the Night School in Sibu every evening and eventually through their hard work, they passed their National Language subject and became fully certified teachers.

She started her teaching career in Guong Ann Primary school, Sibu and after she got married, she moved to Sarikei with her husband, SArikei born,Wong Chung Kang. She saw the history of Sarawak developing in Sarikei where she spent almost 40 years of her life.

Now she lives in Miri with her children.

Night School in Sibu : A Second Chance

Mind your Language was a popular TV show in the 1970's. We enjoyed the show because Mr. Brown as the English teacher, taught in such an amusing way to his international class of students. They made mistakes and he corrected them with such humour. In between those of us who watched the series, very seriously learned a lot of English. It was really a good show. My children and I looked forward to watching it every week in Sibu.

However, serious thoughts would come to me because I remember how many of my friends who failed their Primary Six Entrance Exam (an old term) would attend Night School in the Methodist School, Sibu and after a few tries they passed their Junior Sarawak and then Cambridge Exams (MCE). They went on their on career paths and succeeded in many different fields. A few of them became millionaires within a decade or two, especially in the timber business.

The night school saved a lot of people.

A few successful people I know went to the night school to get their Bahasa Malaysia qualifications so that they could enter the civil service and later won scholarships to go overseas. Some also never came back because of their language trauma, if there is such a term.

Judy Wong, for example, after she came back from the USA attended the Bahasa Malaysia Class. She was successful in her career.

She also said that many of the Children Home's orphans also passed their Jr. Sarawak by attending the night school.

We must remember all those dedicated teachers who helped youths in this path. What a struggle indeed but it was an alternative at least. Some people never had a second chance.

thanks to Adult Education managed by the Sibu Urban District Council and all the teachers who taught well. One of the teachers was the late Mr. William Hsu who was so helpful in teaching history and even English. Another one was Mr. Eu How Chong who is now in his 80's.

SUDC Primary Schools

Do you know that Abang Ali Primary School was actually SUDC Primary School, No.1, Sibu?


In 1953 the United Nations declared universal education to be the right of every child in the world.

The Commonwealth Office in the UK decided that it should rise to the occasion and provide similar facilities to all its colonies in the world. After all, the Commonwealth was already looking at its sunset.

The Sarawak Government, having been advised, took some action and looked at the affairs of the primary schools in the colony. The job was given to the Local Government and the Urban District Councils were tasked to plan for "council" primary schools which would add to the already existing religious, mission and Chinese primary schools. This was timely as the population of Sarawak was growing very fast.

According to the Sarawak Gazette and other sources, in 1952 there were only 4 teachers in the council's employment attached to Abang Ali School.,Sibu And there was no record that the school was actually in a wooden house. (to be revised later) there is only one black and white photo to show.

Abang Ali Primary school was actually SUDC No.1 and its building was completed in 1959 (RM160,000) It became the biggest school for the kampongs in Sibu.

The S.U.D.C. No. 2 School (now SRK Perbandaran Sibu No. 2) was completed in 1960 at a cost of RM58,000 and the additional block of this school was completed at about RM56,000 in 1965.

The planning of S.U.D.C. No. 3 School (now SRK Perbandaran Sibu No. 3) was made in 1960 and construction was completed at a cost of RM34,000 in 1961. The additional block of this building was completed in 1966 at about RM38,000. There were 471 school children with 13 teachers as at 1967.

The S.U.D.C. No. 4 School (now SRK Perbandaran Sibu No. 4) was built and completed in 1963 at a cost of RM33,000. The Government contribution in the form of grants was made to the Council to meet all the expenses of the Council's school programme.




All information sourced from several Sarawak Government websites and Sibu Municipal Council.

Corridors of Learning

Rhapsody in Blue Gershwin : 55 years ago

Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. The composition was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé three times, in 1924, in 1926, and finally in 1946.
My love for jazz music can be said to have started by Gershwin.

Jazz is a happy kind of music for my young ears in those days in Sibu. Later I was to enjoy a lot of musicals from records and cassette tapes.

Associated with my love for music ...I have the sad moments of having to throw out obsolete collections ....... More than 40 years later, I have to throw away a lot of video tapes and cassette tapes which have grown mouldy over time....

And then I enjoyed watching the Walt Disney cartoon movie, Fantasia 2000 with my children. We had a video too and we played it again and again.

Sibu Tales : Cloth Banners

This photo is from a Teo/Zhang/Chang/Tiong clansman. Sam Teo who is in the photo.

How many of us still keep the cloth banners, souvenir pendants we received as students, teachers and school representatives after perhaps 50 years?

Basketballers were the IDOLS of youths of the older generation.

For their skills and their commitment to the game, the team only received cloth banners, and none of the team players would get a souvenir or any cash gift. Their coaches were not exactly highly skilled but only because they were older and perhaps had longer experiences in playing the game, and the basketballers' team uniform was a simple white singlet. They even had to paint their own numbers on the white singlet. Some even played barefooted.

Although there was already some kind of politics about who could play and who could not play in the team, conflicts were minimal because life's expectations were not high. It was good enough to be chosen. To sit on the bench was honorable. Coaches were respected and perhaps never fired. Any way they did not get a salary like the practices of the 21st century.

But they were highly admired.

Those were the days.

Sibu Tales : 7th Standard

In the days of the White Rajahs there were several mission schools in Sarawak. Sibu had Sacred Heart School ,Yuk Ing Girls' School and Anglo Chinese School for Boys.

The English Medium schools had classes which are named Kindergarten, Primary One and Primary Two. Primary Three was known as Standard One. What is known as Primary Six today was known as STandard Four, when there was a public exam. Many could not pass that exam at age 12. The failures might repeat the year. That repeat was called Retention.

However most pupils would be too shy to repeat so they would be out of school to find work. This short cut to adulthood had advantages and disadvantages.

To be able to reach Standard Seven before the Second World War was an accomplishment. My father and his siblings in Sibu attained the standard and were sent to Shanghai for further studies! That was the lot for Sibu boys, but girls continued their studies in Singapore. A few girls from Sibu left for Xiaman and one of my friend's mother became the first Sibu Foochow girl to graduate from Xiamen university. My father and his good friend, Wong Cheng Ang graduated from Yenching University , Beijing in 1937.

On the other hand those boys who graduated from Standard 7 and did not continue their education were already considered the elite of the town. They were handpicked to work for the the government, being a rather small species of English speaking Chinese,Malays or Orang Sarawak. These became very important government officers in their later life.

Several of my relatives attained Standard 7, and especially those from wealthy families managed their own companies and became even more wealthy as rubber prices soared and export business saw great prosperity.

The Foochows in the olden days held a lot of respect for Chik Hor Seng (Standard 7 Graduates) and they were the best candidates for sons-in-law. They would be considered very "useful, capable and full of prospects".

The other category of potential good sons-in-law was the group from Chinese Middle School. Graduates from Senior Middle School were called Goh Diing Seng (Senior Middle GRaduates). They usually ended up as accountants, managers of Chinese trading houses or Chinese school teachers.

A few Chinese were able to master both Chinese and English languages. Furthermore they were able to attain both Standard 7 and Chinese Middle School certificates. When they started working, they would learn academic Malay language. This special group of Chinese young men had bright futures especially if they had good connections.

Growing up in Sibu - Multi lingual

I grew up with Oxford English series from "A Pen and a Man...", Peter and Jane series, Enid Blyton was a known name, Aesop's Fables taught me morals not the 44 values of Pendidekan Moral,besides Greek Mythology, I had King Arthur and His Knights as warrior educators,great names of missionaries, adventurers etc.

I was born three months before the Hoover Memorail building (my primary school) was officially opened.

A global education.

I did not attend double session in thoses days ie. English education in the morning and Chinese education in the afternoon. My 7th aunt told me that before the war only the very bright ones could do both, or the wealthier ones. Those who attended only the Chinese had to work extra to help their families earn extra. some did not go to school until they were 10 years old due to financial difficulties. And with only a few years of basic education, they would leave school by the time they were 16 . In a year or two they became parents. the Methodist Church encouraged both boys and girls to go to school. Those without parents or had only one parent, were put in the boarding school and were called MISSION children, not orphans.

In Form One I studied BM, and at age 40 I started learning Chinese. In the first year of university I took Jawi as part of my Malay subject and Sanskrit as my second language. This was part of the regulation of those days. Others took Japanese, Chinese, Tamil, German and French.

Today I speak 4 languages,and 3 Chinese dialects and can understand some secret messages between Hakka and Cantonese...

Sibu was originally a Hokkien/Minnang speaking town where shopkeepers were descended from the earliest Minnang migrants to Borneo. It was only later in 1901 that the Foochows arrived. Even the Hakkas, Teochiews and Cantonese were earlier settlers.

There were schools before I was born, using Foochow as medium of instruction!

Basic education continues today in the rural and urban areas and remains compulsory but a lot of politicians have derailed the main principles of education.

Sibu Taloes : A Short History of Methodist Secondary School

History of SMB Methodist Sibu



For more than half a century, SMB Methodist Sibu has been pushing ever upwards. Defeats and set-backs notwithstanding, this school has ever been in the forefront of education in this colony. As early as 1903 "the first Methodist Boys' School in Sarawak" opened its doors at Sungai Merah. Eight years later Mrs. James M. Hoover started the Uk Ing Girls' School in Sibu. 1914 a new building was put up for the school and a kindergarden was started. English classes for boys began in 1925 with Mr. J. B. Chong as principal and Rev. James Hoover as part-time teacher of English. For a time the school merged with Chung Hua School on its present site but separated from Chung Hua in 1940 after the death of Mr. J. B. Chong. In 1941, Mrs. J. B. Chong and Rev. Gerald Summers opened the Methodist Boys' School on Island Road (Jalan Pulau) with 98 pupils. Chinese was also taught in this school.

In December 1941 Rev. Summers went to Singapore to attend the Annual Conference and after war broke out, he was imprisoned, and died in concentration camp just before he was to be released. Mrs. Chong carried on the teaching and the administration of the school while Mr. Summers went to Conference, but the school was orded closed by the Japanese in March of 1942.

After the war, Mrs. Mary Hoover with Mr. Luk Sung Sing as dean, reopened the kindergarden and the Uk Ing Primary and Junior Middle School in June 1946. Following that year in June, Rev. E. O. McGraw re-opened the Methodist Boys' School with Mrs. J. B. Chong as Vice-principal. The name was changed to Methodist English School, because there were many girls attending. In 1950 the school had its first Junior Cambridge class and the first Senior Cambridge class soon afterwards in 1952.

In 1949 the first Chinese Senior Middle School in Sarawak was opended in the new premises on the present site of the school with Mr. Ling Wen Tsung as principal. In 1951 the Methodist English School Secondary Department moved in to join the Chinese Secondary school, occupying the first unit of the Gerald Summers Memorial building. This building was built with funds raised in the Rev. Summers' Home conference, the Nebraska Conference, as a memorial to him.

The Chinese school and the English school were combined in 1951 as one school with Mr. J. Pilly as principal. The next year Rev. D. P. Coole became principal after Rev. L. R. Dennis volunteered to fill vacancy between Mr. Pilley's furlough leave and Rev. Coole's arrival. In June of 1957 Rev. Coole left on furlough, leaving Mr. Eugene Teng as principle. Mr. Teng was followed by Mr. William Funk, who was followed in turn by Rev. Ralph Kesselring and he by Mr. Pilley again.

During these years, the school Committee has stood behind the school financially and in other ways. Were it not for Rev. Ling Kai Cheng, Rev. E. O. McGraw and Rev. Wong King Hoo this valueble piece of property that we now occupy would not have been acquired. May we always seek; and as we find, let us serve.

Sibu Tales...Foochow Girls and School Embroidery

In the primary school in the 50's and 60's girls had special sewing classes.

for a whole year, we learned, one lesson a week to learn the basic embroidery stitches. And for that I was ever so grateful to Mrs. Chee and Miss Mamora for teaching us sewing.

Towards the end of the year, we used the cross stitched material, with our not such wonderful stitches, to make a nice pouch. That pouch was with me years to keep my pencils and other things.

It was a good experience and it was only much later in life I realised how important those basic stitches are.

Blanket Stitch

Today I still do a bit of sewing, and I smile when I need to use Blanket Stitch, or Running Stitch. I believer that whatever we learn well, we never forget.

And the training was good because we girls were trained to make everything by ourselves, to be self sufficient...and not buy anything if possible. That's a great value to have.

If you wanted something, you have to make it yourself. (That's a Foochow saying and that explains why the Foochows are so enterprising.)