Spirit of sportsmanship

I REFER both to your article titled “Mission to preserve legacy” and Ng Peng Kong’s letter in StarEducation last week. I wish to talk about another noble school with 109 years of history, the Anglo-Chinese School, Ipoh.  

ACS Ipoh rivalled St Michael’s Institution, Ipoh, in every sport. Whenever the two schools played in any game, a huge turnout could be expected. 

This rivalry however was always observed in the spirit of sportsmanship and fun. What kept it that way was the ethos that we had regarding sports.  

We were taught to believe that playing a game was a gentlemanly affair, that we should respect our opponents and that the better man should win 

Today we find players, their coaches, supporters and even managers fighting on the field. That is the state sports has degenerated into!  

A sporting spirit takes years to inculcate. It takes people with the correct attitude towards sports to plant it into both players and supporters. 

I can recall how proud we were when we were presented with School Colours for the games we represented the school in, and when we reached a high standard, like playing for the state. 

These Colours meant more to us than prize money!  

Discipline was the key to ACS Ipoh’s success. Until today we remember our discipline teachers, Mr Moreira who was followed by Mr Brian. These two teachers instilled discipline in us like nothing ever could.  

We were not scared of the principals who came and went, but these two characters were feared and revered like gods!  

They did not wield the cane like a sword-buckling Samurai or Buccaneer, but were just and fair when dealing with errant pupils. It was never “Do as I say but not as I do”. They led lives that were disciplined, too. 

Another important legacy of ACS Ipoh was the love of music and songs. Singing was an integral part of the education system. We would sit on the wooden floor of the gymnasium and sing to the accompaniment of an old piano.  

We sang from the “Silver Song Book” and graduated to the “Golden Song Book”. These were American songs that taught us their life and rich culture.  

There was no such thing as a song being “unsuitable” for a particular race or religion.  

Even hymns were appreciated by all for the good values they taught. When all races could sing together, there was no racial polarisation.  

Mission schools had good discipline as a result of headmasters and principals having great powers to employ teachers and sack them and to take in pupils or expel them when they did not conform. 

Today we transfer errant teachers and pass on their lousy attitude to another school. Naughty pupils are tolerated and pampered until they commit a serious offence. 

It was not that many teachers and pupils were sacked back then but the idea that they could was enough to keep them walking a straight line!  

ACS Ipoh means a lot to me. It made me what I am today. I was glad to be given the chance to head it before I retired from the education service. 

To show how grateful I am to my alma mater, I continue to serve as Secretary of the Alumni Association and in the Board of Managers and Governors.  

This alone speaks well for the only school I attended.  

As the school moves towards its 110th year, we intend to celebrate its anniversary on a grand scale again, like we did its 100th. 

I am compiling a book on this wonderful institution and would like alumni and teachers to contribute anecdotes, photographs and trophies (souvenirs) of all kinds to be captured in photographs for publication and then returned to the rightful owners.  

I can be contacted at: The Ipoh ACS Alumni Association Malaysia, 3-A Jalan Yang Kalsom, 30250 Ipoh. Fax: [phone] or Tel: [phone] or 05-2461457. 

Thank you and long live the mission schools of Malaysia. 

 

VICTOR CHEW 

Via e-mail