November 26th , 2007
<img src="http://smi.robertdesilva.com/images/BroUltanPaul.jpg" >
The Late Brother Ultan Paul. Brother Director, Brother Visitor , Scholar and Friend
Reverend Brother Ultan Paul was the Brother Director of St. Michael's
from 1961 to 1971
and from 1986 to 1988
Picture ..Courtesy of Mr. Peter Khiew
will write about Brother Paul soon
November 14th , 2007
I was reading Peter Khiew's Blog and was pleasantly surprised to see the picture of Pak Din and the Ice Cream Man.
Sadly I can not seem to place the Ice Cream Man, but Pak Din striked me instantly.
When I was in Primary One and Two , I used to travel to school by a private car which was our form of a mini bus then. Later I took the school bus.
Ahmad and a Chinese Gentleman were the bus operators then. The Chinese gent was a stout guy, works as a Detective with the Police Volunteer Reserves. I believe he was a Sargeant then.
Pak Din joined the service later and then followed by a younger Chinese gentleman. Joseph ,I believe is his name. he was the youngest then.
Had fun travelling in the buses and the PVR guy and Ahmad had a Rotan each in their buses. Yes , I do believe I am right.
Still it was fun , I do not remember them yielding the cane but that was enough to make us behave.
I wish to take the opportunity to say 'Thank You " to them .
if anyone reading this meets them please say that the old boys remember them fondly too.
We have John Lee , Wong Kee Fah and many more teachers to thank too.
this will come soon
<img src="http://smi.robertdesilva.com/images/PakDinandceCreammanofSmI.jpg" />
Pak Din and "Ice Cream Man" Picture courtesy of Mr. Peter Khiew
I remember Ahmad very well in the the Kampong Simee route of our school bus. Is Pakcik Din and Ahmad the same pereson?
response from Robert.
Inche Ahmad and Pak Din are two different persons.
Inche Ahmad was the more senior gentleman.
TRIBUTE TO OUR BELOVED REV. BRO. U. PAUL
It was the month of November 1967 and our Senior Cambridge School Cert. Exam. was around the corner and it was the tradition of Bro. Paul to call us one by one to his office to have a chat with us just before we leave school after the final exam. TRULY A LOVING AND CARING BROTHER DIRECTOR.
One morning it was my turn and I walked into Bro. Paul's office and wished him "Good Morning". He asked me to sit down. As he knew that I am a Catholic, his first question was "Anthony, any intention of joining the religious life as a La Salle Brother or a Priest." "Sorry Brother," I answered, "I am the elder of the two boys in my family". He was speechless. Then he looked at my Trial Exam. results and said, "You did not do very well in your Trial Exam. You have to work harder for the SCSC Exam."
Me : Yes Brother, I will.
Bro. Paul: Do you have any problems in your studies?
Me: Well, Brother, I don't seem to have a very good memory. I find it difficult to absorb what I have studied.
Bro. Paul: Nonsense, I don't believe in bad memory. Tell me what is your name.
Me: Anthony Kim, Brother.
Bro. Paul: See what I mean. How can you tell me that you have a bad memory? You remember your name. Go and study harder. God bless you.
It was my turn to be speechless.
Fellow Michaelians I rest my case.
Keeping memories of Bro.Paul alive.
This is a posting by Paul Seo.
I think we all have our own personal encounters with him. As for me I had 2, both in Form 6.
Bro. Paul was teaching the Moral class for 6th Form, the first period. As I was usually late for school, I decided to skip his class one day. Hock fee, the Head Prefect at that time spotted me in my class and asked me to go for the Moral Class. I refused, saying I would go the next day.Despite his repeated persuadings I refused. When the 1st period in our class started, a voice came over the P.A. system that Bro. Paul wanted to see me. I went , opened his door, went in and before I could say a word, Bro. Paul told me sternly," I want to see you at the Moral class tomorrow " Before I could reply, he ordered me to go back to class.
The 2nd occasion was when I was summoned over the P.A. again to see him. I opened the door. He opened his drawer, took out 5 ringgit and said, "Get a haircut" I declined his offer. He was insistent and said that he wanted to see me tomorrow with my hair cut. I remembered spending the money with my friends on ice-kacang and rojak. But I had a hair-cut that evening.
There was another incident in lower 6. I was the class monitor and Bro Paul taught us GP. One day he brought a cute, petite girl in miniskirtto the class. Thinking it was someone who was going to join our class, I requested theclass to stand up and welcome the new girl.
He st4rnly announced that she was our nrw English Literature teacher. What an introduction and what a laugh we had.
So much for now,Ciao.
One day Bro.Paul was "patrolling" the corridors of the school. 5A3 was up to their usual mischief and Rohini saw Bro. Paul coming from the other end of the block and Rohini started signallling to the class that Brother. was on his way. the class was so busy playing and some were trying to figure out what Rohini was trying to say. He had one of his hands over his head and he was "circling " his hand around his head repeatedly.
He was so busy trying to get our attention that he did not notice Bro.Paul standing just behind him. Staring at him . He moved on only after Rohini noticed him.
We were so surprised that Bro. Paul did not do anything .He just walked on.
I believed that he had to move on as he could not control his urge to laugh.
Rohini must have been closed to having a heart attack then.
this one of the things we can look back too.
then there is him giving us a choice of canes to pick for our punishment.
there must be so much stories about this great person that we would like to share with the younger generation of Michaelians.
Mr.John Lee
Mr. John Lee was our Form Teacher in Form Three A 3 1965.
This is one person whose mere presence can make one wet or even soil his pants.
Mr. John Lee was Form Teacher , Physical Execise teacher and Bahasa Malaysia teacher.
He was the very tough on us , tough in the sense he made us behave and learn our lessons and he was always there to make sure we did just that. He had his ways to make one do his work
For many reasons ,we ,the class loves and respects him very much.
He was a very dedicated teacher, very strict but never abusive.
there are so many stories about him , our adventures are many....... I shall return and write more
Will Mr George of Ipoh ,Please introduce yourself. we are curious to know you. Class .Year etc.
Thanks Buddy
Mr. John Lee
Class Teacher Form 3 A3 1965
Physical Excercise Teacher In Form 2, 3 , 4 and 5.
Bahasa Kebangsaan Teacher ( National Language ) Form 3 , 4 ( 1966 )
This is a man to be reckon with. Strictly a no nonsense teacher . His mere presence was enough to frighten you into being attentive and well behaved.
His mode of punishment was something to talk about . We were so afraid of being in his wrong side but surprisingly we never , ever hated this man. We in fact had so much good things to talk about him and all the fright that he had instilled in us was nothing.
He would walk into our class and if he so much as see us sleepy eyed ,he would make us all go to the field and run a few rounds before coming back to class.
The was once when 2 of us were caught fighting in class and one I believed was sleeping. He made the three boys go up to the Brothers' living quarters and carry a long Rattan Sette. ( a sofa of sorts). down to the Canteen during Recess. the boy who was sleeping was made to sleep on the Rattan sofa and the two who were fighting were made to carry two big fans . the two " fighters" were then made to fan the sleeper right in the canteen. there were about two thousand students in our school. ( I hope the figure is right) Students and Teachers were wonderingwhat came over thses boys and why they were acting in that manner. When they come to know the reason, people started laughing .
There was another incident where two boys were caughting fighting in class.
Mr.John Lee made them stand on the benches at the school corridor . They had to stand facing each other and in a fighting stance.
Brother Casimer happen to walk by and saw these two still standing in that position and he was so furious as the boys just continued standing there and did not burge even when Bro. Casimer ordered them to get down and go back into the class.
He did not know why they were therein that instance.
Bro. Casimer walked into the class and his Irish face was all red and hands in his pockets and asked us why the boys refused to burge. When we told him that Mr. John Lee vetted out the punishment as they were fighting, Bro Casimer burst out laughing and walked away.
See Brother Casimer ,when he is angry always has a red face and his hands are always in the pockets of his robe.
We believe he has a rosary there and he was reciting the Hail Mary everytime he does that.
Mr. John Lee's punishment was always unigue but never were they painful. enough to embarass you and you will think twice, no ten times before you do something and get caught again.
When we were in Form Four ( 1966) he was our Bahasa Kebangsaan Teacher.
At that time all non Malay students had to take Bahasa Kebangsaan . This was a Compulsory subject and if you fail this paper you fail the whole examination. The Malay students had to take both the papers , Bahasa Kebangsaan and Bahasa Melayu. Bahasa Melayu was supposed to be a tougher Paper.
Mr. John Lee made us the non Malay students to take this paper .There was no choice. This was a Form Three paper but he made us take it in Form Four. Just only this Subject. That was then The LCE .Lower Certificate of Education Examination.
He was our Bahasa Teacher ( language teacher). He bought about 40 over short story books and gave each of us one at the first time.
We were told to read the books , if there were any words that we do not understand we were o look up the word in the English / Malay dictionary. Then we were to wirte the english translation of the word by pencil on the book.
The nexttime when the book was passed around, ie the second person whio reads the book would have some of the difficult words translate. no wthe second person to read the book will then translate the words that he did not understnd. After several passes of the book , it would have almsot be translated in it entirety. This was such a brillant idea that as the days passed reading the books were so easy as most of the difficul words were translated.
Now , he walks by you while you are reading and picks a word and ask you the meaning of the word. Dont understand, no problem, why did you not ask . no problem ,write the word a thousand times. now a problem.
When he reads from a book , story or text , we are expected to raise our hands when we come across any words that we did not understand. If you did not raise your hands and ask it means you understand. Good, but if he asked you and you did not know the word and did not raise your hands to ask, it is a thousand lines agian.
He made us purchase a small note book , those days it was the 3 fives brand which were popular.
we were supposed to listen to theMalay News, read Malay newspapers, books etc. Everyday we were to have 10 new words and the English translation. ten new words and no repeatitions, every day.
We were to study the words at every assembly. there we were the class in an assemby with another 2ooo students holding and reading or at least pretending to read. The other students used to mock us. we were embarassed at times.
The exams came and there were like 40 of us in the class and we all took the examination paper.
When the results came back and posted at the notice board, there were only two who failed and the rest of us did very well.
I was tol tht Mr John Lee and Bro. Paul was there at the notice board and Bro. pual was congratulaing Mr. John Lee and my friends told me he had tears of joy in his eyes.
This was an achievement for us the non Malay students and Mr..John Lee showed that it was not impossible . see we did very well because we were " forced and Threatened" to do so.
I went on after Form Five to work briefly in Sabah before returning to continue my studies.
When I was in Sabah there was a vacancy for an English and Malay teacher. I applied and got the job. My qualifications...my Bahasa Melayu Paper. NOTHING else. ha ha ha. Malu heh?
I taught for about 3 months and decided teaching was not for me. I was too playful to be a teacher and I honestly find it boring and my students were almost my age .
this was something that we were so proud of , a very good and dedicated Teacher.
Mr John Lee, I hope you you would read this.
We love you.
As far as I am concerned, you are one of the very few teachers that I trully respect.
We were frighten of you but you were also a very concerned and dedicated teacher.
There are so much more encounters I can write about and I hope my friends will share their experiences with us here.
God Bless you and all the dedicated Teachers
Today. July 13th. 2008.
wow time flies. How nice if someone else were to pen a few words and make this site more interesting.
yeah come on, tell us your experiences in school about the friends you missed , the teachers who stood out etc. , etc., etc .
wow it is the almost the end of july 2008 ( today is the 27 th July 2008 ) yeah and my 58th birthday. Happy birthday to me and all of you who celebrate your birthday this month. Paul Seo that includes you. 25th July.
I am still waiting for more Michaelians to write something on this site.
Hope you all contribute some thing interesting. about anything.
July 29th. 2008
so , I celebrated my 58th. with so many phone calls and messages from my good old friends from SMI. ,work mates and the children friends nice feeling. Good to know that I have at least 40 friends from SMI . is it not great to have friends , especially people who know you for more than 40 years.
wow, are we that old.
no, like Michael Ong says , we are as old as we feel.
Frankie says he feels young with all his young friends, his kids friends.
Likewise , I am having some fun too. The Children have some graet friends and they are very good kids who are very respectful. at work I work with a buch of young people some as young as 19. and the average is around the Twenties. These young people are so respectful, yes we do speak "french" too sometimes but all in fun and they are great.
here I am Mr. Robert or Uncle Robert or Uncle Bob.
to them I address them " hey Buddy'. yeah they are my Buddies.
What more can one ask for.
FRIENDS... what would it be without them and family . and of course someone greater.
GOD.
ps. Please remember to say a prayer for me and my family and while you are doing that say a prayer for your family and all your friends too.
Cheers.
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