My Alma Mater – Anglo Chinese Secondary School Part 2

The annual sports meet of our school, was always one that could not be surpassed by any school in Klang, except may be High School, Klang, our rival school. The sports meet was a grand affair, not to be seen today. It was like a fun fare, with loud speakers and music being played loudly. Races during those days were started by guns. I clearly remember one well known “starter”, a Mr. Koh Teck Chong, dressed in “white”, starting most of the races.

Many secondary schools, especially in Klang, even from as far as Kuala Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and even at times far as Ipoh, coming for our 4 X 400m relay race. Believe me, this event was a major attraction of our annual sports meet.

One other major attraction of our annual sports meet I remember, was the “tug of war” contest between “present pupils” and “past pupils” or old boy’s team. This was usually the last event of the day.

Pupils, I remember would encroach round the main guest tent to witness this interesting event. Old boys, being adults, were mostly big sized and pot bellied. Their combined weight alone was good enough to ensure their success.

The school team, which was made up of current students were nowhere compared to the old boys’ team. Without a doubt, the old boys’ team would usually land up as the eventual “winners” of the day.

Besides the many events available during the sports day, were events such as 100m, 200m, relay races for 4 X 100, 4 X 400 open school relay events, high jump, long jump, officials race, shot putt and javelin.

The A.C.S. annual sports, which is normally held from May to July, must surely be a grand event, never to be seen again by the folks of Klang town. As an ex A.C.S. pupil, I really miss it a lot. With the tents of the participating houses beautifully decorated for the “Decorations Cup”, and with all sorts of drinks, cakes and ice cream stocked in them, the atmosphere of our annual sports meet wax one that should not be missed by the pupils of the school.

Besides the annual sports meet, A.C.S. Klang is a venue for important football games. I once remember the Selangor Malays team in which “football king” Abdul Ghani plays for, once met another famous and well known team, Selangor Rangers represented by famous stars as Lourdes and Govindaraju.

This exciting game was held at our school padang. Tickets were sold. Black cloth was installed all around our school perimeter fence as high up as 6 or 7 feet high, to prevent spectators from looking into the padang or field. The entire bamboo fence which enclosed our school, was completed patched up to prevent our boys from trying to enter the school premise without playing.

Being an ardent fan of football, but unfortunately, unable to purchase the tickets to the Selangor Malays vs Selangor Rangers match, I finally had to climb up a nearby tree to witness the game. I just could not let the chance of seeing famous football stars such as Abdul Ghani Mirhat, Govindaraju, Lourdes and Arthur Koh, playing at our own A.C.S. field.

And finally, when talking about my secondary school days, which were from 1958 to 1962, as an A.C.S. boy, I feel I should talk about our school fun fare which is called the A.C.S. Carnival.

Most schools raise funds for school projects such as buildings and libraries, our school, A.C.S. Klang, is no exception. Under the principalship of Mr. D.R. Daniel, A.C.S. once every few years will hold a carnival or fun fare called the “A.C.S. Carnival”.

The A.C.S. Carnival is a big fun fare, unlike other fun fare, games and competitions are abundance. Every class was responsible to put up a stall, be it a stall for games, or a food stall. There were lots of fun and food around.

Months before the carnival arrived, art teachers such as Mr. James Pandian and Mr. Koh Yan Hoe, were busy getting students to draw up “posters”, which were to be put up all around arches that were built to surround our entire school. Beautiful “neon” lights decorated our school premise. A.C.S. was like a fairy land, believe me.

Tickets will be printed. And pupils obviously will be responsible to sell as many tickets as possible. Many competitions to sell tickets were organized.

All types of games and competitions were set up. Food stalls of every type, catering for food and drinks were also set up. Popiah stalls, stalls selling bubur chacha, rojak, drinks such as red beans and so on will be set up when the “Carnival” Day arrives. Tickets, normally be made up of 20 cents, 50 cents, and one dollar, will be printed to allow as many students as possible to partake in this interesting carnival.

Sometimes, the committee that organizes the A.C.S. Carnival will even launch a competition to select a “carnival queen” for our carnival. Handsome prizes were sometimes given to the lucky winner.

It is hoped that this article on my Alma Mater, A.C.S. (secondary) will bring back fond memories of your younger days when you were studying in it many years ago.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about A.C.S. secondary school, as much as I have enjoyed writing it for you! “Sapientia Potentsia Est” or “Knowledge is Power”. Long live A.C.S. Klang! I’m extremely proud to be a student of this school.

In 1962, I sat for my Overseas Cambridge Examination and obtained a 2^nd grade certificate. With a heart as “heavy as lead”, I finally had to bid farewell to my school teachers like Mr. S.P Subramaniam, Mr. Rathi Chandran, Mr. A.R Muthiah, Mr. K.O Chandy, Mr. and Mrs. T.O George, Mr. Sonny Tan, Mr. Kao Yan Hoe, Mr. James Pandian, Mr. Muthulingam, (the 6.6 feet tall) teacher from Kuala Lumpur and finally to Mr. D.R. Daniel who was my principal for many, many years.

God bless you all. Take care!