Another Mission school gets back original name

Seremban: A second Mission school in Malaysia will soon revert to its original name. The 117-year-old SMK St Paul, here which has an illustrious past, will be known as St Paul's Institution (SPI) after the move was endorsed by the school's board of governors and teachers.

The school's Parent-Teachers Association as well as the Old Paulians' Association (OPA) have also unanimously supported the idea and wants the name changed soonest.

Malaysian Federation of La Sallian Associations president Michael Simon said they were encouraging all 44 schools which came under the La Salle Brothers banner to do so.

"St John's Institution was the first to successfully apply to revert to its old name after writing in to the Education Ministry."

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"We believe SPI is the second and we fully support this," he said adding that all schools built under the La Sallian banner should follow suit to bring back the ethos of these institutions.

Simon said according to the Ministry, such schools would be allowed to revert to their old names provided they get the consent of the school administration, the board of governors and the PTA.

The Malaysian Federation of La Sallian Associations is an umbrella organisation of 19 La Salle Alumni Associations of the La Salle Christian Brothers Schools in Malaysia.

The first La Sallian school to be built in the country was St Xavier's Institution in 1852.

SMK St Paul's PTA head A. Devasagayam said parents were unanimous in their support for the name change.

"We called for an emergency meeting on Saturday and parents had no objection to the move," he said adding that the present name was probably introduced in the 1990s.

Old Paulian Association secretary Lee Kok Keong said the school's board of governors had also given the nod in a recent meeting.

Principal Lucy Ratnam said two-thirds of the school staff have also okayed the move.

"We will forward the feedback we got to the board of governors and then write in together with SK St Paul which is our primary school for a name change," she added.

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Among the school's illustrious alumni are the late Malay scholar, Tan Sri Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad, former Health Minister Bahaman Saharudin, Singapore's first Foreign Minister S. Raja Ratnam, former Dewan Negara president Tan Sri Chan Choong Tak, former Federal Court judge Tan Sri Edgar Joseph and Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Rev Father Julian Leow Beng Kim.

SPI had also produced national sports legends such as Ho Ko Chye, Peter Van Huizen, Stephen Van Huizen and Gary Vernon Fidelis (hockey players and Olympians), Chow Kwai Lam and Mok Wai Hoon (football) and Datuk Dr. P. S. Nathan (bowling).

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