The Naughty Boys

  The old Beatles song played on, bringing back memories of our bus rides to school. Many of us crammed like sardines, into hot rickety buses. Nevertheless, these buses dutifully brought us to old RI at the junctions of Bras Basah, North Bridge, Stamford and Beach Road. We came from kampongs faraway or from old Chinatown nearby.  Lionel Lee, Amos Koh Ah Meng, Alec Lim, Tan Boon Tee and Cheong Moon Foo lived in the Airport Road-Lorong Tai Seng area. We trudged for two miles along the gangster streets of Tai Seng, Malay kampongs, passed smelly soya sauce factories and dirty pig sty to meet at the Singapore Traction Company (STC) bus stop along Airport Road. We clambered onto the #12 STC bus which took us about 10 miles and 45 minutes through MacPherson, Serangoon, Jalan Besar and North Bridge Road. and alighted at the bus stop opposite the old Odeon theatre.  It took us a long time to get the school. We didn't mind so long as we got there in time for at least 30 minutes of ...

Lee Cheong Hoh left us on the 26 January 2021. Most of us recognise the fighting spirit in him ever since he was a member of the Raffles Institution rugby team. When he left us in the late afternoon, he fought the fight against an aggressive cancer. We visited him in the hospital ward, in fact so many visited that Johnny Pang had to set up a visit roster wherein each of us would enter our names, like making an appointment for the visit. Some have to wait in line as during this Covid period the number of visitors were restricted to three at any one time. So many of us prayed and we kept passing notes to each other as we visited and kept a rotating vigil by his bedside  Why did so many come to see Cheong Hoh make his last journey, run his last race? Because he was a very good friend to us and in the last few years he was very active in all our class gatherings and meetings. We set up a chat group reminiscing about what he meant to us. All of us mentioned that Cheong Hoh was a generou...

Scene from the Raffles Players Production A Winter's Tale 1968 The 1969 Raffles Players Committee Standing: Edmund Wee, Yap Cheng Huat, Alec Lim, Rajan Krishnan, Chong Huai Seng, Soh Keng Joon, Lionel Lee Ho Boon Tiong Seating: Florence Chan, Ms P Jothie, Ms Elizabeth Phillips, Mr John Tan Eng Siang, Ms Tan Suan Neo. Wong Wei Lin  The Raffles Players, could be considered one of the most outstanding Extra-curricular societies in Raffles Institution. It was unique as it partnered with the Raffles Girls'  School (RGS). Together we had years full of activities of artistic and literary pursuits in the annual Raffles Players Shakespeare's Plays and the Drama Festival. The Boys worked while the Girls danced The 67/69 cohorts were heavily involved with the Raffles Players. There were Rajan Krishnan, Chong Huai Seng, Lionel Lee, Alec Lim and Soh Keng Joon forming the committee members of the society. Alec Lim was the Chairman of the committee. The annual Dram...

Lim Kim Quee, our classmate of Sec 3BSc and the Raffles Institution Class of 67/69 cohort died on 10 June 2020. All of us mourn his loss. He succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Kim Quee was one of the tallest members of our class so he sat right at the last row, next to Jaidev and behind Leong Teep Khee. He was a quiet and unassuming person although some of us believed that at notorious Sec 3B Sc class in 1966, he was quietly mischievous. In the last 5 years he regularly attended the Class of 67/69 functions as well as met up with us in smaller groups.  Some of us reached into the deep recesses of our minds, to bring up fond memories of our beloved friend, Kim Quee Lionel - I saw Kim Quee in January 2020 at the DBS Bank in Holland Village. He looked well at that time or he did not want to tell me of his illness. Kim Quee was one who did not change his looks with age and he was one of the tallest member of the class. He stood tall but was always unassuming. He was in the 2101 ...

Jesudason and Philip Liau It goes without saying that in those days the RI boys were terrified of their principals. The cohort of 1963-69 had two principals, Mr E W Jesudason (1962-1966) and Mr Philip Liau (1966-1977). Both were very distinctive, flamboyant characters and no ex-Rafflesians will ever forget them. To young boys these two men stood tall as very fierce disciplinarians. Both were very willing to use corporal punishments especially the cane on errant boys. The news was that Jesudason slapped one of us in the face in the school field and several boys witnessed that punishment. Philip Liau never spared the cane on the buttocks of boys sometimes openly at the school assembly. However the school population respected both because they were very fiercely loyal to school; always fighting to uphold the School’s reputation. They engendered and promoted the Rafflesian Spirit and educational excellence, making sure that Raffles Institution maintained its position as Singapore's p...