The Naughty Boys

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...

At Raffles Institution we were introduced to a myriad of literary writings. In Secondary One for our English Language text, we were introduced to 'All Men Are Brothers'. It is a portrait of Albert Schweitzer and his medical missionary work in Lamberene in French Equatorial Africa. Chen Wen kept the textbook all these years (see picture). In those days the covers of our textbook were non-discreet and dull but the stories inside can be quite fascinating. Imagine we were 'kampong' boys coming from neighbourhood primary schools, now told to study a Nobel Prize Laurette of 1952. It immediately trusted us into a different world that can be explored just by reading books.  Chen Wen remembered that in Sec 1, the books we studied included A Time of Darkness, The Adventures of Hang Tuah and Outstanding Short Stories. In a Time of darkness there was a spooky character named KL Fong. Chen Wen teased Cheong Moon Foo by calling him KL Cheong. Lee Dan Lin added salt and peppe...

The Main Tuck-Shop What is now the school canteen was call the School Tuck-Shop in our days. The term "tuck", meaning food, is an Australian slang which means to  "to tuck into a meal".  We had two Tuckshops, the larger called the main tuck-shop was located next to main Raffles Institution Building. Strangely, one passed through the corridor of the toilets to get to it although you can get to it from the sides which are open to the field. A large Banyan tree, verdant with foliage and numerous aerial roots stood tall next to the main tuckshop. It was a majestic tree. RI was a Banyan tree to us as we grew up and we were sheltered by the foliage of the huge school compound, much like sheltering under that Banyan tree; we felt at home and secure. So many classmates, so many friends. We, Rafflesians, never saw the Banyan tree and the main tuckshop as separate entities, they were one iconic feature of the Bras Basah Campus. Then one day the grand old tree fell an...

About 300 boys of ages 14-15 years must surely and evidently manifest strong testosterone urges resulting in growth spurts, muscular development and attraction to the girls. Alas, we are but an all -boys school and there was little opportunity for the meeting of the sexes. We can only look forlornly across North Bridge Road towards the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, an all-girls school. Being a convent, there were very high walls surrounding that school thus shielding the girls from view. Nevertheless this did not stop us from  the sharing of  juicy girlfriends stories, fantasies and 'naughty' pictures. Raffles Institution is a great school which prided itself not only for its extraordinary academic results but also a superb all round education with much emphasis in sports, the arts and extra curricular activities. An intensive school programme and activities occupied the attention of the boys. It must have been so designed to divert attention from the testosterone ...

The Last Assembly at RI Bras Basah Road We, old Rafflesians, always cherish the school songs we sang at the Thursday assemblies as well as the weekly music lessons we received during the lower secondary classes. Sec 3B Science had our music lessons every Wednesday before recess at the School Hall together with other Sec 3 classes. The lessons were taught by Mr George Sobreilo the asst Principal and sometimes by Mr David Lim, the Inspector of Schools for Music sent by the Ministry of Education. The School published a yellow coloured notebook which had a list of more than 150 songs and we all had to buy this RI songbook like a textbook. We sang those songs in turn during assembly and at every event. We had to sit on the floor of the school hall which was quite disconcerting because we wore white shorts and invariably these shorts would be dirty with dust. Many of us were from poor families and cannot afford to have uniforms laundered every day, so we came to school with d...

Mathematics was one of the strongest subjects of Rafflesians in the 1960s. In Sec 3B Science there were two kinds of Mathematics taught, Elementary and Additional Mathematics. Elementary Mathematic was taught by Mr Puhaindran and Additional Mathematics by Mr Leo Chin Fook. In 1967, during the Cambridge Certificate or O Level examinations, 132 of our cohort obtained A1 in E Maths and 22 obtained A1 in A Maths, a rare feat at that time. Puhaindran was also the sports secretary and the 2101 Scoutmaster. He was very well respected, feared even, by the boys. He appeared very stern and thus no one in the class dared to be up to any mischiefs when he was teaching. Actually, he was a very personable man, easy to talk too and to make long lasting friendships with. To this day, the ex-scouts kept in touch with him. We will meet with him from time to time and his memory and mental faculty very lucid so that good scouting days stories could be retold. However, Mr Puhaindran’s teachi...