ACCESS ROAD TO HSOBA BUILDING BLOCKED IN OCTOBER 2010

18th. January 2011

During one of my visits back to Malacca, I had the opportunity to drive into the Malacca High School on 2nd. October 2010.

I was shocked that the access road to the HSOBA Club house has been blocked by concrete tables and a pile of bricks.

Instead of welcoming back former Malacca High school pupils and their families to visit their Alma mater, the current authorities want to exclude us from our past. To them, we are unwelcomed UNLESS WE WANT TO DONATE TO THE SCHOOL.

I understand from the Internet, former MHS Alumni has raised funds in the building of the MHS School Hall in 1988 and only last year, MAHSOPA raised a substantial contribution for the MHS Cadet Band in their annual dinner.

For me, the HSOBA Club house was the place where I saw first hand how data communication was made using the telephone/modem in 1974. A former MHS pupil who was working for a telecommunication firm, came to demonstrate this devise in the HSOBA Club house to us students then. It was done in a large brief case containing the telephone and coupler.

The current school authorities must realise that education CANNOT be done in a vacuum. Current technologies especially the Internet allows students to explore their subjects beyond the classrooms.

Most schools even universities are re-connecting with their former graduates via Alumni associations. Here, we have a reverse trend of trying to bury our past by trying to acquire our Club house. Why not all parties come together to draw up a win-win situation where the students benefit viz:- the School authorities, Parents-Teachers Association, HSOBA and MAHSOPA.

It is wishful thinking that an Alumni building be acquired just because it is located within the school compound. The fact that it was built there in the first place indicate that during that time, there was a cordial working relationship between the School and the Alumni, which unfortunately,this relationship has been eroded for the past 5 years.

Principals come and go as time goes by but our HSOBA has gone through for the past 90 years. Moreover, we have our own Clubhouse to be proud of.

I for one is against such a hostile unilateral move to acquire our HSOBA Clubhouse and its land.