by I {P

Dr. C. Xorthcote Parkinson, JB 18 Q 6 Raffles Professor of History L..--------'

T HE visitor to Singapore who lands from an ocean liner and

gaily directs his taximan to drive to the University is, too often, and unwittingly, undertaking an ambi­tious and costly project in geogra­phical fieldwork. Looking for the Registrar in Sepoy Lines, searching for a clinical professor in Cluny Road, he may eventually decide that it is all very confusing and that he would have done better to visit the Botanic Gardens, where the monkeys' whereabouts are ( within certain limits) known. Supposing the visitor

to have succeeded, however, in find­ing the professor he wants to see, he will have the posi ti on explained to him with academic lucidity.

'·The Universi ty;' he will be told kindly, "consists at present of two colleges, some miles apart from each other."

" I know ... ... ," the visitor will mutter sulkily.

' ·The Medical School was opened, as you will remember, in 1905, and renamed after Edward VII in 1912."

'·I had forgotten that," the visitor will murmur, lying.

A corner of the Raffles College building, opened in 1929, which now houses the Faculty of Arts of the University of IJ1a laya .

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' ·But Raffles College, for Arts and Science, was opened in 1929. Then the two institutions were united, as you know, to form the University."

'·United?" " Constitutionally united. The

university has recently completed its first academic year and awarded degrees to its first graduates. The Chancellor, Mr. Malcolm Macdonald , was there and Sir Alexander Carr­Saunders was among those receiving an honorary doctorate. It was a very dignified ceremony."

·'Oh?" " But not quite as colourful, to be

sure, as the Foundation Day in 1949." "No, I suppose it wouldn't be." "We have, at present, the three

Faculties of Arts, Science and Medicine. We ought to have Faculties of Law and Engineering."

"Then why haven't you?" "For lack of space and lack of

funds. Had you thought of making a donation?"

"No. How can you remedy the lack of space?"

" By moving the whole univenity across the straits to Johore Bahru."

"Why there? " HThat", says the professor, "is a

long story."

* * * A long story it is and we cannot

blame the visitor for wandering off to the Botanic Gardens in the middle of it. By then, however, he would have gathered that founding a univer­si ty is not the simple matter that it might seem. Simple it is certainly not. Take, for example, the need for additional faculties and departments. Those who are most helpful in suggesting how :noney might- thus be spent are not always as eloquent in showing where it is to come from. The appeal for funds has not, so far. produced more than a fraction cf what will be needed. umerous small donations prove the existence of a widespread interest in higher educa­tion , but the total sum contributed mounts slowly. In a country which is more or less at war, funds are likely to be low, and apart from that the University's appeal encounters. unfortunately, the speechless horror of citizens confronted with income tax for practically the first time. The University remains dependent, there­fore, on Government for its normal

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PIJ

Sixty Seven

/J!r. K. Kanagaretnam. President of the Students' Union, and Mr. Tan loo Liang, Yice·President, led the ma,fn procession at the University's first Convocation in July. The procession included members of the staff, the Court, the Council and the Senate and high offlcers of the U niversity .

expendi ture, and is bound to be ca utious where it might prefer to be bold.

Since the University"s two con­stituent colleges remain , as our imaginary visitor discovered, some miles apart; and since each is on a si te more or less incapable of expan­sion, efforts have been made to find a locality in which they can at once unite and develop. These efforts ended in the choice of an attractive area near Johore Bahru, with ex­tensive grounds, room for indefinite

justifiable as a long-term policy, brings with it present difficulties. For expansion and fairly easy access to Singapore. This courageous decision , whereas the date of the move, which depends on raising the necessary funds, must remain uncertain, its imminence is bound to discourage any great extension of the buildings now in use. This obstacle to develop­ment is not insurmountable and ten or twenty years spent in the effort is no grea t period in the life of a univer­sity. In the life of the individual such

The Chancellor, the Right Hon. Malcolm MacDonald, with his page, Gerard Monteiro, chats witlr Sir Henry Gurney, one of the Pro·Chancellors, before the Convocation ceremonies.

a period bulks rather larger and some of the present staff suspect that their retirement might well find the university about halfway across the Causeway.

More serious obstacles are to be found in the students' educational shortcomings and in their attitude to learning. Few schools at present train their pupils up to the standard of entry demanded at an English university. Most students, in fact, enter the University of Malaya on the basis of a School Certificate, and without the two years of specialised sixth-form work which prepares the English student for his higher studies. While much can be done (and will be done) to remedy this state of affairs, it is remarkable what rapid progress some of the present students make. A number of them so far make good their initial handicap as to reach Honours standard in four yea rs, and the Medical Faculty has already trained many physicians and sur­geons of which the University may be proud.

The undergraduates benefit, in this respect, from their earlier maturity. And this raises higher one's hopes of what they may achieve when their schooling comes nearer to English standards. More serious, perhaps, is the rather materialistic outlook to which some people seem prone. The value of a degree is apt to be measured in dollars, a certain outlay in work and in fees being nicely balanced against an expected increase of earning capacity. The love of

learning for its own sake is not too apparent and students too rarely choose a subject merely because it interests them. This is something to be cured in time by enthusiasm, patience and example.

In these early days of the Univer­sity two dangers are apparent, one mainly affecting the staff and. the other the students. The first is the belief, too common in recent founda­tions, that a ll will come righ t through the mere passage of time. The temptation is to suppose that an institution improves with age and that the glories of the older univer­sities are a necessary result of their an tiqui ty. othing could be further from the truth. If an ancient univer­sity is still famous (and some are not) it is because its original statutes were wisely drafted, its first professors picked with care. If its buildings are beautiful it is not from age but because men had the good sense to make them so. If its traditions make for good order and seemly conduct, it is because its early rules were well enforced. A university may ri se by the cumulative wisdom of the genera­tions but it can as readily sink under cumulative folly. It is in these early years that the character of an institution is formed. It does not form itself. It is formed by its teachers, graduates and students, and it is they who decide (perhaps

The Vice·Chancellor, Dr. G. V. Alien, welcom.es the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negri Sembilun and his consort at the Foundation Day ceremonies in October, 1949. llfuny of the /lfalay Rulers and Ruling Chiefs attended.

The Chancellor, the Right Hon. Malcolm MacDonald, delivering his Foundation Day address. Seated on either side of him (left to right) are: the Vice­Chancellor, Dr. G. V. Alien and the four Pro-Chancellors-Data Onn bin Ja'afar, Sir Frank/in Gim son , S ir Henry Gurney and Sir Hun Hoe Lim.

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unknowingly) what its future tradi­tion IS to be. Fortunate is the university whose early generations remember this.

The danger a ffecting the students, or some of them, is over-anxiety about their marks. With improved standards in schooling, confidence will grow, but at present too many miss what a university education should imply; a nice balance between study and recreation. If lectures are important, so in a different way are music, drama, cricket, debate and chess. The undergraduate who finds time to fence or swim, the under­graduate who will spend half the night arguing about the nature of beauty or the doctrine of predestina­tion is not simply wasting time. or does he do worse in the examination than the student who never looks up from his books. All these activities are a part of an educational process in wl-lich the students ofter, teach each other more than their pro­fessors ei ther can or dare. Next to compelling a son or daughter to read a sub ject for any reason but that of interest in it (a crime which is not unknown) th~ worst service that parents can do is to make their children overwork. During the years spent at a university, the student has the privilege of reading, learning. play ing, di scussing, thinking and

The Chancellor conferring the degree o f Bachelor of A rts on lnche Hu ssein bin Os man at the firs t Convoca tion . Below: Women s tudents of Lire U niversit y wear many different typ es of dress. L eft t o right: Misses Tan l oo L ia t. Pa tricia Wong (C hinese), N alini N air (I ndian ), H edwig Aroozoo and Zaharah binte lffokhtar ( lffalay)

dreaming. To learn the right use of leisure, the first lesson is to have leisure, and it is a sad sort of college where everyone seems to be working all the time. And the interference of a parent who is not himself a gradu­ate can seldom cause anything but harm.

If the obstacles are formidable and if the dangers are great (and they are), the opportunities too are great. Here in Malaya we have pupils of natural intelligence, their wits sharpened by inter-racial contact and mixed origin, living at one of the world's cultural crossroads, influenc­ed by several civilizations and well placed to choose, if they will, the best fro m eacl1. From among them, if properl y handled, may be drawn the leaders of the future. From among them may come those who can interpret between East and West and so fulfil one of the greatest needs of our time. F rom among them may come statesmen able to think not merely of their country but of the wo rld. And apa rt f rom these excep­tional people, the University may hope to train, in growing numbers, the professional men and women who will ad ministrate, build , teach and heal in Malaya, finding a remedy for our present ills and showing in their own conduct the fines t tradi tions of skill, courage, unselfishness and integrity.

Seventy One

Borneo Water Village Picturesque Kampong Brunei is a feature of the little Malay Sultanate, long famed for its silversmiths. gongmakers and weavers and today for its rich oilfield.

lt was the durian season when these pictures were taken and this boatman hawked his w a res alon.q the little landing stage. Brunei women w ear enormous hats mode from the nipah palm as they take ther:r trading boats to the hou ses on stilts.

SeLenty T u:o

An old vi-llager chats with a visitor ' as he waits for the trading boats, while (right) a housewife gossips with a neighbour while she cleans fish caught by one of her family .

Below: This little kampong girl had a big smile, but the small boy hiding behind his father's fi shing net was not at all certain that he wanted his photograph to be taken.

Sete11ty Four