My father was a teacher who taught biology to secondary school students in Sekolah Tinggi Segamat. I was quite surprised to see the school having their own edu.my website HERE. It was a Government English School which was established in 1930 even before Malaysia's independence from British colonial rule. There's an ancient-looking picture of the school in the main page of the website and a class of 1969 photo in the Nostalgia Alumni section of the website. My father had started teaching by 1972 and I know this due to the lovely condolence bouquet from the Class of 1972 (COSTERS). The COSTERS had remembered my late father and their messages about him were touching. He had attended their reunions which were held in Kuala Lumpur. I remembered one of his students, Mike Leong giving him a lift to one of the reunion dinner. Those reunions made him very happy as he got to relive the good times from his teaching days. My late father studied in Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid and went on to obtain his degree from the University of Malaya. This was at a time when Singapore was still a part of Malaysia. To Sir with Love was one of my late father favourite movies and this scene of Mr Thackeray trying his best to teach a bunch of unruly tyrants in one of the East End school as per clip from YouTube below, reminds me of how tough it would be back in the 60s and 70s to teach the youth. The challenges faced in the 80s would be different but the core values remain the same. My late father would spend a considerable part of his teaching life dissecting frogs and he does love planting trees as well, volunteering to plant the bunga tanjung trees in the compounds of the new Hospital Segamat at Bandar IOI Segamat together with my mother's friend from the hospital, Mr Appu.
Sidney Poitier Is Back on the Big Screen: The late and great actor and the director is the subject of 'Sidney,' a new documentary produced by Oprah Winfrey. Mr. Sidney Poitier passed away in the same year as my late father, in 2022.
