Traditions die hard

Tuesday July 21, 2009
Traditions die hard
By S. INDRAMALAR

Old students of Bukit Bintang Girls School talk about what the school means to them as they get set for a ‘historic’ reunion.
SCHOOL reunions are as much about sizing up former schoolmates (especially the ones who made your life a living hell) as they are about catching up with long-lost friends. You want to see who got fat, who got hot, who went for botox shots or a boob job just as much as you want to find out what your ex-best friend has been up to. And, you have to get a fabulous outfit – one that brings out the best of the post-school you.

That’s what most school reunions are all about.

But not the upcoming reunion of the old girls of (the now non-existent) Bukit Bintang Girls School (BBGS) at the Pavilion KL, the upmarket mall that was constructed on the school’s former premises along Jalan Bukit Bintang.
The get-together on Aug 4 has little to do with frivolous conceit. Sure, there probably will be women in pretty dresses and coiffures but the 1,000 or so former students and teachers have loftier goals, hatchets to bury and legacies to bring to life.

The highlight of the “historic” reunion, as the old girls term it, will be the launch of an education fund in honour of one of the school’s pioneering heads, Elena Cooke.
Cooke was the first Malaysian to serve as principal at BBGS from 1958 to 1977. She is remembered as a headmistress of the highest calibre who demanded nothing but the best from her teachers and students.
She set very high standards for behaviour, decorum and academic excellence and was a disciplinarian and perfectionist, an educationist who is best remembered for her dedicated and committed service, her sharp eye for detail and intolerance for rudeness and laziness.
“Everyone would sit up straight and check to see if their desks were straight and their hair was tidy when we heard the clickety-clack of Miss Cooke’s shoes,” recalls current BBGS Old Girls’ Association president Phang Sow Yoong.
The Elena Cooke Education Fund also marks a revival of sorts of the association which has been dormant since 2001, the year the then 100-year-old school building was demolished.
The destruction of the school’s edifice was, at the time, an outrage for the old girls who went to great lengths – starting petitions, writing letters of protests, etc – to try for a better outcome. Unsuccessful, many decided as a sign of protest to stay away from Pavilion KL, despite the lure of its ritzy shops and eateries.
While individual groups of old girls have orchestrated small-scale reunions amongst themselves, the association itself has been inactive.
“In fact, some old girls would joke that those BBGSians who shopped at Pavilion were traitors,” says Phang.
Explains old girl and former BBGS school captain (1984) Lim Yuet Suan: “Like many others, I felt a sense of outrage that an entity which had helped produce so many fine outstanding Malaysians was being ‘trampled’ to the ground, its contributions negated and forgotten, in place of financial gain.
“I felt the Government should have given our school the same preferential treatment it accorded to schools like St John’s, Convent Bukit Nanas or Victoria Institution which were not demolished.
“I do not go to that side of town if I can help it as it brings back a lot of memories which I prefer to cherish, rather than look at some garish mall in the place of what used to be there.”
Phang explains: “A lot of us were upset and disheartened (after the school building was demolished). We were left without a school, you see.
“But I think we’ve all woken up now. We’ve decided to move forward as we don’t really want to sound like a broken record. Besides, even though the school is not physically there anymore, the wonderful values we learnt at BBGS are still alive.
“We want to pass down these values to our children and their children. We want to assure Miss Cooke that she did not invest in bricks and mortar but in the lives of people who were fortunate to be at BBGS.”
Proof that the girls have moved on is that the association is now partnering with Pavilion KL to host the two events.
Phang set the ball in motion by sending out e-mail and putting updates on Facebook to revive the association and reunite the BBGS alumni – students, staff, general workers, canteen operators, etc.
“We want to locate even our former jagas and canteen operators. We want everyone to come together again,” says Phang who was school captain in 1972.
Her e-mail and online posts received immediate response and the BBGS spirit was revived.

“Everyone was enthusiastic. People wrote back and we got things going,” says Phang, who enrolled in BBGS right from her kindergarten years.
Through the the Internet, Phang reconnected with many of her schoolmates. One of them was Joanna Yeoh, also a former school captain (1987) who started a BBGS blog (www.back2bbgs.blogspot.com) to share memories and stories about “the good old school years” at BBGS in 2007.
“I was in a hotel room in 2007 and surfing for websites on BBGS and I was disappointed to find there weren’t many ... certainly not of BBGS quality. So I started one and mailed the link to six people and it took on a life of its own from there.
“The stories just poured in from ex-students who wrote in from all over the world. There was a Pulitzer Prize winner, a UNHCR director, a few Miss Malaysias, a PR guru ... many others who shared their memories and stories of BBGS and what the school has meant to them.
“What really struck was that many were mothers who wrote about how they wanted to pass down our BBGS values to their children,” says Yeoh, who calls herself a “multi-generation BBGSian” as her mother, aunts and cousins were all products of BBGS.
Yeoh’s blog has now become the main conduit to gather and disseminate information for the BBGS community.
“Aug 4 will mark another milestone for BBGS,” says Phang with almost schoolgirlish enthusiasm.
“We want to play a more significant role in society. BBGS was a pioneer of women’s education and was founded over a hundred years ago for the education of the women in this country, especially those who could not afford it. We follow that same ethos and help provide education for those who cannot afford to do so,” says Phang.
The fund is named after Cooke, she explains, not only because Cooke is the last of the pioneering headmistresses still around today but also as the 86-year-old embodies the values and spirit of BBGS.
These days, Cooke spends her time tending to her garden, looking after her cats and participating in church activities as much as she can.
“She made a lasting impact as a teacher, headmistress, mentor, advisor and role model, even after she retired. She gave her life to the school and its children. We want to continue her legacy,” says Phang.
The Elena Cooke Education Fund will be established as a Trust under the auspices of the Old Girls’ Association for Malaysian schoolchildren who are in financial need. Priority will be for children and kin of ex-BBGS and Sri Bintang Utara students, with no preference for race or religion.
(Sri Bintang Utara is the school set up after the closure of BBGS.)
The association hopes to be able to launch the fund with RM500,000 through various fundraising activities in the next two to three years.
Miss Elena Cooke, one of the founding principals of BBGS and the first Malaysian to become the head of the school.
The first will be the charity dinner on Aug 4, of course – proceeds from ticket sales for the event will go directly to the fund.
Many of us have fond memories of school and school reunions are quite common, especially with the advent of online networking sites like Facebook. But the gusto of the BBGS alumni, though not unique, certainly stands apart. What is it about the school that has inspired such passion, fervour and to a large extent, devotion?
“I think it is more the relationships that we cherish,” says Phang. “Our relationships with each other and also with our teachers and heads. For example, I am still in touch with my primary school headmistress who is now living in Australia. When I visited Australia some time back, I got in touch with her and she remembered me!
“There is definitely something magical about the school.”
For prominent songwriter/composer Datin Saidah Rastam, the pull is the schools’ teachers and its discipline.
“The BBGS teachers went out of their way to nurture and counsel their girls. With their high standards and codes of conduct, they were heroes and role models for us. I remember particularly our steely Maths teacher Miss Moey: she never raised her voice but we admired her cheery dynamism so much that our Maths homework was tip-top.
“Despite her no-nonsense exterior, it was known that after school, if you were in trouble or needed help, Miss Moey’s office was open, and many girls, including myself, spent time in there working through problems ... and I don’t mean Maths problems.
“Everyone needs heroes, and amongst the BBGS teachers there were plenty,” she says.
Though Saidah admits to not being a perfect student – she remembers having to stand on her chair in class and on stage during assembly for various infringements – she now looks back in gratitude at the strict discipline at BBGS.
“What do I love best about BBGS? Oddly enough, it is the rules. Miss Cooke as a headmistress was very strict, but very fair, and consistent. It made me feel safe, I knew exactly where I stood.
“Only later, looking back, did I appreciate other things, like the lack of racial division and the lack of religious hypersensitivity. I remember playing piano for the Christian Union, for example, and race was not an issue at all.
“Today, a Malay girl playing piano for the Christian Union would be inconceivable, heads would be bouncing off walls. Maybe that was a sign of the times generally, not just in BBGS, I don’t know,” she says.
Childhood experiences shape our lives and as school days take up a large chunk of our childhood, it goes without saying that our school years make us who we are.
Says old girl Lim Wei Meng, currently Deputy Director for the UNHCR based in New York: “What we learnt at school was so much more than book knowledge. BBGS was a very conservative school and there was a strong sense of values and community. Discipline was very important ... what we wore, how we wore our uniforms, how we tied our hair ... it taught us to be very careful. We did not look at it as a burden though we may have joked about how strict the rules were. It was just something we had to do.
“It’s only when we leave school and start living our lives that we appreciate and value the education we got at school. We really got a good base at BBGS. I remember when my sister left school and went abroad to study, she commented about how all the discipline helped her look at things and set parameters.”
Working and living abroad, Lim hasn’t been able to be a part of the association as some of her other “die-hard” BBGSians. Though she does meet up with her friends from her school years every time she is back (which is once every two years or so), she has a high regard for those who actively organise events for the association.
“Most of us are caught up with our work and our families and some of us aren’t around to actually be a part of the association. That’s too bad for us really because I think it’s great to meet up with people who meant so much to you and were a part of your life when you were growing up. It reminds us of where we came from and of our foundation.
“It’s all voluntary and I think those who are active ... well, so much the better for them,” she says.
In the words of acclaimed TV journalist Tom Brokaw: “It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.”
Looks like the BBGS old girls have got it right.
The launch of the Elena Cooke Education Fund will be held at Pavilion KL on Aug 4 at 11am; the Cocktail Gala will be at 7.30pm, also on Aug 4, at the same venue. For details or tickets, call Khim Goh at 017-871 9357 or e-mail back2bbgs@gmail.com.

Related Story:
Brief history of BBGS