GEORGE TOWN – Some 35,000 individuals who once studied in Penang’s St Xavier’s Institution (SXI) now have their names engraved in the Hall of Gratitude to mark the school’s 170th anniversary this year.
Brother director of St Xavier’s Institution Penang, Jason Blaikie, said the earliest names now listed in the 600 sq ft hall that used to be a ping-pong playing space were retrieved from a school diary dating back to 1887. All the other names from 1903 onwards were taken from school leaving certificates.
The first name listed is that of the third Raja Perlis, DYMM Syed Saffi ibni al-Marhum Tuan Syed Alwi ibni al-Marhum Syed Ahmad Jamalullail, who left the school in 1879.
The list is in no way perfect, but it is close and I’m proud of it,” he said. “The plan is to display the names and invite the whole SXI community to come back, visit the school, check your names and those of your loved ones.
“Spot mistakes and omissions and let us know, so we can save some money from now on to do a reprint with all the corrections next year,” he said in a speech before a ceremony to bless the space.
The original plan was to set up a hall of fame to commemorate famous alumni who have contributed to the nation like former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, Penang’s first chief minister Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee, and former DAP chairman Karpal Singh, among others.
These names will now be highlighted in the SXI Heritage Centre, which will be completed in June.
Meanwhile, the SXI board of governors decided that all former students should also be listed as a form of gratitude to those who graced the school’s hallways.
Fortunately, the board found the leaving certificates of all the students and spent time during the Covid-19 lockdown to compile these names. It cost RM80,000 to transform the space into a Hall of Gratitude.
“People ask me why the strange name – and why not something in French or Latin?
It is just this; just as many old boys are grateful to the school, we felt it proper for the school to express our gratitude to families of all those who sent their children to our school,” said Blaikie, a former pupil of the school himself.
The school was formally established in 1852 after it was taken over by the La Salle Brothers. It was started earlier by a French Catholic priest as a Malay school at Church Street in 1787 and is believed to be the first formal school in Malaya.
Nine Malaysian royals from Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, and Selangor call SXI their alma mater.
During the 1950s to 1960s, royals were encouraged to attend a missionary school during their secondary school years after studying in Islamic schools during their primary school years.
This was so they could gain better knowledge of Malaysians and later rule with understanding.
SXI is part of the Lasallian Brothers movement of missionary schools. A homecoming dinner and 170th anniversary celebration will be held on December 17 this year. – The Vibes, April 14, 2022
