Methodist Boys’ Secondary School Kuala Lumpur

30 April 2011 was day to remember for the prize winners, parents and teachers. Dato’ Teo Chiang Quan, the president of the MBS KL Alumni Association and prominent philanthropist officiated the speech day to make it truly memorable. The welcoming ceremony was ever joyous with the traditional kompang, accompanied by bunga mangga and a tune by the Boys’ Brigade. Students from the Uniform Units, who had formed a line, then greeted the guests who were on their way to the school hall, which had recently been air conditioned, thanks to the generosity of Chiang Quan. In his speech, Chiang Quan encouraged students to remember the school and return to help their alma mater when they are successful. He also reminded them to remember and honour their dear teachers who have sacrificed for their success and well being. Also present at the event were the chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr Chooi Mun Sou, president of the PTA, Mr Ron Leong, prominent old boys Mr Wong Chee Kooi and Mr Lee Tak Suan, Stedfast Association President Mr Michael Yei who is also a board member and numerous active alumni members.

Memories are the stuff that dreams are made of, and the dreams of the Form Fives and Form Sixers of MBSSKL saw a culmination on 10 November 2010. Yes, it was their Graduation Day, a day specially set aside in their honour. At approximately 7.30 in the morning, the distant sounds of kompang pierced the air. It grew more distinct and a small procession could be discerned as it made its way up the hallowed hallway to the school “Dewan”.
“Announcing the arrival of our distinguished guest-of-honour Edmund Bon Tai Soon…” the talented emcees for the day Ho Sek Wei and Alexandra enunciated through the PA system. All necks craned to view the entourage consisting of the principal, Mr Wong Chee Keong, the invited guest, Mr Edmund Bon Tai Soon, the PIBG chairman Mr Ron Leong, ex-principal Mr Yong Chee Seng, and the MBS Alumni representative Mr Low Kong Ming walked down the “aisle” and took their places.
The National Anthem and the school song in Malay duly sung, the barrage of speeches quickly started: Ng Wai Lam representative for Form 5 Science stream took the podium first, followed by the Arts Stream Form 5 Representative, Mohd Alif Danial bin Mohd, Chua Wanji for the Form 6 Girls, Dhilip Kumar for the Form 6 Boys and closed by the witty, light and interactive speech by the Captain of the school, Pavithran Nair, the natural speaker that he is. All speeches were excellent, with hints of nostalgia, twinges of heart-stirring unforgettable moments and gratitude to the educators for being their guiding light. All these will become indelible and will be looked back on with fondness.
The PIBG chairman Mr Ron Leong then delivered an stirring speech with the quizzical theme “MBA”: not you’re typical Masters of Business Administration but Mental Picture, Believing in Oneself and Action mantra that one can apply in one’s life for a successful action plan. This was followed by the principal Mr Wong Chee Kheon’s speech that touched on being pillars of society and not forgetting one’s roots especially that of being an MBS boy. Finally the guest-of- honour, Oxford educated Mr Edmund Bon Tai Soon gave a inspiring speech that exhorted boys to uphold the 5 tenets of the Rukunegara (Nationhood) and know our constitution well. He also asked students to always treasure the rights given to us and to fight for what one is entitled to. He regaled students with anecdotes of his fair share of brushes with school rules and early days of trying break ‘laws’ just to see if he could get away with them!!
After such a thought-provoking speech, the much awaited ceremony of giving out of certificates for 100 percent attendance, President’s Council, and Societies, was swung into action, culminating in the presentation of souvenirs from the Form Teacher to the students and a song by the students beseeching teachers to accept them as they are since nobody is “PERFECT”, the title of the song. As expected, teachers lined the halls to shake the hands of the graduating students and send them off on to path of their chosen future accompanied by the strains of the soulful “Auld Lang Syne” evoking sadness tinged with the regret of separation and the fact that school days are over, and they are ready to embark on the next phase of their adult lives with trepidation and expectation. Tears flowed freely and hugs were given warmly. What does the future hold?
Everyone adjourned to the terrace for a photo session which soon escalated into impromptu photo shoots that will go down in one’s own annals of history as the day they graduated from Form 5 and Form 6 in MBSSKL.

July 24 2010 proved to be a very memorable and joyous day for MBSSKL. The whole school, including the PTA had worked hard leading to the carnival. Tickets sales, stalls, food, sponsorship, games, cleanliness, parking, etc,etc were issues to be worked on before the day. But feedback from the crowd gave the best satisfaction for the hard work put in. Many are of the opinion that never in a school carnival the place was so clean and well organised with so many stalls in such a joyous and cheerful occasion. The day started with the students and teachers gathering and laying out their food items and the others getting ready their games stall. The crowd sized up at about 9am. At exactly 10am, the Lion Dance Troupe staged a splendid performance to welcome the Methodist Schools alumni from all over Malaysia and also two alumni from Hong Kong. This was followed by the traditional kompang welcome. The entourage was then taken to visit the food and games stall area and the 1st KL Company Boys’ Brigade staged a few formation tunes to the delight of the crowd. The total revenue from the carnival was in the excess of RM110,000 and all stakeholders – students, parents, teachers, alumni had played their part to make it the most successful carnival in the history of MBSSKL.

The speech day on 17 April 2010 was another day which was graced by a prominent alumnus, this time none other than ‘WATERCO’ Goh Soon Sinn, the man who started the famous WATERCO filter in Australia and later parts of Asia, including Malaysia. Incidentally, the company controls a third of the Australian residential swimming pool equipment market, and employs 650 people worldwide. Mr Goh was given a warm and rousing welcome with a song by the Boys’ Brigade and then inspected the guard of honour formed by the uniform units of the school. After the inspection, he was given the traditional kompang welcome before proceeding to the hall. Seen together in this occasion were Mr Chooi Mun Sou, the chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr Peter Yap, the Vice President of the MBS KL Alumni Association, Mr Yong Chee Seng, ex-principal and also Mr Michael Fu, an alumnus from New Zealand. In his speech Mr Goh touched on his early days in the school and how the Science knowledge and skills learnt in school had been found to be useful in his work as an entrepreneur in an engineering and construction company. He continued to say that he was not a prize winner during his school days but with sheer hard work, determination and the values he acquired in MBSSKL, he was able to build his company to what it is today.