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* Rich History Of Forgotten Malaya
* On The Express Lane: Wht Is The Problem?
RICH HISTORY OF FORGOTTEN MALAYA
History Alive by Prof Datuk Khoo Kay Kim
_________________________________________________________________
MALAYSIAN historiography in many ways has become predictable. Similar
themes tend to be repeated. There is, it appears, a reluctance to
venture into new territories.
The result is that what has been unknown or vague has continued to be
so. But Malaysia (the Peninsula in particular) was always very
exposed. People from numerous countries came here to seek a livelihood
or to take advantage of the many opportunities available to them in
the commercial and business sector.
One of these pioneers who arrived in Penang in 1825 was Anthony
Arratoon who belonged to an old Armenian stock. He was a native of
Shiraz in Persia. His father (Arratoon Anthony) had sailed in a native
dhow from Bombay, accompanied by his wife and three sons.
From there the family moved to Calcutta where the eldest son, Anthony
Arratoon, married the daughter of a minister of the Armenian Church.
Anthony Arratoon then came to Penang and commenced a business in
exporting local produce to Calcutta. His godown was situated at the
corner of Beach Street and Church Street.
In about 1833, Anthony Arratoon established an estate at Ayer Hitam,
opening up 12 hectares, first with nutmegs and afterwards with
coconuts. His resident then was called "Clove Hall", situated between
what came to be known as Clove Hall Road and Arratoon Road.
Anthony then took his son, Michael Arratoon, into partnership and
established the firm of A. A. Anthony & Co.
Anthony died in Penang in 1873. His second son, J.M. Anthony, became a
very well-known personality in Penang. Educated at the Penang Free
School and La Martiniere College, Calcutta, he went to Sumatra as a
young man where he opened up one of the first tobacco estates there.
He then returned to Penang and entered the firm of A.A. Anthony & Co.
as an assistant in 1867, later becoming partner.
In 1870, J.M. Anthony married Isabel Marian, eldest daughter of John
Hogan, a Penang merchant, and after the demise of his wife, married
Regina, second daughter of M. Gregory, one of the leading merchants
and shipowners of Calcutta.
He was an active sportsman and a keen follower of the Turf. In his
younger days, he was a successful "gentleman rider" and beginning from
1891, owned many celebrated local racehorses. He was also appointed
Vice-Consul for Portugal.
Born in Penang in 1847, he passed away in late 1917. At the time of
his death, he was the oldest merchant in Penang, his firm carrying on
business as general merchants, shipping and insurance agents, as well
as share and exchange brokers.
All his four sons were educated at the Dollar Academy in Scotland.
While J. M. Anthony was still active, there arrived in Malaya, in
1888, Charles Alma Baker, from New Zealand. Born in New Zealand, his
father and the family had arrived in Otago, from Britain, in 1830.
C. Alma Baker began his career as a survey contractor to the Perak
Government, residing at Batu Gajah. He was responsible for the
introduction of racing in Perak by constructing and presenting to what
was then known as the Batu Gajah Gymkhana Club a race-track which was
later superseded by the Perak Turf club.
Alma Baker was also well known for his deep sea fishing exploits in
several of which he was associated with the very famous author Zane
Grey.
Although he made Malaya his home, Alma Baker also owned sheep and
cattle stations in New Zealand and Australia apart from his extensive
planting and mining interests in this country.
Alma Baker was intensely loyal to the British Government. Prior to
1941, he had sent in donations totalling 32,450 pounds sterling (over
$250,000 in Malayan currency) to the Royal Air Force.
Earlier still, during World War I, he organised the Australian and
Malayan Battleplane Fund which supplied 94 planes -- 51 from Malaya
and 43 from Australia -- to the British Government and he himself
donated four planes.
A unique feature of the Fund was that it was the only war fund at that
time without any deductions for working expenses, all expenses having
been met by Alma Baker himself. He was awarded the C.B.E. after the
war.
In March 1941, he again donated six fighters to the British Government
and he stated:
"I am doing my utmost to see that should I die before victory, my
present private expenditure is used to provide a gift of one fighter
every three months."
Alma Baker died at his residence in Batu Ferringi, Penang, on April 8
1941. He was 84. He was survived by a married daughter in Australia.
At the time of his death, he was described as "the largest individual
contributor from Malaya to Britain's Ministry for Aircraft Production
for purchasing planes for the Royal Air Force."
He was buried at Batu Gajah from where he began his very successful
career in Malaya.
At the end of World War I there came to Malaya an Italian -- J. S.
Cardosa -- who had emigrated to Australia at an early age. He served
with an Australian mounted regiment in the South African War, being
present among other engagements, at Colenso.
He then served in the Great War, first with the Australian Air Force
and later with the R.A.F. on the Italian front, as a liaison officer
with commissioned rank.
When he came to Malaya, he first engaged in the motoring business as
an agent for Fiat cars and in the middle of 1930 opened The Stag Grill
in Kuala Lumpur which was very popular with the Europeans.
His interests were wide, and embraced the Turf, motoring and flying.
He was a keen member of the Kuala Lumpur Flying Club.
Cardosa died in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 17, 1931 after having been in poor
health for a long time. He had been repeatedly operated on for the
extraction of shrapnel following war wounds. He was buried at the
Cheras Road cemetery.
ON THE EXPRESS LANE: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
Understanding Children by Prof Dr Chiam Heng Keng
_________________________________________________________________
EVER since the Education Minister's announcement of the provision for
intellectually able children to skip Year 4, the press has been
deluged with parental and societal concerns and fears. It is quite
obvious that the concept of "gifted children" has been widely
misunderstood. I hope I shall be able to clear the gross
misconceptions and allay some of the fears.
Intellectually gifted children, like other categories of gifted
children, require appropriate experiences for their potential to come
to fruition. Failure to provide mental stimulation that demands high
order and complex cognitive skills will result in mental laziness and
frustrations in intellectually gifted children.
Either of these outcomes will lead to personal and social problems
which include development of anti-social tendencies. In some extreme
cases, children with high mental abilities and energies channel their
special abilities into creative delinquent activities and may
culminate in masterminds of criminal activities.
The provision to skip a grade in primary school is a recognition that
intellectually gifted children who are ahead of their peers need
special educational provisions. In reality, nine-year-old children
with high intellectual potentials are at least three years older in
mental age than their peers of normal intelligence. Thus, in spite of
the skipping of a grade, intellectually gifted children are still at
least two years ahead mentally of most of their classmates.
Since intellectually gifted children are ahead in mental age of their
Year 5 classmates, very soon they will outstrip the majority in
intellectual pursuits. Admittedly, at the start of Year 5, they will
experience a momentary setback, particularly in those subjects which
require memorisation of facts. But, as they find their feet and adjust
to Year 5 requirements, the rest of the year should be quite plain
sailing. Even with learning of facts, intellectually gifted children
should have little problem because, among the characteristics
possessed by intellectually gifted children are good memory and rapid
pace of learning.
Those who skipped a grade or two in the 50s and 60s or even earlier
have shown no sign of emotional or intellectual deficits. On the
contrary, they have succeeded very well and many of them are
outstanding in their fields.
Skipping a grade is, in fact, the least that can be done to provide
opportunities for exceptionally intelligent children to develop. This
educational provision may be adequate for children at the low end of
high intelligence. It is definitely paltry for those at the high end.
For instance, a nine-year-old child with an IQ of 165 has a mental age
of almost 15 years and is therefore almost six years mentally ahead of
his same-aged peers. Primary schoolchildren with this IQ score are not
rare as our study shows that 0.33 per cent of them have an IQ of 165
and above while 1.67 per cent have an IQ of 150 and above.
Children with extraordinary intelligence should be identified early
and given educational experiences appropriate to their mental age.
Requiring them to proceed through the school system as though their
mental age is equivalent to their chronological age will hinder the
development of their mental faculties and thus deprive the nation of
some outstanding thinkers, scientists, scholars and innovators.
On the other hand, placing children who are not intellectually gifted
on the fast track will create academic and emotional problems for
them. Children of average intelligence or above average, but not in
the gifted category, can do very well on the normal track but, on the
fast track, their problems are compounded.
It is not a matter of working twice as hard to make up for the year
skipped. Firstly, they have to master a year's work in a month or two
to keep up with the class. Certainly, part of Year 4 can be learned in
Year 3 (ahead) or Year 5. Whether the skipped materials are learned
prior to or following the double promotion, the child is pressed to
keep up with the syllabus of the skipped grade.
For students of average ability to do well in class without skipping a
grade, consistent diligence and tuition are often necessary. If
tuition and efforts are necessary for normal class work, it would be
difficult for the average students to cope on the fast track.
Secondly, academic foundation built on rote-learned knowledge
predisposes children towards learning facts and not towards
understanding the structure of the subject matter or its principles.
Furthermore, information needs to be reflected for it to be understood
and coded into the long-term memory.
While intellectually gifted children, with dexterity in thinking and
information processing, are able to process the information quickly,
intellectually average students need more time to reflect on and
digest the information before its retention. Hence, the information
learned and retained in the long-term memory vary widely between
intellectually gifted and intellectually normal children.
In my estimation, any child who needs tuition cannot be put on the
fast track. Besides academic setbacks, intellectually normal children
will also experience emotional problems if placed on the fast track.
Feelings of being overwhelmed by the academic tasks will erode
self-confidence and induce anxiety and a sense of helplessness. If
these children are not able to manage the stress arising from these
feelings, they will either withdraw and give up trying or become
unrealistic in their expectations and blame others for their
incapabilities or failures.
There are many types of abilities. Intelligence is only one of the
numerous human capabilities. Although mental brilliance is a
much-sought asset for both the individual and his nation, every human
ability should be valued and given opportunities to develop to its
fullest. Every type of capability is needed for the advancement of the
nation. No human potential should go to waste. More importantly, the
dignity and well-being of each individual should be upheld.
Before placing the child on the fast track, parents have perhaps to
ask of themselves: "What does it benefit a child if he gains momentary
admiration but loses his future or mind?"
