By Wong Kah Wei
This is a most delightful pictorial souvenir book. The University of Malaya Foundation pictorial souvenir specifically produced “By the Undergraduates” is basically “Undergraduate Life In Pictures” and aims to “give an account of student activities in as brief and as interesting a form as possible”. The photos are compiled with much enthusiasm going by the captions of the photos. We cannot help but smile at the student activities, clothes and hairstyles of the yesteryears. Were these how our grandparents or parents looked like when they were undergraduates in the past? This book captures with much fun the communal spirit of the undergraduates of our university after the war and before Independence.
Let us put some context to this story by first looking at some publications about the University of Malaya Foundation Day in our collection.
The University of Malaya Foundation Day of 8 October 1949 celebrates the formation of University of Malaya—the amalgamation of the King Edward VII College of Medicine and Raffles College as recommended by the Report of the Commission on University Education in Malaya (1948), popularly known as the Carr-Saunders Commission report.
In the programme booklet of The Foundation Day and installation of His Excellency The Right Honourable Malcolm MacDonald as Chancellor of the University of Malaya, we find a short history of the university leading up to the formation of the University of Malaya. This short history is also reproduced in University of Malaya Foundation Day Souvenir, a booklet published by Federal Advertising Bureau.
The University of Malaya (Singapore) held its Foundation Day ceremony, at the lower quadrangle of the Bukit Timah campus. The Chancellor, The Right Honourable Malcolm John MacDonald, and the Pro-Chancellor, Sir Henry Gurney at the garden party. Gerald Monteiro, son of Prof E.S. Monteiro, carried the Chancellor’s train.
With these two booklets, we get a sense of the momentous day and the way it was celebrated.
The programme booklet of the installation ceremony details the order of proceedings. The ceremony started at 3:30pm with a fanfare of trumpets as the procession entered Oei Tiong Ham Hall of the Administration Building of Raffles College. There was a specific order of the procession. The student representatives entered first, followed by the academic staff, members of the Council, deans of faculties, members of the Court and representatives of other universities, the royal rulers of the Malay states, the Registrar, the Bursar and so on. The Esquire Bedell, bearing the mace, led the various university officers into and out of the hall. The installation of the Chancellor was done by the Pro-chancellors. Speeches were given by the Chancellor and Pro-chancellors.
Academic staff on their way to attend the University of Malaya (Singapore) Foundation Day Ceremony held at the Oei Tiong Ham Hall, Bukit Timah campus.
University of Malaya (Singapore) Foundation Day convocation procession entering the Oei Tiong Ham Hall, Bukit Timah campus.
The Right Honourable Malcolm John MacDonald (standing) giving a speech at the University of Malaya Foundation Day ceremony held at the Oei Tiong Ham Hall.
The doffing of mortar boards is an academic and ceremonial tradition that symbolizes collegiality and acknowledgment of authority during the Convocation of University of Malaya (Singapore).
A programme of music was inserted in the booklet showing the pieces which were conducted by the Band of the Singapore Police Force. The band performance ended with “God Save The King”, the national anthem of the British Empire.
Although the installation ceremony booklet had some photos of the ceremony, the photos from the University of Malaya Foundation Day Souvenir booklet had photos of the arrival of the Chancellor into the hall, the seated university officers and Malay royalty, guests at the refreshment table and a photo of the Chancellor in his robes with his train carried by Master Monteiro, son of Professor E.S. Monteiro.
The University of Malaya Foundation Day Souvenir booklet has a slightly different purpose. The first message in the booklet was written by A.V. Aston, Resident Commissioner of Penang, Chairman of Penang and Province of Wellesley, University of Malaya Endowment Fund and Appeal Committee. Aston stated plainly that
“All those who have the capacity to understand the enormous value of this University of Malaya have a duty to support it and the publication of this Souvenir Booklet is therefore desirable not only for the funds which the publication will itself produce but also for the inspiration it may afford to all those who read it.”
Hence, the souvenir booklet is filled with advertisements of companies, presumably of those who contributed to the University of Malaya Endowment Fund. Wedged in between these advertisements are the reproduced speech by the Chancellor as well as the speeches of the Pro-chancellors, Director of Education, President of the Labour Party and others during Foundation Day. There were also messages by Husein H. Abdoolcader, a renowned lawyer and G.L. Bayliss, Acting Senior Inspector of Schools, both based in Penang.
Similar to these two booklets, the University of Malaya Foundation Pictorial Souvenir also showed the significance of the formation of the new University of Malaya but from the perspective of the undergraduates. The tone of the pictorial souvenir was spirited and full of eagerness to embrace the future because they saw that the birth of the university was also the “new era for Malayan civilisation”. For
“we have not only watched the Foundation of a new university. We ourselves are become the Foundation of new University” (University of Malaya, 1949c).
The photos of students start with a classroom of seated students intently writing while a lecturer in academic robes delivers a lecture. A blackboard stands in the corner. There are a few photos of students in various laboratories. A photo of a dining hall captures some male students in knitted sweaters enjoying their meals. Interestingly, it seems photobombing isn’t just a modern trend – two students in the back of the hall can be seen raising their glasses high in a spirited toast.
Dormitories in residential halls were huge with high ceilings. There were mosquito nets hanging over each individual bed. Dormitories were also for studying and recreation and it seems also “to argue about the shapeliest College legs”. The more interesting photos are those of student activities such as debates, student choirs, concerts, charity dances, picnics and games. In photos of games, girls were wearing blouses and what seemed like baggy, long shorts. The photo of a charity dance showed couples waltzing with a live band playing. Men in bow ties and suits held ladies in pretty dresses in their arms and twirled them on a dance floor. It seems “the most important dinner of the year” was the Re-Union Dinner at Raffles Hotel. There were also organised dinners in College dining halls where the guests were formally dressed.
Almost all the women in the photos spotted the “Pageboy” hairstyle which was smooth with curled-ends. Dresses were knee-length. The men had sleek, “Brylcreem-ed” hair and were seen wearing ties or bow ties in informal and formal occasions.
This pictorial souvenir produced “by the undergraduates” is not just a compilation of photos of university student life. The photos show who the students wanted to be – “we of this momentous generation, the strong ‘bough‘ that is supporting the cradle” of a “new Malayan Civilization”. In the late 1940s, after the war ended and a new era of nationalism emerged, university students eagerly sought opportunities to learn and aspired to play a role in shaping Singapore’s history.
References
Commission on University Education in Malaya (Great Britain) (1948). Report of the Commission on University Education in Malaya. Govt. Press.
University of Malaya (1949a). Foundation day and the installation of His Excellency, the Right Honourable Malcolm MacDonald … as chancellor of the University of Malaya. University of Malaya
University of Malaya (1949b). The University of Malaya Foundation Day Souvenir. Federal Advertising Bureau.
University of Malaya (1949c). University of Malaya Foundation pictorial souvenir. University of Malaya
