In Memory of My School Principal Mr Ong Kim Siong

Class of '76 Reunion - 2004
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My secondary school principal Mr Ong Kim Siong, passed away peacefully on the 22nd May 2007. A group of us, ex-students of Toh Tuck Secondary School, attended the wake on the 24th.

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Those of you who have lived in the 70s will remember Toh Tuck as one of the more colourful (read notorious) schools during that era. So, it came as a surprise when Mrs Ong told us that Toh Tuck was the late Mr Ong's favourite school, though he had taught and stewarded in the premier league schools in Singapore. Mrs Ong said that though Mr Ong felt it was challenging experience, it was also his most memorable and meaningful time in his career.

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I remember Mr Ong as one who managed to tame us during school assembly. School assembly to most of us were unbearable during those days. More than six hundred of us, cooped up in the school assembly hall without air-conditioning amid the humid tropical climate. We absolutely hated assembly and were always chatting away when the teacher/speaker speaks. Who cared those days! After all, we were all naughty boys and girls that couldn't even sit still for very long typically.

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Mr Ong tamed us by bringing in mass singing instead of those preachy mundane school speeches, and made all of us ticked. We all sang in harmony and even enjoyed doing so. It was amazing. From resentment to joy!

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While we were a school far down in the academic league, Mr Ong never treated anyone of us any lesser. He told one of us that there was once when he had a father of a boy crashing into his office without warning and started bashing up the boy up, without even asking what the boy's misdeed was. (The boy was called up to the principal's office awaiting the arrival of his father.)

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Mr Ong immediately stopped the father and told him that with his actions, the boy will grow to be exactly to be like him - violent and angry! Beating up a child like this only reinforces in the child that violence is the right way to solve problems. Children follow their parents, more than what the parents speak of (that the child usually prefer not to listen). To Mr Ong, there is no such thing as a bad student, but unfortunate and inconducive environment for the child to learn and grow in.

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A few years later when I met him in a conference in the 80s, he told me that he would like to see a school system where there are only winners and that all students get rewarded. At that time, I didn't quite understand what he meant and even thought it would be impossible and idealistic to institute such a reward system in a highly competitive society like Singapore. Now 31 years later and I am now the same age as he was when he was my principal, I can see what he meant - ie. he wanted to see the goodness in every child regardless of their prevailing weaknesses.

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Thank you Mr Ong for your patience and guidance in our tender young days. Through your stewardship many of us are now responsible parents and useful citizens - no more the naughty boys or girls we used to be!