"A rousing cheer for our Convent dear..."

 

Last December, I received a poster by WhatsApp on a fund-raising initiative by the Convent Past Pupils’ Association to upgrade the premises of the Johor Baru Convent.

 

With Mrs A. Oliveiro to review my manuscript 
for the story on the Johor Baru Convent

Due to the many scams which had cheated people of their hard-earned money, I did not hesitate to ask the sender this all-important question, “Is this legit?”

 

As I quizzed the originator of this poster, Yvonne, who is a Member of the Secondary School Board of Governors and fellow-alumnae from the only Convent School in Johor Baru, she not only provided me with relevant details but also arranged for us to meet with the Chairpersons of the Primary and Secondary Schools’ Board of Governors.

 

Meanwhile I had already planned to meet up with Mrs A. Oliveiro, the Chairperson of the Secondary School Board who was also the Chairperson of the Convent Association of Past Pupils, for another reason and this meeting presented an ideal opportunity for us to talk about our alma mater.

 

Checking and verifying facts with Mrs Oliveiro

Work on the manuscript for Book Three of My Johor Stories is in steady progress and the Johor Baru Convent will be featured among my collection of Johor heritage stories in this book which should complete the trilogy of My Johor Stories.

 

In the JB Convent, there was no one better to help verify the facts in my manuscript than Mrs Oliveiro, who was still actively involved with the school and the Past Pupils’ Association.

 

As it was safe for home visits this Christmas season, it was timely for a social call on Mrs Oliveiro for her to review my manuscript and to hear from her, the details on what the school genuinely needed for repair and replacement.

 

The memoirs of Sister Xavier 
which she presented to Mrs Oliveiro

Incidentally, Mrs Oliveiro was never my class teacher nor my teacher in any particular subject. But after I had left the school, I often met with her during the times I was invited to the Secondary School to cover the news on their many events.

 

My most unforgettable visit to the school was for the privilege to enter the Convent Gallery, a small but important section in the Primary School which preserved interesting artefacts from the school’s heritage along with items used by the nuns in their living quarters upstairs. This experience was published in 2011, in a cover-centerspread story in Johor Streets, a pull-out section of The New Straits Times.

 

Another exciting story that I had the privilege to share in 2017, was the JB Convent Science & Mathematics Research & Development Team’s achievement in an international science competition for their award-winning invention of the Infinity Spoon, an eco-friendly and biodegradable spoon, inspired by the Johor pineapple.

 

The most recent events where I met with Mrs Oliveiro was in 2015 when I was invited to the school’s celebration of their 90^th Anniversary since its founding in 1925.

 

Our meet-up with Mrs Oliveiro [Left],
Yvonne Loh [Centre] and
Elizabeth Anne Louis

This school celebration was followed by a Gala Dinner held at a banquet hall where the school’s alumni came from near and far, to celebrate this momentous milestone.

 

Recalling that dinner event, I cannot forget the passion and unity in the voices of the current and former students when they stood up and sang the school song which opened with this line, “Here’s a rousing cheer for our Convent dear…”

 

“You can take a girl out of the Convent but you can’t take the Convent out of the girl,” was a sentiment Mrs Oliveiro often expressed to describe students who have left the school but never left its spirit.

 

For me, it was a good way to start the new year with a meet-up with Mrs Oliveiro on Jan 1, 2022, along with the Chairperson of the Primary School Board, Elizabeth Anne Louis.

 

Incidentally, not just Yvonne but Mrs Oliveiro and Elizabeth, were also familiar with My Johor Stories (they have my Book One and Two!) and they were delighted to learn that the story of our alma mater will be documented in Book Three.

 

Like Mrs Oliveiro, Yvonne and I were among the alumni who started in Primary One and completed six years with the Primary School before joining the Secondary School for the next five years and left the school after Form Five.

 

Mrs Oliveiro, who was active in sports and very good at netball, was a contemporary of my aunties, Polly and Sylvia, and she even recalled that my Aunty Sylvia broke her record in Javelin.

 

When I opened my manuscript for Mrs Oliveiro to review, we paused at various points to verify dates and names, and exchanged interesting anecdotes about familiar people in the school – both students and teachers – and marveled at the proud heritage of this center of education.

 

We shared a fun time reminiscing on our experiences with some teachers, who later became Mrs Oliveiro’s colleagues, like Ms Skene, Dorothy Pereira, Amy Wong*, Elizabeth Chew, Lily Toh, Mrs Danker, Mrs D’Cruz, Mrs Kwong, Ramlah Mohamed*, Sister Hyacinth, Sister Regina and even the Lab boys, Anthony and Vijayan.

 

Each name brought back a fresh memory, from where they used to live, their style of dressing, mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, to how inspirational and good they were in the subjects they taught.

 

Then Mrs Oliveiro pulled out a book to share with me, some old photographs of the nuns who were then dressed in habits that were tailored in full Black with a vest in White, and (she said!) earned them the nickname, “penguins.”

 

This valuable reference was the memoirs by Eilis Casey I.J.S. better known as Sister Xavier, entitled A Missionary Remembers, A Pilgrimage Spanning The Century.

 

This marble plaque is on the
wall of the front porch in the
Johor Baru Convent

The Johor Baru Convent was founded in 1925 by three nuns and two teachers – Ethel Filders and Winifred Allen – as the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, Johor Baru.

 

The school premises started in two rented shophouses along Jalan Ibrahim that offered pre-school and primary classes for both boys and girls. For perspective, it was located close where the Kerala Restaurant was once situated at Jalan Ibrahim.

 

Some notable Johor personalities in the JB Convent’s co-educational curriculum were the Kuok brothers, Philip and Robert, as well as Tun Hussein Onn.  

 

News about the impressive quality of education in the early JB Convent caught the attention of Johor Sultan, Sultan Sir Ibrahim and his consort, Sultanah Rugayah, and they presented the nuns with a piece of land at Jalan Yahya Awal to build a school. 

 

Construction of the school was completed in 1926 and the Sultan’s grandchildren were among the students who enrolled in the JB Convent when it was opened at Jalan Yahya Awal as the first all-girls school in 1927.

 

A list of Benefactors, 1926

Even after the early years, members of the Johor Royal family continued this tradition to become alumni of the JB Convent and they included the sisters and cousins of the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim.

 

Construction of the original school building started with a grant of $25,000 provided by the state government and funds donated by generous benefactors. 

 

Additional classrooms were constructed in a multi-storey building in 1960 which is now premises of the Secondary School.

 

As the first all-girl school in Johor Baru, the JB Convent continued to mould and mentor exemplary women in our society including former International Trade and Industry Minister, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, literary legend, Adibah Amin, and wife of Tun Razak, our second Prime Minister, Tun Rahah Mohd Noah.

 

To this day, the tradition for excellence lives on and the JB Convent has earned achievements and prestigious reputation in education and co-curricular activities over the years, producing successful professionals whose skills and talents are contributing positively to society.

 

This marble sculpture, a gift from
Sultan Sir Ibrahim in the 1940's,
was refurbished in 2007 and 2020

In the 1940’s, Sultan Sir Ibrahim also presented the school with a marble sculpture of the Virgin Mary that still stands at the school’s façade today.

 

Being exposed to the elements over decades had caused the base of the sculpture to erode and a fund-raising project was initiated in 2007 among members of the Past Pupils’ Association to refurbish and reinstall this sculpture within a glass case.

 

Recently, this sculpture was further refurbished by the Class of 5 Helen in 2020.

 

[There was a time when classes were simply named by alphabets like Class A, B, C and D or by colours like Class Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. But I soon discovered that the classes in the Secondary School are now named after former Principals like Helen and Fidelis.]

 

This recent refurbishment of the sculpture is again proof of how students, both present and past, have established such a strong bond with the school that they would not hesitate to contribute towards a worthy cause whenever a need arose.

 

Facade of the Secondary School block with
its Office located on the ground level

Speaking of needs, Mrs Oliveiro, Elizabeth and Yvonne, who visited the school last December, told me in further detail about the various needs that required urgent attention especially before physical school started again.

 

The long periods of lockdown in 2020 and 2021 had clearly taken a toll on the buildings and when the school was left vacant for so long, Nature had taken over.

 

They went on to describe how wild bats had invaded the buildings and stained the walls and staircases with their droppings and paw marks.

 

In Science we studied about guano and its uses but when it was left at places where it was unwelcomed, it became a nuisance and a health hazard.

 

Some of the past Principals in
the Secondary School

Plants have taken root in the roofs and gutters, and grown wild in many places. To remove them, the ceilings and roofs may be further damaged and would require replacements.

 

Due to wear and tear, damaged roofs and ceilings will leak when it rained and the wet floors in the corridors and staircases are a danger to both staff and students.

 

As the school was almost 100 years old, many of its fixtures including the electrical wiring system needed to be assessed and upgraded, because it was a potential fire hazard.

 

Over the years, the school premises have been extended and improved to create more space and comfort, often on a piecemeal basis by various contractors and builders, to the best of their ability.

 

Much of the Primary School, which occupies the original building, is in a sad state of disrepair with old windows falling off its hinges in some classrooms.

 

Classes in the Secondary School were
named after former School Principals

Mrs Oliveiro and Elizabeth could not emphasise the urgency more when they told me about the area where the sewerage/septic tank was located, and that the concrete built around it, had already cracked.

 

This, they concluded, could be caused by a nearby tree where its widespread roots may be threatening to damage the septic tank. It may not be so simple as to remove that old tree because this old sewerage system needed to be properly assessed by sewerage professionals to advise on the best possible solution for the school.

 

Just listening to their descriptions of the critical condition in the school was already overwhelming and to get a better picture of what was really happening, I had to see it for myself.

 

And that was what I did. The very next morning.

 

The Johor Baru Convent or SK Infant Jesus Convent Johor Baru (Primary School) and SMK Infant Jesus Convent Johor Baru (Secondary School) is located at Jalan Yahya Awal, 80000 Johor Baru, Johor.

 

*The inspirational stories on Amy Wong and Ramlah Mohamad are featured under Portraits in my 2017 Bestseller, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage.