WHEN Rebecca D’Cruz started an online petition this week to save St Thomas School in Kuantan from being renamed, she was also thinking about her father and the country.

Her father, M.N. D’Cruz was the school’s longest-serving headmaster while her country was suffering the effects of bad decisions being made daily by those in charge.

She launched the online petition, “Stop changing the name of mission schools in Malaysia”, three days ago, in a bid to stop the government from changing the name of the school to Sekolah Mahkota Abdullah once it was relocated to a new site.

At last count, almost 20,000 people have signed it.

Rebecca said she decided to start the petition without telling her father, who was the school headmaster for 11 years, starting in 1973.

Even now, as the petition continues to collect signatures by the thousands, she said she and her father had not talked about it, even though he has since learnt about the petition from his friends.

“As the eldest of four children, I remember how much my father put into the school. Growing up in Kuantan then, we sometimes took no holidays because he was busy introducing changes to the school.

“Whenever I meet his former students, many would tell me that they would have gone down the wrong path were it not for my father.

“I know he was saddened by the news about the school. So I hoped that through social media, I could highlight the issue,” the Kuching-based environmental consultant told The Malaysian Insight.

Her father is among those who helped St Thomas School attain its reputation of being a premier school on the East Coast, which has pupils from neighbouring Kelantan and Terengganu

His students remember him as a disciplinarian and the man who drove the school to achieve good results.

For Malaysia

Rebecca was also looking at the larger picture concerning mission schools in Malaysia when she began the petition.

She said education and schools were very important to parents, including those who belonged to the older generation.

“Living in Kuching now, I hear of similar concerns about mission schools here. This issue resonates with many here.

“I also did it for the country. Everyday we read about something going wrong, that decisions are made out of nothing. I want the country to be the best that it can be,” she said.

More than a school name at stake 

M.N told The Malaysian Insight via WhatsApp that the campaign was not just for the sake of St Thomas.

“The old boys have a very strong attachment to their school. But this campaign goes beyond that because many ex-students of mission schools can see that this move might in the long run happen to their schools as well,” he said.

The 87-year-old retired educator said St Thomas was an institution and its name should be kept.

“Just like other well-known mission schools, which have moved to new sites, and still retained their names. So the name St Thomas should be retained.        

“Year after year the school achieved excellent results both in the exams and sports. The cooperation between the staff and pupils was wonderful. 

“That is why even 30 years after retiring, I can proudly say that St Thomas is in my blood because I built up the school,” D’Cruz said.

Huge support

Within the first 24 hours, Rebecca’s petition received over 10,000 supporters. By 5pm Thursday, 18,100 people have signed up to support the cause.

She said she had only expected a couple of thousands to sign the petition.

“Frankly, I only expected support from family and friends. On the first day, I watched the progress and felt heartened, seeing the numbers increase.

“Many people, including my friends overseas, also signed. It shows that when Malaysians feel strongly about something, they will speak up. After all, we have freedom of expression,” she said.

Rebecca hopes to collect 25,000 signatures which would be sent to Putrajaya.

“I’ll let it continue over the weekend. Let’s see how it goes,” she said, adding that she would also put up a message to thank all the supporters at the end.

Old boys’ passionate fight

Mining company manager Tham Tuck Yip, 54, said his batch of former Standard One to Form Five boys, who studied at St Thomas School from 1970 and 1980, were all very passionate about the campaign to keep the school’s old name.

He said the old boys were all circulating the online petition, trying their best to make it viral and gain more support.

“We all want the name retained. It is very simple. If the government is planning to build a new school, it can choose to name it whatever it wanted.

“But in this case, they are relocating St Thomas, an old school. We had been trying to rationalise the decision. We don’t see why they cannot keep the ‘St Thomas’ name,” Tham, who was assistant head boy in 1980, told The Malaysian Insight.

He said some mission schools in other states were relocated previously, but they all retained their original names.

“It is true that St Thomas has ceased to be a mission school for many years, but it has the history and legacy as one of the most premier schools on the East Coast. 

“We think the name should be kept when the school is rebuilt to recognise that history and legacy,” he said.

Christian no more

St Thomas School was established in 1950 by Reverend Father Louis Guittat under the order of the Marist Brothers. It was taken over by the Brothers of St Gabriel 10 years later.

The school was caught in a legal tussle between the St Thomas Church and the Pahang government over the 2.4ha church-owned school land on Jalan Gambut. 

When the state government dropped the case and did not proceed with the land acquisition, the primary and secondary schools had to be relocated.

The primary school was shifted to temporary premises at SK Teruntum while the secondary school was moved to SMK Sultan Abu Bakar in 2014.

Recently, the Pahang government said the Economic Planning Unit had given approval to the Education Ministry to build a new complex to house both schools. Construction is expected to begin next year with a RM56 million allocation.

State Health, Human Resources and Special Functions Committee chairman Norol Azali Sulaiman was reported to have said that the schools would be given a new name as the education department deemed “St Thomas” no longer suitable. – December 1, 2017.