Say ‘school strike’ and readers in Singapore history might remember the Hock Lee Bus Riots in 1955, which saw the involvement of students from some Chinese middle schools. A lesser-known school strike occurred in 1960, when nearly 500 students from the Presbyterian Boys School (now Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School) barricaded the school gates and shouted “We want Gay!”.
the strike involved about 500 students. the day had begun normally with the students attending the 7.45 morning service in the school hall.
at 8.30 a.m. the students took our banners and placards which they had carefully hidden, unfurled the banners and displayed the placards all over the school premises. according to one of my friends, the school brass band led the demonstration by playing marching tunes. the protesting students kept shouting “we want gay! we want gay!”.
An early demonstration for homosexual activism? No, not at all. Read more on ygblog. Needless to say kids, don’t try this today.
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I remember that ‘strike’ well cos I was there. The protest (as I’d rather call it) was against the incoming principal Sia Kah Hui who later went on to become Minister of State for Health. I was in Pr. 3 or 4 and like many of the younger boys did not really understand what it was all about. I remember the gates were barricaded and the police and inspectors of schools were shut out. The Boys’ Brigade band played and there was a lot of chanting. It was non-violent and reminescent of a then recent movie ‘Its great to be young’ where a Brit school went on strike. Not long after it was over and *** was replaced by Low Kee Pow, who ruled the school with an iron hand and a lot of perks for the students were curtailed.
For their part in the protest, BB activities was suspended for some time. Years later I learned that the so-called ringleaders were questioned and suspected of being communist inspired, an understandable paranoia at that time. It proved to be just schoolboy passion for a well-liked principal who seened unjustly removed. I spent my full primary and secondary years in PBS and still fondly remember many little details of school life, friends, teachers, traumatic as well as cherished moments.
Posted on July 4th, 2011 at 9:46 am
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