History
Lim Cheng Ean's Farewell
by P G Lim
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History
Lim Cheng Ean's Farewell
by P G Lim |
| In
1933 Lim Cheng Ean created a sensation when he walked out of the Starits
Settlements Legilslative Council Below is an extract from the forthcoming
autobiography by his daughter the former diplomat P G Lim .
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1928 IN 1928 MY FATHERr was appointed the Chinese member for Penang of the Straits Settlements Legislative Council, (elections to the Council were unheard of). H. H. Abdoolcader (later Sir H. H Abdoolcader and father of the Judge, Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader) was the Indian member for Penang. Tan Cheng Lock (later Tim Tan Cheng Lock) was the member for Malacca. Wee Swee Teow was the member for Singapore, whose son I was later to marry. At times I would hear my father going over his speeches to the Council with my mother. Council meetings usually took place in Singapore but whenever the Council would meet in Penang, Tan Cheng Lock would sometimes drop in at our house in Northam Road and a discussion of the Council matters would ensue, occasionally branching off into a discussion of the philosophies of Kant or Nietsche or whoever it might be, in which discussions my mother would be caught up, for Tan Cheng Lock was extremely interesting and erudite. Sometimes I would be allowed to sit in as a privilege, to broaden my mind and to prepare me for further education abroad. It was an introduction to those philosophers of whom I had never heard but whose names I now knew how to pronounce even before I had read their works. My father was re-appointed for a second term m 1932. The Council reports of his final year as a member -1933 - indicate that the question of education was one of the burning issues of the day. Government's policies on education as expressed in Council and in official reports were viewed by the Chinese and Indian members as unsympathetic to its citizens; in particular the Government's proposal to raise school fees in English schools, and at the same time to deny free elementary vernacular education in the Chinese and Tamil languages. A short account of the exchanges that took place at two Council sessions in 1933 between the Government and the Asian members and which engendered some heat, reveal the yawning divide. At the July session that year, my father had referred to the probability of the prevailing slump conditions enduring for a considerable time, and the growing number of school children who had the last three years had to leave school or had been unable to go to school owing to their parents' inability to pay the existing school fees at that time fixed at $2.50 a month for English schools. (The wages of a "English" clerk was about $25 to $30 a month). Would the Government "for the sake of maintaining the present opportunities of education for its future citizens and employment for its teachers, consider the advisability of postponing until better times the intended operation of the notification for the raising of school fees?' His was not the lone voice. He was supported by H. H. Abdoolcader who said that he was well aware of the "strong political and educational arguments in favour of the limitation of English education." He voiced his concern that at a time of grave economic depression school fees were to be increased and asked for free elementary education in the vernaculars (i.e. Indian and Chinese) for all British subjects in the Colony. Either that or "give at least as much English education as there is at present with no increase in school fees". My father spoke again to refer to the statement of the Government that "Education is too expensive: we cannot stand the burden." |
| Vernacular
education Lim Cheng Ean, in 1918 
Wee Swee Teow rose to support the previous speakers in advocating
the postponement or withdrawal of the proposal to raise school fees
in the following year. Education, he said was a fundamental element a
the life-blood of a community, but "it is being fostered in a grudging
manner." The English member, F.H.Grumitt, responded by saying that
it was "idle to educate youths up to a Cambridge standard certificate
mainly at public expense if there is no prospect of employment for them."At this session, two other matters were raised by my father: the necessity for a registration of marriage ordinance in view of the great difficulty of proving the validity of marriages among the Chinese in the Courts; and another for separation and divorce. The answers to my father's questions were positive. Legislation, it was said, was being drafted (1) to permit of a valid civil marriage being contracted before a Marriage Registrar between any persons other than Muslims, and (2) to provide facilities for the divorce and separation of persons so married. At the following session in October my father dashed with the Colonial Secretary over the subject of free vernacular and English education. In what was to be his last speech m Council he compared the educational policy of Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore and the Raffles Institution to see to the educational wants of the Chinese, Malays and Siamese by providing them with tuition in their languages with the policy that they were now led to expect. He expressed disappointment that his request for elementary education in Chinese and Tamil was turned down by the Colonial Secretary and said he was ashamed when asking for that to be told that if the Chinese wanted education in their vernacular they could go to China, and if the Indians wanted theirs they could go to India. "These are the poorest of the poor that I ask this concession for. They are too poor to go to China or India ... I feel this country is my own, and I feel there should be no line drawn. I can afford to pay for the education of my children, but there are many poor people who cannot pay for their children." My father's parting words were to refer to the "bogey of nationalism" and to say this. "Do not think that because you give us free education for four years in the Chinese language we are going to become Chinese patriots ... How many of us who pass out of English schools become Chinese patriots... This is the last appeal I shall make to you, sir, for I do not propose to continue as a member of this Council." With these words he gathered up his papers and walked out of the Council. At the Council session in December it was recorded that Mr. J. Bagnall, speaking on behalf of the unofficial members of the Legislative Council, said "No subject was too large or too small to secure the attention of Mr. Lim Cheng Ean. He was a very earnest speaker in this Council and put his heart into anything he undertook. It was with great regret that we learnt of his resignation." # |
Persatuan Peranakan Cina
Melaka
Founded 1900
The Association maintains a Clubhouse
and Baba Museum
Website: www.peranakanmelaka.com
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| ____________________ The Penang File Issue 31 |