On making a difference

Tan Boon Lin is part of a very rare breed of educationist. When it comes to Penang Free School, I know that he’s one of only two people to have gone from being a pupil at the school to returning as a teacher, and eventually becoming the headmaster. But in Headmaster Boon Lin’s case, he didn’t stop there – he went on to even greater heights in Malaysia's education system.

I still call him Headmaster, out of respect, even though others might refer to him as Master or even Dato’ Tan, after he received the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN) award from the Penang Governor in the 2018 Penang state awards. To me, though, he’ll always be my headmaster, even though more than 50 years have passed since his footsteps echoed through Pinhorn Hall at Penang Free School during the Monday morning assemblies.

The last time I saw him was at his home in Petaling Jaya on the 24th of March this year. He was frail, but still in good physical and mental health for someone who's now 97. For a long time, Headmaster Boon Lin had been thinking about publishing his autobiography but held back for reasons of his own. Back when I was writing Fidelis for The Old Frees' Association in 2011, I had a chance to look at an extract from it, which covered his experiences during the war years. He was still a pupil at Penang Free School then, and wrote about the chaos and carnage when Japanese planes bombed George Town in December 1941.

Earlier this year, I found out that Headmaster Boon Lin was finally ready to release his autobiography. After the usual search for a publisher, his family chose Areca Books. At the family's request, I stopped by the publisher’s office about ten days ago to help review the proofs before they went to print. I was lucky enough to see the nearly finished book – 320 pages and it’s packed with photos, showing his long journey through life and his career in education. I’d say about a third to half of the book focuses on his years as a pupil, teacher and headmaster of Penang Free School. So, any Old Free, especially those who were at the school during his time as headmaster from 1963 to 1969, would definitely want a copy. At RM80 a copy, it’s very reasonable!