The Penang Free School’s first Asian headmaster, Tan Boon Lin, passed away in Petaling Jaya on 7 September 2025, just five days short of his 98th birthday. Back in 2012, for FIDELIS, the commemorative book of The Old Frees’ Association, journalist Lim Chang Moh had interviewed him. As a tribute, that article is reproduced here in full.
Up close and personal with Dato’ Tan Boon Lin
- Lim Chang Moh -
ONE DAY in 1939, a young boy from Nibong Tebal, Province Wellesley, sat alone outside the Penang Free School headmaster’s office, quietly working on an examination. To the 11-year-old, the test was of utmost importance because it was to help the headmaster, Mr LW Arnold, decide if he was qualified to enter the first year of secondary school at PFS.
Tan (fourth from right) and his Senior Cambridge “A” class of 1946. At 11, the pupil had skipped two years (due to double promotion) to complete his primary education. This was a special case that needed the HM’s attention.
After completing the test, the anxious boy waited patiently with his grandfather outside the HM’s office for the papers to be marked. When Mr Arnold emerged two hours later, he extended his hand to the youngster, saying: “Welcome to Penang Free School, young man!”
That ‘young man’ was Tan Boon Lin – and every time he passed by the corridor outside the HM’s office, he would recall that fateful day when he was to be ‘enrolled’ as a Free School student. Tan Boon Lin, now made a Datuk, had not only studied (1939-1947) and taught at PFS (1951-1955), he also created a number of ‘firsts’ at the school. He was the first old Free and University of Malaya graduate to teach at PFS, and, more significantly, he was its first Malaysian headmaster (from 1963 to 1968). A product of PFS, he helped mould its students as well as helmed the school.
To most of my schoolmates and I, Datuk Tan is not just our former HM, he is also our friend, advisor and mentor. He attended many of our class reunions and he has always made us feel welcome at his house. This interview was conducted at his residence in Petaling Jaya on 2 December 2011 and we chatted over coffee that he brewed personally.
Tan with his Pinhorn Scout Troop at the Jubilee Camp in
Teluk Bahang in April 1947Q: You enrolled in PFS in 1939. What happened when World War Two broke out?
TBL: When the war started in December 1941, I had finished Standard 8 (Form 4). Some of my friends had to take the Senior Cambridge exam at Hutchings School and they were killed when the building was bombed by the Japanese. I attended Japanese school for one or two months, then I took up a job as sales assistant at a cloth shop in Penang Road. When the cloth ran out and the shop closed, I worked at another shop, all for a total of three years. I had to stay at the premises to guard the shop. One strange thing was that the Japanese did not close the Penang Library immediately after occupying the state. I borrowed many detective novels from the library and did a lot of reading. When the British returned in August 1945, they held a military parade along Penang Road. While we were watching it, I told my boss I was going back to school.
Q: How was school like after the war?
TBL: Well, there was a shortage of everything. There were not enough desks and chairs and books. I remember the whole class had to share one maths book. Still, the teachers did their utmost to prepare us for the examination. I was among the first batch to take the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate and I got a Grade One for it, with three distinctions – in English Literature, Elementary Maths and Additional Maths. It was quite a feat in those days.
Q: What were your fondest memories of school?
TBL: I was appointed a Senior Prefect of the school. However, my best times were spent as a Boy Scout. Those days, the troops were named after the Houses and my Scout Master Yeo Siew Kiat made me acting Troop Leader of Pinhorn Troop. I had to be ‘acting’ troop leader because I did not attain the First Class badge as I could not pass the swimming test. Mr Yeo recognised my abilities and let me run the troop even after my final exams in 1947. To me, this was one of PFS’s best traditions. Students developed leadership skills and responsibility when they managed their own extra-mural activities. The teachers only supervised but did not interfere.
The PFS Board of Prefects during D Roper’s term as headmaster in 1947.
Tan is seated on the far left.Q: After Free School, what were your plans for tertiary education?
TBL: I won a Malayan Union Scholarship to study Arts at Raffles College in Singapore. It was a three-year course which ended in 1950. The University of Malaya had come into being and I obtained my Bachelor of Arts degree. After that, I had two options: to do my Honours or to get a Diploma of Education. Since I had wanted to teach at PFS, I took the diploma course in 1951.
Q: What made you decide to become a teacher at PFS?
TBL: In August 1947, I had to leave Penang for Raffles College in Singapore. My father accompanied me to the railway pier to take the ferry to Prai and there, to my surprise, was my entire Scout troop giving me a big send-off. As the ferry pulled away and I saw the sea of waving hands of my Scouts and friends, I knew I must come back to the school and serve it. After completing my Diploma of Education, I applied to teach at PFS. In October 1951, I reported for duty to Mr JE Tod, the headmaster. A few months later, Mr Tod met me on the school field and told me that I was going to teach Form Five next year! After teaching for a few years, I realised that I needed to get my Honours degree. So I returned to the University of Malaya in 1954 to major in History. I got Second Class Upper. That turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life because when I returned to teach at PFS, I was made Education Officer and put on the same rank as the expatriates.
Fast forward 21 years and this is Tan with the Board of Prefects in 1968 Q: What were the events that led to your appointment as Headmaster of PFS?
TBL: In 1956, I was transferred to Malacca High School as Education Officer. On 26 August 1957, as our country was preparing for independence, I lost my ‘independence’ when I married Wong May Lian, also a teacher. In 1959, I was promoted as Headmaster of Gajah Berang Secondary School and in 1962, I was made Headmaster of Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Alor Star. I was in Alor Star for less than two years when the then PFS Headmaster, Mr JMB Hughes, decided to return to Britain. I was transferred to PFS to take over from him. Mr Hughes later told me that he was glad that an old boy was taking over as HM. In August 1963, I walked into the school assembly as its first Asian Headmaster.
Q: What were your plans for the school as its new HM?
TBL: Basically I had four objectives: (i) maintain our School’s high academic standards; (ii) encourage the expansion of games, extra-mural activities, clubs and societies; (iii) maintain the drive for funds to build facilities our school lacked; and (iv) maintain a high standard of conduct among students with emphasis on good manners, honesty, obedience, humility, punctuality and above all, loyalty both to the School and to our nation. I believed that by pursuing all these objectives we would uphold the grand traditions of our school. A Development Fund had been launched by the School Board of Governors and four projects had been completed to raise funds for the construction of a swimming pool.
Q: Tell us more about the Tunku’s role in shaping the history of the school.
TBL: The Tunku, who was also an Old Free, was very close to our school. He took a special interest in us and he graced many of our functions. He was the Guest-of-Honour at our Sesqui-centenary celebrations in 1966. We had an entire week of celebrations and present Frees and Old Frees were involved in the activities which included games, a debate between Old Frees and young Frees, a Sesqui-centenary dinner in our school hall, a science exhibition and a special Speech Day on 21 October 1966. To commemorate the special occasion we added a new House, named Tunku Putra House, to the existing five Houses in our school. The Postal Department issued two stamps and set up a special Post Office in our school to sell First Day covers to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the oldest school in South East Asia. Before the event, the Tunku paid a visit to our school. He informed me that he intended to donate $100,000 for a special school project. After some discussion, we agreed that it should be for a library. We walked around the school grounds and the Tunku suggested a site for the Library, the area in front of the teachers’ quarters at the far end of the school field. The money from the swimming pool project was added to the Tunku’s $100,000 and construction began. On 29 December 1969, the Tunku officially opened Khutub Khanah Tunku.
Q: I was in Form Three in 1966 when our art teacher, Mr G.S. Reutens, told us about a school song. Was it meant for the Sesqui-centenary celebrations?
TBL: The School Rally was Mr Reutens’ idea. He approached me one day in 1966 and said that the school should have its own marching song and he had composed it based on the school motto. The singing of the School Rally was included for the first time in the programme for Speech Day in 1967. [Editorial note: Tan Boon Lin was mistaken. It has since been confirmed that the School Rally was first sung during the Sesqui-centenary celebrations in 1966.]
Q: How did you feel when you had to leave PFS?
TBL: I never wanted to leave the school but Encik Khir Johari (the then Education Minister) called and said “your country needs you” and that was that. I was appointed Director of Education of Pahang in January 1969.
[After serving as Director of Education in Pahang (1969-1974), Dato’ Tan returned to Penang as its Director of Education. Two years later, he was promoted as Chief Inspector of Schools, Malaysia. His last post before retirement was Director of Technical and Vocational Education in the Ministry of Education].Lim Chang Moh was a student of PFS from 1964 to 1970 (Form One to Form Six). He then read his B.A. (Hons) at the University of Malaya, and worked as a journalist at The Star and The Malay Mail. Now retired, he works as a freelance biographer and writer. [Editorial note: Lim Chang Moh passed away in July 2012, barely four months after his contribution appeared in FIDELIS.]
Tan being interviewed by the author at the former’s residence in Petaling Jaya.
