50 years on, these La Salle schoolmates are still showing up

Fifty years ago, they were schoolboys sharing classrooms, meals, games and the occasional bit of mischief at La Salle Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur.

This year, on Malaysia Day, members of the school’s Class of 1976 gathered once again, this time at La Salle Hall in Section 5 here, for a reunion marking half a century since they were in Form Three.

Some travelled from overseas to be there, renewing friendships that began when they were teenagers, and having gone through the highs and lows of careers, families, illness and loss.

Organising committee member Basil Sylvester Francis said Sept 16 was chosen partly because the public holiday made it easier for these old classmates to attend.

Of course, the date also carries memories of their schooldays. “I recall us singing ‘Negaraku’ during our weekly Monday assembly in school, and whenever we hear the national anthem, it reminds us of Merdeka and Malaysia Day,” he said.

“This reunion certainly relived our younger days as schoolboys from different backgrounds, ethnicity and religions.”

La Salle Brickfields catered to students only until Form Three, after which the boys continued their schooling at institutions including Catholic High School and Sultan Abdul Samad in Petaling Jaya, Sri Pantai in Kampung Kerinchi, and the Technical Training Institute in Cheras.

Of the more than 200 students who made up the Blue, Red, Green and Yellow classes in 1976, 23 have since passed away. This passage of time has made each reunion a little more precious.

“Many of us are now struggling with living affordability and health issues,” Francis shared. “We hope to reunite until such a time our fortunes overtake us.

“Until then, we hope to have a good time with cherished moments.”

‘Every year is a bonus’

For him, every gathering renews the sense of belonging the boys carried with them long after leaving school. “It ties us together as a Lasallian family of brothers who grew up in sometimes mischievous circumstances of friendship and laughter,” he said.

“We rascals were a brilliant lot who grew from boys to men, with successful careers.”

Organising committee chairman Sukumar Krishnan put it more simply. “Every year is a bonus for us to be alive and renew our acquaintances,” he said.

The old boys have also tried to carry the Lasallian tradition of service into later life. Among their efforts is the “Brother for Brother” fund, which assists former schoolmates who have fallen on harder times.

“We also continue the Lasallian spirit of caring for the ‘last, least and lost’,” Sukumar noted.

That sense of looking out for one another is something Bahaman Mohamad Noor, who once represented Malaysia in rugby, remembers from their school days.

He recalled a group of boys from different ethnic and religious backgrounds who studied, played, ate and occasionally fought together “like a big family”.

“We grew up in a colourful Malaysian environment since we were seven, and continue to be close today,” he said.

Bahaman also paid tribute to the teachers who shaped them, including missionary brothers and longtime educators whose names the former pupils still remember decades later.

“They were exemplary educators who groomed and moulded us to become success stories later in our lives, instilling in us a strong sense of commitment and discipline to succeed,” he said.

Among the Class of 1976 are former school judo champion Lawrence Yong; lawyer and 2005 Asean Para Games table-tennis singles champion John Ng; Rev Fr Patrick Boudville; and lawyer Steven Perian, who became the first Malaysian Queen’s Counsel in England to be called to the Malaysian Bar.

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