| Sultan Abdul Hamid College Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid (KSAH) |
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Scholar, Sportsman, Gentleman
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| Location | |
| Jalan Langgar, 05460 Alor Setar, Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia |
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| Information | |
| Type | Public all-boys premier school |
| Established | December 8, 1908 |
| School district | Kota Setar |
| Grades | Form 1 - Upper 6 |
| Medium of language | Malay, English |
| Classrooms | Seven |
| Colour(s) | Black, Red, Yellow |
| Newspaper | 'Darulaman' |
| Affiliations | SAHOCA (Sultan Abdul Hamid Old Collegians Association) |
| Website | http://www.sahc.kedah.edu.my |
The Sultan Abdul Hamid College (SAHC, now Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid) is a premier school in Alor Setar, Malaysia. Formerly known as the Government English School, it is one of the oldest English schools to be established in the country. It boasts of an illustrious alumni roster that includes Prime Ministers Mahathir bin Mohamad (b. 1925) and Tunku Abdul Rahman (b. 1903 d. 1990) and the present Sultan of Kedah, Sultan Abdul Halim (b. 1927). A former student and teacher, Daim Zainuddin, later went on to become the Finance Minister of Malaysia. The school recently celebrated its hundredth year of existence (1908–2008).
The Sultan Abdul Hamid College is also known as SAHC (in English), KSAH (in Malay) or just simply and fondly "College" to the students and teachers of the school. Its yearly magazine or schoolbook is called "Darulaman" (the abode of peace), referring to the Arabic title for the state of Kedah.
Primarily a boys' school, its students comprise of boys of Form 1s to Form 5s and mixed sexes of Lower and Upper 6s. The student population has increased tremendously from the school's early inception: less than 50 in 1908, to more than 1,200 in 2007.
The school administration, under Mr. Mohd. Zainon b. Shafie decided to change the school's mission and vision to reflect increased competition from other premier schools in Malaysia, including Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultanah Asma, which is located a few kilometres away along Jalan Langgar. The new vision is to be one of the top 10 premier schools in Malaysia by the year 2010.
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Late in 1908, Mohamad bin Iskandar, a senior teacher at the Penang Free School and the father of Mahathir bin Mohamad (fourth prime minister of Malaysia), was invited by the Kedah government to become the first headmaster of the first English school in the state. Aptly named the "Government English School" or G.E.S. for short, the school had the unique distinction of being established some time before Kedah came under British protection.
The building was a wooden structure which stood between the Alor Setar High Court building (now known as Galeria Sultan Abdul Halim) and the Balai Nobat facing the junction of Jalan Baru (now known as Jalan Putera). It was an extremely old building, having been used in the past as the office of Chief Minister, Wan Md. Saman, a great man whose brilliant feat in constructing the Wan Md. Saman canal towards the close of the nineteenth century caused Kota Setar to be opened up. It was a tiny building that could hardly accommodate fifty pupils. But at that early stage, it was much too big for its purpose.
Mohamad bin Iskandar did not remain long enough at the fledgling school to guide it through its difficult beginning period. After a slight misunderstanding with the Education Department he resigned from his post and returned to the Penang Free School in 1910, leaving the Government English School (G.E.S) in the hands of Md. Salleh. Through the influence of H.H. Tunku Ibrahim, Ismail Merican, another Senior Asst. Master at the Penang Free School and a scion of a well-to-do family as well as a great friend of Ibrahim, was appointed headmaster of the school in 1911. The school had by this time grown considerably, with enrollment reaching 97. The old building could no longer accommodate this big number and as a result some open air classes had to be held.
By the middle of 1911 the school had grown so large that the old building with its outside offshoots could no longer be used. As a result, a private dwelling-house in Jalan Penjara Lama was acquired. It was by no means an ideal house, with small, dark, gloomy rooms. There was not enough sitting accommodation for everyone. As a result the hundred odd boys were crammed into cubicles, with many seated on the floor.
In spite of the obvious shortcomings, the school continued to grow. By 1912 there were already 160 boys. Several more teachers joined the staff at this time, and the highest standard in the school had reached Standard Four. It was, however, as far as the school could go. Shortage of accommodation and trained staff made it impossible to proceed to a higher standard. As a result, boys of the top forms had to leave the G.E.S. and proceed to the Penang Free School or seek employment. The majority preferred to work since a Std. IV qualification would open the door to good posts in the land. A number of boys proceeded to the Free School while others joined the Malay College.
Plans for the present building had already been completed. A large area at Tanjung Bendahara, covering about 30 acres (120,000 m2) had been selected by Che Md. Ariffin (Secretary to the Government), and Che Ismail Merican (Headmaster of the school). But the actual construction of the building was not started until 1915 and it was not completed until late 1916.
The original building consisted of a two-storied structure in the centre with two classrooms running on each side. While this was not the imposing building that it is now, ample provisions were made for future expansions, with adequate space for playing fields and the construction of more classrooms to cater for more than a thousand boys.
The school was formally declared open on 1 January 1917, and E.A.G. Stuart, who was both headmaster and Superintendent of Education, had his office in an upstairs room in the central building. By 1917 there were 223 on the roll with a staff of eleven including the Headmaster. Out of this, however, only three were trained teachers. The others had to be trained by Stuart himself as normal classes for teachers had not been started in Kedah.
Stuart had the stupendous task of running two establishments growing rapidly at the same time. The Malay schools had by 1923 grown so much that he was finding it more and more difficult to cope with the work single-handed. It was at this time he was given an assistant in the person of E.C. Hicks, to help him at the English School. But it was still no easy task. There were already on the roll by 1926 well over 400 pupils with the possibility of that number doubling in a few years time. In order to make plans for the future, the government appointed a committee to make recommendations on the future of the English education in the state. This committee consisted of Stuart, S. Dennys, E.A.P. Helps, Tunku Mohamed and Tuan Syed Mohamed Idid. It recommended, among other things, that English education should be given to 800 boys (a large number in those days) of whom 640 should be Malays.
To enable Stuart to cope with the many problems, he was asked to relinquish his post as headmaster and devote all his time at the Education Office which occupied the top floor of the Post Office from 1926 until 1935. Hicks, who had for a number of years been assisting him at the school, took over the Headmastership towards the end of 1926. In 1927, Stuart died at Pulau Tikus Sanatorium Penang. Soon after, a library was built and named after him.
Since its earliest days, the college had allowed co-education. The first girl student was one Lily Thomas who, after a couple of years' study, left for Rangoon.
After World War II, there was an increase in the number of girls admitted to the College. In an article in the Darulaman Magazine of 1953, Ramlah Hj Zainuddin wrote: "Owing to the shortage of teachers and the small number of students in Kampong Baru Girls' School (KBGS), co-education has been introduced into the Sultan Abdul Hamid College (SAHC) in 1948. KBGS sent only students of standard seven. They were Kalsom and Swee Eng, but towards the end of the year Che Zaidah joined them." When asked how she found life in the new school among so many boys, Che Zaidah replied that she did not experience any discrimination from the boys nor was there any attempt by any of the boys at disturbing the girls.
In 1949, a second batch consisting of four Malay girls, among them Tunku Sakinah, the daughter of the Sultan of Kedah, joined the College. In 1950, eleven girls were admitted. The number of girls admitted in 1951 dropped considerably. This was due to a decision of the Headmistress of KBGS to send only those she considered to be the best. By the beginning of 1952 only eight girls were left in the College. However, in 1953, nineteen females were admitted.
The big transfer of girls to the College created quite a stir among the students. In 1953, four more girls joined the College, making the number to twenty four in standard VIII G. In 1954, the College started Sixth Form and the first batch, of three girls joined the female student population. This was the period when the College had its biggest number of girls.
Tan Sri Dr. Salma Ismail had the distinction of being the first Malay girl to graduate as a medical doctor in the history of the Malay states. Although she never formally joined the Sultan Abdul Hamid College as a student, nevertheless she was accepted to study from Junior Cambridge to Senior Cambridge in two successive years 1934-1935.
Dato' Dr. Kotha Pillai was a student in the College in 1948 and 1949. She graduated as a medical doctor in 1958 at the Adelaide University, in Australia. She joined the Ministry of Health for a few years after which she opted to work in the Ministry of Defense till 1966. She returned to Alor Setar and opened her own private practice.
Mahayun bte. Mid Hassan joined the College in 1952 together with some of her friends and placed in standard VII G. In 1954 she sat for her Senior Cambridge examination. She was selected to go to Kirkby, Liverpool, to be trained as a teacher and after graduation was on a five-year secondment to Brunei. After completing her secondment she returned to Malaysia to serve in Taiping, Alor Setar, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu and finally in Petaling Jaya before her retirement.
Hajah Radziah bte Haji Ishak studied in the College as a science student in Form Six in 1954 and 1955. After completing her Form Six, she went to Edinburgh, Scotland, and later to United States of America to study education. After graduating she taught in Alor Setar, Kangar and Kuala Lumpur. She was selected to lecture in Education in two Teachers' colleges in Kuala Lumpur. She was appointed Inspectorate of Schools for some years and later joined the Ministry of Education as a Senior Assistant Director in Technical and Vocational Division.
Sabehah Haji Salleh, was very hard working while in the College, and proved her worth both in the academic as well as in the co-curriculum activities. One of the proud moments was when some of the girls were elected as sub-editors of Darulaman, the magazine of SAHC. She served in most of the societies including the Historical Society and Literary and Debating Society. Some of the more promising girls including Sabehah were appointed school prefects.
Dato' Dr. Siti Hawa Salleh was a student in the Sixth Form in the College in 1959-1960. She entered the University of Malaya in 1961 and was there till 1966 when she obtained a Masters Degree in Malay Literature. She was appointed a lecturer in the same university. She obtained her Doctorate (Ph. D,) and later was made a professor in her specialty. Presently she is serving in University Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Dato' Dr. Asmah Haji Omar was a student in Sixth Form in the College. After graduating from University Malaya she continued her study in Indonesia in Linguistic. Not satisfied with that she went to London University to obtain her Ph. D. She returned to lecture linguistic in University Malaya and after some years was made a professor.