Malacca High School

Establishment

On 7 December 1826, MHS was officially established; just after Malacca was made an English colony on 17 March 1824, when the Dutch ceded Malacca to the English after the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824.

The establishment of the school (then known as Malacca Free School) was initiated by Mr. Thomas H. Moor who came to Malacca in 1825 on orders by William Milne who was one of the educators at the Anglo-Chinese College. In his letter dated 4th. January 1825, he stated his wishes to Arundel in London to establish a school. The establishment of the school was also supported by some influential people including James Humphrey, a Superintendent in the London Missionary Society. The startup of Malacca High School was directly related to the closing of the Dutch-Malay school which was established in January 1815 by Christian missionary during the Dutch reign. The school was closed when Malacca was handed over to the English by the Dutch.

Locations

After the establishment of Malacca High School on 7 December 1826, the school was originally located at Personage House – The current Youth Museum of Malacca. Throughout the history of the school, it moved twice (in 1884 and 1931), due to the increase in students population.

In 1884, the school shifted to a new building at the former High Court building as the old building was no longer suitable in accommodating the growing student population, then. This building was built under the leadership of F.C. Shepberd since 1882 but could only accommodate 200 students.

The initial idea of building the Malacca High School at the Kubu field was then cancelled when the late Tuan Haji Bachee bin Ahmad offered to sell a plot of the land to the authorities.

In 1928, the new school premises at Jalan Chan Koon Cheng (the current location) was built, which included the cost of land. The new school premise is a 2-storey school building constructed in the form of the letter E, which symbolises an English School. The premise was equipped with a teachers’ quarters. In 1934, the ruling British government made additions to the building, constructing quarters for their Boarding Master, car parks, armoury for weapons storage and cadet rooms.

Early students at MHS

MHS began its educational history with only 18 male students and was opened for admission to all students in the then, Malaya.

In 1826, MHS was opened for girl students admission for the first time, when 65 girls were registered. However, in 1834, the admission of girl students had to be halted when its lady teacher Miss Wallaca (who replaced prior lady teacher, Maria Newell), left the school for Canton, China. Since then, the school had closed the girl students admission due to lack of teaching staff. Most of the students originated from Malacca Town and its surrounding areas such as Klebang, Limbongan, Bukit Rambai, Ujong Pasir, Masjid Tanah, Alor Gajah and other Malacca state districts. Since its establishment until World War II, it had less than 500 annual student intake, except in the year 1907 when the students population reached 505. The school expanded after the war. Today, MHS has an average annual enrolment of 2000 students.

Hostels

The hostel of MHS were built in 1924 and the Principal was Mr. C.G. Coleman. It could only accommodate 60 students. In 1972, the Ministry of Education, Malaysia; introduced the Special Student's Programme (Pelajar Rancangan Khas). In this programme, primary school students in Malacca who achieved good results in the Standard Five Evaluation Test (Penilaian Darjah Lima) were then placed/enrolled for secondary school education in MHS. There were then, 80 students involved in this programme during its implementation.

In 1975, the old hostel which were located at the school main entrance was later demolished to make way for the construction of the school's new main assembly hall. A new 3-storey student hostel was then built at the back of the school compound and later named Special Programme Hostel (Asrama Rancangan Khas). The hostel had then accommodate the population of 118 students. Another hostel building was later built in 1983. During this time, MHS students hostel had been accommodating approximately 300 students. Hostel facilities includes a Muslim Mosque, a common living/activity room, a clinic, an air-conditioned library, an AV room, a cyber cafe, a dining hall and a VIP hall.

The hostel was earlier named as MHS Boys' Hostel (Asrama Putera Sekolah Tinggi Melaka) in 1985 but was then renamed as Tan Sri Datuk Wira Abdul Rahman Arshad Hostel. It was renamed after the former Director General of Education, Malaysia; who was an MHS student from 1948 until 1956.

School field

From 1975 to 1979, a school field expansion project was undertaken by the Public Works Department (Jabatan Kerja Raya) to an area covering about 5 acres (20,000 m²). This expansion had made the school field famous throughout the state as the largest school field in Malacca. It has two football/rugby fields, running/sports track, an indoor hockey turf, a basketball court and a tennis court.

Main Assembly Hall

In 1974, the school Main Assembly Hall project was approved by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia. Unfortunately it was cancelled shortly after, due to the unexpected increments of the project cost causing shortages on government allocated project fund. However the school administration had later succeed in their appeal to the related government authorities to approve/allow the school to initiate its own fund raising activities in an effort to cover the said project cost amount differences. A need for a large assembly hall was so critical then; to accommodate the rapid increasing number of students hence project cancellation is not an option.

With the initiative taken by the school's Board of Governors, teachers and the Parent-Teacher Association

(PTA), the school organised an official "Walkathon" Fund Raising programme on September 1977 to collect donations from the public. From the donations, the PTA, the Board of Governors as well as Malacca High School Old Pupils' Association (MAHSOPA), launched the Malacca High School Hall Building Fund.

MAHSOPA raised RM 180,000.00 for the school hall building fund which amounted to 25% of the construction costs.

The halted construction then continued. The school hall was later successfully built, commissioned and handed over to the school administration and was officially opened by the former Governor of Malacca, Tun Syed Zahiruddin bin Syed Hassan Al - Haj on 7 March 1981. The obvious sports facilities then were its four badminton courts.

In 2017, the hall was renovated by the Ministry of Education at RM 500,000.00.

MAHSOPA contributed RM 15,900.00 in 2018 to the school in buying a new PA system for the newly renovated school hall.

Mosque

The school mosque project was initiated in 1982, after the completion of the school hall. The former PTA chairman, Datuk Idris Abdul Ghani, with the help of other committee members, Muslim parents, teachers and students, as well as the public had contributed towards the mosque project. With the addition of funds from the School Development Fund, the mosque was completed in October 1984.

Later development

Projects include the renovation of the Drawing Room into Professional Room (1988), the building of the Wawasan and Budi block, the school gateway arch (1995), partial area of the school library renovated into Staff Room B (1998), the building of the Pintar Block (2000), the additional building of the students canteen, the Podium (Astaka) at the school field, the repair works on the west wing on the Warisan block which was damaged in a fire disaster in June 2000, as well as a two-storey computer lab on the former volleyball and basketball court. The school library also had its roof collapse in 2010 causing repairs to be done on the entire block including the teacher's room and library.damn

Meliora Hic Sequamur

This old main motto stands for "Here We Strive For Better Things". The motto was introduced by the Principal of Malacca High School Mr. L.W. Arnold. He was stationed in the school from 1931 to 1934. The use of the motto coincided with the shifting of the school from the High Court Building to the current location. The official opening of the school was in October 1931.

Sini Terdidiknya Manusia

A direct translation of this would be: Here's Where Humans Well Educated. This motto was introduced in line with the government's efforts to promote the usage of Bahasa Malaysia among the people by the former principal, Tuan Haji Abdul Rafie bin Mahat in 1989.

We Are The Best

This motto was introduced by a former Principal, Tuan Haji Mohammad bin Ismail in 1991.

Mesra, Hormat, Sayang

A literal translation of this would be: Congeniality, Respect and Love. This motto was introduced by a former Principal, Tuan Haji Noh bin Haji Ahmad in 2001.

High School Cemerlang, Pelajar Terbilang

A direct translation of this would be: (Malacca) High School Excels, Students Distinct. This motto was introduced by the Principal, Tuan Haji Abdul Razak bin Che Ngah.

Politics and Civil Service

• Lim Guan Eng, MP and Chief Minister of Penang
• Tan Sri Mohd Ali Rustam (Former Malacca Chief Minister)
• Datuk Seri Abu Zahar Ithnin (Former Malacca Chief Minister)
• M.K. Rajakumar
• Tun Tan Cheng Lock (one of the founding fathers of modern Malaysia and the founder of the Malaysian Chinese Association)
• Tun Tan Siew Sin (former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Finance Minister and former president of the Malayan Chinese Association)^[3]

Literature

• Shirley Geok-Lin Lim (UCLA Professor of English who chairs the School of Education of UCLA, winner of Commonwealth Poetry Prize and National Book Award)

Education

• Prof. Emeritus Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Anuwar Ali currently President of Open University Malaysia^[4]

Sports houses

The house system was introduced in 1923. Every student was assigned a “house” named after historical figures. The sports houses in the school are:

• Albuquerque     
• Famosa     
• Minto     
• Raffles     
• St Francis     
• Van Dieman     

Starting from January 2014, all the sports houses were changed from 6 to 4. The new names for the sport houses are:

• Red      St. Francis
• Yellow/Orange      Raffles
• Blue      Albuquerque
• Green      Famosa