from the Masters Justice Tan Lee Meng

From the Phonix Mag

from the Masters

Justice Tan Lee Meng

Raffles Hall Master

1980 — 1997

I am privileged to have been a resident of Raffles Hall (“RH”) when | was a law student from 1968-1972, a Resident Fellow from 1972 until 1980, and the Master of the Hall for more than 17 years from 1980-1997.

RH has been “home” to many distinguished Singaporeans, including former President Dr Tony Tan, former Deputy Prime Ministers Mr Wong Kan Seng and Professor S Jayakumar, former Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, Ambassador-at-large Professor Tommy Koh, former Attorney-General Professor Walter Woon, Justice Lai Kew Chai, Justice S Rajendran, Justice Goh Joon Seng, Justice MPH Rubin, Justice Andrew Phang, Justice Woo Bih Li, Justice Andrew Ang, Justice Aedit Abdullah, former Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Professor Kishore Mahbubani and the Chairman of the EDB, former RH President, Dr Beh Swan Gin. RH has also been “home” to innumerable distinguished Malaysians, including politicians, such as former RH President and member of Parliament, Datuk William Leong Jee Keen, judges, such as Justice Visu Sinnadurai and former RH President, Justice George Varghese, ‘as well as personalities in the legal and corporate world, including former RH Presidents, Dato Sivaloganathan and Mr Eric Ooi.

| first stepped into RH as a law freshman in 1968, the Hall was then in the Bukit Timah campus. I had heard much from the seniors in my school about orientation in the Hall, which was then an all-male hostel. There was no RH Orientation Committee ("RHOC”) and orientation involved impromptu activities conducted by either the most senior residents or the seniors with the loudest voices, All freshmen were required to wear a freshman tie and tag throughout the orientation period for easy identification. We felt a strong bond with our seniors and our fellow freshmen. Our seniors were rather protective of Hall freshmen outside the Hall and a RH freshman who was being held up. elsewhere in the campus by non-RH seniors will often be rescued by a RH senior and escorted back to RH.

Life in RH in the Bukit Timah campus was very comfortable. We were served breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner every day and we looked forward to tea time. The RH patio, with its trademark cane wicker chairs, was a hub of activity and laughter at teatime. We each had a cake and as many cups of RH tea as desired. Suppers were sold in a canteen operated by a former RH cook, For twenty cents, Rafflesians could have a bowl of yong tau foo soup or fried beehoon at the canteen. At around 10 pm, a hawker would arrive to sell hot char siew paus and other dim sum delicacies. For those who wanted to venture out of the campus, there was an A & W cafe just outside the campus, close to Khiam Hock Road, and for twenty cents, one could board one of the Mercedes pirate taxis plying along Bukit Timah Road and Dunearn Road to ferry passengers to and from the Newton Circus hawker centre. We even had an RH mini-bus that was driven by authorised student drivers and the RH bus took Rafflesians to “Glutton’s Square”, the hawker centre opposite what is now Centrepoint in Orchard Road, which was a car park that was magically transformed every night into a vibrant hawker centre. On Sundays, the RH bus ferried residents to church. No one really wanted to know the whereabouts of the RH bus on a Saturday night. Apparently, the RH bus was allegedly spotted in Kuala Lumpur during the long vacation.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, and until RH admitted female residents, notices on the wall of the central staircase leading to all the residents’ rooms reminded female visitors not to proceed beyond what was then known as the “ground floor’, which housed the dining room, patio, visitors’ lounge and reading room. Within the Hall’s internal corridors that separated two rows of student rooms on every floor, male residents who wanted to bathe in the common bathrooms at the end of the corridors often walked from their rooms to the bathrooms and back in the scantiest of attire. The shower cubicles, which had no doors, had only cold water whereas the bathroom sinks had both hot and cold water. Residents preferred to mix hot and cold water at the sinks and they bathed there without any embarrassment while chatting with one another. It was only on “open house” days, which were around three times a year, that female visitors were allowed onto the floors in which the residents’ rooms were located. Invariably, some residents who wanted to bathe in the common bathrooms would forget that it was “open house” day, with rather embarrassing results.

In the 1960s and 1970s, there were no handphones. The Hall had only two phone booths on the “ground” floor for incoming and outgoing calls and it was rather difficult for anyone to call residents in the Hall as the phone was engaged most of the time. There was no intercom system and when a call came through for a resident, the person who picked up the phone had to shout the name of the person being called and the latter had to shout to indicate that he was coming to receive the call There was more interest in interfloor (now inter-block) games than in inter-Hall games. There was also more interest in inter-Hall games than in inter-university games. One inter-Hall competition that interested Rafflesians greatly was the RH-Second Residential College, University of Malaya, games. These games were held annually, with the venue rotating between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Residents of both Halls shared their rooms with their foreign visitors. Whatever the results of the various games, RH never lost the beer speed drinking competition. In my first year, the games were held in Singapore. For badminton, the Second Residential College fielded Malaysia's All-England Badminton Champion, Tan Aik Huang. According to the Hall’s official news reports, the Raffles Hall player managed to stun the world champion by racing to 14-0 but victory eluded the Rafflesian because Aik Huang, who had in fact politely lost the first 14 points, made it 0-14 on the next serve and won the remaining points with the greatest of ease. Despite vociferous support for the Rafflesian player, Aik Huang won the second game with a score of 15-0. Aik Huang was, despite his celebrity status, a modest and friendly man.

In 1975, RH admitted female residents for the first time. It took some time for male residents to get used to the fact that girls resided in the Hall. The person whe had to make the most adjustments was our effable Pa Mat, the Hall janitor, who mopped the floor and swore freely at male residents whenever they walked over a freshly mopped section of the floor before it was dry. He occasionally uttered foul words at male residents, only to become red-faced when he realised that a nearby female resident had heard his profanities. The female residents also had to adjust to the rooms in the Hall as they were primarily equipped for male residents and many of them had chests of drawers, rather than tall cupboards, to put their dresses in. Tea time at the patio became a more colourful affair with the daily presence of the fairer sex. In 1992, the Hall elected its first female President, Ms Kok Li Peng, a career diplomat and former Ambassador to the Philippines. 

In 1980, the University Administration, which was concerned about the morale of RH residents, asked me to become the Master of the Hall. The reason for the concern was that nearly all the faculties had moved to Kent Ridge and the two new Halls in Kent Ridge were attracting more students because it was inconvenient for Rafflesians to take a bus to Kent Ridge in the morning and back to the Hall in the evening. | could not let the Hall down and I agreed to assume the post of Master. Rafflesians, including, former Presidents Mr Chua Thai Keong and Mr Sonny Yuen, resisted the temptation to move to the Kent Ridge Halls and helped me boost the morale of our residents. During this period, the compact disc was launched and the Hall became the first Hall in the NUS to introduce the compact disc player in its lounge. 

In 1984, RH moved from Nassim Road to its new home at Kent Ridge. All new Halls at Kent Ridge had an opening ceremony but Raffles Hall chose not to have one as it had already been opened in 1958 by the last Governor of Singapore, Sir William Goode. Instead, Rafflesians lowered the Hall flag at a poignant ceremony in the Bukit Timah campus in the late afternoon and the flag was presented to the first of many relay runners, who carried the flag to Kent Ridge. There was much excitement when the flag finally reached Kent Ridge and was handed over to the last runner, the then President, Mr Sonny Yuen, who has the distinction of being the only President of both Raffles Hall at Nassim Road and Kent Ridge. When the flag reached the Hall's premises at Kent Ridge, it was raised in another solemn ceremony that marked the shift of the Hall from Bukit Timah to Kent Ridge.

When we moved to Kent Ridge, the Hall had the best facilities in the NUS. Apart from having our renowned billiard tables, we had a large and properly equipped gymnasium, a dance studio and a library that operated a decent law library with the latest textbooks, statutes and official law reports from England, Singapore and Malaysia. The computer room was really luxurious, with its pink carpets matched by paintings of red roses by renowned Singapore artist, Dr Earl Lu. I started to collect original works of art for RH. Many guests at our Hall Dinners brought valuable art as presents to the Hall. Apart from Dr Earl Lu’s generous donation of many of his works, former Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong donated a Thomas Yeo painting while Justice Lai Kew Chai gave us a Tay Bak Koi painting. Another donor gave us a number of Chen Wen Hsi paintings as well as an invaluable Ming Dynasty painting. Apart from paintings, former residents, such as Sat Pa Khattar donated a piano to RH while another donor, who wished to remain anonymous, gave us a grand piano.

We started a number of events that were emulated by other Halls. One such event is the Hall graduation dinner, which enables our graduating class to come in their academic regalia to inspire the freshmen. To add colour to the occasion, members of the Senior Common Room Committee were also robed so that students could view the gowns of, among others, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford and London, which were worn by our Resident and Non-resident fellows. Our formal dinners were well-attended events, after which the guest of honour often had a dialogue with the residents. Thus, Rafflesians had the opportunity to interact with, among others, President Wee Kim Wee, former chief minister David Marshall. The Hall also welcomed its former residents, Professor Tommy Koh, and cabinet ministers, Professor Jayakumar, Mr Wong Kan Seng and Dr Yeo Ning Hong. Dr Yeo was warmly applauded by the residents when he stated that while had “visited” other Halls of residence in the NUS, he had “come home” to Raffles Hall. Many ambassadors and High Commissioners also attended the Hall’s formal dinners and concerts. In 1989, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip visited Raffles Hall. On the day of the royal visit, Rafflesians were given leave from classes because the Hall was “sealed” for security purposes. Rafflesians lined up in three rows to form a horse-shoe to enable them to have a good view of the royal visitors. Prince Philip noticed this and asked whether seniors were in the front row while freshmen were in the back rows. When the freshmen answered with a resounding “yes”, the witty prince said that he did not agree with the practice and when the freshmen roared their approval, he added that disapproval, this is what they do in Britain as well, a comment which sat well with the seniors. I received a letter from the Queen’s private secretary, who stated that the Queen enjoyed her visit to the Hall and mentioned her comments on some of the detailed decorations put up by Rafflesians for the royal visit.

I was asked on numerous occasions to consider retrenching our kitchen staff and have a caterer serve food to the Hall’s residents in order to save money. The other Halls had no kitchen staff and their food caterers only served breakfast and dinner on weekdays. I declined to make the switch. Mr Steven Tan, our domestic manager, who is known to many of our former residents, and our kitchen staff continued to serve breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner every day of the week to our residents for around $4 a day. Who can forget the fried rice that was served every Sunday for lunch? The provision of four meals a day at such a low cost benefited our residents, and especially those from Malaysia.

In 1992, I was asked to become the NUS Deputy Vice-Chancellor. I was then the Dean of the Law Faculty and was reluctant to accept the new position because this would mean that I would have to leave the Hall as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor was in charge of all the Halls of Residence. The university knew my link with Raffles Hall was very important to me and offered to allow me to remain with the Hall while it was run by an acting Master. I thus continued to play a part in the Hall’s internal functions while the Acting Master, Mr David Chong, represented the Hall in external functions and university meetings. In 1997, I was elevated to the Supreme Court Bench. This meant that I had to resign from the university and leave Raffles Hall after having been its Master for more than 17 years. It was with a heavy heart that I left the Hall.

After leaving the Hall, I continued the tradition of welcoming and addressing the Hall’s freshmen every year. I also attended the Hall’s annual concert, which is the highlight of the NUS cultural calendar. In the context of the Hall concerts, credit must be given to Cheong Wei Lee, the cultural secretary who started the first Hall concert as she was determined to showcase Raffles Hall’s cultural talent to the public. Since the first concert, all of which were of a high standard. In the past two and a half decades, the Hall has produced good quality original musicals. Some of the tunes have been memorable. In particular, “The Other Side of Me” from the musical “Paper Cranes”, which was composed by Rosita Ng, is very tuneful. Rosita made it a point to sing this number in her many charity concerts in recent years.

Rosita

When I look back with satisfaction at the many happy and fulfilling years as Master of the Hall, I cannot forget the many moments when interacting with Rafflesians. I recall that on one occasion a freshman teared after I addressed the incoming first year students, and said that he had been feeling lost since his father died three years ago and while listening to me talk about the Rafflesian family, he decided to stop feeling bitter and be part of the RH family. He cried when I told him that I would gladly take care of him while he was in RH. On another occasion a student rang my doorbell after midnight and sat in front of me in a daze for more than five minutes. When I asked him to say something, he finally said that his mother has just died and being with me was what he needed to comfort him in his moment of sorrow. I felt very privileged that my Rafflesian wanted me to be with him in his moment of need. Finally, I might mention that a former resident telephoned me to say that while he had not been an active Hall resident, it would make his day complete if I could attend his wedding dinner. At the dinner, he recalled that when he failed his first year examinations, he wanted to leave the university but I walked with him around the campus for 45 minutes and encouraged him to stay and try again. It is during such moments that I felt that being Master of RH is most rewarding and this gave me the opportunity to help young Rafflesians move on with their lives.

Present RH residents should emulate the loyalty of the RH residents in the early years of the Hall. Each year, at the NUS “Bukit Timah Homecoming dinner” in July, many of them, including former Hall Presidents Data Sivaloganathan, Mr K Pasupathy and Mr Eric Ooi, as well as stalwarts like Mr Andrew Loh Yoon Chan and Mr Teo Eng Leong, attend and sing with great gusto the Hall anthem at the event. On one occasion, when then President Tony Tan was the guest of honour, he together with the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Professor M Kishore, joined us as we sang the Hall anthem. The Hall Alumni continues to support the Hall in many ways. The President of the RH Alumni, Mr Sonny Yuen, mooted the idea of creating a RH Bursary for needy students in the Hall and organising a gold tournament in 2015 to raise funds for this purpose. The Bursary now has more than $1.5m and the first bursaries were awarded in 2018. Credit must be given to Mr Sonny Yuen for his sterling services to RH. Another person who has served RH tirelessly over the past six years is former Resident Fellow, Dr Rendy Tan, whose enthusiasm for RH is so evident. 

When I reflect on my role as Master of Raffles Hall, I must thank my wife for supporting me totally in this role. She understood my passion for the Hall and played an active part as a friend of the students and as a gracious hostess for many dinners with residents and distinguished visitors to the Hall.

Professor Tommy Koh once said that RH is one of the few institutions in Singapore with an “institutional mystique”. Let us resolve at this sixtieth anniversary of the Hall to continue to serve RH, which is, to all of us, the finest Hall of residence in the NUS. I am confident that the present RH residents will continue to make us proud of the Hall we all love.