By Clive Gregory.

When I first heard that plans were afoot to organize a reunion of the class of 71 at the Methodist Secondary School, Sibu, I was interested and happy to agree that I would attend. At the time Linda still lived in Melbourne and both she and Wendy had made separate visits to Sibu to discover the town once more. They had visited with us in 1977, but had little knowledge of the town where their parents spent three years, 1968, 1970 and 1971.

As details of the plans evolved, I was surprised to learn that a 'trial' re-union was to be held. What a strange idea I thought. That means we will have to wait even longer for the real thing to happen.

During the intervening time, Linda went to live in England and in due course she and Andy decided to get married. Although the date for the re-union had long been fixed, the date for Linda and Andy's wedding changed twice and the location changed twice as well.

At one stage we thought that both Linda and Wendy and our son Chris would be visiting Sibu with us for the re-union, but we all gathered in England for Linda's wedding in September, then Carlene and I visited Sarawak for the re-union in December and Linda flew out from England for the weekend.

From the moment we arrived in Kuching we were delighted to meet former students and colleagues and know at once that we were among friends. Life was rather too hectic in the weeks before we left so the relaxed time first in Kuching then in Sibu was most welcome.

We were delighted to be staying with Chee Liang and Lei Sing and that Linda was also spending her three nights in Sarawak with us.

As soon as we arrived in Sibu late on Friday afternoon it was evident that the reunion was very well planned and organised. The benefit of having a 'trial' reunion was obvious. On the first evening an informal dinner enabled former students and staff to mix freely, re-discover each other and look at old photos. We found that some people had changed more that others and that all sorts of people were very good cooks. The evening was all too short with so many people to meet and greet, but we all knew that a program of events on Saturday would give us more time to catch up with people who we had not managed to talk to on Friday evening. I was particularly amused by the reaction of some former class mates to my photographs taken in 1971.

The main advantage of the informal nature of the gathering was that people could mix and mingle. Choosing your food and trying to hold a plate and a drink while also eating and talking may not be easy, but it is just one of those social skills that we all have to learn, because sitting down to a formal dinner is not always the best thing to do.

On Saturday morning we were whisked off to breakfast in the town and treated to noodles, bau and other dishes too numerous to mention. We had all been provided with souvenir tops emblazoned with the MSS Class of 1971 logo, so we looked like a mixed basketball team heading off in uniform for a match. From there we went on a tour of the school, conducted by the Principal. This included the formal opening of the covered way that had been constructed with money donated by students from the class of 71.

After inspecting the new hall and the computer room we adjourned to the older and more familiar block of teaching rooms where classes 5A, 5M and 5S had their lessons in 1971. It really was strange to approach the old 5S classroom knowing that so many of those who were eager young students in 1971 had returned 28 years later to remember and celebrate their time together. I was ill-prepared for this part of the weekend, just as I was ill-prepared in 1971 to teach English, as I had trained originally to teach Accounting and Economics, not English. Despite this I entered the room carrying books and umbrella as I did in 1971 and greeted the class. Their response to "Good morning 5S" was immediately reassuring. I was immediately encouraged to sit on the teacher's desk in front of the class as was my custom. We then recalled my views on whether it was important to know the finer technical points of English grammar. As was often the case with 5S, I was then encouraged by questions to talk about things such as Australian politics which had nothing much to do with the subject I was supposed to be teaching, but was of interest to me and seemed to interest my students. David Johnson joined in with observations on the subject and the time flashed by. The second "mock" lesson presented by Pat Johnson on maths was by contrast much better prepared with a quiz which immediately engaged all present. Some of us were tricked by the questions, but we all enjoyed being tested on reading and comprehension as much as ability in Maths.

Next we adjourned to a room in the main block of the school for lunch. Here as elsewhere we found that the widespread habit of drinking bottled water was evident, which was not, as I recall it, a practice in 1971. The room was air-conditioned and most of us enjoyed eating and drinking, although as it was Ramadan, our Muslim friends did not join in.

After lunch we went to the Lecture Hall to hear from the Principal about developments at the school and reports from the committee members about the planning and finances associated with the re-union. These formalities were followed by talks by various former teachers who were present. This for me was a very interesting part of the re-union, because I heard from and about former colleagues and reflected on how little I knew about the people I worked with long ago. No doubt we were all busy teaching our own subjects, preparing lessons and trying to keep up with the endless steam of marking students' work, so we had little time to chat. I found it very moving to hear from my former colleagues who talked about their careers and the importance of their experience as teachers at the MSS. Compared to others, my time at MSS was very brief, yet in the context of my own career and my beliefs about the place of Australia in the world, those three years were, for me, very important.

On Saturday evening a formal re-union dinner was held in a large hotel in town. This was in many ways the highlight of the weekend, as our former colleagues Mr and Mrs Wong Soon Koh were the guests of honour. We had a splendid dinner which I thoroughly enjoyed as I was by then fully recovered from a slight tummy upset which had prevented me from eating very much other than steamed rice for a few days. After dinner came the formalities, including a very thoughtful and interesting speech by Wong Soon Koh and various items of entertainment. These included singing, dancing, instrumental music and poetry reading. I must compliment the organizers of the dinner in getting the balance right between time for eating, listening to speeches and being entertained. It is very difficult to get that balance right, but they succeeded. There were also presentations of gifts particularly to former teachers which reflected the generous manner in which we had been welcomed back. We, in return could only thank our hosts and express our delight to have had the opportunity to be present and enjoy recalling 1971. It was a pleasure once again to meet all the people we taught in that year. The students of 5S in particular recall 1971 as the year in which our daughter Linda was born in Sibu. Carlene and I invited 5S to our home for a party when Linda was one month old. That event was well recorded in photos and as Linda was at the re-union she was presented with a gift and enlarged photo signed by the 5S class of 1971.

On Sunday morning we returned to the same hotel for breakfast which was quite informal and also involved exchanging or purchasing photos taken during the week-end. It was hard to believe that the celebrations were almost over, as some classmates and teaching colleagues were already saying goodbye as they were booked on mid-morning flights.

My account of the weekend in Sibu is, as I re-read it, rather chronological, but that is the way I recall things. It is also rather lacking in acknowledgement by name of those who organised the activities during the weekend. The main impression I want to convey is that as visitors to Sibu, Carlene, Linda and I had a wonderful time during which we enjoyed hospitality which took account of our needs and allowed us time to fit in other things, meet other people and yet attend all the events that had been organised. We also had the opportunity to see some classmates who were not able to attend the re-union, which was good. The only thing we missed was church on Sunday morning because I misunderstood the intent of a question about whether I planned to get up early or late on Sunday morning!

My final observation is that life in Sibu appeared to be different in various ways in 1999 when compared to 1971. There are far more cars, wider roads, more traffic-lights and big buildings, but the visitor can easily recall and recognise the Sibu of 1971 with narrow roads and small shops.

My only regret in visiting Sarawak once more is to have the impression that there are probably fewer opportunities now for Australians to live and work in Sarawak than there were in the 1970's. I regret this, if indeed it is the case, because I believe that both people and nations benefit from exchanges and opportunities for people to cross boundaries and experience other cultures. These benefits are mutual, not one sided and in many ways they have contributed to the strong links between Malaysia and Australia both of which are multi-racial societies.

Carlene and I look forward to visiting Sarawak again in the next few years perhaps after I retire. Our visit for the re-union was a memorable and enjoyable experience, thanks to the hard work and generosity of all concerned. Thank you all for having the imagination to devise the event, and the will to transform the idea into reality.

Clive Gregory

March 21, 2000