Malacca High School (MHS, formerly Malacca Free School) is a secondary school in Malacca, Malaysia. Founded on 7 December 1826, it is the second oldest recorded school in the country after only Penang Free School. It was awarded cluster school status and is known as one of the premier schools in Malaysia.

History

Establishment On 7 December 1826, MHS was officially established; just after Malacca was made a British 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 Thomas H. Moor, who came to Malacca in 1825 on the orders of William Milne, who was one of the educators at the Anglo-Chinese College. In his letter dated 4 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 missionaries during the Dutch administration. The school was closed when Malacca was handed over to the British by the Dutch.

School motto

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 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. The motto may have been chosen to coincide with the abbreviation of MHS for the school.

School emblem The school emblem was introduced in 1931. During this time the School Board of Governors was established and the motto "Meliora Hic Sequamur" was established. Originally, the school emblem reflected 'History', 'Resilience' and 'Strength'.

The 'A Famosa' logo was used and the colour of green and maroon were used. At the bottom of the logo, 'Meliora Hic Sequamur' was etched. At the beginning, this logo was used by the school prefects only but from 1970 all students wear the logo.

Principals 1826 - T.H. Moor 1843 - John Overee 1862 - T. Smith 1878 - Alex Armstrong (A. Armstrong) 1893 - J. Howell 1916 - C.F.C. Ayre 1921 - C. Beamish 1924 - C.G. Coleman 1930 - T.A.O. Sullivan 1931 - L.W. Arnold 1934 - L.A.S. Jermyn 1941 - C.A. Scott, Lee Chin Lin 1945 - Goh Tiow Chong 1946 - C. Foster, C.J. Gurney 1950 - G.P. Dartford 1952 - F.T. Laidlaw, E.H. Bromley 1956 - A. Atkinson 1957 - W. Gibson 1958 - K. Kandiah, Ee Tiang Hong 1960 - C.T. Wade, Goh Keat Seng 1965 - Tan Teik Hock 1969 - Lim Leng Lee 1970 - K. Anandarajan 1972 - Chan Ying Tat 1985 - Abdul Rafie Mahat 1991 - Mohammad Ismail 1994 - Hussin Abdul Hamid 1996 - Mohd Zin Abdul Hamid 1998 - Othman Ibrahim 2000 - Noh Ahmad 2001 - Ya'amah Mohd Dris 2003 - Mohd Ali Saed 2006 - Yusof Ahmad 2007 - Abd. Razak Che Ngah 2014 - Ramnan Saidun 2022 - Johan Othman

Notable alumni Royalty Raja Chulan

Politics and Civil Service Mohd Ali Rustam, the 7th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Malacca & the 9th Chief Minister of Malacca Lim Guan Eng, the 4th Chief Minister of Penang, MP for Bagan, MLA for Air Putih and former Finance Minister of Malaysia Abu Zahar Ithnin, the 8th Chief Minister of Malacca Tan Cheng Lock, one of the founding fathers of modern Malaysia and the founder of the Malaysian Chinese Association Abdullah Mohd Salleh - the 5th Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Siew Sin, Malaysian politician and former Minister of Finance and Industry Lai Siu Chiu, Justice of the Supreme Court of Singapore M.K. Rajakumar, politician

Literature Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, UCSB Distinguished Professor Emerita of English, winner of Commonwealth Poetry Prize and 2 American Book Awards.

Education Anuwar Ali, president of Open University Malaysia

Further reading Malacca High School The Optimist School Magazines Our Story' Malacca High School (1826-2006)

References

External links

MHS alumni portal Tourism Melaka MHS Official Site EarthExplode.Org Retrieved on 31 May 2007 EEOrg - History of MHS Retrieved on 31 May 2007 EEOrg - MHS Buddhist Society Retrieved on 31 May 2007