100 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE, KOLEJ SULTAN ABDUL HAMID.

The Sultan Abdul Hamid College (SAHC, now Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid) is a premier school in Alor Star. 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 Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj, former Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali, former Education Minister Tan Sri Mohamad Khir Johari, former Permanent Representative to the United Nations Tan Sri Razali Ismail and the present Sultan of Kedah, His Highness Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah ibni al marhum Sultan Badlishah A former student and teacher, Daim Zainuddin, later went on to become the Finance Minister of Malaysia. Five former Chief Justices – Tun Syed Sheh Hassan Barakbah, Tun Mohamed Azmi Mohamed, Tun Abdul Hamid Omar, Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim – also attended the college. Currently headed by principal Morazuki Hashim, SAHC has also educated five Kedah Mentris Besar and three governors.

The Sultan Abdul Hamid College is also known as SAHC (English), KSAH (Malay) or just simply and fondly "College" to the students and teachers of the school. Its yearly magazine or schoolbook is named "Darulaman" (the abode of peace), referring to the Arabic title for the state of Kedah.

Primarily a boy's school, it's students comprise of boys of Form 1s to Form 5s and mixed sexes of Lower and Upper 6s. The student population had increased tremendously from the date of the school's early inception: from less than 50 in 1908 to more than 1,200 in 2007. The school recently celebrated its 100 years of existence(1908 - 2008).

With the motto “Scholar, Sportsman, Gentleman”, SAHC remained an English school until 1978. Up until the 1970s, the school reigned as a premier school in the nation, especially since there was a limited choice of schools and there were no fully residential schools. However, from the 1980s, the school began to lose some of its prestigious lustre, with the rise in fully residential schools and the birth of Mara Junior Science Colleges. Tunku Intan Tunku Kasim says these days, many parents focus purely on academic excellence, which is something residential schools are well-known for. “In terms of that, SAHC may not be looked upon as a premier school anymore,” says the assistant secretary of Sultan Abdul Hamid Old Collegians’ Association Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. In an effort to preserve the school’s standing, the state Education Department labelled it a “state premier school” in 1999. Since then, student intake has been controlled by the department, which requires that only students with a minimum of 4As and 1B in the UPSR can enrol in Form One.

During my schooling days (back in years 1990 - 1994) our school was the best sports school in Kedah. Football, rugby, hockey, tennis and even athlethics were our games. Some of them then became national players/athlets. One of them, my ex-classmate, proud of the state, is the current Captain of Kedah football team, Victor Andrag. Others seniors and juniors that have done the state and country proud includes Radhi Mat Din, Azmi Mahmud, Akmal Rizal, Romzi Bakar.

The school song made me feel proud being a Collegians:

Strong loyalty we give our king

Firm friendship we would like to bring

We march along with strength and will

To help our country win

We aim for truth and courage

For virtues and for values

We're girls and boys of College

Good Collegians are we

K.S.A.H Alma mater

K.S.A.H young Collegians all

The problems of the world we face

Seem very small like earth in space

The rainbow of the sky we chase

A great and worthy race

We pupils here are happy

We're cheerful with no worries

For aren't we young Collegians

We are and proud to be

K.S.A.H Alma mater

K.S.A.H young Collegians all

Above is a picture of Tun Dr Mahathir(sitting, right) and his Kolej schoolmates, taken in year 1940.

This was posted by my super senior himself, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his blog on Aug 5, 2008:

1. I came back from a holiday in Croatia to attend the centenary celebration of my alma mater, Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid or Sultan Abdul Hamid College recently.

2. It was a sentimental occasion. Seeing the old school, quite unchanged since I was admitted into Primary I way back in 1932 brought back many sweet/sad memories.

3. The centenary was more meaningful to me because the school was founded by my father who was also its first headmaster. He used to tell me of his experiences when he was headmaster there.
4. It was not in the present building of course. It was housed in a wooden Malay house in the middle of the town of Alor Star. Called the GES or Government English School, he had Malaysia's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman as one of his students.

5. My father died in 1962. I thought he would like me to attend the centenary. I felt very nostalgic of the good old days when he used to teach me and my brother mathematics.

6. Before I was born he was sent to Pahang to teach at a school in Raub. Then he was sent to Johore to teach at an English school there.

7. Those were very distant places and he had to travel by boat with my mother and my eldest sister. My mother's second child, also a girl was born in Pahang. Mahadi my mother's eldest son was born in Johor Bahru.

8. Father got tired of shifting house and traveling to strange places. He came back to Alor Star and applied for an auditor's job with the Kedah Government.

9. Although his name is Mohamad bin Iskandar, people generally call him "Master" or Mohamad Iskandar. To honour him the primary school attached to Sultan Abdul Hamid College was named "Sekolah Iskandar" inadvertently honouring my grandfather instead. I have never complained.

10. At the main ceremony on the morning of Saturday 26th July the College named three ex-collegiate as the Collegiate of the Centenary. HRH the Sultan was the first, second came Tunku Abdul Rahman and I felt greatly honoured to be named as the third Collegiate of the Centenary. It would be another century before anyone will get this award.

11. To be able to study at the GES was a great privilege in those days. This was the first and only Government English School in Kedah. There were only 30 boys from the whole of Kedah admitted each year. I was one of the lucky ones.

12. Going to school was thrilling to me and I couldn't wait for school holidays to end.

13. I did fairly well and my Senior Cambridge Examinations result was good enough for me to be admitted into the medical faculty of the King Edward VII College of Medicine. I was given financial aid which was not a scholarship. The British Colonial Government apparently practised affirmative action because all my Chinese and Indian classmates had far better results than me. The examination results of the other six Malay students were even worse than mine. There were 70 plus students in all.

14. I owed my teachers in school a great deal. Only one of them, Mr. Zain, is alive today. He was a great teacher and spoke grammatically correct English all the time.

15. Schooling was such a great experience and I recall with fondness many rewarding events that I went through.

16. I hope and pray that all Malaysians remember their school days and the part that school plays in their lives. Getting an education right up to University level is easy now. But we must nevertheless feel grateful for there are more than one billion illiterate people in the world. For them the future promises very little.