Ramadhan 1435H (June 29th. 2014), is coming.
O you who believed, Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you so that you may learn self - restraint. - Al Quran : 2 :183.
Puasa, dalam bahasa Arab, bererti meninggalkan. Manakala maksud dari ahli Feqah, meninggalkan diri dari melakukan perkara-perkara yang boleh membatalkan puasa, bermula dari terbit fajar hingga terbenamnya matahari disertai dengan niat. - Islam.gov.my.
Salam 1 Ramadhan 1435H, buat semua, buat yang diingatan , semuga beroleh kesejahteraan, dilimpahi Allah taufik dan hidayahnya , bersama melalui liku - liku kehidupan sepanjang perjalanan ini hingga ke akhirnya. Sesungguhnya Dia Maha Pengasih, Maha Penyayang lagi Maha Pengampun buat hamba - hambanya yang dikasihi dan dicintai.
A History of its humble beginning....by.... (Mr. Santa Singh , the first principal ).
The school was started on April 2nd. 1962, because April.4th. 1962 was a public holiday.
It was a humble start. We were asked to 'lodge' in Clif. Secondary School, which was not very happy to have us. We start as a Secondary Continuation School (Sekolah Menengah Lanjutan) for the pupils who could not get into Form One due to their poor perfomance in the Standard 6 examination.
Our enrollment was 126 with 8 teachers . The Headmaster was the clerk, peon and sweeper. The school office was his car., then a Volkswagen. Eventually, we were given a new building next to Sekolah Wan Ibrahim on the hillside. It was a good as the staff and the pupils then had their own place. Unfortunately, the building was taken away from us by the newly created Sekolah Menengah Rendah Kebangsaan (kini SMK Orang Kaya Haji).
We were then sent back to our not so favorite Cliff. Secondary School. Luck was on our side and we were given definite classrooms as our own to use. It was difficult as we could not use the field - only when Cliff. School did not use it.
In meantime, En Khir Johari (now Tan Sri), the then Minister of Education, visited ..... He happened to meet me and asked me about our school. He was happy to know that the efficient Education Department had acquired a piece of land at second mile to build the school. He did not believe in wasting the land and personally saw to it that the funds were allotted and the school were built. The building was ready and we occupied it. It was then renamed Sekolah Menengah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan, a rather long name. We had a good library but we had to use 'gotong royong' to get the field going. The District Officer, the District Engineer and an Estate Manager helped to improve the field. We experimented with fertilizer and succesfully grew grass. There was an all round effort to get the school going.
Flood come in December 1970 / January 1971 and we had water up to the second floor. It was a terrible set back as our library collections, records and science laboratory were all destroyed or damaged. It took us a long time to recover but we did manage it. Facilities were further improved with a big donation by Dato Chong Kee Teck and matched by the ........ Government on a dollar for dollar basis. This produced our basketball court. It was a big effort . Another good donor was Mr Tara Singh PJK of ....... He sent us a lot of cement and sand. Therefore we had the facilities to match any school ; a field,basketball, sepak takraw, badminton, table tennis and a long shed by the field.
In the late 1970's, we were offered an Industrial Arts Workshop. The JKR wanted the workshop to be built on the field. I said a firm "NO" as a field is very important in education. I had to go to the Ministry of Education to negotiate for a double storey workshop which could be built towards the back. It was the first double storey workshop in Malaysia.
Around this time it was felt that the school should have a proper name. The Education Department and the Chief in .... agreed to name the school after the chief and it become Sekolah Menengah Setia Wangsa.
However, what the visitors probably noticed first was the grinding stones at the entrance which were donated by the Selbourne Estate. These stones come from England in the early year of this century. They were use to grind leaves of the 'Gutta Percha' tree to make a special rubber for use in undersea cables. Selbourne Estate was the only place in the Commonwealth to grow 'Gutta Percha' as an estate crop. But the invention of plastics superseded the use of 'Gutta Percha'. Therefore, they are of great historical value in the district .... They were brought from Selbourne Estate with great difficulty : two lorries and a backhoe had to be used, ' Gutta Percha was a very important product in the economy of the district...... at that time.
I am happy to have recorded this history of Sekolah Menengah Setia Wangsa. Although I left school in 1979 with a feeling of achievement and happiness, I was sad to leave.
Wrote by Mr Santa Singh
38, Jalan Tengku Sulaiman,
Sungai Marong, 28700, Bentong, Pahang.
Ditulis untuk Santarian Group oleh Hj Yusof Ibrahim,
Pengetua Kelima SMK Setia Wangsa.
Thank you very much Tn Hj. Yusof, En . Iskandar Putra.
Tq photo -gilagambarblogspot.
Wassalam, 1st. July. 2014., 8.53am.
