Class of 58 of St Joseph’s School meet after 60 years

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Bong Kee Chok (centre) and his classmates of St Joseph’s School class of 58 get together 60 years after leaving school.

KUCHING: Sixty years after finishing their Form 5 and having sat for the Senior Cambridge examinations at St Joseph’s School here, 11 classmates of the class of ‘58 attended a reunion dinner at a local restaurant here last Sunday.

It was no mean feat to gather classmates for a reunion after all those years, even if only 11 from the three classes of ‘58 managed to make it.

Three of them Paul Kuek, Tony Chen and Matthew Tai flew in from Australia for the get-together.

The class of ‘58 of St Joseph’s School is one of the most outstanding in the illustrious history of the school as all the students who sat for the Senior Cambridge examinations passed.

All of them went on to pursue their careers and have retired although some still do consultancy work in their field of expertise.

Among those present, the best known is Bong Kee Chok, who was the head of the communist insurgency in Sarawak in the sixties before leading his comrades to sign a peace treaty with the government in 1973 in Simanggang, which was renamed Sri Aman to mark the momentous event.

Before the dinner began a moment of silence was observed for those among them who had passed on.

Like branches of a tree, their lives grew in different directions after they left school but their roots remain as one – St Joseph’s School.