To Sir, With Love

Phua Seng Tiong was the Senior Pastor of Sungai Way-Subang Methodist Church, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia until 2009.  He was also a teacher and principal of government secondary schools for 31 years and retired in the year 2000. He is married to Ai Swee with two grown-up children. He continues to be involved in mission work in India, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Indonesia. 

When Phua considered careers as a young man, he hadn’t immediately thought of teaching. He had in fact applied for roles in other industries. But the year then was 1969 and due to the political climate, prospects were bleak. Many began to advise, “If you have nothing better to do, be a teacher.”

Even so, though not his original choice, Phua did not approach the profession carelessly. He stepped into it fully ready and willing to be the best teacher he could be for his future students. He underwent training and started teaching in 1970.

“Someone once asked, ‘Why do you want to be a teacher?’ Well, why don’t you want to be a teacher?’ I may be biased, but teaching is one of the noblest professions. You only see a dentist when you have issues with your teeth. You see an accountant only at the end of the year. You see a lawyer when you get in trouble. If you’re a businessman, you don’t see your client every day. Even as a pastor, I don’t see church members every day. But a teacher sees a student every day, and with this responsibility there are two paths – You either make them or break them.”

To be a catalyst

By God’s grace, Phua was faithful in his vocation through the years, eventually becoming principal in 1986. He was principal first of SMK Sri Sentosa, then SMK Jinjang, both notorious for gangsterism and extortion activities. But under his leadership, Phua turned the schools around. It was in 2009 when he was nationally recognized for his work by becoming the first recipient of the Tokoh Guru award.

Phua viewed his legacy with no frills. In his eyes, he was simply being obedient to the call of God, to make a difference wherever he was placed.

“My job is just to be a catalyst,” he reflected. “The schools I led needed… how shall I put it… renovation. Renovation first of the mind and attitude of the students. If there is no renovation, they would still look at the school as something to destroy. But we turned them around and say, ‘No. Nobody should destroy a school. Because you are the school.’ Somebody once put it that a school is a building with four walls with tomorrow inside. So do you build or destroy tomorrow? I was there to help boost the students’ understanding that they’re made for better things.”

Although Phua was a strict disciplinarian and forthright with his students, he did not resort to harsh methods of shouting or scolding. Instead, he did his best to meet the students where they were to bring them higher. He would often sit a troubled student down with their parents for a talk, to work out how they could all work together to help the child.

Excellence in sports and studies

At the mention of Sri Sentosa, Phua was quick to credit the previous principal Loh Kung Sing for having done a lot of the groundwork.

“I merely built on it,” he humbly confessed. One pillar which he built on was sports.

“A lot of the kids were interested in sports, so we used it as a motivating factor. If you’re a good athlete, we’ll take you into our sports club. But the next step is crucial – you must improve in your studies.”

If certain athletes were not improving academically, Phua would sit them down and give an ultimatum. If there is no improvement in the next term, you’re out of sports. Peer-to-peer motivation was utilized, too, with senior athletes tutoring junior ones or simply encouraging them with words. And usually, the improvement will come.

This system of accountability encouraged the students to pursue excellence in both studies and sports. As a result, Sri Sentosa became the top athletic school in the nation, competing and breaking records in ASEAN meets every year.

Phua’s concerns was also not just about performance. He worked hard to get sponsorships for sports equipment that these students often could not afford.

Show up every day

After 10 years at Sri Sentosa, Phua moved to SMK Jinjang, where hard work was required from the start. When Phua took over, it was already July, the middle of the school year. He was shocked to learn that many names in the student register had not been attending up to 60-70 school days of that year.

Phua decided to get the absentee students and their parents in for a talk. When the parents came, they were shocked, having had no clue that their kids weren’t in school. It was an opportunity for Phua to talk to them about brokenness. He then challenged them to choose – either stay out completely (because some of the kids were working), or stay in.

“For those who stayed, we made them sign a pledge and started monitoring their attendance,” Phua recounted. “After a month, we applauded all the students who had come to school all 20 days of that month. Suddenly all these guys were flying like eagles. They had never been praised before! After that we started a scheme to encourage a 100% attendance record. We may have had only half a year left, but if you come every day to school for the rest of the year, you would earn a certificate of attendance. If you make it to school every day for 3 years, you’d get a silver medal. And if you touch five years, you’d get a gold medal.”

Pushing for attendance may seem exaggerated, but for these students, it mattered. One small step of simply showing up at school every morning helped them learn commitment not just for school but for life overall. And the recognition they received gave them a sense of dignity in who they are. It helped change their mindset from viewing school as a place to run away from, to a place they wanted to run to.

Phua shared of when an employer once called him to ask about a job applicant’s five certificates of attendance. Phua proudly told the employer, “That means that this person who’s going to work for you will be there every day. They won’t ponteng because they’ve learned not to.”

At the right place and time

These two anecdotes of sports excellence and attendance records are only two of Phua’s many ideas that helped changed the schools around. Others have asked Phua his secrets – where does he get his inspiration?

Phua reflected that many of his ideas were rather spur of the moment and couldn’t credit them to anything else besides the Holy Spirit and His wisdom. What Phua knew best was to show up at school every day himself, and ask God to use him and lead him to where he’s needed.

“Every day, I prayed, ‘Lord, let me be at the place where things happen.’ And it happens. For example, the students would be in the middle of doing something wrong. And here I’d come right there and then, giving them a shock of their lives. I’d say, ‘Do you know why I’m here? Because I prayed for God to bring me to the place where you’ll be!”

It also happens with the staff, such as walking into a class to find the teacher absent and slacking. So the teacher would get a talking to after.

“It’s not like I expect these things to happen. But they just happened, and I ‘just happened’ to be there.”

All these point to Phua’s leading style that is decidedly active. He was regularly on the move around school, being proactively engaged with his teachers and students.

“The teachers needed to know that the man who’s in charge also sees hope in this school. If I don’t think there’s much in this school, why would the teachers think otherwise?”

Called to be Christian first

Phua unashamedly pointed to his faith in having directed his years as principal.

“You’re a Christian first. You’re called to be a Christian whatever vocation you are in. I’m not called to be teacher. I’m called to be a Christian in the teaching profession. That makes the difference. Because then I actualize my faith in my profession. A lot of people miss that point. You are called to be a believer in your vocation,” he stated with conviction.

Phua knew that his postings were from God, and so consciously and humbly made room for God to lead him and work through him.

Phua continues to look back on his teaching days with fond memories and is now blessed to occasionally reconnect with some of his students. It’s been interesting to learn how their lives have turned out. Some former students openly confessed their fear of him back then, but now fully understand that all Phua did then was for their good.

“Teaching filled me with so much joy. I was able to see God doing the work of changing people, seeing the broken be made whole. And when they are whole, they fly high.”

At this, Phua shared one event that sums up what the years of leading students meant to him. There was one day when Phua received a collect call from the UK. It was from a former student.

“Sir, you used to say that everywhere we go, we must fly the Jinjang flag,” the student said.

“Oh yes, I did. What happened?”

“Sir, I just got my results. I’m top in the engineering faculty in Imperial College.”

Phua was impressed. But the student continued, “Sir, I’m not finished yet. You said the best thing you can ever do is to believe in Jesus. I’m now a believer.”

Phua cried. The collect call was worth it. Teaching was worth it.

About Charmain Sim

Charmain has a thing for chocolate, Jane Austen, and extraordinary stories of ordinary people. A wife and mother of two, she is uncovering what it means to live as loved, with eyes for eternity. She has been writing for Asian Beacon even before her marriage.

Note: This article is drawn from a podcast interview Phua did with DUMC in 2020 entitled, “Advent: A New Beginning – Joy”. You can watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/jNSwU7r88is