MALAYAN LEADERS

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30288, 14 November 1963, Page 5

MALAYAN LEADERS

“Catapulted To Top” Tremendous responsibility was held by young Malayans who, not many years ago, were students at Lincoln College. Mrs R. A. Burns, wife of the college s principal (Dr. M. M. Bums) told the Royal Oversees League women’s group yesterday. Because of Europeans leaving the country when Cie Federation of Malaysia came into being, and rapid expansion, young Malayans were being catapulted into top positions, where they had to make great decisions. "I had a great deal of respect for the way in which they were coping with the situation,” said Mrs Burns, who was in Malaya earlier this year with her husband. Mrs Burns said she was proud of former Lincoln College students, who were now either teachers, Government agricultural officers'to Malayan States, or in private employment. One former student Dr. and Mrs Burns visited, Ani bin Arope. was the Government agriculture officer for the State of Trengganu. Speaking a different Malayan dialect from inhabitants of his area, he had a major problem of communication. The people were illiterate, so all contact had to be by individual conversation—“almost monosyllabic.” Another former student, Chee Sek Pan, was Government officer in charge of all rice-growing in the northern States of Malaya. One was teaching at the new University of Malaya, near Kuala Lumpur, while another taught at the teachers’ training college at Serdang.