St. Michael's Secondary School, Penampang (''Malay: Sekolah Menengah St. Michael (SMSM), Penampang'') commonly known as SM St. Michael is a semi-government

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Penampang Penampang () is the capital of the Penampang District in the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 93,616 in 2010, with ethnic Kadazan as the majority. It contains, or is synonymous with, Donggongon ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

, Malaysia. It was named after Saint Michael the Archangel. The school was built by Mill Hill missionaries to spread

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

among the local Kadazan-dusun community, who were mostly animists. Initially, the school comprised a bamboo structure and gradually evolved into a formidable competitor among traditional top schools. In its early years, Catholic priests resided on campus and provided instruction. With the establishment of Malaysia on September 16, 1963, the school's educational ethos gradually transitioned towards a more

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

approach. The school, built in 1890, is among the oldest in Sabah. It was officially established as a secondary school in 1958. The school hall is named after Datuk Peter Mojuntin, one of Sabah's most prominent leaders. He was one of its prominent alumni and had taught in the school before venturing into politics.

History

The school was built in 1890 by Mill Hill

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

to convert the local people to

. At the time, the main mode of transportation was then the Moyog River. As a result, the present day St. Michael's church and the school were built in

Kampong A kampong (this term is in Za'aba Spelling, ''kampung'' in both modern Malay and Indonesian) is a term for a type of village in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore and a "dock" in Cambodia. The term applies to traditional villages, especi ...

Dabak, Penampang, which was close to this river. The initial school structure, constructed from

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

, served as both a classroom and residence for the church's priests. Its flooring consisted of bare ground, with walls rising about 3 feet from the ground. Students utilized slates and blocks of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

for writing. However, the school faced challenges, as many local families hesitated to send their children due to concerns that the British North Borneo Company might conscript them into the

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. Payment of fees was made in

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tapioca Tapioca (; ) is a starch extracted from the tubers of the cassava plant (''Manihot esculenta,'' also known as manioc), a species native to the North Region, Brazil, North and Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast regions of Brazil, but which has ...

, yam,

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

, and

firewood Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not heavily processed, and is in some sort of firelog, recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellet fuel, pellets. ...

. The school's current site used to be a paddy field. It was donated to the school by locals. Despite the students having to share their classroom space with village goats, the school gained a commendable reputation, attracting students from as far as

Tambunan Tambunan () is the capital of the Tambunan District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 35,667 in 2010. It is located 80 kilometres east of the state capital, Kota Kinabalu (to which is connect ...

and Kuala Penyu. This increasing demand led to the establishment of a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

, but it was short-lived until about the 1960s, when the school became a fully non-residential school. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

occupation forced the temporary closure of the school. However, the school was not badly damaged, suffering only from machine gun bullets. Rev. Fr. M. Henselmans applied to convert the school to a senior or secondary school on 10 August 1957 to provide the 53 students who were then in primary six with a post-primary school. The school was converted into a secondary school on 10 March 1958 with Tambunan native Marcus Otigil at the helm. The school rose slowly, with the older buildings replaced by newer ones over the years.

Sisterhood with Yong-ho High School, South Korea

SM St Michael fostered a relationship with Yong-ho High School, South Korea and ended their participation in the KDCA-ISEP exchange program. They dubbed the relation a sisterhood and organised an English Camp for South Korean students who arrived in Sabah in July 2008. SM St Michael's students are scheduled to go to South Korea in November or December.

Principals

* Marcus Otigil (1958–1961) * Fr. Roger McGorty (1961–1963) * Fr. M. Hurley (1963–1965) * Fr. John Rooney (1966–1967) * Fr. W. Van Gastel (1967–1970) * Stanislaus Tendahal (1970–1971) * Shenton de Rozario (1971–1972) * Datin Ritamma Joseph (1972–1973) * Hin Tian Chin (1973–1974) * K. V. Joshua (1974–1982) * Katherine Philip (1982–1987) * Gan Lee Ping (1987–1990) * Chandran Vengadasamy (1990–1992) * Range Maurice Majikol (1992–1994) * Datin Lorna Mathews (1995–2003) * Fidelis P. Insing (2003–2006) * Marie Yong Pik Hua (2006–2013) * Jennifer Asing (2013–2025) * Jackson Siga (2025–present)

Notable alumni

* Tan Sri Bernard Dompok – former Sabah Chief Minister and former minister in the Malaysian cabinet * Stacy Angie Anam – Malaysian singer and dancer * Velvet Lawrence Aduk – singer-songwriter and radio announcer * Datuk Cornelius Piong – Bishop of the Diocese of Keningau * Datuk Peter Mojuntin – former state cabinet minister who perished in the 1976 Double Six tragedy * Datuk Ewon Benedick – cabinet minister since 2022 in the

Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...

-led unity government

References

{{Sabah Secondary Schools Schools in Sabah Catholic schools in Malaysia