St. Xavier's Institution, at Farquhar Street in George Town,

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, is the oldest Lasallian school in Southeast Asia and one of the

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 ...

Lasallian schools in

. While it has a history dating back to 1787, the present-day institution, named after

St. Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative o ...

, was only established in 1852. This

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 ...

has been an all-boys school since its establishment, although girls have been admitted in Form 6 since the 1950s (but as of 2022, it is now a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school ever since female students were admitted for the first time beginning in Form 1 of the batch born in 2009 for the 2022-2023 Malaysian school academic year). In addition, the school is renowned for producing several notable Malaysian and

Singaporean Singaporeans are the citizens and nationals of the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is home to a people of a variety of ethno-racial-religious origins, with the city-state itself being a multi-racial, multi-cultural, m ...

personalities, including Wong Pow Nee, Karpal Singh, Cecil Rajendra and

Hon Sui Sen Benedict Hon Sui Sen (16 April 1916 – 14 October 1983) was a Singaporean politician who served as Minister for Finance between 1970 and 1983. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ha ...

. Students of the school are colloquially known as ''Xaverians'' or ''Lasallians.'' To this day, St. Xavier's Institution maintains its historical rivalry with Penang Free School, another premier school in George Town which holds the honour of being

's oldest school. The school has two suburban feeder primary schools at Pulau Tikus and Air Itam.

History

The history of St. Xavier's Institution stretches all the way back to 1787, soon after the founding of George Town by Captain

Francis Light Francis Light ( – 21 October 1794) was a British sailor and explorer best known for founding the colony of Penang and its capital city of George Town in 1786. Light was the father of William Light, who founded the city of Adelaide in South A ...

. Light invited Bishop Arnaud-Antoine Garnault, a French

priest, to George Town as Bishop Garnault and his Eurasian followers were fleeing political persecution in Siam. After arriving in George Town, Bishop Garnault who was proficient in Malay, set up a Malay school at Church Street. The Malay school was subsequently relocated into a brick house built by Jean-Baptiste Boucho of the Paris Foreign Missions in 1825 and converted into an English school. It was called the Catholic Free School, in opposition to Penang Free School which had been established by

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

in 1816. In 1852, three members of the

De La Salle Brothers The De La Salle Brothers, officially named the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (; ; ) abbreviated FSC, is a Catholic lay religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded in France by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle ( ...

took over the administration of Catholic Free School upon invitation by Jean-Baptiste Boucho. The school was renamed as St. Francis Xavier's Free School after

, a Spanish

missionary who is revered to this day for his extensive missions in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

during the

16th century The 16th century began with the Julian calendar, Julian year 1501 (represented by the Roman numerals MDI) and ended with either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian year 1600 (MDC), depending on the reckoning used (the Gregorian calend ...

. St. Francis Xavier's Free School was moved to its present grounds at Farquhar Street with the completion of a new school building in 1858. With this relocation, the school was finally renamed as St. Xavier's Institution. This building was expanded several times over the years, before it was replaced by a grander

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

-style double-storey building in 1895. A third storey was added in 1901 and a wing was constructed in 1908. During the Japanese occupation in

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

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

used the school building as a Marine barracks. As a result, the school building was completely destroyed by American bombers in the later years of the war. With the main building wiped out, school sessions resumed after the war at the adjacent school field, with temporary attap sheds serving as classrooms. In 1954, the current school building was completed at a cost of about $2 million (

Malaya and British Borneo dollar The Malaya and British Borneo dollar (; ) was the currency of Federation of Malaya, Malaya, Colony of Singapore, Singapore, Crown Colony of Sarawak, Sarawak, Crown Colony of North Borneo, North Borneo, Brunei and the Riau archipelago from 1953 ...

). Brother Paul Ho was the last La Salle Brother in SXI to serve as a school principal. His retirement in 2009 marked the end of a long-standing era of La Sallian brother principals in

. In 2022, the school transformed into fully co-educational, where it previously only enrolled boys from Forms 1 up to 5.

Feeder schools

St Xavier's Institution currently operates two feeder primary schools in the suburbs of George Town. St. Xavier's Primary School (SRK St. Xavier) was originally sharing the same premise with the secondary school at Farquhar Street. It relocated in 1990 to the former site of La Salle School at Jalan Sekolah La Salle in Air Itam. La Salle School was established in 1962 but phased out in 1981. St. Xavier's Primary Branch School (SRK St. Xavier Cawangan) located at Jalan Brother James, Pulau Tikus was opened on 10th March 1962. While the schools are not closely associated with each other, most pupils go on to continue their secondary studies in St. Xavier's Institution. Regular annual tours are also organised by the schools which usually bring the students of the two primary schools on a "day tour" in St. Xavier's Institution (whilst its female students would come from several suburban schools since it has no single-sex all-female feeder schools affliated with this school).

Notable alumni

* Cecil Rajendra - Malaysian lawyer, world-renowned poet and nominee for the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

2005 * Chung Thye Phin - tin and rubber tycoon, and one of the wealthiest men in

in the late 19th century * Daim Zainuddin - former Minister of Finance from 1984 to 1991 and again from 1999 to 2001 * Heah Joo Seang - Malayan rubber tycoon and politician *

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

's Minister for Finance (1970-1983) * James W. Boyle - composer of

's state anthem, ''

Untuk Negeri Kita "Untuk Negeri Kita" (; "For Our State") is the state anthem of the Malaysian state of Penang. It was composed by the late Second Lieutenant Awaluddin Zainal Alam who submitted it to a competition made for selecting the state anthem. It won the ...

'' * K. Gurunathan - mayor of

Kāpiti Coast District The Kāpiti Coast District (officially the Kapiti Coast District), is a Districts of New Zealand, local government district of the Wellington Region in the lower North Island of New Zealand, north of Wellington, Wellington City. The district i ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

(2016-) * Karpal Singh - Malaysian lawyer, top opposition politician and former Member of Parliament for Jelutong (1978-1999) * Shukor Salleh - former Malaysia national team footballer *

Leong Yew Koh Leong Yew Koh (; 22 August 1888 – 12 January 1963) was a Malayan politician who served as the 1st Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Malacca from the independence of the Federation of Malaya in August 1957 to August 1959 and Minister of Health from ...

- first Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Malacca from 1957 to 1959, Secretary-General of the

Malaysian Chinese Association The Malaysian Chinese Association (Abbreviation, abbrev: MCA; Malay language, Malay: ''Persatuan Cina Malaysia''), formerly known as the Malayan Chinese Association, is an ethnic List of political parties in Malaysia, political party in Malaysi ...

from 1952 to 1957 * Lawrence Loh - architect and co-owner of the famous Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion * Leslie C. Hoffman - first Asian editor-in-chief of ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' (also known informally by its abbreviation ''ST'') is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. Established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and ...

'', a

an daily * Lim Eu Toh -

-based businessman * Ooi Kee Beng - deputy director of

's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute * Nor Mohamed Yakcop - former Malaysian minister in the Prime Minister's Department (2009-2013) * Ramkarpal Singh - Malaysian politician and Member of Parliament for Bukit Gelugor (2014-) * Saw Teong Hin - Malaysian film director * Sonni Pillai - former city secretary of the George Town City Council (1956-1970) * Sydney Quays - Malaysian businessman, Group CEO of Berjaya Food Berhad and managing director of

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

Malaysia. * Tan June Khim - Australian

Cyber Security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

Specialist.

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. * Wong Chun Wai - deputy group chief editor of ''The Star'', a

n English-language daily * Wong Pow Nee - first

Chief Minister of Penang The chief minister of Penang is the head of government in the Malaysian state of Penang. According to convention, the chief minister is the leader of the majority party or largest coalition party of the Penang State Legislative Assembly. The ch ...

References

External links

St Xavier's Institution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Xavier's Institution 1787 establishments in British Malaya Educational institutions established in 1787 Educational institutions established in 1852 Primary schools in Malaysia Secondary schools in Malaysia Publicly funded schools in Malaysia Lasallian schools in Malaysia Catholic schools in Malaysia 1852 establishments in the Straits Settlements Buildings and structures in George Town, Penang Schools in Penang 1780s establishments in Penang