SFI celebrates its 134th Anniversary

Apr 16, 2014

By Percy D’Cruz
A thousand old and current students, teachers, administrators, religious brothers, priests and sisters, friends and supporters came together to commemorate the 134th St. Francis Institution (SFI) founding anniversary ‘Homecoming and Reunion’ dinner on April 5.

The highlights of the four-hour night affair was the rendition of the school rally led by Bro Michael Kum to the accompaniment of the school’s 24-Season Drum troupe. There was also a podium presentation and tribute to six Franciscan octogenarians, including two from Malacca, three from Singapore and one from Perth.

Among the six were three former students as well as teachers of the school — Horace Sta Maria aged 92 from Perth and Malacca’s Choe Sim Chye, 80, and Sim Bin Teck, 82. The pair from Singapore included SFI’s most prominent sportsmen of the fifties, namely Cyril De Witt, 81, and 83 year old Sidney Fernandez.

Horace speaking on behalf of the most senior lot of Franciscans said “The dedication, steadfastness and unfailing fidelity of the founding LaSallian ideals and the Franciscan spirit are second to none. This same inspiration and spirit must continue to dominate the whole philosophy and work ethics of the school in general.”

For the records, the prime characteristic of the LaSallian inspiration in education is first of all ASSOCIATION, that is to say the spirit of community based on the shared concern for the well-being of society. It is about the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood of the whole human family and cuts across all barriers of race, religion and nationality.

The second characteristic is SPIRITUALITY. Spirituality is understood in terms of the spirit of prayerfulness that brings about awareness of all events affecting our lvies. The awareness prompts us to evaluate events in the spirit of association and motivates us to make the decision to act on behalf of the human community.

The third characteristic is SERVICE. It is a commitment to the basic issues of justice and peace and in particular, a fundamental option to address the injustices suffered by the poor and underprivileged.