OFMA, WTH?

Driving past Penang Free School last week, I noticed a banner placed just outside the main gate. It read Mesyuarat Agung Pertama OFMA (First General Assembly of the OFMA). Curious about what OFMA meant I further scrutinized the banner and discovered to my utmost horror that it actually stood for Old Frees Muslim Association.

Why would Penang Free School, with and existing old boy’s establishment in Old Frees Association (OFA) need another one which is apparently exclusively for Muslims?

I’ve written a gripe before in my “other” blog regarding the current state of my Alma Mater. One of the complaints I got was that the Old Frees Association at one point in time had cut funding to the school after seeing how it was being run to the ground after the local Ministry of Education had intervened in the school’s administration. A lot of what had happened had to do with racial issues which I really hope I do not have to mention here.

But in a nutshell, grossly imbalanced racial quotas on admissions imposed over the past few years and extremely poor handling of school property and finances have led to the deplorable state of what was once the premier school of Penang.

So why create an OFMA? What seems apparent to me is that there is a need to branch off the current OFA because the minority race in the association is the majority race in the school. Thus getting the OFA to cooperate with the school is a task that the school’s current administration is having a hard time dealing with.

But why should you create an OFMA when given another 10-20 years, the OFA will inevitably be flooded with members of the OFMA? It’s pure stupidity to me; a blatant attempt to further segregate the school and create disunity amongst what used to be a very diverse population of students.

Why should I care. I’m already out of school. Now every time someone asks which school I came from, I’ve got to say “Penang Free School” and add “Class of 2000” just to avoid embarrassment.