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A Single Drop of Kindness

17 October 2024

Paying it forward - a retrospective of the Colombo Plan Scholarship  

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滴水之恩，當湧泉相報

A single drop of kindness ought to be repaid by a welling spring.

Old Chinese saying

A vintage photo of students in front of the old Engineering 'Mushroom' building

Many Colombo Plan scholars enrolled in Engineering because their countries were undergoing rapid development in the latter half of the 20th century and there was a great demand for engineers. Malaysian Colombo Plan scholar Mr Joseph Yong (front, centre) is pictured here with his classmates in front of the old Engineering 'Mushroom' building.

 

“There’s an old Chinese saying: ‘A single drop of kindness ought to be repaid with a welling spring.’ It means: Pay it forward.”

Those are the words of an anonymous UC Engineering alum and donor who graduated in 1983. To give back, he recently helped establish the Singapore Colombo Plan Alumni Scholarship for Kiwi engineering students. 

Colombo Plan scholar Mr William Ng at dinner with classmates, 1983

Colombo Plan scholar Mr William Ng (centre) dines out with classmates, 1983.

 

The donor went on to explain: “The original Colombo Plan scholarship, provided as bilateral aid by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, enabled many young Singaporeans to receive a quality university education during Singapore’s formative years.

“Without this scholarship, many of us, due to family financial constraints, would not have had the opportunity to study abroad.”

His story parallels those of hundreds of students from Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other Asian-Pacific countries who came to UC on the Colombo Plan scholarship for tertiary study. 

Conceived in 1950 at the Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the Colombo Plan for Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific was launched on 1 July 1951. It aimed to support countries in the Asia-Pacific region economically and socially through aid from other nations including New Zealand. Part of the plan provided scholarships for students to undertake tertiary studies in more developed nations.

In the 1960s, Singapore wasn’t the economic powerhouse it is today. It was facing unemployment and a declining trade-based economy while grappling with a rapidly growing population.

South Bridge Road, Singapore, 1965. Photographed by Steve Swayne

South Bridge Road, Singapore, 1965. Photographed by Steve Swayne via Flickr

 

High-rises were just beginning to sprout amongst dense neighbourhoods of traditional two-storey shops-and-residences with wooden shutters and kampongs of thatched-roof cottages.

Pedestrians and bicycles mingled with cars and rickshaws. Peddlers sold everything from textiles to vegetables from woven baskets on the street. Hawkers cooked and served fragrant rice and noodle dishes, satay skewers, and other street food delicacies under lines of washing hung out to dry. 

After graduating, the majority of Colombo Plan scholars returned home to serve in government offices, various ministries, and other key sectors, contributing significantly to the nation’s development. Therefore, commemorating this scholarship programme with creating one of our own is indeed a worthy cause, celebrating the profound impact it had on our personal lives and on the growth of our country.

Anonymous Singaporean Colombo Plan alum and donor

 

Upon returning home, Singaporean Colombo Plan scholars contributed to the country’s rapid development in the 1980s. This was the decade that saw the opening of the world-renowned Changi Airport and the construction of many of the high-rise apartments and skyscrapers that characterise Singapore’s skyline today. 

 “After graduating, the majority of Colombo Plan scholars returned home to serve in government offices, various ministries, and other key sectors, contributing significantly to the nation’s development. Therefore, commemorating this scholarship programme with creating one of our own is indeed a worthy cause, celebrating the profound impact it had on our personal lives and on the growth of our country,” the generous donor says.

Many other Colombo Plan alumni have been equally generous in their desire to give back to the University. They helped rebuild the University of Canterbury Students’ Association building after it was damaged in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. They’ve established scholarships for domestic and international students and supported initiatives that have strengthened UC and Waitaha Canterbury communities. 

Tan Sri Datuk Siew Nam Oh rode his bike to university when he was studying in Christchurch, 1958

Donor and Colombo Plan alum Tan Sri Datuk Siew Nam Oh set up the Oh Family Scholarship in 2016 to help other Malaysian students at the University of Canterbury finish their degrees. He is pictured here (front, left) with a friend in 1958. He would ride his bike every day to university. 

 

“If I hadn’t gotten the Colombo Plan scholarship, I wouldn’t have completed university,” says Tan Sri Datuk Siew Nam Oh from his home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“The British colonial government came out with a bursary proposal for studying at the University of Malaya in Singapore.” While there, he covered all his expenses until the bursary was dispensed. 

It was 1957, the year of Malaysia’s independence. Because Tan Sri Oh was Chinese Malaysian and not Malay, he lost his bursary due to the new government’s change in policy.

“I was stuck in Singapore with no income and no resources,” he recalls. “I thought I would have to leave if I didn’t get a scholarship. I would’ve had to give up.”

To make ends meet, he began walking to university to save the bus fare and gave haircuts to other students at his hostel for 90c each.  “At that time, all the hairdressers were Indian. I was the only Chinese,” he says. “I’d get one or two cuts a day. People took pity on me and gave me a dollar and told me to keep the change.”

Despite these efforts, he was eating into his savings, as he also needed to support his family after his father’s death.

Then he saw the Colombo Plan scholarship advertised in the newspaper. “And,” he says, “it changed everything.”

While in Christchurch, Tan Sri Oh discovered many of UC’s Malaysian students weren’t receiving scholarships but were instead being funded by their families.

And, while they’re studying in New Zealand, something tragic might happen, like a parent might die or lose their job, or something like that, and they can’t continue. It would be a pity for them to have to drop out and come home after they’ve already completed part of their studies.

Tan Sri Datuk Siew Nam Oh
Colombo Plan alum and Oh Family Scholarship donor

 

“And, while they’re studying in New Zealand, something tragic might happen, like a parent might die or lose their job, or something like that, and they can’t continue,” Tan Sri Oh says. “It would be a pity for them to have to drop out and come home after they’ve already completed part of their studies.”

Motivated by his experiences of losing his father and his bursary, he created the Oh Family Scholarship in 2016 to help similarly impacted students finish their degrees.

For Mr Joseph Yong, another Malaysian Colombo Plan scholar, the scholarship enabled him to pursue tertiary education and more.

He’d had the choice of studying in London, Australia, or Canterbury.

“I chose Canterbury because I knew a girl who’d gone to study at Christchurch Polytechnic (now Ara Institute of Canterbury),” he says. That girl was Cathy Soon. They married in 1967, one year after Mr Yong arrived in Christchurch, and had their first child while he was still at UC.

During his time in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Treaty of Waitangi and Māori culture made a deep impression on him. 

After returning home to Malaysia, the Yongs emigrated to Vancouver BC, where Mr Yong worked for the Canadian Public Works Department. There, he drew on what he’d learnt about the implementation of Treaty principles. Working with government departments and officials, he encouraged the involvement of First Nations in decision-making.

“The Colombo Plan scholarship and UC gave me a university education, which enabled my family to move to Canada where there were opportunities that weren’t available to me in Malaysia,” he explains.

“I’m grateful for what the scholarship has given me, and I want to make these opportunities available for the generations to come.”

He now donates towards UC’s Areas of Greatest Need Fund annually. 

Mr Joseph Yong (left) holds his son while they wait with a friend at the airport for a flight home on their last day in Christchurch.

Mr Joseph Yong (left) holds his son while waiting with a friend at the airport, awaiting a flight home on their last day in Christchurch. 

 

At a celebration marking the Colombo Plan’s 10th anniversary, UC’s Vice-Chancellor at the time, Dr Leslie Pownall, noted that the benefits of the Colombo Plan went both ways. “Asia benefited from the Colombo Plan, but New Zealand and Christchurch benefited from having students from those Asian countries. We are not giving anything more than we are getting in exchange by your being here.” (The Press, 4 July 1961, Pg 9)

He concluded: “It is a two-way traffic. No-one lives in isolation in this world. I thank you for what you have given us and, above all, for the friendship that you have so willingly shown us. Thank you for coming to our land and being so patient with our parochialism and helping us to understand the tremendous problems in the outside world.” 

 

Today, our Colombo Plan alumni continue to make a difference for UC and the world, acting as bridges between Canterbury and Asia, effecting change in society, and giving future UC students the opportunities they received when they were studying here.   

We are enriched by their friendship and generosity. 

These are just a few of many Colombo Plan alumni stories that illustrate the impact of the scholarship programme.
 
If you are a Colombo Plan alum and would like to share your story, we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to get in touch with us at ucfoundation@canterbury.ac.nz. 

Currying Flavours

Tan Sri Oh found Kiwis were mostly friendly, welcoming, and open to trying new things. In his second year, he stayed at Rolleston House, where the hostel kitchen served mainstream Kiwi cuisine that included a lot of boiled potatoes.

It wasn’t something that he and the other Malaysian students were used to.

“So we would ask our parents to send us curry powder. We’d find a leg of lamb and we’d cook it in our rooms,” he recalls.

Other students residing there would smell the curry and come to investigate what was cooking.

“Of course, according to Asian hospitality, if someone comes around when you’re about to eat a meal, you say: ‘Come, come join us! Come and try some rice and curry!’ So there was never enough for us.”

The Malaysian students thought of a novel solution. “Kiwis at that time were not used to eating curry and spice,” Tan Sri Oh says with a laugh. “So, we added more chilli powder and they would just try a bit.” 

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