“There were no VIP children or doctors’ kids at St Anne’s. Many parents could not even afford the RM2.50 monthly school fees. But we found a way – convincing the school board to exempt them. Education has to be for everyone.” – Mary Josephine Amalanathan
“Our headmistress, Mrs Nathan, instilled good discipline. Parents back then supported teachers – if a child was scolded at school, they got a second round at home! Today, parents are more defensive. Times have changed.” – Quake Geok Lee, retired teacher
FOR many Malaysians, the declaration of independence at Stadium Merdeka on August 31, 1957, is known only through history books, old radio clips, black-and-white documentaries, or family stories passed down through generations.
For Mary Josephine Amalanathan, now 89, that bright Saturday morning remains vivid – a day she will always cherish.
“I was there at Merdeka Stadium on August 31 to witness the historic moment when the Union Jack was lowered and [first Prime Minister] Tunku Abdul Rahman proudly raised the Jalur Gemilang and declared our nation’s independence,” she said.
The grandmother of 10 and great-grandmother of one recalls standing shoulder to shoulder with thousands of Malaysians, united in hope and pride, as they watched a new nation being born.
“I saw the Tunku, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun V T Sambanthan – our founding fathers – up close. The first Yang di-Pertuan Agong was there too. It was unforgettable,” she said.
She remembers the exhilarating moment when the Tunku cried out the iconic “Merdeka!”
“I still feel the excitement of that day. It was unity, it was joy, it was freedom,” she said in an interview with B BERNAMA at her home in Port Klang, Selangor.
But Josephine is more than an eyewitness to history. This former headmistress also helped shape it – in classrooms filled with young pupils with big dreams.
A trailblazer in education
Her career in education began in 1955 as a trainee teacher at the Convent School in Kajang, Selangor (now SK Convent Kajang). Josephine had just passed her Senior Cambridge examination (equivalent to today’s SPM) and, as she put it, “So, straight to work it was for me.”
At the time, formal teachers’ training institutes were scarce, so Josephine attended a Saturday training course for “normal class teachers” at Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur. This helped her gain the skills she needed for a job she embraced wholeheartedly.
She later taught at Marian Convent in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, and at the Convent School in Klang, Selangor.
In 1961, at just 25 years old, Josephine was appointed the first headmistress of SK St Anne’s Convent in Port Klang. She was confirmed in her post after four years, likely making her the youngest to hold such a position at the time.
“The nuns chose me,” she said humbly.
From its early days with just 60 pupils, mostly from modest households in Port Klang and Pandamaran, Josephine, together with a team of dedicated teachers, built St Anne’s into a thriving institution of over 600 students by the time she left in 1987 to head SRK Methodist Girls School in Klang (MGS Klang), which then had more than 1,600 students.
“There were no VIP children or doctors’ kids at St Anne’s. Many parents could not even afford the RM2.50 monthly school fees,” she said. “But we found a way – convincing the school board to exempt them. Education has to be for everyone.”
Strict but caring
Mrs Nathan, as she was fondly known, believed in firm discipline balanced with compassion.
Her stare alone could silence a noisy class; if that failed, a 12-inch wooden ruler on the desk did the trick, she said with a laugh.
She was never harsh, only caring. Colleagues recall how she would recheck exercise books already marked by teachers, ensuring precision.
Josephine also championed handwriting as an essential skill.
“We had a dedicated slot in the timetable just for handwriting,” she said. “Block letters for younger pupils, and cursive from Standard Four onwards. Teachers had to follow the same standard too.”
Former teachers remember her teaching students to leave a finger’s width between words and to use punctuation correctly.
Many of her pupils, some of whom later became teachers and headmistresses, still thank her for instilling not just neat penmanship but also precision, discipline and pride.
Legacy of respect and excellence
Josephine’s commitment extended to her staff. She reviewed teachers’ record books with the same care, marking errors gently in pencil, said Kamaleswary Sandragesu, who succeeded her at St Anne’s Convent.
Kamaleswary described Josephine as “hardworking, fair, and always the first to arrive and last to leave”.
Retired teacher, Quake Geok Lee, recalled an inspection when an education officer asked why there was “pin-drop silence” in the school.
“My answer was simple: our headmistress, Mrs Nathan, instilled good discipline,” Quake said. “Parents back then supported teachers – if a child was scolded at school, they got a second round at home! Today, parents are more defensive. Times have changed.”
Josephine’s pride in her schools was evident when MGS Klang won the ‘Best Decorated and Cleanest School’ competition in 1990, beating 73 primary and 123 secondary schools.
Life beyond the classroom
Josephine retired in 1991 at the age of 55, but her dedication to education continued.
She offered free tuition to underprivileged children through Educare, an initiative run by nuns of the Franciscan Missionaries of Divine Mercy, and co-founded the St Anne’s Convent Alumni Association in 2015, becoming its first patron.
“My heart will always be with St Anne’s. That’s where I grew up,” she said.
In 2014, a group of St Anne’s alumni, led by Cynthia Varghese and guided by Josephine, set out to unite former students. Their inaugural gathering in January 2015 brought together 150 ex-students.
The alumni’s 10th anniversary dinner will be held on August 23 at the Crystal Crown Hotel in Port Klang.
For her decades of dedicated service, Josephine was awarded the Pingat Jasa Kebaktian (PJK) by the Sultan of Selangor in 1989.
Gracious in tribute, she credited her achievements to the teamwork and cooperation of her colleagues and students.
Josephine, or Mrs Nathan, is undoubtedly a woman who did more than teach lessons from textbooks. She shaped lives through kindness, discipline, and an unshakable belief that every child, no matter how small, can shine. – BERNAMA
