The original 1st Kuching Company in 1961.
ON July 1, 1961, almost 60 years ago, 22 boys aged between 11 and 14 from the confirmation class of St Thomas’s Cathedral in Kuching established and founded the 1st Kuching Company, the Boys’ Brigade in Sarawak under the leadership of Charles Henry Ingka, Albert Kedit, and Peter Kedit. The journey had begun 12 years earlier in Singapore, when both Charles and Albert had joined the 7th Singapore Company of St Andrew’s School, Singapore in 1949.
Charles had served as an officer of the 7th Singapore Company until he returned to Kuching in 1959, and fulfilling an earlier promise made to the president of the Brigade Council James Fraser, he managed after two tries to convince Bishop Nigel Cornwall to grant his consent to form the 1st Kuching Company.
The Boys’ Brigade is an international interdenominational Christian youth organisation, which was founded on Oct 4, 1883 in Glasgow, Scotland by Sir William Alexander Smith, a teacher, who had wanted to combine drill and fun activities in a disciplined manner with Christian values for boys between the ages of 12 and 18. Its swift growth made it a worldwide organisation by the early 1890s.
It had first started in Malaya in Penang in 1946 under the sponsorship of the Methodist Church; grew to Kuala Lumpur in 1954; and had spread its wings to Kuching in 1961.
The three pioneers – Charles, Albert, and Peter.
As of 2018, there were 750,000 Boys’ Brigade members in 60 countries; of which 8,427 are in 139 companies throughout Malaysia.
The objective of the Boys’ Brigade has been “the advancement of Christ’s kingdom among boys and the promotion of habits of obedience, reverence, discipline, self-respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian character”.
There is a sister organisation called the Girls’ Brigade, which was founded in 1893 in Dublin, Ireland, and operates in over 50 countries.
The Boys’ Brigade motto and crest, ‘Sure and Stedfast’ refers directly to Hebrews 6:19 in the King James Version of the Bible, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast …”, which retains the old spelling of the word steadfast.
The history of the founding of Sarawak’s Boys’ Brigade might have been very different had it not been for the fervour, dedication, and steadfastness shown by two very young Iban boys from Betong, Sarawak, 69 years ago in 1952 in Singapore.
Charles was only 16 years old when he went from his hometown of Betong to Singapore in 1947 to further his secondary education. Together with his nephew Albert Kedit, they joined the 7th Singapore Company of the Boys’ Brigade in 1949. The Singapore BB Battalion of 11 companies had agreed in 1952 to send a small contingent to attend the 100th International Founder’s Centenary Camp in London in 1954, and both Ingka and Kedit were duly selected, based on the likelihood that once they eventually returned to Sarawak, they might possibly start a BB company back home.
BB veterans today: Laven Than, Albert, and Lim Swee Jin.
Upon Charles’s return to Kuching in 1959, he had officially written to the then Bishop of the Anglican Church, Nigel Cornwall, to propose the formation of the Boys’ Brigade. The Bishop had turned it down, saying that the school – St Thomas’s – already had the Boys Scouts at the time as a uniformed youth organisation.
Not willing to give up on the idea, Charles tried again two years later in 1961 and the Bishop finally gave in and agreed after setting down two conditions; one of which was that the Headmaster of the St Thomas’s Primary School (Paul Soo at the time) had to be made an officer of the company; and secondly that the first batch would have to be the 22 students aged 11 to 14 from the confirmation class of the Cathedral for that year, under Provost Anthony Perry.
The timely arrival of Peter Warner, a VSO (Volunteer Overseas Service from the UK, an equivalent of the USA’s Peace Corps), contributed an ex-Staff Sergeant from the BB in England. He was put in charge of physical training and games; Peter taught drill to the older boys; and Albert taught drill to the younger boys as well as served as coach on BB songs and hymns.
Over the years, many prominent leaders have passed through the membership rank and file of the Boys’ Brigade in Sarawak and the list of successful civil servants, entrepreneurs, professionals, and businessmen is a lengthy one. Today, there is in existence a thriving 1st Kuching Company presided by Chaplain, the Very Reverend Kho Thong Meng, who is Dean of Kuching. There is also a Stedfast Association headed by Eugene Tay. They can both be found on Facebook under 1st Kuching Company, The Boys’ Brigade in Malaysia and Stedfast Kuching respectively.
As their motto of 138 years ago goes – ‘Sure and Stedfast’ – I am sure that their steadfastness would stand the Boys’ Brigade’s survival in Sarawak for many long years to come. If you or any of your family members or friends are interested to know more, or indeed to join up, please contact the Dean of St Thomas’s Cathedral during normal office hours.
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