Ingenieur Vol.72 ingenieur October 2017-FA3 | Page 80

INGENIEUR
Snapshots of Early Technical
Education in Malaysia
By Lee Soo Leng
M
alaya during the British
Settlement era relied on
British expertise for the
construction works which were
mainly roads, steel or bailey
bridges, Government buildings
and quarters, river ferry works,
irrigation works etc.
At the turn of 20 th Century,
the British Administrators
realised the importance of
building up the technical
support staff or personnel for
the development works of the
Malaya Peninsula which were
mainly infrastructure works,
basic utilities and Government
buildings.
Photo taken in 1929 showing the first Technical School in the
country. Mr G.R. Percy seated at the centre was the out-going
Principal of the school then. (Source: TAM Journal 1967)
From Technical School
to Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia
In 1904, the first Technical
School was set up at Weld
Road (Jalan Raja Chulan) to
produce Technical Assistant for
the Railway, Survey and Public
Works of the Federated Malays
States. Students took classes
on a part-time basis; they
worked and trained according
to the technical needs of their
employment. The school was
named Treacher Technical
School in honour of Sir William
Treacher, the then Resident
General.
6
78
The Technical School after moving to High Street (Jalan Tun HS
Lee) , Kuala Lumpur in 1931 ( Source: TAM journal 1967)
In 1941, the school, was
elevated to Technical College
and was planned to be relocated
to a 47 acre site at Gurney Road
(Jalan Semarak), Kuala Lumpur.
However, this was interrupted by
the Japanese Occupation. The
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college operated temporarily
at a High Street (Jalan Tun HS
Lee) premise. Construction of
the college resumed after the
war and was finally completed
and officially opened on March
1, 1955 by the then British