Rasammah Bhupalan: A life of service

The Star

22-05-2025

Datuk Dr Rasammah Bhupalan, Malaysia's distinguished educationist, prominent women leader and social activist, died on May 13, 2025, aged 98. Born on May 1, 1927 in Ipoh, Perak, she was the youngest child of educationist parents, who instilled in her the belief that the primary role of teachers was to mould the country's future generations.
During her early teens, in 1942, Rasammah witnessed the sudden collapse of British colonial rule of Malaya following the unexpected defeat of the British Army by a formidable Japanese Imperial Army. Anti-British sentiments among diaspora Indians in the region to free India from British rule, led to the formation of the Indian National Army (INA) under nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bose, who established a women's wing in 1943 – the Rani of Jansi Regiment (RJR). At 16, Rasammah joined the RJR and rapidly imbibed vital leadership skills and self-discipline that stood her in good stead throughout her later professional life.
On completion of her education at the Methodist Girls' School, Ipoh in 1949, Rasammah gained entry to University of Malaya, then in Singapore, on a Federal Government Teaching Scholarship and graduated with a BA Honours (Second Class Upper) Degree in History.
In 1952, she married Dr Frank Bhupalan, a consultant anaesthesiologist.
Education service
Her obvious career choice was to follow in the footsteps of her parents, and she too embarked upon a philosophy of combating parochialism and achieving 'unity in diversity' through her educational career.
Rasammah's career as a teacher, administrator and innovative educator spanned a period of more than half a century. Her life-long objective was to strive to take school education to new heights.
Serving as an education officer in several prestigious secondary schools under dedicated, experienced educators was an enriching experience. In 1965, she assumed the headship of the Methodist Girls' School in Klang and subsequently, was appointed principal of the country's most prestigious Methodist Girls' School in Kuala Lumpur, a position she held for 13 years.
To be effective, she believed the country's public education system needed to provide solid academic instruction and develop well-rounded students and 'creative thinkers'.
A noble commitment of Rasammah towards disadvantaged poor children with often weaker education backgrounds, was to give special attention to improve their academic standards and narrow the achievement gap. She engaged the more experienced teachers to teach academically weaker students.
She encouraged active participation in extracurricular programmes, ardently believing they provide pupils a rounded education. Hence, she spared no efforts to ensure that schools provided the essential facilities for co-curricular activities. As a strong advocate of parents playing a positive role in their children's education, Rasammah actively promoted Parents Teachers' Associations in all schools she taught and administered; they were instrumental in raising substantial funds from the community to build excellent infrastructure and learning facilities.
Retirement: Continued education and community service
On retirement from the education service in 1982, Rasammah became the founder principal of Methodist High School in KL which was later elevated to Methodist College. As a non-profit private institution providing A-Level classes, she geared the college towards educational excellence.
Many of their high achieving students gained admission into world-class universities including Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics in Brtiain and Stanford University in the United States. During her ten-year tenure as Principal, she placed the College on the education map: A crowning achievement among her many contributions as a teacher and principal.
In 1998, her untiring efforts to raise funds culminated in the establishment of the innovative YWCA's Vocational Training Opportunity Centre (VTOC) in Kuala Lumpur. The VTOC's main objective was to train disadvantaged young girls and women from West and East Malaysia including the Orang Asli community, irrespective of ethnicity or religion, in income-generating vocational skills including tailoring, culinary/bakery and early childhood education.
Prof Wang Gungwu, in his foreword to Rasammah's biography, highlighted one of her most distinguishing features 'is her devotion to what her parents stood for, the cause of education in the enhancement of the human spirit.
'This is the key symbol of what Malaysia as a country stands for in the world and her contributions here will long be appreciated for upholding that position unswervingly.'
Champion for gender equality
Though women teachers increasingly dominated the profession, they were discriminated both in terms of pay and service conditions. For Rasammah, this gender inequality was both an anomaly and injustice. The harsh truth, for her, was that the National Joint Council for Teachers' (NJCT) negotiations with the government 'had been a complete failure in addressing the question of equal pay and other anomalies affecting women teachers'. The Women Teachers Union was thus established in 1960 to address the issue of equal pay, with Rasammah as Pro-tem Chairperson.
Rasammah, as president of the Women Teachers' Union, persisted with the struggle for 'Equal Pay for Equal Work' through mass rallies in 1962, 1963 and 1964. Finally, after a protracted battle, the government led by Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, in July 1969, agreed to award equal pay for women.
This battle for equal pay had not only united working women but further strengthened their role in the country's social and economic development through the formation of the National Council of Women's Organisations (NCWO). In their book, Empowering Women In Malaysia: The Mission Continues-The History of the NCWO, Adibah Amin and Farida J. Ibrahim acknowledged the vital role of the Women Teachers' Union in the inception of the NCWO.
When then Education Minister Abdul Rahman Talib called for a single Teachers' Union to be formed 'to secure unanimity on basic issues affecting the profession', Rasammah organised a meeting of various teacher unions in August 1962 and emphasised that as 'one physical body of teachers we can more effectively improve conditions so that succeeding generations may live more freely and more abundantly'. At a historic meeting in 1965, Malaysian Teachers Union (MTU) was formed with Rasammah elected as a vice-president.
National and international recognitions
Rasammah accomplished many milestones in her time and for her dedicated, life-long service to fellow Malaysians, she was bestowed with numerous awards: A Federal Government Datukship; Tokoh Guru Award (1983); Pingat Emas Tun Fatimah (2003); Tokoh Wanita (2012) and the sole recipient of the Malaysian Women Leadership Award at the Global Summit of Women (2013). In 2014, her alma mater the University of Malaya conferred her an honorary Doctor of Philosophy for her stellar contributions to the country's education and public service.
Rasammah Bhupalan was a remarkable citizen of Malaysia and undoubtedly one of the country's outstanding and distinguished women leaders. Caring not for personal comfort, prestige or promotion, she devoted her energy to do what she believed in to be right and proper; for the cultural, educational, and economic betterment of Malaysia.
Her emphasis on helping all to excel in education, especially needy students, renewed the ideals of service to level up our socially disadvantaged communities, and, ultimately, to galvanise a progressive Malaysia.
Prof Viswanathan Selvaratnam is honorary professor at the Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), Universiti Malaya.