First
Residential
College
is the oldest residential college in
University
of
Malaya
. It was built in 1959 and comprise initially of 3 blocks,
namely Block A, B and C. The pioneer batch to reside in this
college comprises merely 28 students, and this figure has
since grown to an impressive 265 students. The pioneer batch
mainly consists of third year students from the Faculty of
Arts and the Faculty of Engineering, who previously were based
in the
Singapore
campus. With the growth of students, the year 1971 saw two new
blocks built, Block D and E, which could host up to 270 new
students.
In the initial years of its inception,
First
Residential
College
was home only to male students. However, in 1968, the college
opened its doors to female students, who were put up in Block
A, with their male counterparts occupying Blocks B and C. The
number of students has since reached 700.
The
college was initially named
First
College
, being the foremost residential college to be built in
Universiti Malaya. The name was subsequently changed to Kolej
Tuanku Abdul Rahman (KTAR), in honor of the first D.Y.M.M Seri
Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Rahman Ibni
Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad. In 1978, KTAR was changed to Asrama
Tuanku Abdul Rahman (ASTAR). In 1993, ASTAR was also known as
First
Residential
College
.
In
1968, the college first hosted a friendly game with
Duncan Road
Hostel
,
Singapore
(DRN). In 1982, another game was hosted by the college with
SHEARES Hall. In both occasions, KTAR came out victorious and
was well regarded by fellow colleges in the university.
The
college’s first annual magazine, PRIMA was published in
1965. KTAR News was published in 1969 and was subsequently
replaced by SINAR ASTAR in 1980. Currently, ASTAR’s magazine
is fondly named PERTAMA.
ASTAR’s
first band ?“THE RAMANITES?was formed in 1967. This
was followed by the formation of “KTAR SING ALONG CHOIR?
two years later. The college song, ‘UP FIRST RC?was
composed in the same year. In 1992, ALUMNI were established to
unite ex-residents of ASTAR, and were headed by YB Datuk K.
Pathmanathan as its first President.
In
the early 1960-s, the college’s activities was administrated
by the Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC) which later was
replaced by Majlis Bermesyuarat Asrama (MBA) in 1975. MBA was
later disbanded and replaced by Jawatankuasa Induk Asrama (JIA)
and Jawatankuasa Perkembangan (JTA), which comprise Community,
College Administration, Academic, Creativity, Sports and
Ethics.
Today,
these two committees (JIA and JTA) are known as Jawatankuasa
Induk Kolej (JIK) and Jawatankuasa Perkembangan Kolej (JTK),
and comprise Community and Welfare, Academic and Intellectual,
Creativity and Arts, Sports and Recreation and Patriotism and
Ethics.
