In Malay, BM High School is named Sekolah Tinggi Bukit Mertajam, and in 1997 was referred to as S.M.K.T.B.M.

[2] During the 1920s, students crossed the channel twice daily in order to attend school at Penang island to study beyond Standard 5.

He persuaded the Public Works Department to plant capalogium over the surface, cut the creepers when they had grown to two or three feet high, and plough them back into the clay.

Jacobs's Green Society came into being two years later with the object of improving and beautifying not only the field but also the grounds in general.

Colin King held an assembly and told the boys that the school was going to have a long holiday.

The boys were very happy, not knowing that the holiday would last for more than three years and many of their class and school mates would be killed in World War II.

In September 1945 the Japanese surrendered, the high school re-opened and registered the boys who wished to study again.

Swan arrived in 1946, and he wrote the following of the events post-war: All the boys who were keen to pick up the broken threads of their education again were enrolled, irrespective of their age.

The pupils in 4th Form were selected from various schools based on their results in the SRP ("Sijil Rendah Pelajaran"), an evolved version of Lower Certificate of Education, a Senior 3 public examination.

The school had already accepted female students in smaller numbers into Sixth Forms at earlier dates.

In 1992 Bukit Mertajam High School was awarded The Penang State Level Sekolah Harapan Negara.

The value of this ceremony cannot be expressed more precisely than in the words of the first Headmaster, Mr. E. La M. Stowell, "As, in Malaya, the boys have so many religions, I think something, like the Compass or Statement, is the best kind of substitute we can give them for a good, shared, basic ethical purpose with which to start the day" Moreover, he says, "They lennd solemnity, and a little ceremony and formality to the opening of the School Day".

Soon Eng Kong and old boys of the school presented a prize to the winning entry, which was a design submitted by Mr. Oh Boon Tat.

The design has the outline of the Bukit, by the side of which appear grains of padi to indicate the dominant agricultural activity of the local environment.

The school was divided into four houses named Red, Green, Blue and Yellow, each having their respective leader.

Each colour would be run by a nominated council, which would look into all cases of breach of outdoor discipline and administer suitable punishment.

1st Inspector General of Police (IGP) Singapore Queens Scholar & Former (Acting) VC of University Malaya President of Appeals Court, Malaysia Ketua Setiausaha (KSU), Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia Architect & Town Planner behind Subang Jaya township & restructuring town planning in Vietnam Former Minister of Transport, Malaysia Former Vice Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Deputy Minister Agriculture Ministry General, Malaysian Army General, Malaysian Army Minister of Human Resource