After leaving school, Pow Nee did clerical work for the Bukit Mertajam Catholic Benevolent Society which was organized by his brother, Pow On. In 1935, he joined the Sin Ban Guan Bus Service Company as a clerk. The firm operated a bus service between Butterworth, Bukit Mertajam and Kulim. Unfortunately the company got into financial difficulties and was closed. Pow Nee’s third job was as a teacher at St Mary Mission School in Permatang Tinggi. He taught English from 1939–1941. In 1941, he was asked by the Education Department to attend the Teachers’ Training Class in Penang. However, class was suspended in December that year when the war broke out. The war years brought Pow Nee hardship and heartaches.

Pow Nee (standing, fourth from the left) with coursemates of the Second Year Teachers’ Training Class in 1947.

Pow Nee went back to teaching English after the war. He joined Kim Sen Primary School which was founded by Rev Father Joachim Teng. In May 1947, he passed his second and final year of his interrupted Teachers’ Training Course. His teacher’s salary was a princely sum of $100.00 per month. Pow Nee had ample opportunities to serve the community as a teacher, particularly the parents of his pupils; assisting them in writing up application forms for identity cards, rice cards (in the post-war years rice was in short supply and strictly rationed), hawkers licenses, registration of births, and all sorts of other paperwork which confounded people not schooled in English. Pow Nee was gratified by the appreciation shown by the people he helped.

Pow Nee (seated left) as a Scouter in Kim Sen School.

Top and bottom left: Pow Nee’s Wood Badge Certificates.
He was granted his badge on 10 March 1954.

During his teaching career at Kim Sen School, Pow Nee was deeply involved in youth and student activities, including Scouting. He realized that Chinese schools at that time lacked youth training facilities which he felt formed a very important part of education. Pow Nee received the blessings of the priest in charge to start a Scout troop at Kim Sen School around 1947/1948. He was the Scouter in charge of the troop. At about the same time he also founded a unit of the Red Cross which he also led. Both quickly proved to be a big success with the students. Scouting would soon grow within Bukit Mertajam, and Kim Sen School’s Troop was widely considered as the best troop in Province Wellesley Central. Pow Nee became an active member of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) in 1948. The MCA at that time was a welfare organization. It raised funds to help families forced to relocate to new villages and were facing exceptional hardship. Pow Nee’s work in this area had far reaching impact due to the scale of the challenges he confronted. Five new villages were established in Province Wellesley housing about 20,000 people. Half of this total lived in four new villages in Bukit Mertajam. MCA assisted the new villagers in all aspects of their welfare, ranging from education for the children to health services for families. The four new villages located near Bukit Mertajam were at Berapit, Sungei Lembu, Machang Bubok and Permatang Tinggi. The fifth was Jawi New Village at Sungai Bakap.