The Dr Wu Lien-teh Society

I was debating with myself whether or not I should attend the inaugural meeting of the Dr Wu Lien-teh Society that had been called last Sunday by Anwar Fazal. Then I thought, what's the matter with me? I'm already in so deep in my quest to learn more about Wu Lien-teh that it would be wrong for me not to go and see what was going to happen at this meeting.

So at 10.45a.m. on Sunday, I stepped into the Penang Medical College in Sepoy Line and took the lift up to the top floor. It was early. The only ones there were Anwar Fazal and Alex Ooi. Alex is the president of the Old Frees' Association Singapore.

Hey, I called out to them, good morning. I think they were a bit surprised to see me but the moment passed quickly. "Are you representing anybody," Anwar Fazal inquired as we shook hands. "No, I'm representing myself," I replied. The question did not strike me as pertinent until much later when I saw the rest of the people trooping in.

Among them were representatives of the Penang Heritage Trust (Khoo Salma and Clement Liang), Penang Global Tourism (Ooi Geok Ling), the Penang Tourist Guides Association and what I believed to be the Penang Budget Hotels Associaton. Of course, there were also the representatives from the PMC itself, as they had graciously hosted the meeting, and The Old Frees' Association in the presence of MS Rajendren, the association's president. Only then did it strike me that the formation of this society might not exactly be meant for the general public's palate yet. But never mind, there were some other familiar faces who weren't representing any establishment too. I didn't consider myself intruding and I certainly wasn't alone. All in, there were about 20 people present.

At about 11.15a.m. the meeting was called to order by Anwar Fazal who went on to present the society's proposed constitution for discussion in detail and acceptance by consensus. That finished, the pro-tem committee was appointed.

Maybe I should point out here that those appointed to this committee were: Anwar Fazal (pro-tem president), Rajendren and Dr Abdul Rashid Khan (pro-tem vice-presidents), Dr Alex Ooi (pro-tem secretary-general), Khoo Soo Hay (pro-tem assistant secretary-general), Clement Liang (pro-tem treasurer) and for the five posts of pro-tem committee members, there were institutional representatives from the Penang Institute, Penang Global Tourism, Penang Medical College, and then there were Loke Gim Tay and I. The appointment was quite unexpected. I didn't expect to be in the committee and was surprised when Rajendren proposed my name. I think in the meantime, I'll prefer to hold this post on behalf of the OFA; they can fill in this seat at the first annual general meeting or earliest possible time.

Like I had mentioned earlier in facebook, there are five Old Frees in this pro-tem committee. This is only right seeing that Dr Wu Lien-teh was one of the Penang Free School's most illustrious sons. The Grand Old Lady has every reason to be proud of her alumni but among them, Wu Lien-teh (or Gnoh Lean Tuck as he was known during his schooldays) stood out as perhaps the most apolitical of them. As I pointed at the meeting, Wu Lien-teh was this country's one and only nominee for the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1935. The country should be very proud of him but unfortunately, his achievements have all but been forgotten. It is appropriate to honour him properly now.

There was also time at the meeting to discuss some proposed activities for the society but it wouldn't be right for me to reveal them at this stage.

The pro-tem committee of the Dr Wu Lien-teh Society. Seated, left to right, Clement, Rashid, Anwar Fazal, Rajendren, Alex, Khoo; standing, left to right, Loke, Penang Tourist Guides Association representative, Penang Medical College representative, Ooi Geok Ling of Penang Global Tourism, myself, Dr Wong from Penang Institute and Arthur who represented the Penang Budget Hotels Association.

Dedicated educationist

You don't have to be a Xavierian to be aware of a man like the late Revd Brother Charles Levin. I considered it a great honour to have met this former Brother Director of the Saint Xavier's Institution at the Dewan Sri Pinang in July 2010 when he was made a Datuk at an investiture ceremony on the occasion of the official birthday of the Penang Governor. Getting to meet him was momentous enough for me to have this picture taken with him.

Yesterday morning (14 Oct 2012), I received a message that Brother Charles had passed away at the SXI grounds. According to the newspapers, he had been complaining of pain since last Friday but early yesterday morning, he was rushed to hospital but died soon afterwards.

Brother Charles was German and his real name was Karl Henry Theodor Wolff.

Fidelis the newsletter

This is a sneak preview of the cover of the FIDELIS newsletter of The Old Frees' Association which shall be released to members at the OFA Annual Dinner on 21 October 2012. FIDELIS the newsletter builds on the goodwill of FIDELIS the commemorative book that was launched earlier this year. Of course, I had a hand in producing it. What's inside? All that I am prepared to reveal now is that the newsletter will bring everybody up to speed with the latest developments at the club. But what's really inside? Not saying more. Find out on the 21st of October itself.

Still learning about photography

I've still got a lot to learn about photographing forests and trees. My pictures generally turn out to be a mess of confusion. A whole mess of confusing greenery interspersed with brown. Like, for example, I went up the Bukit Mertajam Hill at Cerok Tokun this morning and couldn't come back with a decent nature scenery. Up on the hill, I gave up after a while and decided to concentrate on some close-up photography. That was much, much better.

This turned out to be the best of the scenery shots with the Fujifilm Finepix F500EXR. I slowed down the shutter speed to the maximum two seconds, propped the camera on a rock and allowed a two-second timer to take over. Still not completely satisfactory to me, though. It is such times that I wish to own a proper DSLR camera and a tripod.

Fiddled with the panorama feature on this camera. I wanted to capture the vast expense of destruction along the hill track beside the stream. I don't know how long ago that the trees fell down and blocked the path across the stream but it took some careful steps over the trunks and branches to get over to the other side. I wonder when will the forestry people do something to clean up the mess.

Sticking to close-up photography was more fun. At least, I could control what I snapped. And the following pictures showed how nice the greenery could be. I won't say much because they are all green leaves...

...and green leaves....

...and more green leaves....

...and yet more green leaves...

...except for this holey one...

...and this one too.

This is the bark on one of the trees.

Oh Cheng Chan

An interesting piece of news from 16 July 1897, as it had then appeared in The Straits Times:

It was just a one-paragraph story that went:

A death has been one of the immediate results of the late gang-robbery at Mr Cheah Chen Eok's house off the Waterfall Road. We regret to report that Mr Oh Cheng Chan, who fractured his thigh in jumping from the window on the occasion, and probably suffered other internal injuries, died on Wednesday morning. It is quite time the lash or rattan were applied to villains, whose practices cause such sad consequences.

By the way, Oh Cheng Chan was my great-great-grandfather on my mother's side, which means that I am the fifth generation living here in this country. That's how far I had managed to trace my roots. The manner of his tragic death notwithstanding, I'm mighty proud of and excited by this fact. Pretty chuffed by it, actually.

Jangan kelentong lagi, kita semua orang Malaysia

I want to make it clear that Kee Thuan Chye is my old classmate. We are just old friends who may share, if I may say so, some common ideals. Apart from that, we do not owe one another anything.

Having said that, I wish to congratulate him for getting his best-selling book, No More Bullshit, translated into Bahasa Melayu. It was a move that I had urged him to do and I am certain, others may have done as well. I did tell him that if he wanted to push his message to the kampongs and rural folks, he should get some of his more pertinent chapters translated into Bahasa.

I am glad that he has gone one step further and had the whole book translated. I'm only waiting for it to hit the bookstores.

Over the edge

I had just received a telephone call from one of the local banks' call centres about 15 minutes ago. Even as I identified myself to them, I already knew that the caller was going to offer me one of two things: a super-duper insurance policy or an incredibly attractive loan. That would be all that the banks would ever call me for.

This one turned out to be a loan. Incredibly attractive, as I mentioned. Interest rate of less than four percent per annum. And since I was a valued customer of the bank, they were offering me this loan specially for this month only. Wow.

The lady at the end thought that she was onto a good thing with me until I started lecturing her back - politely, I must first add - on the dangers of borrowing clean money from the bank with no supporting collateral. It was the surest way of pushing some people towards bankruptcy or near bankruptcy.

She tried to interrupt me but I just wouldn't let her go. I know you are only doing your job, I told her, but please keep in mind that there are some people that you are helping to push over the edge. Think about it, I added, it would be on your conscience. I haven't come across a tele-marketeer who tried that fast to end a conversation with a potential client.

I've come to understand that such tele-marketing conversations are routinely recorded at the bank's end. I hope that this one has been recorded. And I hope that this girl will have the presence of mind to alert her superiors and let them hear the exchange between the two of us.

Jelawat effect

It has been raining incessantly for the past three days already. My aunt says that it is due to the Chinese eighth lunar month that's causing the deluge but surely, there must be a scientific explanation and I believe that we are actually feeling the effects of the super typhoon that's being churned up presently east of the Philippines. Penang is not in a typhoon zone but occasionally, typhoons in the western Pacific, as well as those in the Indian Ocean, may affect us. Anyway, this is only my opinion.

Nevertheless, there's this satellite image that I've just picked up from the AccuWeather website. It's a mean typhoon with its epicentre just east of Luzon and travelling towards Taiwan. But significantly, the typhoon looks like drawing moisture from the Indian Ocean basin which means that as Penang is directly in its path, the moisture gets dumped on us..

OFA-PFS cricket match

The annual games between The Old Frees' Association and the Penang Free School were played last Saturday at both premises. A whole day-long affair starting with badminton in the morning and ending with hockey and football in the late afternoon.

I went to the school at about noon. A last-minute decision, as always. Missed the badminton matches as they had already ended. Nevertheless, I waited to watch the start of the cricket match. Naturally, took some photos. In my opinion, this one turned out to be the best of the bunch.

NZ travelogue: the Riccarton Bush

After the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist temple in Christchurch, the Riccarton Bush was our next stop in the itinerary. Originally, I had wanted to visit the farmer's market but found out that it was open only on a Saturday morning. As we would only arrive in Christchurch on Saturday evening, that means that we would have missed it already.

Nevertheless come Sunday morning, we still decided to visit the Riccarton Bush. This place is the largest surviving remnant of the forests that once covered the Canterbury Plains. Our destination was the Riccarton House. Although the building was closed due to the Christchurch earthquake, the vast grounds were still accessible to people and it was there that an artisan's market would be held every Sunday.

Pathway leading up to Riccarton House

Getting there was quite easy and finding a parking lot wasn't any problem. A leisurely walk among the tall kahikatea trees took us to Riccarton House. Stalls were already opened and people were everywhere .... eating, shopping or just whiling away time sitting by the banks of the Avon River. We did all three.

Riccarton House

Some of the stalls selling a wide variety of stuff 

People milling every where

Although the house was out of bounds, it did not stop people from occupying the verandah.

Others were enjoying the outdoor sun in a nippy autumn weather

Nearby, a band was providing entertainment

Directly opposite the house was the Avon River

We strolled around the grounds and came across Deans Cottage, built by pioneering Scottish brothers, William and John Deans, in 1843. This is the oldest building on the Canterbury Plains, built from timber cut in the Riccarton Bush and pit-sawn into boards. The brothers had lived here until their early and tragic deaths. William drowned in a shipwreck in 1851 while John died from tuberculosis in this cottage in 1854. The interior of the cottage has been turned into a museum to showcase the brothers' living conditions in the 19th century.

Kuala Lumpur postbox

The old cylindrical pillar postboxes continue to fascinate me. After having tracked down what I believe to be all the surviving colonial postboxes in Penang, I took the opportunity to visit the Central Market when I was down in Kuala Lumpur last month. I had heard that there was one outside the building.

True enough, while circumbulating the Central Market, I came across it at the southern end of building. A piece of paper was glued to the base of the postbox. I ran my hand over the paper, hoping to trace the outline of the royal cypher. It would have indicated the period when this postbox was installed. Unfortunately, there was none. Like the one in Ayer Itam, Penang, the mark had been filed off. It is so disgraceful that all remnants of our rich history are being removed by ignorant people. Anyway, this one was made by McDowall Steven & Co Ltd.

  

Reputation counts for nothing

It is very rare indeed that I write any review of the food stalls or coffee shops that I visit but I'm moved enough to pen something about a recent experience at the Seng Thor Coffee Shop & Hotel which is located at the corner of Carnarvon Street and Kimberley Street in George Town, Penang.

Now, this coffee shop has been around for ages and it has acquired a reputation for its street food. In particular, everyone wants to try the fried oysters (oh chien) as it is acclaimed to be the most famous on the island. When I was a kid, my father would, once in a very long while, take me there for a plate. A special treat. The memory of those few occasions still lingers in my mind.

Even now whenever I travel along Carnarvon Street or when I had to turn into Kimberley Street, I would turn to look longingly at that particular corner of the coffee shop. But I would often be on my way to somewhere else, or found it inconvenient to park the car or most times, I would find the stall not opened for the day.

But earlier this month, the opportunity presented itself for my whole family. We did find ourselves passing the coffee shop at around lunch time and so, we decided to stop there. We ordered a plate of the fried oysters and also from the Koay Teow Soup hawker.

While waiting, all eyes were on the hawker. We were looking at how he was preparing the food. To cut the story short, I must say that I was greatly shocked. The amount of cooking oil that had gone into the frying was alarmingly copious. If ever there was a candidate for the most unhealthy food in Penang, this must be it. Generous amounts of cooking oil went into the frying pan at every stage of the preparation. And finally, just before the hawker apportioned out the omelette onto the plates, the oil was scooped back into a pot, waiting to be unleashed again for the next round of frying.

If ever there was a disturbing sight, this must be it. But I must say that all this was done openly for everyone to see. If the idea of wolfing down a plateful of greasy, cholesterol-laden fried oysters is not your idea of healthy eating, well you have been warned here!

[UPDATE: I forgot. I forgot to mention something about the fried oysters. How did I find it? Well, it was not exactly like how I remembered it Although it was a long time ago, I do remember that the omelette used to be soft and a little chewy. That was because of the special flour used in the original batter. Now, the texture was crispier. Not so original anymore. Times have changed. A totally different experience.]

As for the Koay Teow soup, this was only the third time in about six months that I had ordered from the hawker. My verdict is that this hawker's preparation is rather inconsistent. I had enjoyed his offering the first two times but this time around, I was greatly disappointed. The soup lacked the earlier oomph - in my opinion, almost tasteless - and despite it coming off fresh from the stove, the bowls arrived at our table lukewarm. So my advice to anyone who plan to try his food: be prepared for the best or the worst from this man. He has his good days. And bad days.

George Town's street art

I can firmly declare that I do not know Ernest Zacharevic and neither does he know me. But like many Penangites, I do know who he is. And he is the one artist that has single-handedly turned George Town into the hippiest and most happening city in the country. He had landed in Penang several months ago, intending to stay for only a few days, but ended up staying for a good many months.

Inspired by the cultural heritage he saw around him, he sought permission from the Penang Island Municipal Council to put his paint brushes to good use. The first of his many wall murals was this giant painting, in Muntri Street, of a young girl perched on top of two windows.

Muntri Street

From that first mural, he went on to create several others. I can't say that I like them all, though. But I wouldn't even want to say which are the ones I like because one man's meat is obviously another man's poison and so, I shall leave it to other Penangites and of course, the tourists who had made a beeline to these murals, to pass their own judgments. But here they are, the rest of them (well, at least most of them), in no particular order of preference:

Cannon Street

Armenian Street

Armenian Street

Ah Quee Street

Ah Quee Street

Chew Jetty

Penang Road

As an aside, maybe I should also mention that the Quah Kongsi missed out on a golden opportunity to be part of this giant project. The Kongsi owned a building in Armenian Street and the organiser of this year's George Town Festival had written in for permission to paint on the side of the building. Unfortunately, the previous president of the association was well known to us for his procrastination and although the letter was received sometime in May or June, he did not bother to raise it up with his committee. Nobody else was aware and when I finally learnt of it, it was already much too late to reply to Joe Sidek. Wouldn't it have been fantastic to add to this fine collection in George Town?

Remembering the 77th anniversary of Ban Hin Lee Bank

Sometimes, I would remember it; most times I don't. But today was one of the few occasions when I did. I woke up this morning and it clicked in my mind that today's the seventeenth of September. It is a date in my version of history, as far as I am concerned. It mattered to me. It moved me enough to post this message on facebook:

17 September? Is today 17 September? That would mark today as the 77th anniversary of Ban Hin Lee Bank, it being founded on 17 September 1935. Unfortunately, the bank had already ceased to exist by 30 June 2000. All that's left for us are the memories of the past working life and camaraderie among old friends and former colleagues. Such was the friendship cultivated at Ban Hin Lee Bank that similar relationships could never be repeated at new work places. They never reached the same heights after our banking days.

Hours later, it had collected several "likes" and responses from my connected friends from the bank. I'd like to share them here:

• 
  

  KS Lim SS, but the memory is precious. Even though it has been more than 12 years since the bank has ceased to exist, we still identify ourselves as BHL bankers. This is something pretty rare. I left the bank 10 years prior to that date, but I still consider myself an ex-BHL bank staff.

  9 hours ago · Like
• 

  Lim Soon Huat A large number of esp. Penangites has had their first career with this august institution. Maybe I'm wrong but I think BHLB was just more than an institution to us. In some ways it was like an extended family - the bonding has been unusually strong even til now.

  8 hours ago · Like · 1
• 

  KS Lim KS Lim Soon Huat, couldn't agree more. When I joined KL branch in early 78, almost half of the staff were Penangnites. And these are not only Penangnites who were sent to the branch, butPenangnites who have made KL their adopted homes. I can still remember even the customers were ex-Penangnites and Penang Hokkien was widely spoken in the branch. We always feel like being in a home away from home.

  7 hours ago · Like
• 

  KS Lim Off course, we had senior staff like Khay Seang, Beng Huat, Benny, Thiam Cheong and a couple more who came to work with us as well.

  7 hours ago · Like · 1
• 

  Lim Soon Huat There are very few siimlar institutions nowadays which are people centric. We have lots to be grateful to our predecessors for their contribution in this aspect.

  7 hours ago · Like
• 

  Vincent Tang Yes, very fond memories I have but all good things must come to an end at one point. Cherish the memories but life goes on.

Impermanence

This orchid flower had seen better days so please remember, nothing is ever permanent in this world...

Old RAMs and old chips

What am I to do with these darn things? What can I do with them? These were stripped from my old obsolete or broken down desktop computers and laptops, and now lying on the table gathering dust. My wife wanted to throw them away but wait, I told her, I wanted them as a keepsake of the computers we've owned in the past.

I've a small collection of a piece of 32MB PC100 RAM card, a piece of 64MB PC133 RAM card, two pieces of 256MB KVR266 RAM cards and three pieces of 512MB PC3200/DDR400 RAM cards from my various desktops, in addition to a 256MB DDR333 RAM card from a laptop.

Then there are also an AMD Sempron chip, an AMD K6 chip, an Intel Pentium4 chip and a final Intel chip with unknown markings. What should I do with them?

Getting set for mid-autumn

It's not even the end of the Chinese seventh lunar month or Hungry Ghost Festival month (last day will fall on 15 Sep) and already, the stalls in the shopping malls are selling mooncakes for the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival. This festival falls on the full moon day of the Chinese eighth lunar month which corresponds to 30 Sep 2012.

There are so many varieties to choose from until it's impossible to try them all. Nevertheless, I had my first bite at this year's mooncake delicacy yesterday. As an aside, I should mention that I try to avoid all the newfangled variations that manufacturers are wont to hit on their unsuspecting customers. No, it is only the traditional mooncake tastes for me!