Old photograph, old memories

Earlier this month, I was invited to a charity and fellowship dinner organised by the 88 Captains, an organisation whose members comprise many of Penang's local captains of industry, hence the name. The association has been around for about four years, with its primary objective being to raise funds among its members to provide scholarships for needy students in Penang who might otherwise not be able to pursue their further education. So far, some 25 to 30 undergraduates have benefited from this initiative, which I thought was a rather noble cause. There are also ongoing projects to provide schools in the state with educational aid and connect them to the digital world. 

This year's charity dinner raised an impressive RM1,888,888.88. Donors contributed amounts ranging from RM10,000 to RM200,000, with the balance being topped up by the association's generous president, Dr Ooi Eng Hock. Not a bad result for a single evening.

So there I was, with my wife and son, at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel on the evening of 08 August 2026. The current Penang Governor, Ramli Ngah Talib, was in attendance with his wife. As far as I know, this was the first time they had attended an 88 Captains function. And, as usual whenever the Governor is present, the State Protocol Department was there in full force, imposing all sorts of regulations on the organisers. I won't go into the details, though I am sure anyone who has organised similar functions will know what I mean.

What made the evening particularly interesting for me happened right at the end. As the Governor was making his way out of the ballroom, shaking hands with people along the way, I had the opportunity to show him an old photograph that had been sitting in my collection for the past 18 years. His eyes lit up when he recognised himself in the picture. He was seated beside Tan Chin Nam, with me standing between the two of them.

The photograph was taken at a private function in Kuala Lumpur in May 2008, hosted by Tan Chin Nam to welcome Ramli Ngah Talib into the Malaysian chess fraternity after he had become the new president of the Malaysian Chess Federation in 2007. He remained MCF president for several terms, until 2016, so that photograph brought back a little bit of chess history. I have posted the picture on this blog before, but I suppose with some people curious about what I showed him, I'll put it up here again.