NZ travelogue: Larnach and his haunted castle

The day after our arrival in Dunedin, we decided to go on a drive around the Otago peninsula. We had already set our sights on the Larnach Castle after hearing about it from the hostess of the Albatross Inn. "It's the only castle in New Zealand," she had told us, "and the garden is huge and pretty." But do note, she advised, going into the castle itself will require extra payment of entry fees.

Oh, great, maybe this castle could be haunted too. I would like that. The thought of any extra payment would be the last thing discouraging us from visiting the place. Good marketing pitch, yes?

After breakfast, we checked out from the guesthouse and were on our way. Despite the GPS, I missed a turn somewhere but it wasn't a big deal. We soon found our way on the Highcliff Road which actually wound its way along the ridge of the Otago peninsula. And soon enough, we reached the fork in the road which led us to the entrance of the Larnach Castle grounds.

As can be seen from this picture above, the grounds was immensely large. The basic entry fee would allow you to wander around much of the grounds. At various places, it was possible to look down at the natural Otago Harbour which stretches from Dunedin to Harrington Point. Port Chalmers somewhere on the northern shores of the harbour is a deep water port. From the Larnach Castle grounds, the panoramic view was rather breathtaking. If you were to stretch your neck further, like I did, it's possible to look at the Dunedin city centre itself. If you squint your eyes, you could even make out the steeple of one old church somewhere in the city.

Pretty soon, we turned our sights on the castle gardens itself. Very well maintained although the cost of maintenance must certainly be tremendous. Here are a few pictures from around the place.

 

And this here was the flight of steps that led visitors to the main door of the castle. Two stone lions stood guard on either side of the steps. On another level were two stone falcons. As we walked up, the doors suddenly opened slowly before us. No creaks but noiselessly. Although we continued climbing without skipping a heart beat, was there a slight chill running down our spines? Has the haunting begun in bright daylight already? Erm, no, just two workers anticipating our entry and opening the door for us.

The castle was reportedly built sometime between 1873 and 1887 as the residence of William Larnach, a prominent entrepreneur and politician in colonial New Zealand, who later committed suicide when he discovered his third wife having an affair with his son. Tsk, tsk. Theirs was a tragic family because the whole of the Larnach clan suffered one calamity or scandal after another and they scattered to other parts of New Zealand. The finished house, which contained more than 40 rooms, including a ballroom which has now been turned into a restaurant, and needed 46 servants for various chores, soon fell silent and into a state of disrepair.

Seen any apparition lately?

We went through most of the stately rooms including one that had been turned into a museum. Sorry, despite its eerieness, we did not encounter any chills or super-dark damp corners or heard any rattling bones. But we did climb up the narrow steps and emerged into bright sunlight onto the roof of the castle's tower. This must be the highest point for miles around.

After many years of abandonment, the whole place was bought by Barry and Margaret Barker in 1967 and carefully restored. From the main castle building, we moved to the adjoining ballroom for lunch. Out of curiosity, I ordered their kumara and ginger soup and it turned out to be nothing but a thick soup of blended potato and ginger. Saw See had something more familiar: an omelette.

I should also mention that someone once wrote in The New Zealand Herald newspaper about the eerie episodes at the Larnach Castle.

In 1994, the new owners tried to cash in on its spookiness by arranging a play about the Larnach family tragedies. "Larnach - Castle of Lies" was performed by Dunedin's Fortune Theatre before 100 invited guests in the castle ballroom. It turned out to be a night for the guests, performers and castle staff to remember.

Said Margaret Baker: "As the guests arrived a terrible storm blew up from nowhere. The smoke from the fires blew back down the chimneys so that you couldn't see - and your eyes hurt. Hail crashed on the iron roof so that you couldn't hear. Doors mysteriously opened by themselves and it got very cold. In the play - just as Larnach shot himself there was a blinding white light. Afterwards at supper people were talking about the lightning strike as Larnach held the gun to his head. I said 'Oh no that was stage effects.' We asked the stage manager. He said 'It was none of our doing, it was lightning.' I think that Larnach was present that night. He didn't like the play."

A cacophony of Old Frees

What collective noun should I use to describe the Old Frees in their natural environment? A group or gang of Old Frees is too unimaginative, mundane and unexciting. And among others, I've thought about suggesting a market place, a bench and a diversity of Old Frees and concluded that nah, there's nothing really special.  But then I realised again that we are such a bunch of self-opinionated old farts whose main purpose in life is presumably to make our own noise heard above all others, especially at the annual general meetings. So maybe, a cacophony of Old Frees will best describe us! [UPDATE #1: Someone just suggested a civilisation of Old Frees. Sounds good but it is giving us too much credit. Ha ha....] [UPDATE #2: A convulsion of Old Frees?]

In the meantime, here is the first official use of a cacophony of Old Frees in this blog or anywhere else in this world. This picture was taken with William's mobile camera at yesterday's press conference at The Old Frees' Association to announce the launch of the PFS Bicentenary celebrations.

As it would seem to be the norm nowadays, I was unfortunate enough to stand out from the rest of the cacophony with my non-conformity but this was not by design. In the first place, it never occurred to me that everyone else (except for Molly, my co-editor, but then unlike the rest of us, she's a Lady!!) would want to wear the OFA tie.

(In my opinion, the present OFA tie, and for that matter the PFS tie on which it is based, is a fashion disaster. An awkward fashion statement. I have yet to see anyone wear this tie in good taste. It doesn't go well with any colour of shirt; not even against the neutral white.)

In the second place, neither the president nor the secretary had indicated that we should be dressed formally, or was this expected of us all along? In the third place, I had thought that I should be proud enough to turn up in a T-shirt that displays the OFA crest on the breast. Oh well.....

So who were we, this cacophony of Old Frees at yesterday's press conference? On their hind legs, left to right, were Zahari Zachariah (Bicentenary Committee treasurer), Lo Liang Kheng (Outdoor Games sub-committee chairman), William Tan (in charge of the layout design for the Fidelis book), myself and Molly (the two co-editors of Fidelis), Hwang Hong Shi (Sesqui Education Grant sub-committee chairman) and Billy Yeoh (OFA deputy president). On their bottoms, left to right, Ch'ng Jin Teik (OFA secretary), Ong Ban Seang (OFA vice-president), Dato' Haji Abdul Rafique bin Abdul Karim (Bicentenary Committee chairman), MS Rajendren (OFA president) and Saw Saik Mun (OFA vice-president).

Fidelis, the OFA commemorative book, part 25

D-11 days till launch. I attended a press conference at The Old Frees' Association this afternoon. The occasion was to announce the start of the Bicentenary celebrations of the Penang Free School by the chairman of the PFS Bicentenary Committee, Dato' Haji Abdul Rafique bin Abdul Karim, who incidentally is also the chairman of the school's Board of Governors. From now until 2016, Rafique will be taking charge of all matters regarding the Bicentenary celebrations.

But why are we starting the preparations from today? After all, October 2016 is still more than four years away. According to Rafique, the Penang Free School is steeped with so much history and  tradition that one year is not enough for all the celebrations. Moreover, by kickstarting the celebrations from today, the PFS Bicentenary Committee hopes to create enough public awareness, especially among the Old Frees who are not aware of the significance of 2016.

The press conference then shifted its focus onto Fidelis, the coffee table book on which my co-editor, Molly Ooi, and I have been working on since November. The mock-up copy was flashed to the reporters and the news team from RTM.

Photo by William Tan

Rafique announced that the book will be launched by the Raja of Perlis at a Gala Dinner which shall be held at the E&O Hotel on 31 Mar 2012. Apart from him, other dignitaries who are attending will be the Penang Governor (he is the honorary patron of The Old Frees' Association) and the Penang Chief Minister (he being a Trustee of the Penang Free School Trust Fund). Hopefully, we'll also have the Human Resource Minister present too.

The book is now with the printers. I've been hearing some rumours that the book may not be ready until well after the launch but the OFA president, Rajendren, said he has received an assurance from The Phoenix Press just this morning that delivery of the books will be made on schedule on 29 March. Well, the printer had better deliver or else the consequence will be totally unthinkable.

One final thought for the day. It's time to stop calling this project a "coffee table book." This is no longer a coffee table book. It is a commemorative book and it now bears an official name: "Fidelis, the Commemorative Book of The Old Frees' Association." So Fidelis it will be known from now on in this blog.

NZ travelogue: Albatross Inn

You only understand why this quaint Bed and Breakfast establishment is called The Albatross Inn when you get to know that there is a breeding ground for the Royal Albatross at the end of the Otago peninsula. The famed albatross is one of the largest sea birds in the world.

No prize, therefore, for guessing why the owner of this guesthouse was proud to be associated with one of their main key tourist attractions.

Although the Albatross Inn was very conveniently located near the Dunedin city centre, it could be rather hard to spot this small signboard in front of the guesthouse, especially when there is also a lamp post directly in front of it.

It took me two turns around the neighbourhood, despite using the GPS, before I was finally able to drive the car up to park at the guesthouse.

I rather liked the interior of the room that Glynis Rees, our hostess, had allotted to us. Front room on the upper floor, looking down on the main road. My only concern was that there was a long flight of stairs to climb. Anyone with heavy luggages will be greatly inconvenienced.

I've read about other people's comments over the noise from passing traffic but in my opinion, there was nothing much to worry about. Perhaps it was because we checked out pretty early after breakfast. Anyway our room was very well furnished with an attached kitchenette. More importantly, it was cosy, comfortable and warm.

For the first time since setting foot onto New Zealand soil, we had a hearty breakfast. As you can see, there was quite a spread.

And that's Glynis with us on the day that we were checking out to go explore the Otago peninsula. She gave us some good pointers on where to go.

 

Surprised by reception

I spent five hours this afternoon at the annual USM team chess tournament. The first of two days. I was scheduled to play only on the first day, so I will be absent from the tournament tomorrow. I won't mention much about the three games I played except to say, for the record, that I won two easy games and drew the third one rather quickly.

But the nicest part of the afternoon was when a host of other players - I lost count after a while - who came up to me and enquired why I had stopped writing the chess column for The Star newspaper. They were both chess friends as well as chess players who were unknown to me.

Needless to say, I was rather overwhelmed by their concern over the end of the chess column but as I explained to them, the decision was not mine to make. I will write if the newspaper wants me to, and I will stop if the newspaper does not want the column anymore. But I did tell them that it was an editorial decision by the newspaper, not mine.

So I shall repeat here what I wrote on facebook earlier today: Thanks, everybody!

Ghim Moh Valley

This is just one of several blocks of new high-rise HDB flats in the Ghim Moh suburbs of Singapore. During my recent trip there with my in-laws, we stayed at my brother-in-law's unit in one of them.

Elegantly styled as Ghim Moh Valley, it is very ideally located within a stone's throw of the Buona Vista MRT station along the East-West Line. Barely a 10 minutes walk to the station, hop on board the train and pretty soon I'd be in the midst of City Hall. Very convenient. He couldn't have found a better place to stay.

From the bedroom, one looks in the north-east direction towards the hills in the far distance. Here are two breath-taking views for comparison, one photographed in the morning and the other snapped in the evening.

OFA coffee table book, part 24

D-15 till launch. Yet another meeting of The Old Frees' Association coffee table book project editorial team finished and done with. Today, we were going through the latest copy of the draft and sad to say, we still picked up one or two minor areas for alteration. There seems to be no end to our final tweaks.

Hon from The Phoenix Press was pleading with us not to make any more changes as time was fast running out at his end. But there can't be any compromise as we need to iron out all the minor glitches. But, we assured him, this would be the final of all final amendments.

We were also viewing the plotter copy provided by him, as well as several colour pages, including the cover itself. To me, they looked nice but according to William, some of the pictures would require some final re-touching to brighten them.

Oh yes, one other thing: we also discussed the slip box for the book. They would be an elegant addition to the book once we present it to the VVIPs. Hon suggested a solution to this slip box - I would believe he wanted a quick way out - but the OFA president, Rajendren, would have none of that. Cost was no issue, he declared, and then he spelt out all our requirements for the box. Yessiree, I think this book will turn out fine.

There's only the press conference left to handle next Tuesday and that's it! Breathing easy until the book's launch on the 31st of March.


 

Penang to Changi by Jetstar Asia

My recent trip to Singapore was only the second and third time that I had flown with Jetstar Asia. The first time was some two years ago, I think, when I chose this airline over AirAsia because I wanted to try something new. I was impressed then by the efficiency despite Jetstar Asia being a budget airline too.

This time, I was heading a group of six people to Singapore and in my midst were three senior citizens, namely, my aunt and my two in-laws. With three senior citizens in tow, I was very concerned about my ability to watch over all three at the same time while at the airport. Luckily, I had my wife and son with me, so we shared the responsibility all round.

Still, it would be a huge responsibility and I had to consider many factors.

Firstly, there was the baggage to think about. As I had expected all of us to travel light without any check-in baggage, my wife, son and myself would likely have to do double duty by carrying their bags as well. That would slow us down.

Secondly, the old folks are not entirely nimble on their feet. At their age, they are slow walkers and we (meaning my wife, son and I) would have to slow ourselves down consciously so that the senior folks could catch up with us.

Thirdly, again because of the old folks, we would prefer an airline that uses an aerobridge at the airport.

The local budget airline, AirAsia, has an irritating habit of refusing to use the aerobridges (a news report once said that the cost of using an aerobridge was equivalent of the airline paying only an extra 25 cents per passenger to the airport management authorities) and would prefer to subject their passengers to a long walk across the apron to their aircraft. It is usually a long walk. Passengers would have to ascend a flight of stairs at the terminal building and then negotiate up another flight of stairs in order to board the aeroplane. Despite their tagline of "Everybody Can Fly," they do not seem to care too much about the inconveniences of older folks or disabled persons who use their services. It's a sort of discrimination against the old and weak. Besides, the weather has been rainy almost every afternoon and I did not fancy walking across a wet airport with them in tow. AirAsia may say that they provide umbrellas but again, when your hands are full, how on earth are you going to handle that bloody contraption?

(However, I must add that I have seen AirAsia making use of the aerobridges at the Penang International Airport on the odd occasions although I do not know why. But more often than not, they don't, and I didn't want to risk it with the senior folks around.) 

That third factor alone convinced me that between the two budget airlines, my only choice of travel between the Penang International Airport and the Changi International Airport was by Jetstar Asia.Therefore, the decision to book my flights through Jetstar Asia simply became a no-brainer. At the very least, I was confident that the management at Jetstar Asia would be sophisticated enough to make use of the aerobridge facilities at the airports.

It was thus not a gamble with using Jetstar Asia but I was proven right anyhow. My three senior relatives were completely well sheltered from the outside elements right from the moment we arrived at the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas. We never left the terminal building at all. Getting on board the aeroplane proved to be equally convenient as well. They didn't say anything to me but no comment from them can only mean that there was no discomfort of any sort.

A final word on Jetstar Asia. Their cabin crew was also very professional. In the flights I was on, the crew went out of their way to help passengers stow away their carry-on baggage in the overhead compartments. They were also rather polite. So unlike the other budget airline where, in all my years of travelling with them, seldom have I seen them do the same. As far as I have noticed, they'd just stand around and watch people struggle with their bags and only assist when asked for a helping hand. What a difference between the Orange and the Red.

Head in the sand, foot in the mouth

Various British newspapers here, here, here, here and here are reporting some interesting comments from Sir Dave Richards, the chairman of the Premier League in England, who was speaking his mind at a post-sports security conference in Qatar. To round this off, it was reported that this fella tumbled flat-faced and fully-clothed into either a hotel swimming pool or a fountain.

Here is a choice excerpt: "England gave the world football. It gave the best legacy anyone could give. We gave them the game. For 50 years we owned the game. We were the governance of the game. We wrote the rules, designed the pitches and everything else. Then, 50 years later, some guy came along and said: 'You're liars,' and they actually stole it. It was called Fifa. Fifty years later another gang came along called Uefa and stole a bit more."

And another one: "(Football) started in Sheffield 150 years ago. We started the game and wrote the rules and took it to the world. The Chinese may say they own it but the British own it and we gave it to the rest of the world."

He also told his Qatari hosts they had their "heads in the sand" over limiting the sale of alcohol to five-star hotels at the 2022 World Cup: "In our country and in Germany we have a culture. We call it 'we would like to go for a pint and that pint is a pint of beer'. It is our culture as much as your culture is not drinking. There has to be a happy medium. If you don't do something about it, you are starting to bury your head in the sand a little bit because it needs addressing. You might be better off saying 'don't come'. But a World Cup without England, Germany, the Dutch, Danes and Scandinavians – it's unthinkable."

OFA coffee table book, part 23

D-16 days till launch. That's the countdown for the launch of Fidelis, the commemorative book of The Old Frees' Association. People will laugh when I tell them that I had very little Internet connectivity whilst in Singapore but that was the truth of the matter.

Effectively from last Tuesday afternoon, my connection was cut off when my sister-in-law had to take back their laptop and USB modem for work. I could still have made use of the computer on Wednesday morning if I wanted to, but realised that getting ready to come back home to Penang was more important. Still, when I touched down at about six o'clock, my first telephone call was to William!

When I opened up my own computer here in Penang this morning, I found an email from the layout gang giving us in the editorial team the third proof for checking. At long last, we have settled for 208 pages, after the OFA president, Rajendren, had asked William to include, remove or rearrange various pictures.

Unfortunately, while both Rajendren and William have been busy adding captions to these pictures, they have not been consistent with the style guide. As was to be expected, there were errors strewn all over the place. Thus, I have been spending the better part of the morning going through all the pictures again as well as their captions. Twenty-five, to be exact, were discovered and they have been conveyed to the layout team for last-minute rectifications. (Twenty-six, according to Molly, who later emailed me one caption to add.)

I hope to receive the final proof back by tomorrow. Most probably by Monday, we should be able to wrap up everything with the final meeting. I'm rather anxious to look at the mock copy which the printer will provide us.

OFA coffee table book, part 22

Today is D-19 days till the launch of Fidelis, the commemorative book of The Old Frees' Association. I should be excited but I am more anxious than excited. Ylou see, I've been in incommunicado mode with the rest of the editorial team. They are in Penang whilst I am in Singapore.

I've been in Singapore since Saturday and shall not be back to Penang until Wednesday evening. My wife and I had been planning this trip for more than a year now. Ever since we were told that her brother would be buying a new HDB apartment in Singapore, we knew that we had to come visit him and bring the old folks along.

The trip had been postponed so many times because of delays to the renovation of his place but finally, word came through that he would be moving in last December. Still, the only time to arrange a trip and bring my in-laws to visit Singapore was during the Malaysian school holidays. That's how I am in Singapore right now.

But that aside, I found out on Saturday that my brother-in-law's Internet wireless connectivity is limited. There is no wireless hotspot in the apartment. I'm reduced to sharing the one modem on the laptop with so many people here. As a result, I am unable to use the ipad to connect to the Internet for my emails.

Luckily, though, I still have some mobile connections, thanks to my friend Jeff who lent me his Singapore mobile SIM card. Jeff is a wonderful guy; he has really gone out of his way to ensure that I can keep in touch with the world while in Singapore. Strange comment about Singapore but it's true... Ha ha.

So what about the coffee table book? I'm feeling rather helpless right now because there has been no text message from the layout people. In my absence, the OFA president has taken it upon himself to be in full charge of decisions. He has free rein as the OFA president, anyway, to over-ride the editorial team.

The only message I've received from him through the mobile phone is short but I've learnt enough that he has asked the layout people to do this and to do that, combine this story and that story together, remove and replace this picture and that picture. Gosh, the way events are developing, I hope to be able to recognise its altered state by the time I get home!

But despite the free rein and the alterations, I shall still have to do the very last part of the book which is to give page numbers to all the image  credits. And I jolly well can't do it without the book's layout completed. So with me here in Singapore and the book there in Penang, with no idea when I can see the final draft, it's been a very frustrating wait....

OFA coffee table book, part 21

D-22 days. I shall be glad when everything is over. Yesterday evening at about 7.30pm, I finaly received the full set of the second proof of the OFA coffee table book from the layout team. Frankly, I was not impressed with the work done. To be more frank, I was disappointed. There was no real thinking behind the job. Little creativity. Just plain "I want to finish this job as soon as I can and go home" attitude.

So for the whole of last night, I had been going through this draft, checking against the copy that I had given the layout team. At least, I'm satisfied that about 90 percent of the errors in the text have been corrected. By midnight, I had already emailed my response back to the layout team. They'll have to work on the corrections this morning.

This afternoon, there is another meeting with the layout people. Hopefully, it will be the last one. We shall need to finalise everything by today. Especially the choice of the pictures to fill the empty spaces in the book. And the captions that will go with them. Big rush. The deadline looms....

OFA coffee table book, part 20

D-23 days. Hopefully after the rush yesterday, I can get a short respite from thinking - and doing anything much - about Fidelis, The Old Frees' Association coffee table book.

There was this short part of the book which was not proofread since the meeting last week and I was at the club house to collect both the envelope that Anwar Fazal had left me and this remaining material from my co-editor and her husband. Bumped into them - Molly and David, that is - at the cafeteria and so we sat to talk. The OFA president later sailed in to join us and that was when he told us more about the dinner on 31 March 2012.

The two VVIP tables are reserved for, well, the very very important guests, that includes the Raja of Perlis, the Penang Governor and the Penang Chief Minister and some others. The Raja of Perlis is the Royal Patron of the association, the Penang governor is the honorary patron while the Penang Chief Minister is the trustee of the PFS Trust Fund which was set up in 1920. Then there are the RM10,000 tables, the RM5,000 tables, the RM3,000 tables, RM2,000 tables and the RM1,000 tables. OFA members will be seated at the RM1,000 tables and their tickets will be at a 50 percent discount. I hear the seats are going like hot cakes even before any official announcement has been made. The editorial team will join the OFA management committee at the RM2,000 tables.The programme for the night will include the launch of this coffee table book and the PFS Bicentenary website. Anyway, that's about enough information about the dinner.

What I was also told was that a Press conference will be held in the second half of next week to brief the newspapers about the book launch. Boy, the PFS Bicentenary Committee are really getting enthusiastic and into the thick of action. When it will be, I don't know yet, but I'm looking forward to it (the press conference).

In the meantime, I have finished emailing the rest of the corrected first proofs to the layout designers. Could be that I should receive the second proofs by this evening. Will give them a quick read-through to ensure all the corrections have been incorporated. Also, will use the occasion to complete the Contents, Image Credits and Acknowledgement pages which have been left somewhat hanging.

OFA coffee table book, part 19

D-24 days. I've keyed in the first batch of corrections and amendments resulting from the efforts of our proof-reading volunteer. Having written off as unreliable the Penang Free School teachers who were suggested to us, I must say that I am very glad for the effort of Kuei Yin, who is Molly's friend from the church. She's a former English language teacher from Johor with a lot of experience teaching the language in local government schools and private schools in Singapore.

Now retired, she relocated to Penang with her husband who is attached to the Universiti Sains Malaysia. This lady has sharp eyes because she spotted so many typographical errors in our manuscripts. Typo errors are always critical. For example, can you imagine that instead of typing "cremated", I had unknowingly typed "created"? The missing em threw the whole meaning of my sentence off! How embarrassing it would be to have this silly typo appear in the book.

Of course, the fact that she was from Johor meant that she would be unfamiliar with the histories of the Penang Free School and The Old Frees' Association and could look at our efforts with a fresh, critical eye. But I hear that she has now become our most ardent fan. "You should be proud of your history and tradition," she commented.

That's what we wanted and hopefully, that's what we will achieve. When non-Old Frees read the book and they can express the same appreciation for our history as Kuei Yin, then I shall consider our job to be well accomplished!

Having said all this, there is of course a second round of proof-reading to do tomorrow, just to make sure than the layout team has done all of them.

In a short while, I'll be going out to the island. Destination is, of course, The Old Frees' Association. I can't wait to pick up the envelope that Dato' Anwar Fazal had left for me at the club house yesterday evening. I was on the telephone with him yesterday and I casually asked whether he had any new pictures to share with us. I'm glad that he had kept them aside in case we asked him. He wasn't certainly going to force them on us to use in the book but in case we wanted them, they would be readily available. That's good anticipation.

OFA coffee table book, part 18

D-26 days. We just completed a marathon four-and-a-half hours' long meeting of the editorial team today, meant to wrap up the layout of The Old Frees' Association's coffee table book, Fidelis. Yup, it's confirmed: Fidelis will run to 208 pages!

It was a good meeting. We have decided on the cover of the book, finalised the articles that will appear, justified the order in which the essays on the Old Boys will appear (very important, this!), chose all the pictures for the book and met with the printers. The best news is that the messages from the Raja of Perlis and the Chief Minister have been received: the CM's this morning and from the Palace in Arau in the afternoon.

Of necessity, I shall have to keep today's entry short because I'm going to rush out soon to the hypermarket for some shopping of home essentials. Have neglected this to the point where provisions are running extremely low! Then later, to start consolidating the proof-reading....

Dr Yeoh Bok Choon

Below, I am reproducing an extract from my final chess column in The Star newspaper last Friday. From among all the things I wrote in that piece, this part should stand out on its own merit. There have been several interesting developments since this article appeared in the newspaper and I would like to leave them to another blog essay sometime down the road before I sat anything. In the meantime, you can read what I wrote originally for the column (with some minor edits):

I have always maintained that in this modern era, the Penang Chess Association was the oldest chess association in the country. After it was established in 1972, both the Malaysian Chess Federation and the Chess Association of Selangor were formed in 1974.

Some may argue that the Johor Chess Club already existed long before 1972. I would not dispute that but unfortunately, the Johor Chess Club is defunct and its functions have been taken over by the newer Johor Chess Association.

The Johor Chess Club would always be synonymous with its president, Dr Yeoh Bok Choon. For a long time, he cast a long shadow over chess development in Johor as well as Singapore.

Dr Yeoh was an athlete. He was the first schoolboy ever to win gold medals at a Malayan or Malaysian Amateur Athletic Association meet. That was in 1930. After completing his secondary education at the Penang Free School, he proceeded to the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore.

He honed his chess skills in tournaments there and even became the Singapore Chess Club champion in 1947. Today, that’s the equivalent of becoming the Singapore national champion.

He worked in Singapore after graduation but by 1951, he had relocated to Johor Baru where he became the state surgeon. In October that year, he formed the Johor Chess Club and became its first president.

This much I know about the man. A few months ago, I wanted to know more about him because I was then involved in a book project for The Old Frees’ Association in Penang. However, all my efforts were stymied as nobody from the present generation of chess players in Johor seemed able to provide any information on him.

As far as they were aware, after Dr Yeoh passed away in 1983, his family moved to the Klang Valley, and they lost contact.

By a curious coincidence, about two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from someone in Singapore who, as part of his research into the history of Singapore chess, had wanted to know whether I have any useful information to share with him.

Inevitably our email exchanges gravitated to the topic of Dr Yeoh. This chap from Singapore told me that the name did crop up in conversations recently with their 100-year-old Mah Beng Guan, who was the secretary of the Singapore Chess Club in the 1950s. Mah remembered Dr Yeoh but could not offer more information than what I already know.

This is the end of my quest to dig into details about the former Johor state surgeon. But there is still a very slim chance that his family may be reading this column and if so, I would very much welcome their effort to contact me.

The BR1M voucher...

Just returned from the Sek Men Kebangsaan Berapit to collect the RM500 BR1M voucher on behalf of my aged aunt. Apart from the RELA people who were directing traffic, there were many helpful volunteers outside the school hall. Was rather surprised to see that everything went smoothly. Left the hall after hardly five minutes with the voucher in my hand.

If you are a wondering whether this is a sell out of my support for the Pakatan Rakyat government, I will say no. If the Barisan Nasional government wants to give the RM500 to my aunt, I say, take lah. We still know who to vote for later. After all, THIS is also my tax money, one way or another. I'd be a fool not to collect it for my aunt. Besides, this RM500 is no big deal. It is just five years of RM100 - what the Penang government is giving to the senior citizens in the state - given in one lump sum.

Now I have to go to the bank in the next one or two days to cash it for her!

OFA coffee table book, part 17

It's D-28 days till the launch of Fidelis, the commemorative book of The Old Frees' Association and I must say that the layout is shaping up very well. It's going to be 208 pages thick bound within a hard cover.

Late last night, I received the first draft from the layout designers. Well, not exactly the whole layout, but I would say it was about 90 percent completed. Missing were the Acknowledgements sections and the messages from the Raja of Perlis and the Chief Minister. It will be another bout of chasing after their offices on Monday.

Today, I've got to start putting on my proof-reader's cap and go through the draft pages. Slowly. Word by word. With a fine-tooth comb. Everybody's got to chip in. Everybody, that is, in the editorial team, plus the one lady who volunteered to help us.

Here is a sample of what you'll see in the book: a page lifted out from each of the four main sections. Top left is from the history of the Penang Free School (since 1816), top right is from the history of The Old Frees' Association (tracing its origins in 1916 until the present), bottom left is a page from the Alumni section and the bottom right consists of essays written by the present Old Frees, wherever in the world they may be. There is a wide selection of stories to satisfy everybody.

Today's my last chess column

Ultimately, all good things will come to an end. All good runs will come to an end. That is the impermanence and inevitability of life. Check out my online story here.

OFA coffee table book, part 16

Late last night when I was preparing the previous entry, I took some time off from my work on The Old Frees' Association coffee table book to post a short entry in twitter and facebook that I've never been gladder for the extra day that the 29th of February had given me this year!

One extra day means one more day of breathing space for the book! And it came in handy today as I've uploaded to the layout designer's server almost the final batch of essays. What's left now is the preparation of the Acknowledgement page and awaiting the three VVIPS to give us their messages.

Actually we did receive a message from the Chief Minister's office but I was rather aghast on receiving it. His staff had made several changes to the draft that we had offered to him and these changes had come back to us with all sorts of mistakes. Missing words. Wrong use of words. Unhyphenated words. Obviously, the person in charge of the message at the CM's office had done a sloppy and hurried job. Worse, the message had already been signed by you-know-who. Is he so confident about the output of his staff that he himself doesn't read what he signed?

After a brief discussion with the OFA president, we decided to ask the CM's office for a freshly signed message with all the grammatical mistakes corrected. So sorry, the lady there replied me, we shall have to wait for the CM to return from KL before the new message can be signed.

In desperation I contacted a close friend and former colleague who is working in the CM's office. I say, I told him, I needed his help to push matters through. Hrumpp, he told me that the "CM did his own editing and he is very particular of changes." I couldn't resist replying to him: "You should know by now that I'm VERY particular about the correct usage of the English language but if he insists that we retain these silly mistakes, we'll have no choice but to go ahead with them. But just remember that we don't want to embarrass him."

That will kick some ass, I hope, but we still have to wait until Monday latest. Time is really running out!!!