Ooi Eow Jin, post-concert

I'm quite happy to note that the charity concert in Petaling Jaya yesterday (19 July 2015) to benefit Penang's forgotten music maestro Ooi Eow Jin got off to a wonderful start.

Although it was a concert by budding young local musicians playing classical pieces, it was standing room all round at the MK Joyworks recital hall. Originally meant for only a maximum of 250 seated people, more than 400 jammed into the hall subsequently. I'm sure the young performers were rather overwhelmed by the occasion, not expecting or prepared to play before such a large capacity crowd.

But the people had not come simply to listen to just the classical music. They were there to show their support for Ooi Eow Jin after his plight was highlighted earlier this month in my blog story. Uncle Ooi himself attended the concert together with his wife and he was introduced to the audience.

Sportingly, he even sat down at the piano to entertain the people with a medley of songs from his vast repertoire. “It was a privilege entertaining the masses for all these years. I used to play a lot of classical music, but now I prefer to play jazz,” he said. The picture here was taken from The Malaysian Insider which had covered this concert event for the online news portal.

Before the concert began, it was announced that RM42,700 had been collected for Ooi Eow Jin but there were still a bit more that had not been added into this figure. I was told that at first, the announcement did not register with him, presumably because of the noise in the hall and he also being a bit deaf, but later in a quieter moment when he learnt of the amount collected, his face turned incredulous.

UPDATE (24 July 2015): I've just been informed that post-concert, the total collected for Ooi Eow Jin's benefit has tallied up to RM74,000. Much of the cash donations were received from fellow Old Frees as well as members of the public. Unfortunately, the host and organizer of the concert in Petaling Jaya, Lai Mei Kuen, had herself suffered a mild stroke three days earlier and this caused quite some confusion to the arrangements at Eow Jin's event. According to Jimmy Yeoh, some guests who had bought tickets earlier but had come late found last-minute walk-in people having taken away their seats. Another problem was that some people were upset that they did not receive any acknowledgement for their contributions. Jimmy said that he would work with Ms Lai to help clear up this mess as soon as possible. 

If things go according to plan, we shall see two more concerts for Ooi Eow Jin later this year in August or September. One will be in Kuala Lumpur while the other will be in his hometown, Penang, but both will feature only his music. Perhaps some performers who have sung to his songs before will agree to appear for him. There is an indication that Datuk Johari Salleh, who used to lead the Radio Television Malaysia Orchestra, may be persuaded to take part too.

On my part, I've written to the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, to ask whether the state government can contribute the use of the Dewan Sri Pinang as the venue of the Penang concert, no less because the Chief Minister also happens to be the chairman of the Penang Free School Board of Trustees and we know that Uncle Ooi happened to be an Old Boy of the school. However, I have yet to receive a reply from anyone in the state government. Whether or not they can accede to my request is immaterial though. It is more important that they reply so that the organisers of the Penang concert can proceed with whatever alternate plans.

But first, OEJ and his wife will be in Penang later this week - a home-coming trip - for some personal matters, one of which I understand will be a visit to his elder son's grave. Their schedule is bound to be busy but I hope for an opportunity to meet up with this old couple and learn first-hand of their plight. I have played my part to make the public more aware of this forgotten music maestro in our midst and I hope other people can continue to help them more tangibly by contributing to the proper Ooi Eow Jin Trust Fund when it is set up later.

In the meantime, contributions can still be made to the unofficial OEJ Fund as displayed below. This account is for real but I would like to remind people that once you transfer any money to this account, please take a screenshot of the transaction, or print the details, and email the image to Jimmy Yeoh to inform him. This is IMPORTANT for matching purposes, while we await the setting up of the proper OEJ Trust Fund.

Galilean moons

Now that all the excitement over the conjunction between Jupiter and Venus in our evening skies is over, my attention is drawn to Jupiter itself. This is by far the biggest planet in our solar system but because of its immense distance from us, it appears rather small in our sight. And of course, it is far dimmer than the much brighter Venus.

I did notice both Jupiter and Venus last night because it happened to be a very clear night. Venus had already drawn a considerable distance away but still, there was no mistaking them. I turned my sights on Jupiter.

Already during the conjunction, I had noticed two tiny specks of light on opposite sides of Jupiter when I cropped the picture I took with the Olympus EPL-7 camera. Two tiny specks of light which I found out later were two of the four Galilean moons that were discovered by Galileo. But I had no opportunity of determining which was which because, frankly, I did not know.

Last night, I decided to mount the camera on a sturdy tripod and turned it towards the planet with the zoom lens pulled out to its biggest magnification: 150mm on the four-thirds camera. I took various exposures with this set-up, copied the images to the computer for some digital manipulation and this happened to be the clearest image among all those taken:

I was a bit flabbergasted. Oh, wow. For the first time, I saw four smudgy light sources, the four small Galilean satellites around Jupiter, two on separate sides of the great planet. Oh, wow, again! All that, taken with this little humble camera of mine. I must say: it's really incredible, the optics.

Helping out Ooi Eow Jin

I am actually very humbled that my original story on forgotten music maestro Ooi Eow Jin had generated so much interest in the country and rally around many people who would like to see OEJ under happier circumstances.

I would like to do more for OEJ but as I do not stay in Kuala Lumpur, I have to depend a lot on my contacts there to get information on the latest developments regarding his predicament.  For this, Jimmy Yeoh - an Old Free like myself and yes, Ooi Eow Jin himself - has been the forerunner of a movement to raise funds for the old couple and their son. I thank him for all the work done so far and the work that still has to be done in the months ahead.

One of the latest messages that Jimmy sent me mentioned that two days ago, he had visited Eow Jin and his family in their present humble abode. His message reads:

"SS and all our friends on your page, I had a great meeting with EJ and his wife though his son was not able to join us as his condition is rather bad. EJ's son has two tumours in his head (one in the front and one behind the head, and it would seem that a third has recently appeared, very worrying if I may say).

"Re the need for a bank account to receive contributions, EJ's wife has asked me to be the temporary recipient of all funds until a special account for the OEJ Fund can be arranged and completed. For that, I will be asking OFA KL/Selangor members to get a lawyer member of the alumni to do the necessary to register such an account after which money collected by me and Lai Mei Kuan can be then transferred to the official OEJ Fund account." 

Ms Lai Mew Kuen is, of course, organising the first concert for Ooi Eow Jin's benefit this coming 19th of July in Petaling Jaya. The details of Jimmy's temporary account to collect money is shown below. I would like to remind people that once you transfer any fund to this account, please take a screenshot of the transaction, or print the details, and email the image to Jimmy to inform him. This is IMPORTANT, while we await the setting up of a proper OEJ Fund soon.

Benefit concert to aid Ooi Eow Jin

Last month, Jimmy Yeoh, one of my facebook friends, wrote a long passage about a fellow Old Free, Ooi Eow Jin.

People my age may recognise this name instantly. Ooi Eow Jin is a local musician and composer. In his younger days, he was a band leader who led the Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) Orchestra for many years.

I've just found out that Eow Jin has finally retired from the local music scene. He is now 77 years old (born in 1938) at an age when most people would have taken life easy, but he had to keep working hard for a reason which I would like to share on my blog.

During his long career, Eow Jin had supported his two sons through their education until both graduated from University. Unfortunately, his second son died after a prolonged battle against leukemia despite his efforts to give his son the best treatment available. Eow Jin, himself showing signs of Alzheimer's disease, continued his career as a resident pianist at the Majestic Hotel in Kuala Lumpur until 30 June when he made his final bow.

I am told that his eldest son is now suffering from a brain tumour. Again, it was with the effort of Eow Jin that the son is still hanging on to life. Eow Jin now lives with his wife and son in a home shared with other unfortunate people.

Jimmy met with Eow Jin and another fellow Old Free, Richard Hoon, and they (Jimmy and Richard) agreed to do their best to help Eow Jin and his family to have a more comfortable life from now on. To achieve this, they proposed to organize at least three charity shows to raise money for Eow Jin. One of the shows is now coming to fruition. I received this appeal letter today with details of the first show which will be in Petaling Jaya:

I wish to call upon my friends, both Old Frees and non-Old Frees, to support this worthy programme to help this outstanding man in his difficult times. Even if you can't make it to the show, please consider donating some funds. Whatever you give, I'm sure you will receive back the blessings many times over. Thank you. The programme appears below:

Celestial wonder

Wonderful sight in the night sky during these past few days. Of course, I knew that it was the 15th day of the lunar month when the moon would be at its fullest glory, shining down brightly for all to see. But I did not expect to see the other wonder in the sky until the last day of June. By then, I had missed out on the opportunity of seeing Venus and Jupiter creeping ever slowly together for much of the month.

When I eventually saw the conjunction of the two planets, I called out to my wife to witness the occasion too. I explained to her that the brighter spot of light in the night sky was that of Venus while the fainter spot belonged to Jupiter.

"But isn't Jupiter a much bigger planet than Venus," she had commented, which was quite true. "Yes," I answered, "but Jupiter is so much more farther away. Among the planets which we can observe with the naked eye, Venus is the closest to Earth and should seem bigger than Jupiter."

"It is because of the conjunction, when both planets are lined up in the same sector of the sky, that we can compare their apparent brightness," I had added.

So there we were, facing westward outside the house, and staring in admiration at the two planets. Of course, I had to ready my camera to capture the amazing sight. Then we looked in the opposite direction and there we saw it: the rising full moon in the east. On the following night, I tried to photograph the planets again and I must say that I was more satisfied with my newer efforts. When I processed the images later, I was amazed to notice two of Jupiter's Galilean moons too, That was how bright the planet was shining.

A family of teachers

I've been seeing a number of my old school pals lately but this afternoon was quite something else. I went downtown to meet up with Chuan Keat and Leong Teik - the former having arrived from Kuala Lumpur yesterday and the latter zooming up from Singapore on the same day - and we then went to the E&O Hotel in Farquhar Street to visit our old school teacher, Tan Joo Sin, who is now a long-term resident at the hotel. Swee Poh was already there with her and from what I know, he is her very regular visitor whenever he's back from South Australia, sometimes visiting her two or three times a week.

Tan Joo Sin should be well in her 90s by now. Previously, she lived in a bungalow house in Barrack Road but when her sister passed away several years ago and unaided walking became a problem, she moved into the E&O Hotel with two foreign carers. I've no idea how much she must be spending on her accommodation in this five-star hotel but it must be costing her an arm and a leg.

Ms Tan was my teacher at the Penang Free School but unfortunately, my memory fails me whenever I try to recall the subject or subjects that she must have taught my classmates. Was it English? Or was it English literature? Or could it be Physical Geography? Mmm....

Anyway, I do remember that she was the teacher-in-charge of the Khutub Khanah Tunku, an absolutely indescribable name for the PFS Library that was opened in December 1969, and named after the country's first Prime Minister who happened to be an Old Boy of the school.

After my Higher School Certificate examinations in 1972, I regularly returned to the school to use the library. It held tons of interesting books, old books even, including a series of great classic novels such as Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. I would walk the corridors, peering at the shelves and especially, rummaging through the foreign newspapers and magazines when I discovered, quite by accident, that magazines like The Spectator carried a chess column within its pages. I would disappear into a tiny room at the back of the building where the old magazines were stored. I had great fun reading all those magazines and book classics while free of any exam worries and before worries of the exam results set in.

Incidentally, Tan Joo Sin had a brother teaching in the Penang Free School. Capt Tan Boon Soon was the afternoon supervisor when I entered PFS in 1966, the position akin to being the afternoon "headmaster". Tan, himself an Old Boy of the school, was also captain of the school's Cadet Corps. He, together with three or four other teachers, would occasionally turn up for work dressed resplendently in white knee-length trousers while wearing shiny black boots with long white cotton socks pulled up and folded down below the kneecaps. A typical Old World gentleman.

For heritage, for charity

Over the course of the last two months, I have participated in two walkabouts around the heritage zone of George Town, all in the name of helping to raise funds for charity. In March, my wife and I took part in the three-kilometer D'Home charity walk while more recently, about a week ago, it was in a slightly longer five-kilometer FMM heritage green walk. On this latter occasion, I walked by myself as my wife was caught up with the organisation of this event.

Starting from the OCBC Bank, the route took us past several prominent landmark heritage sites in the city:

• the Peranakan Museum in Church Street, 
• the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Queen Street, 
• the Han Jiang Temple in Chulia Street, 
• the Kew Leong Tong Lim Temple in Ah Quee Street, 
• the Fire Brigade building in Beach Street, 
• the Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi, the Poh Hock Seah and the Choo Chay Keong Yap Temple in Armenian Street, 
• the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi in Cannon Street, 
• the Malay Mosque in Acheen Street, 
• the Syed Al-Atas Mansion and the Sun Yat Sen Centre in Armenian Street, 
• the Kapitan Kling Mosque and the Kuan Imm Temple in Pitt Street, 
• the Thean Hou Kong Hainan Temple in Muntri Street, 
• the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Leith Street, 
• the Protestant Cemetery in Northam Road, 
• the Farquhar Mansion, the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, the Garage, the St Xavier's Institution and the Cathedral of the Assumption in Farquhar Street, 
• the Convent Light Street, Supreme Court building, the Logan Memorial, Esplanade, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce building, the Foo Tye Sin Mansion, the Fort Cornwallis and the Cheah Chen Eok Clock Tower in Light Street, and
• the old Government Office, Standard Chartered Bank, Hongkong & Shanghai Bank Corporation, Logan's Building, the Whiteaways Arcade, India House and back to the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation in Beach Street. 

Beach Street at five o'clock in the morning.

The same Beach Street at seven o'clock in the morning before the flag-off

The flag-off by Penang Chief Minster Lim Guan Eng and FMM Penang Branch chairman Dr Ooi Eng Hock 

Light spot of nasi lemak breakfast for Dr Ooi Eng Hock, Lim Guan Eng and OCBC Bank CEO Ong Eng Bin after the flag-off

Large crowd of participants walking down Church Street

Family fun, including this participant being pushed along the route

Volunteers from OCBC Bank helping out with the checking of the participants

Walk's over and it's time for some fun on the stage...

...and on the street, crowds join the lively zumba craze...

...including ExCo member Chow Kon Yeow, Ong Eng Bin, Dr Ooi Eng Hock and ExCo member Chong Eng

The Chief Minister's back and it's time to commence with the closing ceremony

But first, the obligatory speeches

The Penang Chief Minister's inspirational speech. I failed to record the beginning of his speech and only managed to capture the second half. But what a message he delivered to the people of Penang! Certainly worth a viewing or two.

The donors and representatives of the 10 charitable organisations, each receiving RM20,000

Such was the mood at the closing ceremony that even the OCBC Bank CEO was unable to resist a bit of fun

The organisers and main sponsors of the FMM heritage green walk with the Penang Chief Minister

A planned get-together and unplanned ones too

The last weekend has been pretty busy for me. On Friday evening, I was invited to a networking dinner at the OCBC Premier Banking Centre in Beach Street, George Town. And then on Saturday, it was the Board of Prefects 150th anniversary dinner at the Penang Free School hall.

Early Sunday morning saw me in Beach Street as I participated in the five kilometer-long FMM heritage green walk which mended its way through the heritage parts of the city, followed a few hours later with a closed lunch with old schoolmates at The Old Free's Association's tavern in Northam Road.

Needless to say, with all these activities - especially the strenuous walk on Sunday morning - I really enjoyed a good night's sleep and awoke refreshed this morning.

I wouldn't be writing about this if not for the fact that I met up with several old friends and former colleagues.

My closed door get-together with my old schoolmates. Here we are, relaxing at the OFA Tavern, after a round of lunch. Revelling in old gossip, naturally. Standing, left to right: Wong Chye Chye, Chin Chin Wah, myself, Andrew Choong and Wong Hang Yoke. Sitting, left to right: Lim Siang Jin, my wife, Lam Yoong Koy, Tan Leng Kooi and Ooi Kah Theang.

Amidst the 300-odd people that had crammed into the school hall at the Penang Free School, I was quite certain of bumping into some of old school friends. Which I did. Not many, though. Could count those present with the fingers on one hand. That was how many of my old school mates were present at the BOP 150th anniversary dinner. Wished there were more.

So here we were with, left to right, Abu Huraira bin Yazid, Cheah Swee Poh, Lim Siang Jin and myself. On the far right was our former mathematics teacher - he taught us additional maths in Forms Four and Five, and modern maths in Form Six - who later entered politics and was an Executive Councillor in Penang during the days of Lim Chong Eu's tenure as Penang's Chief Minister. At one point, Khor Gark Kim was briefly deputising for Chong Eu.

At the same dinner too, I bumped into a handful of former colleagues from my Ban Hin Lee Bank days. We got around for a photograph but unfortunately later, I discovered that there were two other ex-BHLBank friends in the hall. Abdul Aziz Sulaiman was actually seen seated here when we took this photograph. Nuts, if I had realised it, I would have asked him to join in. The other ex-BHLBank colleague was Yusri Hamid but he was a distance away. I did try to get another group picture later but with people already starting to drift off after the dinner ended, my hopes of a second photograph ended too. Anyway, seen here, left to right, were Ng Khye Wai, myself, Chew Kah Hooi and Zakaria Merican.

And finally, there were these five of us at the OCBC premier banking centre. Alex Tan Cheng Keat, Ng Ji Li and Cheryl Deborah de Souza are now staff of OCBC Bank in Beach Street but before then, they were staff of the now defunct Ban Hin Lee Bank, just like myself and Saw See.

Alex started his banking career as a teller at Pulau Tikus Branch of Ban Hin Lee Bank. About six months, he said. There were countless hours spent sorting and counting bank notes. I asked him, "Really? You were at PT Branch? Would you remember the address of the branch?" He could not. "Well, it's 403," I reminded him. I should know very well; I was among the pioneer staff when the branch opened in December 1977.

Ju Li said that she was working in the same branch too before moving to the Corporate Loans Division later, while Cheryl said that she worked at the Komtar Branch for several years. Regaling in past memories, Cheryl said that she really looked forward to going to work every day while at BHLB. Her days at Komtar Branch actually molded her work ethics and culture. She reported to Wong Kim Meng and he was absolutely very strict with the staff and brooked no nonsense. If anyone were to so much as to draw a crooked line in the registers, he would simply throw the registers back at the offending staff.

Private dinner at OFA Restaurant

Quite an enjoyable and interesting experience I had last night when I was invited to join a private dinner with friends and acquaintances at the OFA Restaurant in Penang. Dinner was hosted by Anwar Fazal whom I know personally in several capacities such as he being the president of the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society and the chairman of Think City Sdn Bhd.

His main guests at dinner were Mary Hughes and her husband. Both had been in Malaysia for about four weeks already, and they had been travelling around the peninsula on sort of a homecoming trip. Mary is the daughter of JMB Hughes who was the last British headmaster of the Penang Free School and had lived in the old Headmaster's Bungalow on the school grounds from 1957 until 1963. In fact, she was born in Kota Bharu when Hughes worked there prior to his transfer back to Penang. "I came home," was how she described her trip to Malaysia.

JC Rajarao arrived from Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Rao was another Old Boy of the school and he was also a teacher in his Alma Mater. Lately, I have been corresponding with him as I wanted to tap his memory for information about the Indian National Army (INA). I had known that during the period of the Japanese Occupation from 1941 to 1945, he had a brief stint in the youth section of the INA. Certainly, he had a very colourful past.

Nik Rahiman was another guest at dinner. He is an architect by profession and presently, his firm is undertaking some restoration work for the Penang State Museum in Farquhar Street. That building used to be the former premises of the Penang Free School and later, the Hutchings School. At the tail-end of the Japanese Occupation, half of the original building was destroyed by Allied bombing.

He was telling us that the Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, was informed that it could cost about RM7 million if the state government wanted to rebuild the bombed half of the school. The story goes that the CM shelved the idea when he heard of the cost involved.

Nik Rahiman isn't an Old Free but his partner in the architect firm is. A by-product of their state museum restoration work is that they have documented the architectural features of the present school building in Green Lane too. They have more or less finished with that task and they plan to publish the results anytime.

Finally, we had Khoo Salma and her husband, Abdur-razak Lubis. Khoo Salma needs no introduction at all as she is the president of the Penang Heritage Trust. I've known her for a very long time partly because she is cousin to Eric Cheah, a long-time chess friend in Penang. Moreover, her ties with the Free School comes from her father being both an Old Boy and teacher at the school.

And so at dinner, it was a foregone conclusion that the topics of discussion would revolve around the Penang Free School and heritage issues in Penang. Personally, I found the discussions quite informative but it is not appropriate for me to say anything here.

Bullock cart express, part 2

In June 2013, I had written something about the bullock cart express. Yes, that's right, I'm was referring to the Malaysian postal services. Nothing has changed in the intervening two years. We still get the same bullock cart treatment from the same service provider, namely, Pos Malaysia.

Only this time, my experience is with posting out a letter to Singapore, not receiving one. Here is what happened.

When I returned from Singapore earlier this month, I had to send back to my old school pal there something that belonged to him. So I went to the post office in Bukit Mertajam on the morning of 12th May with my letter. The lady at the counter issued me with the stamp and even gummed an airmail sticker to the envelope without me asking for it. Destination: Singapore. By airmail. How slow could it take to arrive at its destination?

I just found out. My pal in Singapore received my letter yesterday. That's the 22nd of May. Eleven whole days for a letter to travel from Bukit Mertajam to Singapore by airmail. Wow, talk about efficiency from the Malaysian postal service!

Just to place matters in its proper perspective, let me add that the letter was dropped into the post box inside the Bukit Mertajam post office before noon on 12th May -- that's well before their daily cut-off time of 1p.m. -- and the letter bore a Butterworth post mark dated 14th May. Imagine, it already took the postal services TWO DAYS for the letter to travel from Bukit Mertajam to Butterworth. I guess the poor postman must have walked the 11 kilometers from one post office to the other.

And then there are the remaining nine days for the letter to move from the Butterworth post office to my friend. Who is at fault: Singapore Post or Pos Malaysia? How long does Singapore Post take to deliver mail within their borders? And how long does it take Pos Malaysia to ensure that an airmailed letter would travel from Penang to Singapore?

Eleven whole days for delivery. Excuse me, there are scores of flights everyday between Malaysia and Singapore. Did my letter actually travel by air from Penang to Kuala Lumpur and from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore? Or did it travel by air directly from Penang to Singapore? Or, did the postal services simply ignore their own airmail sticker and send my letter over surface mail, meaning, overland? I dread to think that if it had taken so long for an airmail delivery, how much longer it would take if their counter staff had not affixed that sticker on the envelope.

Do Singapore Post and Pos Malaysia have a KPI for their delivery processes? Definitely, I am owed an explanation. There are just too many occurrences of inefficiencies in the delivery system.

Remembering William B Kelley

I first got to know William B Kelley more than 20 years ago when he came to visit Penang with his close companion, Chen Ooi, who happens to be my god-uncle.

You see, we Chinese have this time-honoured tradition where good family friends like to accept one another as close relations. So it was in the mid-1950s that my paternal grandparents took care of the son of one of their family friends and eventually, accepted him as their god-son, which made me a god-nephew to this fellow. He was just two years older than I, and we got along quite well. We played together whenever we got the chance. After Form Five, he suddenly decided to seek his fortune in the United States where he settled down later in Chicago with William Kelley whom he got to know over there.

I think it was in the mid-1990s when my family was still living in Seberang Jaya that my god-uncle and William Kelley - whom my son and daughter would call Uncle Bill - came to visit Penang. It was the first time that I had ever met Bill, a distinguished man about 10 years older than Chen Ooi.

Their second trip to Penang was more sober. Chen Ooi's mother had passed away and they came for the funeral. And their third trip was several years later when my god-uncle wanted to visit the columbarium and temple, and pay his respects to his mom. I would take them on a tour of the island, visiting places like the Kek Lok Si temple, the Ayer Itam dam, the Khoo Kongsi, Butterfly Farm, etc. These three visits of theirs and our numerous email exchanges brought me to understand Bill and his work better. Definitely, knowing Bill helped to broaden my outlook of life.

For you see, Bill was a human rights activist in the United States. But he was not just any common human rights activist; Bill was more special. He was an LGBT rights activist. Almost throughout his whole adult life, he breathed and worked to promote LGBT rights. Unfortunately, my friend Bill passed away in his sleep at home in Chicago on Sunday, 17 May 2015, and today is his funeral.

Bill was born in Missouri but he moved to attend the University of Chicago in 1959. By 1965, he was a member of the Chicago branch of the Mattachine Society, an early gay organization, founded in 1950.

In 1966, he helped organise the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations and helped found the Chicago Gay Crusader newspaper.

In 1967, along with some of the great names in American LGBT history, he picketed Independence Hall in defense of equality of rights before the law for gay people.

In 1977, Bill was one of the representatives of the LGBT community to have met with President Carter at the White House.

In the last few years, he had witnessed many landmark decisions to overturn anti-gay legislation in the United States. When Bill first moved to Illinois, it was illegal to be gay in all of America's 50 states. By his death it was legal for gay couples to marry, and Bill was instrumental in this battle.

My memories of Bill would include him visiting my home for the very first time and calling my aunt (and Chen Ooi's god-sister) Busu-chi or Sister Busu. Also, in February 2013, I had arranged a Skype hook-up with Chen Ooi and Bill in Chicago so that they could talk with my aunt who was already in great pain and in the last few months of her life.

Also, I remember Bill as a very well-read man who was very proud of his family lineage. While I could trace my own ancestors in Malaysia back to my great-great-grandfather, Bill could count on ancestors that fought in the American Civil War.

Healthwise, I knew that Bill had suffered from a heart attack maybe about eight years or so ago. Thankfully, he had recovered sufficiently to carry on with his life's work for the LGBT community in the United States. But anyone with a similar health history as him would certainly realise that every new day would be a bonus. Bill knew that of course, because he told me:

"I'm recovering well from my heart attack, though I occasionally still get a little short of breath. Apparently the heart damage, though considerable, wasn't as much as the cardiologist thought at first. I never took care of my health before, except that I ate fairly well, and have been fortunate in usually having good health. There's not too much I can do now that the damage is done, except try harder to eat well and (ugh!) exercise, take my medicines (now down to a few more than half a dozen a day), try not to waste time, and consider it a signal that I probably won't live many more years, given my cardiac heredity and the fact that I've already had an attack."

Apart from his activist work, it may be unnecessary for me to add that Bill loved music and concerts, good food and travelling. In addition, I could sense that he loved nature deeply. In the last month of his life, I had noticed that he was more appreciative of the natural beauty that surrounded their house in Chicago.

Rest in peace, Bill, rest in peace. Your work is done.

Strained shoulder muscle

I think it was during one of those fist-pumping, arms-waving activities at the Anthony Robbins seminar in Singapore recently that I injured my shoulder muscles. I don't remember any other occasion that would have caused me so much pain in subsequent days of my stay there.

On the second day of the seminar, I was already feeling uncomfortable while moving my right arm. I had to move the arm gingerly as any sudden movement resulted in a searing pain running down from the shoulder to the elbow.

I found that only with some effort, I could touch my  left shoulder with the right hand. And I could no longer position my right arm behind my back. The pain did seem to subside a little during the afternoon but I must have aggravated it again whilst turning my body because later, the nagging pain just simply would not go away. I can tell you that it was a cause of concern both to me and my wife.

When we went for dinner with my old school mates, I found that I was required to reach for the food in the centre of the table with chopsticks. At first, I didn't find this a problem but as the night wore on, it became difficult for me to stretch my arm out. Further, I discovered that I could not even touch my left shoulder now, no matter how much I tried to bear with the pain.

Friends and relatives all urged me to seek immediate treatment and in fact, I wanted to. But there was also the traditional medicated plaster that I thought I should try first. Yes, luckily they did provide me with some comfort.

Upon my return to Penang on Sunday, I rushed to my physiotherapist at the Carl Corrynton Hospital in Green Lane on the following day. The physiotherapist confirmed that it wasn't a ligament problem; just a strained shoulder muscle. He's a young chap, just 25 or 26 years old, but he is good. Just two treatments on Monday and Thursday and the pain is almost gone. I've recovered maybe 95 percent of the use of my right arm. There is still a slight pain when I move the arm in a certain direction but he assured me that it should disappear with time and the proper exercises. Here's hoping that he's correct!

Expensive reunion in Singapore

Another small gathering with my old school mates and their families while I was in Singapore last week. Great to see all of you guys!

Seated, left to right: Mrs Kok Chuan, Kok Chuan's daughter, Kok Chuan, Kheng Hock, myself, Saw See; standing, left to right: Mrs Kah Keat, Kah Keat, Nai Kwang, Evelyn

We were at the Imperial Court Restaurant on the first floor of the Grassroots Club in Ang Mo Kio. The restaurant had some sort of promotion going on during that weekend, it being Mother's Day. Still, the bill came up to SGD698++ (plus 10% and 5%, if I understand correctly) which meant that that night's dinner amounted to a staggering RM2,176 after doing my exchange rate conversions! Thank you, fellas, we'll stick to bak chor mee in Upper Thomson Road next time okay?

Our Tony Robbins experience

My wife, son and I were in Singapore last week to attend the Anthony Robbins TOTAL SUCCESS seminar. While it had been promoted as a three-day event, Robbins appeared for only two days.

The last day was filled with various other speakers who tried so hard to hard-sell their own seminar programmes to us. While they were entertaining enough on their own and they did provide quite a lot of useful information,

I found their hard-selling tactics to be a great turn-off. Nevertheless, we tried to stay till the very end of the third day and left only because a more pressing engagement awaited us that night.

It would be rather difficult to describe everything that went on during the two days of the Tony Robbins seminar and I think it would be better for me to provide some pictures and try to explain the circumstances behind them.

We were outside Hall #1 of the Singapore Expo grounds, where the Anthony Robbins seminar took place. Just before we entered the hall itself. We managed to buy the Silver tickets which cost RM1,217 a piece, but the organisers had offered three tickets to us for the price of two which meant that our tickets effectively cost about RM800 each. Not a bad deal, actually.

 I had wandered to the far back of the hall in order to see how large the crowd was. According to the organisers, there were more than 6,000 people here. Impossible for us to gauge correctly, of course.

Tony Robbins first appearance onstage which caused the crowd to erupt deliriously. During the two days, Robbins whipped the crowd up into a frenzy several times. He is truly a master in motivating his audience.

 One of several occasions when Robbins left the stage to walk along the corridors and get up close with the audience. This close-up interaction probably did a lot to reinforce his popularity.

 Unfortunately, this is about as close and I could get to take a photograph with Antony Robbins.

Robbins had a few one-on-one sessions with a few select people from the floor. Here, he was walking round and collecting handbags from a few ladies. The crux of this example was, he asked them why they had bought their own particular handbag and then he analysed their decision.

It was almost impossible to get up close with Tony Robbins. Unless he approached you, no-one could approach him. Reason? The three burly minders that you see above. They were always around him: walking ahead of him, trailing behind him or checking out the routes beside him. As if the audience would suddenly become uncontrollable and pounce on him. Or maybe they would?

Taking part in a role-playing session. Jeremy's new-found friend trying to pumped a message into his sub-conscious mind.

It's almost the end of the road now. One for the road. I do hope my son has learnt a few things from this seminar. It is not often that a person of Tony Robbins' calibre passes through this region. The last time he was here was six years ago. He had also come to Kuala Lumpur but I was told that he had an unpleasant experience with Immigration or Customs and was held up for several hours at the airport. He vowed never to step foot into Malaysia again.

Thailand's big contingent to the Tony Robbins seminar. Indonesia and Vietnam had equally large contingents too but they are not in the picture. Those who were not fluent in English were provided with translation headsets, available for a fee. But I was told that the translators could not keep up with Robbins' presentation and many were left disappointed. Also, reception was rather erratic in the hall and there were many blind spots where there was no reception at all. I could see people rushing from one area to another in order to pick up the translations.

Short holiday in Singapore

I'm heading down to Singapore today with my wife and son. Haven't been there for about two years already, no thanks to the exchange rate for the Singapore Dollar, but I've to make this trip because my wife has signed up the three of us for an Anthony Robbins seminar there.

So whether I like it or not, I shall have to bear with the unprecedented SGD1 = MYR2.70 exchange rate for the next six days. Luckily, we are able to stay at my brother-in-law's apartment in the Ghim Moh area of Singapore. That's our accommodation well taken care of, thankfully, and we only have to worry about our transportation and food.

But transportation in Singapore is a no-brainer with their super-efficient MRT service. Between the Singapore Expo and the Buena Vista stations, it is just a single MRT line - the East-West line - although there is a need to change trains at Tanah Merah. Plus, it is so easy to connect to everywhere else. And a wide variety of interesting food is available in all corners of Singapore. I shouldn't be complaining about this too, and I won't.

And finally, while in Singapore, I am also looking forward to meeting up with some of my old school mates again. We shall have dinner for sure, to catch up on the good old times.

Musical echoes from Penang's past

So there I was, having just removed this accompanying compact disc from the back of the book, Just For The Love Of It, which chronicles the growth and development of popular music in Penang from the 1930s till the 1960s, and fed it into my CD player. Pretty soon, the most awesome local music from the past years began filling my living room.

Not only was the next 75 minutes a trip down memory lane, it was also a discovery of much of the local music that I wasn't even aware of.

It sure made me feel a bit embarrassed. Some friends do look up to me as a somewhat knowledgeable source of information on the foreign pop and rock music scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but sadly what happened in my own backyard had certainly passed me by.

But that aside, I must say again that I enjoyed the music on this compact disc immensely, from the very first track, Tanah Pusaka, composed by Ahmad Merican and performed in 1964 by the Ger van Leeuwen Orchestra in the Netherlands right until the final song, Please Don't Talk About Me, which included a short ukulele solo from Clive Scott.

In between these two opening and closing tracks, there are 22 other songs composed or performed by notable Penangites such as Ahmad Nawab, Ahmad Daud, P Ramlee, Zainal Alam, David Ng, Jimmy Boyle, Rubia Lubis, Frankie Cheah, Colleen Reed, Ooi Eow Jin and Bryan Jeremiah.

Let me list down the songs on this compact disc (and while my personal favourites are highlighted in red, it doesn't mean that I don't like the rest of the selection - I do like them too):

• Tanah Pusaka
• Keindahan Bintang Malam - composed by Ahmad Nawab and sung by Zaharah Agus
• Kasakazan Do Bambazon - composed and performed by Peter Pragas, which became the signature tune for Radio Malaysia Sabah's Kadazan service
• Senandong Malaysia - a bilingual kerongchong song performed by Ahmad Daud
• Getaran Jiwa - composed and performed by P Ramlee for the film Antara Dua Darjat
• Rose, Rose I Love You - performed by the inimitable Zainal Alam in four languages
• Slamat Malam - composed by David Ng and performed by David Ng's The 4 Saints
• Bengawan Solo - a popular Indonesian folk song played in a Country and Western style by Clive Scott
• Chendering - composed and performed by Jimmy Boyle
• Royal Hawaiian Hula - performed by Edwin Rajamoney and the Island Rhythmics
• She Was Happy Till She Met You - performed by Rudy Baum 
• Sungai Pahang - composed by Jimmy Boyle and sung by Rubia Lubis
• Putera Puteri - Jimmy Boyle's most recognisable tune which was sung by Frankie Cheah
• Just One Of Those Things - performed by Colleeen Reed and the Inn Jazz Quartet
• Who Can I Turn To - performed by Fred Cheah
• S'wonderful - performed by Ruby Rozells and the Jazzocrats
• Am I Ready - played by Vince Chu and the Tyros
• It's Impossible - sung by Raja Din Wan Mat and backed by the Ooi Eow Jin combo
• Ping Quah - a Chinese song performed in English by Syed Agil and the Flamingoes
• Siapa Bilang Aku Tak Sayang - performed by Teruna Ria
• Thunderbolt Twist - played by the Thunderbolts
• Dendang Pontianak - sung by Ahmad Daud and backed by the Swallows, from the movie Pusaka Pontianak
• There's A Love Knot In My Lariat - sung by Bryan Jeremiah at the first Bakat TV finals
• Please Don't Talk About Me

And so, my final words about this compact disc: if you are curious about Penang's - and indeed, Malaysia's - rich musical heritage, this compact disc just about covers a lot of ground already. This collection of popular local music is a gem not to be missed and it is only available if the book, Just For The Love Of It, is purchased. The CD is not available anywhere else, certainly not in the music stores. Go grab it now and you won't regret it.