The Humble, "Tun" of Penang,Malaysia

A short article to remember this great man in my blog.

Sitting down tonight in a local kopitiam ( coffee shop in Hokkien dialect), and celebrating my wife's birthday today, I took out the local newspaper, Star and was sad to read the headline, "Chong Eu dies" on 24/11/2010. My wife told me of a few encounters with him and those moments brought back good memories. I told my wife that I too had encountered the Tun on at least two occasions.


My First Encounter.
While doing my first job in Penang constructing Hotel Equatorial , I met Tun when he paid us a surprise visit to check on the progress of the hotel . On one instance, he walked all the way to the edge of a wing and looking down at the Bayan Baru Township, he told us his vision about how he would develop the town. Standing behind him, I was awed by his talk and kept silent until he ended it. Well, now I know why he is so well respected by so many people in Penang. Maybe his foresight, eloquence, drive and dynamism are the main reasons why he has inspired many.

IEM 's dinner.
One good memory of him was during The IEM( Institute of Engineers, Malaysia) dinner held in Penang at Hotel Rasa Sayang . Sorry that I cannot remember the date. That night I recall that when everybody heard that he was about to give his speech, the entire audience kept a silence which was pregnant with meaning-they totally respected him. The audience listened attentively to him until he finished his speech. He is indeed well regarded even until today. I can still remember that day vividly.Such a scenario is observed in most local gatherings. Wow, such is the respect that most people give him.

My wife's encounter.
After his retirement from politics, he would patronize a restaurant in Batu Ferringhi and during his many visits he would be addressed by staff and my wife (temporarily helping out) there as "Tun". Many times when he arrived and saw many guests he would walk straight in and tell my wife and her friend not to worry about him for he would find a comfortable place to sit by himself to have his dinner.
Such was a humble retired man of great distinction. Many great people would not have done that.


Star Publication's Quote:

On 25/11/2010.
Chong Eu dies.
Father of modern Penang passes away peacefully at home. (Headlines)
A truly towering leader. (N4: Nation)
Ambulance ride his last trip. Final journey through the streets of his beloved Penang (N12: Nation)
Born in Penang, Dr Lim attended Penang Free School. In 1937,he was a King Scholar at Edinburgh University in Scotland and graduated in 1944 with a medical degree. (N4: nation

On 26/11/2010.
"State honour",
Former CM's (Chief Minister) state funeral to be held in accordance with federal protocol. (Headlines)
"Dynamic and Enigmatic": All who grew up in Penang felt Chong Eu's unique touch. (N8: Nation)

On 27/11/2010.
Express 'gift'
State govt renames 18km highway route after Chong Eu. (Headlines)

On 28/11/2010
Avoid cortege route,public advised (N3: Nation)
'The funeral route covers Lebuh Light, Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, Jalan Kampung Kolam,Lebuh Carnavon, Jalan Magazine, Jalan Datuk Keramat, Jan Air Itam, Jalan Scotland and Jalan Batu Gantung'.



On our way back after our dinner, my wife started counting the day when Tun's funeral procession would be held and was elated to confirm with me that it would be the coming Sunday. Why??? Well, we could visualise this grand state funeral with lots of Penang people giving their last respect along the cortege route.
To me, the most important stop of the cortege route would be the 65 storey Komtar :Penang's landmark.It is sad indeed that the cortege could not pass " The Silicon Valley of the East "and many other significant places he is credited with.

Strangely enough, he did not sit down to write a memoir of himself or have I missed it? Anyway, his legacy will not be forgotten by the Penangites. (name given to Penang people ). He is a true Penangnite leader.

My beloved Chihuahua

Our Beloved Dog, ICE.
This picture was taken before Xing Yi went to UK for his final year studies in Manchester.

Animal lover

Many times people will ask me why there are so many dogs in my house. Since young I have always been an animal lover. It started by my being a farm boy rearing pigs in my father 's orchard.This is the main reason why I love all these animals. Once there was a bitch in our house that was sent to the farm due to various reasons . One fine day , my dad told me that she had given birth to many puppies. I followed my dad to the orchard and immediately went to see her brood of puppies ;they were below a tree trunk. Upon arrival, I took one of her puppies in my hand and started to stroke it. My dad shouted to me to let go of it as he was very worried that the bitch would bite me .However,he was very surprised that she did not and instead started to wag her tail and even licked the puppy that was in my hand. I started to have confidence that she would not bite me . This is the reason why I love puppies.

Let's get back to the reason why there are so many dogs in my compound. Well, most of the dogs that were given by my friends and relatives were those searching for a new home for them. One of the main reasons was that they could not bring them to their new apartments as no animals were allowed. The second reason was that they could not take care of them due to one reason or other. At one stage we have as much as 5 dogs.
To date, I still have 2 dogs in my house. First ,is an Alsatian and Labrador breed dog given to us by a couple breaking up ; second is a Dachshund that was given by my relative from Petaling Jaya and finally the last dog was a Chihuahua.

ICE ,our beloved Chihuahua



This dog was given to me by a friend. One fine day , I received a call from a friend. He told me that he was given a puppy and it looked like ET and wanted to give it away. Well, he could not describe it that well so I immediately went over his house and upon arrival he showed it to me. The puppy started to wag its tail once in my hand. He asked me to take him home. Everybody in my house was very happy for they had not seen such a small puppy for we have been rearing bigger sized dogs and not one that was so small.

The next day while in my office , I received a call from my son telling me that there was something wrong with the puppy. Curious about it, I left my office straight at 5.30pm sharp and upon arrival , my youngest son asked me to observe it. The puppy kept loosing his sense of direction and banked into the wall. My son told me that the puppy could be blind!. After our dinner, I took him to see the animal vet. Upon examination, she confirmed that the puppy was blind. She asked me whether I would like to put the animal to sleep which I did not agree. I was shocked and immediately asked the vet for instructions of how to handle a blind dog. She told me that nature had its way and the puppy could move around in my house once it got used to the surrounding. Her last words to me were ,"do not worry for my puppy would be okay.'"

Everybody fell in love with ICE, a name given by my son, Xing Yi. As the vet had confirmed ,he started moving around the house at ease with its surroundings.. I started to train him by sound and eventually managed to guide him to his food by tapping his bowl on the floor every time when we wanted to feed him outside in the compound. Most importantly the main door must be opened before we tapped his dog bowl. Once he heard the tapping sound, he would dash out from the kitchen to where the sound was coming from. With slight errors and some fumbling about, he made it.
His smartness does not stop there. One fine day, we left him outside for we wanted him to ease himself after his lunch as we had to go to the supermarket for our weekly shopping. Upon returning, we could not find him in the car porch and started to search everywhere for him. Finally, we found him at the back of the house. We were all very curious as to how he managed to find his way there so we took him outside and was very surprised that he could travell along the side and upon reaching the back ,tunneled himself through the drain until he reached the kitchen which was at the back. It was clever of him but he started to get soiled and smelly for going through the drain.
A few weeks later he started to go through the grill as the gap was just nice for him to squeeze through. Time went by very fast and he was already going up the stairs to the 1st floor where we were all sleeping.There was only one thing that he could not do and that was going down the staircase. We had to take him down every morning. Once, he rolled down the steps and was very frightened when we picked him up. But that never stopped him and he was back again sleeping upstairs most of the nights.

Many times ,we could not find him for his meal and had to search for him upstairs for he did not bark at all except run around in circles acknowledging his name. We could not know whether he was around for he did not bark. Time passed by so fast and at times he could even sleep in my wife's arm in the living room. There was only a sound that could make him bark, the sound of spraying a mosquito which my eldest son, Pei Yi, found out on one of the nights. My eldest son would play with him most of the nights and even let him sleep on his bed sometimes scaring my youngest son by letting him into his room .Such were the fun and love that we all shared having this blind dog in our house.

The final day came as a surprise for us when he started to get sick and on that day I had left for the airport for a Shanghai , company trip ( 18/10/2010).My son called me when I was at the airport informing me that ICE had passed away in the garden. So sad was my youngest son that I had to explain to him that all living things would leave this earth sooner or later. We just needed to pray that ICE would rest in peace.

These few nights, I still miss him for he would normally move around my legs when I was at my computer work station posting a blog or watching a movie.
This article was posted to remind us of our beloved blind dog, ICE .

Balik Pulau, a small town in Penang.

XY discussing with his mum on the neat, well organized bus terminal and not to forget the new bus system.

Balik Pulau

I could only recall visiting this small town when I followed my dad on one of his trips here to buy some piglets for our farm .There used to be many pig farms over here. Recently, my son requested me to take him over there for he had not been there since young. Furthermore he would be leaving for his first new job in Middle East, Abu Dhabi in 3 days' time.
As usual , our main motive was to eat some tasty food that was considered "Ho Chiak" ( tasty in Hokkien Dialect).
Along the journey, I found that certain stretches of the roads have been broadened and some had not for the state Government had yet to acquire the land to do so. Well, our ride was very smooth on that Sunday morning.


The power transmission line that supplies electricity to this exclusive town


The broad winding road along the way

One of the oldest schools in Penang,S.K. Chong Teik found in this town


The new bus terminal


Inside the bus terminal



The new wet market


The well organized food stalls




A lot of green enhances this market




Children's playground too...one of the best markets


As usual, I was reading my newspaper while having my breakfast.

Magic competition in KL

What is Magic?

Many years ago ,I let my son play this game and on and off ,I would drop by the shopping complex to witness for myself what this game was about . I cannot comment so much but eventually my colleague told me not to worry for her husband also plays this game. One day, I decided to follow my son down to Kl and watch him participate inthe competition. ( worried father) .Any other father ?


PY In the hall

Meeting his friends



with close friend Alex from Penang

Let the competition begin


All the cards were drawn and printed under licence to sell.
In the hall, I met one guest artist who flew in from America.
While waiting, I went over to look at an artist drawing for his client. Well, I will have to ask PY who he is and what he is doing later when he comes out.




Hand on drawing whoever wants to buy.

I took a picture of the completed card with permission from the purchaser

The winner of the competition is only a very young boy. Fantastic Eh!!





Humble too

Red Cross: First Aid Course

This is the first time that I have attended this course. Initiated by my former Safety and Health Officer,Jimmy, all Moonlight Bay's contractors and our Ivory staff from various job sites finally attended this course in Ivory Lecture hall on 1 & 2 Oct 2010.


This is the way to do CPR., arms must be parallel to the body






Demonstrating in front of the trainer



CPR carried out by the various contractors


Ivory staff learning how to do a CPR


Mock up of an accident

The tester showing a few extra tips as to what has been taught.

The 8 immortals of China

Inside the museum, I saw this beautiful vase.

To recall Shanghai Thang

Dennis, I managed to stitch them up and hope it is ok

Last night in Shanghai.

Never have I been a film director but tonight I definitely must try to shoot the last episode of this historical Shanghai in China.........



Act 6: our pretty girl calls to her boyfriend to follow her after arriving in a rickshaw.


Act 7: The handsome boy turns away after telling his girlfriend who is in the other rickshaw that he has another girl in his heart. Well, the girl starts to cry using her hand to wipe the tears. She must have forgotten to bring her silk handkerchief .

Cut, Cut , every act is perfect. Turning to my Assistant Director, I ask him why the girl did NOT remove her watch and wear her Levis jean..!!!!!..........

React again.....Tough to be a director.
I better go back to my construction work..

More pictures of me in Shanghai

Miss Soon and me . Behind is the Telecom Tower of Shanghai




Miss Loo, Annie and me



Behind me is the China Pavilion

My friend's daughter with me


Inside the Museum

Farah and me before entering the museum


Model of previous Expo pavilion