A little reminiscing about my Father on Father's Day

My Father will be 98 next month. He was educated in the Methodist Boys' School KL (coincidentally I attended Form 6 for 2 years in the very same school). He is a quiet man and actually I do not know much about his past. From the little I know he had very good results for his Senior Cambridge Exam then (that would be more than 70 years ago) and qualified for Raffles College. However his rich but conservative and stingy father did not allow him to continue his education. So after Senior Cambridge he became a Teacher and later an Interpreter/Translator in the government service. He must have been a very intelligent person because he upgraded his knowledge of the Chinese language through self-study and used to enjoy reading the Chinese Classics. Infact he even had a book (about his personal experiences during the Japanese occupation in Malaya), published in Chinese with the nickname "Woon Leong". He can also speak Japanese and can play tunes on my piano even though he never had any music lessons.

One thing I remember very clearly about him was the importance he placed on education, especially the education of his sons. While he was working in Parit Buntar he bought a house in Petaling Jaya so that his children could study in better schools in Kuala Lumpur. So we all shifted to Petaling Jaya in 1961 while he remained alone in Parit Buntar. He enrolled his eldest son in the best school in Kuala Lumpur then, i.e the Victoria Institution. Well, my brother in VI did not fail him. Several years later he emerged as one of the top VI students and had his name and face published in the newspapers. Anyway, I think my father should be proud of his 3 sons who later graduated to become Electrical Engineer, Chemist and Doctor from University Malaya, all with government or company scholarships.

Today on Father's Day I managed to spend sometime with him in PJ and brought him to his regular barber in PJ New Town centre.

My Father and Mother in their youth

My Father leaving the house for his haircut today, accompanied by his maid, Rasam from Indonesia who takes good care of him.

The house in Petaling Jaya where we grew up

The big rambutan tree infront of our house planted by our late Mother more than 45 years ago. The rambutan tree still produces the sweetest and the best rambutans we have ever tasted.