Remembering Lucky Boyboy

Saturday, 15 October 2016

Remembering Lucky Boyboy

FAREWELL MR LEE KUAN YEW

Every words for tributes, praises, compliments for your obituaries had been used.
I don't need to add anymore.

The attendances of world leaders from around the world is a testament to your greatness.
I need not say more.

The numbers of Singaporean that braved the scorching sun for hours in the queue to pay their respect for you, and the thousands that stood in pouring rain to send you off in today funeral
is the ultimate testimony for the deep gratitude and love for you.
I need not add more words.

In short, your legacy is going to be eternal. Your monument is Singapore and the people of Singapore.

Farewell Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

 

I am 60

Wow, I am 60!

Why the time had passed  so fast? Wish I could turn back the clock or reset 10 or 20 years earlier.

Looking back at the last 60 years, I am proud of my personal achievements. I have met all my personal expectations, all my dreams have been realised. I could not ask for more.

My personal wish is to stay healthy and live many more meaningful and enjoyable years as I walk into the sunset of my life. Share my joys with my wife and daughters as well as those who have been closed to me.

I shall learned to age gracefully and make the adjustment to cope with aging. In the years to come, I acknowledge that I may face heath problems but I will accept whatever that befalls me.

Life goes on.

25TH ANNIVERSARY

25th ANNIVERSARY

Few days ago, on the 15^th November, I celebrated my 25 anniversary with my most loving wife Lynn.

 

25 years zoomed pass so fast without us realising it. My two daughters have grown up, graduated and have started working. My mum and dad had both gone to the next world.

We had decided to celebrate our anniversary in Phuket. So on the 15^th; we took a cruise from Phuket to Phi Phi Island. The weather was fine except rather hot and humid. The sea was calm and it was a perfect day for cruise. We had lunch in Phi Phi Island and later we sail to a spot to do some swimming and snorkelling. That night we had a sumptuous sea food dinner followed by 2 hours of well deserved Thai Traditional Massage.

Looking back on the 25 years of marriage, I must admit I am lucky and a very happy husband and father. Lynn accommodate me more than I. I made major decisions and she always supported me. Her patience and understanding was her greatest asset. Without her acceptance of my mother, it would not be possible for me to be a filial son to spend my entire life with my mum. At the same time, without her dedication and commitment to my children, it would be very tough for her to raise my children while I spend more than half my life far away from home.

 

 

Yes our loves have grown even stronger over the years. Physically, we too have also grown a lot. Yes, sideway!!! We share many common traits as well as life philosophy. Both of us believe in living a simple and humble life. We love to travel and eat good hawker food. We exercise together whenever possible.

I look for more happy years with Lynn.

MY MOTHER

My mother passed away peacefully on 14 October 2012 at 6.02pm of stroke and heart attack. She had chosen her own way to leave this world with dignity, while she was still physically functional to do the basic needs. Her wish of death before dinner was to leave something for the next generation was also realised. Most important of all, she discreetly left instructions for her own funeral wake and left no dilemmas for the living by meticulously giving hints of the funeral rites. Even how her assets are to be shared left no disharmony among the future generations. Such micromanagement skill is the hallmark of my beloved mother.

My mother, Ngiam Juat Eng was born in 1926, Year of the Tiger  to a peasant family on Hainan Island small and poor village. She was the middle child and only daughter. She had 2 older and 2 younger brothers of which only the youngest is still alive. Her father was a very tall man. Besides being a farmer, he is also a very skilful carpenter for household furniture. Her mother was like most women in China tended to the farms as well as being the home maker.

 

Like most of the girls during her time, the family did not have the means to provide her any formal education. Traditionally she was supposed to be married in the teens. Unfortunately when she was at the marriageable age, WW2 came.  She recalled she had to run and hide whenever news of Japanese soldiers were approaching her village. She also had to wear ragged and old clothing to masked her look older and unattractive should she be captured by the Japs.

 

 

During and after the war, economics situation was really bad. The people were poor and unemployment was prevalent. There were fewer young and eligible men who have the means to get married. This was especially so in the villages as many had gone away to seek jobs. My mum was already in her twenties and by then her parents would have been desperate.
 

 

In her times, all marriage was arranged. Her father finally managed to arrange her marriage to my father who was 21 years older than her. My father had lost his first wife in Kulai, Malaysia. She was brutally bayoneted by the Japs. My father had always dwelt on the cruelty and the suffering he endured during the Japanese occupation. But he never recounted on the death of his first wife, I guessed it’s just too painful to share with us.

 

I estimated my mother was married around 1948 and gave birth to my brother, Yoon in 1949. I heard from the relatives and also pieced some of what she said that the marriage was one that was absolutely and unwelcome choice. Defying the parents wish was definitely frown upon in those days. But like every arranged marriage in those days, the couple make the best out of their marriage, learn and nurture the love, overcome the pain and stress and dutifully and responsibly raise a family. There was no need for marriage vows like today. Divorces was not yet coined in the dictionary.

 

 

 

My mother suffered immensely and quietly, endure the hardship and faithfully performed the role of wife and mother without complains. Her new family included a mother in law and two step children. It was her duty to care for them. Not long after marriage, my father left Hainan Island for Singapore for find a job. My mother had to be independent and work very hard in the new family. My mother told me she had to walk miles to deliver her first child without my father presence. Beside farming the family lots, she also told me she had to collect fire woods and walk miles to sell it to supplement the meagre remittance that my father had struggled to remit from Singapore. I must clarify that my father loved her and was a very responsible husband.  He was fully aware of her predicament and her struggles.  With the separation, the only communication was an occasional letters. It must be tough for her during those years.

 

 

 

In 1953, my father successfully applied for her passage to Singapore to join him. They were reunited and my father bought an attap house with loan from relative in a very rural area in Sembawang. In this house I was born in 1954. There was no tap water nor electricity in this house. Water was drawn from well. Woods was burnt  for cooking. Light was from the sun and kerosene lamp at night. Life in Singapore was no better but for a hard working mother like her, there was enough to eat. In 1955 and 1959 she had a daughter and a son respectively. Together my mother had four children 3 boys and a girl. She single handed raised all of us while still having to tends to the farm.

 

In Singapore she continued to do farming, reared chickens and pigs to supplement the family income and raised the four of us. In the later years, she also worked in the rubber estate, tapping rubber. Over the years, life improved and she stopped working when I started working. Thereafter, she had more comfort and a better quality of life. My mother toiled from morning to night with no holidays. The work she put in was back breaking and yet she accepted her lot without complaining. Looking back, this was really admirable.

 

My mother has the satisfaction of seeing all her sons getting married. Together they gave her 6 grandchildren and all had completed university education which I knew she was very proud. She was very fortunate to even have 2 great grandchildren which she was very fond of and delighted whenever they visited her.

It’s really hard to describe my mother in a few words. She had many outstanding attributes but I too had to be honest, she too had many human weaknesses and idiosyncrasies. I choose to remember and cherish her strengths and attributes.

Her greatest attribute was the unforgettable motherly love she showered on me as well as all those under her charge. Her motherly love is absolutely unconditional. Unconditional means she was prepared to do anything, anytime, anywhere and under any conditions to ensure our comfort and well being with no regards to her pains and whatever inconveniences, and not hope to bargain for something in return of her effort. There were just too many instances of such love that I will always remember. Her unconditional love was also extended to my nephew as well as both my daughters whom she helped me cared for. I believe my nephew and daughters would stand by what I wrote.

To me, I am forever indebted to my mother.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TURNING 58

TURNING 58

I am turning 58 today. Here in Frankfurt, the weather was chilly with light southerly breeze and the sky partially obscured with some low cloud. Soon I will be commanding a flight from here to Singapore. A few hours ago at this time, I came to this world, not knowing what my life would be.

The plane roared down runway 18 and accelerated toward 173 knots (320KPH), I gently pull the control column and the nose of the plane rose. With a slight bump, I knew the aircraft have lifted off the runway. I called for the gear to be raised and the flaps were retracted according to standard procedure. I rolled the plane towards the left and continue climbing in accordance to air controller instructions. Soon I will be on the airway and cruising at 33000 feet and with the world under me.

Yes, this is my job, my passion, my dream and my life. I have no regrets being a pilot. I am proud of what I have achieved in these 58 years. I have achieved all my personal objectives I set out to accomplish.

I have a wonderful family. My beautiful and most understanding wife of 24 years was my best judgment I have make in my life. She bore me two beautiful daughters. They both have graduated and are now financially independent. Their graduation was certainly another milestone which I am very proud of. Any father would understand my sense of achievement.

Life is a journey. Although I have some worrisome times growing up, but I am still more fortunate than so many people and I should not be whining. Instead it help me grew up faster and force me to take ownership of my life and learn to take responsibility. My career life did encounter some challenges, nevertheless it all ended well. On the contrary, I thought I face few difficulties meeting my job scope. My job is wonderful and very respectable. The job takes me round the world and helps me and my family lives a comfortable life in a landed property.

All this is possible as I am blessed with intelligence and wisdom. For this I must thank my parents. I thank them for raising me with their best abilities and unconditional love. My father taught me the value of responsibility, honesty and integrity. Above all, be self reliant, frugal and work hard and live a simple life. I have seen how he struggled through life and remain strong for the family. My father, when I closed my eyes, I can always see you.

Moving on, I will take the wisdom of my father and live a simple life. There a lot I wish to accomplish. I hope I remain healthy to ride into the sunset with my wife and my children.






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MEI HAS GRADUATED

My youngest daughter has finally graduated on 14th Dec. It was a responsibility fullfilled on the part of a father. I had thought I would be jumping for the sky as both my daughters had graduated. But somehow that expectation dont seem present. It was more of a relief than anything else.

The truth of the matter is we can never stop worrying about our children. There so much to worry about. I worry for their future, her careers, her future husbands etc etc.

Today is the last day of 2011. Time just flew past me. How I wish I can slow down the time and reset.

MY DAUGHTER CONVOCATION

22 SEPTEMBER was a milestone in parenthood for me. This day, my daughter Ying finally graduated with Double degrees. Without doubt it was one of my proudest moments in life as I heard her name called and watched her stepped up the podium, right hand touch the hat as a mark of respect, the march forward to the vice chancellor to be conferred her degree.

In a few minutes, her part of the convocation was over. In the last few days, I had reminisced the journey that took her to this podium. Although it was not a dramatic journey with trial and tribulation, but it certainly was a memorable one as far as a father can testify. It defined the meaning of fatherhood, the worries and the hopes every parent placed on their brood.

When she was 18 months, we sent her the Childcare Centres. I took the responsibility to walk her to the centres. Initially, I stay with her in the class or within viewing distance. She wouldn’t allow me to leave her. Each time I leave her; she would cry and really break my heart. Only after two weeks, she settled down and would let me go. But I would still peep through the window to soothe my own fear. Finally we both feel comfortable, she enjoyed her class and I felt assured she was coping well.

She attended a few years of Kindergarten. In the morning, the grandmother will walk her to the kindergarten. In the afternoon, our maid will fetch her back. And when I was in Singapore, I would bicycle her home. Those years, she was confident and well behaved except she could be very playful. She once punched a boy so hard in the stomach that he cried.

Then came primary school. Being the first born, getting a place in Primary 1 was always a challenged. Somehow, I was able to place her at St. Anthony Convent. I spent the first days with her in school, just to be sure she know how to take care of herself. She settled down very fast. A private school bus fetched her to and from school daily. The years passed quickly and she joined the school Percussion Band.

At the end of Primary four, it was streaming time and she was posted to EM2. This was the one occasion I never forget. She was adamant in getting to EM1 even her Chinese grades was just nearing the requirement. I took her to see the vice principal and spoke to her. The VP advice me against letting her enrol in EM1. But she was so focus and determined that I support her decision and the VP could not turn her down. When the PSLE result was announced, she did not disappoint. She qualified to go SAP school. That made me very proud.

She went on to Chung Cheng Secondary School. Both my wife and I attend the first day in school. The school has a large campus and a very scenic lake. I know this few years will be very important to her and soon she will be maturing into a teenager. Every morning, one of us will drive her to school. She took up basketball and represented her school in both district and national level. She was a striker. I had watched her in competition many times and each time I am really proud of my daughter. She was also a school counsellor.

In JC, she went on the Meridian JC. She played basketball for JC and was the captain of the team. Academically, I know it was a struggle and challenge but nevertheless she was able to complete her JC with very decent result.
She went on the Monash University in Melbourne and completed a double degree in Banking and Finance and degree in Accounting.

The convocation ceremony is truly the summit of the academic journey. As a father, I take immense pleasure in watching her grew up, matured, gain self confidence and acquired all the values I had inculcated in her. Personally her achievement meant a lot more as I never had the university life. She was to live this part of the life for me and sure she did.

911 TEN YEARS AFTER

10 years ago, I was staying in Seoul Hilton. I had early dinner of Korean Ginseng Chicken. As usual, I will listen to CNN just to keep in touch with the latest news. The next morning, I was due to fly to USA. I never did and spend 5 nights in Seoul as the entire USA airspace was locked down.

I remembered very clearly, CNN came on air with its trademark Breaking News. Apparently a light aircraft had flown into World Trade Centre and there was fire in the building. There was plenty of speculation on what type of aircraft it was. Nothing was mentioned about terrorism and the news anchor kept reminding listeners and update will be available soon.

Soon live report of the smoking tower become available. I am one of those that can be hooked on news and kept the channel switched on 24/7. To my bewilderment, I watched live, another plane slammed into the other twin Tower. It was then CNN knew something big, strange and terrifying was happening.

The next few hours, streams and streams of news just flooded in. Then there was also news of another plane slamming into Pentagon and another crashed somewhere. Anyone watching such news would be mesmerised and consumed by what happened subsequently. I saw the first tower crumbled unbelievably, it just sank into the ground. Greyish smoke and dust billowed into the clear blue sky. Soon the second tower crumbled and sank as the first. It was like a war movie shot on epic scale in Hollywood.

It was now clear that America has been attacked. That’s the way I remembered 911. And today is ten years after. All the news media around the world had something to write or telecast about 911. Yesterday, BBC even ran in a special broadcast about the 911 ‘conspiracy theory', as many events and facts cannot be explained and reconciled.

911 have certainly changed the world. It has made my job tougher and more inconvenient especially those in the aviation industry. My perception of all the security measures implemented, does not seem to make the world safer.

WORSENING EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS

Once again, stock market around the world has been rocked and pounded by this unnerving round of panic and fear brought about by the uncertainty of the European dept crisis. It was almost 18 months since P.I.G.S has been coined to refer to the country with sovereign debt crisis. Today, Portugal, Iceland, Greece are on life support and Spain are exhibiting worrying symptoms.

Lately, Italy has joined the list of sick countries. France and Germany, the health ones are suffering from the global slowdown and all the woes that come with the American sovereign debt downgrading.Investors around the world are getting more worried about Greece. Clearly we see the European market pummeled this week and the American market too was badly battered this week. Asian market was not spared as well. Many have even speculated that Greece will default this weekend. The price of Greek bonds do suggests that this is a certainty, only a matter of time or some intervention from the richer countries will help it wriggle out sovereign default.

When this happens, no one knows the calamity and tumult it will generate in the world, especially the European banks. How it will spread and whether it is contagious enough affect the rest of the weaker European countries whose debts are also on the brink of collapse..

Many analysts have voice the need to change the way European Union operated. The eurozone nations have enjoyed the benefits of a shared currency and uniform monetary policy since its inception in 1999. However, the country never had a common approach to fiscal policy. The German are by far the most discipline and prudent. But other countries are very much driven by domestic politics. In a democratic environment, the desire to win an election has compelled many politicians to do popular things that eventually hurt the country financially in the longer term.