Reminiscence: Remembering 6/6/66

What do I remember about 1966 ? Well, I started 1966 as a  8 years old and by 6/6/66, I was already nine. What I clearly remember was that I sat for some examinations and wrote the date as 6/6/66 !

In the above picture, my Class Teacher for Standard 3A, Westlands Primary School, Penang was Mrs Ang. On the first day in Standard 3, I remember a shocking incident whereby one of my classmate (Arabi) was chased out of my class and never to return. Why ? I haven't got the foggiest idea.

From the picture, I can still identify quite a few of my 49 Std 3A Classmates, some of which their names escape me :-)

Front Row, L-R
Loh Chiew Hor, Khaw Teik Gim, Me, Lim Weng Chew, Goh Yoon Wah, Tan Kean Teong, Mrs Ang, Lim Ewe Saik, Zainal Abidin, Barney, Leong Kok Wai, ???, Tang Heem Moh

2nd Row, L-R
???, Leow Teow Wah, ???, ???, Lim Kean Song, Khoo Chee Eng, ???, Ang Chuan Hin,??,Sek Wai Mun,???,???,???,???,???,???,Khoo Kay San,???,???,???,???, Seng Hai


Back Row, L-R
???, Hor Chan Wye, ???, Chin Keat Hoe, Akbar, Lim Seng Hin, Ooi Boo Chuan (Deceased, 2006), Khoo Kah Hean,???, Chee Kin Leong, ???, ???, Ibrahim, ???, Ooi Cheng Chye

As far as I can recall, Chiew Hor, Weng Chew, Yoon Wah, Kean Teong, Ewe Saik, Kok Wai , Heem Moh, Teow Wah, Chee Eng, Chuan Hin, Kay San, Chan Wye, Boo Chuan and me  eventually went on to Penang Free School in 1970.

Since Standard 2, Goh Yoon Wah was always without fail the 1st Boy and the best that I did was 2nd Boy most of the time :-) AFAIK, he left PFS after Form 3 to join the Technical Institute and eventually qualified as a Civil Engineer. He was with the PDC for quite a while before commencing his own Professional Engineering practice. My Mum used to talk to his Mum and till today, I can still visualise his Mum waiting for him outside Westlands Primary School. An avid chess player, he is one of the earliest Penang player to be rated a National Master.

Sadly, Westlands Primary School is no more due to very low pupil enrollment and was converted to the Westlands Sports Excellence Centre.

Almost 8 Million Views of this "Michael Jackson" Video

I was just looking at a controversial NameWee video on YouTube when I stumbled on this video. What caught my eye was that there was almost 8 Million Views (and more than 10,000 reviews) of this Malaysian Idol video which I had happened to view in 2007 on Astro or one of the Malaysian TV channels :-)

Spirits of The Dead Haunting Malaysian Justice System?

CCH: With TBH body being exhumed and found in good condition on 21 November 2009 and the autopsy to be done tomorrow, 22 Nov 2009, I thought that it may be relevant to republish this post that I found on "Putt for Change" a blog that is on the list of socio-political blogs that I generally read.

Spirits of The Dead Haunting Malaysian Justice System?

Friday, November 20, 2009

It’s a common belief among the Chinese community that if a person died in an unnatural way, especially in a homicide, the spirit of the deceased would most likely wander about at the crime scene or a familiar place for a long time, until and unless justice is done to the deceased.

Take the case of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock for instance. I was recently told by a friend that Teoh’s spirit was reportedly seen by some people, especially those with what the Taoists called the ‘ying-yang eyes’ i.e. possessing the ability to see ghosts or spirits.

Among these individuals was an unidentified little girl (age unknown) who had not only seen Teoh’s spirit wandering about near his workplace but also reportedly became ‘acquainted’ with Teoh’s spirit after a few encounters.

And what was even more interesting was that Teoh had during their purported ‘conversations’, confided what had actually transpired during his controversial ‘interview’ with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) officers, which was recently declared as illegal by the High Court . It was said that the details of the “paranormal episode” subsequently related to Teoh’s former boss cum Seri Kembangan Assemblyman, Ean Yong Hiang Wah, besides a few other top brass of the DAP.

This was recently reported by Malaysia’s leading Chinese language political weekly, the Special Weekly in its 452nd’s issue, which focused on the issue of Teoh’s second autopsy which has been scheduled for this coming Nov 22, following an application by the late Teoh’s family.

The little girl also purportedly told someone that Teoh’s spirit was unable to return to his residence in Melaka as there was a shrine of a Thai deity outside his house, which purportedly prevented Teoh’s spirit from entering the house. It was mind-boggling when the tale by this young girl who had never known Teoh nor gone to his house in Melaka, was confirmed to be true upon checking by the Weekly later.

The Weekly later managed to track down the parents of this mysterious little girl but its attempt to interview them in order to verify what it had gathered earlier failed when the parents declined to speak, except for saying that they are non-believers.

There was also talk that Teoh had conveyed a message through a woman by appearing in her dream, requesting her to pass his message to his wife urging her to continue to pursue her studies after this. This particular subject matter concerning further studies was said to be privy to Teoh and his wife.

With Teoh’s second autopsy on Sunday 22nd November, this particular report by the Weekly has now become a hot topic among the Chinese community in the country, especially those in Peninsular Malaysia.

On Nov 4, Coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas allowed an application by the family of the late Teoh Beng Hock to exhume his remains for a second post-mortem.

They (the Chinese community) are anxiously waiting to see whether the second autopsy would yield some new evidence that would match and confirm the earlier statement by renowned Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojansunand during the recent inquest on Teoh’s death that there is a 80 percent of it being homicide.

Many supporters and sympathizers of Teoh are also hoping that the information confided by Teoh’s spirit through the little girl, that is now known to a few top DAP brass including Hiang Wah, could somehow bring justice to Teoh and his family.

It is a known fact in some countries like Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong (China) that the spirit of homicide victims had led the relevant authorities to solve crimes contributing to their homicide.

More at http://advocateviews.blogspot.com/2009/11/spirits-of-dead-to-rescue-of-malaysian.html


Other relevant posts includehttp://khookaypeng.blogspot.com/2009/11/last-chance-to-right-wrong-teohs-body.html

• http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2009/11/21/teoh-beng-hock’s-body-exhumed/
• http://freemalaysiatoday.com/english/?p=1943
• http://rockybru.com.my/2009/11/politicking-even-as-tbhs-body-was-being.html
• http://bangmalaysia.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/thailand’s-justice-crusader/
• http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/11/21/nation/20091121134941&sec=nation

Kau Ong Yah Procession in Kota Baru ?

Late last month, I was in Kota Baru for a project where 99 % of the population are muslim and where a Islamic party  PAS is the state government.

Strangely enough, the coffee shop that I was having a delicious dinner of Tong Yam, Eng Chai Belacan, Egg Omelette and guess what a unique pork dish,  was openly selling alchohol to diners ! Wow, so what I had read in the mass media about  alchohol and pork being banned in Kelantan seems to be wrong.

Half-way through dinner, I heard the familiar sounds of cymbals clashing and to my astonishment I was witnessing the Annual Nine Emperor Gods (Kau Ong Yah in Hokkien) procession coursing through the streets of Kota Baru ! Wow ! Talk of religious tolerance in an overwhelming  muslim majority state :-)

BTW, you may be interested to know that the longest sleeping Buddha in South-East Asia at 40m is located at Tumpat.

                                        Photo by 7caught7my7eyes7

In addition, the tallest Standing Buddha in South-East Asia, which is porcelain white and looming over its surroundings, is definitely a sight to behold. It is situated at Wat Phothikyan in Kampung Balai, which is a small village, 35 minutes from Kota Baru, Kelantan. It is just opened to the public on August of 2008.