Who says that all politicians are corrupt ?

 Former Penang Chief Minister Chong Eu dies
By CHRISTINA CHIN

GEORGE TOWN: Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu, 91, who served as Penang Chief Minister for 21 years, died on Wednesday.

He leaves behind his wife, two sons and two daughters.

He was admitted to Penang Hospital on Oct 26 after he suffered a stroke but, when his condition worsened Wednesday, he was allowed to go to his home in Hillside, Taman Bungah, where he passed away at about 9pm.

The Gerakan founder was a towering leader who presided over Penang’s remarkable economic transformation but led a simple life throughout his political career spanning 39 years, shunning awards and titles.

He only accepted a Tunship after retiring from politics.

When he took over as Penang’s second chief minister in May 1969, the state was going through a difficult period after the withdrawal of the state’s free port status. Unemployment had shot up to 16.4%.

Dr Lim went overseas to attract investments that would provide jobs and managed to build one of the largest electronics manufacturing bases in Asia, earning the island the tag Silicon Valley of the East.

He came up with the “Free Trade Zone” concept to enable Penang to develop an industrial sector – a concept new to the country then.

Aside from courting western companies, he oversaw the transformation of Batu Ferringhi into a tourist destination and cleared pre-war houses to build the 65-storey Komtar, which was then Southeast Asia’s tallest building.

He also built the Penang Bridge.

Born in Penang, Dr Lim attended Penang Free School. In 1937, he was a King’s scholar at the Edinburgh University in Scotland and graduated in 1944 with a medical degree.

Formerly a medical officer with the Chinese Armed Forces, he founded the Radical Party in 1951 that won the first municipal council elections in George Town.

In 1954, he joined the MCA and was a member of the Razak Commission for Education.

He defeated the late Tun Tan Cheng Lock for the MCA presidency in 1958 but quit the party a year later following differences with Umno over the allocation of parliamentary seats in the 1959 general election.

He formed the United Democratic Party in 1962 and co-founded Gerakan in 1968.

The party swept the Alliance ruling coalition out of Penang in the 1969 general election and Dr Lim was appointed chief minister.

However, in 1973, Gerakan joined the Alliance Party to form a coalition called Barisan Nasional.

In 1980, Dr Lim stepped down as party president saying there were “many young and promising leaders in the party who are just as capable of holding the post”.

He was succeeded by (Tun) Dr Lim Keng Yaik in 1980.

He continued as chief minister but lost the Padang Kota state seat in the 1990 general election and then retired.

After retiring from politics, he stayed away from Gerakan affairs and kept mum, even when the party went through trials and tribulations.

He retired a humble man without a whiff of corruption.

After retiring, he became a passionate horse breeder and turned his attention to business, as chairman and adviser to several large corporations.

He also refused to publicly comment on the country’s political development when approached by newsmen.

In 2007, he was named founding chancellor of Wawasan Open University in Penang.

Penangites will not forget Dr Lim’s legacy.

************

Lim was the leader of Gerakan when the bloody racial riot of 13 May 1969 occured. However when order was restored after NOC, Federal Government under Tun Abdul Razak Hussein initiated a national level consultative council to resolve the issues how and why the 13 May racial riot happened. Lim brought Gerakan into the forum where New Economic Policy was born in 1971 as an affirmative action to address the socio-economoc disparity between the urbanites and under developed rural folks. In 1973, Lim brought Gerakan to join the Alliance Party spin off Barisan Nasional coalition government.

Upon his retirement from Penang Chief Ministership in 1990, he was invested with the Darjah Seri Setia Mahkota Negara (SSM) which carried the title ‘Tun’. He is the first Non Malay Penangite to be invested the award.

Happy Deepavali !

CCH : Here's wishing Happy Deepavali' to all my Indian friends in Malaysia and all over the world :-)

Watch Lee Chong Wei Defeat Lin Dan

Happy 85th Birthday Dad !

What does 9th September 1925 means to me ? Well, in my school days, I used to buy the toto numbers 1, 9, 19, 25 for my Dad. Did he strike it rich ? Not that i am aware of :-)

Instead of remembering 5th August 2008 the day that he passed on at the age of 83, I'll rather remember his 85th Birthday today :-)

Music : This Masquerade (Updated 30th May 2010)

CCH: My favourite Karen Carpenter song which I can actually sing from beginning to end :-)




Leon Russel's Version





George Benson's Version

Music : American Pie

CCH : My all-time favourite till today

Penang Hawkers Food : Char Hor Fun Rediscovered

In 1990, I was on a ferry to Butterworth, got down from my car and walked to the front. A while later, I heard someone seemingly calling to me "Lu Eh Kee Wah Oh ?"

I turned around and saw a thin chap smiling at me. He looked vaguely familiar. He said "Char Hor Fun Yin Yong Keh Kea Nooi" Out of the blue, I suddenly remembered that he was the Char Hor Fun Hawker in Fettes Park.

During my MICPA student days ,I usually stay overnight at the MACPA Student Society Library  at Jalan Siput Remis. This was during the exam seasons (May and Nov) between 1981 - 1983. With only 4 weeks paid leave to prepare for each exam, I was pretty disciplined and studied 3 sessions at the Library and usually for dinner, we would walk over to Fettes Park and yes, Char Hor Fun was one of my favourite food then.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. I was at the Mount Erskrine market with Tracey. As usual, she went marketing and I went looking for breakfast. For such a large market with a huge variety of hawkers food, I still struggled to find something suitable to my taste. That morning, I had the urge to eat Char Hor Fun and asked the newspaper vendor whether the Char Hor Fun near him was tasty. He replied that it was cheap but there is more tasty alternative to the right of him but hidden from view.

I sat down and guess what, the very same hawker form Fettes Park came over and took my order. Wow, what a coincidence to rediscover the tasty Char Hor Fun shown below :-)

Datuk Lee Chong Wei, the Fighting Champion !

This morning, I read that Chong Wei has finally won the most prestigious badminton title in the world. It really made my day. I was a little worried that he will again fallen short on his 7th attempt.

Why do I call him a fighting champion ?

Simple, Chong Wei has been the World No.1 for more than a year and look at the way he has demolished all his nemesis such as Peter Gade etc.   Lin Dan may have beaten Chong Wei in the Olympics, World Championship. But he did it the chicken way i.e hiding away and only playing in the majors. In fact, he registered to play in the Malaysian Open but chickened out at the very last minute.

BTW,  just like World Lady Squash Champion Nicol David, Chong Wei is also a Penangite :-)


Other relevant articles...

• http://hsudarren.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/chong-wei-won-the-all-england/
• http://mindnoevil.blogspot.com/2010/03/chong-weis-homecoming.html
• http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2010/3/15/sports/5864746&sec=sports
• http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20100315090929/Article/index_html
• http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=44328  
• http://malaysianmirror.com/sportsdetail/11-sports/33807-chong-wei-an-all-england-champ-at-last
• http://www.mmail.com.my/content/30240-fifth-element  
• http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2010/3/16/sports/5870730&sec=sports

Chinese New Year Cultural & Heritage Celebrations

Yesterday, on the 7th day of the Chinese New Year, we decided to check out the Chinese New Year Cultural & Heritage Celebrations held at the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site organised by the Penang State Government, Penang Chinese Clan Council Clan Associations Youth Committee.

Apparently, the whole celebrations was based on a historical touch of the four Chinese core moral values of "Faithful, Filial Piety, Etiquette & Justice" . The Faithful Area was centred on Chulia Street whilst the Etiquette Area and Filial Piety Area were on Ah Quee Street (off Pitt Street). The Justice Area was along Soo Hong Lane between Armenian Street and Ah Quee Street.

Having agreed to meet at the Chinese Restaurant opposite Yap Kongsi Temple, I dropped off Tracey and the kids and a neighbour, Laura at the junction of Jalan Masjid Keling (aka Pitt street) and was lucky enough to find a parking space at the Esplanade end of King Street which is pretty far from Armenian Street, the cente of the celebrations.

Walking along King Street took me through Little India, I could see all the Indian shops virtually in the CNY celebrations with Indian music at full blast :-)

On reaching Chulia Street, I could see a Lion Dance prancing on stilts and the street was full of people. All along Chulia Street, there were stalls after stalls mainly  manned by youths including an interesting stall by the Penang Chinese Girls Private School which was showcasing Zodiac animals made from traditional Chinese paper cuttings !

On turning into Pitt Street, there was simply a sea of people. As I stood there, I could help feeling amazed at the kaleidescope of sound coming from the loud Indian Music, the banging of drums and cymbals as well as the sound of the Azan coming from the Majid Keling Mosque. No wonder Pitt Street is also known as the Street of Harmony with a Church, Mosque and several temples co-existing peacefuly on the same street !

As I very slowly moved forward through the mass of visitors (According to the Star, 100,000 visitors thronged through the 150 + activities and stalls) , one can see the 88 Chinese drums which was banged on as people passed them. Once passed the drums, one can see an imposing gateway into the Main Area of the celebrations.

At the Main Area there was a huge stage where singers were belting out Chinese New Year songs and directly facing it was a Teow Chew Opera depicting the story of the legendary Chinese General Yue Fei who had defeated the barbarians but was betrayed by the then evil Prime Minister and fatous Emperor of Song.



More to come...

Bak Kut Teh in Kota Baru ? [Updated 13th February 2010]

I love Bak Kut Teh  with its nutritious herbal soup, spare ribs, pork belly, tendons, leg cuts, pork balls and of course 'Yu Char Kueh'. My wife prefers to add the pig intestines, stomach and liver.

Sometime in January, I was at the Metropole Food Court at Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah (aka Northam Road) and ordered a bowl of Bak Kut Teh and specifically said that I wanted spare ribs and not the spine and lots of  "Yu Char Kueh". Imagine my sheer disappointment when it was finally delivered after a long wait with no "Yu Char Kueh" and totally no spare ribs ! To add insult to injury, it cost a bomb at RM 35.00. What a rip off and in no uncertain terms, I told the delivery person that her boss is really a dishonest hawker !

Fast forward a couple of weeks later, I was back in Kota Baru to supervise the parallel run by my client. After being sick of eating at Pizza Hut, A & W and the lone Chinese restaurant at Jalan Padang Garong, I decided to look for Kota Baru's China Town.

Taking a left at the Traffic Light and turning into Jalan Kebun Sultan, I walked across the road and saw a solitary Indian Restaurant and thought to myself... Perhaps I can get to eat Mamak Indian Mee after all. A short distance later, I saw shop selling Bak Kut Teh but did not stop as it did not look to clean. Then, I saw a couple of coffee shops selling a respectable variety of Chinese hawker food and then I saw "Feilo Heng Bak Kut Teh" :)

 

 

I then ordered my usual favourite combination of spare ribs, tendons, pork belly, pork balls and of course "Yu Char Kueh". How was the taste ? Surprisingly, delicious and yes, I got my spare ribs and all for a sum of RM 7.50 !

But wait a minute, isn't this Kota Baru, the capital of Islamic Kelantan ? According to Fei Loh Heng (in picture) , he has been openly selling "Bak Kut Teh" for the last 28 years at the Coffee shop fronting Jalan Kebu Sultan with no harassment from the municipal authorities. He claimed that in neighbouring Terengganu, such shops would need to have a plastic sheeting to hide them.