Merry Christmas, Friends & Relatives!

Merry Christmas and a blessed new year ahead!

Christmas Day out here is wonderful... love the fantastic cheap offers at supermarkets before Xmas, church Christmas mass, fantastic tv shows (got up at 6 am) and sunny Mount Maunganui ...and the limitless cybersurfing opportunity ...

Mama Mia!

It's almost 4:00 p.m. and I'm sitting inside the Western Australia State Library, blogging now and listening to some beautiful live singing by an Italian choir ... You see, there's a celebration of the Italian community and their many contributions to the society here. There is presently an exhibition of moving testimonies in huge posters, accompanied by vintage pics of the early Italian immigrants, some of whom were p.o.ws of WW2! Fascinating ... really touching tales of discrimination and the consequences ... Certainly many democracies can learn to be repentant of their past mistakes and Downunder we can see with our very own eyes, a nation that is not afraid of its past shadows! Cool, even he Italian consul is here with some sort of Aussie statesman in the ceremony...Many of us are busy with our own activities but occasionally, some of us would glance at all the merry-making... uncommon practice out West that many asian libraries would frown upon in their old autocratic--or shall I say, authoriterian style!

How strange it is ... I wasn't supposed to be here! I would have been relaxing on the Indian Pacific train bound on a three-day ride to Adelaide! I tried booking a seat and even went to the train station at East Perth, after catching the metrotrain there but couldn't get a seat!

I sort of miss a wonderful French gal, Clemency who was on her merry way to Sydney on the Indian Pacific train. We were the only two persons sitting together and instantly hit it off. She entrusted her many belongings in my care when she had to go elseway and I did so likewise. She was smart, having just completed her uni and advertising studies ... She could be a Hollywood star with her stunning looks! Hell, sure wish I could flirt! Anyway, we couldn't help feeling a little sad to part as friends ... funny that she had just arrived from Auckland and I am on my way there!

Ah yes! Here's little update about this marvelous Aussie one-person only toilet ... I discovered that the public library one is really classy! When you enter inside it withits spaceous size, a male voice tells you to lock the door, followed by a lovely tune in the sound system ... It was soothing but the voice will remind you that "You have TEN minutes" in the loo. Hmmmnn ... I love the tune ...It was something about love--just forgotten its title... wonder if a different tune will come on? Gotta drop by to find out after this!

One little thing that bugs me about this place is FLIES! Nasty pests that will even attempt to enter your nostril and mouth, even when you're walking ... Malaysian flies are never this aggressive! Wonder if there are any attempts or campaigns Downunder to get rid of them permanently!

The Thing about Miri City ...

I'm a local born fella and I feel proud of the city for its past and present achievements which have obviously been accomplished in leaps and bounds ... There are many positive stuff to be said -- without going into details -- about a once sleepy hollow that used to be famous just for its oil and bars and Monica Lodging ...

There are apparently not so nice stuff I want to share here, one of which is the unfriendly nature of the city towards visitors and I mean specifically those who drive into the city from other countries and towns.

Without comparing too much with great tourism destinations like Kota Kinabalu, New Zealand, the States and Canada we can see how the narrow roads and road signs are so poorly planned and limited in information. Friendly road signs should be treated as beacons of hope and guide to drivers and every distance to locations should be indicated; general directions to all locations should be provided and all facilities such as rest areas, petrol, food and lodging clearly indicated . The signs should also indicate the distances of these areas so that first-time visitors/drivers will know roughly where the places are. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to read and calculate that 5 km away would be the nearest rest area or loo!

Miri today is just a city like many small towns with the slight difference of the basic requirements of infrastructure that must be available to obtain city status. There is so little around us to remind us of its golden glorious history and the bad past when ambitious egomaniac Japs ruled the Asian region and the many past heroes and founding fathers of the ex-town seem to be conveniently forgotten and unrecognised. Case in point: just take a walk to the oldest Mission school in the city and you will soon realise not a single street is named after its Asian founder or the many pioneers who established the first oldest educational institution. What we have is the name of an unknown dead fella who did nothing for the school or the area on the street sign.

What the city should be doing is put a seasoned traveler in charge of turning this city into a great tourism destination. Mirians have to think like a tourist to attract tourists. A little imagination helps too.

My Sarawak Governor's Honored Uncle

One of the most memorable moments in Auckland was the time I spent with my well-known uncle, Chong Yuk Hien, formerly the Miri District Council (Now renamed as Miri Municipal Council, following Miri's elevation to city status) secretary. A qualified architect, he retired to New Zealand in the eighties. With his departure, our Anglican church in Miri lost a very generous, gracious, God-fearing and humble gentleman. It was because of his love for Christ and church that he did a lot of architectural drawings for free without charging a single cent. There are indeed so few humble, kind and warm-hearted human being I know like him. Meeting him and spending time with him was the answer to my dreams as some of you are aware I did mention his story and his heroic actions in defending Sarawak against the offensive launched by the Brunei rebels to take over the Sarawak government in the sixties' Brunei Rebellion. For his courageous actions, together with a handful of local Ibans, in holding the northern front against the invading rebels, he was presented the colonial government's governor's award bu the last British governor, Governor Sir Alexander Waddell. In the pictures, my uncle and I climbed up Mount Wellington which is near his home. In my two weeks with my relatives, we had a marvelous time walking and climbing various places. Mt. Wellington is such a fascinating site. There was a Maori settlement at the summit, and it is believed that warring cannibalistic Maoris fought each other up there in many pitched bloody battles. I managed to reach the summit myself as my uncle found it quite tiring considering his age, and I went to the actual spot where there could be seen the remnants of a stone settlement. There were lots of stones and rocks in certain parts of the area. I could almost feel the presence of hundreds of blood-thirsty Maoris with their bloody curling cries in the lonely desolete place, as the wind howled and blew fiercely and the warm sun beat my face high up there ...

My Favorite Kiwi Boss

Dr. Brian J. Michell of Christchurch, New Zealand.... Five years under him was a tough but a highly beneficial learning experience.... from defensive Kiwi driving to Kiwi office management... This is why I'm less of an emotional Asian boss but more of a disciplined but kind Germanic-Kiwi-Canuck type of office administrator! This includes punctuality which can be understandably tough if one has small kids and a beauty-conscious wife!!!

Thanks, boss for making me more of a humanistic individual! Thank you as well for being such a good Samaratian before I left all of you...

Those years with the Fellowship and your family will always be treasured by me.

By the way, I'm also so glad to hear that good-natured Jonathan(high up on the slide) and lawyerly David(beneath him) are doing exceptionally well in New Zealand...

Remembering Autumn

Here's something about autumn, when winter is round the corner. In Canada, especially in the western provinces of Alberta and Sasketchewan, it starts getting really cold; in New Zealand, it gets cold too but it really isn't as cold as in Canada!

All the same, as the green leaves of summer turn into beautiful hues of yellow and orange... falling gently to the color-coated ground... those who are lonely hearts will feel their hearts melting deep inside...aching and aching as loved ones are remembered and dearly missed. This is always one of the four seasons in the West that deeply stirs one's soul...

Here's one of my favorite French singers of all time, Francois Hardy, singing a gut-wrenching melancholic song, "Autumn Rendzevous" and yeah, fellas, to me this talented and beautiful lady reminds us of those attractive lost loves in our life wherever they are... and of what a different life could be....

Of course, it's past autumn and winter right now but don't miss the memorable experience this year!

There have been some requests for the lyrics... so here it is:

Now the summer days are ending

Leaves are falling, red and gold.

Now the warmth of love is fading

And the nights are getting cold.

From the east the wind is blowing

Now the sky's no longer blue

Overhead the clouds are growing

Summer's gone and so are you.

You wanted to be free

Love was just a game to you

And you never meant to be

At this autumn rendezvous.

All the happiness life gave me

Changed to emptiness today.

Now that you no longer love me

Autumn's come, it's here to stay.

Life seems empty now without you.

It's not easy to forget

I may learn to live without you

But I'll always feel regret.

I would cry but it's no good

Tears won't bring you back to me

Though I'd stop you if I could

I can't change what has to be.

With the years I'll still remember

And in time the hurt will go;

I'll forget this sad September

And be glad I loved you so.

True Love?

Here's the sad end to a great love story... and there's a Masonic Lodge, old Malaya, rubber plantation and New Zealand all connected to it... CLICK to enlarge & read!

Malaysian Crooks in New Zealand!

Here's the story I found in The New Zealand Herald today. By the way, "Kevin", if you are who I think you are... you should quit all these devious schemes & repent... Better still, be a man and turn yoorself in! I always knew you were telling the truth when you talked about barbecuing one of the lost sheep your gang found Down under.!!!

Crime ring splurges on consumer goods
4:00AM Sunday Jan 04, 2009By Jared Savage
An Asian crime ring bought more than $100,000 of jewellery, designer handbags, computers and plush carpet with "skimmed" credit cards while on holiday in New Zealand. One of the men, Chee Thiong Teh, 48, was charged with six counts of using cloned credit cards to spend $40,000 before he was arrested at Auckland International Airport.

The Malaysian national pleaded guilty on his first appearance at Auckland District Court last week and Judge Josephine Bouchier sentenced him to 18 months in prison that same day.
He used cloned Visa and Commonwealth Bank of Australia credit cards, under fake names Daniel Teh and Joseph Teh, to buy goods in Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown.

Detective Michael Knighton, of the Auckland fraud squad, said Teh's spree totalled $40,000.
Two other Malaysian tourists, Suliaman Bin Haron and wife Saerah Binte Men, have also pleaded guilty to credit card fraud of $66,000 as part of the same scam.

The crime ring used cloned credit cards from details "skimmed" from ATMs - where the magnetic strip of the card is recorded into a portable device then transferred on to blank cards.

The trio travelled around New Zealand in August and September and were supplied credit cards by another man, known only as Kevin.

In Auckland, they tried and failed to buy an $7800 entertainment system, but successfully purchased four laptop computers and clothing.

The tourists flew to Queenstown and bought handbags and wallets worth $8000 from Louis Vuitton.

Haron and Men flew back to Auckland and used one card 13 times in two days to buy jewellery, clothing and food worth $12,500.

They also bought rings for $15,000 and $6000.

In September, "Kevin" gave Haron and Men more cloned cards before flying to Christchurch Airport, where the police caught them.

They had 20 cloned Mastercard and Visa cards with them.

Teh managed to escape from New Zealand but was caught two weeks ago at Auckland International Airport when he tried to enter the country again.

"He was declined entry by Immigration and we charged him as a deterrent," said Knighton.

"There need to be consequences for this sort of crime, other than being sent home."

The fraud by Teh was discovered by Chris Martin, owner of Carpet Court in Newmarket, who "smelt something fishy" when Teh tried to buy $5000 of the most expensive carpet.
Teh unsuccessfully used two credit cards, then returned a week later with different contact address and phone details to complete the sale. Teh eluded capture and fled the country, before being caught on his return.

The convictions of Teh, Suliaman and Men are the most recent in credit card fraud involving "skimmed" credit cards, as foreign criminals increasingly target New Zealand ATMs.
Police are investigating a brazen attack on National Bank ATMs in Queen St, Vulcan Lane and Parnell, in which more than 800 customers used the machines during the narrow timeframe.

The bank has refused to reveal how much was taken other than to say the amount was "significant", and it is believed to be linked to another attack in Hamilton, also in November.
The ATMs were fitted with anti-skimming "jitter" technology. The latest attack in Auckland comes shortly after the successful police prosecution of two illegal immigrants, Jan Marius Scutariu, 31, and Andrei Iustin Raileanu.

The Romanian pair stole nearly $35,000 with cloned credit cards after gluing a skimming device to a Westpac ATM in Hamilton - also fitted with a "jitter" mechanism to supposedly prevent skimming.

Memorable Books in a Kiwi Public Library

What have I, an avid Piscean reader, born on February 23, been reading all this time? Sorry, you'll have to guess which books some of these memorable lines come from...

"It was the English playwright William Congreve who wrote that heaven 'has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned' ".

"Human madness is oftentimes a cunning and most feline thing. When you think it fled-it may have become transfigured into still subtler form".

"I have loved justice and hated iniquity".

"(New Zealand's) Prime Minister Helen Clarke was born on February 26, 1950".

"Time travel might be within our capabilities in the future".

"Stanley Kubick compared the form of information to the black monolith in his film 2001, the mysterious source of knowledge that seemed to appear at successive stages of human evolution, each time we were ready to be taken to the next level".

"He who fights monsters-should look into it that he himself does not become a monster. When you gaze into the Abyss, the Abyss also gazes at you".

"We are all one. No tree has branches that fight with one another".

"Five Jewish men who influenced the history of western civilization: Moses said the law is everything; Jesus said love is everything; Marx said capitalism is everything and Einstein said everything is relative".

"You are regretfully invited to the wedding between my perfect son, The Doctor and some Two-Bit Tramp".

"MI5 in the 1950s seemed to be covered with a thick film of dust dating from the wartime years. The whole organization was rather like Dickson's Miss Haversham. Wooed by the intellectual elite during the war, she had been jilted by them in 1945".

Food, Glorious Food...

I was catching up with the events in Asia and came across this mouth-watering durian pic that was in Singapore's Straits Times.... I always love this King of the Jungle fruit that is native to Asian jungles... even if many foreigners find such a sweet fruit somewhat repugnant due to its "sewage" odor.

Ai yah! It's got to be durian season around this time!!!

Oh well, I love other food here in New Zealand as well... delicious food such as cheese...cheese...cheese... sausages, pies, steaks, potato chips, burgers, fish and chips, pizzas, pop corn, cookies, cheese cakes, cheese biscuits....

Yeah, I hate the choking cigarette smoke in a few eateries....

Hello, New Zealand!

Throbbing headache... bright lights ... a comforting sweet voice saying "welcome to the future!"

A quick glance...We were in a spaceship!

To be continued...

Hello, New Zealand!

The Odyssey begins ...

The plane lands amidst the glowing warm lights of Auckland Airport in the wee hours of a Sunday... after the long wait at the Brisbane Airport and witnessing the distressing 'show' when a young female Caucasian passenger pleaded and pleaded with Aussie Customs to allow her to bring the toy into New Zealand ... and then sobbed when her child's toy was confiscated at the airport...

Queries by truly professional female Immigration Officers and a patient wait for final clearance ...

Out from the airport's departure lounge ... and into a surreal world of cold Summer air and into The Twilight Zone! The bus ride to Sky City is so marvellous... Songs from the past...60's and 70's oldies but goodies loudly blast from the stereo speakers in the comfortable clean vehicle that is driven by a high spirited cheerful and friendly middle-age man.

Imagine if it is Malaysia and every half an hour on the radio's English network (all controlled by the government) when some English songs are played ... a 5-minute Islamic talk interrupts rather annoyingly... and ten years ago it was never like that.

Here, the almost uninterrupted-except for a brief introduction to the station on air-musical presentation really pulls at the heart strings of any music lover...Cool hits like House of the Rising Sun, Rhythm of the Falling Rain, Lemon Tree, Groovy Kind of Love, Under the Boardwalk, To Sir with Love, Sound of Silence, Moon River, Born Free, Donna, Those were the Days , The Lion Sleeps Tonight so and many, many others ... All of them bring heart-wrenching memories of those days when life was so care-free... and dreams were endless...

To be continued.

A Fond Recollection

In 1929, my great grand-uncle, Reverend Paul Chong En Siong founded the oldest school, St. Columba's School in Miri, Sarawak in East Malaysia during the reign of the Brookes. Classes were held in a bungalow belonging to a Police Officer. 13 boys and girls from ages 8 to 13 were the first batch of students.

The Japanese invaded Sarawak in December, 1941 and the school was closed. Revd. Paul Chong's beloved brother, Catechist Chong En Fui who had been a teacher in St. Columba was murdered by the Japanese. He had been betrayed by a friend who gave false information about him to the Kempeti (Jap Secret Police).

Today, the late Catechist Chong En Fei's son, Chong Yuk Hien, an honorable and well-respected former church leader, is happily retired and enjoying his golden years in beautiful New Zealand. He has also written a very interesting book entitled The Rise and Fall of the Rising Sun.

Not too long ago, he wrote to me commenting on the fact that I had misspelt his middle name in my historical book, A Time For Us. With merely an additional letter 'n' I had made his name feminine! I have apologised and remain apologetic to him for the grave commission of the error on my part.

I have fold memories of this uncle who was once awarded Sarawak's most courageous award by the last outgoing British governor of Sarawak back in the early 1960's ( He had led a small band of equally brave natives in defending Miri from an outside invasion by foreigners). He and his family members used to give us wonderful treats and ang pows (Chinese New Year red packages of money) in his home at Pujut on numerous occasions. He was also one of my mentors in the absence of my dad who could only reside and work in Sabah for over 16 years. There were also many times when I went with his family during those 16 years of Christmas caroling.

I pray the good Lord will allow me to see him someday. We have already learnt of the sad news of the demise of his brother whom I also love a lot. He passed over in Australia. I wouldn't want to miss, for all the tea in China, the chance of seeing this great hero of mine !

The picture above is of an unknown person, believed to be the long-serving school clerk, the late Tan Kheng Hee. He is seen standing in front of the Belachan (prawn paste) store which was used as a classroom right after WW11 in 1945. Today the store would be where the car park is in front of St. Columba's Parish Kindergarten.

A Loving Witness of Christ

I was researching in my archives when I came across this carbon copy of a letter written by the late Garnet Dearnley (see pic with his son, on right), from New Zealand. In it, he aptly described his experience in Miri here in those days. In delving deeper, I learnt more about him and actually came to the realisation that this European truly loved my old school, Saint Columba's School and its founding mission, the Anglican Church.

Sadly, the late Dearnley, a jolly lecturer at Tanjong Lobang College died in a fatal motor-cycle accident, not too long after writing this letter, near where he is presently buried, in the oldest Christian graveyard in northern Borneo, between St. Columba's School and St. Columba's Kindergarten. His grave is closest to Abang Indeh Road with abundant yellow daffodils growing beside it and has the friendly handsome gent's pic, placed there by his son whom I met over a year ago.