Gathering at Penang Copthorne Hotel

When I was small I used to be with my late mother while she was having a conversation with a visiting relative. Many a time they would remind each other that “to meet one more time is just another time”[“见一次就是一次。”] At that time I was too young to comprehend and appreciate the wisdom of the saying. As age is catching up, I slowly assimilate this time-tested, inherent truth of the saying. As we are approaching the sunset years of our lives, there is no guarantee that we would live to meet up with our friends for yet another time[没人能担保下次我们还能再见面]. Whether we like it or not, some of them might have already faded from this world long before we had the chance to meet up with them.

Whether it is ‘all wise men think alike’ or ‘all fools never differ’, Siew Sim coincidentally shares the same passion as my mum as she always makes it a point to travel all the way from England to visit friends and relatives in Malaysia bi-annually. It was through her consistent and tireless efforts over the years that I was finally able to meet my ex-classmates in 2008 , after a span of forty years of separation. Since then, we have never stopped to have a series of classmate gatherings at different locations and occasions. Recently Shirley Koay was instrumental in organising a two-night bungalow stay in Penang for our former classmates from the Methodist Secondary School ,Nibong Tebal with the hope of reminiscing and “replaying” ‘the video clip of the happy moments we had shared during a trip to Batu Ferringgi after our Form Five Examinations in 1969’. After checking the rates offered by a number of hotels by the seaside, she finally picked Copthorne Hotel. Six rooms were booked for those of us who would like to stay in on the evening of Saturday, October 23, 2010.
On the following day a buffet lunch was held on the ground floor of the hotel with forty four people in attendance. The participants were mostly students from the Classes of 1969 and 1970 with some teachers as the invited guests. Credit has to be given to Jeng Woon whose efforts saw the increase of participants by two folds.

The participants were from different places in Peninsular Malaysia. Some had travelled from afar, like Siew Sim from England and Kim Beng from the Middle East. All arrived carrying with them the same joyous mood and yearning to meet one another. The highlights of the lunch were a toast of wine and a cake cutting ceremony to commemorate the ‘Reunion Lunch’ of the big family of Methodist Secondary School of Nibong Tebal.

Incidentally, Kim Boon shared the lime light to join in the cake cutting ceremony to celebrate his birthday. Meng Kiang and I were sceptical that that it was Kim Boon’s birthday and thought that he played a joke on us. After ‘double-checking’ his identity card for verification just like a policeman would do to a traffic offender, we congratulated and wished him “Happy Birthday” once again. He admitted that he was over-excited and over-joyed as well on the eve of the buffet lunch that he could not sleep well. He could not thank his lucky stars enough that with a mere thirty dollars he chipped in for the lunch, he was able not only join in a reunion lunch and also celebrate his birthday with a big applauding crowd in a hotel.

After the lunch, all the guests adjourned to the poolside for a photographic session and further chit-chat until four o’clock in the evening when we bid our good-byes.

It could not be denied that most people who attended the lunch had enjoyed the companionship more than the food.

As Rajendran put it, “It was good to get together again and see old friends and teachers. I hadn't seen Miss Yee ,Mr Khor, Mr Lip and my friend Ming Hook for more than forty years.”

In a texted message to me from Chew Ee after the event, she succinctly noted, “The gathering’s awesome!! We had lots of fun and joy.”

Mr. Richard Lye, a former teacher of the school, in his emailed feedback, echoed almost the same message, “It was wonderful; the gathering of old faces was more important than the food. I could have not imagined how much these old pupils of mine have grown. Some are ‘kong kongs’[公公] and ‘Ah mahs’[婆婆]. Looking back, how time flies and how many more times shall we meet again,so it is important that we should meet more often. Just like what the Four Degree singers said ‘ When will we meet again’.”

To the question, “When will we meet again ?”
I think it is better to leave it to Shirley Koay to answer, as she is an accomplished ‘Organising Chairperson’ who would not give a second thought of throwing her subordinate into a pool to the point of drowning him if he dares to defy her orders.