Why Zest-Zipper?

In life there are many things that we ought to remember, to forget, to appreciate, to forgive and to repent. Fond memories and unforgettable incidents galloped past like dreams or dramas which will vanish with us into the unknown future. I wonder how many among us have personally and sincerely said “thank you” to our parents for their sacrifice so that we and our future generations are reaping the harvest from the land that our parents have toiled with their sweat and blood.

By a similar extension we ought to show our appreciation and gratitude to our forefathers as well as people around us who have been kind and helpful to us. If not for them, we may not be able to lead an easy and comfortable life which we always take for granted. Folks who worked in tin mines or rubber estates were the major contributors to the progress and the success of our nation building. No commoner, like you and I, is common as he or she is a very unique screw or nut that is indispensable to the locomotive of a nation builder.

It is with this awareness in mind that I started to write on a blog last June as a commoner for other commoners to read, hoping it will become a some sort of zipper to ‘zip’ together all the memories and incidents that a commoner could possibly recall at and reflect upon; to ‘zip up’ the lost contacts of former classmates and associates that I could update from time to time and to share with them what I have posted in my blog. It is with this fervent hope that I shall do it with extra zest that my blog was named as Zest-Zipper.

Sad to admit that I don’t ever remember I had uttered ‘thank you’ or showed my appreciation to my dear ones, my parents, elder brothers and sister inclusive and to others, for what they have done, in one way or other, to nurture me before I could stand firm on my own feet. Neither do I remember I had sincerely apologized to them for my wrong doings intended or otherwise. It is with this regret that I hope to repent in my blog. It is of course better to be late than never to express my feelings on this platform so that my conscience is clear before the words ‘rest in peace’ are carved on my tombstone. I do agree with Dr Hsu Dar Ren. In his letter entitled “Of the new 'monkeys' on the blog” published at Malaysiakini on June 2nd, 2008, he opined that ‘Blogging is really a test of one’s sincerity and conscience.’ It is with this sincerity and conscience that I try to express in my posts so that my readers will feel what I felt although my posts were written in a simple and plain language.

As a newcomer in the ‘blogosphere’, I would rather be labeled as a ‘non-team player’ like in the case of Dr Hsu Dar Ren as I do not intend to show any political inclination in my posts. I would rather relate my family histories and stories that I heard from my parents and eldest brother so that my children, nephews and nieces can have better insight of their grandparents, and great grandparents as well. My nephew, Phin commented on my posts saying that “Now I get to know about you and our family history more in detail rather than bits of story here and there from my parents. Keep it up!” Another nephew of mine, Boo Chung, was fascinated with the family histories and the living conditions 50 years ago. His interest on our family history was further aroused as he posed more questions for me to ponder and answer. Sunn, another niece of mine, went to dig out an old family photograph of her grandparents to show me. From this photograph which was one year older than me, I managed to write a post entitled ‘What the photograph doesn’t tell’. All these are a good testimony that children like to know their family history, the stories of their grandparents and great grandparents. Circumstances may forbid them to such exposures.

In my blog I did mention about ‘Good People & Good Deeds’. To those people who have helped me and my family before, whom I had no chance to thank them personally and individually, I would take this opportunity to show my appreciation on my blog. I wrote a post entitled ‘My Gratitude to Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Fook Ling' to thank Tan Sri for providing scholarship unconditionally to my second daughter to study at Sunway University College. ‘My Consultant from the Fourth Dimension’ is my other post to show my appreciation of Madam Khadijah Bt Kassim for her help to reclaim my teaching allowance of Science and Mathematics whereas ‘Playing Ping Pong with the Wall’ is yet another post intended to highlight the high efficiency of the Central Provident Fund Board of Singapore.

If bloggers were labeled as monkeys by some ‘very important fellow’, then I don’t mind to be called a passionate monkey, passionate enough to write posts with conscience and sincerity.

Our Gratitude to Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Fook Ling





My second daughter got an offer to study Information Management & Information System[信息管理和信息系统] for her basic degree course in Tsinghua University, Beijing[北京清华大学] commencing in September 2002.

On 8.3.2002, she had sent out not less than 20 application letters and emails to corporate sectors, charity organizations & individuals in and out of the country, among them were the Ambassador of China at Kuala Lumpur and the Welfare Adviser to the Kuok Foundation, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, hoping to get either a scholarship or an interest free loan to pursue her study in China.
All the mails sent out were like stones sinking quietly into deep sea [石沉大海] without causing any ripple except there were two replies from the same person who was none other than our much respected Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Fook Ling.
One letter was addressed to him as the Chairman of the Guild of Hakka Associations of Malaysia [马来西亚客聯总会会长] and the other as the Chairman of Sunway Construction Company. Both letters were responded with spontaneous phone calls.
On the morning of 13.3.02, the Secretary of the Guild of Hakka Associations telephoned to express the willingness of Tan Sri to help if my daughter, Ee Lin, were to study locally at Sunway University College.
A few days later, Tan Sri’s Personal Assistant, Mr. Henry Yuen, called again to discuss the same matter and he suggested having a meeting with us as the guardians together with Ee Lin at Sunway University College to talk over the matter at 10.30 am on the 5th of April.
During our meeting with Mr. Henry over a lunch given by Miss Elizabeth Lee, the Principal of Sunway University College, he was keen to know the rationale for Ee Lin to study in China. He was of the opinion that Ee Lin should study locally instead of going to China as many students from China had opted to study in Malaysia, at Sunway University College in particular. He said if Ee Lin were to study locally, she would be offered a scholarship to study at Sunway University College. We were unable to make up our mind then and there as we needed more time to reconsider the offer.
On the morning of 20.5.2002, at around 10.30 am, I made a phone call to Mr. Henry to inform him of my daughter’s intention to study at Sunway University College. On the same day itself, at around 3.30 pm, Miss Elizabeth talked to me over the phone about the matter on college admission procedures.
On 21.5.2002, Ee Lin received an email from the Sunway College the details for the admission procedures together with the enrolment form to be downloaded.
On the next day, Ee Lin sent in her enrolment form by post express. A week later, on 29.5.02, she received from the Sunway Construction Company a standard offer letter. The company had granted a scholarship award of RM40, 000 for her to pursue the degree of Bachelor of Science in Computing and Information system.
On 2.7.2002, we brought Ee Lin to Sunway to sign a contract with Sunway Construction Company at 11.30am and in the same afternoon she was enrolled as a student at Sunway University College.
This was the first of its kind a scholarship was given personally by Tan Sri Cheah without Ee Lin being going through a formal interview. The Human Resource Department of the Sunway Group of Companies had to draft out an agreement within a short notice. To us, especially Ee Lin, the scholarship came in at the most appropriate moment; it was like a long awaited rain during a draught season [久旱逢甘露雨]. While others did not bother to reply to the letters or emails sent out by Ee Lin, Tan Sri had shown his immense interest in her education. He has lived up to his conviction of “one should give back to the community.” [回馈社会]To this end, Tan Sri and his Group of companies have engaged in countless fund-raising and charitable activities. Nowhere is this more evident than in the establishment of the Sunway Education Trust Fund in 1997. In so doing, he has ensured that all profits derived from Sunway University College, which is fully owned by the Trust are retained within the Trust to be used for new developments, the upgrading of facilities and enhancement of the human resources. This ensures that these educational institutions meet world-class standards and are accessible to all.
My family and I, especially Ee Lin, are really indebted to Tan Sri for his concerns. No amount of words can express our gratitude to him for what he had done for us.

Seanffe and her friend Joyce

Seanffe_ my young cyber friend

A knock at my door at the Window Live Messenger requesting me to add a contact has begun a regular chatting between me and my young cyber friend, Seanffe one month ago.

At the beginning, we had to clear our doubts; on one side I was curious as how she came to contact me whereas on the other side she was puzzled with how her email address was in my mailing list without her knowledge.
Actually, it all started with an email forwarded to me by a student at Taman Sejahtera Secondary School of Bukit Mertajam accompanying with a list of email addresses. With this list of email addresses which I assumed to be from my students, I sent them the link to my blog for them to read my posts. I was unaware of Seanffe, who was also in the list, was not a student of Taman Sejahtera Secondary School.
After numerous sessions of chatting, we came to understand each other better as we keep on updating each other.

Seanffe is a sixteen year old girl from a neighbouring school in Bukit Mertajam. She is in Form Four Science class. Chatting with her in English poses no problems to both of us as her command of English is very much better than I expected. In fact her standard of English could be far better than some of the college students I know of. Recently, she had participated in her school’s English Elocution Contest.
She is an open, frank, sincere and joyous girl. I enjoyed chatting with her as she was very responsive and interactive. Sometimes, she would create jokes and come out with funny ideas, some of which I might not agree with. Occasionally, she would complain about her problems in school to let off the steam; I was her safety valve in the pressure cooker. Once in a while, she would pose some questions for me to ponder. At times she would pull my legs too! She always changed her display pictures in the Messenger like what a magician would do to entertain small kids. On my part, I could bring myself down to her level in our chatting; this made me feel younger at heart though I am golden in age.

As I am still new in this Window Live Messenger chatting, Seanffe has become my sifu[master, 师父]. She exposed me to a lot of short forms and emotional symbols which I had to check with her one by one before we continued. She also taught me how to use a file sharing folder; how to export music and video clips.

Seanffe is not only good at study; she is also active in extra-mural activities. Currently, she is a school prefect and the President of UNESCO Club in her school. As a nature lover, she had joined a trip to Mulu of Sarawak to study about forest, animals and caves. This was a project sponsored by UNESCO[United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] with the theme of Volunteering, Caring and Loving.

It is indeed a weird and wonderful experience to chat with some one in the cyber space. I am glad and thankful to Seanffe for chatting with me. She keeps me informed of many things that I do not know of.

What Seanffe has to say about Zest:

" Starting from the time I received the email from Zest about his blog, I went to visit it and found that his grammar and vocabulary really impressed me. As I always love to chat with somebody who is proficient in English, I sent a friend request to Zest . I was happy too when I read in his blog about his trip to Taman Negara and think: Yes, finally I can find someone who loves nature and likes to travel. I was really happy at that time, because it is really hard to find someone else who is interested in …erm like eco-travel.

The first time when I know that Zest is a retired teacher, it really shocked me. For goodness sake, I can never imagine that I can make friend with a teacher, ha-ha! Well still remember that last time he said that I am quite…noisy... ha… (I might admit it). While Zest claimed that he is a quiet type, what I gathered from my friend about him is… he always likes to talk about himself and laugh to himself too…don’t know is that true? Lol

I thought that Zest would talk like an ‘uncle’ but he didn’t. That’s true. He doesn’t sounds like an ‘uncle’ at all. He knows a lot about IT, still saying that I’m his sifu… that’s totally a bluff… so don’t believe him!! Ha-ha
On the other hand, every time chatting with him…. honestly I got a really slow response from him, maybe he’s really busy, or maybe he is... I’m so sorry to say that, maybe he types slow?? Who knows... ha-ha

Zest is not a dull type as the other uncles do ha! He sometimes comes out with some weird adjectives; I really need to take some times to figure it out. But luckily, I am ‘smart’ enough to get what he means exactly. And he is bad…taught me to lie to another teacher...Mr. Lye…. >.<>