Re - union

Sorry, I forget to put down my name.

Regards,
Name: Sin Ka Hiew

Reunion

I am making reference to the mail from James Chai. I do agree with him that we will take years to get everyone on board to attend the Reunion. But what can we do ? Better half the class than no Reunion al all, Right ? This should not have dampened ou spirit for the Reunion. Let us go ahead with what we have planned.
I do not know whether the following contacts will help

Chung Hee Menn - K. Kinabalu 0168379548
Chu Sai Kee - Sandakan 0168218204
Chang Piam thiam - Sandakan 0138339638
Francis Fong - Sandakan 0198336433
Sim Kang Loon - K. Kinabalu 0128670548
Poon Vui Poh - Sandakan - Operting a coffee shop directly opposite he Sandakan
Police station at mile 1 1/2, Will look for him
Looking forward to the Reunion.
Thanks


Regards
Name:

Reunion of less than half the class?

Hi,

Are we planning a reunion of less than half the class? Is it possible to have a reunion of less than half the class?

It seems that we still have not been able to locate the whereabouts or establish email or any form of contact with the following gentlemen:-

1. Chong Nyuk Woo (Canada)
2. Wong Wan Kong (where?)
3. Julius Ho (where?)
4. Julian Chong Voon Hing (where?)
5. Lawrence Chung Hee Meng (where?)
6. Poon Vui Po (where?)
7. Khoo Puay Kuan (where?)
8. Chin Lee Wah (Sandakan but where?)
9. Ho Chi Min (where?)
10. Jimmy Augustine (where?)
11. Sulaiman bin Hamdan (where?)
12. Kenneth bin Awang (where?)
13. Francis Fong (where?)
14. Chu Sai Kee (Sandakan but where?)
15. Chang Piang Tiam (Sandakan but where?)
16. Jimmy Gimbad (Sandakan but where)
17. John Bagiu (where)
18. Sim Kang Loon (where)
19. Many more (where)

That's why I believe we'll need at least 5 years to locate them and bring them on board. Wthout them, it's going to be a reunion of less than half the class!

Once we landed in Sandakan, we can easily drop invitation cards at Klinik Ong, Camera Studio and C H Koh & Co. But it's not going to be so simple with regard to those gentlemen listed above.

Can anyone suggest some bright ideas?


Cheers,
James

Brother Rapael Egan

Bro. EGAN, Raphael FSC
賴斐爾修士
　　
Brother Raphael Egan, F.S.C. R.I.P.

Brother Raphael Egan joined the Brothers in Castletown, Ireland.

He was posted to Hong Kong in 1947 and took up a teaching post in La Salle College and his past pupils still speak of his kindly manner and of the new impetus he gave to their formerly boring hours in the classroom.

After two years he was appointed Director and Principle of St. Joseph's College which was still recovering from the ravages of war. He set about re-furnishing and reorganising, recruiting better teachers and encouraging the pupils to make up for the four years of schooling they has missed as a result of the Japanese Occupation. When he left after nine years, St. Joseph had regained its former reputation of being one of the leading schools in Hong Kong.

After a lapse of some thirteen years, Brother Raphael was later transferred back to Hong Kong and took charge of La Salle College, Kowloon. He discovered that the school was over-crowded and some of the classrooms were not up to the standard he would like. He soon set his mind on a new College. We now see the result of his planning in the new College on La Salle Road, acclaimed by many to be the finest school building in Asia. Even some Brothers on holiday from famous colleges in America were heard to say "Gee, Brother, we have nothing like this in the U.S."

One of his great assets was his candour and the hold he had over people who got to know him; they were willing to spend time, energy and where possible, money to help him to adchieve his plans. He never lost a friend and even during the painful days towards to end of this life he was constantly writing letters to rich and poor alike in Europe, Asia and America. He was always very concerned about the pupils in his school and very generous in a quiet way to those in financial need. On one occasion a little boy fell on a broken bottle near the school and received a deep gash. He was brought into the Office bleeding profusely. Brother Raphael immediately phoned an ambulance and accompanied the boy to Queen Mary Hospital. The Doctor decided that a blood transfusion was advisable. A Nursing Sister come to Brother Raphael and said there was a severe shortage of blood and if no donor came forward they would have to charge a fee. Brother immediately stretched out his arm, pulled up his sleeve saying: "plenty of it here Sister."

There is no doubt but he will he remembered by many and his passing will be deeply mourned. He was always a very deeply religious person, but it came so natural to him that it could pass unnoticed to casual observers. He had a strong devotion to the Mass and to our Blessed Lady. During his final painful months he never complained and it would seem that during much of his time alone was given to prayer. He died in Ireland on 23 July 1990.

17 August 1990
　

---------------------------------------------------


Dear All,

I got this article on Brother Raphael from Google. I believe it's an obituary or eulogy. Sorry I can't upload his photo for some unknown IT technical reasons. It's very touching. It's a pity that there is no mention of his time in Sandakan - I think that's during the 13 years' lapse mentioned in the article.

I visited him a couple of times here in Hong Kong. He also attended my wedding dinner party (Hope to post the photo taken then). He confided to me in one of my visits that he valued the true friendship of Malaysians, hinting that those so-called friends in HK are very much benefits-orientated.

My only regret is: I didn't know he was leaving HK for Ireland for good and therefore was not able to bid the last farewell to him.

What are your memorable recollections of our beloved Brother? Come on everyone just say something even short and concise. Don't just let the few of us do the "talking"!

Regards,
Name: Hubert

Switzerland

Hi,

When I do not have money to travel overseas, I make do with replicas of famous foreign tourist destinations...

So I pretend to visit Switzerland this week and got photos to prove...

Regards,
Name: Kon Sang

Old postings; Simple way to send your postings; Mysterious readers?

Dear All,

1. You will have noticed that I have deleted some of the postings which do not have our common sentimental nostalgic value. I put them up to liven the scene a bit during the previous lull.

2. To view the oldest postings which may not appear on the screen, refer to the right hand side of the blog screen and click into the month when they were posted.

3. To send your posting, simply send it to "stmaryoldboys.?????@blogger.com". For restricting this access only to you guys, I have not revealed the five letters in front of "@blogger.com". The missing 5 letters are the letters of the name of the road for the address of our school.

4. Our blogg is visited most from (refer to the map on the right hand side of the screen)

• Hong Kong
• Sabah (KK & Sandakan?)
• Brisbane
• USA West Coast (Ronnie & Camillo?)
• USA East Coast (who?)
• Sarawak (who?)
• Singapore (who?)
• Sydney (who?)

Can someone shed any light on who the mysterious visitors are from the last 4 last places in the above list?

You are encouraged to send in your postings. Happy blogging,

Regards,
Hubert Hiew

Re: Old Photo

Hi Guys,



I manage to get another photo from my album. The photo was taken during a party held inside a classroom same as those Kon Sang has posted. That night I have sang a song . The guy sitting on my left hand side was Chong Voon Hing and the guy at my right if I'm not mistaken was Wong Man Kong. Any body know where they are ?

Hubert. I shall seeing you on 29th or 30th, please wait for my call!

Regards,

Khen Foh.

More chit chat from Down Under

Hi, guys

I'm sure you all will remember Edward's older brother, Dr Thomas Chik. He lives in the same suburb as Edward. Since their suburb is adjacent to mine, their places are just a 5 minute drive from my place. Thomas taught us Boyle's Law and Archimedes' Principle in Form 1. I haven't got a clue now what those things were all about although I could remember the subject headings! Matter of fact, I could remember exactly what subjects I chose to study for the Senior Cambridge exams but I couldn't remember even 2% of the subject contents! So, I don't know whether or not I've got a good education! Does anyone of you have this same problem? I guess many of you could do better than my <2%>

And there was also Peter Ha who taught us Maths in Form 1. That guy was a no nonsense, rock solid personality. I like the way he taught Maths which was my weakest subject. I believe Maths geniuses are born, not self-made. No matter how hard I tried, I found it hard to unravel Mathematical problems. I finally graduated with the minimal Mathematical skills, namely, addition and subtraction with reasonable speed, which were just enough for me to enter the accounting profession.

My Canon digital camera broke down immediately after the expiry of the warranty period. What rotten luck! And I haven't found time yet to shop around for a new one. As soon as I got a new one, I'll try to get my kids to take a good shot of myself and I'll post it on the blog. The rest of the family members are opposed to posting any of their photos on the internet. So, I need to respect their wishes.

Cheers,
James Chai

Chong Khen Foh: before and after leaving St Mary's

Hi Hubert,
I enclose herewith one of my recent photo and one taken during Form 3 for your viewing. Hope you still can recognise me. Please help me to post it to the blog first as I still trying to dig some group photo for the blog.
Thank you

Regards,
Name: Chong Khen Foh

Australia, Australia, Australia.........

Hi, guys



King Soloman once said that there is nothing new under the sun. He must be right since he has been recognised as the wisest man who ever lived. When I was about to leave Malaysia for good in January 1993, I thought to myself - 'Oh, good, no more flies, mosquitoes & cockroaches' in a cool clean climate. Was I disappointed? You bet I was sorely disappointed. It turned out that it's worse in Australia, particularly in Queensland where I chose to settle down. They not only have all those vermins listed above. They also have numerous species of spiders of which the most common and poisonous ones are called 'redbacks'. You could be killed if not quickly treated within a few days of being bitten. Frankly, I couldn't remember ever being bothered by spiders back in Malaysia. And wonders of wonders, they also have household lizards running wild in residential homes. These are of the same kind and colour as those we were used to back in Malaysia.



And termites have been responsible for household repairs worth hundreds of millions of dollars around Australia. Almost every household needed to spend money on termite prevention treatment.



Last but not the least, we also need to look out for dangerous 'red ants' in our gardens. These are not your kind of red ants. These are very dangerous ones so much so that the Australian government needed to spend a lot of manpower and money to try to exterminate them.



The place where I live is very close to some private farm land where cattles roam around like free range chickens. The daily mooing and groaning from these beasts are a real nuisance and because of these animals, my locality has more flies during the summer. Every door and window must have a fly screen otherwise the daily invasion of flies will drive us crazy. The brief 3 or 4 cooler months in a year do provide us with some relief.



The constant talk about climate change is the most boring subject in this southern continent. And the Climate Change Minister in the Rudd Government, Ms Penny Wong, who was originally from Kota Kinabalu, was reckoned to be arguably the most influential person in Australia today. What a credit to Sabah's brain exports!



Cheers,

James Chai

Back in the loop

Hi, guys

My apology for having been out of the loop for a while. No time to visit the blog during office hours and by the time I get back home every day, I'm only interested in hitting the pillow by 9.00 pm. I've just managed to follow up with the latest postings. Would someone be kind enough to provide an English translation of the Chinese essay for the enlightenment of the other 40% inadequately schooled old boys who can't read a word of Chinese? Not all our old boys are Chinese and many of the Chinese ones never went to a Chinese primary school. Unless an English translation is provided, this sizeable group of old boys will, regrettably, miss out on any wisdom that might be found in the Chinese essay.

I'm not ashamed to confirm that apart from the three characters of my Chinese name, I can't make head or tail of any other Chinese characters except, perhaps, the numbers 1, 2 & 3. You're blessed immeasurably if you also have a good command of both written and spoken Mandarin. But in my 15 years in Australia, I've found that a total lack of this blessing has not impeded my rapid rise in the professional world in Australia!

Happy blogging in the Queen's language (hopefully),

Cheers,
James

Gald to be able to send Mails to the Blog

I have been reading all mails from you guys all this while and some of us have been extremently quiet. Richard Chand was back in Sandakan last week and we managed to meet up with few others like Francis Fong, Lawrence Chong, Chong Ken Foh, Jorgy and myself. So nice to be together. All of us are in favour of 2010 for the re-union. Camillo, if you are reading this, you have been very quiet lately. I though you are not going to stop talking. When are you coming back to Sandakan ? Ronnie Chung, You still remember the good old days when I used to see you almost every Sunday when you are still in Kuala Lumpur ? To all those who are in KK, people lime Clement Chang, Tommy Siew, Sim Kang Loong, Benedict Tai, David Leong, how come I ws not able to see you fellows all the time I am there. I used to go to KK every now and then as both my children are working and staying in KK. The places I used to grequent while in KK are Damai, Taman Fohg Sang and Lintas for my tea and snack. Any chances of seeing you guys?
How about Foo Ka Hung and Edward Chick, Where are you guys now ? To Victor Ng and Chong Nyuk Voo, how are you ?



Regards,
Name: Sin Ka Hiew

hi guys

After reading the comments by Clement Chang, I am just trying if I can send e-mails

Regards,
Name: Sin Ka Hiew

Railway Trip To Papar

Hi,

This is for the few St Marys Form 6 Science students in 1972 (or 1971?). They were the selected to represent Sandakan in a Science Quiz or Debate on RTM Sabah (or Radio Sabah).

I remembered Kwan Kar Choi, Hubert Hiew, Camillo Cheng, Julius Ho and Khoo PK looking me up in La Salle. So I took leave from school to bring them around. I remembered Edward Chik and Lawrence Chung were having (Literature which I did not opt for in Form 6) classes. As Sandakan has no railway, I thought all must be thrilled to be able to enjoy a train ride! Somehow, we managed to go to the Kepayan Railway Station and took a railway trip down to Papar. I was familiar with Papar and been there by car (during my years in KK schooling in La Salle) but that was also my first train trip.

Those pictures tell a thousand words and I hope it can bring back memories to those on that memorable trip - at least to me!

Hopefully, this article can trigger some comments from them.

Regards

Kon Sang

Participation

Hi,

After managing to post a few comments on the blog, I am taking the next step to write up.

I am tasked by Hubert to wash my dirty linen on the blog and bare my life for all to enjoy! I could not do it as a comment on the blog as it is too small to contain my 38 years of failure and desperation in a tough world.

I need to post a write up to do justice to my 38 years after leaving St Mary's in 1970.

Before deciding YES or NO to Hubert suggestion to bare my life story (which I have yet to make up my mind) I need to re-test if I can post a write up onto the blog. I used to be able to but not after Hubert made some changes to block out intruders!

Here I go by posting a recent photo of myself taken in May 2008 in Kudat giving out a retirement souvenir and cheque to my then retiring Kudat Branch Manager. He was cropped out of the photo as he looks younger than me in the photo.


Kon Sang

Ironies & Facts of Life

人啊！(真一針見血)
沒錢的時候，養豬； 有錢的時候，養狗。
沒錢的時候，在家裡吃野菜； 有錢的時候，在酒店吃野菜。
沒錢的時候，在馬路上騎自行車； 有錢的時候，在客廳裡騎自行車。
沒錢的時候想結婚； 有錢的時候想離婚。
沒錢的時候老婆兼秘書； 有錢的時候秘書兼老婆。
沒錢的時候假裝有錢； 有錢的時候假裝沒錢。
人啊，都不講實話： 說股票是毒品，都在玩； 說金錢是罪惡，都在撈；
說美女是禍水，都想要； 說高處不勝寒，都在爬；
說煙酒傷身體，就不戒； 說天堂最美好，都不去!!!
當今社會，窮吃肉，富吃蝦，領導幹部吃王八；
男想高，女想瘦，狗穿衣裳人露肉；
過去把第一次留給丈夫； 現在把第一胎留給丈夫。
鄉下早晨雞叫人， 城裡晚上人叫雞；
舊社會戲子賣藝不賣身， 新社會演員賣身不賣藝。
人生是什麼? 只 用 了 4 4 個 字 , 就 把 人 生 講 完 了 ...
所 以 人 與 人 , 有 啥 好 計 較 的 咧 ? 快樂好相處比較重要啦！

1 歲 時 出場亮相
10 歲 時 功課至上
20 歲 時 春心盪漾
30 歲 時 職場對抗
40 歲 時 身材發胖
50 歲 時 打打麻將
60 歲 時 老當益壯
70 歲 時 常常健忘
80 歲 時 搖搖晃晃
90 歲 時 迷失方向
100 歲 時 掛在牆上
祝大家愉快，好好做人

Regards,
Name: Hubert