Reuniting with the Bio-scientist from UK
16th August 2005
It had to take a biochemist icon like Kim Tze to make Kim Fui respond to an invitation to a Full Gospel Businessman Dinner. Kim Fui had snuffed out any attempts to even bring him within a 2 miles radius of any church. It all started a month ago, when Pauline plucked up her courage to introduce herself to her boss, Kim Tze whom she had been working for in Nilai for the last 2 years, and mentioned that she too was from ACS. That lead to Kim Tze hosting a table for ACS classmates to meet up. In the end, 10 of us endearingly handpicked by Pauline congregated for dinner at the Weng Heng restaurant in Seremban on 16 August.
I had by chance a day earlier met with Kim Tze due to a default meeting arrangement made in my office. My colleagues had been trying to get an update from a leading British biochemist and somehow the place of meeting was mixed up. So Dr Kim Tan ended up in offices of the High Commission while my boss and colleagues were in pursuit through town to his office in Damansara. Panic gripped those who realised the messed up arrangement, so my staff asked me if I could attend to a VIP visitor sitting patiently in the waiting area. My assistant ushered Dr Kim Tan into my office room and introduced us. I responded with a “How are you? Kim Tze” and I broke the news to a startled Dr Tan that I too hailed from Seremban, ACS.
The next 30 minutes while waiting for my boss to race himself back, Kim Tze and myself had a good time reminiscing about good times in ACS, quick browse into the ACS web site in between making calls. We managed to get Ranjit and Faizul. There were so many people Kim Tze enquired including; Rahimi, Wing Kwong, Hock Lye, Jeyabalan, Tiew Seng and he was shocked that I had most of them on database (Rahimi is still on the Missing In Action list...any leads?). He asked for the web site URL and will take a walk down memory lane in his own time. There was a lot of catching up for him to do.
Seng Kee, Terry, Mei Ling, Deveraj, Karen, Kwee Choy, Wing Kwong were easy going about attending the event. Tiew Seng gave it a miss as he was up in KL. Kim Fui was fussing about having to grace with his presence at a Christian event; he was literary dragged up the flight of stairs at the restaurant. Pauline had to entice him with promises of plenty of booze after the event and as usual he was conned and had to buy the beer later.
Kim Tze was elated to meet with some of his former schoolmates and gave an eloquent and well thought scientific views of being a failed Christian and how the grace of God changed his perspective. The dinner went well without any hitches and we all had the opportunity to meet with Kim Tze’s other half, a very down to earth Sally from Yorkshire...I am only guessing from her accent. Kim Tze extracted from me a promise to organise another reunion the next time he is back in Malaysia. End of October for the Class of 71- Express Class Golden Celebrations looks promising. The general consensus is that Kim Tze is still the chap we all knew in ACS and the big mega bucks or £ he had made did not cause him to treat old friends differently. Who says money is the root of all evils? Sally told me later that he had fond memories of ACS and often spoke about his Alma Mater. I was also told that Kim often wondered what happened to his classmates. He still plays a round of golf with some but appears to have not heard much about the previous reunions or the gatherings that takes place. Never mind you all know that I am a firm believer of connectivity.
Where to go after the dinner? Curry Leaf had lost his appeal as a cool place to hang out. Now that Thana is embarking on his second restaurant, the rumour is that he had taken a local pilot licence and takes a flight to no where quite often. This makes him a worthy contender for the Fei Kei Wong title.
As we had to collect Zip who by now had finished her classes, the first choice was the Chinese Food Court in Rasah Jaya. The on going deafening kara-croaking session made us change our minds very quickly and we landed at the new Hongkong style hangout – Sentral or Chong Wan in Cantonese where Tiew Seng joined us. The price of the beer was reasonable but not the Stout. We yanked Deverajah and Karen (Yoong Cheong) along to our next stop, Pence Restaurant in Temiang/Cumming Road area.
Check this place out the next time you are in Seremban. This will be the preference of our next hangout session. The Lau Hoong curry laksa, chicken wings in stout and steam fish head (Hongkong style) were superb. Best of all, Tiew Seng can drink as much as he wants on credit here. The lively tête-à-tête carried on till 3.12AM in the morning where I consciously made a decision to leave for KL to catch a few hours of sleep for an early appointment at Cyberjaya. It was 4.20 AM, almost home when Tiew Seng called to check if I had reach home safely. He said that the rest were making their respective way home from Pence as well. At 4.37 AM Wing Kwong sent an sms to indicate that he too arrived home in Ampang safely. My alarm went off at 6.30 am, waking me up to another day to earn my keep.
Angie Yen
 |
