No 8

Patsy asked for a photo of the house we have moved into so here it is

Tony Wee

Tony

A good friend of mine, Tony, has just departed this world after an illness. I vividly remember his surprise visit to me in Penang a few years ago making a grand arrival his Rolls Royce. There were a few lawyers from KL visiting me then and after the introductions I asked him how he would react in the following circumstances if he was prosecuting a case of rape ( He was for many years counsel in the AG’s chambers, Singapore) and the defence produced startling evidence to show that the building where the alleged offence was committed was not then occupied, being under renovation. What would he have done? Tony said he would throw the file on the floor, apologise to the court for wasting its time, withdraw the prosecution and put a black mark against the name of the investigating officer; the fellow would be denied promotion for five years. The young lawyers were astonished because Anwar’s case was a recent memory: Anwar Ibrahimwas alleged to have committed an offence in a building that had not yet been occupied, but the Judge who sent him to jail simply amended the date of the offence, a amendment which simply would not have been countenanced by the court in 1959. It was a good law lesson for my visitors.

Dr Ng Kah-ming

Dr Ng Kah-ming* and his Charivari Agreable were recently interviewed by BBC’s Radio Three. This will give a great boost to the reputation of the authority on Baroque and Medieval Music who lectures at Oxford University on Early Music. I remember hearing about this remarkable harpsichordist who had trained a group of housewives to sing in the choir that he had formed. This was in the eighties. I went to KL to hear their performance which was in a church and came away very impressed. I was astonished to learn very much later that Kah-ming had graduated from Monash, Australia as a bachelor of engineering. When he last visited in Penang I was pleased that this PJ man talked to his children in Cantonese; they live in England and have a German mother but he does not want them to forget that they are Cantonese. Kah-ming has been director of the Charivari Agreable since 1983.

The group has just produced a CD of Torelli’s original Brandenburg Concertos. Nicholas Kenyon of “The Observer” wrote that the playing was plangent and impressive, quite hard edged, and added wind give an extra lift to the textures

You can hear the BBC interview by clicking on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00h4dbx/In_Tune_Sean_Rafferty/

* I copied the photo from his alumni magazine

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Can anyone tell me what this plant is?

Music of the heart

Can anyone name this fascinating plant. Some one gave it to me but just calls it a fern

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Borrowed Albert’s DVD of Meryl Streep in “Music of the Heart.” I thought it surely must be one of the Hollywood sob stories but it delightfully turned out to be a cinema version of the true story of a single mother violinist whose obsession of turning Harlem kids into violinists finally paid off with a fund raising concert in Carnegie Hall supported, amongst others, by the great Isaac Stern. Gloria Estafan sang the theme song.

Registering a car

I was enjoying a Cuban and a great whisky when SF rang to tell a remarkable story. For years he had been trying to discover the trustees of the estate of a certain doctor whose vintage car he had ages years ago. He had no reason to suspect it was stolen but the seller, whose honesty he trusted, had claimed that he could not find the owner to have papers signed. Some years back I told PC the story and learnt that she knew the family but a daughter had slipped to her death in Sungai Patani and her husband said he couldn’t help as he knew nothing. . But the other day, a happy SF said, he had a visitor who slipped and nearly fell outside his house and he warned her to be careful, telling her of the woman who had so tragically fallen to her death in S Patani. “Why! exclaimed the visitor, she was my sister!” The astonished but delighted SF reacted with, then you are the daughter of the late doctor so and so. She told him that she was in fact her late father’s executrix. On being told the sad tale of the car she said she would willingly sign the papers. I told SF that PC was in fact sitting next to me and handed her the phone to hear the unexpected good news for herself.

WL, a visitor from Australia, an IT expert scared us when he told us that Facebook people should not have their photos published; he warned that their pictures can be used to defame or shame them.

An article in “Starmag” of 18 January based on interviews with freemasons told us that blacks were blackballed in US. It failed to mention that those “charitable and brotherly” people admitted whites only here. Ong Huck Lim was after the war the first Asian to be admitted to the Lodge. Another lawyer, C O Lim was turned down but the Scottish lodge opened its doors to him. Yes, the Lodge here was in two “tumah hantu”, one English and the other Scottish.

Seen in Jalan Imbi, KL, Restaurant “Royal Ayam”.

Whisky and cheese

It’s been a busy year with friends and relatives visiting from December 10th. Not yet charp gor mair but we continue to entertain with much fun thrown in. Lucky me, among the presents were a gold medal Medoc, a 15 year old Royal Salute, a 16 year old Lagavulin and a Bowmore 18 years old..

In KL I had dinner with LS who brought with him a Medoc and a Meursault which he bought in London some years ago. I had almost forgotten that Meursault was one of my favourite wines but a published newspaper interview with David Chan ( at 27 choirmaster of the Metropolitan Orchestra) reminded me of it. The paper said that David Chan so loved burgundy that he has organised concerts in the region.

From the US, SB sent me via Australia excellent Dutch cheeeses: Reypenaer VSOP, Wijngaari XO and Wijngaard Chevre affine (goats’ cheese). So excellent were they that I have abandoned my low ranking of the Dutch as cheese makers

And that was not all. HL brought me a DVD of the great Netrebco and a very entertaining Rene Fleming piece. Also ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, which I shall have a look at when the visits stop.

This year, the firecrackers have quietened down There used to be six houses opposite us that had lion visits during the New Year but this time only one up the road invited them. The nights are usually quiet but a few nights ago there was a nut on the hill opposite who sang karaoke till 1.30 in the morning, after exploding monster firecrackers at midnight.

Had dinner with eight of KH’s class mates and learnt that when Cantonese and Teochew bring you oranges you gave oranges in return but not so with the Hokkien whose return gifts need not be the fruit. I don’t remember anyone bringing us oranges when I was a kid.

I thought my friends had finished their New Year celebrations but was happily reminded that we had 15 days of it when A came last night with a bottle 15 yrs old Grouse.