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Backdrop of reception ballroom
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In celebration of the 101st Anniversary of the National Day (a.k.a. Double Tenth) of the Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan), the representative of Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Malaysia (or TECOIM, 駐馬來西亞台北經濟文化辦事處) has invited my wife and me to a reception on Tuesday evening, October 9, 2012 at the Mayang Sari Grand Ballroom, JW Marriott Hotel, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.
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| Name tag supplied for attendance, how to say no? |
This has been an annual affair for me since 1999 and I consider that a great honour given to me by the past and present Directors of the Information Division (新聞組組長) of the TECOIM. They are Mdm Cecilia Lan-hsin Chang (張蘭新), Mr. Chiou Chyi (邱琪) and Mdm Peggy P.C. Chou (周蓓姬). All of them have had invited me for separate meals (dinner/lunch) and chit-chatted once or several times, in spite of their busy official duties, for that I am most grateful.
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| Invitation Card sent to me annually since 1999. Really appreciated. |
In fact, I have neither any business dealings with Taiwan, nor a graduate of a Taiwan university. If there is any connection with Taiwan, I have worked in Taipei for 1 1/2 years from March, 1988 to September, 1989 as an expatriate engineer involved in the structural design of the Taipei MRT project.
Nevertheless, I have written many commentary articles on Taiwan politics since late 1980’s until the last decade, having been published in the local newspapers as well as Hong Kong-based Yazhou Zhoukan (as 'Letter to Editor').
My critical writings had somehow drawn the attention of the Taiwanese bussinessmen here in Malaysia who requested the de facto Taiwan foreign affairs people (as I was told) to approach me (in early 1999) and try to ‘neutralize’ my fiery criticisms on former president Lee Teng-hui. One way was to supply me by mailing a lot of official newsletters/publications from Taiwan. That is the beginning of our ‘friendship’.
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| Soh Ai & Wai Yu |
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| Wai Yu & Wai Kei |
This year I brought along with me besides my wife Soh Ai my two younger sons Wai Yu and Wai Kei to the function. I took Wai Yu there 2 years ago and it was the first time Wai Kei attended.
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We left home at about 7.20pm after fetching Wai Kei from his tuition class that ended at 7.00pm. Although it was raining earlier but stopped when we were on the road, the KL-bound traffic along Jalan Cheras and Jalan Loke Yew was surprisingly smooth and we reached JW Marriott Hotel at about 8.00pm. The reception had officially started by then, but we were not too late when the food-eating time commenced.
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| Soh Ai (pic right) & Mee Choo |
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| Our neighbours Mr & Mrs Koh |
This is one evening when I got to meet some old buddies once in a year, like former GBBM P.J. Branch Chairman Lim Kok Sai (林国狮). I also met SGM General Director Koh Sia Feai (许锡辉 Alone this time. I met him and SGM President Mr. Koe Teng Hong once at this function a few years ago), 陈泽清 (of The Federation of Alumni Association Of Taiwan Universities, Malaysia), 李宏才 (3rd YMM President) and exchanged a few words with them. Our back-of-house neighbours Mr & Mrs KH Koh (both were Taiwan university graduates. Mr. Koh works for a Taiwanese factory as manager while Mrs Koh or Mee Choo is my wife’s close friend in the neighbourhood) were present too. Of course, I made it a point to look around and managed to catch up with Information Director Mdm Peggy Chou to greet her for the last time as she is going back to Taiwan for good early next year after completing her term of office here in Malaysia. She was apparently not amused when I mentioned the word "last time", but I promptly made good by saying that we would still be in touch with each other as she is my Facebook friend. I’m not sure if the new Information Director succeeding her would approach me in future, but I felt that TECOIM has already accorded me enough privilege.
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The food served this year was not as sumptuous as the previous years, e.g. there was no roasted lamb. But there were still Taiwanese delicacies like Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐)‘s dumplings (小籠包) and Kinmen (金門)’s noodles (麵線), the stalls of both had long queue of guests.
After we had filled our stomachs with food and drinks and taken some photographs, we left the function at 9.15pm.
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| Peggy Chou (pic right) |
At home after I downloaded the photos from the digital camera to the computer, I was pleasantly surprised that the few photos that Wai Yu took of me turned out to be satisfactory, as I thought my short-hair look would not be nice.
