JUST TO SHARE (Lau Tai Onn): A “Green” Outing Day For Me

October 1, 2014 (Wednesday) was an extraordinary day for me. It was a day related to “Green”.

In the morning, I joined Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM)’s participation in a tree-planting program called “Kebun Ramuan @ Rumah Seri Kenangan, Cheras” co-organized by the Social Welfare Department (Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat) and Landskap Malaysia.

Rumah Seri Kenangan is a governmental old folks’ home near my residential area in Bandar Sungai Long. This function was attended and officiated by Tun Jeanne Abdullah (wife of former Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi) in her capacity as the Chairperson of Landskap Malaysia. SGM was one of a few NGOs invited this day to participate in the planting of herbal trees in the compound of Rumah Seri Kenangan.

Terry Yip fetched me at 7.30am to join Yong Yew Khoon for a light breakfast at a coffee shop in our garden. Three of us reached Rumah Seri Kenangan at about 8.10am and joined by some other 30 fellow SGM members who already gathered there.

At about 9.00am we started digging earth with changkul, tearing apart the plastic sheets that wrapped around the herbal seedlings and planting them for about ½ hour before being ushered to the hall to sit in for the ceremony rehearsal and wait for the arrival of VIPs. We thought we would continue with our unfinished planting work after the official opening ceremony. We were all given a head-band that carried the wording of “Forest Is For Us”.

By the time the ceremony was over at about 11.00am and as we walked out of the hall to the planting area, we found that all the planting works had been completed by Landskap Malaysia people.

We took some refreshment and left at about 11.30am after witnessing Jeanne Abdullah watered some plants and taking group photos with her.

I noticed that October 1 was named as “Hari Warga Emas Antarabangsa” (International Senior Citizen Day).

Seated with Yong Yew Khoon (pic centre)

A pose at work.

Pic 2nd from left: Terry Yip, Yong Yew Khoon and C.K. Chew. I used to have the pink-coloured SGM "Run for Peace 2013" T-shirt but my wife gave it away and hence without a uniform to wear.

Tun Jeanne Abdullah watering a newly-planted tree

Later in the evening, my wife Soh Ai and I (on the invitation of Dr. Lim Ju Boo) left home to attend the celebration of World Vegetarian Day (also on October 1) organized by Malaysia Vegetarian Society (MVS) at Simple Life Healthy Vegetarian Restaurant, Level 2, Lot 10 Shopping Centre, Bukit Bintang.

For the record, MVS is a non-profit and non-religious society aimed at promoting the benefits of vegetarianism for our health, environment and a more compassionate world. The international definition of vegetarianism is “the practice of living without the use of meat, fish, or fowl, with or without the addition of eggs and daily products”.

We left at about 5.20pm and drove amidst heavy traffic to Brickfields and parked our car nearby the KL Rapid Monorail station. It was about 6.35pm when we reached the station.

Despite a huge crowd of passengers taking the Monorail train at that after-office hour, we managed to board almost instantaneously as we went up to the station platform and reached Bukit Bintang station (fare was RM 1.60 per pax) at 6.50pm.

The function was supposed to start at 7.30pm. As we were early and there was then very few people in the restaurant, we decided to walk around the mall separately. By 7.30pm as Dr. Lim was still not in sight and we were quite hungry, we ordered our set meals (RM 15 per head, cost subsidized by MVS). I took vegetarian asam fish set meal while Soh Ai took nasi lemak set meal. Both the MVS President Dr. P Vithilingam and the Secretary Mr. Raj Kumar (he told me he worked as a civil engineer for JKC in the early days) came to my table to chat with me for a short while.

It was only after we finished our meals then Dr. Lim and his wife arrived at about 8.00pm due to traffic jam and other delays.

I am very grateful to Dr. Lim who didn’t only insist to pay for our meals, but also brought a can of marmalade (made by himself) for me as a gift. We had a good chat and I learned a great deal about him after chatting with Mrs. Lim.

We bade one another farewell at about 10.15pm. I took Soh Ai to the basement food centre of Lot 10 to take a look before leaving. We took the still very crowded Monorail train back to Brickfields, took our car and returned home near 12 midnight.

What a meaningful “green” outing it was for me this day!