A Lunch Gathering With Datuk Yap Pian Hon & Former MCA HQ Colleagues

A pose with Datuk Yap Pian Hon at his office

Veteran politician and former MCA Vice-President Datuk Yap Yian Hon (拿督叶炳汉) was a political leader I knew in the late 80’s of the last century.  During the economic recession time in 1986 after I was retrenched as a C&S engineer from a consulting firm, I found a job at the MCA HQ to work as an executive secretary for the MCA New Village Development Centre (马华新村发展中心) under the chairmanship of Dato’ Kee Yong Wee (拿督纪永辉).  I also assisted MCA National Youth (马青总团) Secretariat in publicity work and the then MCA National Youth Chairman was Datuk Yap Pian Hon. 

After I quit MCA HQ (after working for 1 year and 2 months) and worked in Taiwan as an expatriate engineer for the Taipei MRT project in early 1988, I was appointed by Datuk Yap to serve as the Protem Committee Chairman of the MCA Club in Taiwan (马华台湾俱乐部筹委会主席) on a voluntary basis. 

Sometime in 1988, Datuk Yap led a delegation of MCA Youth national leaders for an official  visit to Taiwan and I was invited to attend too.  Among the delegates were 翁诗杰，韩春锦，林鸿昌，叶清良，黄炳火and a few others. That was the last time I saw Datuk in person and have not contacted him again since then.  I was expelled from the party in 1996 due to my writing of a series of articles published in the Chinese newspaper criticizing the party leadership, in particular of one article supporting the then MCA Deputy President Datuk Lee Lim Sai in defending his position in the party election and dispraising the then MCA President Dato’ Seri Ling Liong Sik. The writing was considered a breach of party discipline.

Photo taken in 1988 when Datuk Yap led a delegation of MCA National Youth leaders to visit Taiwan.  3rd from right was Datuk Yap, while I was standing in far left next to Ong Tee Kiat.

 I was sitting 3rd from right, next to Datuk Yap who was 2nd from right. The then president of Malaysia Trade and Friendship Centre, Taipei 陈德泉 was on the right.

I have all this while still kept in touch with a former colleague in MCA HQ, namely Anthony Kon (官振业，前马华总部职员) who was one of the longest serving staff (almost 38 years) in charge of Wisma MCA property services.  I saw Datuk Yap Pian Hon wrote on Anthony’s FaceBook last week and I wrote to him and expressed my hope to meet up with him again after an absence of sight for almost 3 decades. He promptly agreed and fixed this Saturday, July 1, 2017 for a lunch gathering at Seri Kembangan which is his residential area as well as long-time base of political activities.

At 11.45am, Saturday, July 1, 2017, I went to Bangunan MCA Seri Kembangan with Anthony Kon.  Datuk Yap arrived at about 12.15pm and we went up to his office at 4^th floor and chit-chatted.  He told us many interesting stories of the past involving his political struggles.

View of Bangunan MCA Seri Kembangan

A selfie in Seri Kembangan

Datuk Yap Pian Hon in front of a giant photo of his political struggle in 1999

My long-time buddy Anthony Kon (官振业)

A pose in Dewan Pian Hon on the 4th floor

It was a pleasant surprise to me that Datuk Yap also invited the attendance of some old and new friends and former colleagues whom I also haven’t met for decades, namely: Chan Tse Yuen (陈思源律师，前马青署理总团长), Lim Kwee Ong (林季旺,前马青总团执行秘书),符永辉(前雪州马华执行秘书), 冯东阳(前柔州议员) ，何子浓(前马华总部职员)，Chang Aik Ming (郑懿铭,前部长新闻秘书，现任华总义务法律顾问)，黄振隆(前青运总会长), 蔡惠丰(马华沙登国会选区服务与咨询中心执行秘书).

Pic from left: Chan Tse Yuen, Chang Aik Ming and Datuk Yap Pian Hon waiting for the lift to leave for lunch

A group photo of all who attended the reunion lunch
前排左起: 刘泰安，拿督叶炳汉，符永辉，陈思源，林季旺
后排左起: 黄振隆，官振业，郑懿铭，何子浓，蔡惠丰，冯东阳

We adjourned to Restaurant East of Highway in Seri Kembangan (大道东酒家) for a sumptuous lunch treated by Datuk Yap from about 1.00pm until 3.30pm.  Various topics including past and present political stories and analyses were discussed during the lunch.  

In conclusion, it was indeed a great and remarkable reunion for us who were once in the forefront of the political battlefield.  I have gained a better insight and more respect towards Datuk Yap Pian Hon for his unyielding political struggles in the face of odds in the past and being still active in political work now in spite of his present age of 74.