标签： turbulent era

A life grounded on destiny and love

Actions defines a man (1928-2022)

By Foong Pek Yee

The teenager survived the perilous journey and landed in Singapore.
First trip out from his village in Ipoh, Perak, Tung Sam Chee – my third maternal uncle – was only armed with the determination to survive.
That was shortly after the end of World War 2 in 1945 and, life was simply harsh and unpredictable.
His parents decided to send him to Singapore after losing  two older sons in the crossfire between the Japanese and communists earlier.
But the end of  World War 2 only saw civilians  caught in the confrontation between the British colonial government and communists in then Malaya.
That was life in a turbulent era.
Last goodbye:  Leaving Ang Mo Kio, Singapore on July 29, 2022 –  his home for about five decades.
The 17-year-old never looked back after landing in Singapore.
Perseverance, hard work and,  encounters with good people saw him settled down in Singapore.
He met and married the love of his life, Wong Wai Kwan, and they were blessed with three children; sons Kum Choon and Kum Cheong and daughter Sow Mun.
By then he already had his company on tooling business.
Life was a bliss for the family until fate dealt a cruel blow.
His wife passed away from kidney failure in 1974.
She was 34.
Third uncle stayed strong for their children – a promise he made to his wife- and to love them no matter what.
In 2005, he  lost his second son, 39-year-old  Kum Cheong, to brain tumour.
Again he remained strong for his children, and had kept a brave front as Kum Cheong battled with the disease.
Seventeen years later, on July 25,  third uncle who was 94, passed away peacefully in Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore, leaving behind Kum Choon, Sow Mun, their spouse and five grandchildren.
And his loved ones found consolation that he finally reunite with his beloved wife and Kum Cheong whom he missed dearly.
They were laid to rest side by side in the columbarium in Kong Meng San Buddhist Temple and Monastery in Bishan, Singapore.
Rest in peace: Prayers at Kong Meng San after the cremation on July 29, 2022
A proud son of Singapore, third uncle was forever patriotic and grateful for the opportunities he got as the nation evolved from a struggling post war island to a major global financial hub.
A  filial son and a  loving and caring  husband and father, he had stayed strong whatever challenges life threw at him.

Turning adversity into strength

Down with polio at three and orphaned at five, Too Hing Huat sees hope in life as long as he can walk.
By Foong Pek Yee
At 82, Too Hing Huat still rides a tricycle and tends to his vegetables and fruit trees daily.
Having to support himself with a walking stick does not stop him from moving around and being  productive.
A typical day for him  revolves around his village – his vegetables and fruit trees,  his home that double up as a sundry shop and the coffeeshop to meet up with friends.
Hing Huat from Raja Hitam New Village in Manjung, Perak says he  sees hope in life as long as he can walk.
Never give up:  Hing Huat’s life motto 
Born in 1940 and growing up in a turbulent era, he learned survival at a very young age.
“I woke up one morning and cannot  walk.
‘The day before I had fever .”
Hing Huat who regained his mobility but with a limp, has likened it to a new lease of life.
Youngest among nine siblings, they lost their mother during World War Two.
In 1945, Hing Huat ‘s ailing father who wanted to seek treatment in China wanted to take him along.
Barred from boarding the ship  when they found him limping, his father went ahead, and that was the last time he saw him.
“Until today we don’t know if our father had arrived in China.”
Without formal education, Hing Huat took up odd jobs when he turned 13.
He was 16 when he landed  a job at a Foochow pau shop in Ayer Tawar town.
It was at the shop that Hing Huat  made some friends, including Tan Sri Dr Ting Chew Peh, who is three years his junior.
“He (Dr Ting) used to ride a bicycle from his village and parked it  at the back of the shop before taking a bus to his school in Sitiawan.
“We did chat a bit when he returned to get his bicycle after school,” Hing Huat  recalls  the good old days, and a friendship that has remained over the decades.
Hing Huat married Tin Chon Heong in 1968, and they returned to his village the following year to set up their Foochow pau shop and raised their five children – all sons who are aged between 52 and 41 now.
 
Old faithful: The tricycle that serves Hing Huat well over the decades
Choice location: Raja Hitam New Village is conducive for living and doing small business since the old days.
Community first : A well kept garden and playground for the villagers.
Education a priority:  The village’s Chinese primary school SJKC Pei Min Kg Raja Hitam.
Hing Huat’s wife passed away about
eight years ago, shortly after the couple retired and closed down their pau business.
Two of his sons settled down in Johor, one in Singapore and one in Pantai Remis, Perak.
Hing Huat stays with his youngest son,  Too Song Yee and his family in their shop house in the village.
Song Yee and his wife Joan Law have two children.
Orphaned at age 5, Hing Huat has come a long way.
“Three generations living under the same roof is a blessing.
” Due to my physical disability, I dare not think of marriage  initially for fear of not being able to provide for my family.
 “It is my wife who gave me the confidence that we can together raise our family.” 
Perseverance runs in the family.
Song Yee, 41, works about 15 hours a day, six days a week running his sundry shop.
A typical day for him starts at 5.00am.
He will be in Ayer Tawar town, about 10 minutes drive from his village,  to get fresh vegetables for sale in his shop.
His shop opens by sunrise and closed at 8.00pm daily.
Returning to his village from Singapore for good 12 years ago, Song Yee never looked back.

Of war and love

By Foong Pek Yee
13 Dec, 2021
LOVE  brought them together,  war tore them apart.
A beautiful love story  cut short by the Korean War.
Lee Jung-Seop, born to a wealthy family in North Korea, and Yamamoto Masako met and fell in love when they were studying art in Tokyo in 1939.
They got married in 1945, the year World War II ended, and she took up the Korean name  Lee Nam-Deok.
The couple were blessed with two sons when the Korean War (1950-53) erupted.
Together with  their sons Tae-Hyun and Tae-Seung who were four and two respectively, they survived the 1951 mass exodus from North Korea to  South Korea where they stayed in Busan and Jeju for a year.
In a bid to save their children from hardship in a war torn country, Nam-Deok and her sons boarded a Tokyo-bound repatriation ship in 1952.
The separation was meant to be a temporary one.
The following year, Jung -Seop managed to make it to Tokyo for a weeklong reunion with his wife and sons.
Upon his return to South Korea, Jung -Seop who struggled to make money to bring his family home succumbed to hardship and poor health.
He died alone in a hospital in Seoul in 1956 at the age of 40.
Fast track to 2002, the South Korean government set up the Lee Jung-Seop Art Gallery in Seogwipo in Jeju and the road leading to the museum is named after the renowned artist.
 Legacy: Visitors learned about Lee Jung -Seop  as they stroll along the street named after him.
Jung-Seop’s life and times, written in English,  is displayed prominently at the gallery
I wished I had read about the Lee family before I visited the museum in the Summer of 2018 to better appreciate his art work which says a lot about love for his family and life in a turbulent era.
Happier times:  The two paintings by Lee Jung -Seop.
Next to the gallery is a small house where the Lee family stayed in a rented room measuring 1.5m by 2.4m for about a year in 1951.
Evolving times: The Lee family stayed briefly  in this house about 70 years ago.
According to The Korean Herald in a report on Jun 6, 2016 – It was in Seogwipo  that Jung -Seop created paintings that portrayed children playing with crabs and fish, in cheerful colours, and that his wife later recalled that it was the happiest time for the family.