Tribute to my Papa...

A great dad, loving husband, heroic brother and steadfast friend and comrade...

Lt. Col Chua Hong Kang

29.1.1945 - 21.6.2009

Dedicated to my Papa....

This was my eulogy...

My Papa… Chua Hong Kang

I would like to tell everyone a little story of what life with my dad has been like…. Just to share some fond memories we have growing up with him and living with him…

My dad has lived a very rich and accomplished life. His one aim in life was to join the army and he did so regardless of the objections and obstacles in his path… and I can truly say he has never regretted it one bit…

He was in service for 30 years of his life and during those years, he has touched many a hearts and is fondly remember by his comrades.. He served the armour core faithfully and full of pride. As many of his comrades may know, my dad was a through and through armour boy inside and out for the whole of his life. His life was the military…

His life was all about observing rules… and he was even strict about us observing rules, so much so that we were even taught proper table etiquettes when we were young… Stir your tea clockwise, scoop your soup outwards, do not leave your spoon in the cup while drinking… we were very well manner kids… :)

For us, growing up in the military has given us many experiences which otherwise we would never have had… As much as him, we cherished the many wonderful and unique experiences we have had as we moved with him from camp to camp. We have fond memories of our experiences taking rides in army landrover without air cond and wet cushions… (you never know what you would get when you get off… a wet skirt is highly probable… (I myself loved lowering the tailgate to let ppl in and out) and three-tonners, pajero, and ….. having a batman around whom we would charm to help wash our school shoes only to get scolded by mum…. Not many kids are fortunate to have these sorts of experiences in their childhood. To play around tankers, have actual hideaways in the forest or even the simple fact that we were surrounded by green uniformed pakciks who were all so doting on us…

As we move from camp to camp, we got to know many people who have been nice and friendly to us. It seems no matter where we went everyone knew our dad… how odd… my dad was very popular… :D and til today still is as popular as ever…

As much as we loved those times while my dad was in the service, my mum also had many stories to share like the time when she had tea with the Agung... truly, how many ppl would ever have such chances.. not forgetting the fellowship of friends she had with all the other wives from BAKAT… they would share recipes, handicraft techniques… while the husband was supposedly working, the wives got to enjoy each other's company and had many activities… Those memories of days while my dad was in the service will always stay rooted in our hearts and minds…

My dad is an avid sportsman, and he has a deep passion for sports. Fortunately, the army has provided him with a great number of opportunities to realize his passion for sports. My dad wind surfed,parachutes, sky dives, plays squash, hockey, and even golf. Wednesday in the army is golf day!!! Not even when he injured his back while parachuting and was stung by a jellyfish while wind surfing would deter him from pursuing his interest in both. He always tried to share his joy for sports with us…We would go to the seaside to see him surf trying to spot him out in the ocean.. I would tag along with him to the squash court on his motorbike.. He would even bring us to watch him parachuting…My sisters told me about this little ball my dad gave them which you would stuff a parachute in and when you throw it in the air, when it falls the chute with open… Wonder why I never got one…hmm… I must complain to my dad later… Did I mention the time he wanted us to learn how to swim better? Guess what he did… He brought us to the Olympic size dive pool and just threw us in the water.. then he told the life guard "Jangan bagi dia orang pegang tepi".. and so everytime we went to the wall to hold on, the guard would knock ours fingers with his whistle telling us to continue swimming… there were even frogs in that pool!!! and that was how we honed our swimming skills.. However none of his children has inherited his passion and talent for sports. Ehem, we did try… Ai May even cried during a session of squash…. Thank God we inherited his brains… :) (or so he always say but mum would beg to differ)

My dad is also a huge Tiger Woods and MU supporter. He would dress from head to toe like tiger wood if he could… and guess what, my dad was featured on the same page as Tiger Woods in the sports section of the Star newspapers yesterday… he would have been real happy to know… As for MU, he would catch every match there was, live, repeated, 3am in the morning… it didn’t matter when or where he would by hook or by crook be home to watch it…no sleep also never mind… but then whenever he watches them live, they will often lose and I would win the bet!! I always bet on whatever team that plays against them… We would start off watching the game together, I will doze off, when the game is over if MU won my dad would immediately wake me up to announce… If they lost, he kept quiet and left me on the couch…. So cruel… :(

Ai Li, just outright discouraged him totally from watching them and instead was bent on converting my dad into a Taiwan, Korean, and Japanese serial watcher… in the end she succeeded and it became our family pastime. There was even a particular serial, my dad would wait for my sis to come home and say "Ai Li, lets watch the show!!". My dad the non Chinese speaking fella watching Korean… go figure… After that we went out for Korean food as well…. Full package..!!!

My dad's other passions was food. He loves good food, in particular Chinese and Japanese food. He would search high and low for the best Char Siew in town supposedly and bring us there to try it out…He Initially, he only enjoys tempura, but we subsequently "trained" him to enjoy a wider variety of Japanese food, for example, sashimi. Not forgetting his Kaki Furai…. Which is his special dish only shared with Ai Li…. (these high colestrol ppl…) *shakes head*

His army training has influenced his expectations for neat and smart dressing. He insists that his pants and shirt must be ironed in such a way that there is only one line. And shoes must be polished till mirror finish!! Only my mum could get the lines on the shirts and pants and my dad has given up trying to get me to iron his clothes for him… The lines would miraculously multiply… Perhaps arising from his long years in the army, after he left the army, he was particularly "adventurous" in his dressing. He is all for colours… pink, yellow, purple…. Anything goes…as long as we have bought him a matching tie… Everytime we bought him a tie, he would insist on going shopping the next day to buy a matching shirt… 1 shirt, 1 tie… no more, no less…


As a father, we remember him as someone who was always there when you need him the most. Someone who is always cool under pressure. Unlike my mom, papa was an oasis of calm. Therefore, whenever any of his daughters get into trouble (for example in car accidents), we always call him first to help us out, to avoid being lectured by our mom. He was also the one we go and manja to when he got a bruise somewhere… papa will always urut for us… :)

My dad is a strict father. He is strict in how we should dress… No too low or revealing tops… (his statement would be "wah! So sexy ar?" that means a non approval)… He even imposed curfews on me starting for 6pm and that was when he finally agreed to let me out of the house… which was in form 5… He is strict about punctuality…especially when it comes to bf picking us up.... You must be at the house door on time or you would get his stamp of disapproval… And no boy is good enough for his daughter… he will always put up this fierce look to scare them… and scared they would be… I think they would drop 20 pumping if he asked.. :D

My dad will always remember all our birthdays because we remind him one month in advance to book his calendar. Ai li in particular reminds him a month in advance, a week advance, then 3 days, then 2 then 1… my dad never had a chance to forget…

Above all, my dad has always said that his three daughters are the biggest accomplishment in his life. Or at least we ensure that he says that when we are present… :) He has always been very proud of his three angels, and we know this from his actions.

As a loving husband, even after 36 years of marriage, my dad never fails to give my mom a kiss and hug before he goes off to work. I have always felt that, that was the sweetest gesture ever.. He also always says my mom's cooking and baking is the best. Everyone else is second class… But above all, he is always there in moments when it matters the most. My dad is always the first my mum would call whenever she was in some trouble… car broke down, house phone cannot call out… anything goes… Dad to the rescue!! But my fondest story to tell was of how they met and got attracted to each other… My dad was in this red t-shirt which caught my mum's attention and my mum was in a mini skirt showing off her fantastic legs which my dad fell for immediately… :D

As a friend my dad was steadfast and loyal…to everyone lucky enough to be his friend, I think he has shown what a true friend is like… We were told by one of his friends on how my dad saved his wife's life… His wife was in ICU in need of 34 pints of blood and my dad was first in line to donate and he also made all his staff donate as well just to make up the numbers.. my dad was a man of actions when it came to his friendship. It's not just talk only…

My father was a brave man. He has fought for his country and won all the time. He has also fought bravely throughout his illness and it has never stopped him from living his life to the fullest.

My dad will always be the silent figure in the background, supporting and encouraging us in whatever we do. We know that he will continue to watch over us.

He is a man of principles, integrity and discipline… He is a very meticulous and organized man. He has taught us to differentiate right from wrong, taught us to live with integrity…Told us it wasn’t wrong to have strong principles… To always stand tall in adversity… MY Papa has always been and will always be the 'bestest' dad in the world!!! Always…. I would like to think that for all those whom have known him, they would think of him a great man as well....

I am such a teeny bopper...

Yeap...you read it right... at the ripe old age of almost 28 years, I am still a teeny bopper at heart... Why? I dont know why... I just am...

I just watched Hannah Montana the Movie and I liked it!! Not shy to say it either... haha!! If you gave me another Lizzie McGuire the Movie, I would watch it too... Happily pay the RM12 to watch it in the cinema...

I myself am not sure why I am such a teeny bopper but I suppose I enjoy watching such movies... Simple story lines which teaches us a lesson in life... I like the simple love stories which only seem to exist is the love life of teenagers apparently... haha!!

There is also 2 particular songs I like in the movie, the first is 'The Climb' and the second is 'Butterfly'... at least I think that is the title of the second one... It's a story sung by the daughter for the father which I felt was pretty sweet and touching...

I am just such a sucker for such stuff.... Even cried during some scenes in the movie... yea yea..I am hopeless... hehe!! But I am happy being hopeless... :p

The act that instilled fear....

Yesterday, 4th June 2009, my baby bolster died... :(

My mum was having her bouts of spring cleaning and decided to give my bolster a few hard whacks to shoo away any dustmites that might have been there... In the act of doing so, she murdered my bolster because the the skin of my bolster was already old and frail and it could not take the hard blows by my mum... so it just split and it's inerts started spilling out... It was truly a sad day... I have had the bolster since I was a wee little baby and have hugged it with me so such a very long time.... I hope it died feeling well loved... :)

What made the act worse was that it was done with the witness of some of my other frens which were sitting quietly on my bed... upon seeing the cruel act, everyone feared for their life... They were worried that if they misbehaved that they would get the same treatment and their inerts would be exposed as well... So one by one started lining up along the wall and stood real still... "sshhh.... if we stand real still she wont notice us... " they stood so still they were hardly breathing... There were just worried if they made any wrong moves, that it would be their lives next...

But dont they look adorable squeezing in fear...? hehe!! my cute story of the day....

Isuzu Duramission - Day 3 & 4

Day 3 - Lawas to Maliau Basin

We left Lawas at about 0930 hrs and headed to Keningau..... Not an eventful journey as it was all on tarmac...

We did stop at a coffee factory in Tenom to have a cuppa local coffee as well as buy some coffee... it was actually quite good.. the chilled coffee was yum!!

We then head on to this absolutely beautiful lookout point which was a sight to behold... I was honestly surprised at how the crew managed to find such a huge piece of empty land with such breathtaking view for our photo-op session...

We then stopped for lunch at Keningau and made a fuss around the Toyota roadshow... that was entertaining... We just circled the roadshow and the entire convoy started honking... :D After lunch, the fun part for me began... I requested to take over the wheel on our Single Cab coz I just wanted to drive so badly.. I kept sleeping as a possenger in the Recovery 01 vehicle... So on I hopped onto the Single Cab... The radio/walkie talkie session was so much fun... there was jokes and pokes being thrown here and there... it was just a fun ride... :D Not as boring as the radio in the Recovery vehicle which sole consist of what model and make of vehicle was coming at us at what speed...*boring!!*

After all the tarmac road... finally we came to the exit towards Maliau and onto an unfinished highway which was all sand and stone... It was a dusty drive from there onwards with visibility almost down to nil...you can hardly see the vehicle in front of you much less anything else... It was just dust dust and more dust and the painful experience of listening to rocks hitting your vehicle body so often... The amount of dents was unimaginable... But there was a beautiful sunset en-route that was such a feast on the eyes....
We safely arrive in Maliau and was greeted by this....
My oh my... a bbq has never looked so good... hehe!! We had prawns, lamb, chicken wings and sausages.... All my fav... washed down with a cold bottle of beer... that's the life.... We had some late nite or more accurately midnight nature walk after dinner... we trying to spot some wild animals... the first round with a huge group of ppl was unsuccessful... All I spotted was plenty of leeches on Bakry''s legs... hehe!! Went for a quiet second round with Tang and we managed to spot a mouse deer sitting quietly in the bushes... It was so cute!!! After a long day... we went to bed in our bunkers...

Day 4 - Maliau to Tawau

We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed (NOT) and headed for breakfast and our morning canopy walk...

We first stepped on a suspended bridge across the Maliau river...

A quick 20 mins later and we have reached the end of the canopy walk... time to head back to camp....

I didnt really get a chance to explore Maliau as there was limited time... I suppose that would be my biggest disappointment... But definitely Maliau is a place I would plan a trip to... I want to hike to the Maliau Falls and set my eyes on the 7 tier waterfalls which Maliau is so famous for... :) But for the moment I would have to settle for a photo from a helicopter ride I didnt get to get on due to space constraints... Oh well... better luck next time...

All in all I enjoyed the entire trip... It was a fun event for all to share and a good time to get to know each other better... :) Hope that I will get a chance to participate in next year's event as well... Keeping my finger, toes and eyes crossed... :D

*all pictures are courtesy of Rudy our photographer... only the canopy walk pictures were taken by me...