Saturday, January 02, 2010

At official launch of Tan Kai Hee' s biography

Yesterday, Dr. Toh Kin Woon ( center ) launched the biography of Tan Kai Hee ( second from right ), a former Secretary-General of the now deregistered Labour Party of Malaya (LPM). Scholar Dr. Chia Oai Peng (second from left) and I were invited to present independent reviews of the book. Tan Kim Hong ( left ), a retired local academic who have published the history of the once-powerful multi-ethnic constitutional opposition, was also present. Some 2,000 still-well-disciplined former leaders and members of LPM attended the book launch. All of us later went for a 200 -table dinner hosted by Mr. Tan and his dear wife who has gone through many downs and ups with the ex - ISA detainee and now successful businessman. P.G. Lim, another former LPM member as well as an ex - ambassador of Malaysia, was also invited as a VVIP. Mr. Tan is an old friend of poet Usman Awang and writer Said Zahari.