A dream comes true for Ah Keong and Ah Yin

Just came back from Cheras where Ah Keong and Ah Yin hosted a yam-seng party in a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the full month of the birth of their baby girl. Their parents and some of their siblings and relatives, including roost pork seller Uncle Fei Pang and his wife, from Perak's Cold Stream New Village, were also there to share the joy.

It was indeed a happy occasion for reunion with them after so many years. I am also honoured by their special treatment for me as an honourary member of their families because they only hosted the yam-seng party after they had successfully located me (through a Chinese-language journalist in Ipoh) and been assured that I would be free to attend it. I was seated at the hosts' table.

Ah Keong and Ah Yin were about 19 or 20 years old when they first appeared in my Kampar constituency office in early 1990s seeking my help to get back their international passports seized by the immigration after they returned from a foreign country where they worked and overstayed. I did fulfill their wish. Now, after some ten years, they have succeeded in their lives as petit bourgeoisie operating a small business in Kuala Lumpur. Those days, they addressed me as YB, now they call me Big Brother (Taiko) On.

I was, of course, touched when Ah Keong and Ah Yin told the party that without my assistance and "brotherly" advice not to waste their hard-earned money from working overseas on gambling, karaoke and donation to superstitious cults, they would have ended up like some of their friends who are still working in the kitchens of some China Town restaurants in some foreign countries. That was my quiet advice those days given to many other Ah Keongs and Ah Yins who came to my office seeking assistance of similar nature.

Ah Yin also said: " Now we work hard to earn even more money so that baby girl would one day go to further her studies in Ausralia like you ... "

Very good idea indeed to keep life full of hope, purpose and direction. Yam Seng !