Grandpa - Mr. Yap Tai Pit

Grandpa looking sharp and dashing in his younger days.

Angelina & I were on our way back from KL after BB EXCO meeting Sunday 20th July, 2008 at 9:00 pm when I received the disheartening news that Grandpa (Ah Kong) has been promoted to glory peacefully at 8:45pm.

On 23rd July, 2008 I delivered the following eulogy in the English wake / memorial service conducted by Agape Presbyterian Church at Ah Kong’s house at No. 5, Jalan Merbau, Kluang:-

Grandpa and Grandma's marriage certificate

Today, we, the living will continue to seek to honour Grandpa’s (Ah Kong’s) memory in our daily lives following the example of Grandpa …. seeing how Grandpa lived rather than how he died.

What is grandpa like to me?

I am his favourite grandchild in my childhood and I spend a lot of time with him. Every school holiday I am by his side. If I miss a holiday he will go down Muar to get me.


- Compassionate / Community leader.
Remember the great flood in Kluang? Grandpa in thick of action in service to the less fortunate. As a small boy with Ber Ku we saw him tirelessly helping the flood victims sheltered at Chung Hwa Chinese High School across the field.

I will let you all in on a secret … Years later, he distinctly gave me instructions NOT to play any role in evicting squatters from his sawmill land saying that they have no other place to go.

When grandpa was commissioned to do the calligraphy for the cemetery in Jalan Batu Pahat, he was given a choice lot. Even this was “sold” and the proceeds donated to charity namely; the Chinese High School education Fund


- generous
Grandpa has made several trips to China. I remember on many of those trips he would bring with him clothes, sleeping bags, etc. Then he comes back empty handed with only his underwear in a paperbag, giving all he had to the needy relations in China.


- love for his family
We all love playing in the rain. Doing the superman stunt sliding across puddles of water in fields.
Grandpa wakes up at the creak of dawn everyday and with his pair of pliers would painstakingly remove all the mimosa from school field. His rationale is so his grandchildren can play barefooted with out being cut by the thorns.


- gentle
I was unfortunate enough to have dry skin, now this trait passed to my son. Grandpa would spend many hours just rubbing his palm and fingers through my hands arms and leg seemingly to try and smoothen the roughness off. Years on after I married, he would hold Lee Poh’s hand and “scold” me. “Chin Ho siang teh it boh ho, hai Lee Poh cho kang ani thiam, cho kar chew ani choor” (translated : Chen Foh you are no good, forcing Lee Poh to work so hard, work until her hands are so rough)

Grandpa with me and Lee Poh - taken CNY 18th February 2007

- loves calligraphy and Chinese chess
I am a major disappointment in this area, being English educated and more inclined to international chess, so I will quickly skim over this part.


- supportive
After MCE he fixed me up to work at his friend’s plastic factory and then fixed me up to take driving lessons. Of course after getting my driving license I became his driver. I learnt how to negotiate corners, how to read on-coming lights and how to accelerate up to overtake. His master lesson is how to go slow when approaching a bridge .. he never told me why but I found out that he had once crash into and veered off a bridge, thus his phobia of bridges.


- for education and self improvement
Grandpa is one who believes in education. When I finished my HSC, he instructed me to apply for universities in UK and based on my forecast results and the MCE results, secured unconditional acceptance in all the UK universities I applied for. I felt then that I could easily get into a local university and didn’t pursue this UK option. Then my 3rd & 5th uncles and 5th Aunty were already in Birmingham.
There was no scolding nor harsh words when he heard I joined the cop-shop (police force). Even less when I was posted to Penang, his kiddy haunt.

- art of communication
Grandpa makes an effort to listen. I remember on many occasions over the dinner table with everybody talking and eating, Grandma (Ah Mah) will quietly say something. After a while Grandpa will also quietly answer…. All this while the rest of us are making a din. Grandpa listened and he answers.

(At this point the sound system breaks down … seemingly to tell me I have said enough!!)

Family Photo circa 1962. That's me at standing extreme right front

... yeah, the goodlooking one.

Well grandpa may be now in a better place with Ah Mah by his side. But he still lives in us, his offsprings. His character traits are apparent in all his descendents. His business acumen, his generosity, community concern, his chess prowess, literacy skills, compassion, love, care, concern, every single virtue is inherited by his descendents. We are all living walking examples of his virtues and to our dying breath we will still be replicas of Grandpa. He will continue to live in all of us his descendents.

Grandpa with Malcolm (Left), Matthew (Right) and Amanda (Beside) taken CNY 18th February 2007

5th July, 2008, Malcolm at Taylors

Malcolm checked in at Taylors today, 5/7/2008.
We arrived early but the place was already packed like sardines. Ratio: 1 student to about 5 stragglers (eg. mum, dad, grams, aunties, siblings, maid)

The JPA people were there to check on the paperwork (agreement, indemnity, bank accounts) and to deliver a briefing (the usual thing about study hard, need 80% every semester, don’t get married …). Like registering into a Chinese school, we were pleasantly surprised that the scholars were handed a pre-prepared envelope with detailed instructions and the keys to their accommodation units.

Apparently there is no such certificate called the International Canadian Pre-University Course (ICPU) at Taylors. They will prepare their students to take the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. Apparently the diploma is provincial but globally widely accepted.

Of the 140 odd JPA scholars to undergo the ICPU, only 6 had been selected for Veterinary medicine. They will have to study science for 2 years at degree level, get excellent results, before being streamed into Veterinary science. That’s a 4 year course for Veterinary Medicine, bringing the total to 6 years abroad. That’s a long time…. and word has it that there are only 6 places for international students in Canada. Go figure……

Then JPA did a boo-boo …. the collection of documents from the scholars were haphazardly and unsystematically done. Stacks of documents including agreements, medical forms, indemnity, statement of financial affairs, photographs, copies of NRIC, Bank account details etc were collected by volunteers without any offer or visible method of securing the stack. Most resorted to sticking their stack into the agreement booklet. Anyway most of the JPA scholars were subsequently called up during the briefing on their actual ICPU course by the Taylors director of studies and the whole thing was quite distracting.

Later, while the JPA scholars were herded into another briefing hall to be instructed in the do’s and don’ts of their accommodation, the guest stragglers were treated to catered buffet lunch courtesy of Taylors. We decided that bak-kut-teh nearby would be a more logical choice and hopped over to Asia Café. The surrounding hinterland is littered with food joints and so I don’t expect Malcolm to go hungry anytime during his stint in ICPU.

The Taylors’ people had buses to ferry students to their accommodation at Casa Subang, a spanking new condo complex situated behind Mydin, Giant and Summit USJ. How on earth can the student study what with such distractions like shopping centres …. Then again with shopping centres, comes food courts … maybe it is for the better.

We braved a drive rather than wait for the bus. Good decision as our unloading was speedy and we could park in the Mydin car-park. Later on those who opted to come by bus had to queue up just to see the insides of the lift…

Malcolm is now at A-19-2 Casa Subang. Block A, 19th Floor and unit 2. The unit has 4 rooms; 3 double rooms and 1 single. Malcolm is placed in the single. No worries that his snoring and his nocturnal letting off gas will bother anyone. The unit comes with Astro and micro-wave and a fridge. Internet access promised but not installed yet. From the sitting room one can see the Kesas toll plaza. His house mates are from all over: Butterworth, JB, Sg Petani, and 2 Malay boys ( one was from Jasin ) who have both since then disappeared from the unit.

We held a family prayer cleansing the room and unit, claiming Jesus’ blood of protection and sanctifying the unit for the use of GOD’s purpose in Malcolm’s life. That peace will prevail and that no principalities of evil can ever find a foothold there.


We came home to BP to a near empty house. With Malcolm away in Klang Valley, our strength is down to 60% BP while KL gets an upped 40%. I came home, walked into Malcolm’s room to return a couple of files and seeing his things still all over the place, stood there for a few long moments to let reality set in; that one more eaglet has flown the coop.


Mummy will miss him most as he is always the one who will spontaneously hug and kiss mummy and daddy all the time. Mum will miss his coming around sniffing her ; .. “ah, mum, you just came back from Carrefour .. I can smell it off your hair” or “you just had mamak food”. Amanda will also miss her master sejarah teacher, her personal chauffeur and the guy who will almost always do her bidding, if asked in a nice way....


Isa 40:31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Psa 121:7-8
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.


Go forth in the strength of the LORD, son, and win the world; for the LORD your GOD is with you.

2nd July, 2008 Matthew's 21st Birthday

Matthew Chong celebrates his 21st birthday today.

It was 21 years ago that GOD blessed us with a bouncing baby boy born at Whipps Cross Hospital, Leytonstone, London, England. The moment he was born we prayed a simple prayer of commitment that this “gift of GOD” (that’s the meaning of the name “Matthew”) will be dedicated to HIS service. Being my first born I requested a double portion of GOD’s blessing and GOD’s favour all his life, his career and his future wife and family. We committed ourselves to seeing to his spiritual development and to love him unconditionally taking the model of how GOD loves HIS children. We prayed that his life will be greatly used by GOD to impact others and that he will grow in Christ-like stature in loving kindness and character.

21 years down Matthew has shown to be mild mannered, as his mother calls him “a gentle giant”. As such any argument would summarily be won by his sister Amanda, dubbed (the top of) “the food chain”. Any argument won would be the start of another argument to be won by the food chain. And Matthew lets his darling sister win, most of the time anyway …..

He is an avid reader and has a vocabulary that few can match. He is a real joy to have around the house. When he missed the JPA scholarship after Form 5, we were disappointed but not sad as we had Matthew for another 2 more lovely years at home. Matthew is not the outdoor type but he had his fair share of camping and drills with the Boys’ Brigade, his passion and fave activity. He is more into the arts than into muscles; playing the piano, violin and the trombone instead of moving turf on the golf course. A firm believer that the pen is mightier than the sword.

Some years back when asked what he wanted to do in life, he would have replied that he had a job opening with his uncle, Dr. SK Koh, DVM, to practise veterinary medicine. Unfortunately Matthew has extremely dry skin eczema and a skin allergy test showed him to be extremely allergic to dog and cat fur. This veterinary mantle is now passed to his brother, Malcolm. His maternal grandpa, Kong-Kong, a long suffering cancer survivor, insists that Matthew take up medicine, what with his excellent academic results scoring full As in STPM with a Band 6 in Muet. Now slogging 2nd year as a medical undergrad in University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) he takes life in its stride, catching a movie and enjoying a sci-fic novel whenever he can get a leisurely couple of hours.

Matthew takes exception to cheese cake, KFC original flavour and McD’s quarter pounders, likes his drinks sweet and his rice wet with soup. He loves his worn out tattered but extremely comfy “home clothes” and he has the uncanny ability to create dog ears on all books unfortunate enough to pass thorough his hands. At home he is never without a book in his hands. And he can read a few books at one time, one for the lounge, one for the study, one for the bedroom, one for toilet, one on top of the piano and one for the dining table, etc. At one time his siblings used to call him (and they still do) “blurr Kor” on account of his not being aware of his surroundings whenever he is engrossed in a book. As a prank we used to put chilli into his food (he used to detest chilli) and watch his reaction when he methodically eats while reading only to jump up when the chilli hits him.

One of his birthdays a few years back, the whole family surprised him with a special birthday cake. We used a durian, placed candles and sang “Happy Birthday” to him when he was half asleep. This year we celebrated with a lavish eat-all-you-want Japanese buffet Shogun restaurant and then had his favourite cheese birthday cake, sharing it with his apartment-mates and his closest friends in UKM.

No thanks to me, who also had dry skin in my younger days, Matthew inherited my dry skin condition and thus the need to daily apply moisturising cream to his skin. He takes take much too much time in the bathroom doing so.

Mum insists on an unwritten but strictly enforced rule that Matthew (for that matter, all members of the family not at home) call her every night just before bedtime, no exceptions, no excuses.

Matthew's birthday 2007

The family Bandar CHONGs prayed on this Matthew’s day that GOD will ordain his path and that GOD who had watched over Matthew in his infancy adolescence and teens will now continue to watch over him in his adulthood. The blessings of redemption and grace will envelope him all the days of his life and he will enjoy long healthy prosperous life to his children’s grand children.

Num 6:24-26
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
The LORD make HIS face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The LORD lift up HIS countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Happy 21st Birthday son. We all love you.