Mr. Hii Chung Yiong - My Beloved Teacher

Mr. Hii Chung Yiong was my teacher in Chung Cheng Secondary School, teaching Civic and Bahasa Malaysia. Soft in his approach to students, Mr. Hii never raised his voice to his students. As such, he gained a lot of respect from us.

On Chu Yi, Mr. Hii came with his family to my house for a new year visit. We shared on the life of Chung Cheng Secondary School.

It was really a wonderful meet with Mr. Hii.

Chung Cheng Secondary School - Mr. Hii Lik Kwong

I bumped into Mr. Hii Lik Kwong this morning in the lobby of Premier Hotel.

Mr. Hii was a teacher of Chung Cheng Secondary School (now renamed as SMK Chung Cheng) when I was there as a student. Teaching mostly Science and Chinese, Mr. Hii was renowned for clarity in the subjects. He did not cover my class, but on a few occasions he stood in for our class science teacher. Mr. Hii Lik Kwong left me with a good impression.

Hii Lik Kwong had a mastery of fishing. During his spare time at Chung Cheng, he would paddle along Rajang River and fish on the way. From my memory, he seldom came back empty-handed. In fact, most of the times, Mr Hii's catch was quite plentiful.

We chatted for a good while this morning. The old days at Chung Cheng remain the most cherished memories.

A Warm Meet Of Old Buddies

It was an exhilarating meet for Rev. Ting Lieng Tung and Mr. Tie King Hieng. They have been buddies since their school days in Sibu. King Hieng told he still cherishes the old days when they blahed over a plate of kampua.

Rev. Ting presently resides in Canada. He is now in Sibu for a sojourn, meeting up some old friends and recollecting the fading footprints.

Months before Rev. Ting flew back, he called me up to make arrangement for hotel accommodation. It was wonderful to be able to render hospitality to the faithful pastor.

Mr. Tie King Hieng was a senior teacher teaching Additional Maths. during my school days at Chung Cheng Secondary School. His missus Mdm. Ting Siew Chai taught me for one year in Geography and English when I was in Form Two. Both are respectable in the field of education.

We grabbed hold of the opportunity to pose for a group photo. L to R: Mr. Tie King Hieng, Mdm. Ting Siew Chai, Mrs Ting, Rev. Ting Lieng Tung, me.

Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub

I remember Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub as a great leader of Sarawak in the seventies.

One of his most notable achievements was to bring the communists to a roundtable peace-talk that eventually ended the years-long subversive movements in Sarawak. The peace-making was bloodless and it paved the way for Sarawak to prosper.

At that time I was still a student of Chung Cheng Secondary School. I went through the turbulent time and I still have a sea of memories of it.

Beautiful Sunday - driving the world to frenzy

Sunday morning, up with the lark

I think I'll take a walk in the park

Hey, hey, hey, it is a beautiful day

I've got someone waiting for me

And when I see her I know that she'll say

Hey, hey, hey, what a beautiful day...................

It sounds so very familiar to those who went through 70s. Yes, it is part of the lyric of "Beautiful Sunday" , the song by Daniel Boone that drove the whole world frenzy in 1972.

I was then in Chung Cheng Secondary School as a junior student. When the song hit the market, it stirred up and drove teenagers to frenzy. Almost everywhere I went to, I heard singing, humming or buzzing about the hot, hot, hot song! I was literally moved by it!

On a few occasions, I heard Mr. Cheng Sieng Kiong, our Geography teacher, humming the song after class. Wow! Wow! Everybody seemed to be captured by the spell of Daniel Boone.

This is one of the oldies that I cherish very much. My memories flow back to the good old days at Chung Cheng whenever I recollect the beautiful lyric of " Beautiful Sunday".

Old classmates' meet over lunch

We met long, long after we left Chung Cheng Secondary School (now called SMK Chung Cheng) this afternoon. From memory, we only had one or two organised get-together, but thereafter, we have not had any proper old classmates' gathering.

Mr. Ting King King provided this wonderful opportunity for us to chat away and cherish the old days' memories- we were being invited to his son's wedding reception lunch at Blue Splendour Restaurant.

When we met up, we had had a lot of expressions of surprise, wonder, admiration, etc. Not surprising because we had been out of touch for so long except for a few..There was a lot to catch up, share with and laugh over the old times.

It was a happy meet over a sumptuous lunch. We all left behind contact for a much-desired future gathering.

(In the group photograph: seating left to right

Hii Leng Ngo, Hii Ai Bing, Ngieng Hung Yien,

Wong Leh Ting, Ting Huong Hee,

Law Siew Kiew

standing left to right

Tiong Toh Chiong, Hii Doh Ming,

Tiang Hua Ung & Mrs, Ting King King & Mrs

Tie King Tai, Chieng Yew Hoon, Lau Sie Guo,

Hii Tiing Khen)