Author: CMR.sg

I managed to pick up this thin volumed essay by Thum Ping Tjin. I have previously read the Albatross Files and found it fascinating. So this was a good companion volume to that book because it provides quite a bit of background information and deals with what the exhibition didn’t cover.

As I suspected after reading the main book, it is clear that Singapore entered into a union with the Federation of Malaya in 1963 on unequal terms, knowing that these terms were not equal, with its eyes open. LKY had agreed to the merger on terms that Malay supremacy in Malaysia would not be questioned and that the PAP would not interfere or participate in Malayan politics. This volume suggests that LKY agreed because of political expediency because he was afraid that PAP would lose the next election in Singapore and at the same time he needed to fix Lim Chin Siong. I find this quite a plausible explanation.

It also becomes understandable why Tunku and the Malaysian politicians didn’t trust or even like LKY and the PAP. To them the PAP wanted the merger to save itself, knew what it was getting itself into and thereafter did its utmost to sabotage it.

An interesting read. Managed to finish it in a day.

Last night was our usual ACS dinner, this time hosted by Jen Howe.

He picked FOC restaurant, a Spanish one, at Keong Saik street. I have never been here and am not really a fan of Spanish food but I was really impressed by the food quality there.

Parking there is always a problem in the evenings and so I arrived there before 630pm. Some of the others who came later had difficulty finding a car park.

The place was packed for a weekday night and was noisy. I found conversation in our private room rather difficult with all the noise.

No deep, meaningful conversation. Just random topics but again just good to catch up. Strangely I noticed that age was catching up with some last night. The oldest there in our group is 78, with 3 others 73 this year. Time is flying by.

I saw Hareyani there at the restaurant and said hello to her. She was with her friends who were celebrating her birthday.

One of my favourite lunch places in KL is Cafe Colombo in TRX. They serve good Sri Lankan food and now they have a great value set lunch for RM19. Choice of rice, 3 vegetables, choice of curries, papadam and appams. You can add on meat dishes, which I did.

They also serve a good masala tea. Went there with Harish. While I was there, I managed to meet their head chef and congratulated him on the good food!

Yesterday when I was in KL, l learnt that K Bhagyaraj had passed away suddenly as a result of a massive heart attack. He was 73.

Again I never knew him personally but he was a massive figure in the Tamil film industry in the late 1970s and 1980s.

He started off as an assistant director in 16 Vayathinilae to Barthiraja, who passed away just 2 weeks. He wrote some of the script for that movie and had a cameo role in that movie. He likewise did that for Sigappu Rogakkal. He then came out on his own and wrote stories, scripts, screen plays and directed and starred in many movies during the 1980s period. Too many to mention.

I always looked forward to watching his movies because of the good storylines, witty dialogues and good acting.

Another passing of an era.

Zooming of to KL for a short trip. Just 3 days but am hoping to see if I can progress with the building of my Anyara Hills. That is the primary focus of this trip. Also Harish will be in KL. Hoping to see if I can catch up with him for a meal.

Am now in the lounge in Colombo waiting to board my flight back to Singapore.

A very short but productive trip. Managed to complete the transaction,visited my apartments in Altair and Twin Peaks, visited my NDB branch and met the manager, banked in the bank drafts at NDB, visited SC bank, bought Sri Lankan cashews, met Shanil and finally had dinner at a wonderful newly opened Indian restaurant, called Charcoal Grill, on the 50th floor of Twin Peaks with Shanil and Shane.

Sri Lanka is always a good place to visit. Wonderful people, good food, good weather and peaceful. Glad that it is doing well and the economy is growing. I see more Chinese living in Colombo. That can only be a good thing for the economy?

Today I had lunch with Steven. I last had lunch with him in April 2024. And I last met him at Patrick Ang’s wake exactly a year ago.

So I was pleasantly surprised when he messaged me on Sunday and asked if I was free for lunch this week and fortunately he picked today, which is just as well as I am flying off tonight.

We met at Violet Oon restaurant at Dempsey. We had a very long lunch till past 3pm. We spoke of many things; Patrick, the firm, the report just released today on why young lawyers are leaving the profession and on the impending changes to the courts and his retirement.

I am glad we caught up. Nice to exchange views and here insights from someone who has been a judge and attorney general.

I am now at the airport waiting to catch my flight to Colombo.

I need to be there to sign some documents at the bank for the sale of a property. I was hoping that I didn’t have to be physically present for the signing and that either a scanned or notorized document would suffice. But of course this being Sri Lanka, I was told I need to be there.

So it will be a very short trip for me. I am there Wednesday to sign the papers and I fly back on Thursday morning.

I do wish I had more time there though. I haven’t been there since Covid and am sure much has changed. There are many people I would like to catch up with again and also a few properties I would have liked to visit. If I had more time I would certainly have wanted to go to the Willows. But that’s a 4 hour journey into the mountains and I would need a week to do that properly. So I shall plan another trip soon!

The last time I had lunch with Ashwani, I suggested we try the black pepper crab at Long Beach before he finished his Singapore posting. He had told me that his 3 year term was up and he should be getting his new posting out anytime soon.

So we met yesterday. He hasn’t received his posting yet but he thinks it would be anytime soon. Well I am not sure either one of us would find a common time once he receives his notice to catch up again, so this was my farewell lunch for him.

As always, we spoke about many things, india-china relations, us-india relations, racial matters in Singapore etc. It is always good to get the perspective of an intelligent and keen observer of events to see a different point of view.

He enjoyed the black pepper crab and hopefully our paths cross again someday!

I was informed last week that the celebrity chef Alvin Leung, the owner of Forbidden Duck, would be in Singapore yesterday during lunch.

I have always liked the Peking duck there and since he was going to be there as well, I had to go. Managed to get a table for the second sitting. Enjoyed my duck and a quick conversation with him.