Sow Hoong's & Linda's Visit to Malaysia

Sow Hoong aka Joey Tan & wife, Linda were recently back in Malaysia for a holiday & spent a few days in BM & on Penang Island. While here, they were taken on an eco tour at Nandaka Vihara Meditation Centre located in the vicinity of the Cherok To’Kun Forest Reserve. True to our Malaysian roots, any tour would not be deemed complete without a sampling of our still relatively cheap, delicious & famous hawker food & some exotic local restaurant fare before they continued their vacation in KL, where another group of ex HSBM guys took over the itinerary. 

Just to help some of you recapitulate, Sow Hoong left HSBM in form five year ’76 & continued his education at a technical college in Penang before furthering his studies in Canada. A few years later, he got married to his beautiful & charming Hongkong wife there. He has worked in a bank & is now a Correctional Officer in one of the most notorious prisons in Canada. 

He has been back to Malaysia off & on. His last trip was in 2001 but he never had the opportunity to reconnect with his old school chums whom he had lost touch with until recently thanks to Facebook & Youtube. We, the BM guys managed to capture on video some of the highlights of Sow Hoong’s & Linda’s short stay with us & of course some few mouth-watering shots of the scrumptious food that they got to feast on.  

Well, seeing is believing. Have a look at the photos, courtesy of Irene & Ah Hong, & short video clip below. We promise that they will make you guys who have left Malaysia want to come back for the same & perhaps more?

Video clip

A Celebration of Life

On 11 March 2001, Wong Stanley departed this world prematurely owing to neither ill health nor physical impairment but a most unfortunate highway accident. He was aged 42, still in his prime & living life to the fullest. His death was a shock to his family, colleagues, students and friends who were too stunned to react to this piece of tragic news. In April 2012, a group of his childhood friends & schoolmates came together to contribute their amateur talents in making this movie to remember him and celebrate his years of existence on this earth.

The idea of making a movie to commemorate Stanley’s life & the happy times that he shared with his friends was first mooted by Khor Ah Lek who came back from Sweden for a vacation in July 2011 but the actual filming process did not quite take off due to a number of reasons. The emotional nature of the subject made it difficult to broach it to those who were close to him at one time or another, and coupled with the Chinese New Year celebrations that were to follow, forced the producers to put the project on the ‘back burner’.

Interest in the project was reignited & given a nudge by some celestial forces which set into motion a series of events that seemingly happened by pure coincidence, including the return of Joey Tan aka Tan Sow Hoong from Canada & Khor Ah Lek making his third trip back to Malaysia within a span of eight months for his mother’s funeral. This presented the opportunity to interview some of those who knew Stanley well while every effort was made to track down as many of his friends as possible, quite a monumental task in reality, as quite a number of them have moved away from his hometown or emigrated. Nevertheless, the comments made by the handful that remained proved to be just as poignant & meaningful & in a way represented what the majority would have felt even though they were not present for the filming. Special thanks must be given to Shirley Wong, who loaned us the priceless photos of her late brother, without which, this movie would not have been successfully made.

The producers are proud to present to you the completed video clips made with lots of love, a few drops of tears & a dash of humour for your enjoyment. Part 1 consists of the interviews of the participants while Part 2 is a slideshow made from the photos mentioned above.

A Celebration of Life (Pt 1)


A Celebration of Life (Pt 2)