Goh Boon Huk & me were having the delicious giant crab from Kepulauan Mentawai (a group of island facing Sumatra Barat) in one seafood restaurant in Padang on 21.10.2006. The crab weighed slightly more than 2 kg. We were in Padang to catch AirAsia flight to Kuala Lumpur (TLCC) on the following morning. I had to travel more than 10 hours from Jambi because all flights were cancelled as the Sultan Thaha airport in Jambi was closed down due to very thick haze. Pak Goh travelled all the way from Bengkulu and his journey took more than 8 hours.The flight from Padang to Kuala Lumpur took us just 1 hour & 10 minutes.
Boon Huk & me were in IOI’s Regent Estate, Gemencheh, Negeri Sembilan, in 1994/95. He was my Senior Assistant then. Both of us resigned for better prospect in other plantation companies in May/June 1995. He went to work in Sabah and later in Kalimantan Barat. Then he came back and rejoined IOI and was posted back in Regent Estate as Manager. I last caught up with him was during the Chinese New Year in 2005 when he was the Manager in Segamat Estate. We did not meet up again after he returned to Indonesia working in Bengkulu since May 2005.
It was a joyful evening when we met again in Padang as both of us were catching the same flight back to Malaysia during the long holidays of Lebaran (Hari Raya Puasa). We laughed and talked about the good old days in Regent Estate. We used to have the best coffee in Gemencheh town at Alek's shop after working hours and once in awhile we went for dinner in a Chinese restaurant, Tebung. The owner was Mr. "No Problem" who was a good karaoke singer. After dinner,we used to sing along just to release our stress and having so-called "lung exercise". We were happy working as a team together with the other Assistant, Micheal Tan, our Chief Clerk, Mr. Narayanan, and our field conductors. With such a close relatioship, we were seriously committed during working hours.
2 comments:
Dear KP,
Ur stories are interesting. Planters have a lot of stories to share. A xifu is a wise man. A wise man must spin good tales to train his followers otherwise they'll fall asleep listening to u.
So a xifu's tales must be more interesting than adventures in dreamland. A planter's goldmine is in the trees, so u have ur golden ur golden crop in oil palm. A planter's golden harvest is his big fat pay at the end of the month.
U have been a good father, able to put food on the table and mortar boards on ur children's heads. Hope they'll reciprocate ur what u have done for them. Now u even have to leave ur family behind to work in another country after ur retirement in Malaysia. Ur effort is really admirable. Hope God is with u always.
My achievement is only 20% of yours. You deserve to be a proud planter and a father
Dear Kong Peng, It was an enormous crab,the biggest I have eaten so far! I will always cherish and remember the good old days with you in Regent Estate.You are my mentor and as well a good friend.So do keep in touch Xifu!
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