Yesterday the once-postponed reunion 2 of MHS staff finally took place at the Meridda Hotel,Klang. About 80 people came, and I didn't recognize 90% of them, mostly from the drivers' group. For one, age has changed their faces. But secondly, the recruitment by Hussin and staff never involved me, and once recruited they were on the road all the time. They only dealt with the Finance and Operations boys. They hardly bumped into me, unless some urgent matters made them approach me.
I'm glad I came. Besides Hussin, Ramli and Sam, Yoke Ling and Onn and his wife, Mas, were there.Of course there was Sadiah and Rozi, but many that I expected to see didn't turn up. Yoke Ling hasn't age one bit. Sadiah has grown on the wrong side of plump, and I said so. Later I found out there was karaoke and dancing. I would have loved to dance with Yoke Ling and Sadiah, especially Sadiah, because the last time we had our annual dinner while still serving, I had pulled her on to the dance floor, but she was surprisingly reluctant. I knew of course her fiance, also a staff, was there,too. He became her first husband, but the marriage didn't last. Even before getting married Sadiah would refer to him when with me by touching her ear. The guy had a slightly disfigured ear. Wonder what happened to him.
It's 24 years since I left MHS. I was the first GM, and we started with 3 people at MISC HQ at Jalan Conlay KL. Later on in the same year we moved to our temporary office at the North Port, with admin in the newly built office block, and workshop and operations in a couple of containers. Much later in the year we finally moved to our permanent offices and yard at the "Taiwanese Village". Mahathir officiated these new premises with pomp & glory. I took him up on one lorry bearing registeration no. 2021. When I pointed this out to him, he promptly said "the year after" showing how sharp he was.
The MC asked me to say a few words as the first to be picked. I think "the few words" became a gushing stream of anecdotes that stretched somewhat, but the frown growing on the face of the MC signalled I should stop. I mentioned about the passage of time and the joy of seeing our children grow and succeed in life, and I said I was mentioning it not to show off, because everybody has his own success story. Onn has a son who's an Australian-trained doctor, where Onn himself went to university in Australia. Yoke Ling's eldest daughter just graduated from a Fashion College in New York. And so the story goes round, I said.
I had to leave even before food was served, because I had to catch the last train, and it was 9.15 already. I made Sam take me in his car all the way to KLSentral, and I made it to the last train that left at 11.
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