Journey with my Creator: Memories of a Dear Friend by Mr Gan

Memories of a Dear Friend

(Lim Peng Leong 2.5.46 - 25.7.15)

I received a call from my good friend Joseph Naden when I was at my Suria Utama Townhouse in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya last month, informing me that our dear friend Lim Peng Leong had passed away. I could not believe what I heard and I asked him to repeat what he said. The next day when I went with Foo Lai Ning, Periasamy, Joseph Naden and Jenny to pay our last respects to Peng Leong in Malacca, I learnt from his son Andrew that his father went for what was thought a normal gallstone operation three weeks before but the surgeon found cancerous tumours spreading inside his body. Peng Leong didn't want to have any treatment and left the hospital. He gave Andrew a list of his friends to be informed after his passing and said, "If you have problem to contact any of them, uncle Gan may be able to help."

Peng Leong passed away peacefully at 1am on Saturday, 25 July 2015 after feeling tired and lost consciousness in the previous evening.

I first met Peng Leong in 1971 when I was sent to Kuala Lumpur Technical School, Jalan Cheras for teaching practice. I was pursuing the Certificate in Education at University of Malaya after graduated from Kuala Lumpur Technical College. He was a big towering fellow and was always wearing a smile. Peng Leong was three years my senior in college and in spite of being a young teacher, he was given important responsibilities by the school principal Mr Xavier Nathan. He was also highly respected by his colleagues and students.

I was posted to Penang Technical School, Jalan Ibbetson in January 1972 after I completed my Education Course in University of Malaya. There I became close to a colleague Koh Moh Tang who was a good friend of Peng Leong. Peng Leong always came back to his parents' house at Jalan Besi, Green Lane, Penang and would spent time with Moh Tang and me.

Moh Tang left Penang Technical School to join the private sector at the end of 1973 and later migrated to Australia. Peng Leong was transferred to Alor Star Technical School in 1972 to assist his principal En. Abdul Razak bin Mohd Sharif in setting up the new school. My relationship with Peng Leong continued as my girl friend (later wife) Siew Lean is from Alor Star and I normally contacted Peng Leong when we were in Alor Star. Peng Leong would invariably call for a dinner together with a group of his colleagues at their favourite haunt, the Cafe Siam in Jalan Kota. There was always a lot of laughter during the gathering. Peng Leong was a carefree bachelor then but one day when he was giving me and Siew Lean a lift from Penang to Alor Star, there was a petite lady sitting in the front passenger seat of his car. I observed that throughout the journey she was constantly and gently wiping off sweat from Peng Leong’s face (The Fiat 850 had no air-conditioning). She was Miss Koay Hock Tin, a teacher from Penang teaching in Alor Star and the future Mrs Lim Peng Leong.

I passed the Council of Engineering (UK) Examinations and was transferred to Ungku Omar polytechnic, Ipoh as a lecturer in January 1976. In May of the same year, I was moved again to Technical & Vocational Education Division (BPTV), Ministry of Education Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur as a Senior Assistant Director. Our destinies intertwined again in 1979 when Peng Leong was posted to BPTV after his return with a Master Degree from University of Wisconsin-Stout, USA under Ministry of Education Scholarship.

My 11 years in BPTV from May 76 to November 87 was one of the most rewarding periods of my career. I worked under a great boss Tuan Haji Mohd Rafik Khan and had a team of dedicated officers with me. Peng Leong was a very competent officer who always gave me good supports. The other officers who had helped me greatly were Foo Lai Ning, Sia Kah Ngan, Tan Hock Ghee, Joseph Naden, Periasamy and Rahman Arif. I have fond memories of our curriculum meetings together with vocational school teachers. In the old days when the Government had limited operating budgets, we could only organise our meetings in low-cost venues. One of our favourite places was the Telecom Training Centre in Malacca which provided us with meeting rooms and hostels. It was not all work and no play for us as we played badminton at the centre’s gym in the evening and spent happy hours at the Portuguese Square at night. Another memorable venue was the NUBE (National Union of Banking Employees) Centre in Port Dickson where the chalets were comfortable and the meals were

good. We used the dining tables in the chalets for meetings, and Peng Leong and I would volunteer to sleep in the living rooms in order to have enough bed rooms for the teachers.

I left BPTV for Ungku Omar Polytechnic as Head of Mechanical Engineering Department (Dec 87 - Jan 98), then as Director of Johor Bahru Polytechnic (Feb - Nov 98) and Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Polytechic (Dec 98 - Jan 05), and retired in January 2005. Peng Leong stayed on in BPTV (Became Technical Education Department in 1996) until his retirement in May 2001.

Peng Leong studied theology and devoted himself to church work after his retirement. After his dear wife Hock Tin passed away in 2012, he moved from Subang Jaya to live with his son Andrew who is now a Pastor in Wesley Methodist Church, Malacca. Andrew is a graduate in Electric Electronics Engineering but left the corporate world for God's calling. Peng Leong’s daughter Audrey is working and living in Australia.

Peng Leong was one of my most admired and respected friends. He was a principled, selfless, humble and simple man. He will be dearly missed...

Gan Chee Kuan

August 2015