The LPI AGM with Edwin

I met Edwin and his girlfriend while attending the LPI AGM at the Shangrila in KL on 17 March 2014.

Chew Sang Peng-Wake and Cremation

Life Goes On

I and my wife started for Nirvana Memorial Park Shah Alam to pay our last respects to our buddy friend, Chew Sang Peng who departed us so suddenly.

Born on 10 November 1946, he had a life on earth short of 68 years old.

But I believe he had one rich life that he had lived to the hilt in his own way!

He had more life in his years!

We (me and the wife) started off at 11.20 am and got there to Nirvana in record time.

Nobody was there at the crematorium and so we did our walk-about at the park looking at the columbriums and other facilities. Soon, a staff of Nirvana helped us get back to the crematorium by giving both of us a ride in his buggy car.

The hearse carrying the remains of Chew then arrived with gospel music being played from the hearse station wagon.

A bus carrying the New Life Restoration Church congregation soon arrived too and so did many of Chew's relatives.

Thankfully, Mrs Chew got Chew's sister and his daughter Sarah to fly back from Sydney.

Mrs Chew told us that she spoke quietly to Chew pleading him to just let go and he did just that at 8.08 pm yesterday night (17 March).

The body was then taken to the mortuary managed by Nirvana in Salak South before it was brought to Shah Alam today for the cremation.

After an eulogy from his childhood friend Mr Wong, we sang Amazing Grace and Because of You  in full gusto and in unison. The church pastor then delivered a short message of the afterlife and that  we must rejoice as Chew is in a better place.

We then filed one by one by his coffin, to take a last look at his  face ever so calm in sweet slumber.

Chew's sisters cried bitterly at his going.

As if on cue, we placed our white chrysanthemums offerings on the coffin.

Then the coffin rolled into the crematorium oven to be burned.

Apparently it will take only 40 minutes to burn.

Mrs Chew told us that she will collect the ashes tomorrow to be strewn into the South China Sea.

No ashes will be kept in an urn in memorial. That's the way Chew wanted it as his last wish.

Before we could leave, it rained dogs and cats.

To me, the heavy rain is a sign that God is with Chew and symbolises that a great child of God has just passed on into the heavenly realm.

Farewell my friend as you find your new place on the right hand side of God in the heavenly city of Zion.

Good-bye.

The Passing On of Chew Sang Peng

Columbrium

It was distressing to receive an sms after midnight from his wife that he has passed on in the late evening of 17 March 2014.

I knew that the palliative treatment regime was a slow go for Sang Peng as they reduced medication to his body for a comfortable exit and departure.

By Sunday, he was transferred to the 11th Floor of the Menara Utama; an indication that the end is near and it will be quick.

Today, he will be cremated at the Nirvana Crematorium in Section 21 , Shah Alam at 1 pm;some ashes will be kept in an urn at the nearby columbarium while the rest will be disposed at sea by the funeral home on behalf of his family.

Crematorium

Sadly his children, Sarah and Daniel will not be here to see the father off as they are in faraway Australia.

Today saw a passing of a great friend.

Good-bye.

Too Much of a Good Thing is Wonderful-A Biopic of Liberace

The HBO movie, directed by Steven Soderbergh called " Behind the Candelabra" is a credible biopic of the rise and fall of Liberace.

A gifted showman, Liberace was a wizard on the piano who  kept his life as a homosexual under wraps as he indulged in the gay world in the early days of AIDS .

Today, Elton John mirrors Liberace in some way; himself a gay too.

That Liberace finally succumbed to AIDS just like Freddy Mercury and Rock Hudson did not dampen his fame as the rhinestone performer that reinvented himself with flowing white robes, glittering, red garbs and a candelabra on the piano.

Liberace and Scott

Great made-for-tv movie to watch with  naughty dialogue and gay action  from Michael Douglas as Lee-Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson.

Noble Thoughts

These are truly noble thoughts.

Live it and be blessed by it.

Truth in Living

Faith in the Lord

How true

Recalling the Times with Chew Sang Peng

Where We Experienced Typhoon Edna

I first knew this man sometime in the mid 80s.

He was placed as the Deputy in the Research Division of the Housing Ministry to help in technical research in housing.

He was a constant lunch companion and showed me good eating places such as the Koon Kee Wantan Mee shop and the former Section 14 Bah Kut Teh.

It was with him that I went for a tour of Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Experiencing an Earthquake in Taichung

Together, we experienced one fantastic earthquake in Taichung as well as went through and saw the ravages of typhoon Edna in Hong Kong.

We took time from the tour agenda to visit Chang Kai Shek museum and made a bee-line for Macau to give lady luck a chance at the slot machines.

 I scored a triple seven and won some money before departing for Hong Kong on a fast hovercraft.

Chew taught me many things on tour. Go to a supermarket to check on prices before you go to the street or night markets.

We also went to look at the red-light district in Taipei and for the first time I saw a street adorn in pink hues.

Chew and me also dabbled on the stock market, spending our short  lunch time looking at quotes in a former Bursar trading headquarters in Bukit Damansara with its large boards and saw prices been manually marked up and down .

I will write some more as my  memory help bring back the times I had with this gentleman.

The Setting Sun Possibly for Chew 

I have prayed for him daily for almost a year after I knew he was down with third stage colon cancer.

Visiting Chew Sang Peng at the UH

The Strength of Prayer to the Lord

Dateline: Time: 15 March 2014(Saturday)

It was a rude shock for me to get a phone call from Mrs. Chew that Sang Peng is now on palliative care at the University Hospital where he is being treated currently.

He came in on Tuesday (11 March) because of jaundice and his condition has worsened.

He is treated in Room 8 of the Surgical Ward, 7th Floor, Menara Utama of Universiti Hospital .

I called some old friends  who knew Chew on the phone as well as put out a message on the email.

 Joyce responded that she felt sad at this happening and Soraya and Kooi Ming felt the same.

Cheng Hong said she will visit him in UH and Francis said he will go to see Chew to pray for him once he has the first opportunity.

Choo Peen and I rushed to see him at the visiting hour window of 5-7 pm today.

We comforted Mrs Chew and asked her to be strong.

Chew was unconscious and was on oxygen support as well as morphine.

Mrs. Chew told us that the doctors are slowly reducing the medicine but has kept the morphine on a steady dose to assure Chew  a comfortable exit.

With some close friends from the Life Church ,we all prayed to Almighty God in the name of Lord Jesus for a miracle to happen here to restore Sang Peng to good health.