Aunty Polly has her way of honouring the memory of her
late father.
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| A formal studio shot of the Ng family, grandfather and grandmother with their 11 children |
She would buy and eat grandfather’s favourite kueh
koleh kacang (Malay delicacy made with mung beans) and cook his favourite
dish, steamed salted pork belly.
While obeying the prevailing nationwide Movement
Control Order (MCO), she lamented that it was impossible to get kueh koleh
kacang from her regular Nyonya kueh shop this year because it was closed.
The MCO however, did not stop her from preparing a
dish of steamed salted pork belly at home to savour for dinner in fond memory
of her dear father.
I know because Aunty shared her lament with me and
sent me a photograph of her dishes for dinner on March 30 where I spotted the juicy
slices of steamed salted pork belly.
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| Grandfather with his grandchildren, the children of his first three children |
I’m pleased that my Stop and smell the Bunga Raya
piece, with a brief recollection of grandfather’s passing on March 30 some 40
years ago, evoked reactions from family members.
In her response, Aunty Polly shared two group photos
from her album, one of grandfather with his grandchildren and the other with
the family celebrating grandfather’s birthday.
Grandfather was father of 11 children. While the
grandchildren from his older children had the privilege to interact with him
and have their own memories of grandfather, the grandchildren from his younger
set of children have never met him.
That is why an article by Bobby Chee published in The
Star dated 16 April 1980 that featured grandfather at his passing headlined, Ngoh
Tee – Johore’s Maker of Champions, is so precious.
Grandfather or Ah Kong to his grandchildren,
was the fifth son in the Ng family and was named Ngoh Tee, where ngoh in
Teochew dialect means five or the fifth.
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| The old newspaper cutting from The Star, April 1980 |
Readers are familiar with my “grandfather stories” featured
in My Johor Stories, some of which have been documented in my series of
books, My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage and My
Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People.
Under Memories, I shared childhood memories of
growing up in grandfather’s house, a double-storey bungalow with an adjacent
badminton court, formerly located at No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng.
Where champions were born, has a description of the house where my siblings and
cousins used to lodge with our grandparents so we could conveniently walk to
school.
At that time, our parents were based in the Health
Sub-Centre in Masai for work, (Read: Going Back to Masai-chusetts) and
as we were already attending schools in Johor Baru, they decided it was best
for us to stay with our grandparents and continue with our education here.
In Family Ties, I shared about our link with
the Wong family in Johor Baru and revealed how grandfather met with the Wong
brothers when he was visiting their neighbourhood in the 1930s while he was
courting our grandmother.
At that time, the Wong family and their extended families lived
in the san pah or new settlement that was developed around a
freshwater pond near Jalan Ah Siang and Jalan Lumba Kuda.
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| A studio shot of grandfather and his lovely daughters, [L to R] Sylvia, Lily, Lucy, Annie and Polly |
Grandmother and the Wong brothers were cousins. And
when the Wong brothers recognised grandfather as the four-time Johor state badminton
champion, they asked him to coach them in the game.
Happy to win their favour – particularly when he was
courting their cousin sister – grandfather gladly agreed and helped the Wong
brothers to build a court in their compound under the chiku tree, where
he started to train them.
Then in 1936, the Wong brothers, Peng Yee, Peng Nam
and Peng Soon, formed a team with grandfather to win the Foong Seong Cup, a
challenge trophy donated by a Chinese businessman.
When Tan Sri Mohamed Khir Johari became president of the
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) in 1960, he renamed the trophy, the
Khir Cup.
While the Wong brothers were skilled badminton
players, the most outstanding and talented among them was Peng Soon who went on
to become one of the greatest singles players in the early
post-war period.
He was four-time winner of the All-England singles title and a
member of our first Thomas Cup team who won the inaugural tournament held in
Preston, England, and brought home the trophy in 1949.
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| Grandfather was four-time Johor badminton champion in the 1930s |
Malaysia, then known as Malaya, was the only Pacific zone
participant and beat Denmark 8-1 to become the first nation to win this
prestigious title!
The inaugural games in 1949, was to become the most important
men's badminton competition in the world.
Wong Peng Soon did not have a foreign coach but he became a
world-class player, acknowledged as one of the greatest badminton players of
all time.
He was probably born with a gift in the game and with a good
coach and the right attitude, he excelled in his game.
Grandfather had his own badminton club, the Companion Badminton
Party where badminton enthusiasts joined in the daily training at our badminton
court in No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng.
He not only trained badminton greats like Wong Peng Soon, but
also equipped his children with the skills and tactics to become champions.
His eldest son, Uncle Roland was Johor champion for consecutive
years, taking over from his father who was reigning Johor champion for four
years.
Uncle Roland’s last international title was singles World Veteran
Champion held in Taiwan and he partnered the late Datuk Eddy Choong to win the doubles Veteran
Champion title.
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| Grandfather [Left] with Frank Mongford Still, Richard's grandfather in Johor Baru |
Another son whom grandfather trained to excel in his game was Uncle
Billy who was a member of the 1967 Thomas Cup team who brought the trophy home.
Grandfather’s youngest daughter, Aunty Sylvia, still holds the
prestigious title as the only Asian women to win Gold for badminton in the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada, a record which remains unbroken to this
day.
Uncle Arthur, who was attached to the Royal Malaysian Navy, used
to represent the Navy in badminton tournaments so whenever he was home on
furlough, I remember grandmother would admonish him with, “Tah por wan sek!” in
Cantonese.
Loosely translated this phrase means, “Playing badminton for a
living,” because the bulk of his career seemed to involve playing badminton
rather than in naval duties!
In Book Two of My Johor Stories, I documented Richard’s
Quest which at first, may seem out of place but it was important to put this
on record because we discovered from an archive newspaper cutting that our
grandfathers knew each other!
Richard Dunn, an Englishman in the UK who read my story on
Johor’s Hills and Palaces, came to JB with his wife to visit the
familiar places here that were also recorded in his grandmother’s memoirs, Going
Astern.
Richard, who was rather proficient with online research,
discovered an archive newspaper from the Singapore Library website, published
in the Straits Times dated 1 November 1936.
The first line of a report headlined, “Johore Baru
to hold tournaments,” read:
“At a committee meeting the Johore Baru District
Badminton Association presided over by the vice-president, Mr Ng Ngoh Tee, in the
absence of the president, F.M. Still, it was decided …”
It was indeed a pleasant surprise to discover that
Richard’s grandfather, Frank Mongford Still, and our grandfather not only knew
each other but also worked together in the same badminton association!
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| A formal photo of grandfather and grandmother when grandfather received his Long Service award from the Johor Sultan |
Grandfather’s skills and influence as a badminton player and
coach were exemplary and he is well remembered for instilling a unique champions’
attitude among the players who trained under him.
In addition to badminton, his children, their spouses and
grandchildren who had a relationship with him, have their own memories to
share.
In his memory, Aunty Sylvia shared a formal photograph of her
parents snapped in a photo studio – as it was fashionable in those days – to
document that important occasion when her father was honoured by a Long Service
award by Sultan Ismail, then Sultan of Johor.
Her husband, Uncle Mok addressed this message to his sons, who
had never met their grandfather (and he shared it with the rest of the family
too).
They only have photographs of him and at the 40th
anniversary of his passing, Uncle thought it appropriate to share a brief
portrait of the father of their mother. He said:
“I spent much time with your Ah Kong during those days while
courting mum at No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng. (By the way, they had a 10-year
courtship!)
He was undoubtedly a righteous, disciplined and a no-nonsense
man.
A man of few words but when required of him to voice his
opinions, he spoke without fear or favour.
He had many accolades, but he was never a show-off.
To top it all, he had a good sense of humour and trickery up his
sleeves…
This is my tribute to him, even though its late, but its better
late than never.”
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| Grandfather receiving his Long Service award from Sultan Ismail, the Sultan of Johor |
Then my brother Kenneth, jumped in with his recollections of
being among the boys (along with cousins Philip and Malcolm) who also lodged
with our grandparents, and were often assigned the task of clearing dog poop
from the badminton court in the evenings before the training commenced.
Grandfather had devised a poop pan from an old metal biscuit tin
attached to a broom pole used to collect dog poop (dropped by our pets, Rajan
and Bonzo) by gently putting-in the poop with the flat edge of a separate short
plank, an exercise we fondly referred to as playing golf!
On wet days, the boys would have fun drying the court with old
gunny sacks. One would sit or squat on an outspread gunny sack while the other
would hold its top two corners to drag the sack across wet puddles left by the
rain.
He said tasks such as these were often rewarded by grandfather
who would treat them with a fizzy drink of chilled Coke or Fanta Grape,
conveniently bought from the provision shop next door.
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| Our grandparents with their 11 children; Photo captured on the badminton court at No. 154 |
Besides building a jungle-gym complete with a see-saw for the
children to play, grandfather had also built a wooden bench under the window that
opened from the wall of our next-door-neighbour’s shop.
We could just step on the bench to reach the open window to
place orders for soft drinks – and no matter what time it was – these orders
were quickly served through.
Grandfather always had small change in his little bowl of coins.
Very often he would reward us children with five-cents or ten-cents, which we
were permitted to spend on treats from the neighbouring provision shops.
We could pick from a range of preserved fruits but one of our
favourite treats must be ice-ball which the provision shop uncle made from a
live-action stall.
He would mould shaved ice into a ball and flavour it with rose
syrup with a drizzle of evaporated milk for takeaways, a popular choice with
students.
For those who preferred to eat at the shop, he would serve the
shaved ice on an enamel-coated metal saucer for them to eat with a plastic
spoon.
As for us – the friendly neighbours – we would bring our dinner
plates (much wider than a saucer!) to buy takeaways.
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| A rare shot of grandfather in his garden at No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng |
The provision shop uncle would kindly heap a mountain of shaved
ice over a dollop of sweetened red-beans and top it with syrupy flavours – all
for the princely sum of five-cents!
Then we would bring our sweet treat home and further top it with
more evaporated milk from grandmother’s milk jug (kept in the refrigerator)
before thoroughly enjoying this slushy cool refreshment!
Even after grandfather had retired from active coaching, his
passion for the game kept him at the court side every evening during the training
sessions.
When the serious training started, the court was off-limits for
us children.
But before this, the court was for the children to play our
games – often with our uncles and aunties joining us – for fun as well as for
their warming-up.
To encourage the youngsters to play badminton, grandfather
fashioned rackets with short shafts to match our shorter heights so that we
would not damage the rackets (if we swung the racket and it hit the ground!)
Our cousins, Philp and Malcolm, were pitched against each other
in a singles match – often with an attractive reward – to encourage them to play
with their best efforts.
Sometimes grandfather would pick up a racket to play and he
would challenge his opponent (one of the children!) to try his best to beat
him.
He would
often taunt his opponent by saying that he could (still!) beat him even when he
had one hand tied behind his back!
And yes! Grandfather was the one who introduced us to swashbuckling
heroes like Lone Ranger and his sidekick Tonto, gunfights, cowboys and Indians,
among other heroes, first from his collection of comic books and later, at the
cinema.
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| Grandfather and grandmother with their 11 children and grandchildren in the 1960s; [Front row on the floor, third from Right] That me scratching an unbearable itch on my ear! |
In Escape to the movies, I shared about our thrill of
going to the cinema with grandfather on weekends after we had completed our
share of household chores.
These unforgettable movie treats were my earliest experiences of
watching movies at JB’s landmark cinema halls, Rex and Lido.
Much later when our younger cousins were born, our doting
grandfather would buy gifts of tricycles for them to play. And when they learnt
to pedal, these kids rode their colourful tricycles around the badminton court.
I have yet to mention my introduction to Teochew opera through grandfather's Long-Play vinyl records...Ah…There are just far too many memories about grandfather to
share!
This is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but I hope our
younger cousins who have not met grandfather would get to know more about the
man who was our Ah Kong.
