Roland Ng - A Tribute

When he passed peacefully on June 10 at age 89, Uncle Roland, the eldest of 11 siblings, had lived a long and eventful life.

Uncle Roland [Left] and his brother, Uncle Robert, receiving
their trophies as a successful doubles pair in a tournament.

On June 16 when my post …and another, makes four funerals was published, I received comments and feedback from various family members and some readers.

I can imagine the stress and sorrow that Uncle’s youngest son, Jesse, experienced because he was unable to come back to Johor Baru to attend his mother’s funeral in May and his father’s send-off in June, all due to the movement control and lack of flight tickets from Sarawak.

In fact, his text message to thank me for the recollections about his father – that inevitably made him feel sadder – included five emoticons for tears and crying…

Meanwhile, Uncle Arthur who lives across the causeway in Woodlands, Singapore, was also heartbroken because he was literally, So near and yet so far away!

Grandfather [2nd from Left] with his six sons, [L to R] Boon, Robert, Roland, Arthur, Victor and Billy 

With the borders between our two nations still closed during the Recovery Movement Control Order, he was deeply saddened because he could not come to JB to give his eldest brother a personal send-off.

A Catalina blossom blooming in
Aunty Polly's garden from a plant given
her by eldest brother, Uncle Roland.

Cousin Malcolm dug through his old albums and discovered a precious photo of his late father, Uncle Robert, who partnered Uncle Roland as a triumphant doubles pair, receiving their trophies in a prize presentation ceremony.

He captioned the photo: “Reforming a successful pairing!”

Thanks to his late mother who was an avid photographer, he has a vast collection of old photos including this very rare shot of grandfather with his six sons (in order of seniority) our uncles, the Ng brothers Roland, Robert, Billy, Arthur, Victor and Boon.

Then a reader Lorong Rambai wrote via Facebook, “I remember him well. He used to play badminton at the Tampoi soft drink warehouse with others. RIP.”

When I shared this feedback with our extended family, it triggered off a lively chat about this badminton court at the Fraser & Neave (F&N) bottling plant at Jalan Tampoi where the Ng brothers including Uncle Roland, used to train and play.

Cousin Dennis – who was then about 10 years old – recalled going to the badminton court with his father, Uncle Billy.

Uncle Roland carrying baby Bernice

Young Dennis’ keen eyes observed that some of the players smoked and they used the empty soft-drink bottles as ashtrays!

He also remembered that the friendly F&N staff would sometimes present the players with an entire crate of soft-drinks, with their best compliments.

We quickly digressed to a discussion about the colloquial name for bottled soft-drinks in Teochew/Hokkien dialect, pok-chui.

Soft-drinks in bottles or cans are carbonated drinks, often called fizzy drinks or soda pop probably due to its fizz and pop, so it is no wonder that the colloquial name for soft-drinks ended up as pok-chui!

Dennis, who is conversant in Teochew, was quick to explain that the traditional name for bottled soft-drinks was derived from the “pop” sound when the bottle cap was opened.

Our knowledge on soft-drinks and its various names widened when Dennis shared his experience in China where some vendors called canned soft-drinks, shou-la-guan, a phrase in Mandarin derived from the act of opening the canned drink by pulling the ring on top of the can with a finger!

A we-fie: Bernice with Uncle Roland

Speaking of fingers, Dennis shared his own memories of Uncle Roland who was then based at the Health clinic at the Lumba Kuda Flats also known as the 15-Storey Flats in JB.

It was a school day back in 1978 when Dennis – then a Standard Two kid – accidentally got his pinky finger slammed by a door at St Joseph’s School.

His father rushed Dennis to the nearest clinic helmed by Uncle Roland at the Flats where his entire fingernail had to be removed and the wound carefully stitched up.

Dennis insisted and I quote, that it was, “The best stitch ever, with an invisible scar!”

He even showed proof by sending a photo of his pinky with the stitched spot marked by double “x” to indicate that the scar was in fact, not visible!

Then Aunty Polly brought us back on track with her comment, “Hey, I too played on that court!” And went on to describe that the court in the factory warehouse was surrounded by empty crates.

From Dennis: Proof of invisible stitches on his pinky!

“Sayang no photos to show to players who only play in air-conditioned halls!” she lamented.

I knew she was referring to the new generation of pampered players who could only play the game in particular conditions, unlike those days when badminton players still performed well whether in indoor non-air-conditioned halls or at outdoor courts.

Aunty also reminisced on the passing of Uncle, “My big brother is gone. Really will miss his idioms, badminton scores and wild boar stories.”

Meanwhile her daughter, cousin Bernice who lives in the UK, shared her fond memories of visiting Uncle whenever she was back home, with a lovely we-fie shot.

It was such a precious photo particularly as we could compare it against an old photo of Uncle Roland carrying baby Bernice, shot in the garden of No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng.

Wilfred J. Lakus is between Uncle Roland [Left]
and Aunty Elizabeth [Right]

Then I received another feedback message from a reader, Wilfred J. Lakus, who asked if I remembered him?

I must admit that I found his question difficult to answer because I had no recollection about when our paths may have crossed.

A glance at his Facebook profile told me that he is based in Sarawak and was a Navy Veteran. At first, I thought Uncle Arthur, also retired from the Navy, may be acquainted with him but I was wrong.

A search in Wilfred’s photo album revealed several photographs taken with Uncle Roland and Aunty Elizabeth in their home in Kota Tinggi, but I still could not recognise Wilfred from the photos.

CNY 2019:Aunty Elizabeth giving
ang pau to Wilfred's grand-daughter

Then cousin Jesse explained that Wilfred was a close friend of his eldest brother, Jeffery, that he lived in the same district in Sarawak and they also sometimes met in town.

By this time, Wilfred might have realized that I could not remember him because he sent another old photo that showed me posing in the same shot with him, cousin Jeffery and Aunty Sylvia!

One glance at this shot reminded me that Wilfred was with Jeffery, Uncle Roland and his family as guests, at our annual Christmas party one Christmas Day so long ago.

We too have a copy of this photo in our album but the Wilfred in this group shot looked quite unlike the Wilfred seen in the recent photos with Uncle and Aunty.

Wilfred declared that Uncle and Aunty were like his parents while he was with the Royal Malaysian Navy based in Woodlands, Singapore, and had treated him like one of their sons.

His last visit with Uncle and Aunty along with his family and grand-daughter, was during Chinese New Year 2019.

Thank you everyone, for sharing your comments and feedback. It is so precious to know that you treasure such fond memories of Uncle and Aunty. Thank you.