My Johor Stories at Rotary JB Sentral

 

Friends at the Rotary Club of Johor Bahru are familiar with me and My Johor Stories probably because over the years, many of my reports on the Club’s activities were published in Johor Streets, a pull-out section of The New Straits Times.

 

With Club President, Dr Maria Fernandez

Since the first My Johor Stories book was launched in 2017, I had the privilege to be guest speaker at their meetings, not once but three times.

 

At the recent meeting of the Rotary Club of Johor Bahru where I was their guest speaker, I met with Rotarian John Cheah, an honorary member of the Rotary Club of Johor Bahru Sentral who did not hesitate to invite me as guest speaker to share about My Johor Stories with the Rotary Club of Johor Bahru Sentral.

 

I was delighted to accept his kind invitation as it was yet another opportunity to introduce My Johor Stories to another group of people in Johor.

 

Incidentally, this club holds their regular meetings in the premises of the Johor Area Rehabilitation Organisation or JARO, a Johor brand that I had featured among other proudly Johor brands in the third and final instalment of My Johor Stories.

 

In the week prior to the meeting, I received a promotional poster prepared by the Rotary Club of Johor Bahru Sentral that was circulated among its members.

 

That evening, I arrived at JARO for the meeting and while walking from the carpark, I was greeted by a JARO staff who was familiar with me. This was proof of the many years that I have been working with JARO to share about this award-winning NGO and their activities with the community.

 

A section of the meeting room

When I entered the meeting room, I was warmly welcomed in by my dear friend, Dr Maria Fernandez, who was Club President for the Rotary year 2024/2025.

 

As members and their guests trickled in, it struck me that other than Rotarians John Cheah and Dr Maria, I was unfamiliar with everyone gathered in that room. To me this was indeed an excellent opportunity to introduce My Johor Stories to them.

 

Another view of the meeting room

While the Club meeting started with its formal opening and welcome address by the Seargent at Arms, I was pleased with how the members sat back comfortably and paid keen attention to my storytelling.

 

I later learnt that many attendees at this meeting were not from Johor but have adopted Johor Bahru as their home, and there was much they did not know about Johor even though they may have lived here for many years.

 

It was good to tell them that in its first week since My Johor Stories: True Tales, Real People, Rich Heritage, was launched on 15 July 2017, this book went to the Number One spot of the MPH Non-Fiction Bestsellers list.

 

Photographs on the screen to engage the audience

I was more than pleased when this book was counted among the Best of MPH at end 2017 and this success led to the publication of its sequel, My Johor Stories 2: Interesting Places and Inspirational People, in December 2018.

 

Work on Book Three started in 2019 but its publication was unfortunately delayed by the arrival of the global pandemic.

 

The unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic also caused all the MPH bookstores to be closed in Johor Bahru. As such, I have permission from MPH to keep a small stock of my books for sale to readers who do not like to buy my books online.

 

The Rotary Club meeting opened formally

So it was my pleasure to share briefly with them, some details on the contents of My Johor Stories 3: Proudly Johor, Then and Now, the final instalment that completed the trilogy of My Johor Stories, launched in December 2022.

 

When the economy reopened, Think City Johor Bahru wanted to bring life back into the city. I accepted their grant and was hosting monthly book-reading sessions and heritage walks in Downtown Johor Bahru for a few months from January 2023.

 

Then in December 2023, when I was asked to conduct a heritage walk specially for foreign students and their host families in Johor, I was happy to oblige.  

 

I had the pleasure to autograph my books

When Rotarian Vijendran saw the group photographs flashed on the screen, it dawned on him that it was me who was leading that particular heritage walk because he was responsible for sending one of the students, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Johor Bahru Sentral, to the meeting point for the walk.

 

“No wonder you looked so familiar!” declared Vijendran, when he realized this.

 

In the Question & Answer session at the end of my presentation, the audience were invited to ask their questions and I did my best to respond to their queries.

 

Then Rotarian Howard asked, what I most missed about the Johor I once knew.

 

Group shot with some of the Rotarians
and their guests at the meeting

A great deal had changed in Johor Bahru since our childhood days and there was much to miss about old Johor. But I did not hesitate to tell him that one thing I missed very much was our grandfather’s house at No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng.

 

The site of this double-storey bungalow with an adjacent badminton court was acquired to construct the Tun Abdul Razak Expressway and the bulk of this site is now part of the expressway.

 

What was left of our driveway was occupied by an enterprising warung operator who ran a successful food business for many years but recently vacated that spot which has since turned into an overgrown grassy patch.

 

When the meeting came to a formal close, refreshments were served.

 

After the meeting, some members approached me to ask for the complete trilogy of My Johor Stories for themselves and to present as gifts to others.

 

I was more than happy to autograph their books and thoroughly enjoyed chatting about the Johor we all know and love.

 

The Rotary Club of Johor Bahru Sentral meets regularly at the Johor Area Rehabilitation Organisation (JARO), No. 18 Jalan Sungai Chat, Sri Gelam, 80100 Johor Bahru, Johor.