click My slide In-House Karaoke Competition 2011

RLC In-House Karaoke Competition 2011 Final

By Lintang Bob Yong
For the first time, the In-house karaoke competition which was held on May 13, 2011 at Banquet Hall was packed with more than 150 members and guest.
The concept of ‘free admission’ to witness the competition was most welcomed by members. Hawker food was available before and during the event in a free and easy atmosphere. It turned out to be a hit to everyone. However, there was a hitch in the billing to the members. This problem will be rectified in the next event. The Karaoke Sub-Committee was pleased with the tremendous support it received.
This year all the 15 solo contestants went straight to the final as the heat was cancelled due to insufficient entries. There was also no duet category as the Inter-Club Karaoke Competition decided to scrape it. To replace the duet category and with a view to prepare our Club for future inter-club competition, a junior category was added but only 2 juniors signed up.
At the end of first round, 5 winners competed once again for position ranking.
Solo Category
The Champion: Christopher Lee
2nd placing: Adam Teo
3rd placing: Kamaliah
4th placing: David Wong
5th placing: Kwan Dih Chow
6th placing: CK Khoo (Reserve)
Junior Category
The Champion: Lim Wei Han
2nd placing: Akmal Ariff
Congratulations to all winners!
All the winners in the solo category would represent our Club in the Inter-Club Karaoke Competition which would be hosted by Kelab Golf Negara Subang on June 4, 2011.
It is worth mentioning that this year competition attracted 6 newcomers and 2 of them emerged as the Champion and the 1st Runner-up. The untiring efforts of the Karaoke Section Sub-Committee to encourage new and younger participants must have paid off. However our Section will continue to work hard to realize its dream to discover younger talent and encourage new talented adult members to join in the annual In-house Karaoke Competition. We hope our Club will maintain our superiority in the Inter-club Karaoke Championship Competition.
The Competition was professionally judged by Gary Goh, Jenny Ong and Sam Iskandar. To all the judges, we expressd our appreciations.
Thanks to our Karaoke Section Chairman, Dato Kamal for his guidance to KSC and his entertainment to the crowd with a song during the intermission.
We also like to record our appreciation the presence of Mr Teoh Cheng Hai, our Club Vice President, club members and their families and guests who showed their full support for this event.
The success of this event will not be possible without the hard work of the Organizing Team. Thank you for doing a good job.
Go to these links to watch the videos)
Christopher Lee
http://www.youtube.com/user/yonglintang?feature=mhum#p/u/22/bd0FbGzb8ZA
Adam Teo
http://www.youtube.com/user/yonglintang?feature=mhum#p/u/23/JKkwEsEjzDI
Kamaliah
http://www.youtube.com/user/yonglintang?feature=mhum#p/u/24/lf1s-7ixre8
David Wong
http://www.youtube.com/user/yonglintang?feature=mhum#p/u/18/1qRTVswO4o0
Kwan Dih Chow
http://www.youtube.com/user/yonglintang?feature=mhum#p/u/17/KZ50yMIBGxs
Lim Wei Hun
http://www.youtube.com/user/yonglintang?feature=mhum#p/u/21/urg2TEh_CSA
Akmal Ariff
http://www.youtube.com/user/yonglintang?feature=mhum#p/u/20/LWw_wcfGj94

2010 Happy 12th Anniversary RLC Harriers!

Happy 12th Anniversary RLC Harriers!
By Lintang Bob Yong
Anniversaries come and go. This year’s the RLC Harriers 12th Anniversary also came and went. But it was celebrated in a different manner. Though the event was organised in a simple, free and easy style, it has caught the attention of the Club’s President and many of the General Committee Members. They attended the event in full force. Their comments were that they had thoroughly enjoyed every minutes of the fun filled actions, the peculiarity of which could only be appreciated by the hashing fraternity.
I joined the Hash Section in year 2000 and had since participated in the past 10 Anniversary Celebrations. I would rate this one to be more in line with the hash tradition and was glad that I did not miss it.
The Anniversary Run was on a Tuesday 7 December. The GM flagged off the run at 5.00 pm sharp. It was an in-house run, in the confine of the secondary jungle at the tail end of the Main Range. The tail end was still an energy sapping, “Dragon Trail.” The trail no matter how difficult it was did not sap the spirit of the hashers.
The 40 hashers encountered ‘checks’ and invariably a few ‘false trails’ along the way. That was nothing unusual. However, 3 hashers were unexpectedly being misled by a fellow hasher who created a new trial on his own by throwing papers along the infamous ‘Dragon Trail’. Unhappy initially, they felt betrayed but it turned out it was a blessing in disguise for they admitted their enjoyment in tracking the forever exciting “Dragon Trail.” Such an episode could not of course escape the eyes and ears of ‘Extra Virgin’ and consequently, the good and bad hashers were ‘on-down’ at the circle without the acceptance of their pardon.
The highlights of the event were staged at the club Gazebo and more than 80 Members attended the dinner. Food was plentiful. What could have made hashers happier? Nothing but chicken, beef or mutton washed down with chilled draught beer! Satay was served before dinner! What a handful and mouthful?
The most notable was seeing male hashers dressing in colourful Hawaiian shirts and matching short pants, and the females donned in their sexy sarongs or spaghetti sundress with hats to match. Many hashers wore slippers too. The theme of the On! On! was of course “Hot, Hot Tropical Nite” in the true sense of the expression.
The celebration of the 12th Anniversary would not be complete without the cake-cutting ceremony. Our Club President, Dato’ A Sani Karim led the other General Committee Members, the entire Sub-Committee Members, the past Grand Masters and the ex-club President, David Yap, the founding Member of the Hash Section, performed the symbolic cake-cutting ceremony.
Games like “My Own Coconut Drink”, “Belly-shaking for males and Hip-shaking for females” were keenly contested. Winners were declared and happily walked away with prizes donated by well wishers. Lucky Dips, Special Lucky and Table Draws were organized and winners grinned from ears to ears when Lady Luck smiled on them.
The night would not end without some die-hard hashers wanted to dance all night long, as they wished. But reluctantly, when it was time to end the party, they had accepted that all good things must come to an end and bid farewell to everyone.
The entire activities were recorded on videos.
Watch them on:-
http://www.youtube.com/yonglintang
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=347325647377

Reminiscing over you, The Royal Lake Club!

Reminiscing over you, The Royal Lake Club!
By Lintang Bob Yong
I was born and grew up in Kuala Lumpur. The Lake Garden then was perhaps the only public park in Kuala Lumpur where folks could spend their weekends doing whatever outdoor activities they had planned.
Since there was a lake in this garden, the naming of this park as The Lake Gardens was an obvious choice. During my youth period, I used to have fun in the Lake Garden. Nearby there was an old bungalow which to my young mind was a haunted house. But the concrete steps leading up to the entrance of this house appeared mysteriously friendly to me. The door which I could not see through added more thoughts to my curious mind as to what was inside. That old bungalow as I later learned was the club house of The Royal Lake Club.
In 1975 at the age of thirty seven years, I walked through the door of a new building that replaced the old bungalow. I was glad that I became a member of The Royal Lake Club. Since then, I have been an active member, bringing my business associates and my family for food, sport activities and club functions. When my children were old enough, I brought them to the club and we spent a considerable time at the swimming pool. The children library was a big educational help to my two young daughters who often frequented the place.
Later I decided to play an active role in the club and have since served in the Food & Beverage, Harriers and Karaoke sub-Committees. The sports that I enjoy till to date are badminton, swimming, ballroom dancing, hashing and karaoke. Now, aged 72 years, I have not thought of giving up these sports as yet. I have taken part in the In-house and Inter-club Karaoke Competitions since 2003 and am glad that I played a part in contributing to the success of our club being the only club that have won the Challenge Trophy for three consecutive years.
The fellowship with the club members is unforgettable and I enjoyed and loved every minute. No doubt in my mind that The Royal Lake Club is my second home for the last 35 years. In this club, I do not have to worry about my personal safety as security is second to none and the good car park facility is the talk of the town.
I am glad and proud to be a member of The Royal Lake Club.
May God bless our Club.

The same article was published in the Royal Lake Club Newsletter-August 2010 Issue

Are you Malaysian first?

Are you Malaysian first?
By Lintang Bob Yong
Our Deputy Prime Minister thinks otherwise. In his recent statement he believes he is Malay first and Malaysian second. Since then, a lot of troubled water has passed under the bridge. This simple straight forward question has now turned into a political issue, debated intensively from coffee shops to the House of Parliament.
Forget about what the politicians are saying and if you were asked this question, would you have difficulty in answering it? Someone shouted, “no problem, I am Malaysian first. If you don’t believe me, here is MyCard. Isn’t it clearly stated that I am a Malaysian? I am definitely Malaysian first, he proudly declared. I will not want my nationality to be treated as second class. I am loyal to the king and I would die for my country”. He went on and on and on......
My wife and I were in United Kingdom. Someone wanted to know whether we were from China. I could understand why he asked because we look Chinese and we converse in Cantonese dialect with each other. Though we are the descendants of the Chinese, people in China often referred us as Malaysians and they could not fully understand our Cantonese. In case you don’t know, the Cantonese that we speak in our country is punctuated half in Malay vocabulary and the other half in Cantonese.
I was born in Kuala Lumpur and became a citizen of this country well before Malaya got its independence from the British. I have contributed economically and my parents too, with blood, sweat and tears to help made Malaysia what it is today. For all intent and purposes, I am the legitimate son of my country. I am a Malaysian.
In our country, there is a tendency to mix up the race, religion and customs with nationality. While we cannot change our race and our colour, we strive to become useful citizen and will loyally serve our country. We are proud to call ourselves Malaysians where ever we go and are prepared to defend and die for our country without hesitation.
Every Malaysian should have the same rights and equal opportunities afforded to them, regardless of their ethnicity. Is this not what we understand of the 1Malaysia concept, initiated by our Prime Minister? If not, how are we to unite our citizens to become one people and one nation? Do we need to fight among ourselves to achieve the obvious?
I am Malaysian first. Period.

Bless This School-St Gabriel's School

Bless This School-St Gabriel’s School
Lintang Bob Yong

I decided to pay a visit to our beloved school this Easter Sunday. Since I left in 1957 after having sat for the Senior Cambridge School Certificate, I had not set foot on it. Time flies, isn’t it. It is now more than half a century ago and I can feel the nostalgia in me when I come face to face with our school.
Searching the whereabouts of our school came as a surprise to me because I spent an hour trying to locate it. I had to stop and ask for directions from three passersby and a police station. I was born and bred in Pudu area and it shocked me to admit that I felt like a total stranger in my home town and our school which had been my sanctuary during my teenager’s years.
I was naive to believe that the area would remain unchanged since I left. The area was then simply known as Kampung Pandan (a place for rubbish dumping) and our school is located on this site. Now fifty years on, many housing estates have sprung up and the area has many new names such as Pandan Indah and Taman Maluri; and perhaps a few more names that I have not heard of.
It was a sheer joy when I saw the name of our school and I found myself standing at the school gate eagerly waiting to get in. I took a quick look at the surrounding and notice that the school’s precinct was clustered with tall buildings and the presence of a few other schools. It was a complete different picture that I had in mind. I remember well that the school was built on a filled up mining land for which I could see yonder. The field annexed to the main school building was barren and we used to play football in that sand filled waste land.
Our school did not look like the one I used to be with. The class room which we used to study was on the second floor; the one and only class room on top of other class rooms. It was hot, but we could see the entire waste land from our windows. The lone structure of this single building block which now has out buildings attaching to it look more like squatter houses to me. The colour of this particular block which was white then is now painted brown. I am sad to say that our school appears run-down.
It was hard indeed for me to experience this drastic change since I had many fond memories of our school. However, my sadness turned to joy when I saw the old rugged bronze school bell was still proudly hung to the stand and I think to myself it must have been as old as me. This is the same bell that was used for our fire drill in the primary school while we were temporally housed at Pudu English Girl’s School. The faithful school bell has served its purpose and I am glad it has been appreciated and taken care of by the school authority. This symbolic school bell must be kept intact to remind us of the poor and humble beginning of our school.
As I bid farewell to our school, I felt proud of the fact that the main building block of our school was the result of our school building fund campaign, in which the students contributed weekly out of the pocket monies given to them by their poor parents.

60 Minutes of Darkness

60 Minutes of Darkness
By Lintang Bob Yong
A sighted person was helping a blind man to get home. The helper said to him that they must hurry because it would soon be dark. The blind man asked what darkness was.
In a sighted world, most people have not experienced a total darkness. And darkness has often been associated with evils and spooky situations. Most children are afraid of darkness when left alone.
The global community celebrated the earth Hour 2010 on Saturday, March 27. On this day, all lights were turned off for an hour from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm.
What is this Earth Hour all about? What is the significance of it?
The earth Hour which was initiated by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. It was an attempt to avert catastrophic global warming. The campaign was globalized in 2008 and in 2009, there were over 4000 cities in 87 countries took part in this event. This event is to remind people of the immediate need to fight climate change that has threatened to harm nature.
This video will give you an insight of the Earth Hour.

Malaysia has participated in the Earth Hour 2009 and Earth Hour 2010.
So, did you turn off the lights on March 27?
Yes, I did.