E Contrario

Chinese New Year is my annual escape from politics. It is not easy to find time to catch up with family members and friends. My friends in hometown are mainly school mates from primary and secondary schools.

Interestingly most of them are not staying in Melaka anymore. Quite a few live in KL. We never see each other in KL but meet annually during CNY.

I spent the first day to the third day of New Year in my hometown Melaka. I am glad that I was able to have an almost complete break from public activities.

First day of Lunar New Year:

According to Chinese custom, on the first day of New Year we are required to observe a vegetarian diet. We are only allowed eating meat after sunset.

Our whole family having the first meal on the new year together. In the old days, grandma or mum would cook the meal. Nowadays, with the convenience of commercialization, we just bought from the shop.

Next to me, my brother and my sister-in-law.

Reunion with primary schoolmates

We did the reunion irregularly over the past years. The last time we gathered was 2005. More than 30 of my schoolmates from Siang Lin Primary School turned up. Last year, somehow nobody took the initiative to organize it. This year, the attendence was smaller, only about a dozen of us.

We spent the whole afternoon chatting about our past and present work. Unfortunately, friends started asking me about politics. In between our nostalgic chats, we ended up complaining about the present political and economic problems.

In the middle is Lin Wen Sian (林文贤). We studied together in the same school since kindergarten, throughout primary school and high school. We even went to Australia together—only that he went to Melbourne and I to Sydney. He is now working in Australia as a computer programer.

Daughter of my friend Poh Ting Way (符鼎伟), currently living in Taiwan.