Old Paulians Assosiation (OPA) Dinner (4 September 2004)

I decided to attend the yearly old boy's dinner after receiving an announcement from Yew Cheong who is currently informing us about updates regarding about OPA through our Yahoo groups. Such groups help us keep in touch with the recent news regarding about our former alma mater. On the other hand, I am currently managing my class Yahoo groups though I have not been diligently connecting my former classmates about up to date news as compared to Yew Cheong. My announcement about the dinner came a bit late, about a week before dinner. However, I was pretty glad that my announcement allowed Li Han to know about the dinner. The dinner was held at Restaurant Ming Kok which is situated near Taman AST and was sheduled to begin at 7.30pm. This restaurant was an uncle of my ex-classmate Pick Yaw's uncle who was brutally murdered in front of his house few months ago.

The Atmosphere or Brotherhood

I reached the place 10 minutes after 7.30pm but was surprisingly early as the dinner had not started yet and many people were still mingling outside. I met my friends outside as well who were standing and waiting for the rest of the company to arrived. Yew Cheong manage to gather 3 tables of people from the class of 99. One of the many people I was glad to meet was Shey Lay who was back from Germany for the holidays and also Hong Huat who has became a full time issurance agent after completing a business degree from UTM. He came along with his girlfriend, Pei Pei and a friend. Both of them are still going strong until now after leaving school in 99 when he was in Form 5 and she in Upper Six. Talk about secondary school sweetheart.
Hong Huat, Pei Pei, Pei Pei's friend (can't recollect her name) and Shey Lay sat in the same table as me together with Kim Yen (the first in my class to get a job as an accountant), Soon Keong and Yew Cheong (both room mates and bed mates, as they share a masterbed and both from Uniten), Yeng Weng (a Uniten student who was in my school until Form 2 but still regarded himself a true Paulian even after shifting to ACS), Vishnu (another Uniten-ians who is currently working in Samsung, Seremban). Uniten just had their convocation on the same day and most of the Uniten "kaki" just arrived back. Most of friends seem to studying in Uniten and it was no surprise that I would have joined if not for the bad impression I got when I attended their Open Day as my initialy Engineering choice would have been E&E. It was good to meet all of them and those from other classes. The table on my left comprise of fellow school mates who were ex-prefect but had a neck for drinking and smoking. Bottles of liquar, cigarette and not to mention, cigars were applenty there. On the other hand, the table on my right were mainly school mates that I was not really close to. It was good to see Kim Jian after such a long time.

My Table mates (from left : Yew Cheong, Hong Huat, Kim Yen, Soon Keong, Shey Lay, Yeng Weng, Me & Vishnu)

I was quite pleased with the food that was served. The last time I was here was during Matthew and Min Chee wedding and had a good time enjoying the food as well. There was a band comprising of an Afro hair guy with a band that played the golden oldies. Our table was near the speaker but I pitied those who were sitting the closest to the speaker as they had to endure through the night the loud music and speeches. Yew Cheong, who was sitting beside me could not stand it anymore and decided to pluck the chords to the speaker at the end of the dinner to the delight of those who were sitting in the nearby tables. What a relieve to be able to have the noise level muted.

Table on my right, The quiet bunch

Besides the food and the company of friends and fellow old Paulians, the highlight of the dinner would have to be the singing of the school athem and the cheer. It reminded most of us about our time in school where we used to stand in the assembly and sing the song with a monotonous tone without much expression at all. Singing the song after leaving school ignited a spirit that we Paulians have been proud to have and everyone was singing their hearts out, especially those who were under the influence of alcohol. Smiles could be seen in their faces, hands were raised with enthuasiasm and cups were toast in the air signifying the pride of being a Paulian. The moment was increadible as I began to soak in and witness for myself the Paulian spirit in the eyes of those were there. Groups of student began to make their way to the stage celebrating their silver and diamond jubilee after leaving school. There was one group who brought upon stage and making a toast to their teacher who had taught them before who was more than 90 years old.

Table on my left, Smoke and Drinks

Such moment like this is rare and hard to imagine until you have reach where this people have already gone through. A reunion of fellow Paulians who had left school to pursue separate lives and different endeavour yet be able to come to come together once every year to meet with one another. Despites the age different and the different backgrounds, there was only a common trait that each of us shared whether we had left school in the 50's or the 90's, we were indeed true Paulians. I would try to attend the OPA dinner and hope to be able to rope in more people of my year to join in and attend the dinner next year and in years to come.