My friend - Cheah Fah Thong

His name is Cheah Fah Thong. Nothing outstanding or unusual about him but he is special to me & our group of friends, which I will explain below. He was quite tall -he's sure was taller than me then, back in the 70s. Thin but well built with those "6packs"... good & a brilliant footballer.

We were in the same class - Form 2A1 (1977) Anglo Chinese School, Ipoh - and were siting side by side which led to a catastrophic result!! We just talked & talked & poked jokes/pranks at each other to the dismay of our teachers.

There were on many occasions we were scolded by our teachers especially Ms. Lam (the cute/diminutive/petite Geography teacher)with her favourite remarks " Hey both of u! Pay attention or I will give you a thick slap!!". Of course neither of us was slapped by her ... she was so cute when she's angry ... Then, Cikgu Mohd Nor - the Bahasa Melayu teacher - very moody... his favourite remarks to both of us were "Melayu! Cina! Awak berdua diam!!!". Talk about "1 Malaysia!!!"

We called him Fah Thong aka "Cina Murtad" ... Why? Reason being his circle of friends are mostly Malays, in fact he was the only Chinese among us. We used to hang out together, "tengok wayang", attending tuition classes and at the same time played truants... It just happened that the tuition centre was located right accross Cathay cinema!!! "Makan-makan" at Padang Kanak - Kanak (Food Stalls centre)while listening to the Juke Box.

When the time came for the inter School Hockey matches, there we were at Ipoh Padang with Fah Thong. Our school's main rival those days was St Michael Institution. we will sit by the "padang" but most of the time not focused to the game... we just made jokes and cracked pranks at each other . Funny thing was whenever there was a brawl in the "padang", we would started our own brawl with the opposing team's supporters by the padang... Nobody got hurt actually just a trading of insulting remarks at each other actually.

It had been 30 years plus I have not be in contact with Fah Thong since we parted after our SPM result. Heard that he migrated to Australia... Wherever he is right now, I wish him well and I will always cherish the moments & memories memories with this "Cina Murtad"....

To Fah Thong ... U are the man, mate!!!

P/S: For you who are curious where were we after Form 2A1 ... Well he remained in Form 3A1 but I was "demoted" to Form 3A2. Maybe I was so overzealous in our "good time" lepak in Ipoh town & at the Ipoh Padang!!!!