I grew up in Ayer Keroh in the ‘80s. That time there was only the zoo (no Hutan Rekreasi also), so Ayer Keroh was known as “the zoo area”. We didn’t have a family car, so we travelled around town in the green Town Bus. The No 19 Town Bus plied the road between Ayer Keroh and the old bus station. My mum and I used to do grocery shopping in what was then known as Jaya Jusco (now called Aeon) and we’d carry bags of groceries 500 meters up the road to our house in Lorong Setia 11. Sometimes, we’d stop by the corner coffee shop at the main road for a bowl of wan tan mee. (The coffee shop is still there.) As we lived on a daily budget of less than RM10 back then, a wan tan mee meal was a rare treat. For special celebrations like birthdays or to entertain overseas relatives, we’d bring them to KFC in Jalan Mata Kuching or McDota in Jalan Munshi Abdullah. McDota is our local version of McDonald’s.
I studied in the [Malacca] High School. It was far, but for my parents it was a school of choice. We had many outstanding teachers during my time. One of the most notable was Mr Rangganathan, the most popular Bahasa Malaysia teacher in Melaka. He drilled us relentlessly in our grammar and essay writing skills as he knew that for many of us, success in the SPM examinations was our only hope of breaking free from the cycle of poverty. Thankfully, with the help of dedicated teachers, many of my classmates in 5 Science 1 did well and went on to pursue tertiary education.
My maternal grandmother was Hokkien, she came from China. My mum’s famiy went into trading, they were very good in collecting rubber estates. But most of it was lost in a subsequent generation, because my uncles gambled it away, you know…opium [laughs]. My mum’s family bargained with my grandmother: I do not want an inheritance, but give me education. So she was the one of the few who finished formal secondary education.
My mum’s a true blue Malaccan, Eng Choon Hokkien. She grew up in Gajah Berang, and went to Pay Fong School. A friend introduced her to my dad, who’s from Johore. He’s Cantonese. My dad used to stay in the Majestic Hotel (which has been turned into a boutique hotel) whenever he came to visit my mum during their courting days. He was a chief clerk in TDM, Terengganu Development Management [Terengganu’s state-owned plantation arm]. My mum went to Terengganu for a while, but the education system in the state school was not so good. So she brought my brother and sister back to Melaka, and then I was born and also raised in Melaka, for education purposes.
I went to University Malaya between 1995-1999. Though I liked the work in KL, I didn’t like the lifestyle. In Melaka there’s a sense of community, you know? You go to the same wan tan mee shop, the same barber, the same kedai runcit. The coffee-maker knows your name. You can’t find that in KL. That’s why I think more and more young people want to stay back in Melaka.
Our law practice has more institutional clients: property developers, banks, manufacturers, factories. I do civil litigation, debt recovery, shareholders’ disputes, defamation cases.
In Melaka we don’t really go on strict time costs. Clients would be shocked. In KL they can accept it but in Melaka it’s not our culture. For us, it’s about kam cheng value. Many of our clients have become personal friends. This is what I love about living in Melaka. There is still a premium placed on relationships and community.
WONG FOOK MENG, lawyer, 45 years old. Interviewed on 13.2.20 at the office of M/s Chee Siah Le Kee & Partners, Taman Kota Laksamana Jaya, Melaka.
Copy and paste: 24 March 2020 / 29 Rejab 1441H : 8.03 am
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