“I was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1957. In 1969 there was the race riots in Malaysia between the Malay and the Chinese. There was a big uprising and a lot of people were killed. I’m 3/4 Chinese and my father could see that there was no future for the Chinese in Malaysia. The Malays assumed political power so they controlled jobs, university entrances and it was all very difficult. The universities had to have at least 90% Malay and Dad had aspirations for me being a Doctor.
They had a severe army lockdown for a month. You were only allowed out of the house for one hour a day to go to the markets. We didn’t go to school for 2 months. There was a black ban on foreign Journalists so there was no news coming out to the world.
I was 11 and had a bicycle so I would go to the market, buy a chook for my grandmother who lived 3kms away. I would drop the food off and return. It was frightening because the Malays would stop cars at traffic lights, drag Chinese people out of their cars and cut their throats or go into movie theatres and kill people. It was really violent. Dad was a Pharmacist in KL and one day he took me with him to check on the shop. There was no-one on the streets. There was a river behind the shop and I saw all these dead bodies floating down the river. On the streets and outside the shop, there was blood everywhere. It was horrible stuff. That’s when my father said…You won’t get a fair go in this country.
Dad in his wisdom decided that he would send me to boarding school in Australia. I was 12 and Dad didn’t really know much about Australia other than his brother had sent his boy to school in Brisbane the year before. Dad’s brother told him there was 5 really good schools in Brisbane and 3 were boarding schools. He gave him the names – Churchie where my cousin was, Nudgee which is in Brisbane, Toowoomba Grammar and Villanova. We chose Nudgee and off I went at 12 years old. That was so stressful because I was on my own. My parents didn’t come on the plane and when I arrived no-one was there to meet me. I came on Singapore Airlines and the hostesses looked after me. I remember getting on the plane in KL, stop over in Singapore for 3 hours and because I was under their care they took me to the staff lounge. I was quite fat then with really chubby cheeks and they all squeezed my cheeks..Oh he’s so cute!
I arrived in Brisbane and the Brothers from the school were supposed to meet me at the airport but no-one came. I had to catch a taxi to the school. It was so terrible and I hardly spoke English.
I spent 5 years at Nudgee Boarding School and we were allowed home once a year at Christmas. The rest of the time I would go home to my boarder friend’s houses. There was a lot of country boys so school holidays were often spent out in the country like Mt Isa. I got to see a lot of Australia and I really enjoyed it. The first year was quiet tough though. In Malaysia you go to school in all whites. My parents didn’t know what the school uniform was so they packed me off with a Malaysian school uniform so you can just imagine. The first day back at school for 500 boarders and I rock up, a fat Chinese kid in glowing whites and they are all in their Khaki. I had no idea how to use a knife and fork as we only used chopsticks. It was all so foreign and those first years were really tough. I quickly became popular which was lucky. At first they were teasing me badly and I thought I can either react and fight or laugh at it and I chose the latter. After a while life was good.
When my 2 younger sisters got to 15 they were sent to school in London because Dad had a sister who lived there. They spent a lot of their lives in London and I spent mine in Australia. Dad was a good business man and did well in his business. He made the money to be able to send us kids off for a good education but at the end of the day it wrecked the family because my mother and I never had a relationship. She probably didn’t get any say in it and I think she resented her kids being sent away. I would only see my Mum for 6 weeks a year so I never shared any of the stuff that happened to me. In those days you had to write letters. There were no phones or emails so you’d write home from boarding school and tell them all the good stuff because you didn’t want to worry them.
When I was older in boarding school I met some girls in Mt Isa who started writing to me and the Brothers would open our mail. I was Class Captain from Grade 9 all the way through but when I was a sub senior I got into a bad group. We used to go out on the weekends drinking with the day boys. We were caught because we came back to school drunk. The headmaster kicked us all out of the school. At this stage you can imagine, my father had spent all this money on me. I was told to ring him and tell him. The Priest decided that we could be suspended for 2 weeks rather than be expelled. I was kicked out of Class Captain and lost my Honours blazer but I deserved it.
I went to University to study Medicine. I wanted to be a Vet because I love animals. I remember in Year 12 they had an open day at the Uni and walking into the Vet faculty thinking this is what I want to do. I made my choices, Veterinary 1st, Medicine 2nd and then I told Dad. Dad got my cousin to tell me not to do Vet Science. As a good Chinese boy I listened to my father and changed to Medicine.
After 5 or 6