The Kang Kong Speech of My Ngie Gung

My maternal grandfather was not exactly a public speaker like his older brother, Lau Kah Tii, the Foochow pioneer and headman appointed by the Rajah to succeed Rev James Hoover who passed away in

 

1936. Grand Uncle Lau Kah Tii was a celebrity in those days. Every one knew him and surrounded him in public whenever he appeared in Sibu. He was well respected and wealthy too.

My grandfather was however in the shadows. He was a carpenter, a builder and an agriculturalist who on his own effort cleared at least 200 acres of land to plant padi and rubber. In those days it was the Rajah's ordinance to the first Foocow pioneers that whoever cleared land would be awarded the land titles. Thus by 1940 my grandfather had under his name 200 acres of rubber land in Nang Chong.

In his endeavour and enterprise, he also had the vision of endowing the Methodist Church with 2 acres of land to build a primary school, Tiing Nang , and a church Hook Ming Methodist Church.

At the opening ceremony of the primary school my grandfather was invited to speak as Chairman of the board. My uncles remember his humourous metaphor. He compared his own Kang Kong speech with his brother's Sharks' fin speeches. He spoke less than 3 minutes and he was given a rousing applause. He never made another speech again.

He lived a very quiet life, enjoying his happy hours with rice wine, occasionally Ngu Kah Pi and Rose Wine. However he loved telling stories to his nephews who would row their boat from Ensurai to visit him occasionally.

It is a pity that almost all his stories were never recorded, and are now all forgotten.