In Memory of a dear Friend

I got acquainted with Yip when we were both freshies and residents of Third College, Univ. of Malaya back in 1969/1970. When we served on the Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC) of the College - he as Chairman and I as Asst. Secretary – and on the Orientation Committee 1970/71, I got to know him better. In between, we had our one-on-one chats on just about anything and everything that was going on around us. I was comfortable with him, as he was with me and it was these private, unguarded moments, in all of 3 years, that reveal the Yip that I choose to remember.

Though he was several years older than most of us in the College then, earning him the nickname of ‘Uncle Yip’ from some, in reality he was no different from us. He had an eye for the pretty girls - prompting a friend to call him ‘dirty old man’- but not in a lascivious sort of way. He just appreciated beauty. He was imbued with leadership qualities that seemed natural to him, without a conscious desire to be a leader. For Yip was not one with lofty ambitions. I thought he went about his ways, as would someone with a purpose in life, earnestly, but with empathy and sympathy. Was he a special being? He would be the first to deny being one – and vehemently too. Whatever his religious inclinations, he never once assumed the moral high ground with me. Because of the person that he was – simple, kind and unassuming - making friends seemed effortless to him. Perhaps it stemmed from a magnanimity, or humanity; or simply a spirit of goodwill regardless of colour, creed or religion. Most probably, all of these.

I met him last in August 2006 when some of us, ex-Third Collegians, had a reunion of sorts to coincide with him being in Kuala Lumpur. If there was anyone I wanted to see again, it was Yip, and I’m glad I did. If for nothing else, it reaffirmed the fact that he was still the person that I knew in College. The over-30 years of no-contact simply dissipated, and we chatted again like old friends do.

I believe that he enjoyed considerable esteem among family and friends. He was the kind of man a friend would easily love and an enemy, if any, respect. He might not have been ‘perfect’, but he was perfectly human and for this alone, he touched our lives. In his ordinariness, he was extraordinary – and this was the most endearing part of Yip. This was the Yip that I knew, and the one that is forever etched in my heart – with fondness. Yip, I am proud to have called you ‘friend’ and prouder still to have been one of yours. To Lucy – you may have lost a loved one; but because of Yip, you have found a friend in me.

Goodbye, my dear friend; may your soul rest in peace.