Overseas holidays 1

From the time Father entered the Education Department in 1963, he was entitled to free trips to Singapore and West Malaysia every two years for him, Mother and three kids. 

He did not take up this fringe benefit. He told us that the education for us, his children was very important. He would know as an Education Officer himself. The Education system then had, and it still has public examinations at Primary Six, Form Three, Form Five and Form Six. If one failed the examination, he could not move on. One of his colleague’s sons failed his Primary Six examination. It was disaster for him; people were sneering and jeering at him, if an Education Officer could not teach his son, how he expected uneducated people to teach their children.

With nine children, in any one year, there was always one if not two of us taking these public examinations. As we were not very bright students, except for Margaret, he felt we could not go on a holiday and do well for our examinations. It was only in 1974, he knew he did not have many more years in the civil service, he knew if he did not take the holiday package, he would never have another chance. In Malaysia, a civil servant retired at fifty five.

        
In 1974, Father took Mother, Joseph, Henry, Helen and Grace for Mother’s big holiday. The Government paid for three children. He had to pay for Joseph as he took four children. They had a fantastic time in Singapore, West Malaysia and Thailand. In Singapore, they visited the widow of Mou Ping. Many members of the Singapore Chan Clan came to see them in the hotel. They were proud to have had been responsible for making him a Senior Officer of the Malaysian Government.