Toh in China: Speaker of Selangor State Assembly

Weather: Cloudy

Temperature: 23 c

When I went back to Malaysia recently, I had this rare opportunity and honor to meet with the Speaker of Selangor State Assembly at his official office.

Before I went to Malaysia, I sent an email to YB Teng informing him that I will be back to Malaysia and whether it would be possible for me to meet and have a brief chat with him. If he answered “NO”, I would understand and wouldn’t blame him for his is now a Speaker of the state assembly and therefore has every excuse in the political world to refuse seeing someone like me. But, being a humble gentleman as he has always been, I was invited to visit him at his official office.

Initially, knowing that he is presumably a busy man, I only asked for 10 to 15 minutes of his time. However, I enjoyed our conversation so much to the extent that we spent almost more than 1 hour talking about so many issues. Obviously I learned a lot from my conversation with the Speaker. After all, it is not every day that you have the chance to chat with the Speaker!

Life is indeed full of surprises and promises. When I came to China last year’s August, YB Teng was still an opposition leader who was suspended from entering into the state assembly. Now, he is the Speaker of the state assembly and the former Menteri Besar is “demoted” to the position of an opposition leader. What comes around goes around.

The people of Selangor should really feel fortunate to have such a Speaker who has the interest of the state and the people in his heart. I have met with a few politicians before and I can tell that YB Teng is genuine and sincere.

I can’t remember how and when did I know this gentleman. 君子之交淡如水. Our friendship took off without us realizing it.