The last few years of 2023 are ticking away and I’m
due to work in the Bistrot on Telok Kurau, so I thought I would try and bash
out a few thoughts of summarize the year that is going by and to express my
hopes for the year to come.
In a way, 2023 was a brutal year. Thanks to the brutal
attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the subsequently even more brutal
Israeli reprisals on the Gaza strip, much of the world’s attention is focused
on the brutality of that particular conflict and other conflicts that may
arise. The chaos in the Middle East and Russia-Ukraine looks set to get worse
by the fact that that 2024 is an election year in the USA and the world’s most
powerful office is set to be a rematch of 2020, a contest between an elderly
establishment candidate perpetuating the worst sins of the establishment onto
the world and an unstable lunatic whose sole focus is to use the power of the
office to cover his own personal weaknesses.
Since I joined the insolvency business, the turmoil on
the global stage looks like a good Christmas present. Businesses around the
globe are likely to be affected by the turmoil and many are likely to go under,
which is good for insolvency practitioners around the world. Even the firm I’ve
worked at for the last decade, which is a small player in the local Singapore market,
has found its wings. In the past year, we’ve managed to set up our shop in
Dubai and by the end of 2024, we are expecting to have a base in London.
So, whilst I have no great love for the industry that
I am in, I’ve been able to enjoy certain benefits of the way the industry has moved.
After many years of not traveling, I got to enjoy a trip to Jakarta and London
for business purposes. I met people outside of Singapore and that can only help
to keep my horizons normal.
On the personal front, Kiddo brought me to Hai Phong
for a week and I believe this could be somewhere I may want to move to as I
age. It’s not just the cheaper cost that make Vietnam attractive but the fact
that there’s a sense of dynamism that is so sorely lacking in more developed
places. Its one of those places where the poor don’t sit and beg or ask the
government for handouts. They turn their little street holes into thriving
enterprises.
The second personal trip was to head to back to the UK
after 23-years for my sister’s wedding. I’m so happy I actually got to see the
UK after so many years away and having my sister’s friends tell me “You were an
important part of our childhood – what happened to you?” I am delighted that
Tara has met someone she wants to spend the rest of her life with and I’m glad
I had the chance to not only meet the new family but connect to relatives I
haven’t seen for ages, specifically my stepdad, Lee who is 91, my stepsister
Carol and her husband Sean as well as my Aunty Frieda and Uncle Adrian.
While my sister got married, I will officially be
divorced next year. After 12-years together, Huong, the amazingly gorgeous
Vietnamese woman I had the privilege of calling my wife, and I will go our
separate ways. Her ambitions have taken her to the USA and I can no longer
support her as her husband. As such, we dissolve our “life partnership” and
move on. She will always have a special place in my heart and I like to think
the same is true for her too and given that we’ve come back to each other so often,
who knows where fate will take us.
Kiddo asked the simple question – “Will you still be
my dad?” I’ve told her that the answer is always yes, but she’s now an adult
and she has to find her own way and build her own life and I will be there when
she needs me.
During the course of our separation, I’ve been asked
if I would change anything. The answer remains no. Even if you were to take me
back to the moment, I decided to marry her with everything I know now, I will
always agree to get married. Our life together, good and bad made me a stronger
person and my life would be poorer without those moments we had.
Another person who deserves mention is my intern, Mr.
Jeff Yeoh, who came to work for us in July. At the age of 27, he told me he saw
me as a “father-figure,” and I’ve found myself taking the trust he placed in me
seriously. Its like this, when you have a little girl, the instincts are to try
and protect. When you have someone of the same gender looking up to you, you
actually need to show him or her what the future can be like. So, as I push 50
this year, I got to get it through his head that the future can be great if he
steps out of his comfort zone and takes on the world on his terms.
The other person who had made life so much richer this
year, is Ms. Genia Wee, my collaborator in the Chubby Tigers project. Genia is
a tough and lovable cookie, who has a way of turning every meal you have with
her into a joyful experience. She’s what Singapore needs – someone who is
willing to discover the nooks and crannies of this little Island I have called
home for the last two decades.
As always, I can only hope that 2024 will provide more
adventures and opportunities to discover the world. I’m going to be 50 and its
time I start discovering the unknown or the things that I never knew about the
known world.
2 comments
This is a beautiful account of parts of your life, Tang Li. And you are a very interesting person to talk to. Wish you all the best in the new year.
I am Bachan Singh, by the way.
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