IPOH MALI ...

If you are Malaysian, you will be familiar with the phrase Ipoh Mali. It means that the person hails from the Ipoh which is the capital of the state of Perak. I am proud to say that I am an Ipoh girl, born and bred. But I am just an ordinary person and not many people know me. But there are two famous Ipoh people who have made it big in the entertainment industry. One is the lovely, Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng who has become an international celebrity. After all she became a Bond girl and has starred in many films. She was also in the award winning, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon by Academy Award winning director, Ang Lee.

There is also an Ipoh boy who made it big in the Chinese music industry. He is Michael Wong Guang Liang (王光良; Wáng Guāngliáng in pinyin), born August 30, 1970. Michael is a very talented singer and composer. He began his singing career in a duo with Victor Wong but the two split in 2000. Wong has released four solo albums, the third being his breakthrough album Fairy Tale. He was born in Ipoh, Malaysia to a family of six. He has two older brothers and one younger sister, the first step of Michael Wong's journey in the world of music began when his parents invested into a piano (a semitone lower) for him and his younger sister. Wong was ten years old at the time. He then began to accompany his six year-old sister to attend piano lessons together. Wong is devout Catholic and often sang in the church choir during his school days and was once a choir teacher at a church. He graduated from Sam Tet School in Ipoh. He often participated in musical performances in his school and has been writing songs since his school days. By the way my dad taught in that school for 35 years until 1995 which means he might have taught Guang Liang. Unfortunately, my dad is not around for me to ask as he passed away in 2003. But my cousin brother, Simon says that he was in the same Form with him but not the same class. I am told that his parents live in Canning Garden, same like me but I have never ever seen him.

I learnt that Guang Liang worked really hard in order to attain the success he has today. His was not an overnight thing. It took him many years in order to reach this measure of fame and success that he has attained at present. From the Feng Shui perspective, it could be that when he wrote the songs for his Fairy Tale album, his personal luck was at a high. No doubt he had the talent but somehow he had to wait until when the lucky star for fame was shining on him before his true worth and talent got recognised. Anyway, like me, I am sure many Ipoh folks are very proud of our local boy who has made it. Our hopes and wishes are for him to continue enjoying success in his career.