Goodbye, to a lady of great strength

PM's wife dies after bout with breast cancer
Thursday October 20, 2005

For the first time, I really really feel sad over a loss of a precious soul, someone whom I do not know personally but a woman of great character, a lady who is behind her husband %100 and a lady of admirable character. I admire her not for her many contributions to charity, but for her contribution the revive a lost art, the very identity of a nation. I really admire her for her strong passion in reviving the Nyonya kebaya, to have fashion shows themed specifically on the kebayas and making it a huge success. To quote :

'The softly-spoken Endon devoted her time to social, community and charity work and was also a strong supporter of Malaysian arts and crafts. She also used her own illness to promote cancer awareness.
Endon spearheaded a campaign to revolutionise Malaysia's batik industry and recently launched another to revive the traditional songket fabric. '

Man, I was so excited about her campaigns to revive Malaysian crafts. She was doing something good for the country, enforcing part of our identity, steering it into the right direction, unlike other countries that just adopts and claim certain cultures and values of thier own (read my mind, read my mind) .Who ever expected a relapse of breast cancer when she had her masectomy. I still find it unbelievable, and I think the pain the PM is feeling must be even greater, to lose a soulmate of 40years, and now he has to rule the country alone, without a companion to share his burdens.

Sometimes, trials and tribulations are put in our path to make us stronger, to make us more courageous, but sometimes, we just want to give up and say 'ok, you win. let's stop playing' . I know the PM is of strong character and he will be fine, but I just feel really sad and wasted for him. It is a real loss, a woman of fine character, humble and humane, strong and independent, kind and loving. She's not the typical first lady, neither a tai tai, nor a corporate woman searching for profits and becoming CEOs of companies, neither is she one with a large political ambition. She is one, who uses her position to do the right thing, to reach out to the right people and to touch many peoples' hearts, indirectly. Her actions speaks it all. She's a kindred spirit.

May God bless her and keep her always.