"All the Things We Could Not Say To Each Other."

A beautiful speech from daddy to me and the best gift i ever received from him.

Thank you dad and i love you too, a lot.

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親愛的來賓


親愛的貴客


首先我很感謝你們能夠來參加我們今晚上的喜宴。 我也是很榮幸的能夠跟大家講幾句話。但是我的語言方面有問題。 在華語方面， 我雖然學了一輩子， 但到目前還是學不好， 講的也不好。 而我的粵語， 廣東話， 也不行。 所以繼續下去我會用英語.
希望大家不要見怪。 謝謝。




Ladies and gentlemen


What i just said was that i have never ever given a speech in Mandarin or in Cantonese in my whole life. As my command of both these languages is rather shaky i will carry on with English instead and i am sure that nobody will mind.


Honored guest


Dearest Friends


Beloved family members and relatives from my side and from Kok Chung's side


Thank you all for being here to attend the wedding reception and dinner of Cynthia and Kok Chung tonight. This is an event that i have waited for a long time, and to be able to share it with all of you is very special and thrilling for me. I know that some of you have come a long way to be here, especially my friends and everyone else from Ipoh. There are also two special persons who have come a very long way to be here, from Algeria in fact. I know that they had to travel by air for over 20 hours to be here. So it is with deep gratitude that i welcome them to this dinner. Monsieur Hassaim, Yokuchi-san, bonsoir et bienvenue. Cynthia, Kok Chung and i are thrilled to have you with us tonight.




And all my other dearest friends, people who i have known for more than twenty years, people who i have grown to love and respect, people who have been with me in Toyota and out of Toyota, colleagues, suppliers, dealers and people who are just dearest friends - it is really good to have you here. You really honor me and Kok Chung with your presence. Than you again.


No so long ago a good friend and colleague of mine in Morocco introduced me to a book that he had read. It is written in French, the author is "Jacques Levy". I am quite sure that you have never heard of him, and until then neither had i. The title of the book in French is - well mesdames et messieurs, me non parley Francais - I don't speak French so i can't tell you what the tile of the book is in French. But i can tell you the title translated to English, which is "All the Things We Could Not Say To Each Other." It is a story of a daughter who, after the death of her father, goes on to discover all the things that the father could not say to her when he was alive, either because there wasn't an opportunity, of because of his own stubborn pride and stupidity.


Now i have obviously not read the book, but at that time, i was thinking about what to say for my daughter's wedding, and it struck me that there was a powerful lesson to learn from this book. The lesson is this" that one should not wait until it is too late to say the things that cannot be said to each other. That was when i vowed that i will not let such a sad situation happen between me and Cynthia. I should not let my daughter discover for herself all the things i could not say to her only after i am gone, and instead i should seize the earliest opportunity to tell her things from my heart. And tonight i think there is no better opportunity than this.


Cynthia, there are so many things i want to say to you, but the most important one is this: I love you as only a father could, for his first born and for his daughter, and from that very first moment when i held you in my arms as a newborn baby. How swiftly the years have passed, but to me the memories are as fresh as they had happened yesterday. Katherine, our daughter, that little girl with the big beautiful eyes that captivated all who knew her, look how she has grown. SHe is the beautiful bride now and she will be the mother of her own some day. I know that you are as proud of her as i am.


Cynthia, when you were born God gave me a duty to perform,which was to be the best possible father to you. What HE forgot to tell me was that to be the best father to a daughter is one of the most, if not the most difficult task to ask of any mortal man, as many fathers of daughters who are here tonight can tell you. And God knows and i know how many times i have fumbled and stubled in my duty, manybe more than all the other fathers of daughters here tonight. But you know what, tonight i am going to talk to God, Man to man if you will, Mano a mano, and i am going to say to him Hey God, maybe i didn't do such a bad job after all because Cynthia did turned out so right, did turned out so beautiful, didn't she?


Cynthia, i am proud of you and my heart is filled with joy for you.


Kok Chung, son, I am proud of you. I am proud to call you my son. I see that you have brought sense of contentment and happiness to Cynthia and i am grateful for that. She is yours now, to love and to respect, for the rest of your life. I know that you will not let me down, and i wish you both all the happiness in the world. Now having said that, i have a request to make to both of you and it is this: can you guys hurry up and make me a real datuk as soon as possible. I can't wait lah!


With that i ask the Lord to bless your marriage and your life together as husband and wife. Man to man, i thnk He will nto refuse me. Good night, I love you both!

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Tears fell from my eyes like the fountain, but they were tears of joy. So little said yet so much were understood.

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