I have heard of Professor
Wang Gungwu for a long time; I even had the opportunity to speak with him on a
few occasions when we were both guests in some functions. However, it was not
until April this year that I had the opportunity to pose a picture with him
when he was speaking in a function at the National University of Singapore. He
spoke for more than an hour on ASEAN. It was so insightful that even two
University of Pennsylvania academics that I invited along were totally mesmerized.
He literally dished out tons of facts and figures without the need for any
notes! And look at the picture; Professor Wang is already 86 years old.
Professor
Wang is so renowned that it would be superfluous for me to say anything about
his background. But I do take pride in the fact that he was once a professor at
the University of Malaya, which is where I did my Bachelor in Engineering.
When I was languishing in
Singapore’s Tan Tock Seng Hospital following an injury caused to my left foot
by a reckless cab driver while I was crossing the road during a morning walk
with my wife, a thoughtful friend Professor S Gopinathan brought Wang Gungwu’s Community
and Nation for me to pass time. That was the first time I understood the
depth of Wang Gungwu’s scholarship. He was part-author, part-editor in this
book. Before reading this work of his, I thought I knew a great deal about the
history of Chinese overseas.
How little I knew!
I recently stumbled upon
another book by Wang Gungwu: China and the Chinese Overseas. I
could hardly put it down!
If you think China is
right about its 9-dash Line in the South China Sea, please take a read of this
book. Incidentally, there is not even a single mention of this 9-dash Line in
this book. I leave it to readers to form your own conclusion.
