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**We have a feature article at last! It's from our Hawk and you can read it below. Well done, Hawk, it proves there is literary talent among us still.

**When was the last time you attended the school assembly? For most of us, it was a good quarter of a century ago. Well, two of our 74/72 group maanged to sneak into one recently, not as a student of course, though we wonder if they would have succeeded, but for a good cause. Read about it below in the words of one of them, Sze Loon. Sze Loon and Tow Loon were there on behalf of the VI Foundation to give away scholarships worth some RM35,000.

**The call for donations to the proposed 74/72 VI scholarhship fund has now received five responses. Hope more of us will come forward as time goes by.

When a new batch of Victoria Institution students was forming their little "society in miniature" in 1968, a new Prime Minister about 16,000 km away was about to transform a country into a microcosm of the world.

Hi dear readers, this is Soh, Hock Seng (Hawk) with warm greetings from Vancouver through

cyberspace ( a word coined by Canadian author William Gibson). On Sept 29th outside my office area, the newspapers were screaming the headlines" Trudeau dies (at age 80)". There was also people handing out material in support of an outlawed religious group founded in China. This planted a seed for an article. The Canadian anthem includes the words " Our home and native land" and like the penyu that revisits the East Coast, my thoughts instantaneously bridged the physical divide.

How do you write about someone you have never met in person? Well a few years earlier I have read a book by Trudeau about his vision of a "Just Society". Over the last dozen years, more is revealed through the various documentaries, archival news footage and additional interviews during the writing of his memoirs, notwithstanding the media blitz in the days following his death.

His death sparked something else. Keep in mind this guy was PM from 68-79 and again from 80 -84. He has been private citizen since and you can love him or hate him but you cannot ignore him.He was featured on TIME cover more than a dozen times. Described at various stages of his life as radical, philosopher, playboy, statesman, outdoors man, visionary, charismatic, arrogant etc.The outpouring of grief and the gathering of international dignitaries (Jimmy Carter,Castro,Prince Andrew etc ) at the state funeral testify to the impact he had at home and on the international stage.

I have followed the local coverage , picked the brains of fellow immigrants and native born

Canadians ages 35-70 , diplomatic corp personnel who have met him personally, in an attempt to paint a composite yet balanced picture of this saint/sinner. ( His 9 yr old child out of wedlock was in the pews with her mother together with the ex-wife and sons)

The following anecdotes tell part of the story:

When it was revealed in the Watergate Tapes that President Nixon referred to him as "that

Asshole Trudeau" he shrugged his shoulder and said "I have been called worse things by better men".

In 71 even the organist did not know the identity of the secretive wedding till Pierre ,51 showed up with bride 22 .

Rebel in the palace - While walking behind Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in 77 he

suddenly did a pirouette ( a full ballet body turn)

He was instrumental for being the first country in the world to introduce official multi-culturalism. (This idea subsequently caught on in Australia, mates!)

In his eulogy, eldest son Justin related a story. In the parliamentary restaurant the son at the

tender age of eight recognised one of Dad's political rivals. A silly joke was cracked meant to please Dad but was instead reprimanded sternly. "Never attack the individual. We can be in total disagreement with someone without denigrating them as a consequence." He took the young son by the hand and introduced him to this gentleman. ( Joe Clark from another political party who subsequently became PM. albeit briefly)

Trudeau's legacy includes repartriation of the constitution from the mother country, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, defeat of the Quebecseparatists in 1980. ( he is of French and Scottish descent), first Western power to recognise China , befriended Cuba much to the displeasure of US foreign policy, multi-culturalism (as policy) is the culmination of assimilation, then melting pot then "mosaic". social experiments. Canada (as a nation) is 133 years old!

high school days.... " So many books to read, so many poets and philosophers to enjoy.. so

many countries to discover."

as justice minister.." The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation." ( He went on to differentiate between crime and sin )

Canada... " A country after all, is not something something you build as the pharaohs built the pyramids,then leave them standing there to defy eternity. A country is something that is built everyday out of certain basic shared values . And so it is in the hands of every Canadian to determine how well and wisely we build the country of the future."

The retiring Mr.Trudeau(Feb 84) ..."The philosopher George Santayana defines happiness as taking 'the measure of your powers'; That night I took the measure of mine. It was time to go home." ( after his walk through a snowstorm)

This is my tribute borrowing two lines from Nobel prize winner Kipling's poem "IF"

"If you can walk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch"

The world in general and Canada in particular is a little diminished when this flame, lucid and serene till the end, flickered for the last time. God rest his soul.

Pierre Yves Elliot Trudeau

( Oct 18th 1919 - Sept28th 2000)

Comments are welcome at: hshawksoh@hotmail.com

Interactive Community - to discuss this article and for last week's Fun Poll's results

Sorry, got no pics unfortunately, but it was great to attend the Monday

assembly again after so many years, albeit this time the view was from the

stage. Seeing students yawning and talking and all that does bring back

Tow Loon gave a good speech, not too long. He brought to our attention the

3rd verse of the school song in particular, "let us lastly pledge ourselves,

ever to uphold our school" - that was in reference to school leavers joining

VIOBA and doing the work we were doing, ie raising monies and all that for

the present students.

All in all, it was nice to have been present in the assembly although I had

to leave before the breakfast was served. Never mind, next year perhaps!!!

Start The Week Laughing...