Chwan Ren's Wedding: Speech

• Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
• Firstly let me introduce myself.
• My name is Chi-Loong and I’m one of the brothers at this wedding.
• I’ve known Chwan Ren since his university days and many of us from those same university days are here. A quick shoutout to the Schemers at table X. Make some noise!

• I was “kindly” asked by Chwan Ren to give a short speech for his wedding. It is a big arrow but it is also a huge honor.
• As a group of friends, we’ve over 20 years of friendship and counting, and in those years we’ve been a key part of each other’s lives.
• We still regularly catch-up and meet each other every few weeks.
• You can say we’re 老友 already.

• A quick side track.
• Apologies my Chinese is not that good and I will not be giving a speech in Chinese. Otherwise sure malu and make mistake wan. Tah boleh
• 我的中文讲得不流利所以我不会用中文进行一个演讲.

• Just speaking for myself, I’ve worked with Chwan Ren as a colleague, travelled with him on many road trips, shared things both big and small that happened in our lives.
• And Chwan Ren has this depth with any of the Schemers at the table.

• Chee Kiong, who made sure that everything ran on time on the brother’s side.
• Karen, who organized the road convoy to KL, here with her husband Gary and son Caylen.
• Xianneng, who flew all the way from China just to attend this wedding over the weekend.
• Esther, Teng Chwan, Ngai Lam and Jeanette, Alan and Dawn and their beautiful three kids Mui, Kane and Reign, Kok Keong and Michelle – all close friends who took time off their busy schedules to come.

• As old friends that means we know Chwan Ren well.
• This means that we are actually in a good position to blackmail him because we know so much about him.
• There’s no better opportunity to tease him than at his wedding.
• Connie if you ever need to dig up some past dirt on his life feel free to ask us.

• All the little embarassing character quirks that he has.
• For example he always says he is easy going.
• Like when ever we go out for a meal ask him eat what he often says "随便啦".
• What rubbish. You will realize he is anything but 随便.
• What’s worse, he is very good in his people and EQ skills, and somehow you will end up eating what he wants to eat.
• Connie, I’m sorry to say you ended up marrying a control freak.

• But jokes aside, yes Chwan Ren is little bit of a control freak (sorry bro, but that’s the truth), and I’m sure Connie knows this already.
• But the flip side to being a control freak is being a dependable person.
• Chwan Ren is one person that makes sure that things are done correctly.
• But more importantly, he makes sure that things are done right.

• More so than just being dependable, or being generally a very sharp person, what makes him a great friend, or husband, or son is that he is genuinely a good man with a good heart.
• He will make sure that things are done right, which is why this group of friends that he has loves him for that.
• And why we’ve all remained friends for over 20 years.

• An example. In 2001, Eddie, one of our friends from university died in a car accident that Chwan Ren was in.
• For many years after that Chwan Ren was the one who organized the visits to the family to pay respects.
• He wasn’t the driver or the one at fault; just a passenger in the car.
• I could give many, many more examples where he stepped up to the plate, and did more, because he felt it was the right thing to do.

• Of this I’m certain. He has done right by us, by being there and beyond if we ever need him.
• From what I know, he has done right by his family and other friends.
• I am certain he will do right by Connie.
• I say, without irony, that it is my honor to have met and known him as a good friend, and it is my honor to give this speech at his wedding.
• But enough about Chwan Ren, otherwise we’ll just give him a bloated head, and as if it was not already big enough.

• Connie, I’m so glad that you have already become a key part of our small circle of close-knit friends in the two years that we’ve known you. Don’t ever be a stranger.
• I am really happy for the two of you to have found each other, because I’m also sure that you have the same goodness in your heart that attracted Chwan Ren, and you two will be good for each other.

• So let me propose a toast to the two of you to a long and fulfilling life together.
• I would like to invite everybody to join in as well, and if you can please raise your glasses.
• For Ang Moh they do cheers, but since we’re Chinese let’s do one Yum Seng. Ready? Yum Seng!
• Thank you.