SEREMBAN: Celebrating the auspicious Chinese New Year reverberates across a multi-ethnic Malaysia, each year.
And military veterans did not forget to usher in the 'lunar year of the tiger' with a roaring high-tea at the 'Sappers Swing' clubhouse of the Fort High Valley - Veteran's Rendezvous Resort in Jalan Bayan 1, on the outskirts of Seremban.
Welcoming them were resort owner Major (Rtd) M. Kamalanathan and reunion facilitator Major (Rtd) A.R. Ramachandran Iyer.
The mixed community and multi-religious gathering also saw many of them offering greetings in Chinese and conversing in a smattering of Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin and Hakka dialects.
Apart from food and beverage served, there was plenty of revelry as the veterans, their families and guests sang songs in various dialects and languages.
Keeping the tempo going were guitarists Gerard Xavier and Alaistir Patrick Peter who were deft with their string-plucking skills, serenading the guests.
The occasion also saw the belated birthday celebration for event organising chairman Major (Rtd) A.R. Ramachandran Iyer, (who turned 69 on Jan 29); Kalatharan K. Kutty (who turned 60 on Jan 7); Chandaran Raghavan (who turned 69 on Jan 15), Sri Vahlsan Krishnan Nair (who turned 51 on Dec 30), Lt Col (Rtd) Enoch Amalanathan (who turned 63 on Jan 23) and Sashi Nair (who turned 50 on Dec 5).
Among those present were Col (Rtd) Munraj Singh, Lt Col (Rtd) S. Arumugam, Lt Col (Rtd) Kirpal Singh, businessman T. Chandra Sagaran @ Sultan, Patrick Puvanendran, P.K. Kuna Sagar, Kamalanathan's wife Ambigah Suppayah and Ramachandran's wife Saraswathy Narayanan.
Also, there were two special guests on a Malaysia-Australia Joint Development programme with the Malaysian Army institutions in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan.
They were Army Academy instructor Capt Edward Wright and Malaysian Peace-keeping Centre instructor Major Dave Seers, who was accompanied by wife Trudie Seers.
Retired Royal Artillery Regiment officer Ramachandran said that the 'Sappers Swing' was a term derived from soldiers negotiating the rope swing (like Tarzan) at obstacle courses.
"A sapper, or combat engineer, performs a variety of military engineering duties such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defences, and working on road and airfield construction and repair," said Ramachandran, who also introduced guests to the self-improvised beverage can-crusher.
The can-crusher eases the disposal of aluminium containers so that they can be sold off as recycled items, he said.
Meanwhile, retired Royal Engineering Regiment officer Kamalanathan revealed that the resort was in the midst of constructing affordable bungalow homes to be sold to the public.
He said the clubhouse was now equipped with recreational and sporting facilities for darts, billiards/pool/snooker and indoor games.
"The plan is to eventually include a military museum in the clubhouse, which perhaps is the only such facility for veterans to foster greater camaraderie.
"The museum will augur well for military tourism in the region, with the Army township of Port Dickson not far away," said Kamalanathan, who is also upgrading the 1ha resort to include a fruit orchard and animal farm.
The resort, an ideal getaway for reunions, also doubles up for home-stay, bed-and-breakfast and social garden functions, since seven years ago.