I asked the waitress at her (Lin's) favourite Japanese restaurant at the EQ in Penang to take a good look at this "grandmother" and to guess her age. She took a very long look, knowing very well there must be a catch. The waitress said "55". The grandmother said "thank you", obviously very happy - one day before her birthday tomorrow (9-eleven) when she will be 6X (keep guessing). The waitress continued, "you mean 60+ plus?", quite impressed. "70+?", she tried some more with shock.
Tan Guat Lin, Evelyn joined the School of HBP as a lecturer in 1977. The same year I entered the School as an undergraduate. She remembers me as being "stubborn". I didn't want to do this. Didn't want to do that. And she said I "insisted she write a letter of recommendation" to a foundation for me to get some sponsorship (did I?). She was my academic advisor. But I refused to enrol in her environmental science course. I insisted on getting an exemption (the reason I gave was I already had enough credits to graduate, but I think there was some other reason, shhh). She gave in eventually and I got exempted. "But look who's the environmentalist now", she retorted at lunch just now.
Yoke Mui, who was also at the farewell lunch just now related an incident when she went to Lin's office one day. Lin was going through the feedback forms from students who took her class. One student wrote on the back : "I don't know what you are talking about in class. But I come everyday of class because I like looking at you". Must have been one of the hot-blooded males.
Yes, Lin is calling it a day after serving 35 years with the School of HBP. I thought it kinda sad that academics at HBP just fade away after they retire - all she got was a thank you letter signed by the administrative officer (who probably didn't realise she has served 35 years). I said the letter should have been signed by the Vice-Chancellor. So I said over lunch that I would write about her in my blog, for posterity. I asked her about her career and life in HBP - what did she remember most, what she thought was her greatest achievement, skip the negatives.
Well, she didn't look for a job at HBP. She had not even completed her PhD in UK when Dean Shen (an Englishman) wrote her a letter offering her a job as a lecturer. It was her husband, an architect, who was looking for a job and had gone to see the Dean of HBP but the latter found out about Lin's area of research and thought it fitted perfectly with the philosophy of the School. Psst, the husband didn't the job. So, she was of course the young hot lecturer, probably in many of the student's dreams (OK, you can censor if you like, but I'm just going with the flow here) but being female wasn't easy in a male-dominated campus. You get the sense that she encountered the proverbial glass ceiling.
And so it was with relish that along the way came Fawizah Lucas, lady extraordinaire architect who was parachuted in by the University to become Dean. The lady dean shook things up, and told Lin to "go for it". For those of you not in the know, Fawizah's architect husband designed the USM Mosque on the main campus. Fawizah had her own detractors who saw her as a challenge so when she left, Lin lost an ally.
There are good bosses and there are obnoxious bosses who can make life difficult. It just takes one. Lin served seven different deans. And one of them gave her hell, with help from cronies. From then on her academic career went downhill. I can relate to that because I was similarly targeted by that same boss but I quite managed to survive.
What was she most proud of?, I asked. You won't find it written in any document but she was one of the researchers appointed by the government to carry out the studies which eventually led to the planning guidelines for the sitting of factories (based on emissions standards) still being used by the Department of Environment.
Lin is an expert not just in ergonomics but environmental monitoring and controls. She is in high demand from the many factories. And she is leaving at a time when her ergonomics knowledge is in high demand. How so? There's increasing number of industrial accident cases which require her expert knowledge.
How long will she continue working? "Forever", she said. The kids are grown up but no grandchildren yet (so she should not be the "grandmother of ergonomics"?). She still needs to work though you could say that in her youth she almost had a silver spoon in her mouth. The story is too personal to tell in detail. Her father worked for a really really really rich tycoon in Penang and the family stayed in the tycoon's bungalow (really huge one). So Lin grew up not knowing how to take the bus 'cause she was chauffeured to school everyday. One day the driver didn't show up so she cried because she didn't know how to go home on her own. Luckily, a classmate showed her the way home by bus. Everyday, an amah would bring Milo for her (and cousins) during recess, nothing else. Milo everyday, imagine. Now when she sees Milo, she wants to throw up.
How about hawker food, I once asked. Did you all send the servants out with tiffins in chauffeur-driven cars to taupau for char koay teow or hokkein char? She looked at me as though I had gone bananas. They had servants to serve anything they want to eat. Those were the good old days.
She said she can't really complain. Afterall, the University renewed her yearly contract nine times from the time she had to go on mandatory retirement at the very young age of 56. It's time for her to move on but it's a lost to the University. The private sector will gain. So will another institution of higher learning, if they are smart.
Which brings the circle round to me. If they hadn't changed the retirement age three times, I would be retiring in 2 weeks time.
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| Happy 6X Birthday, Evelyn. |
Now, to plan for my own retirement.
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