Chan Fong @ 98.8FM
Filed under: (Haha, I wonder if I am going to be laughed at with this little confession.)
I frequently take the bus home to KL from Singapore on Friday nights, so, to kill the 5 or sometimes 7 hours journey, I might be reading, or laming with my laptop doing absolutely nothing because of no internet connection, or listening to my walkman phone with repeated songs because someone still don’t want to buy me an iPod, or listening to the radio with lotsa statics because of the mountains and trees.
While surfing through the radio channels one night, I stumbled upon 98.8 FM, a chinese music station, and a program where listeners get to dial in and talk heart to heart with Chan Fong. It starts around 11:30pm and ends around 2am.
The perverted side of me gets the kick out of listening to someone else’s problem. Although, I don’t quite get every word of the conversation because I don’t quite understand Cantonese/Mandarin much, just basic sentences, but I can understand the gist of the problems.
My parents told me not to listen too much to this program because those calling in are paid actors and actresses. I mean, the problems that they faced are so very serious, sometimes ridiculous, I mean, is it even logical or realistic?
Such as, a wife called in one night, and was telling Chan Fong that her husband has ran away from home, leaving their 2 children behind, aged 2 and 1. The husband ran away because he borrowed money from loan sharks (ah longs) to gamble, and the loan sharks are looking for him. Being a dutiful wife, she took care of some of the gambling debts by applying credit cards and withdrawing money from them. All in all she withdrew about RM60,000 and she has to pay the minimum sum of RM2-3,000 per month. So now she is in a turmoil, she has to raise the kids by herself, while struggling to work 2 jobs; one day job, and one part time night job giving tuition. The loan sharks have not managed to find her yet but has looked for her family members. She is still keeping in touch with the jobless husband, and has told him that if he has any heart left, please send some money over because she really needs help. He, in turned, asked for money because he has no food to eat. She is still paying his handphone bills. Halfway through the conversation, she broke down.
Chan Fong was curious as to how she ended up with this guy. She said that they were in a relationship for 5 years before they got married, and in the 5 years, he was very hardworking and never had any gambling problem. Until recently, when he lost his job, he totally changed for the worst. She also mentioned that she is very afraid to face her family, because they objected to their marriage previously. She is, after all a degree holder while he is not, and that seeing he was really hardworking, she wanted to prove to them that being a degree holder is not at all important in life. But now that things are so screwed, going back to them will only prove that they were right all along.
Chan Fong’s advice was, first and foremost, to cut off all ties with the husband, never give money to him anymore, and even cut off the handphone bill. Chan Fong told her not to be soft hearted anymore, and seek family’s help. Whatever it is, whenever there is a problem, blood is always thicker than water, and that your closest ties, your family, will always be there to help.
If my parents heard this problem, they would dismiss it off as ‘acting’. Are there really such stupid men out there who has the heart to leave his wife and kids and run away from home? Stupid enough to even borrow money from loan sharks when there is not enough money to gamble? What about the wife? Why did she even put herself into debts by withdrawing money from credit cards? As a degree holder herself, doesn’t she know that banks charge very high interest from that kind of transaction? Why even bother to save the husband since he is so useless? Plus he, is a gambler and a hard core gambler will always have this very one thinking, "If I can just use this last sum of money to bet, maybe I can win it really big and can finally settle everything." But it is usually not that case, no.
I suppose these are real life problems that one in out of ten families would face. I do believe there exists such stupid men and stupid women. Even in my circle of friends and families, I have seen sheer brainless, foolish, irresponsible acts… all because of greed, because of power and because of ‘face’. I think these are universal problems faced by Chinese people. Hey, you can even watch it in TVB series. Dramas, whether in TV or in real-life exist because of these universal problems.
Anyway, when I think my life is a mess, well, as bad as it sounds, there are others far off worse than me, and I suppose that provides a little consolation.
I do wish the program would continue because I really like listening to it. Chan Fong, keep up the great work!
