Farewell to a dedicated official

Former weightlifter, Mr. Sum Kwok Seng passed away peacefully on 30th May 2009. He was 84.

The late Mr. Sum Kwok Seng was a weightlifter and a active member of the Malaysian Amateur Weightlifting Federation (MAWF), from the 50’s until the 90’s. He was a qualified international Weightlifting Referee and has officiated at many international Weightlifting Championships, including the 1970 Asian Games and the 1988 Olympic Games. He was the Assistant Treasurer of Olympic Council of Malaysia from 1974 to 1994.

In the 1980s, Kwok Seng used to drop by for the "morning talk" that took place at the OCM office, or to be more precise in front of the late Mr. Thong Poh Nyen's desk. The regulars were, besides Poh Nyen, the then Honorary Treasurer, the late Mr. Lum Mun Chak and sportswriters that include A. Subramaniam (Star), Ishak Dalib (Berita Harian) dan me. The others who would come by from time to time are Tham Choy Lin (BERNAMA) and A. Ghaffar Ismail (Berita Harian) and Dato' Sieh Kok Chi.

The "morning talk" have to stop latest by 11.30am because the Poh Nyen will get ready to go home. Kwok Seng was responsible for coming up with a formula to calculate the amount spend on each athlete during multi sports games, especially SEA Games where the athletes arrive and depart at different times and are at the games for different durations.

He was one of the founder members of the Southeast Asia Peninsular Games Federation in 1959. He and Poh Nyen were the two representatives of FMOC, who attended the inaugural meeting of South East Asia Peninsular Games Federation in Bangkok on 25^th and 26^th June 1959. He was inducted into the OCM Hall of Fame in 2002.

The late Mr. Sum Kwok Seng was cremated on Monday, ^st June 2009 at the Qui Yuen Funeral Parlour, in Petaling Jaya.