Previous Events

The Realism of Rain
12/13 July 2022

This year we did not intend to hold formal meetings at Bellevue, but in the spirit of the Campuan legacy, asked Maryam Abdullah and Kev Yeow (and his wife Evon) to invite friends to meet informally. A few former attendees inquired if they could join if there were special events organised, but were candidly advised otherwise. Most welcomed was Ramli Ibrahim who turned up with artist Kishore and gardener/photographer Rabby – and eminent journalist Cyril Pereira. Maryam invited her teacher friend Helena Osman – and the legally distinguished Mohamad Ariff Yusof and his microbiologist wife Hakimah.

From Singapore, Ali Ibrahim and Jona Pang sent their apologies; Quek Joo Hock had planned to turn up with his friend Ken Chin, but was himself held back by covid. [“Man proposes, viruses dispose” – a reminder of the sensibility of sparsity as against overcrowding …and commercial exploitation.]

For the occasion, our office and hotel staff were to provide essential services, with Indran mounting a full display of Bucky memorabilia and photos, also with Azim recording the events, all to be noted for appreciation.

On the 12th, at the sunsight moment, the sky was clouded when Ramli appeared, transformed – radiantly nubile to hold sway with his inspired Odissi terpsichorean evocation at the geodesic dome – earlier divining his preference for rain – and indeed, without the sun being sighted, the clouds later obliged by intermittent drizzles – and more over the two days. With the Balinese umbuls fluttering over the panoramic terrace and the dome, we might have been reminded that they are symbolic of Naga and the source of water – symbolic indeed to appreciate rainfall even during monsoon periods, yet with shortages still in water supply in many areas due to poor management, over-consumption and waste. In the context of Penang Hill, where PBA the historic water authority and environmental conservator, deserving perennial appreciation, the Buckian inspiration would remind that so much could be achieved for water security and sharing – if humans would be truly sensible. During the dance by Ramli, the drizzle had abated, but we were to experience much rainfall over the two days, with the sun only sighed briefly on the 13th. The weather moods varied from clear to misty when clouds swirled around Bellevue, on other days below obscuring the city below.

As it rained and rained, the thought occurred: in wonderment about plant and analogously human life, and the eternal saga of deluge or deprivation – and about what is enough to be shared, in “the world for you and me, not you or me”. From Kishore I was to learn that in Tamil: the word for rain is malee, and water tani (as is more commonly known).

Another stray thought: wondering if current generations in Malaysia know about the context and novel by Han Suyin*: “And the Rain my Drink”? Then relatedly, more recently meeting Gary Lit who has published “If the Sky were to Fall”….

Cosmically, on the 13th, the Fuller Estate mailed news of the publication of “The Sense of Significance: the Friendship of Christopher Morley and Buckminster Fuller” written by Louise Morley Cochrane. This brought back my memories of Louise who I had invited to the Campuan Meeting at Emmanuel College in 1995; also of our trip together to the historic Brown (of Glugor, Penang) family home at Longformacus in Berwickshire, where she fell and broke her arm, and had to be rushed to Edinburgh Hospital! Sadly, she passed away in 2012. Her birthday was on the same date as mine, but earlier in 1918.

Significantly, Brian Wong and Jon Su were able to attend, both to be concerned with the future of Bellevue and its Fuller heritage. Brian and others attending were able to savour more intimately the Bellevue ambience and the Buckian legacy from images displayed – and from a preview video of “Remembering Fuller” which the ArtScience Museum in Singapore recorded with me, following their Buckminster Fuller exhibition called “Radical Curiosity”. Brian confided with a preview proof copy of his seminal book “The Tao of Alibaba”, soon to be published, enviably reminding about my tardiness in producing my memoirs, “Confluencing with Bucky,” as yet not too far from final drafts, despite distractions, including the taxonomic recognition of Alpinia buckiana.

On the 13th, Maryam led and recorded the informal and extempore exchanges held at the Campuan Lounge, which was attended later by Shannon Lee and Audrey Kwan from Perak, young articulate friends of Ramli. Cyril further contributed his account of the wide-ranging expressions of personal, local and national concerns – at the place where Bucky’s aura may still linger. The attendees also had a botanical tour of the Ginger Garden & Aviary of Bellevue, and buggy rides around the summit environment of Penang Hill. As an unplanned diversion, some were cajoled into doing garden weeding, to dirty their hands while discovering interesting ground plants in the exercise.

Although the July gathering was to be informal in the Campuan spirit of privacy (with honorics and undue publicity avoided) Sutra Foundation has sent out their Facebook account – as Ramli’s contribution was indeed pivotal and memorable, as before. We decided not to include it under this website. Hopefully viewers may understand the discretion preferred as against over-publicity – to allow a more personal appreciation of the private event and of Bucky, in the Bellevue Campuan context.

Maryam and Cyril have made their accounts of the gathering, which could be circulated to attendees with collated photos to be shared.

Postscript: while we look forward to sunsight daily, some may have seen their last sunclipse. Thomas Zung has just informed that his great friend Robert Curl (born in 1933) died on the 3rd of July. Curl with Richard Smalley and Harry Kroto won the Nobel Prize in 1996 for the discovery of the nanomaterial: Buckminsterfullerene. The name was proposed by Kroto, who had earlier studied Architecture and knew about Fuller’s geodesic domes which carbon 60 resembled. In late 1995, I did invite Kroto (who was at the University of Sussex) to our Campuan meeting at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, but he was unable to come. I seem to recall that we had already heard of the recognition of the carbon 60 fullerene since 1985.

Yet another obituary followed in July: in Oxford, Colin Bridger, my Manchester University classmate passed away. He and his wife Ann, also a classmate, were with me in July 1983 visiting Bucky in London, when we went together, also with Shirley Sharkey, to the RIBA. Latest: as further sad news and a coupled funeral, Ann has died on 1sr August.

“Remembering Fuller“

In Singapore, the ArtScience Museum honoured Bucky by tne exhibition “Radical Curiosity – in the Orbit of Buckminster Fuller” from January 22nd ending on July 10th. The Museum invited me to record an interview about my friendship with Bucky in th context of Bali, Singapore and Penang. The recording has now been released on Youtube, and accessible by the link: Remembering Fuller with Datuk Seri Lim Chong Keat 

Lim Chong Keat, July 2022