Lee Min Dan: growing up in the 60s in Borneo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd0sylp3Zm4

https://youtu.be/xd0sylp3Zm4

 I got an email requesting me to do another blog on Lee Min Dan.

Hi Ann, I chanced upon your blogs when I was watching a video on youtube about Lee Min Dan ' A Chinese boy growing up in Sarawak , 1969 '. I read the comments and found out that he was your classmate and sadly had passed on several years ago. I was teaching in Sarawak in the early 80s. Still love Sarawak and have fond memories. I took a boat upriver from Sibu to Kanowit to visit my friend, a teacher. The river was so clear and unpolluted then. It's now a disaster due to pollution from logging. Could you write a blog article on Lee Min Dan and why Michael Rogge went to your school to do the filming ? I love the youtube video. Interesting growing up years of a bygone era where life was so simple and people were so sincere in small towns. By the way, are you Cantonese ? Very few Cantonese in Sarawak. I'm West Malaysian Cantonese from Kuala Lumpur. I'm 61 this year and a retired teacher. I would love to visit Sarawak again after 35 years. I would love to visit Kapit becos the previous time I intended to visit that place was in 1982. The boats won't go there at that time becos the water level of the river was low due to the dry season. Hope to hear from you and please write on Lee Min Dan. Yours sincerely, YP

Hi YP, I am sorry that there is not much news we know about Lee Min Dan, He left our school after form three. When the video resurfaced, and I was the only person to identify him because he was my classmate, and I was in the video, though the camera didn't pan my area. I queried from friends from his area, Sungei Merah, they found news about him and he was killed in a motorcycle accident. He has sisters in Canada who I connected. I think he had some sons who responded to comments to the video. Michael Rogge did not make the video, he merely collected the village. He was happy I told him the time was wrong. Why was this video made? My school Methodist Secondary school was affiliated to the Americans.Many missionaries and teachers came from there. I conjecture that the movie makers must have approached the Methodist mission. With your permission, I would like to do a followup blog with the video, it's been a long time since I rehashed his story. Your email just gave me the push. Cheers, Ann