We had a reunion lunch on 28 December 2023, three days before the end of 2023. Attendees of this reunion are former badminton kaki or buddies who used to play badminton at Basel Hall at least twice a week for over thirty years from 1980's to 2000's. The group last met for a meal on 10 October 2022 when one of the ex-players came back from Vancouver, Canada (Read here).
Now, we call ourselves, "The Badminton Survivor Group" because we know the number will dwindle over the years. I have written earlier that some of the members had already passed on. First is Peter Lee on 4 March 2019 (Read here), then John Wan on 27 March 2022 (Read here) and Tai NK about a year and a half ago on 6 July 2022 (Read here).
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2023 did not end in an entirely happy note. There were heavy-hearted moments after reading the news of the suicide of a South Korean actor, Lee Sun Kyun. He died just a day before our lunch date.
Sun Kyun, a recipient of "Excellent Achievement in Film" Award, was at the peak of his career when chose to end his life because he found no other way or incentive to continue living. As he put it in his suicide note, "I cannot do anything else, there is no other way but this". With his acting career practically in ruin and a looming contractual penalty of 10 billion won (RM$33 million), he chose death as a way to end the mess. My speculation is that he chose death to ensure that the well-being of the rest of his family is kept intact, at least financially!
His tragic end is a case of getting involved with the wrong people and committing an improper act either knowingly or unknowingly that gave rise to blackmail!
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