For old times' sake

AFTER going their separate ways for many years, 340 former employees of Penang Mutiara Beach Resort met again at a reunion dinner and dance.

Emotions ran high as old friends hugged each other and a few could not hold back their tears.

Organising committee chairman Jeeny de Kuijper herself was almost in tears when she considered the overwhelming response to the gathering.

“I have been reminiscing for a long time,” she said at the reunion at the Four Points by Sheraton Penang hotel in Tanjung Bungah on Saturday.

“Little did I know that all my friends who were working at the hotel were also waiting eagerly for this get-together,” she said.

Penang Mutiara Beach Resort in Teluk Bahang closed down in 2006.

It opened its doors on Sept 16, 1988, and was known for its luxury and for being the hotel of choice for former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he visited Penang.

It employed a large number of workers, numbering more than 1,500 during its heyday.

“The seven months of planning did not go to waste,” said Penang-born de Kuijper, 40, who married a Dutchman and now resides in the Netherlands.

“A general manager, two human resource directors and senior management people who worked at the hotel turned up.

“Some came from Singapore, Laos, Australia and the United States,” she said.

A former banquet staffer, she was the first woman butler at a hotel in Penang at that time. She left the hotel in 2003.

“We formed a 15-member committee and began communicating with the former staff through e-mails, Facebook and other means,” she said.

“We even put an advertisement in the papers, informing them of the dinner.

“We had a slow start but then the response picked up when we put up two banners, one in Batu Ferringhi and another at the former Penang Mutiara building.

“We also gave out hundreds of flyers at the Teluk Bahang market, determined to make the reunion dinner a thumping success,” said de Kuijper.

She said there was no other hotel like Penang Mutiara and the workers were like a family.

“There were husbands and wives working at the same place and many of them found jobs at other hotels and some are in senior management positions.

“The hotel gave the staff the best training and other hotels readily employed them when Penang Mutiara closed,” she said.

James Naras, who was a DJ at the hotel in 2000, said the reunion brought back many memories.

“Many of us became emotional after meeting some friends we have not seen for 20 years,” he said.

James, 46, who was also on the organising committee, said they all just wanted to meet each other and share how their lives had changed after leaving the hotel.

“There is a plan to have the reunion every four years.

“It would be timely to have a 30th year anniversary in 2018 and many have told us they will be there.

“We can expect a much bigger crowd next time,” he said.