When Liao Hoong Sing died he left behind a legacy that would have stirred envy amongst his contemporaries. As a successful property developer, he had amassed enough funds to set up a trust to care for his family, a wife, 4 children and 10 grandchildren
However, his legacy is the house he built to keep the family living together years after his passing.
“Except for my father, we were all staying in New Zealand as permanent residents when my father decided he wanted his family back in Malaysia.
“He bought two semi-detached units in Glenmarie Court, broke down the dividing wall and installed a sliding door to cover part of the space. Each unit remained self-contained with its kitchen and rooms with attached bathrooms. In 1998 he moved into the property before he summoned us back.
“Then he sold the house in New Zealand, which he also built, and forced us to come back. Within one month my two brothers, my wife and my son packed up and came back,” said Andrew Liao, the eldest son, 52.
Andrew and his young family occupied one unit while his brothers and parents stayed in the other. The property was built over a 6000 sq ft piece of land.
Eventually, one unit of the semi-detached houses next door was up for sale and his father bought it for one of his brothers. The external wall separating the two clusters of semi-detached came down and together with the adjoining property it resembled a traditional ancestral home for large extended families.
The grandchildren were born in that house and had the space to play with each other running from house to house and every home had a domestic helper.
“He made it in such a way as to ensure space and privacy by installing a sliding door between the two units. We could close the door if we had guests. The external wall between the second house and this unit was also broken down.
“The iconic huge dining table was the item that brings the family together every week over a meal. This table was placed between the two units near the sliding door. As the family grew and more grandchildren came along Dad had a huge table top made to place over this table so that it could sit everyone. We would all squeeze in somehow,” Andrew reminisces about the many Sunday dinners and festivals where laughter and merrymaking reverberate through the verandas of the 3 houses.
His father also helped another brother to acquire a house 200 metres away and adjacent to the main house.
As the grandchildren were growing up they benefitted from the wisdom and attention of the grandparents. Occasionally his father would take all the grandchildren for outings accompanied by the domestic helpers as his mother could still drive.
“My father also helped my eldest son with his homework and told him about life’s lessons. Our housekeeping was kept to a minimum as there were maids to do it. We all ate together and cooking was done in my mum’s kitchen.
“Eventually we decided it was better that we cooked our meals as each unit was fully equipped with a kitchen and attached bathrooms. We only ate together as a whole family during the weekends,” Andrew said his parents would help to babysit the kids when they needed to go out.
For years the walls and verandas continue to witness the good and bad times surrounding the growing families.
The sounds of screaming kids toned down into subdued laughter and careless banter around the huge dining table, and the new extended top was custom-made to accommodate 18 to 20 people.
Andrew’s father was always keen to keep the family together even though it was at the cost of many years of living apart from his wife. “My mother went to Singapore to look after my brothers who studied there as kids. Then she went to New Zealand to look after all her children living in a house my father built.”
After the patriarch died in 2016 Andrew moved into the main house to live with his mother while his own was given to his sister and family. Although the walls and fences have been rebuilt, and 6 grandchildren are pursuing their studies overseas now, the huge dining table continues to bring the family together for many Sunday meals and chit-chat sessions.
For close to RM6 million, the homes senior Liao built have kept his family together for 26 years and “many more years to come,” adds Andrew.
Andrew Liao is a successful financial planner and authored his biography The Bent Silver Spoon which chronicles his journey from a mischievous child to many failed business ventures as a young adult and finally at the top of his career.
