GOD IS LOVE ( John 4:16 ) Tiffanee Marie Lim Kuala Lumpur
Smitten By Faith Issue # 00046 August 2022
First, a word of thanks to all my ‘Smitten By Faith’ readers who have been reading my monthly issues throughout this long hot summer. For the August issue, I have a GUEST writer whose youthful, sincere and pure eloquence takes my breath away. My August Guest is TIFFANEE MARIE LIM who came into my life in 2020 during the Covid Pandemic in Malaysia - an extremely talented, sensitive, creative, brilliant young lady who has what I call incredible pizazz or the French, je ne sais quoi or a rare quality which cannot be described or named easily. Tiffanee is a professional fashion designer and also an entrepreneur who went all around the world with her father, the educator and visionary, Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing who founded the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology in Malaysia with its off-shoot campuses in Africa, Asia and the UK. In 2020 just before the Pandemic shut the world down, Tiffanee who was living in London then came back to Malaysia where she remained for the longest spell since the borders were closed. During this time, in the quiet of the Covid scare, I got to know Tiffanee very well – not just as Tiffanee, the very sociable and gorgeous high flier but also the tender and soft side of her sensitive beautiful heart. I found out that just like me, the Catholic Tiffanee too was a “prodigal daughter” and how fortunate I was to be able to share and witness her transformation back to God. How lucky she was not to have to wait 50 years !
In 2021 when I was writing my new book, ‘Late Have I loved Thee’ which was about my own transformation, I asked Tiffanee to be the book designer. I already knew that the multi-talented Tiffanee would be perfect. As the book progressed and I saw how much joy Tiffanee had reading about my long circuitous journey back to God, the fruits of my transformation; how my story of the Prodigal daughter had reset her thinking and given her an optimism to move ahead with her life, there was no question in my mind that God had led Tiffanee to me or me to her. So, for the book’s ‘AFTERWORD’, I found myself asking Tiffanee to write this. I wrote ‘Late Have I loved Thee’ because I wanted to share with the world the joys of coming back to God; I had taken so long (more than 50 years!) and yet, right here in front of me was a clear example of the ‘rightness’; the correctness of my writing this book - in the transformation and magnificent voice of this young woman who was fortunate not to have to wait so long. Tiffanee’s Afterword in ‘Late Have I Loved Thee’ is written with style, verve and yes, so much love. I am humbled beyond words. ( For those of you who would like a pdf copy of the book, please send me an email at the Substack Smitten By Faith comments below and I will send you a bitly link to download the book. It’s free for those who have read this beautiful essay by Tiffanee.)
Above : The Front Cover of ‘Late Have I Loved Thee’ and the double page extract from Tiffanee’s Afterword. I am in the picture with Tiffanee, her dog, ‘Professor’ and Sister Daniel Ee who brought such love and light to Tiffanee.
Back then in early 2021, I had no idea how very important the timing of this journey when she came back to God would be for Tiffanee. Shortly after we finished the book, on 1st June 2021, Tiffanee’s beloved father, Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. It was such a shock and tragedy and now, after more than a year of quiet grieving – with the comfort of God, her family and her friends, Tiffanee has kindly offered to us, the readers of Smitten by Faith, her beautiful essay on God and love. In fact, after I read it, I thought that an appropriate sub-title of Tiffanee’s essay could also be : “ Honour Thy Father” which is in the 10 Commandments. To all daughters and sons – what Tiffanee writes is resounding and clear - love our parents; appreciate them; honour them – this is how you love God.
“ Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you , so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Exodus 20:12
So, now, let’s hear directly from TIFFANEE MARIE LIM as with her beautiful and eloquent words, she honours her late father, Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing and in doing so shows how much she loves God.
[ Editor’s Note : Tiffanee wrote this essay on Father’s Day ( 19th June 2022). It’s publication today in’ Smitten By Faith’ a few months late - in August - does not at all detract from its significance.]
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GOD IS LOVE ( John 4:16 )
By Tiffanee Marie Lim Kuala Lumpur, August 2022
Top left : Tiffanee at her father’s, Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing’s funeral. It was during the Pandemic lockdown and so many thousands of mourners could not attend. Tiffanee kneels in front of her father - so sad but calm. Middle and Right : A loving daughter with her father
It has taken me some time to write this piece.
There are things that seem simply impossible. As if one knows those things happening would be the end of life as we knew it- destroying, preposterous.
Reality check: that happened to me.
The love of my life died. Not just the love of my life; my protector, my inspiration, and my oracle.
It is Father’s Day today.
My father died, this time last year.
He was so much of a man, multiple things all at once. An artist of life itself in a way, using his mind and internal power to move mountains and make change.
Left and centre : Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing and right, the University he founded
My dad came from deep poverty. The youngest of seven children, who all shared the same one room growing up. He used to tell us stories of how they were so poor his parents couldn’t afford to let them eat meat. His mom would bring chicken necks home from the market, the parts that the butchers would throw away because they had no value. They could afford meat once a week, and being the only son in a strict Chinese family, he felt terrible that he would get the chicken drumstick while his sisters had to fight for the rest.
He was the son, so he had to carry the expectation that he would be the provider as soon as he could grow up to work. The son of a factory worker who screwed on Colgate toothpaste caps and an ad hoc seamstress, he dropped out of school at 15, to share the burden of looking for wages to help them.
He was an artist all his life. He could draw, to communicate well-defined perspectives and dreams. Early on, he was already better than his teachers at it, and they would volunteer to sit while he led classes at school. Sometimes, the school would go months before hiring art teachers, knowing Lim Kok Wing was in class. He would join any competition he could, winning all the time. He would get his hands beaten, or his prizes broken by his parents, who drilled into him that art had no future- to them, a steady, well-paying job was to be a clerk, filing or taking notes in an office.
He left school and sold encyclopedias, or cars, or anything he could. He became a crime reporter at a newspaper because nobody wanted the job of sitting at court long hours and mingling with criminals. They paid per column inch, so he wrote long pieces but often ended up having them cut brief by his boss. While working at the newspaper he poured over the pages, reading each word, becoming fascinated by the ads and messaging of products.
He secretly drafted new formats for the paper, pages and pages of typography and value adding for the brands, until one day his boss saw his notes. At 19, he became the creative head of The Eastern Sun. By 24, he was regional creative director of McCann Erickson, the advertising agency- the first Asian to hold the position. At 27, he started Wings Creative Consultants, the first local company to enter the ad market, able to steal big clients because he understood local sensibilities, growing into the biggest in our part of the world. To supply his company, he owned The Image Bank, the world’s largest library of pictures, which became Getty.
In his 30s, he worked for the Malaysian government, helping strategize the growth of our economy by communicating to the public how to think big and unify our people. We could attract foreign investment if we presented ourselves well.
During this time, he started an institute. It was the Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology, founded in 1991 with a first intake of 200 students. In a world when the arts weren’t valued here, he taught himself, how to master graphic arts, design, public relations, and idea architecture, as the first school for creatives in our history.
He flew. Limkokwing became a household name, empowering local talent to apply heart and soul in a way that built business and created wealth when nobody believed. During this time, Malaysia became the fastest-developing nation in the world. He worked with foreign leaders, to breakthrough, such as the great Nelson Mandela, who changed history.
We were the first private college to upgrade to university status. We were the first Malaysian university abroad; first to graduate full architects, musicians, fashion designers, broadcasters, film makers and more. About 14 years ago, we opened on Park Lane in London.
We operate now in 12 countries, with full universities, and create every stitch of our own intellectual property. There are at least 60,000 Limkokwing University of Creative Technology graduates, from over 170 countries, operating in every level of every sector, on every continent. Leaders. We are still the only institution to carry the name of a real person.
Left : Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing with Nelson Mandela. Right : A happy picture of the educator who believed in Africa as he showed by building so many University campuses there.
I miss my father tremendously. I will never forget his struggle. It has become mine.
He was a complicated man. He chose the struggle. And didn’t back down.
I pray for one more moment of his time, one more scolding, one more hug. He had soft hands, and would squeeze me tight. There was nobody he loved more than me and my brother.
I pray for him to soar now, as he always could, but today he is not bound by his body.
Sensitive and tough, as great men always are, he leaves a legacy of triumph, but also silent pain. If there was a man that would know how to pull us out of this post-Covid hole, it would be him. The world is weaker now, but the Almighty ultimately triumphs.
With humility, we walk on, always towards the light.
To love is to feel God.
To love God is to love others.
PS: I love the name, ‘Smitten by Faith’. I love the author, Joan Foo Mahony. A saviour of mine in a way- a channel for love, and a lover of art. She saw me in my darkest sorrow and rescued me from isolation. I will forever be in debt.
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