Announcement
Written by Simon Cheong   
Monday, 16 November 2009 20:13

Chua May Ling is no longer the Secretary of the Classical Guitar Society (WP/Sel) since January 2008 and may not represent the Society in any manner whatsoever.

 

This announcement was forced onto me due to the events that have taken place in the past months and as the President of the Society, I have to safeguard the name of the Society as well as to avoid any misuse of the Society’s name and any fraudulent dealings that may affect the Society inadvertently or otherwise.

 

The events that have taken place:

 

Bel Canto de Guitarra

 

There were two very important issues with regards to this concert:

 

The Sponsors

As three of the sponsors (Music Walk, Sonata Music & Art and Trinity Guildhall) of this concert were and at least two still are (Music Walk and Sonata Music & Art) the Society’s sponsors, I had to inform the sponsors of the fact that the Society was not the organizer of this event. As I do see the bosses of Music Walk and Sonata Music & Art, I spoke with them personally, but I wrote a letter to Mr. David Robinson of Trinity Guildhall. I did not get a reply but my intentions were stated clearly, that is, to inform of Chua May Ling’s resignation and that Trinity Guildhall was aware that they were sponsoring an individual and not the Society nor any organisation. More importantly, that Trinity Guildhall recognized the fact that Chua May Ling was and is not representing the Society.

 

The Classical Guitar Community

I have written an article on this in the Society’s webpage – please refer to this article ‘Bel Canto de Guitarra ‘. Once again I would like to state that there is no such organization and usage of the name (sic!) is quite laughable!  As it is, it represents the entire classical guitar enthusiasts in the whole world! (For those whose had gone for the concert - just as well, why buy tickets if you are the organizer!)

 

As the President of the Classical Guitar Society (WP/Sel), I had the responsibility to bring to light the misuse of this incomplete sentence especially if it was intentionally used to mislead.

 

Manuel Rodriguez in Bentley

 

I was taken aback when I received an email from Rodriguez stating that he hoped to see me at the clinic he was having at Bentley’s auditorium organized by the Society. There was an email sent to Mr. Low Kia Soon of Guitar Store stating that the Society was organizing this clinic for Rodriguez. I immediately called Bentley to check this out. The operator at Bentley’s end confirmed that the Society was the organizer. I then asked who from the Society was in charge and he mentioned that it was Chua.

 

The implications from this will badly influence the Society’s reputation with the sponsors of the Society as well as mislead people to believe that the Society is involved. Guitar Store was the Society’s sponsor. I personally called Mr. Low Kia Soon to inform him that I had nothing to do with this and he had indeed, misunderstood the situation.

 

I then tried calling Mr. Phua of Bentley to clarify the situation but was unable to get to him. I left my number with Bentley’s operator and then his secretary for him to return my call BUT he did not. I presume that Mr. Ken Phua is an extremely busy man who has no time of day to look into such matters. Since there was misleading information and the usage of the Society’s name, I then wrote a letter to Mr. Ken Phua.

 

Following that, I received an email reply from a Mr. Terence Lim who is the Operations Senior Executive of Bentley’s, stating that Bentley was not aware of the circumstances. He apologized for the misuse of the Society’s name and the misunderstanding caused. The Society has graciously accepted the apologies and believes that it was a misunderstanding that has been clarified in this email. The Society also thanks Bentley Music Sdn. Bhd. for their apologies.

 

As Mr. Terence Lim states in his email – ‘the workshop session is organized by Bentley Music Malaysia together with Manuel Rodriguez Jr. and we invited the Classical Guitar Society to participate in this event to further improve the appreciation and understanding of the classical guitar.’ This invitation to the Society is obvious that Bentley believes it is dealing with the Classical Guitar Society (WP/Sel), the root cause of the misunderstanding.

 

Classical Guitar Society is a name that may be used by anyone in the world but here in Malaysia it is synonymous with Classical Guitar Society (WP/Sel) because we have been around for the last 16 years. Moreover, we are the only Society that is active. The usage of this name will only refer to us. There is no other Classical Guitar Society that is registered with the ROS in the Wilayah Persekutuan & Selangor and I believe in Malaysia as well. [There is a guitar club (yes) and a guitar society (not certain) that is registered but not a classical guitar society].

 

In this situation, I believe that there was a misunderstanding. This misunderstanding arose from the fact that Chua May Ling was the Society’s secretary for many years and everyone knew her to be a member of the Society. When she left the Society, she had privileged information about the Society as well as having all the Society’s contacts and goodwill. The entrusted goodwill that goes with being a Secretary should not be abused even when one has resigned.  I will strongly urge her to not use the Society’s contacts and goodwill. Do not step over the boundary and to please do whatever she wants to do in a proper manner. In both these events, she has stepped out of line and infringed onto the Society with or without intention.  

  

Simon Cheong

President

Classical Guitar Society (WP/Sel) Malaysia

16 November 2009