To begin with my name was Chong Sun Wah by birth and I am happy it is so. I was called such until I was at the age of 16, when, from then on, practically most of my friends called me Sunflower instead of Sun Wah. It was then the vogue of the times in the late 60s for western-minded young people to have a Christian name but being born stubborn by nature, I ignored their persuasions to change my name to “Sandy” or “Sandra” - since I was not a Christian, but more so due to my pride as Chinese. After going through an introspective process, process the puzzle was finally solved by being innovative.

My Chinese name is Sun Wah and the Chinese character ‘Wah’, according to ancient Chinese meant ‘Flower’. Therefore, ‘Sun’ joined with ‘Flower’ to become the English word ‘Sunflower’. Wow, wouldn’t you agree with me that it just sounded great! “The Flower of Flamboyance - Just like sunshine, optimistic, jovial and bubbly, with your cheerful personality, you chase the blues away”.

I have to say I really admired my ingenuity and I must confess that I liked this idea and word being used as my name immensely. I was proud of myself for being creative (in those days Singaporeans were not known to be so) even though others thought otherwise, especially my family.