Last time I talked about how mom and dad brought the MLM business to respective families with no discernible results. Here I continue the story on the business itself. This is the last part of the Sunsky saga.

To recap, Ah Chan was dad's 'upline' in the MLM business called Sunsky.

Over time both the Goon and the Chan families were chummy enough that Ah Chan's wife (let's call her Mrs. Chan) too was a frequent feature. She was a tiny person, jolly to strangers.

Mom was a typical Chinese housewife, I think so was Mrs. Chan. They got along pretty well together, having typical women-talks. One time both of them met and mom uttered "萬水千山" with excitement, Mrs. Chan finished it with "總是情". I cringed so bad I almost throw up on the inside.

On a frequent basis, both families would have dinner together along with the kids. There's something the adult like about having steamboat, I can't explain it. My early memories about steamboat and skills involved in operating it all stemmed from dinner with Ah Chan.

What makes a weird family affair though was taking me, mom and dad to Sunsky's headquarters. I think it was somewhere in high rise office building along Jalan Ampang, KL city center. On hindsight, location probably mattered a whole lot. It has to be sufficiently premium that recruits get the idea that it's doing great. Same reason why banks in the past has to look majestic to inspire confidence.

Within the building though it was as generically white as it gets. The real reason Ah Chan brought us there was about reinforcement. See there's only so many teachings Ah Chan can do personally. In HQ there were many more 'leaders' who could give dad the training he needed.

In the office complex the only room I remember was the one they ushered us in: the training room. It's basically a lecture room similar to any college: rows of plastic chairs and a whiteboard in front.

Different people gave talks. The topics when from the household products, the pyramid business plan to motivational philosophies. Sessions were conducted in English, Chinese and maybe even Malay. Dad would of course prefer English since he couldn't read Chinese. Sometimes though he was made to attend Chinese ones, which I suspect had better materials.

I knew these because I tagged along. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure why dad brought me along. On one hand I was a terribly bored all the time, so getting to see the real business world was mildly exciting. But I also wonder if dad wanted to me learn something from this.

Well I did. One glaring thing I noticed was the lexicons. They don't call themselves 'salesmen', they were 'leaders'. It's not 'scheme', it's 'plan'. 'Product' not 'detergent'. 'Success' not 'money'. 'Members' not 'colleagues'.

I got my introduction to the concept of motivational speeches here. They were good enough that even I thought I could do anything.

But apparently these were lightweights. Ah Chan recounted that some were sent to professional camps, sessions were so intense they'd be in tears.

The bit they lose me was when they come around and sing motivational songs. Like churches do, they had lyrics projected on screen, the entire room had to play along.

One number was "Hai-O". It's a Chinese song that referred to the virtues of swallows flying in the seas. There's something about swallows that someone in Sunsky decided that makes a great role model for everybody to emulate. I don't remember what's admirable about these birds. It's probably the company's attempt at myth-making with soft parables.

Dad was humming along to the song. I don't think any of what the songs were trying to impart registered in our heads.

No myth-making would be complete without a cult figure. Here enters the legend called Yap Chin Peng. Yap wasn't the owner of Sunsky, but he was very first 'member'. He sat at the top of the pyramid of members.

Yap used to drive taxi or was maybe a hawker. He joined Amway but result wasn't great. He committed to (not just 'joined') Sunsky; because the plan was so good he now has an office, given a luxury car, and hardly needs to work. Be like Yap Chin Peng.

That's the story they used to inspire. He even showed up once or twice when I was around.

Some time much later Yap left Sunsky and found his own MLM business. Ah Chan and associates branded him a traitor openly in training sessions and wish him swift failure.

I didn't know why it's a big deal then. After all any given member would make the same money whether the top of the pyramid goes away or not. The fact that they were alarmed have me realize that this entire business is zero-sum. Someone has to lose for someone to win. Yap's departure probably snatched many notable members away from Sunsky, which they needed to keep the pyramid running. Furthermore it's a very limited market out there for companies to recruit. Joining Yap most probably mean not joining Sunsky.

From this point, dad's involvement with Sunsky got colder until it silently ended. I don't know if dad ended this 'business' explicitly with anyone.

Another decade later, for reason unknown to me, mom and dad took me along to visit Ah Chan in the same residence in Chow Kit. His children and wife were out, only Ah Chan was around.

There was no more Sunsky. But he sat us down, with me between my folks and started the same routine drawing figures on whiteboard. I totally forgot what he was selling, there was no follow up from that.

Whatever it was didn't matter. He was driving taxi for a living. His wife was sick (maybe cancer) and he didn't sound hopeful.

Unlike fictions, things in real life tend to end with a whimper. Sunsky itself was such, dad's encounter with it was too. So was the end of his own life.

But maybe it doesn't have to be. Perhaps wind-down ceremony should be a thing. Like a TV show finale, businesses/institutions/orgs that are deciding call it quit should have the grace to commemorate its own demise. A life well lived deserves a fitting end.