April 4, 2023
IPOH – Academy Award winner Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh is up in the billboards again, this time outside a four-storey building at Ipoh SOHO.
Her old schoolmates have put up the billboard to celebrate her success in being the first actress of Asian descent to win the Best Actress Award in the 95th Academy Awards.
The Convent Old Girls Association (COGA) and Ave Maria Convent Alumni Association (AMCAA) unveiled the billboard on March 29.
It reads: “Congratulations, we are proud of you, Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian winner, Best Actress in the 95th Academy Awards.”
The billboard also depicts the glorious moment when the former SMK Convent Ipoh student held up her Oscar.
AMCAA legal adviser May Goh, who sponsored the billboard, said there had been several billboards put up to congratulate Yeoh in Kuala Lumpur, but none in Ipoh, where the international superstar was born.
“We want to show how proud of her we are as the people of Ipoh.
“What she said in her acceptance speech was also inspiring to all women, that we should never give up,” she said, adding that both COGA and AMCAA are sister associations.
Goh said she has known Yeoh and her family for many years.
“She worked so hard for so many years and never gave up,” she said, adding that the billboard will remain up for about three to four months.
Yeoh won the award for her leading role in the multiversal superhero comedy film Everything, Everywhere All At Once in March. The 60-year-old also won Best Actress for the same role at the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award earlier this year.
AMCAA president Moy Ooi Thye also said she is proud of Yeoh and is inspired by her acceptance speech.
COGA president Agnes Wong said the school is very honoured and proud of Yeoh’s achievement.
“We hope she can come to her alma mater to celebrate her achievements with teachers and schoolmates,” she added.
Yeoh’s mother Datin Janet Yeoh thanked both associations for their kind gesture.
Others who were present during the unveiling included AMCAA’s adviser Datin Jade Ting, deputy president Chik Mun Ling, vice-president Dr Ng Zee Meant, COGA vice-president Florina Ng, and committee members from both associations.