SOME PERSONALITIES OF SEKOLAH TUANKU ABDUL RAHMAN IPOH

STAR AND SOME OLD BOYS

            Dato’ Tajri and I  have met pretty often.  Most of the time it was on the golf course.  Recently we played golf at Bangi Golf Resort and at Bukit Tinggi ( in Pahang, not Sumatra) and stayed at the Colma Tropicale.  It was an enjoyable outing.  It would have been better if the staff at the Resort were better trained.  I tried to speak to them in simple French and most did not even recognize that I was speaking in French .  God help them if real French tourists were to come.  However the cool environment ( which at night according Dato’ Tajri’s newly acquired IPhone the temperature was 14 C which I did not believe) and the  greenness of the place somewhat made up for the human shortcomings.  The golf course is quite good.  The eight of us all enjoyed the game.  I was particularly pleased because I won the ballsweep.  We were trying to cram in as many golf outings as possible before the holy Ramadhan arrives.  We have arranged to play with old boys of the earlier batches in Bangi on 28^th and in Bukit Beruntung (where Yusof Dahaman is the resident semi-pro) on 30^th July.  On 12^th and 13^th August we planned to play at Lumut.  In Lumut Dato’ Sri Ishak Sohor (as he was known in school as far as I can recollect) may be giving us a special treat because the Company of which he is the Chairman owns the Teluk Rubiah Golf Club and the accommodation nearby.  We also hope to get two prominent old boys resident there, Dato’ Mansor Salleh and ex-Navy Officer Zakaria Saman to join us.  My relative and old boy Danial Tomo is also in Lumut.

            Besides playing golf,  Dato’ Tajri and I also met at social events.  Dato’ Jaafar Kamin (batch 1962 – second batch) and Abdul Rahim Naseh (batch 1962 also) who live in Kota Damansara invited us to a high tea organized by the surau of which Dato’ Jaafar is the Vice Chairman to collect funds for an orphanage founded by the surau.  It was a fantastic event.  The speaker at the function was one Hafiz by the name of Ustaz Zulkarnain Hamzah who delivered a moving oration complete with multi media support.  I have not seen such a good show before.  Thank you Dato’ Jaafar. We were also told that Dato’ Jaafar was writing some motivation books which would be published soon. We look forward to that.

            Another occasion Dato’ Tajri and I and our wives met was at the nikah ceremony of the youngest son of Mohammad Awang (batch 1961 also), Kama Johari.  He tied the knot with Adila bte Kamal Redzuan who is a niece of another old boy Zaini Dewa of batch 1961..  It was good to have reestablished contact with Zaini who had quietely  moved to Sri Menanti where he has his oil palm estate and cattle ranch.  He told us he is a neighbour of the DYMM Yam Tuan Besar Negeri Sembilan.  He welcomed us to visit him and play golf at the 2 star (according to him) Sri Menanti Golf Course.

            On 26^th July Dato Tajri and I were at the funeral of Datin Raja Azizah Adnan the wife of Dato’ Hassan Lebai Mat (batch 1962).  We were very saddened by her departure.  My wife and I visited her at the Selayang Hospital just a few days before that and she was in good spirit and cheerful.  We have known the late Raja Azizah since our London days in the 60s.  Raja Azizah had relatives in Ulu Yam, my home town and one of her cousins  married one of my nephews.  May Allah bless her soul and grant my good friend Dato’ Hassan and his children the patience and fortitude to face the future without his beloved Raja Azizah. At the funeral were Dato’ Safri Man, Dato’ Jaafar Kamin, Annoer Jalil, Rahim Naseh, Abdul Hadi Alias and Sanusi Samid.

            I am very proud of my Rao (pronounced ‘Rawo’)( In Malaysia it is spelt ‘Rawa’) roots.  One morning while having breakfast and casually watching Selamat Pagi Malaysia Show there was an interview in which a gentleman was talking about the Seminar Melayu Rao Malaysia to be held at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjong Malim.  I quickly registered and duly attended the Seminar on 25^th July 2009.  The thing of interest to me as an old boy of STAR was the fact there was a paper on prominent Rao personalities who have contributed to the progress of Malaysia.  One of the personalities is none other than our beloved Tun Hamdan bin Sheikh Tahir whose father left Rao to escape the colonial Dutch rulers. Of course Tun’s father was a prominent Roa personality in his capacity as a religious scholar in his own right.  Most people consider our late Tun as a Minangkabau personality.  In  a way that is correct because as one of the paper writers of the Seminar Prof. Dr. Puti Reno Raudha  Thaib suggested Rao (as a territory) is part of the Tanah Minangkabau and therefore Rao culture is a sub Minangkabau culture.A Roa man is also a Minangkabau man. Another personality is Tun Ahmad Sarji bin Haji Abdul Hamid.  He in fact delivered the keynote address and officially declared open the Seminar speaking partly in Rao dialect.  Tun Ahmad Sarji is a son of the late Haji Abdul Hamid Arup who served STAR with distinction as the school steward.  I have fond memory of him.  He instructed the Red Cross members in drill and coached the School Hockey Team. It not surprising as  he was a Perak Hockey Player in his younger days.  Personally he had been very kind to me.  Many times Adzmi Abdul Wahab (now Tan Sri) and I would return to school after the term holidays a day or two earlier than we were supposed to.  We would squat in the hostel and nobody would mind.  At night we would go to town with a sense of freedom and abandon and watched movies.  One Saturday evening we decided to go for a midnight movie. Pak Hamid saw us waiting for a bus and gave us a lift to town. He asked how we would come back knowing that there would be no bus service after 2 am when the movie finished.   Pak Hamid volunteered to pick us up after the show and bring us back to school which he did. Where can you find a kinder soul?  May Allah bless his soul.