King Ghaz

I was in the MAAU as Chairman of Disciplinary Committee when King Ghaz (Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie) was the president. I liked working for him. He acknowledged my recommendations to ban a couple of athletes for six months for disobeying their trainer's instruction not to go out of the Training Camp, because they were preparing for the SEA Games in 1972. But he used his prerogative and gave them a suspended sentence instead, so that they could still participate in the SEA Games. King Ghaz died recently on 24 Jan 2010 at the age of 88. Alfatihah.

Faritz had an accident

Faritz had an accident yesterday (Sun 21 Feb 2010 about 6:00 pm). It happened at the T-junction of Jalan 14 and Jalan 1 Taman TAR. It was drizzling after a heavy downpour earlier. He was turning right when a Korean lady in a Honda CRV came from the right and slammed into his driver door and hit his right front wheel area, causing his car to twist left and almost hit a tree. The Honda then careened into the big drain on the right of the footpath. Both were unhurt. Thank God. Police report made today morning at the Ampang Traffic Police station.

Timah recovering from operation

My niece Timah went for a mastectomy on 30 Sep 09 at Ipoh GH. All went well. She is now recovering at Yati's house.

Azizan will be PAT

I am very pleased that Gen Azizan Ariffin, my former SO2 at the Inspectorate (IGTU) and student at the Defence College (MPAT) who made it to Chief of the Air Force in 2006 will now be Chief of Armed Forces wef 1 Sep 2009.
I am proud of this guy's achievement for the good name of the Air Force.

Jeff passed away

Jaafar Wajib (Jeff) passed away 03:00 am at Hospital Ampang on Sunday 26 July 2009. He had severe asthma. He was buried 11:30 am at Tanah Perkuburan Ampang Indah. He is survived by wife Raja Malihan (Ku An). They have no children.

Menyambut ceremony

The "menyambut" ceremony went off well last night at Cyberview Lodge. About 380 guests attended, mostly family members and friends (local and overseas from UK, Italy, Russia, Denmark, Australia & Singapore). The setting was a blend of cultures - English garden party, "gamelan" music, Malay dances and Chinese dinner. A big surprise to many because they are used to a Malay wedding being very Malay.

Money grow on trees

I love to tell this story. In my early teens, my father hardly ever gave me pocket money. When I asked him for some, he would simply say "There, on the trees". No amount of crying helped. So from an early age I had to learn to earn my own money.

Actually, money did grow on trees – banana trees, durian trees, rambutan, langsat, mangosteen trees and rubber trees. Although the fruit trees have their seasons, our banana plantation seems to be fruiting all year round. So with a bit of determination and sweat, I'd go up the hill behind our house and bring down a few tandans of bananas to sell them to the local towkay – who came on his bicycle or sometimes a motorbike – to buy my bananas or durians or whatever. So even as a teenager, I was pretty well off. That was in the early 50's.