Remembering Almarhum Sultan Azlan Shah (28-5-2014)

I first met Tuanku in 1983 when I was serving in Rome. He was then Lord President and came for a few days visit with a senior officer and I was assigned to accompany him. I practically spent the next three days with him from breakfast to dinner. He asked me to find the best restaurants in Rome for our meals. And I was privy to his exquisite taste when he went shopping for clothes. Once he commented why I was not dressed in a full suit when I turned up for dinner with a jacket and pants of another colour!!

I remember him being very kind and caring; I was nursing a cold and he always reminded me to take my medicines. He even wanted to see how I lived and popped into my apartment for a few minutes.

In 1985 Tuanku came to Rome again, by then as the Sultan of Perak, accompanied by Tuanku Permaisuri and daughter Raja Elena. Again I accompanied him most of the time. I got a big 'bonus' when he was shopping in Rome's top men boutique BRIONI; Tuanku asked me to choose a dozen neck ties for himself and then told me to pick a suit for myself! Imagine a First Secretary wearing a Brioni suit!! I was pleased to bits.

The two occasions I spent with Tuanku must have made an impact. A few months after I was posted home in 1985 I was invited to have lunch with Tuanku at his palace in Federal Hill.

In 1992 when he was the Yang Di Pertuan Agong, he made a State Visit to Austria and I was serving in Poland at that time. I was in Vienna then for another purpose and was happy to meet Tuanku at the Ambassador's Reception. The following year I was back in the Ministry again and one of my tasks was the logistic preparations for the Agong's State Visit to the United Kingdom. For some reason only known to my immediate superior I was not included in the delegation. I clearly remember some time later when I met Tuanku he asked me why was I not in the Official Delegation for his State Visit to the UK!

In 1996 I happened to be in the same MAS fight to Seoul with Tuanku, me for a meeting and Tuanku for the World Hockey Meeting. After the plane took off the Chief Steward informed me that Tuanku invited me to accompany him in the First Class Cabin. I went and sat beside him and we were served our dinner and had a long pleasant conversation until he informed me he was going to take his medications and go to sleep. We met again the next evening in Seoul for dinner with the Ambassador.

In 1999 when I had my first Ambassadorial appointment to Peru, Tuanku graciously invited me to dinner at his palace in KL. He teased me about the Datoship I had been conferred by the Sultan of Johor a few days earlier and also presented me with a watch.

I was also once invited to a black tie function at the Istana Kuala Kangsar but was unable to attend.

A few months after my appointment as DG of the National Art Gallery, Tuanku celebrated his 82nd birthday at the Gallery by special request of the Persatuan Anak2 Perak. The sit-down dinner by invitation only was a grand and exceptional occasion for the National Art Gallery. Tuanku was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was the DG of the Gallery. As usual he was very gracious and had always something warm and nice to say to me.

Almarhum Sultan Azlan Shah ibni Al Marhum Sultan Yusuf Izzudin Shah,
may Allah SWT always bless your soul and place you among the chosen, amin.

It is indeed a privilege to know Tuanku personally and I will always cherish his kindness, warmth and generosity to me...

ALFATIHAH SHARIFAH AINI - A Personal Recollection

I have always followed Sharifah Aini's career from the time she one she won one of the top three placings in the RTS Talentime competition in Singapore in 1968 followed by her first recording with EMI, SERI DEWI MALAM in 1969. I believe I have every songs she recorded though some are in vinyl and have not been issued on CD format till now.

My first encounter with her was in 1977 at the KL Equatorial Hotel Coffee House. We were both having lunch with our friends at separate tables and I took a chance and sent her a note congratulating her on the success of her first English album FOREVER AND EVER. She graciously replied back, both our notes were written on the coffee house table napkins!!

The second time I met her was was on a MAS flight to Amsterdam in 1988, me on my way to my posting in Warsaw, Poland and she to Abu Dhabi for a concert. We sat in 1st Class and I had the opportunity to sit next to her for an hour. We chatted like old friends and even exchanged addresses. There was no follow up to that encounter but a year later I wrote a pseudonym letter to the New Straits Times giving her a boost when I noticed her career was on stagnant mode.

In 1995 I came home for a holiday from my posting in Canberra and attended a live concert by her at the Hyatt in Johor Bahru. Her career then was on the upswing again after a successful comeback concert in KL and her recording of the song SEKSA. She invited me to her table after the concert. A few weeks later back in Canberra, Sharifah sent me a cassette of of the raw recordings of 12 songs for her latest album SELAMANYA, soliciting my comments. The album had good reviews after its release and my favourite tracks were GERIMIS MENGUNDANG and SURATAN ATAU KEBETULAN.

In 1996 back again in KL after my posting in Canberra, Sharifah once invited me to her recording session. It was for the song NOSTALGIA AIDILFITRI. There was only four of us in that old, rickety studio in PJ Section 12, Sharifah, producer S.Atan, the recording engineer and me. To my untrained ears she sounded fine during the initial recording but she was extremely unhappy with the sound quality and demanded another engineer to take over. We waited hours for a replacement and she sent for nasi bungkus!!

When I finally heard her sing again with the new sound engineer in charge I realised the great difference in the quality of the sound and her voice. That was how professional she was; she knew exactly what she wanted. Attesting to her great professionalism, the final recording took only two takes, only once interrupted by both me and S. Atan when she once went off key! NOSTALGIA AIDILFITRI became a big hit and until today is an annual Aidifitri anthem.

During my posting in Lima, Sharifah once wrote me a desperate email saying that she was in the midst of recording her latest album and one of the tracks chosen was a Spanish classic NOCHE DE RONDA (which every blue-blooded Spanish singer must sing at one time or another) and that the musical arrangements were all ready but she could not come up with the lyrics as nobody around her knew Spanish. I had my interpreter Rossana Arakaki-Touzin translate the lyrics into English, which I then translated into Malay and emailed it back to her. She made some changes to the lyrics and and came up with what I felt is a brilliant Malay version of the song aptly titled MALAM GELISAH. I still get goosebumps listening to the song today.She acknowledged me in the sleeve of the CD.

When I went for my haj in December 2005 Sharifah insisted I see her son Aliff who was studying to be a tahfiz in Medina. I made arrangement to see Aliff but he did not show up at the appointed time and called me hours before I was returning to Mekah. I could not see him by then but we had a good long chat and could tell what a well brought up young man he was.

In the last few years I had not much contact with Sharifah but I always keep abreast with news about her. I was very surprised to read about her tiff with Siti Nurhaliza and especially with S. Atan who produced most of her hit albums from the 80s onwards and for whom I had a special memory when we were in the studio together for the recording of NOSTALGIA AIDILFITRI. I am glad she and Siti had made up.

She left us now, Allah loves her more than her adoring fans. But her songs will remain forever. Thank you for the songs Sharifah, which had travelled the world with me and entertained and inspired me from the age of 18. May Allah SWT bless your soul always, amin.

http://youtu.be/z6OG8RMuex4

LIFE IS SO PRECIOUS AND FLEETING...

Two weeks ago I was invited to an hour of video recording of my post heart-bypass surgery experience which I underwent 11 years ago, for a former classmate and renown plastic surgeon Dr Charles Lee to be featured in his HeartTalk Website http://hearttalk.com.my/ . In the afternoon there was another one hour recording session with five heart bypass patients (myself included) and by coincidence my very own cardiologist from our National Heart Institute (IJN). Charles himself had recently underwent a bypass and found the experience traumatic and life-changing and was still coming to terms with that surgery. His aim was to share the experiences of other bypass patients to help/comfort other similar patients and to prepare would-be patients.

One of the panel member was a very strapping, healthy-looking 62-year English gentleman who was a retired American football coach, Alan, who now made Malaysia his home for the last few years. He seemed to be the most healthy and least troubled among the panel when describing his experience despite having had a couple of bypasses.

A few days after the session Alan sms me to say that he was pleased to have met me and would like to keep in contact. I replied that I felt the same and that I would contact him after my upcoming holiday in Lombok.
Yesterday morning (10-10-13) I sms him to invite him for lunch today but did not get a reply. At 6 pm I called his number but got no answer.
An hour ago (11-10-13) I received a sms from his number which said Alan had died on 28 September (the very next day after we contacted each other by sms). He was found lifeless on his living room couch and autopsy concluded he died of a heart attack!

I really felt a lump in my throat and felt tears in my eyes to be again jolted into the reality how precious and fragile this life can be...

MAY YOU REST IN PEACE ALAN.

Sunsets in Lombok, October 2013

A week in Usbekistan (Tashkent, Samarkand & Bokhara), May 2013

Mid Year Hello!

Hello, hello, hello. All too soon it is mid 2013 and I have not made an entry since January. Well I am blissfully retired now and far from my worry about how to spend my time, the hours and days seemed to have breezed by and I still have not been able to do all the things I set out to do or promised to do once I stopped working. There is no end to the domestic chores and I still have not organized many things in the house which I really ought to.

And I have finally embarked on travels again. In April I finally realized my dream to go to Kyoto in Japan (one of the few countries I have never been to) and had a most wonderful week there. I had always been intimidated by the idea of going to Japan, at the back of my mind I was worried about the communication problem having heard so much tales about Japanese not speaking English. Well maybe not many people spoke English there but it was so easy getting around with the perfect transport system and information. In fact it was one of the most hassle-free holiday I ever had, plus the perfect weather and the kindest and most polite people ever. I was also lucky to be introduced to a Japanese friend of a friend who took the trouble to show me around for two full days. I missed the cherry blossoms but it was a blessing in a way as all cherry-blossom tourists had left by the time I arrived Kyoto so everywhere I went - the temples, shrines, palaces and gardens, there were few people only and in some I had the whole place to myself.

Now I am even dreaming of going to Kyoto in Autumn some time!

In May I spent a week in Usbekistan, staying at my dear friend and colleaque Hamidah's house and visiting Samarkand and Bokhara as well . That will be in my next entry.

Happy 2013, free again!

1st January 2013, a quiet day at home. My sweet granddaughter Kuca and family left after a late breakfast (and a romp in the pool at our clubhouse before that) to continue shopping for school stuffs before they return to their kampung (village). They stayed the night and we had a lovely dinner at the Lake Club, rather quiet at the coffee house restaurant , despite all the parties to welcome the new year at the Club's other outlets.

Kuca, three years and three months is a real bundle of joy, sweet, smart and inquisitive, good natured and just plain adorable. A few minutes before midnight she came into my bedroom to say goodnight; she kissed my hand and asked for a hug and really hugged me with all her heart. That's when I told her we have to watch the fireworks first before she goes to sleep, at the stroke of midnight from the balcony upstairs.

So here I am at the beginning of a new year, a free man again/at long last. I was briefly free for four months after I retired from my last job when I was offered another appointment. Now just about five months to the end of my third year contract I threw in the towel with a 24-hour notice and a month's salary thrown in . Enough is enough! Work, money, position are nothing when your honour and integrity are questioned. My work and contributions are widely acknowledged by the public, our clients and my staff but not the 'powers-that-be', so what is the point of going on!

Looking back,  2012 had not in fact been a great year for me. @011 was a big bang where I stamped my mark, but things slowed down to a more relaxed pace in 2012. On the personal level, I did not do as much overseas travel as I would like to (unjustified restriction by the powers-that-be) but there was a lot of short internal travels with me discovering my own country.

So where do I begin now, with my new found freedom? I had thought of going far away just to forget everything that had happened but I only got as far as Penang for five days. And it was really the comfort of my own house, my sanctuary, my cocoon that I actually needed. My good friend in Hove, England wrote a very kind, persuasive email asking me to come and spend a few weeks with him to 'drown my sorrow'. But hey, I am over it now, seriously and Alhamdullilah!    

So life goes on, and I am confident something good is cooking up for me. For now I am just enjoying the pleasure of freedom - not having to go to work and not responsible for a whole gamut of things. Last Friday I went to the MAS office and acquired return tickets to Osaka (my actual destination is Kyoto) for mid April - I am finally going to Japan! And in May I will go to Tashkent and visit mygood friend Hamidah. In the meanwhile I can choose to go to Makassar, or Ambon or Surabaya (again) if I want to. Thank God for liberty, at last!
Have a great 2013 everyone.