Class Reunion, Shah Alam, MALAYSIA

August 11, 2007

We left for Shah Alam after lunch to check into Grand Blue Wave Hotel. We were attending my class reunion dinner. After 30 years of leaving our high school, a bunch of middle aged men were going to see one another again.

Good to see you guys! Tendung, red shirt, looks very happy. Also Ailan, Pintu & Nek Kamal

Fitri and I were at the hotel early, making sure that everything was in order and ready for the big night. Fitri was the main sponsor and I was the chairman of the organizing committee. As we were going through things, a familiar face walked in. There came Tendung, an alumnus we had not seen for 30 years. He had grown sideways, as many of us did, lost some teeth but remained as jovial as before. He was the first of the many surprises of the evening. There were more to come. It was good to see them all again.
Topper making sure everybody sign in and pay up


By 8PM, we had a roomful of alumni and family members. It was crowded, boisterous, nostalgic and of course fun. It had been 30 long years since we were together at a residential school, Sekolah Dato’ Abdul Razak (SDAR), Seremban. We call our group SDARA77 (SDAR Alumni 1977).

Main Sponsor's table

We started our evening with singing Negaraku, our national anthem and our school song. Mohd. Noor (Belia), former Head Boy and his assistance, Nek Kamal led the rendering of the school song. Bakar Majeed recited the doa (prayers). There were a lot of professors, from our group. I believe we had a big pool of super smart students then. Suffice is to say that if you threw a stone during our reunion dinner, chances were it would hit a PhD or an MD. Way to go SDARA77!

Singing our school song

I took to the rostrum for the usual chairman’s foreword. I was excited and honoured to be given the opportunity to organize the reunion again. We did the same before for our 20th.Anniversary. Then, it was Nadzar’s (an MD) turn as a representative of the big SDARA. Of course he was also the official photographer since schooling days. He and Topper were the key persons for the success of the reunion dinner.






Mrs Bakar Majeed, Mrs Pak Chin and Mrs Nadzar

Dinner was buffet style. It allowed more time for the guys to mingle around. After all, food was secondary for the night. A lot of them chose to stay outside the hall where they could smoke and chat. It’s time to quit smoking guys!

Dinner scene inside the hall

I tried to call up as many guys as possible to the stage to share with us their lifelong stories after leaving SDAR. We had Tendung whom we had not seen for 30 years. There was Kahpi who is expecting his grand kid soon. We called Hassan Keling who is a lawyer now, newlywed Aziz, cyber entrepreneur Syed Nazim, Khoiri Dimyati, the brain child behind ITIS traffic warning system, Mohd. Noor Belia who said he won’t look old because of his “belianess” (youthfulness), Nek Kamal who has ONLY 8 kids, Umar Shukri who has slightly more than Nek Kamal’s. Boy! They sure knew how to keep busy! Ramlan who came all the way from Manila also shared his stories and last but not least a word from the sponsor, Fitri.
We had to cut short because of the time constraints. After photography session, some adjourned to nearby stall and continued until the wee hours of Sunday.

There were altogether 67 SDARA77s present. They were: Aziz Rahman (newlywed), Manaf Mat Rashid, Rahman Harun, Razak Hamid (he spotted long beard), Bakar Majeed, Ailan Ludin, Akashah Majizat (Atak), Azami Ibrahim (Chimek), Darussalam Baharom, Hashim Idris, Hassan Basri (Keling), Ishak Mohd. Nor Monen), Jailani Ismail (Jai), Kahpi Ngiso, Khoiri Dimyati, Khairun Nadzar, Mat Nasir Ismail ( Pintu Gang who also supplied our t-shirts), Mazlan Mohd. Noor (Mono), Mohamad Ibrahim (Mike Bra), Jaafar Saroni (Wak), Rani Dali (Yek), Zaki Jalaludin, Dawam Rahman (Mamat), Fitri Aris, Fuzi Hassan, Ghazali Bakar (Charlie), Ismail Aziz, Nasir Ngah (Chungah), Mohd. Noor Yahya (Belia), Sabri Hashim (Walang), Sazali Mohd. Noor (Charlie), Suhaimi Ahmad (Botak who supplied the Hong Leong paper bags), Yusof Yaacob, Mohd. Zin Udin (Jenggo), Azman Mohd. Nor (Mata Malaikat), Fuad Ujang, Musa Bidin, Mustafa Hamid (Linggam), Mustafa Kamal Hamzah (Topper), Mustaffa Kamal Khalib (Mus), Nek Kamal, Nik Khairuddin Fathi, Azizi Mokhtar, Omar Selamat, Ramlan Hamzah, Ramli Ibrahim (Mento), Ramli Basri, Razali Rahman, Roshdzi Arshah, Roslan Hashim, Saifuddin Mungit, Sohaimi Sabri, Syed Abdullah, Syed Jalil, Syed Nazim, Tuan Hassan, Umar Shukri, Yahya Mat Wazir (Wak), Zaharuddin Sarbini, Zaiky Awang (Chandu), Zainal Arif Shaari (Besi), Zainudin Ali, and Zulhaimi Zakaria (Tendung). I hope I didn’t leave anyone out.

On Sunday, Syed Dollah conducted a motivation class for those staying in De Palma Hotel. Syed is a PhD and an accomplished motivational speaker. Earlier, Topper’s wife gave some tai chi lessons. We had lunch at De Palma and bade farewell.

It will be another 10 years before we meet again. Some may not be around. Seven of us had passed away from various causes. Burhanuddin (Chan), Khairul Anuar (Badak), Kamaruddin and Mat Rozi had left us for quite sometimes now. They were followed by Bahari Aban who had a motorbike accident. Recently, Roslen Yusof had a heart attack and Misran died from colon problems. So, take good care of your health guys.

See you all in 2017!