STAROBA dot MY

I really appreciate the effort made by Jabar in locating Nari Ansari and Linggam Sibi. That made us feel that STARians are brothers no matter what you are or where you are today.

I remember the night I received a call from Chot Awang a few years back (200?)telling me he got Burhan Budin with him. Well, to those in the same Batch 74, there's no need for me to describe more of this man. I drove to where Chot placed him and together (sorry I couldn't recall who else other than me and Chot)we went to have good dinner.That was the first time I met him after we went separate ways in 1974. It's also interesting to know that Burhan had some experience that may be none of us had gone through.

Then there was another invitation by Mohd.Othman for me to join our Batch 74 reunion. Since I am staying far up north, he might think that I might not be interested in joining. But he convinced me that I would not regret if I decided to join. So I accepted the offer and drove down to KL just for that weekend. To my surprise he actually had Camati with him in KL for that reunion. He even rented instruments hoping for our "band" to perform again. Of course with Azmi Ramli replacing Wak Shamsuddin on bass we managed to play some popular hits of our younger days. Luckily we also had Teh Guan Ho and Mustaffa Ahmad to sing. That was also my first meeting with some of attended after leaving school in 1974.

We sometimes tend to meet people at odd places. I attended a wedding kenduri of one of my family's old friend. Their daughter was getting married. Being old family friend, we were there helping. Since I was quite busy doing my part,I didn't really bother who the groom was. To my surprise, it was Norman Mustaffa (batch 73?)who was marrying the lady. At that time he was already working as a MARA officer here. And now he is running a bicycle shop in Kangar.

Then again in 2005, I was at the Perlis Contingent Police Headquarters, getting prepared to escort the lorry bringing question papers to our department strong room. There was this guy staring at me then calling my name. "Woi, aku dah lapan bulan dah di sini, baru nak nampak muka hang.." That was Tuan Bakar Jo. He was Deputy CPO and recently retired (early August 2009).

When I first went to Labuan I tried to locate Awang Ghani Yunus. Due to my lack of information I failed. The next time I went I managed to meet him. Well, he's successful in life. He even came to fetch me at the hotel where I was staying. He brought me to his house and tour guided me around the island. That night he took me to a golf club and we had our dinner. Maybe he wanted me to see his name written on one of the boards as one of the golfers who managed to do a "hole in one" kut. On my next visit to Labuan, I gave him another call. He replied but he was away and wouldn't be able to meet me because he would only be back a few days after I returned. So I spent my time roaming the town alone. Out of nowhere I realised someone walking accross the road, just a few feet in front of me. By the look of his physique, I think I knew him. Of course I had been informed that he's also in Labuan.He's not in my batch. He was Salim (batch 76) but already left school after LCE (am I right?). So I just called out the name and he turned his face towards me. Mujur dia kenal lagi kalau tidak jenuh minta maaf. He worked at the main post office. We had tea. Quite a number of information about our friends in Sabah I gathered from him.

Ramlan Rahmat (batch 70) was another guy whom I didn't expect to meet in Perlis. This football and rugby was quite a guy in school. He was then working in the Road and Transport Department.One day I was on my way to somewhere when I was stopped by him manning a roadblock. He was suprised when I lowered down the window, I managed to call his name first because he was able to ask me anything. He might not expect people to recognise him but being a 'star', his look couldn't skip my memory.

I met Dato' Musa Omar (batch 73) in Langkawi in one of the shopping complexes. That time the island was just been declared as a "free duty" zone. He was on a joint exercise with our neighbouring country's fleet.

Sometimes our juniors whom we may not recall may be able to recognise us first before we know it. I met this guy by the name of Marhalim (batch 78), a volleyball player during the school days. He followed me to a stall. Masa tu dok tunggu ferry nak ke Langkawi. He was also going there. Another junior, Rosli (batch 75,from Ipoh) met me in the hotel lobby in Mekah. We didn"t even know that we were staying in the same hotel.

I saw Nazri Shaharuddin Johar Ariffin (batch 74) in Padang Besar. tak sempat nak jumpa dia hilang.

So, we tend to meet our friends sometimes at odd and unexpected places. My suggestion, why don't we have a blog for us to share information on "long lost friends" regardless of our batches.