Death Awaits...

...if Guilty.

Most of the time mad redo1 writes about sports on these pages. But there are a few other things that he writes about too, and this is one of them.

I woke up with the TV showing a caption "Guru dituduh edar ganja" (Teacher accused of traffiking cannabis). Suddenly a familiar face appeared on the screen and my fear was confirmed when the newscaster announced the name of the teacher.

Abdul Karim Mohamed.

We just recently re-acquainted with one another through Facebook (where else?) and frankly, I was surprised that he has become a teacher. An English teacher.

Abdul Karim was a junior when I was at my school in Dungun. We shared the same block and came across each other almost daily. As time went on he developed into a person that did not fall into the category that I would like to hang out with due to his need to be seen as rebellious.

When I was appointed to the prefect board Abdul Karim certainly did not make my life as a prefect any easier (of course, he was not the only ones). He was naughty with his shenanigans but not to the extent of being a juvenile.

Thus, when I read through his Facebook that he was teaching English at the respected male only Sekolah Menengah Agama Sultan Zainal Abidin Ladang, I was surprised but glad that he has become a good person. As a teacher, he is way better than me.

Upon hearing the full charge which carries the mandatory death penalty, it saddened me greatly. With the additional information that he was tested positive for substance when the police arrested him, the thought that came across my mind was 'Abdul Karim is being Abdul Karim that I knew in the past'.

For all the 'difficult' moments that he gave me at school, never I wish he would receive this kind of punishment in return.

Admittedly I do not know Abdul Karim that well after our school days to really pass my judgment on him.  But he seems to have the full support of his students who are saying all the positives about him on his Facebook wall. It is good to know that during that time he has done so many good things and made positive impact on so many young lives.

Hopefully, the positives will far outweigh the negatives.

As for the charge, it is up to the courts to find him guilty or innocent. I for one will take a keen interest on the development of this case and for the sake of those who love and care for him, I hope the judgment will be the latter.


...

a Bit of Tries...

...and Conversions

mad redo1 was never a rugby player, perhaps due to his slight frame (it is true) when he was in school and college, and also the lack of speed over the distance required. But then again he also did not have the temperamental to cope with a rugby match.

But the most important reason of all perhaps he always give preference to football than any other sports, and that included rugby. However he always enjoy watching rugby than the almost similar but totally boring American Football or in his books, American Handball.

Thus it was a pleasure for him to watch two highly competitive rugby matches during the weekends courtesy of his SKPCT buddy, Zulkarnain Nawawi.

It was the semi-final weekends in the Terengganu Rugby Association 2011 League for the two divisions under their wings. The Division One semi-finals saw UiTM Vultures meeting UMT Stingrays on Friday while Sultan Sulaiman Old Boys (SSOB) Cobras and Kuala Terengganu Rugby Club (KTRC) lock horns the next day.

The Division Two last four qualifiers were Lembah Bidong Old Boys (LBOB) who took Terengganu Advanced Technical Institute (TATI) on Friday. The semi-final line-ups were completed by Ranaco Rugby Club and Dato' Razali Ismail Teaching College.

It is good to see the rugby culture are still alive and kicking but admittedly getting the competition going on annual basis is a credit to the association itself. Of course with a better financial backing the league could be bigger thus creating a larger pool of players to choose from to represent Terengganu.

Back to the semi-finals. On Friday mad redo1's alma mater team, The Vultures emerged victorious against The Stingrays with a score of 28-12 to qualify for the Division One final while LBOB marched to the Second Division final after trouncing TATI 27-8.

Then on Saturday a mouth-watering match up between the Cobras and KTRC promised an exciting affair and with a long history between the two sides there was an extra 'heat' added to the match as well.

But mad redo1's mate, Zulkarnain was an old hand in handling these kind of matches and his firm yet flexible way of dealing with hot moments during the match ensured it never get out of hand.

With the Cobras leading 14-12 towards the end of the match, KTRC players surprisingly opted to go for a drive to score a try when a penalty was awarded within range of the Cobras' goal. If they had opted to kick the penalty and successfully scored it would have given them a 15-14 victory. In the end it was a drive to nowhere and the Cobras secured their place in the final.

Prior to the match Ranaco mauled Dato' Razali Ismail Teaching College 47-0 in the second Division Two semi-final.

It was a weekend of scrums, rucks, line-outs and a few other terms and mad redo1 thoroughly enjoyed his time watching the matches.



...

Passing...

...of a Friend.

The Birch a.k.a. mad redo1 spent the morning of Friday, February 4 with two of his ex-Semesdians friends, Achey and Mat Ming. At first, the intention was to have 'Ketupat Sotong' (Squid stuffed with glutton rice served in coconut milk plus a few other items) for breakfast, a craving of the former who had the dish the last time he was back in Kuala Terengganu.

Unfortunately, it was not the season of the squids and the scarcity of the calamari perhaps influenced by the monsoon which is yet to cease. So we settled for another local dish, the famous 'Nasi Dagang' (another glutton rice base dish) which much to our amazement came with fried chicken and hard boiled egg.

To the uninitiated, nasi dagang are usually served with 'Ikan Aya' (Tongkol for non-Ganuan, Tuna for English speakers) and pickles. Mat Ming who joined us a bit later helped himself to a plate of 'Nasi Minyak'.

After all the dishes were safely tucked inside our stomach and paid for, we went our seperate ways. Then just as I was getting ready for Friday Prayer the phone rang with the familiar tone of a message was received.

After all the laughter this morning, it was a shock to read the message which came from another ex-Semesdian friend, Ku Jimmy. A friend of ours, Ridzuan Safuan or more affectionally known as Doer has passed away in the morning.

'Arwah' suffered from brain cancer and had undergone surgical oncology a few months back. It was the second time he had gone through the procedure but this time time around it resulted in him losing his eyesight.

mad redo1 and a few other friends paid him a visit while he was still in the Intensive Care Unit at the USM Hospital in Kubang Kerian. That was the first time I saw him since our last meeting, way back in 1991 during a reunion of ex-Semesdians at the Motel Desa.

He looked frail and weak (who wouldn't be after having your head cut open?) but responded to the sound of our voice. It was a sad moment but at the same time gave us a bit of a lift with his reaction. It was a fifty-fifty situation but subsequent news from his family were positive despite him did not regain his eye-sight.

Thus the news of him passing away on Friday came a bit as a surprise. Unfortunately, prior commitments prevented me from attending his funeral, so were a few other friends.

Admittedly, he was not one of my closest friends and the amount of conversation we had during our five years stay at SMSD were minimal to say the least. Perhaps it was more due to the fact we were placed at the opposite ends of our hostel, I was in the A Block while he was in the D Block.

But as we grew into adults the difference during our adolescence years just went away and despite not keeping in touch for a number of years, the news of Doer suffering from cancer and his subsequent demise tugged at my heart and it felt like I am losing a friend.

So Doer, may you rest in peace.

Al-Fatihah.


...

Reunion...

...at Three Junction

It was a few days ago when mad redo1 received a sms from Nizam asking him to join him for an Iftar in conjunction with the re-surfacing of Azlan Zahari Zahid or better known among the SMSD circle as Lan BJ.

The date was set for Monday 23-08-2010.

mad redo1 has no problem with the date and happily agreed.

The day arrived and mad redo1 picked Nizam up at his home with his trusty Mortimer. Nobody else was around and we decided to stroll around the Chabang Tiga Ramadhan Bazaar looking for delicacies for the Iftar.

Then a call from Eskay announcing her arrival and the three of us proceeded with the shopping for kueh. Nizam and mad redo1 then bumped into a former schoolmate from primary school, Mat Arif who was shopping with her son. He still maintain his boyish looks even though his eleven year old son is already at the same height as him.

After the completion of the shopping Nizam called BJ and it turned out that he was sleeping in his car while waiting for us. Both Nizam and mad redo1 'reprimanded' him for not calling us earlier as either one of us could provide a better environment to rest his bums.

Then Abu Hasmadi arrived and followed a short while later by Narihas and the loves of her life. Not much later Hilmi showed up with his entourage which should bode well for the future of the bowling sports in Terengganu.

With everybody was in place, the reminiscing began interjected with a few current issues especially the firecracker tragedy which occurred less than a kilometre from the place where we were having our Iftar.

Credit to Nizam for his choice of meals and much thanks to Eskay for being a good hostess. It was good to be among friends again and hopefully there will be more similar events in the future.

...

Reunion...

...Under a Cloud

Well, it was not literally under the cloud but it was a way of depicting how this reunion of mad redo1 and his ex-Semesdian friends happened. It was a Facebook message from Engku Azmi informing us of the condition of our former schoolmate Ridzuan Safuan or Doer who had to go under the knife in order to take out the tumor attaching itself to his brain.

After a few days the news came back from his family that the operation was largely a successful one but a minor setback for Doer was him losing his sight.

Thus Mohamad Hilmi took the initiative of arranging a visiting party to see Doer and his family at the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) in Kubang Kerian. So on the set day Hilmi and his wife, Masrina, Nizam, Abu Hasmadi and mad redo1 together with Suhainita sat our butts in Hilmi's Toyota Innova and set the GPS for HUSM.

The journey started a bit late. During this 3 hour drive everybody cast their memory back to events happening more than twenty years ago when we were less a person than ourselves today (body mass that is).

With a few unexpected departures already, with the latest being Irfan due to chronic diabetes we wondered whether the list will increase anytime soon. Of course we prayed it would not, at least not in the immediate future.

When we reached HUSM, Suhainita has been renamed Eskay for reasons known to many ex-Semesdians, a gentler version of her nickname from our schooldays. It was also past visiting hours.

We managed to meet Doer's wife who was returning to kL to commence her work after taking so many leaves in order to tend her beloved Doer. It was good to see her maintaining high spirits during this trying times.

Then we proceeded to the Intensive Care Unit where Doer was being observed after the operation. His mother was the one left taking care of him for a while. Fortunately we were given the permission to see Doer. 

I never like hospitals and prefer not to set foot in one especially under circumstances such as this. However it is not what we like or do not like when it comes to this kind of situation. So mad redo1 entered the room with Nizam and Doer was in his bed with an oxygen mask was put over his mouth and nose.

It was difficult to express one's feeling when facing such situations. We tried to communicate by talking softly but Doer was still under sedation and despite responding to some of our communication his attempt to talk ended in gibberish.

We departed for home shortly after leaving Doer with our prayers for his recovery.

On the way we made a stop at Kuala Besut for dinner and this time another reunion of sorts happened when another schoolmate of ours, Suharto popped up. He was still his usual self. Now a General Manager at Demong Beach Resort he offered a discounted rate should anyone of us decided to take some time off.

The conversation went on for quite some time and by the time mad redo1 reached home, it was already one in the morning.

...

Early...

...Departure.

It was just about a month a part but mad redo1 was shocked when he was notified about the death of two persons that he knew from childhood.

Just a day after celebrating his 39th year in existence, mad redo1 read on his Facebook notification that a friend from his SMSD days had passed away suddenly. Hasmadi Sulong complained about having chest pain to his wife and then slipped into un-counciousness.

He was brought to the emergency room of the Darul Ehsan Medical Centre but was pronounced dead-on arrival. Hasmadi was just 39 years old. Later mad redo1 was informed it was something related to the heart.

Then just over a month later another death.

This time it was someone in the family and it was quite surprising especially with the one who was called to meet Him was a nephew. A young man who I believe was in his early thirties. Leaving behind a young wife and a young baby.

The cause of death was told as choking.

Death always make you feel vulnerable about your mortality especially now there are more people dying young. It is quite rare to find anybody who is really ready to face their own death but as muslims we should accept they will happen when it should happen, not a moment later, not a few seconds too soon.

...