Monday, December 29, 2008

GATHERING 2008 CLASS OF '68, D DAY

Al-Marhum Sulatan Ibrahim Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Muhammad Ke IV after whom my school is named.


The school motto remains as it was since the school was established. I am sure glad they didnt try to translate the Motto. Just teach the students the meaning, that should suffice.


Contrary to popular belief the idea of the gathering was mooted by Tuan Haji Azmi Omar Al Ahmadi almost a year ago. "2008 would be a significant year" he said "that would be 40 years after we left our beloved school". The school which was then known as Sultan Ibrahim Secondary School Pasir Mas or SIS for short. Now the school has been renamed as Sekolah Menenggah Sultan Ibrahim Satu as there is another school nearby that carries the same name and thus given the number 2 as an extention to the name.

We had a surplus of fund from our first gathering done in 2004. The way we did our gathering at the school dining hall (the main hall was under renovationas) saved us alot of money as we had only needed to pay the food caterer. This time around it was the school main hall, so we don't really need to have much money to hold such a function.

One of our illustrious classmate which I mentioned in my blog The Great Doctors of Kota Bharu, came in support with the promise to underwrite any shortfall in fund. He proposed that we contribute towards inspiring the current students who are considered as excellent by the school management and teachers by giving them RM100 each. 30 students were selected. He told us not to worry much about finance and spare no expense if it was necessary. How comforting indeed.

I was glad to see the name of a chinese girl as one of the recipient. Merit was the criteria used instead of skin color as the committee had stipulated that they must be based on excellence and the under privileged.

The number of attendance this year fell short of expectation compared to the more than 100 that attended in the 2005 gathering. Due to various reasons such as illness, prior predetermined engagement, going for Haj, aloofness, sheer feeling of inferiority and a few who has passed on, many couldn't attend. Some were expecting to be given an invitation card before wanting to come. There was no invitation card extended as all invitations were by word of mouth or SMS and phone calls.
We have a classmate who lives and works in London. Most of us have not met him since the last fourty years. We were hoping for him to come back for the event. Sad to say despite of him knowing about the event far in advance, he couldn't make it this year. If he were to come back this time, his mum will be the happiest person on earth to see him. I have promised his mum that I will try to bring him back. Now I know I have failed her.

12 exteachers came to the event including one from Johore. Not many out station teachers came as they were not invited for this gathering. We want to wait for a gathering of the school alumni before calling them as that will will give them a bigger opportunity to meet the rest of the students from the other years.

We recruited an experienced emcee for the event, another classmate of ours by the name of Dr. Rohani Ibrahim of University Putra Alumni. Even she had difficulty to start the event due to te excitement among the attendees since some of us didnt turn up for the previous event and had not seen each other for the past 40 years.

Here are some pictures for you to see how much we enjoyed ourselves even though the numbers were not as huge as the previous gathering in 2005. I am sorry I can't arrange the photos in sequence so they come in no particular order. Some captions are concocted and intended to be funny so please dont be offended by them.

The group photo courtesy of Mohd Ilhan Akbar.


YBrs. Puan Muhanizah Bt. Mustapha (Right) prmosised to rebrand the school and bring back the the school to it's former glory as one of the former premier school in Kelantan. Back then SIS was of the two including Sultan Ismail College in Kota Bharu. The School Alumni will be giving it's backing toward achieving this goal.

Datin Widiyarti with daughter Nefertiti arrived early for the function. On their left is Puan Hanisah Noh and on their right is Puan Maimoon Mohamad Noor while I can't recognize the lady in the dark dress.

The early arrival. Left to right: Fakry, yours truly. Major (R) Yahya, Tuan Haji Azmy Omar.

Our guests: Puan Wan Karimah (IAB lecturer), Puan Muhanizah and Puan Rashidah (in orange. Sorry I can't name the lady sitting next to her).

L to R (sitting): Wan Zain (blue shirt), Nik Kamil, Rahim Mohamad,Sudin Piah, Cikgu Aziz Abdullah.
L to R: Tuan haji Ghazal (back to camera), Suhaimi Hussein, Abdulah Awang and Chegu Zain Ismail.

L - R: Puan Norani Muhammad. Lee Kew Pee, Azmy Omar, Major Yahya, Hasan Sulaiman, Saari Ibrahim, Dr. Ridzwan Hashim and Noor Rudin Mustapha.


Sitting (L - R): The only 2 members of Kostrad Pelajar 68 Suhaimi Hussein (Lead guitar) Azmy (Bass). The other members were Fauzan Omar(Rythm), the prominent Malaysian artist who was unable to attend because he is having a solo art exhibition somewhere inMalaysia and Muhamad Jusoh (drums) still MIA but according to Lim Siong Peek he had meet Muhamad Jusoh recently but didn't have the opportunity to take his contact number as Muhamad had walked away from home. To us that is a god news as we now know that Muhamad jusoh is still well. In the background we could see Zainon Jaafar the owner of Zainun Palace Inn Rantau Panjang pointing at something with Dato' Dr. Mahmud and Puan Noraini.

Nik Hassan, the former OCPD od Shah Alam is holding court.

Mr. Pang Chok Chu (our former science teacher) seems to be scolding Nasir Ismail while the other ex teachers, Mrs. Foo and Puan Hasnah Sulaiman pretended not to hear him.

All the ex teachers sitting together. L - R, Chegu Ismail Sulaiman, Tuan Syed Halim Jamalullail(partially hidden), Chegu Zain ismail, Chegu Darus, and Chegu Osman Ismail.
General view of the attendees having their late lunch.

It is makan time. The local dishes with budu an ulam seems to be very appetizing.



The ladies had their own servings.


Chegu Nik Alwi consoling Hassan Sulong. Hassan Sulong is now confined to a wheelchair after suffering from a crippling stroke. The two of them had a story to tell from the schooldays.
Muhamad Deraman(in white shirt had manay stories to tell as he had just came back from performing the Haj just the day before. A few more like Mohd Nor Harun, Awang Ahmad, Pak Su Man ismail have yet to reach home from Mecca.

The family of Dato' Dr. Mahmud having their meals together.
The show began with Dato' Dr. Mahmud making a speech on behalf of the students. Being a hostellite from 1964 - 1968, the school was not just a place to study but also a home as the hostel was located in the school compoud. Later the speech was followed by Chegu Osman Ismail on behalf of the ex teachers and finally Puan Muhanizah on behalf of the school.

Puan Hasnah Sulaiman together with her hubby Ruan Syed Halim Dato' Dr. Mahmud. Puan Hasnah later in her career was promoted to become the headmistress of the school and that of Sekolah menenggah Zainab.
The giving away of assistance to the students.

This girl did not wear the tudung. Why? She was not compelled to do so by her religion. She is a Chinese and she maybe be a Budhist or a Taoist.

The school Principal received the rest of the donations on behalf of the students who didn't attend the function.
We did a live crossover with Mr. Loo Hock Guan who could not attend because his mother inlaw suffered a slipped disc after a fall. Mr. Loo couldn't attend the previous meeting too due to prior engagement. Mr. Loo, let us have you at the next event. Dr. Rohani Ibrahim the emcee with yours truly, truly mesmerised by what Mr. Loo was saying.

Tuan Haji Ashaari Amin (Yee Body) meeting a close friend Tuan Haji Azmy. Yee Body had a part in shaping my life by asking me to stay in the hostel.

See more pictures of the event from the lens of Tuan Haji Azmy on his fotopages here.

Finally I would like to record a word of thank you to all the committee members and all others from the school who was inlved in making the event a success. I will not forget Mohd Ilhan for some of his photos that graced this page. My apologies to those whose picture did not appear on this blog as putting too many pictures will make it too big for easy download.

There was an appeal from a cyber friend from Kampung Tok Sangkut for donation to to a single mother of 34 with three children, Ain, 16 months, Fatihah 5 yrs and eldest brother Muhamad Aiman 7 yrs old. The father was drowned during the last November flood while fishing in the neighbourhood. The father sufffered from an attack of fits. During the gathering we decided to collect some donations and my generous friends managed to contribute a total of RM662.00 to this cause. So today the 29th of November 2008 we went to Kg. Tok Sangkut to deliver the donation to the mother.

The pictures below showed clearly how deserving they are as the very house they are living in aren't even their's as it belonged to one of the neighbours who allowed them to stay for free. It was such a dilapidated wooden house.

The place they call home.

My other half Fatthiyah handing over the donation so that I can photograph them receiving it.
Read more about them here.

With this event over, I am already thinking of the next gathering for 2009. This time it will be for the School Alumni. This will give us a chance to meet with all the ex-teachers and vice versa.

39 comments:

Wan Nordin Wan Hussin said...

The Sultan looks so decent. He must be a just ruler. What a fabulous reunion you just had.

Unknown said...

It is so very nice to meet old friends especially if it was for the 1st time in 40 years.

Well, I have yet to meet you yet and it would surely be a privilege if I could.

Pak Zawi said...

GUiKP,
The late Sultan Ibrahim passed away when I was still young. I didn't have much recollection about him. So we can't really say much.

Pak Zawi said...

Chegu Nazir,
Yeah it was nice meeting up. Actually there wasn't really much chance to interact. Just that we could get updated on latest house address, phone numbers and email address.
Meeting you will be great too. Who knows what await us next year. Maybe another meeting of bloggers that we both may go to. Anyway since Kelantan is not foregn to you or Penang to you, a meeting on each others turf isn't something impossible.

Unknown said...

I can see that the event was done successfully. Congratulation to the organizing team :)
Me friends and I are thrilled catching up with each other; and that's only 3 years ago we took our own separate path from secondary. 40 years, man! I wonder what will it be like. Of course, we can always meet each other, changing stories and whatnot. But, jarang-jarang baru boleh jumpa ramai2 macam ni :)

Pak Zawi said...

Akmal,
You are right about its success. Everybody seems happy with it though the size could be bigger.
There is so much to talk about to each other though you may not have met for just a year. The more years means much more things to update.

Matt Kopikarat said...

Wow..what a great moment of your gathering. Its very difficult to find a great friends like yours. The photo at my illage also look geogous. Amazing. Thanks for the donation from me and family. Hope that I can be your friend and learn a lot about life.
Deen

Matt Kopikarat said...

I never see the sultan photo. Its look nice and gorgeous. Really..I wish you good luck and may Allah bless you and family.

Yie

Unknown said...

Awie... sorry laa.

The first gathering was not in 2005 but was held in 2004... amacam bolah silap. That was the mother of all the gathering.. as you said it.

True not many attended. We were hoping more could attend. Somehow or rather they couldn't make it. Too bad

For those of you (SIS68) who wish to see more pictures of the occasion.. please visit
http://adchmy.fotopages.com

Sorry Awie, for the correction..Please 2004.

Chou..

Mat Cendana said...

I'd say that event was a success. It's always difficult to organise ANYTHING - there are bound to various obstacles coming up. A lot of patience is required, plus the ability to be diplomatic.

I didn't know that Puan Muhanizah is the principal now. If I'm not mistaken, this might be the same Muhanizah was was married to a police inspector (then)...late 70's or early 80's, I think.

And Wan Karimah was previously a teacher at SIS once; and was the principal at S.M. Tendong... or was that Senior Assistant.

Pak Zawi said...

Deen,
I am abit confused as to which name to call you. All these time I have been callig you Mazeri. Now I better call you Deen.
Friends are our asset beside our own family. Sometimes friends will come to our help in times of need. I am sure glad to be your friend. Allah must have fated it that we could be friends.
My wife Fatthiyah and me really admire your paintings. With such talents you should be painting more of them to sell so that you can generate more income to help people like that mother of three orphaned children. Your paintings are a sure sell if the price are reasonable.
The donation to the children werent mine alone. They came from my ex teachers and friends. All I did was appeal to them to donate and send the money to them. Thanks to you for letting me know of their flight. Indeed everything is all willed by Allah.

Pak Zawi said...

Azmy,
Ya ka 2004? I remember the late HM passed away in 2004 and we were lamenting that we should have done it in 2004 while he was still alive. Let us check and verify before I make the correction. My memory is failing me hehehehe.

Pak Zawi said...

Mat Cendana,
We could consider it as a success as the effort to do the event was quite minimal compared to te first one.It was easy to do the last one as we have the datasbase already.
You are right about both Puan Mohanizah and Puan Wan Karimah. Puan Wan Karimah was the previous Principal of SM Tendong. Under her stewardship SM Tendong rose to its pinnacle as one of the premier school in Kelantan.
I would like to meet you today (30th Dec) at Pasir Mas to pass you something. I will wait for you at the Syariah Court. Please SMS me of the time of your arrival there.

~CovertOperations78~ said...

It isn't your fault that your former classmate decided not to come for the reunion. You didn't fail his mother -- he failed his mother and classmates!

It was otherwise a really good reunion, wasn't it? We had our 10th year kindergarten reunion in 1993/1994. We should be having another one soon -- it's been too long.

It is good of you and Fatthiyah to help out the family. I am troubled by the number of families in need in Malaysia alone. I expect the numbers to go up in 2009. My friend and I run an annual collection drive to supply children (mostly from the Indian communities living in the DBKL low-cost flats and longhouses) from very needy families with school uniforms, school supplies and dry foods like instant noodles and Milo before the start of the school year. How on earth could we ever expect them to catch up academically when they come from broken homes and go to school on an empty stomach and without the necessary exercise books and writing equipment?

Happy New Year, from my home to yours.

Unknown said...

ahhhhh,

the nostalgia of reunion!

just came back from one myself!

memories are forever, I say!

Pak Zawi said...

CO'78,
What you are doing to the needy is an even nobler did since you are doing all the time and not just the once in a long time thing that we did. Even that was donations from those who attended the gahtering.
It's the government's job to erradicate poverty. More could be done if the government could channel huge wastage in bailing out mismanaged ventures to the erradication of poverty projects. Current poverty erradication project should also be monitored to ensure that all such funds are not abused. The infamous orchid and Koi projects are still fresh in my mind. The Ex PM didn't publish my stinging remarks about that project in his blogsite.

Pak Zawi said...

Versedanggerik,
Let us read about your reunion in your blog. It must be exciting as mates are all well off.
How I wish we have more time to just intermingle and chat during reunion as rarely we have such opportunities to do it.

Matt Kopikarat said...

Em..sounds look great. Thanks for admiring my painting. I am the amatuer artist. I need to learn a lot about painting. I got lot of moral support from friends and people who like painting. Insya Allah with all of this honest thought, hope one day I can sell my paiting and help poor people around me.You and wife are welcome to my house and see one of my best painting..

Deen

Pak Zawi said...

Deen,
The best way to sell your painting is to start selling to your close friends and colleague. Let them dispaly at their homes. By word of mouth more people will know.
We would like to go to your house this Friday evening if you can receive us. We will leave home after doing the Asar prayers.
See you on Friday. Where shall we meet?

Lee said...

Hello Zawi, your photos are really well taken. Love the men's batik shirts.
Makes the ones I brought here look real antique or jurassic, ha ha.

Zawi, here's wishing you and family the best of Seasons greetings and selamat tahun baru.
You keep well, stay healthy and keep on shooting the beautiful pics.
Best regards, Lee.

Pak Zawi said...

Lee,
Batik shirts are worn once a blue moon. Better be with you jacket which you can wear almost everyday.
By the way one of my classmate by the name of Zainon Jaafar was once a Malay filmstar. In her hey days she had the look to die for. Could she be your Anita Jaafar? Just look at my post on Nasi Seratus, you can see a mugshot of her.
Happy New year to you and your family.

Wan Hamzah said...

What a great event, but unfortunetly i was not there. harap akan diadakan lagi di masa hadapan.

Pak Zawi said...

Wan,
You were on the organizing committee. It was unfortunate that you can't be there. There will be another one InsyaAllah.

Matt Kopikarat said...

Sound look great! You're welcome to my house. Ok..my house is not far from KKTM(Kolej Kemahiran Tinggi Mara(the blue roof). The road to my house around 200meter not too good but all people use that way. Its ok..I'll wait in front of KKTM around 5pm. See ya on Friday!

Deen

mamasita said...

Hai Zawi..banyaknya photos you captured.You are your very rajin self as usual.Very detailed and thorough.hehe

Wi,
wakil rakyat area tu tak pergi ke jengok ibu tunggal tu and hantar bantuan duit and tolong betulkan rumah yang dilapidated tu?

Pak Zawi said...

Datin mamasita,
If I had my way I would have put in more pictures so that nobody can feel left out. Unfortunately too many pictures will kill the enthusiasm of people with slow internet connection who may take ages to download the pages.
I am not sure who is the ADUN or MP for that area. I will check and confirm later and haunt him with the story in MSM.

mekyam said...

wah, meriahnya!

nanti datang balik utk baca dan tengok gambar betul2.

right now, just dropping by to wish you and yours a glorious 2009!

Pak Zawi said...

mekyam,
Thank you for the new year greetings. I would like to wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Please comeback and see if you have anyone that you know. I will be too glad to get you connected with the person concerned if you know of anyone of them.

Daphne Ling said...

Dear Pak Zawi,

Just dropping by to wish you and family a wonderful New Year...May the new year bring us blessings of health, love, peace and prosperity.

PS: Please send special regards to Kak Azura...I'm thinking of her...

Matt Kopikarat said...

Hi..the road to my house is ok! Yesterday I saw they repaired the road..aha..maybe they know you will come to my 'teratap' ehe...see ya tomorrow.

Deen

louis said...

Zawi,

To you and your family, a very happy new year!

Pak Zawi said...

Daph,
Thanks a heap. Wishing you a happy new year and take care.
I will convey your regards the next time she is on YM with her.

Pak Zawi said...

Deen,
You ni buat macam I ni VIP je sampai jalan pun you baiki sebelum I pergi rumah you hehehehehe. Dah siap ke lukisan saya?

Pak Zawi said...

louis,
Thank you very much.

Matt Kopikarat said...

Kebetulan jalan tu dibaiki..buat masa belum ada masa lagi nak buat lukisan..maybe nextime..Insya Allah kalau ada rezeki..yang ada tu belum lagi untuk dijual, siap2 untuk rumah baru nanti..Insya Allah

Deen

Pak Zawi said...

Deen,
Terima kasih kerana menerima saya sebagai tamu di rumah saudara. Saya memerlukan nama lukisan saudara sebelum membuat blog mengenainya. Kita jumpa di P Mas nanti ya.

Matt Kopikarat said...

Thanks..hope that I can do something for the orphanage children..and we can be good partner..if u wish! Ok..we'll in PM n pekene 'mee celup'

Deen

Pak Zawi said...

Deen,
mee sup? Itu kegemaran saya. SMS saya bila ada di P Mas. Saya terus pergi jumpa awak nanti.

Matt Kopikarat said...

Boleh! Right now quite busy..yeah have to clean up my new house, visit my family at village n preparing a presentation by the end of this month at UMK.The lecturer want to see my thesis. We'll arrange it and talk about our interest..photography
Deen