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.