Berbuka Puasa bersama Ir. Dr. Fuad Abdullah di Jeddah~!

Fuad Abdullah was the best student in STAR for the MCE exams in 1971.

It has been the tradition of the school to engrave the names of Best Students on a plaque hanged on the wall of fame in the school hall.

However you can't find Fuad Abdullah's name. The name you can see taking that space is Yeoh Keat Hean!

There is an enlightening explaination to that. In 1978, one year after his graduation with an Enginerring degree from a UK University, Yeoh Keat Hean embraced Islam, during the holy of Ramadan! SubhanaAllah...

I asked him tonight when we met for Iftar, "How did you first got attracted to Islam?"

He answered, "from STAR days. Even when I was in STAR I fasted during Ramadan" Allahuakbar...!

He is today a Syariah advisor to a reputable financial institution in Malaysia. He has a Phd qualification in Islamic Studies, and a Master's degree in Islamic Syariah! MashaAllah~!

Bro Ir. Dr. Fuad, after all these years, still is the same vibrant, unassuming, humble and deeply intellectual person whom I admired when he was my senior in STAR.

I was in form one when he left after his MCE exams.

Tonight is out first meeting since then. I still find myself in awe of the man~!

May God continue to bless you brother! For me, it was God's blessing that I got to see you tonight.

We went into a Lebanese Restaurant for the Iftar, but all tables were taken.
Had to make do with Lamb Chop at the Steak House.
(Ahamad Kamil, Ariffin, Ir. Dr. Fuad.)

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from STC

1985- Pak Pin went to Dallas, Texas

did

I rented an Oldsmobile! My first experience
of driving an American car, on American road
which was obviously on the 'wrong' side!

I was a young engineer with Texas Instruments when I was chosen to work on a project at the HQ, in Dallas Texas for three months.

It was my first business trip ever! The Americans had problems pronouncing my name as A-R-I-F-F-I-N, and most of them would say, A-R-A-F-A-N, so I told them what my friends called me, simply Pak Payne! A name which started in STAR during school days has traveled to Texas, and more places since then. I knew that the name Pak Pin has gone global, as far as a name is concerned, when a delegate of Ministers came to Jeddah and two chielf Ministers were looking for me by asking the other attendees for 'Pak Pin'!

That was a start of a career filled with traveling. All in all I have been to more than thirty countries on business travel alone.

I have lived a full life - a life I can say with contentment, I have been there, and done some of that too! Not bad at all for a Kampung boy!

I revisited the HQ twice after the first one, both of the later visit were when I was the H R director of the company, in mid nineties!

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STAROBA: 35 years after...

"Jahat Tapi Cerdik!"

"Ha ha ha ha !" I laugh out loud seeing the above picture. Only STARIANS could come up with something as hilarious as that! The slogan makes a bold statement about who we are "Budak STAR!" I could visualize HM Pak Ya saying those very words about STAR boys, in hindsight of the infamous demonstration. I can also visualize certain STAR old boys turned politicians living the very spirit of the phrase. Afterall, doesn't they say that in politics, you need to be a little bit of both to survive! But on this particular score, I will leave to the politicians amongst us to comment.

I came across this photo in Nuar Hassan's FB albums. Thank you for sharing many wonderful moments of STAROBA everywhere, with STAROBA everywhere!

Once I stop laughing, the tag line makes me reflect...

"Jahat!" The word when taken by itself does not reflect generalization of Budak STAR accurately. "Nakal!" would be a better descriptive. "Mischievous" is also quite true, not too different from Dennis the Menace character in Beano comics.

The era I was in STAR, it was the era of 'Dandy', 'Beano', and 'Mad' Magazines. Without the benefit of an extensive behavioral research, I dare take a risk in saying that those magazines had some influences on us.

"Cerdik", to me is a notch higher than 'Bijak'. I like 'cerdik', and I think it describes most of 'Budak Star' very well (Typically 'perasan' type that we can be!) 'Cerdik' is both intelligent and cunning!

The 'perasan' does not last too long. I then ponder a little more...

Yes, STAR days shape us! Yes, STAR memories, stay with us. Yes, going down the memory lanes, warms our hearts! I can go on to list all the 'Yes(ses)' and convince myself that the world should have stood still and let us live those days in the past - happy and carefree! Even lulls us into a dreamy world of 'Hippies', 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna', bell-bottom trousers and the Bee Gees!

Then I remember this quote, "The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be!”

And I reflect on conversations amongst 'Budak Star' whenever we meet at re-unions; whether its is a chance meeting at a wedding, or at organized functions such as the 'Majlis Jamuan' as announced by the banner in the picture.

Going down memory lanes itself is not a problem, to the contrary, it is healthy! However, bringing everything back to the past, is denying the possibilities that people may have changed. Three decades is a long time for us to unlearn some of the negative traits, and to learn and develop better and new ones. The evil eyed, mischievous Dennis the Menace may have developed into a man who have graduated from a few schools of hard knocks. A man re-defined!

In my humble opinion, there is a difference between 'Enjoying & Leveraging the past' and 'Re-living the past!'

I am all game and fun for enjoying the past, and leveraging our alliances to benefit each other, STAR, and the society, for the present and the future.

That is where I draw the line and my pondering stop...

Thirty five years after, I am a product of STAR who have benefited from aging. As an 'orang tua' I no longer wish to be known as an orang 'Jahat!' I want the 'Cerdik' side of me to take over and lead me to 'Jalan yang lurus!'