SDARA 2009 ANNUAL DINNER

What a memorable occassion it was, the 2009 Sdara Annual Dinner. It was held in Puspanitapuri, Putrajaya Presinct 10.

The entire family plus Rohana (my sister in-law and her son) stayed in Diyana's flat for the occassion. Diyana's housemate was on leave, so we made ourselves at home in the house.

My wife and I arrived ten minutes before eight. There was already a big crowd of Sdaras and spouses waiting.

The first person I met was Dato' Rani (retired Brigadier General) who said," Finally I met Dr Azahar in person...all these whiles I just heard or read about you..."

Then Syed Jaafar, our ex-principal arrived. He was still very healthy looking, with matching grey beard and all. Soon he was surrounded by his many ex-students.

Then I met the forever beaming and young 'Ustaz' Saifullah...He came alone.
I did not know what his secret was, but really he looked stunningly young for his age - 55.

Pity my wife, she had to bear standing in one corner as I mingled with my long lost friends.

After getting my name tag, Dr Khairun Nazar, had put Dato' in front of my name...I felt very uneasy for this, really, I meant it.

I brought my wife into the ballroom, my wife to table 12 and myself table 13. Already at the table were Hamidin, Zamri, Hamzah, Wan Shariff, Agil, and Ramli. Then Zawawi, Omrin, Abd Rahman aka Computer, Rahalim made their way to table 15.

Colonel (retired) Razak was the MC for the night. Then YABhg Tun Mahathir and Tun Hasmah arrived. It was very gracious of them two to accept our invitation.

Then came Fisol Abdul, the Doa leader. Fisol, one year my junior, was my very close friend. We have never met since leaving SDAR...

The first person to speak was non-other than Dato' Dr Latiff, our YDP. It was very daring of him to have invited Tun M. You know the political scenario...

Tun M gave a very casual but deep talk. He talked about how Malaysians became what we are now through education...

The night was not to listen to speeches...there will be other fora for them. The night was for us Sdaras to mix around.

With us Sdaras were the Wind Orchestra and Under-15 rugby teams who were this year's national champions. The WO played Gelora as the starter for the night.

Then was Colonel Razak's daughter singing Kuda Hitam....

Dinner was good...thanks to Fatah,the Sdara caterer. There were giant prawn, fish, chicken and beef...

After dinner, I left my table and roamed the ballroom looking for familiar faces and stopped for a chat.

First was Mamat Endut, a fellow Kemaman friend. He broke his hand during a fall.

Next was Hassan Basri, the PETRONAS lawyer and J Sham's cousin. He had offered much help to Diyana when she did her practicals in PETRONAS. I did not recognise him if not for the name tag. He changed a lot since his form one days when we first met many many years ago.

Then I met Sle...my first time in person though we had talked often in the cyber space, our yahoogroups.

Mansor Saat was next. He, and I with many others in the group were involved in a rather emotional and hyper debates or rather wranglings about hadiths...so much so that he was banned for life from the group...
He was sombre and said,'Argh that was a non-issue." the minute I brought up the matter to him...

Faisol now lived in Seremban...he had married a NS lady...In his table was a character that I knew even from afar...He was non-other than Yusuf Kodiang...He outshone others by his silver beard, his cowboy hat and blue jeans and boots...just like him...

Then came Jamal...he ran to me as soon as he recognised me from his table...

There was also Chot...Mansur...

DKN as always was with his camera...snapping here and snapping there...like a real pro photographer...

A junior, Jamaludin or better known as Sedih knew me too...he could still recall how I broke my leg during a high jump...

A long-haired Shuib Samah was very happy to have met me...he told me that he could not imagine how I looked like...we have talked a lot in the yahoogroups...in fact we are distant relative...saudara sesuku...suku Mungkah Bukit...from my father's side...

Rahman Meran nearly lost his temper when I failed to recognise him first time...he looked different from the last time I met him way back in the nineties in Malacca...

As usual, when Sdaras met, we can talk the entire night...we are very nostalgic group...

We left the dinner when it was over...at almost twelve midnight...

Diyana came to fetch us...

It was indeed a dinner worth attending...