In Memoriam...

I got a text message from my cousin Agus Soedjadi in Jakarta, informing me that my cousin, his younger brother, R Pudji Suharso, who was a judge in Sulawesi, passed away in Makassar on September 29th, 2007 and was laid to rest on the same day in Jakarta. We only met after my late father passed away almost 10 years ago . Bapak Soedjadi, my late dad's elder brother was a high-ranking military officer (a general in the indonesian army) and was a well-respected figure during his time. I had another cousin who passed away in Bandung in April 1997 when I was attending the Jakarta Dialogue at the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta, Bapak Dr Suharjito Pradoto who was deputy director, centre for engineering sciences at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). He obtained his doctorate in civil engineering from Sorbonne University in France. He left behind wife Neng and two lovely daughters ( my nieces) who are both married now and have their own families. Agus, Pudji and Suhardjito shared the same mom but different fathers, which explains the different surnames. You may be wondering....no I am not indonesian, I declared that in my earlier blog postings (heheh). I am first generation Javanese and am very much so....malaysian, but very proud of my javanese heritage.

Then, early this week I was told that 'conet' (her nickname in campus) died of breast cancer [see B/W pix above, when she was a member of my management team when I was chief executive of UM Coop during the late 80s, with Royal Prof Ungku Aziz (chairman) and Assoc.Prof Mohd Said Kadis, secretary of the coop] . Not so long ago her classmate, Rahimah Mohamed (she was singaporean) also died of breast cancer (see colored pix above). I was quite close to them those chartered institute of marketing days at UiTM (ITM in those days) even though they were one semester ahead of me. Rahimah was with me attending the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) International conference at Orlando, Florida, USA in 1996 when she was with the securities commission and I was director of the Malayan Railways Training School. Sudirman Hj Arshad, yes THE late Sudirman was also a close personal friend. We were together at ITM Jalan Othman early 1972 immediately after our MCE exams for a 3 month program to encourage malays to continue with their science education. He went home to 6th form Arts class and later became a lawyer but he never practised I think...just a singing lawyer hihi. I went back to finish 6th form science at King George V, Seremban.

My point is, a number of my contemporaries have gone. Quite a few actually. May Allah let their souls rest in peace. Grieving at the loss of family or close friends is God's way of reminding us that He Giveth and he Taketh. We must always b mindful, thankful of our good health well-being and that we can wake up the next morning intact. One can never know, life is too short to even think about it...don't you think so?......