Fazurin Has Left The Room

Fazurin boarded the flight to the US to further his studies tonight.

Over the last 16 years, there was only a brief period of a few years that he wasn't around among our circles. I left early for UK in January 95, he then went on to Italy for his IB until 1996. He joined us again in the UK until his graduation in 2000 - a permanent feature in our mad annual routine of singing "Kolej Melayu", "Gemilang" or "Panggilan Haji" at Trafalgar Square celebrating New Year.

Fazurin is perhaps my best friend from the earliest koleq days that I can remember. He is not the nicest to me (ha ha) and there were many times we were at loggerheads in our opinions - but he had always been staunch in his support for whatever path I took since koleq days. We always happened to belong to the same thing since F2 - the common grounds between us include BRU (ha ha laugh as you want, but Fazurin and I WERE among the 5 budak BRU chosen from our batch in 91/92 before we found our calling in other fields), Warta KPKM, KPKM, debating teams, Editorial Board, the "One's Thoroughbred" (stayed in 1 PK 1 - 2 PK 1 - 3 PK 1 - 4 Sc 1 and 5 Sc 1) and many others.

At the moment when I was at a loss of whom should I ask to go to Prep School in January 1994 in my place, I turned to Fazurin - who gracefully fulfilled a friend's request (albeit a very selfish and self-serving request).

We shared similar passion and interest vis-a-vis our lamentation and cries of the deterioration in the society, especially among the Malays and the inter-racial relationship in this country. Though I am only an arm chair critic without any expertise in any field, Fazurin can easily qualify to give expert opinions on matters of Malay history, languages and cultures.

I personally feel he is the most intellectual person in our batch, and certainly one of the most intellectual of his generation. I rarely bow down to anyone in most things (ha ha I guess this doesn't surprise anyone), but I defer to Fazurin on many things.

We even end up living in the same area ha ha.

Perhaps our closeness can be explained by the fact that both of us come from working class families and are extremely proud of that origin. Of all people, I think Fazurin has conquered the most to come out as among the best in our batch - for someone who initially was quite timid from my recollection of his early days in Prep School, it is a tall order to be as knowledgable and confident (and I can add "hot-headed" to the list) as he is, on top of his ability to master seven foreign languages as if he is a native speaker.

His absence is a great loss and leaves a big vacuum. I lose the head coach for the English debating team and it's almost impossible to find his replacement. I lose a friend who would pester me every weekend for a healthy walk around our neighbourhood.

I lose an intellect to whom I can look up to and challenge my own intellect (or whatever little intellect I have) every now and then.

I fear he will not come back - but what is a small loss to me and my circles, is a big gain to this country and the nation. Go to the World Bank or UN and proves that being a Malay from Aloq Setaq who grew up in a small town called Kuala Kangsar does not make us any less than those who come from Manhattan or Kensington.

To Fazurin if you are reading this - Heaven smiles upon us for all the long years of friendship, Heaven smiles at you for how far you have come in life thus far. Good luck and come back sometimes.