'Tahniah STAR' Dinner

I was in Ipoh last night. Together with Azlan and Yahya Daud alias Wahab and Fathil Sharif, playing host on behalf of STAROBA to a group of athletes from the school who had done us, STAROBAns, STAR and parents, proud. In the recent concluded athletics meet in stadium Perak for the Zone Kinta Utara, they were declared the champion in the boys team event. Dinner was held in Hotel Impiana (the old Casuarina).

We assembled at Fathil's place and left for Ipoh around 440 pm, having assured ourselves that we would be in Ipoh by maghrib. InsyaAllah!. Apart from the slight jammed in Subang Jaya, journey was 'smooth and relax' and easy. Being the co-pilot, Azlan has no choice but to play DJ through out the journey. Azlan performed remarkably well! With his many repertoire of jokes, yeah.., who cares about HotFM or Era Radio or Radio Sinar! And the three of us, we were keen listeners! Lan., you rock! We arrived in Ipoh at 730 pm as scheduled.

Dinner however, started slightly late - at almost 930. There was this unforseen things happening that has to be resolved first. Biasa lah! There were about 30 of them excluding teachers.You could tell then that the boys were really starving! Azlan in his opening address expressed his appreciation and conveyed STAROBA's gratitude on the achievement and acknowledged the effort put up by everyone involved in sports. Yahya during his speech, expressed out his burning desire (together and with the help of the school) to unleash and groom STAR hidden talents, in the quest to bring back the glory days of STAR in athletics!. It was almost 1130 pm when dinner was finally over.

We dropped Yahya at Bukit Beruntung toll station on the way down and three of us safely arrived in KL around 245 am.

As I drove home from USJ Subang Jaya, I could not help but admiring the effort, and energy that Yahya had put up to lift the standard of athletics in STAR. Having to spend one's time, almost daily for 2 1/2 hours, travelling all the way from Telok Intan, starting at 450 pm and arrived home at 9 pm, is one hell of an effort!. What a sacrifice! What a commitment! He did it simply for the love of the sports and his beloved alma mater. As Yahya said it in his dinner speech, ..'at the age of 57, I should have been spending more time praying at home! but...' I wonder how things would have been if Yahya had been the school principal , not in Perlis but in Ipoh.

Anyway, well done boys. Well done STAR. Keep up the good work. As Azlan said it .., Tahniah STAR, teruskan usaha! Of course they can. Yes, we can!

Annual School Sports Meet 2010

Getting ready ..

Saleh Yusof .. the Green Mentor!

Yahya Daud and Omar Suhaimi., motivating the boys.

Day 1 (Friday): Omar Suhaimi fetched me from Putrajaya and we left around 615pm, and yes we were heading for Ipoh – attending the school 54th. Annual Sports Day. Journey was pleasant and Omar took his time and was careful on the road eventhough he had an appointment to be met. We had a brief stop at Tapah RnR for a bite of pau and arrived just on time for the Mentor-Mentee programme and the official handing ceremony of the sports day vest shirts at the school hall. The guys were already there – Mohamad Sale and Omar Abdullah (yes, all the way from JB!!), Rostam, Azlan Abdullah, Saleh Yusof (Batch 72 – Green House, but didn’t recognize him, he changed a lot!), Fathil Sharif , Tarmunif Mokhtar and of course Yahya Daud as well as other ‘old boys’ (couldn’t remember their names).

Session was conducted by Tarmunif. Of course everybody was upset and in total disbelieved (especially people like me who have not been in contact with the school), when we heard of the school performances especially in sports. Lost 3 – 0 to Izzuddin Shah in volleyball!!? Are we in Alice Wonderland or something? Never heard or dreamt of those days. Izzuddin guys might have felt like they were dreaming then! Un’percaya’ble, but it was a reality. Yahya who was seated next to me, was so ‘sedih” and was seen wiping his eyes hearing the news. Other games were not that encouraging as well. It was for the reason I guessed, among others, the ‘push’ on this mentor-mentee agenda. And of late, the exclusion from the top 20 schools as released by MOE, is the final straw! And the grievances echoed by the students, made everyone upset and sad. We need a transformation agenda and an action plan – very fast!

We headed for the infamous Ah Seng’s lien chee kang and popiah after the ceremony. Sheer addiction! And with Azlan around, his story telling, jokes and antics, we did not realize the time! It was almost midnight when we reached the resting place for the night - Heritage Hotel, of course after a brief of ‘tawaf’ along the ‘memory lane’ of Ipoh!

Day 2 (Saturday): We were early. We were already downstairs at 7am for breakfast. By the time we reached the school compound, the place was already bustling with activities – last minute preparation by the students to decorate the respective ‘house tents’. Carnival-like atmosphere!

Nasir Ahmad from Batch 72 (Dato, CEO of PUNB) was the guest of honour. Met others such as Yuzer Yusof, Azizan Maarof, Wan Husin, Malek Zakaria and Ahmad Hamdan of legal firm Hisham Sobri and Kadir (junior and the present president of STAR PIBG). The opening ceremony was splendid. Seeing the school brass band leading the parade was a déjà vu! Well at least to me. When I was with the school cadet band then, we were not as privilege as them now – we were without the ‘proper attire’ as entitled for a marching band, as the band was just been formed. Nevertheless we were the pioneer then! The crowd was there – though not big but it was understandable. Green House was leading the points, all the way, only to be piped at the last minute by White, who retained the championship for the fourth year. Was Omar Dolah and Rostam involved in this victory? Could not tell but they were seen to be talking to the White House contingent after the event. Mail Don would have been proud as well.

Highlight of the day was, of course, the tug-of-war, between Old Boys (STAROBA) against the school present teachers and staff. The opposite team might have thought that victory was theirs – probably seeing old boys like Mohamad Saleh in the STAROBA team, but we had the last laugh! STAROBA prove them wrong! With the right strategy of putting Azlan and Sokhini as ‘tukang’ cheer in-charge, STAROBA deservedly won 2 – 0! Could not imagine if the match had gone to the rubber!

As suggested by Azlan, we went to Ramli Mee Rebus at Tasek for lunch. Manage to get Fadzil Hasan to join for lunch. He has been very busy of late, especially with the arrival of the 12th members of his family. Had a baby boy on January 1, 2010! Others who were there included Dato Nasir Ahmad, Azlan Abdullah, Yuzer Yusof, Saleh Yusof, Fathil Sharif, Azizan Maarof and Yahya Daud. We departed for KL around 3.30 and stopped at Ulu Bernam RnR for the usual break.

The school 54th Annual Sports Day is over. It has been a meaningful and joyful trip and weekend for me. I just could not describe the feeling. The gratitude, joy, happiness and sadness … of being a STARian. I knew then that this was what I have missed and have been missing over the years! No wonder Omar Dolah and Mohamad Saleh travelled all the way from JB to Tiger Lane, no matter what! How I envy them. And already, I am very much looking forward for the STAROBA Weeknend this coming July.