A tribute to 'Ibu'

She is and will always be our ‘Ibu’ (Mother). We will never forget how she stood up for us when we got into trouble. When one of us fell sick, she took him to hospital. She even kept him company, without fail, during visiting hours throughout his hospital stay.

She went out of her way to meet our request for the food we wanted. It was not cheap to have the food laid on the table. Once, she had the cook fry eggs from 9am to 3 in the afternoon just to serve us boys.
‘Sardin sambal tumis’ and ‘labu masak lemak’ were the favourite for most of us then as she recalled today when we gathered to honour her for ‘Mother’s Day’.
She had not seen many of us for years but she still remembered their names. She even remembers what or how they were like those days.
She was close to us for she had brought us up in her own special ways. She was our mother -- not to one or two but hundreds of us!
She is Halimah Karnawi – our ‘Ibu’ -- officially the hostel matron. Although the hostel – Asrama Dr Latif(ADL) is history – demolished and gone – to make way for a flood mitigation and a highway project, the memories remain in our hearts.
The ‘hi-tea’ event today is special in many ways. Though wheel-chair bound, ‘Ibu’ took the trouble to be with us.
“I just have to come to see you all,” she says with a tinge of happiness – tears welling in her eyes.
‘Ibu’ is 80 but as Nazam – the emcee for the day remarked -- her ‘memory card’ is tremendous!
The evening was also special because we had our ‘ustaz’ (religious teacher) – someone many of us have not seen for over three decades since we left school.
Ustaz Shaifuddin Yasin has this ability to recognize many of us just by the way we walked and some by their smell!

“It’s true, I can know them just by their smell,” he said and recalled the various nicknames that we had.
“Even now, I smile on my own when I recall the students of ADL and my wife would wonder why,” says Ustaz, now 66. He even sang an old favourite – “Kenanganku” , giving us a hint of his singing prowess.
The event was also special because it was the first time that we were able to get together after our buddy Aziz Shahrin took the effort to organize a grouping of former ADL hostelites. His ‘never say no’ attitude is showing progress.
For a start, our proposed name – Asrama Dr Latiff Alumni Network (ADLAN) – has been accepted by the Regisrar of Societies.
The hostel took in the first batch of students in 1971 – thanks to the vision of former Selangor Menteri Besar, the late Datuk Harun Idris.
Through his efforts, students from the various districts in Selangor who did well in their Stardard Five assessment examination held nation-wide were offered places to pursue their secondary education in Kuala Lumpur either at the Victoria Institution, St John’s Institution or Methodist Boys School.

As Protem committee chairman Professor Datuk Dr Mohd Jamil Maah paid tribute to Datuk Harun, he said it is now “pay back” time for us to serve the society.
“Although the hostel is gone, the spirit remains and let’s keep it alive,” says the University Malaya Deputy Vice-Chancellor, who was among the first batch of form four students in 1971.
Others who turned up today include Director-General of Valuation and Property Services Datuk Abdullah Thalith Md. Thani, Bursa Malaysia CEO Datuk Yusli Yusoff, Chemical Company of Malaysia Group Managing Director Datuk Dr Mohd Hashim Tajudin and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM) Head of Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Prof Dr Abdullah Sani Mohamed. Former Hulu Langat Member of Parliament Datuk Badrul Hisham Abdul Aziz recited a self-penned, choking ‘sajak’ entitled ‘Ibu’.