MORTUARY ON FACEBOOK?

I was driving behind a taxi and on the boot there is an advertisement for an online obituary and mortuary service. At the same time I remembered when my brother passed away, his son asked one of his close ex student who is good at hacking to delete his account. The idea did not come into my mind at that moment because sadness over rule all imagination and ideas.

Now after reading the advertisement, it crossed into my mind that the idea of deleting his Facebook account might not be the right move. Maybe the account can be used as his mortuary in cyberspace so that friends who were are unaware about his death might come across his FB account and learn that he had passed away. Maybe a JPEG tombstone placed on his profile to let others know that the account holder has left us forever in this world.

Maybe Facebook can go another step by creating a obituary and mortuary in cyberspace so that the dead can be remembered by families and friends until time ends wherever they are. Well, maybe my idea sucks.   

Missing My Loved Ones

It is fated and everyone has to accept that missing their loved ones can never be fended off. Everybody will at one time or another will have have to face the fact that he or she has to go. 

The saddest moment in life is to accept that he or she passed away. 

My family is made up of 6 siblings and now I am the only one left. I was born after my elder brother and two sisters passed away and that didn't make it as my saddest moments. But two of my younger brothers was called by Allah and that leaves me alone with my aged parents (mother and mother). Although I am not depending on both of them for a living but to have lost them is a fact I have to accept. Being young doesn't mean one will not die soon. 

I lost my youngest brother on 17th November 2007 due to Acute Myiocardial Infarction at the Kedah Medical Centre. That was too bad I could not see his remains for the last time because those who arrange the funeral did not wait for me to arrive eventhough I was just an hour away after rushing back from Kuala Lumpur. They  just buried him and when I arrived at the cemetry, the talkin is being read by the Imams. He was laid to rest at the Mesjid Al Huda Cemetry, Kg. Lubok Air, Air Hitam Kedah 

To my brother Allahyarham Mohd Shukri bin Hj Baharum, Al Fatihah to you. 

1964 - 2007

May your soul Rest In Peace

This year again I lost another brother also due to illness. He was diagnosed as having Advanced Colon Cancer and Peritonial Metastasis 

He passed away peacefully at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital at 11.40 am on 17th Mac 2011 with all the family at his hospital bedside. Thank god, I was able to make my way back to Alor Setar and even though I have no opportunity to speak to him from the time of my arrival (about 4.00am) till his last breath, I was present at that critical moment.  He was laid to rest at the Mesjid Al Ghufran Cementry, Akar Peluru, Persiaran Sultan Abdul Hamid, Alor Setar. Dear brother, Mohd Zahir bin Hj Baharum, Al Fatihah to you. 1957 - 2011

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my Facebook friends, my friends and well wishers who prayed for his health while he was warded from 3rd Mac 2011 until the moment of his demise. Also to those who convey their condolences to our bereaved family. 

I also convey our family's deepest thanks to all the staff of Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar,  who took care of him and the surgeon and his staff for all their effort to save his live. However Allah is more Powerful and Invincible. 

Again, AL FATIHAH TO BOTH  MY LATE BROTHERS. 

My Life History Repeats

Whether it is coincidence or otherwise, I am living the life of a retired civil servant with some sweet memories to be inscribed into my historical annal.

On my birthday the beginning of the life of a retired person, I celebrated at the house I bought when I was in service. Then on the same day I went to meet my mother and father.

Today (23 Dec 2010) I had an opportunity to go back to the place where I started my career life as a school teacher at SMK Kota Marudu, Sabah. I borrowed rented a Perodua Viva from one of the participant at just RM 50.00 for the trip because going by public transport will be too time consuming and I won’t have the time for that return trip since i have a plane to catch in the afternoon. For that odd 120 km drive I filled up RM 10.00 at Bakut Petronas Station and again another RM 10.00 at Shell Petrol Station (no choice) in Kota Marudu.

Even though just barely two hours at the town, it was a nostalgic memory and what more I went back to the now abandoned government quarters where I stayed and my eldest son and first daughter was born.  This happens in the first week of my new life. Not everybody can experience these nostalgic moment. What more for me I am staying in Kuala Lumpur and my career starts in a district in Sabah when going back will incur high cost on transportation. I consider myself lucky to achieve all these as if its a repeat of life.

This picture on the left is the government quarters that I stayed, get married and where my first two children's born.  

The opportunity to recall memories happens (on Allah’s will) when I came back to Kota Kinabalu to lecture on a topic under Sports Management and this is my first lecture after retiring. It is teaching and I start my career 34 years ago is also teaching. Being given this opportunity to lecture in Kota Kinabalu is, I consider a godsend opportunity. As Muslim I deeply believe that I can just plan but Allah permits. This lecture was at first scheduled a week before, that is the last week of my career life. Then it was postponed and it falls in the first week of my retirement. Its as if Allah want all this as a repeat of my experiences on different life, adult life and golden years life. Well, of course coming on assignment all my expanses are paid for and can consider a free trip. All the same as when I first on Sabah soil in 1974, was paid for by the government.

It was a worthy trip for me since I can recall my memories.