Abdul Malek Hamzah bin Abdullah

Allahyarham Abdul Malek Hamzah bin Abdullah.

We were friends, classmates, busmates and neighbours for slightly more than 5 years.

We were young, stubborn, full of energy, and rebelious.

It was not the best of circumstances we came together. I was the guy hated most by the class in Form 1. He was a meek, skinny and the only child of a Chief Auditor of a government agency. On that particular day, he showed me a letter from his father addressed to the Headmaster of the school. The letter was a request that Abdul Malek be exempted from school that day, as he has to prepare for a religious duty. I was also told that the Headmaster had agreed to the request. Thus, I allow him to walk out of class. What aroused my suspicion later was that he and a friend climbed over one of the gates. But I made no fuss about it then.

When the Form Master walked in, I presented Abdul Malek's letter to him. Immediately he went into a furor! The Headmaster, it seems, was not and has not been to the school for the day! He was called to the Education Department for a meeting of some rather urgent matter. And soon, the manhunt begins. The entire Prefect Board with the Discipline Master began combing KL, searching for two Form 1 truants as though they were

Can't remember what really transpired after that. But the boys were caught and subjected to disciplinary actions which include public caning. Life, for Abdul Malek soon changed after that that; he was no longer the meek guy in school.

Cannot remember how I was sucked into it, but soon, his father appointed me as Abdul Malek's guardian angel. Huh! If only he knew better. No, I was not the Devil. Then again, neither was I an angel. Fact is, we were young and growing. Each step, each day, brought new charts and challenges; new grounds to explore. Unknown to us then, our exploits were like a self-made initiation rites into manhood.

We began mixing with the 'big boys', and that paved the way for us into the triads. It was at this juncture, Abdul Malek found a new fascination - the 'occult' of martial arts. In simple words, he began delving into supernatural powers - ilmu batin. Wali Suci, Rimau Berantai, and a host of new 'disciplines' had begun to rear its head then. While I step back to watch from afar, he immersed himself into it with gusto.

Time passed and soon, after Form 5, we each took a different path. Less than a year later, we began meeting again but only for brief moments. He had found a new friend, a guru! It was with this guru he said the syahadah and became a muslim. Thus was born Abdul Malek Hamzah bin Abdullah. (Abdul Malek means Servant of the Almiighty King; while Hamzah was taken from the Prophet Muhammad's s.a.w. uncle - a feared warrior who became a martyr in a battle)

No matter hoe many times my mother advised him to register with Perkim, Abdul Malek would always refuse citing his guru's advise against it. He became elusice and soon, just stayed away from me and my family, no doubt under the advise of his guru.

Not too long a time after that, I received a call from a mutual friend saying Abdul Malek had been involved in an automobile accident and was lying in coma in Kuala General Hospital. Several friends and I got together and visited him in the emergency ward. When the police began questioning us about his identity, we left for we knew he did not have a valid driving licence.

Early the next day I received word of his death. My friends and I visited his parents but only for a brief moment. We were angry and feeling very much helpless. That afternoon, Abdul Malek Hamzah bin Abdullah was cremeated as M Siva Mailsvagnam.

We were young, stubborn, full of energy, and rebelious. We were also foolish.

For the 25 years or so since his death, I have never really bade farewell to him. Perhaps its time for me to do so.

Abdul Malek Hamzah bin Abdullah, may Allah bless you and forgive all your sins. AlFatehah.