Alfateeha………
The news that my good buddy Hasbullah had gone back to Almighty Allah on 13 Feb 2016 at 0740 hrs shocked me. He
succumbed to prostate cancer and lung infection at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota
Kinabalu. A day before, his wife Hajjah Sabrinawati Abdullah messaged that Hasbullah
was admitted to Depency Ward in a critical condition with life support.
Kelantanese by birth, served RTM Kelantan and migrated to
Sabah in 1974. He left behind a Sabahan wife, two (2) grown up children and a
granddaughter.
The last time we met was on 29 September 2015 when I was on a mission to Keningau and I had a
half day meeting with him at Kota Kinabalu. In fact, he picked me up at KK Airport
Terminal 2 and we adjourned for brunch.
Hasbullah in memory.
We were in the same group by Andalusia Travel performing
Umrah and Egypt Tour sometimes in 2008. The first time we got acquainted when
we landed at Jeddah International Airport. We were stranded at the Airport due
to our delayed flight ex Kuala Lumpur and the Hotel booking at Medina was
cancelled. Therefore, we were instructed to make a detour to Mekah instead, a
change of the itinerary. I was travelling with my wife and Hasbullah was with
his wife, son and daughter in law. While waiting for the Bus to pick us up, we exchanged
conversation, got to know each other as we will be together for the next two
weeks. A Pensioner of RTM Sabah and he knew my brother (Amran Hamid), my
immediate neighbor (Zakaria Yasin) and my one other ex RTM Pensioner buddy
(Amran Din). It’s a small world indeed. We became close as we share common
acquaintances and there was a subject to talk about. In Mekah/ Medina, we
normally met at the Dining Hall as each of us had our own program.
After the umrah ritual, it was Egypt Tour and it was in
Egypt that we became closer as both of us are English speaking species, got
along fine with the Egyptian Tour Leader and assisted her to interpret to the
entourage in the Malay Language. We covered Cairo and Alexandria. Literally, we
hijacked the Tour Bus and we addressed ourselves as Panglima. I address him as “Panglima
Di Bawah Bayu” and he entitled me as “Panglima Malaya”. We had good fun. We
were on the Nile Cruise, had dinner and immediately after, appeared the Belly Dancers.
Mind you, we just completed an umrah and both us were busy video recording.
When we turned around, the ladies had all adjourned to the Upper Deck. Only
Hasbullah and I remaining enjoying the belly wriggling. Our excuse, we paid for
it, inclusive in the package. It was just an Egyptian social culture.
Sometimes in 2011, while I was on umrah mission with my
wife and daughter, I rendezvous with Hasbullah and his wife in Mekah but they
were travelling vide different Travel Agent and residing at different Hotels.
We got together for tea.
On 14 April 2012, Hasbullah and wife made a surprise
visit to my house at Port Klang. I hosted lunch at a Kampong Restaurant where budu, tempoyak and varieties of ulam
kampong were on the menu. Being Kelantanese, he enjoyed it.
During the family visit to Kota Kinabalu, Hasbullah was
our Tour Guide. He drove us to Kudangsang, visited Kinabalu National Park,
Nabalu Market and War Memorial Park. We had lunch at Kinabalu Pine Resort.
Downtown Kota Kinabalu, he took us to Tanjung Aru Beach and the Phillipine
Bazaar. Hasbullah family hosted Dinner at Ocean Sea Food Village, the best
Seafood Restaurant just beside Promenade Hotel where we stayed.
Early January 2014, I invited Hasbullah for a tour of Palestine
cum umrah with Almukminin Travel of which I am closely associated. He accepted
and brought along his wife and other buddy, Haji Salim Ibrahim. We had good spiritual
time at Jerusalem and Hebron. We ventured up to Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jaffa – the
places we never dreamt of stepping. The best thing to happen we performed
fardhu prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque and visited Quba Syakra (The Golden Dome). We
even had the opportunity to join the Palestinians in congregation performing
Friday prayer at Al Aqsa Mosque. We felt blessed as not many Malaysian Muslims
dare to venture to Jerusalem. We saw with our own eyes the Great Barrier Wall
erected by Israel segregating the Palestinians and Israelis.
In Jordan, we went to the Dead Sea, the Cave of the Seven
Sleepers and travelled 400 km westward to Wadi Musa to see Petra. We both
wondered about ancient civilization and architecture. How in the world the
Nabatean tribes could establish a kingdom carved out from a solid rocky
mountain??
However, I did not join the group for umrah as I had to
return to Malaysia to accompany non performing umrah travelers.
At anytime I was in Kota Kinabalu, we would meet and
similarly when Hasbullah was at Peninsular Malaysia. The last he was at
Putrajaya was on 15 May 2015 when his wife attended the Government sponsored
farewell Dinner for Pensioners. I took him out for a drink and he complained
that the pau at Putrajaya was damn expensive compared to Kota Kinabalu.
Sometimes mid September 2015, I got to know Hasbullah was
unwell. Incidently, Almukminin Travel had a mission to Keningau on 29 September
2015 and I decided to fly early morning to meet Hasbullah. Later, I even
accompanied him to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for a medical checkup. He was up
and about except that he rather felt uncomfortable with the bag he was
carrying. He wanted it to be removed but not until January 2016. He wished to
perform an umrah soonest the bag could be removed. I advised him to be patience
and adhere to the Doctors advice. Haji Salim and I sent him back to his
residence and not knowing it was the last farewell between us.
Overtime we contacted each other by whatsup message and
facebook. Seeing his postings in facebook cheered me up, presumably he was
well. I heard he was hospitalized for surgery and my news of him was only vide
Haji Salim – his closest buddy in KK. After the surgery he was back home but
not long. Since then he was not responding to my messages until on 12 February
2016, Hajjah Sabrinawati Abdullah, Hasbullah wife contacted me that my friend
was in critical situation and under life support. I immediately passed the
message around and all acquaintances responded, praying in doa to Almighty
Allah that our friend would be well. I felt rather shaky when Haji Salim told
me our friend was in coma state.
Sadly, Hasbullah
had his last breath at 0740 hours on 13 February 2016. Haji Salim updated
and gave us the commentary from Kota Kinabalu.
Goodbye my friend - Panglima Di Bawah Bayu. In doa, may
you will be grouped among the almukminin. I am going to miss you and you will always
remain in my memory. We ventured to The Holy Land, Egypt, Palestine, Israel and
Jordan together. The two Panglimas had conquered the three (3) Holy Mosques as
written in the Holy Kora’an.
Alfateeha……..
