Fuad Jaafar.

Fri 24 Jan 2020.

I'd learned from Rizal Sardon during our FMC PD Reunion on 15th December 2019 that Fuad had a stroke in Hainan, and his 2 children had gone to join Hasnah, their mom, there to look after things.  Rizal had studied in Brighton with Fuad, and Rizal was with me when I enrolled at the then Federation Military College, Port Dickson, in 1961. FMC later moved to Sg. Besi and became Royal Military College.

I'd immediately asked Padir to check the facts, but he only came back to me after several days, after he'd heard from Aziz Zakaria about Fuad. There wasn't any other info. Then Ajit also mentioned that Bedah had passed the word around about the same basic info, and nothing else.

Last Wednesday  Padir  updated the info, that Fuad is now in Avisina Hospital, Shah Alam. So I called Calit, and after Zohor Thursday I picked him up and were at Avisina Hospital before Asr. Hasnah said Padir  came that morning.

Fuad was the CEO Tenaga Nasional. Hasnah, his wife, is my father's elder brother's daughter. That makes her a first cousin, of course. I first met Fuad when Hasnah brought him to see my father in Tebat Kering, KP. Later we would often meet because we share the same love for golf. I attended his sons' weddings. The last time I met him was the day before he left for Australia for golf, and that must have been no more than a month before this Hainan trip, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, Hainan was also a golf trip. His friends were waiting for him to come out of the changing room at the golf club, but he never did. They found him on the floor, in a helpless state, but still conscious. It was only in the ambulance that he lost consciousness. It was a stroke.

Fuad was in the hospital in Hainan, which is a 4-hour flight from KL, for nearly a month. Early January he was flown back to Singapore, then driven by road in an ambulance to Shah Alam, and has been here for more than 3 weeks now.

Fortunately Hasnah had always followed him for every golf trip he made. That was the most important factor this time, because of the language and technical constraints. There were disbursement issues, immigration issues, and the medical arrangements involving many parties, and these certainly were facilitated by having Hasnah personally present throughout.

Hasnah related the massive efforts in all matters relating to Fuad's treatment in Hainan, and the transfer back home to Shah Alam. Apparently a special "ambulance" aircraft was arranged, complete with attending medical staff, just for Fuad alone. Even Hasnah wasn't allowed to accompany him.  Hasnah had sorted out the visa problems earlier. Now Fuad is here, about to be transferred again to a special therapy ward later this month.

Fuad is fully conscious but still not able to communicate when we visited him in Shah Alam. Hasnah, of course, has a way to communicate with her husband. They are assigned to one of the executive suites in this private hospital. I wouldn't venture to assess the financial implications, but I'm sure TNB takes care of their  senior people.

Fuad is one year my senior in age, I just found out from Hasnah at the hospital. Several of my old friends were with him in MCKK. There was Tajuddin Ariff, Ghazali Kamal Baharin, Ramli Ujang, Md. Zain Yusof, and others. In fact if my father didn't stop me, I would have joined Fuad in MCKK in 1958, but that's another story.   

Fuad must have had a superior golf game than mine, because I know he was a single-handicapper when I was just starting. I would bump into him in KGNS with his golf "kaki's". That was when he was still working. That golf became a fixture after retirement wasn't surprising, of course. I've played in Australia, but not China. He must have covered more countries than me. Now his priority is  his health's full recovery, and golf must wait. I hope he'll be able to come back to the game he loves.

Through life you don't always get to be close to close relatives. Each has his own path and destiny. But one thing I've made up my mind to do is to keep tabs on family members that I know of, that I hear about.  I hope our visit to the hospital helped cheer Fuad up, but  we all pray for his complete recovery, Amin !

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