CLUB 12/68 ANNUAL REUNION AT GAMBANG PAHANG 27-30 MAY 2013

 

 

Once again members of Club 12/68 (comprising of military officer cadet of the 12th intake in the year 1968 till 1970) organised their annual reunion. We have been having an annual gathering since 1991. The last 4 gatherings were held overseas,

 most recently being in Guilin in China. For the year 2013 it was decided to have it in Gambang, Pahang. The Chairman of Organising Committee (COO) decided by the President was Kol Hj Hamdan Mohd Salleh. Our Imam. The COO got down to work the moment we reached Malaysia after our reunion in Guilin. Meetings were held to ensure the Reunion went on well. The meetings were to decide the venue, itinerary, dates, golfers’ programme, familys’ programme and prizes. The wives were the major organizers. They decided the events, venue, prizes etc etc. The men only concentrated on the golf.
It was to be a 27th  till 30th   May. Four days in all. Finally the day arrived. A total of 47 pax descended on to Gambang Resort City. All stayed at the same resort and proceeded for our programmes from there.
It was supposed to be 49 pax. Unfortunately Ali Hamid passed away on 19 May due to heart complications. He had wanted to attend and had paid up for the reunion. He had spoken to Hj Hamdan and expressed his desire to meet the Intake and "untuk meminta maaf antara kita. Lama tak bersua" Looks like it was not to be. Besides refunding his payment, the intake collected RM 2000 as sedekah for his family.
Activities:
a.    Golf:    A total of 7 golfers took part. It was played at the Royal Pahang Golf Club.

 

b.    Water Activities. Held at Water Park area. All family members took part.
c.    Tahlil, Solat Maghrib/Ishak including bacaan surah Yassin was held on the night of the 28 May.

It was held at a room provided by the Resort Management. This event was ably headed by Squad Rahman Jabir.
d.    A telematch participated by 5 non golfers, 9 wives, 10 adults and 12 children were held. Five games were played. They had a good time. Prizes were presented on the night of the Grand Dinner.
 

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We moved off back to our own home on 30 May. We bid everybody farewell with a promise to meet again in 2014. Insyaallah.

The new Chairman of the Organising Committee for the next Annual Reunion is Dato Abdul Hadi Razak.

 

 

Salam

ENJOY

Warmest Regards
JohnH

RETIRED ARMED FORCES OFFICERS’ CLUB ANNUAL GOLF– 2012

 Besides enjoying golf and its ‘Returns’, in Guilin in May/June 2012, the talk was about the upcoming RAFOC’s Annual Golf for the year 2012. It was scheduled for 20th then 10th Jul 2012. It sort of became a ‘Selection’ process for us. There were 14 of us. John Ramli H, our Golf Convenor needs 8 players. He has already short-listed the likely reps. And Billy Gooi has already informed that he would not be available Thus the choice would be to put in our strongest into one team and the rest in the ‘B’ Team. In a team of 4, the 3 best score would be counted.We were the current Champion, having won the Tan Sri Rahman Hamid Trophy on 7th June 2011.

Back home, the Convenor was updating us on the competition. There were also ‘Gentle Reminders’. Just to be sure there would be no ‘Cock-Up’. Our attire were to be ‘white’ for the play and ‘black’ for prize-giving.
In the early morning hours of 10th Jul, I made my way to the Staffield Golf Resort. I guessed then, the rest were doing the same. There would be a group photography seesion at 0745. Thus working backwards we should be registered, get our goodies and take breakfast prior to all that.
On arrival, I saw the golfers registering.



 
Greetings were in abundance. Mind you these are friends within the Armed Forces fraternity who had served together many many years before. Now they are getting together to rekindle friendships and acknowledge each other. Quite a mixed bunch of ‘Retirees’. Old and young. And typical of us, most claimed still to be ‘Young’. In the Heart that is.
I met up with our club members. The President was holding Court.

 

Dato Sulaiman Kudus was with us.

 
We had nasi lemak, mee hoon goring, bread and butter, coffee and the tarik. We have checked our flights. None of us would be in the same flight. We wish each other the very best of luck. Soon the call for group photograph.

 

After all that was done we headed for our buggies and to our tee boxes.
 

 


 
We were supposed to tee off at 0815 on a ‘shotgun’ start. At precisely that the ‘siren’ wen sounded and we were off for RAFOC’s Annual Golf Competition. 

 It was a clear and bright day. As per normal, there lots of ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ including ‘sh—‘, ‘f--k’, ‘what de f---k’, ‘bloo—he—‘ and many more. But then what do you expect from AF Officers and their vocabulary of four-letter words. Soon we were trooping back to the changing room. A bath, a change of clothes and congregating towards the Dining Room.

 

 

 A good spread of food. In abundance. And in keeping up to being in Negri Sembilan, the gulai cili api was definitely ‘Nogori’. It was hot as ‘He—‘ but simmered with a clear chicken soup. Lots of drinking water too. Members of our  Club 1268 looked prominent in our black attired T-shirt.

 

 I saw another intake having the same uniformed T shirt.

 Soon it was prize-giving. Just to be sure, I recorded all our scores. Our Team A had a total 3 best score of 106. 36 – 36 – 34. We still stood a chance. Our score in 2011 was 113. A 7 point difference. And as we come to the climax of the prize giving, the championship trophy fell back to the 2010 champion – Intake 18 of Dato Hamid Mohd Zain, Dato Rozi, --- and Mej Ismail Hassan. Well Done Intake 18. Second was Intake 35 with 107 points. And we came in 3rd with 106 points. . Prizes given to the top 2 only. So no ‘Black Shirts’ on the stage for that day except for individual achievements of our Presidente and Isa Hassan.

 

We tried but failed to defend the championship. We will try again in 2013.

Warmest Regards
John H