Did you know that I once shook hand with a great Indonesian philosopher by the name of Haji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, or famously known as just HAMKA!?

And I didn’t even know it!

When I was about 12 years’ old years, my late father, Mustapha Ahmad, took me to the Federal Malay Restaurant, located near Kampong Baru in Kuala Lumpur to listen to Pak HAMKA, speaking to quite a large crowd.

My father said the gentleman we were meeting was “someone famous” and that he will introduce me to him after his speech.

That was 1960. I was young and I said okay.

After the speech he went to approach Hamka and he came wearing his trademark of his proverbial Songkok his preferred headgear, and his scarf, and sarong and my father said to him:

“Pak Hamka, this is my son and his name is Rusdi.”

To which, he said, with a big smile: “Yes and one day he will be somebody (menjadi sesaorang).”

(Note: Until today I did not know what Pak Hamka meant by that)

He was holding my hand firmly for a brief seconds and smiled, as in the photo above, as he uttered those words.

Then he let go off my hand and proceed into a conversation with my father, who was HAMKA personal friend.

A lot of things that I did not know about my father, such as one day a big black Bentley (I think) came to the house, as he was summoned by Tunku Abdul Rahman to the PMO, over a counterfeit ring and to enquire more on the death of lawyer Ma’arof Zakaria, who was also my father’s friend!

According to my late father, that one morning four Special Branch officers, headed by a white man, took Maarof away from his house. In the evening it was reported that they found Maarof body hanging by a tree somewhere in Gombak.

Although Maarof who founded the Malay National Bank died in 1947, Tunku as PM wanted to see my dad to talk about counterfeiting and also Maarof’s death.

Maarof apparently committed suicide! Virtually nonsensical.

Now then, a very famous stretch of road in Bangsar was later named after him, it is called Jalan Maarof. So this road was named after a man who had allegedly committed suicide?

My late father and Maarof were friends and Minangkabau and they were both from Seri Menanti.

My father was just a photographer, and he travelled a lot in Malaysia.

Born in Kampung Merual, Sri Menanti, Negeri Sembilan, and he was a very strict man. Once in a while, I did catch a glimpse on his life.

One evening, there were a group of people in our living room, speaking with an Indonesian dialect.

That was at the height of the 1963-65 Confrontation between Malaysia and Indonesia.

How did he know Hamka, heck only if I knew. Who were the group of in our living room that evening, wearing black jackets?

I do not know!

All I know is that he was an enigma, but a great father nevertheless, who raised us to understand the meaning of the word Loyalty and to be a patriot and love for the country.