Farewell My Friend- A tribute to Zarizi Affendi Abdul Karim

Those who know me would know that being religiously devout is not one of my strong points. But today, I am making an exception to start this entry with reciting the phrase one utters when receiving news of calamity, specifically, when receiving the news that someone has passed away. It reads Innalillah Wa Inna 'Ilaihi Raji'un (We belong to God and we shall return to Him)..those were the very words I said when I found out one of my schoolmates, Muhammad Zarizi Affendi Abdul Karim has passed away at 11.15 pm, November 17 2008 at 32 years of age.

MZAAK (the acronym of his long name) as he was fondly known was a buddy of mine from boarding school. We were in the same house (back then, we were grouped in houses- basically you stay with your housemate, you play sports as a team with them, you do your laundry with them etc...in other words, during the 5 years there, your housebuddies are literally the guys you grew up with) and for a few years, we were also in the same room.

MZAAK was a very reserved character. He was only animated and excited when he talks about World War II. He was obsessed with anything related to Nazi Germany. He can, with ease, tell you the name of each German High Command members and the outcome of each major battles along with the details. MZAAK used to talk about the SS as if he was actually one of the Totenkopfs. I remember listening (and being fascinated) with all the WWII facts that he had in that songkok clad head of his (MZAAK constantly wore the Malay headgear from the moment I first saw him as a 13 year old until the last time I saw him a few years back).

Despite his fascination with such morbid subject, MZAAK was deeply patriotic. He was the first one who told us political virgins (we were 13 years old then, none of us understood what politics is all about except him) that Malaysia should be a republic built on ideals of meritocracy and religious tolerance. I remember him telling me one day that the political system of the nation is inherently flawed and it will not be viable in the long run- how true his predictions were.He always avoided being in any pictures (as a result, we had very of them) as he jokingly (or maybe he was serious) told us that he will be the first President of Republic of Malaysia, therefore he would not want all these scandalous pictures to surface (....for the same reason why I cant be in politics!..too many compromising pictures!)

MZAAK was also deeply religious in spite of his political views and fascination with Hitler. He would read obscure unabridged versions of religious texts and would make notes in his little notebook. As I said I was not that religious so I can't remember much of this side of his except that he was relatively more religious that most of us were.

Above all, I remember MZAAK as a good friend who was always there for me. He was there when I was beaten to pulp by my seniors and took me back to my room. He was there to hide me under his bed when I was chased by Wardens. He was there when my buddies turned on me because they thought I ratted them out. He was there when I needed a study companion. He was there during my wedding....and now he is not there anymore.

I pray that God will place his soul among those that He favoured as MZAAK deserves. Farewell my friend.