Imtiyaz

This poem was written by me in 2000 to join one competition organized by HELWA of MPP ( Hal Ehwal Wanita – Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar ) ocnjunction with Mother's Day Celebration . I participated for fun because I knew that I have no skill in writing poem .

I never bother what is the prize would be as I have no confident in writing poem. As mentioned, just for fun, I submitted and forgot about it until I received a call saying that I won the 1^st prize. The committee help to remind me on the poem contest that I’ve joined. I was bit surprised. Menang..tak sangka pulak.. Sempat tanya, siapa yang judge ni.The judges were Expert from our Pusat Bahasa .

A day later the 3 winners were called to receive a short briefing on the prize giving ceremony. One of the committee told me that lucky I was the winner. Why ? because their 1^st prize besides a bouquet of flower, trophy, hamper from brand of ubat2 traditional ( I forgot the manufacturer), all kind of balm ( balm gamat, balm serai, minyak angin, minyak panas etc), a parker pen and my poem is nicely framed – The organizer would sponsored the winner’s mother come to the ceremony regardless from where she is ( even Sabah&Sarawak). So by having me as the winner, they save hundreds ringgit allocated for MAS ticket in case the winner is from West Malaysia ( I stayed nearby-but still over the sea la). The organizer also excited to know who is the winner after received from Pusat Bahasa judges and of course the judges did not know from where the contestants were . (They don’t bother actually )

1^st runner up goes to a friend of mine , Nik Khartina from School of Mass Comm. She was one of journalist for our campus bulletin and was a journalist with Dewan Kosmik ( her 1^st job after grad) and now I lost her contact. Not sure whether still with Kosmik or not. Tina’s mother also was sponsored to come all the way from Kelantan on the prize giving event. And definitely I salute her writing and love ‘em so much. I used to read her writing in her blog .

On the day, my mom was invited by the committee from home( before come they enjoyed chocolate cake baked by mama and mama prepared ahead a big container of cakes for the committee ). I was invited to recite my poem ( malu siot masa tu, mana pernah dok deklamasi depan orang) and my mom was invited to the stage to receive souvenir and flower too.

Mama loved this poem very much and to her surprise that I can write this.If you read this, may sounds ‘apa punya poem ni’ but to both me and mama the meaning of the poem is more than words can say.

Why I write this entry. 30 April was my mama’s birthday and she is not here to celebrate it. I believe humans will write/say all the good things about our beloved mom.I can write if I want here but is not the message I want to convey in this entry. I think I will have at least another 20 years to live and repeatedly thank her and express how wonderful she is to me but she left me when I was 25. Some people, even lost their mom when they were small.

Dear friend,go and say it to your mother before is too late..

You never know how jealous I am looking at you still having a person to call mama and share your beauty & sorrow of your life with her.

But I do really hope that each of good thing I do and doa' dedicated for her will be accepted by Allah

I better stop here as my tears are running down heavily .

I miss mama so much

Al-fatihah