IN MEMORY OF A FRIEND

"To my dear friend and kaki, ARZ". Signed 1 Dec 04. This was authographed by the author of the above book. The prologue of the book reads as follows:

In the name of the Almighty, the Most Merciful and the Most Benefiecient!

This book is dedicated to:


Our parents who did the best they could for us
Our brothers and sisters who so often made way for us
Our teachers who guided and taught us
Our friends and colleagues from whom we learned so much
The authors of all the books we have read, and
Everyone else who directly or indirectly made us what we are today


"WE WISH WE KNEW ALL THESE WHEN WE WERE TWENTY YEARS OLD" was addressed to Along, Azah, Abang, Nana and Ain. These are the children of the author and his wife. The book was for them. It was From Mama and Papa.

Mama is Zuraidah Abd Aziz. Papa is Anwar Batcha bin Ibram Ghaney. I penned this blog in memory of my dear friend, Anwar.

The 9 chapters of the book revealed its sole purpose, that of guiding his children to the right path, for here and the hereafter:

Chapter 1 : Personal Development

Chapter 2 : Goal Setting

Chapter 3 : Time Management

Chapter 4 : Health

Chapter 5 : Mental Development

Chapter 6 : Family

Chapter 7 : Financial Management

Chapter 8 : Religion

Chapter 9 : Putting it all together or The End

It encompasses "The Wheel of Life" that I teach in my Personal Leadership Training program.

Anwar walked what he wrote, as in Chapter 2, to set goal to write this book. Most others, me included, still have manuscripts floating somewhere in the big clutter of Things To Do.

It was at about 9:30pm on Aug 4 that I received a call from June, my ex-secretary. I was then at the GH in Kota Bharu, preparing to bring my mother's body back home. My mother died at 8:40 pm. That night, I lost my mother and I also lost a dear friend.

I knew Anwar was not well as I spoke to his wife on 23rd July. I went off to Padang on 24th July, returning on 31st July. I had planned to visit him in Seremban on my return. But as fated, I had to fly back to KB to be with my mother on 2nd August.

I am glad that this year, I met him not less than 3 times whenever he came down to KL. He would call and we would have lunch together.

One of my memories with the late Anwar was our trip to Taman Negara with our other office colleagues in the late 80s. Photo courtesy of June.

Al-Fatihah (Anwar on extreme left)

“ …………….. and no one knows what he can expect tomorrow and no one knows where on earth he will breathe his last …………..” Luqman, 34