KADIR HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

I had fun working under Datuk Kadir. One day, I observed a foreign beggar at her workplace in Jalan Tun Razak. She was begging at the pedestrian bridge from 9am and I was at a distance watching her every move.
Every now and then, locals were generous enough to drop a few Sen and some a few Ringgit into the bowl in front of her. It was fasting month and Malaysians can be extra generous with their cash.It was way after lunch time and I had been observing the woman for about four hours already.
Under the hot sun and fasting, I was beginning to become sleepy and well....angry. So, I decided to torment the old woman. I came close and started taking pictures.
She was cursing me in a foreign language, but I didn't care. I wanted her to move on. After all, she had collected more than RM100 already. I counted every sen and Ringgit that went into her bowl. The only way I could seek refuge from the hot sun was Ampang Park.
Then she started packing. I followed her from a distance and saw her entering the 4D outlet in Lebuh Ampang. She blew RM30 on a number before buying some kuih. When she boarded a bus to Ampang, I sat behind her.
It was stuffy as it was already 4.30pm. The bus was packed but I did not care. I kept on fasting and following her.
Then she stood up to ring the bell. It was in front of Taman Kosas. As she stepped down, she glared at me. I got down at the same place. She walked into a squatter colony and suddenly there was this boy, about 10, picking up stones, ready to aim at me.
I backed off but the report was on a front-paged of the Malay Mail two days later.
I told Datuk kadir I wanted to pursue the story and needed a long lense to take better pictures.
He wrote a note to the chief photographer for me to have access to all the lenses available.
The photographers were obviously not happy but relented when they saw the note from the GEIC.
The colony was later raided and the woman and her family deported. Several others who had gone begging in town were also picked up. It seems the village was a sanctuary for them. Just a few days before Raya, I told Datuk Kadir I had applied for leave and he said OK.
The rumour circulating around was that Datuk Kadir was to be replaced. But I did not ask him. When I came back from Raya leave, Boon Siew broke the news. I was back in News Desk as Datuk Kadir had left the building.

HERE WE GO AGAIN...ANOTHER HIJRAH

It was an eventful stay in Klang. A nice house, an equally nice office and beautiful people from BH, Metro and NST as company. Minarni was BH rep while Saodah Elias was NST staff correspondent. Metro had a stringer working for the tabloid. Don't remember his name, but a pleasant chap.
Together, we were like Starsky and Hutch. But I scooped him a few times and he did likewise. Then, the following day, we worked together on exclusives.
The late Nayagam would never get me in the morning. Everytime he called, someone would tell him, Bad had gone for breakfast or a PC. The caller line identification programme (CLIP) was just introduced and I was the first in NSTP to get my handphone CLIPped.
Everytime Nayagam called, I would hide in the bathroom and told him I was in a PC or a mamak shop somewhere. I was at home and he gave up.
Then one day, Boon Siew called me to say Datuk Kadir Jasin was unhappy to see me rotting away in Klang and I could do wonders in KL (Haha).
He told me to get pack up. Had a tough time finding a nice but cheap abode in KL. Found one in Bandar baru Ampang...a four-room terrace house full of cracks at RM970 a month.
As much as I did not want to move back, I kept reminding myself of a promise made when I got the job. I would never say no to orders and this was an order from the GEIC himself.
While Yushaimi and Lionel were already clearing copies in the evening, I was still reporting. I still kept my midnight shift but I really did not mind. I wanted to be a reporter till I retire.
After almost a year, we decided to buy a bungalow in Bukit Sentosa (where we live now) and again another Hijrah.
One day, Boon Siew called me and told me to report direct to Datuk Kadir. I was stunned and wondered hard where I had f..ked up.
In the evening, I knocked onto Datuk Kadir's office and he told me whatever I do from there on would be monitored by him. He wanted me to concentrate on special reports and undercover assignments, which were my forte anyway.
His first assignment from him was to expose the foreign beggar scam. "Do what you have to do but report to me everyday."
The next morning, I was waiting to see Datuk Kadir in an old t-shirt and a pair of faded jeans. His PA cautioned me he might not like to see that but when I walked into his office, he looked surprised. "Ready for the job, heh? Good! Just remember, call me in the evening to brief me what you have."

NOT SO HAPPY TIMES WITH MM

It was somewhere in 1995 or 1996. It was not exactly rosy in MM, at least not for me. I was comfortable with consumerism reporting. I even knew the Minister, Datuk Haji Abu Hassan Omar up-close.
I could walk into his office for exclusives anytime I wanted to, thanks to his PR Man, Francis. Even if I could not see him, I would still get exclusives.
The Ministry was practically owned by the enforcement division. Abdul Jabar Kamin and his officers are my buddies and they never failed to call me whenever there were raids, leaving behind other reporters. Simply because, anything linked to the Ministry was page one stuff.
Then K.Bala left MM in a huff and the scenario changed. Suddenly, crime stories were the Page Ones.
I started off as a crime reporter but after about two years covering the consumer beats, winning awards and accolades along the way, I found it hard to adapt to the new regime.
Nothing worked for me. But I did not have the mood for a career change although there was an irresistible offer from another publication.
After a long talk with my wife, I decided to see Fauzi Omar and asked if I could be transferred out of KL office.
The only problem was that Jaffry Azman was already doing well in Klang, the only MM branch outside Balai Berita.
After a while, Fauzi decided Jaffry needed a change and there I was, running a practically one-man show in Klang.
I moved out of the little double storey terrace house in Ampang and rented a bigger place in Taman Desawan, Klang. My wife found a job at legal office nearby and since Internet was virtually unheard of that time, I had to travel to the headquarters almost every night, sending pictures.
I became a close buddy of the then OCPD, Tuan Aziz Ariarasa. He was so friendly and accommodative that there was no need to know anyone else in the force.
He slept and bathed in the office and anything I wanted information, he would be at his office working....3am...4am...anytime.
Long before Nurin and Sharlinie went missing (they probably were not even born yet), MM broke a story of a Chinese boy who went missing in front of his school. Tin Song Seng is still missing.
Then there was a police shoot-out with a band of robbers leaving nine dead. And of course, the flood which drowned Selangor the same night.
The management was happy with my performance. I seemed to get over the streak of bad luck and delivered Page Ones every now and then.
But then, happy days were about to end.....

SAUK AND TAWAU - YES, I WAS THERE!

I am trying hard trying to contain myself with all the excitement going around the country. With no newspaper to make myself busy, I can feel the void. I have never missed any newsbreak so far. At least with The Malay Mail.
The Permatang Pauh by-election and Saiful Bukhari's revelation the Masjid were among the breaking news any reporter would die for.
I have to be contented with memories of beautiful assignments which sent me everywhere.
The plane crash in Sabah (Sept, 1995) was one of the most exciting assignments. Not forgetting Sauk and the countless general elections I have covered. Of course, as a Malay Mail reporter, the style of reporting is never the same. While the other reporters are chasing after Ministers and Press conferences, we have to snoop around for exclusives.
When I was in Sauk (July, 2000) I did not sleep for over two days, simply because I did not want to miss the day action while the evening exclusives were a must as we were the afternoon paper then.
I was surprised and shocked when Boon Siew sent me to Sauk alone. I fulfilled the criteria of an all round reporter, I guess. I owned a laptop and a camera which were the most essential equipment considering we were somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
Our makeshift office was the local MCA office being renovated. No toilet and just a telephone line used by the Press Corps all over the world.
The toilet was the one in the nearby mosque, and you could see a beeline for it.
After midnight, the office was practically ours. As other reporters were sleeping, Harian Metro reporters and I used it like it was ours.
We had to stay awake the whole night looking for exclusives.
Every night, we scooped the rest except for one day when pictures could not be sent as the NST photographers had brought along the dongle, used to send pix to their hotel in Ipoh. They could not be contacted and we missed exclusive pictures that night.
But this lone ranger was later accompanied by non other than the MM crime editor, Lionel Morais. His arrival was jinxed. The rebels surrendered the same day.
But we stayed on until a few days later for follow-ups and later had a memorable photo session at the site where the policeman was brutally tortured.
A night stay at a hotel in Ipoh, one of its finest (though, I don't remember the name) and off I went home the next day.
After making a pit stop at Kellie's Castle, I went straight home for a good warm bath and an equally good night sleep before returning to office the next day.
As for the Tawau plane crash which killed 32 passengers and two pilots, I was hanging around in the office late at night when Azmi Anshar received a call from Mas saying there was a vacant seat for a reporter from MM. He looked around and there was me, waiting to pounce on the chance. It was a good several hours more for the plane to take off and so I made some enquiries about the accident over the phone.
Then, walked in Datuk Kadir Jasin who enquired Azmi our coverage for the day. I overheard him telling Azmi why there was a need for more than one reporter to Tawau (Eddie Chua) was already in KK.
I sneaked out of the office and switched off my handphone, just in case. Went home to pack my things and went straight to the airport, switching on the handphone once we touched down in Tawau.
A little bragging here, but the Mas staff who checked me in at the Airport, were surprised to see me.
One of them said Mas was in for big trouble as Badrolhisham Bidin would definitely snoop around for dirt.
Well, I got several and it was on front-pages of The Malay Mail for about a week!