By Wafa Awla
It was a real chance of meeting him and it took my breath away. I never thought it happened but I finally met Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
Just in the blink of eyes, I started to recall the moment of my childhood days when I saw him on television. I could still remember the day when I was sitting in the bookstore before I finally decided to spend all the money I had for a week to buy a biography “Mahathir Mohamad” in cartoon version with illustrations by E.Yu.
I was sixteen years old when I read The Malay Dilemma and tried to understand what he wrote in the book. And, on that day, he was just in front of me launching Japanese new products.
I must thank IIUMToday for conducting a news writing workshop around KLCC park.
Ajwad, Atiqah and I were in same group and we decided to buy ice cream while thinking about the story that we should write. We just walked around KLCC shopping centre before we heard the sounds like a drum in the shop lot I-Setan. There was a launching of an event for Ehime Fair. We started to see many people, including those from the media gathered to watch a Japanese traditional dance.
We were standing there enjoying the performance before Ajwad abruptly spoke in a tone that sounded very excited: “It’s Tun! Tun Mahathir is here.”
He was absolutely right. Tun was there. My heart started to beat faster.
Tun Mahathir was about to return and we saw the media from various television stations rushing towards him. We did not miss the chance to quickly join the group of journalists. He was swarmed with controversial questions. That was the moment that I felt like I was a professional journalist. I took out my phone to ask him questions.. Tun calmly answered those questions. I was stunned.
When the interview session was over, the reporters began to disperse. So did we. We returned feeling satisfied that we had Tun’s voice clearly recorded in my phone. That’s more than enough.***
Photo credited to Ajwad Amal