Sisterhood of ex-schoolmates

SOME bonds remain unbreakable no matter how far the parties go or how long they are apart. This is doubly so when the parties grow up together through their teenage years, studying together, learning together, and growing up as sisters in all but blood.

For the 1989 batch of Fifth Formers of Sekolah Seri Puteri, the smallest of all the Malaysian boarding schools, the reunion last Saturday night was a long- awaited affair.

Bonds of friendship were renewed and affirmed in an event held at Seri Pacific Hotel Kuala Lumpur, just around the corner from where the school used to stand.

Aptly named “A Celebration of Sisterhood”, nearly 50 former SSPians attended the dinner and the walkabout the next day.

For a group that had only 90 students in total, this was a major feat with many flying or driving in from all parts of Malaysia. Two even made it from Britain.

“I’m waiting for the plane”, came the text from Aini Yusof in Kuching while Manchester-based doctor Husswan Yamin’s text-announced, “Landed in KLIA … who am I sharing rooms with?”

Twenty-five years after their Farewell Party at the Pan Pacific in 1989, the girls were back at the hotel, older and wiser.

Nik Nor Aini Nik Mohamed brought her family with her to the hotel, but housed them in a separate room while she roomed with fellow SSPian Noraishah Abdul Hamid.

“This is the time to be with our sisters,” declared the former assistant head girl.

President of the Silver Jubilee organising committee Dr Normala Ibrahim, agreed. “It was not easy organising this event. It was two years and 11 meetings in the making.

“Despite other responsibilities, the committee’s commitment to the sisterhood was far greater, and I am glad that tonight was possible,” she said in her address to the reunion.

“We have been to each other’s weddings, seen some of the children grow up, and some of us even have children schooling at Seri Puteri in Cyberjaya (where the school has since relocated),” said Assoc Prof Dr Hasnah Haron.

“But some have not seen each other since leaving school 25 years ago,” added Universiti Teknologi Malaysia lecturer Dr Batiah Mahadi, which explained why there was so much hugging and squealing, and why the event took some 30 minutes to start.

For Norliza Ismail, the night also saw another kind of reunion. After 25 years, her school blazer was finally coming home.

In 1989, the school prefect had lent her blazer to one of the school’s debaters for the Prime Minister’s trophy.

This writer, who was heading the team, was entrusted to retrieve the blazer at the end of the competition.

The hand-over never occurred but through the years, the blazer remained safely tucked away through five house moves spanning three different continents.

It was not just fun and laughter in the trip down memory lane, however.

The group spared a thought for two of their own who were taken before their time, and the teachers who made them the success they are.

“SSP gave us a springboard for our later lives, and for that, we owe it much,” said head girl Sharifah Shamsinaz Tuan Md Ali.