Clowning around: Nazila, Haron and Chua share a special bond.
KLANG: Sometimes Nazila Haron feels her father is closer to her husband Chua Jek Hong than he is with her.
Chua, 36, and Haron Hussin, 78, clown around and are almost inseparable when the family gathers.
“They are like two naughty boys who are best of friends,’’ said Nazila, 32, who runs a workshop with her husband in Melaka.
As for Chua, the only thing he has to say about his unique relationship with his wife’s father is that Haron is good company and fun to be with.
But the duo did not get off to a good start when Chua, a mechanic, started to woo Nazila about a decade ago.
“My father had confronted him many times and warned him to stay away from me,’’ said Nazila.
Nazila and Chua met when he saw her at the petrol kiosk where she was working in Tampin.
Thinking that she was a Chinese-Indian parentage, as Nazila did not wear a headscarf then, Chua had brazenly walked up to her and given her a letter asking for her phone number.
“She was very pretty and initially I was just teasing her and having some fun, but I fell head-over-heels in love with her, even after finding out she was not Chinese-Indian but a Malay Muslim,’’ said Chua.
But taking her father’s advice, Nazila rejected Chua’s advances, quit her job, changed her phone number and went off to work in another state.
However, more than a year later she was surprised when Haron called her and told her he had given Chua her new number.
Apparently, Chua converted to Islam on his own accord and went to look, not for Nazila, but her father instead.
“He told my father that he loved me and wanted to marry me.
“My father then called me and asked me what I had done to Chua until he had converted just so he could be with me,’’ narrated Nazila.
Haron gave Chua, whose Muslim name is Muhammad Adam Chua, not only Nazila’s new phone number but also his blessings for the couple to marry.
As for Chua’s family, who lives in Johor Baru, initially his parents did not approve of the union but have now accepted Nazila as one of their own.
“Just like how my husband is best friends with my father, I am best friends with his mother,’’ quipped Nazila.
Heartwarming tales such as this is promoted and encouraged by the “Maaf Zahir Batin Hari Hari” campaign (#MZB365), which was launched on April 6. The campaign stands strong with support from major media organisations and civil society organisations.
