So Long Ben

I remember the day I was introduced to Ben. It must have been some 24 year ago in a small room they used for the PPM english debates somwwhere in Ipoh. Yes I had the honour of going up against the great Adlan Benan in the english debate during our PPM days. His reputation preceeded him and knowing that I was to debate against him the very next day, I went all out to prepare for this deathly encounter. It was MCKK against the school I represented in the yearly PPM debates. In my last sum up, I had time to size my competition. Ben seemd a very articulative individual and smart to get his point across in the most effective manner. I was impressed then as I am now about Ben and his thoughts on the world. He quoted Shakespeare while I quoted Twain. In the end, I lost but only by a small margin I kept telling my ego. It was then that I got to know the great Adlan Benan. Through an event of defeat, that somehow brought victory through the introduction to one of the best, most analysical and perhaps politcally correct malay minds in our recetn times. I truly felt that I had won by making his acquantance.
Since then, I had been following Ben's rise to academia while I was a student in the UK to his point of political conciousness and choosing sides in the great political terrades that devides each and every malaysian till this day. My only regret was getting stuck in a meeting when my other friends visited him in the hospital as he lay dying. So long Ben. Your name lives on through others in many great ways.