A BIG THANK YOU to all

On Monday, 9th September 2024, I lost my only brother, YM Raja Petra Kamarudin, which I have known and loved for 70 years (my age and not his).

The only solace I had the last days was the countless messages and calls that I received from friends and even strangers offering their condolences to me and their doa for my late brother.

For this, all I can say is a big THANK YOU TO ALL.

There are just too many to reply and respond to each one individually.

A PERSONAL REFLECTION.

The accompanying photo has always had a special meaning for my brother and me.

We lost our father, Raja Kamarudin, in 1971, and we lost our mother, Barbara Mabel Parnell @ Bariah, wife of Kamarudin, in 1980.

So this photo always reminded us of them.

And now there is only one more left in that photo.

For those who always got it wrong, YM Raja Petra is actually my elder brother and I am the baby in photo.

As you can see, my brother has always been the happy and jovial one and I have always been the serious one.

As with all siblings we have had our fill of disputes and disagreements, but he always had my back and I always had his back.

I am so grateful that I was there the whole day from early Monday morning, on the day he passed away.

To spare me the shock, despair and sadness of seeing him go, he waited until I left the hospital. As soon as I reach his home, about 10 minutes later, his son called to say that he had just taken his last breath.

When our father died, my brother and I had the task and the honour to bathe him and today I had the honour to bathe my brother with his three sons.

When our mother died in UK, both he and I flew to UK from Malaysia to bury our mother.

When my son passed away in 2021, he was so distraught and said it is wrong for a father (me) to have to bury a son. It should be the other way.

He got his wish, all his children were there in Manchester to bury him today.

My gratitude is to Allah swt for having given me the opportunity to know and love the other three in the photograph.

Once gain thank you to all who have send me their messages and doa for him.

I am sure there are many more who did not know how to contact me and instead made their doa directly to Allah swt.

Jazak Allahu khairan kathira and I say Amin to your doas.

This is probably my first and last article for Malaysia Today.

It is in honour of a great man that Allah swt has lent to us.

On behalf of Al-Marhum YM Raja Petra Kamarudin, I would like to offer our apologies if he has in any way offended or said things that may be difficult to accept. But that is him.

My late father, who was a lawyer always taught us:

When you are in the right, you stand up and fight.

When you are in the wrong, you stand up and apologise.

Al-Fatihah to all three of them.

Wassalam and kind regards
Raja Dato’ Idris Raja Kamarudin
(Younger brother to YM Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin)