Allahyarham Adlan Benan Omar, An Obituary

Allahyarham Adlan Benan Omar (1973-2008) passed away on 22 January. I began writing this piece quite a while ago, but never found the time to complete it until today.

I managed to stop by briefly barely an hour after he passed away. My greatest regret is not being able to see him when he had been seriously ill yet conscious. By the time I came round to visiting him a few weeks back, he was already drifting in and out of consciousness, and could not recognise me. I last had a conversation with him over a year ago not long after I joined Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s office full time. “So you made the jump eh?” he asked. After all, he was one of the people who got me involved in the first place.

Ben used to quip that he, like Churchill, was a “young man in a hurry”. How true. With impeccable wit, inspiring oratory, impressive knowledge and an intriguing personality to boot, he achieved so much in his life. But unlike Churchill, God destined that his life be cut short at its prime.

As I wrote previously, I first knew him by reputation, then through correspondence before he got me involved in the heady days of Reformasi. I was young and impressionable, and was utterly awestruck by his personality. I remember always feeling out of my depth with my youth and inexperience (especially next to Ben!), but Ben continued to encourage, inspire and instill confidence in me.

I would ask for his advice when I applied to university. Ben persuaded me to choose King’s over LSE. He helped me write my personal statement for UCAS (so now you know!) by dictating it over the phone one night. He pushed me to read more serious stuff, never impressed by my more mundane taste at that time (Grisham!). Whenever I followed him shopping for books, he would end up buying at least half a dozen! He gave me three books – Orlando Figes’ the People’s Tragedy, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn’s the Gulag Archipelago and his A-Level history textbook. The first touched on the failure of the more moderate elements of the Russian reformists to topple the Tsar, while the second was a strong critique of the gulags of Soviet Russia. Perhaps Ben saw my ideals a bit too left-wing at that time, and sought to moderate my opinion!

We were never very close on a personal basis, but when he was Secretary of Keadilan Youth we worked closely together. Ben and the other ‘veterans’ of Reformasi would entertain me with their exploits during the earliest days of the movement, when it was a sheer force of the people’s desire for change. As I was only an observer during the period, I could only imagine the intensity of the surreal time, and it only encouraged me to be part of the movement.

The vulnerable durian fruit has no strength at first, no thorns to guard it. Like UKEC, it needs to be tendered. But once it thorns have grown, only the powerful paws of the tiger can tear it apart.

Ben in 1995

Ben also had an inexhaustible collection of stories about the UK Executive Council for Malaysian Students, UKEC – of which he was the founding chairman. Impressed by his stories, I immediately accepted the offer by Halif Hamzah, a KYUEM colleague, to run as Vice Chairman of Information in 2003. During the time I worked for the UKEC, the High Commissioner to the UK tried to push Kelab UMNO to join as a constituent member of UKEC. I joined the other UKEC excos in not succumbing to the pressure, in spite of the High Commissioner’s insistence that Kelab UMNO is a social and not political club.

One of UKEC’s pet projects is Projek Kalsom, a voluntary project for form four students in rural areas which had university students as facilitators. I took part in the tenth Kalsom in Besut, Terengganu. While many seniors had regaled me in stories of the project, it was only while being a facilitator amongst the highly-motivated students did I truly feel the magic of Kalsom.

A veteran of the project approached me and wanted me to take charge of the organising committee for Kalsom the following year. I had promised myself that I would not be so active in non-academic activities in my third year so that I could get a decent result at King’s. Furthermore, it was in Besut that I received blessings from Imaan’s parents for us to get married once I graduate. But I was so touched by the project that I managed to convince Imaan that leading Kalsom would be one of the few non-academic and non-marital thing for 2005.

However on the last night of the event, old wounds emerged when some of the veterans started making accusations against Ben. I really felt that the accusations were not substantiated, and had little to do with how the project can move forward, and thus I stood up and a big argument ensued. That ended any possibility of me taking charge of Kalsom, which was probably a good thing as it would be way too much for my plate. After all, Imaan vetoed the idea of spending out honeymoon working on Kalsom. (although Awanis and Asa did get married in the same year and still attended Kalsom!)

There were many who were closer to him, many others who were privileged enough to be touched by his immense personality and many more who have heard of the legend called Ben. I am proud to call myself one of his friends.

The last e-mail I had from him was not long after the 2004 elections, when he expressed his dismay at the results…

He paved the way for the road I chose to walk on. His shadow will always loom large over me. Ben, I can only pray that I can make your dream of a better Malaysia a reality. To the young man in a hurry, to the embodiment of the budak koleq par excellence, to a great mentor…

May Allah bless your soul and place it among the righteous and pious.

Al-fatihah…

Other obituaries:

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, A Voice, Dil, Fudzail, Becok, Gartblue, Roti Kacang Merah, AM Ubaidah S, Noni Kapet, Ong Kian Ming, Kickdefella (but a slight erratum, Ben did not pass away due to Hairy Leukemia), Dato’ Kamarudin Jaafar, Noktah Hitam, Ervan, Cleopatra, YB Salahudin Ayub