This is not an obituary.

I write not to mourn the passing of Abu - although I must confest that no words from me could realistically convey the sorrow when I received the email from Ms. Yatimah, Sec-Gen of SARBICA on the sad news on 1 April 2011. In accordance with Muslim practice, he was buried before my first reaction - which was to rush to KL to pay my last respect.

I write to celebrate his life and his contribution to the archives community, particularly to the Malaysian archivists, many of whom must have touched by his generous sharing and nurturing in his capacity as a senior archivists with NAM as well as simply as a caring person. He and I were both out-spoken and do not hide our strong feelings when things did not get right-not from our personal perspective but for the well-being of the archives and the archives profession. In this sense, his earlier than "scheduled" departure - his planned retirement in Nov this year - is a great to all of us.