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Ronald Robertson

Aaronn Avit Ajeng, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Emailaaronnavit@um.edu.my
  • Phone+60 (14) 970 5384
  • ExpertiseBiology and Biochemistry
  • AffiliationUniversiti Malaya (UM)

I lost a best friend

What being forced to take a photo looks like. 😂 This was taken in Long Bedian, my dad's hometown. But, who would've ever thought that it was going to be my last photo with my big sister (my right in the photo). 

She died at the age of 7. I was still 5. There was an event that took place in kampung and my parents and two of my sisters in the photo went back for it. I was left with my grandmother in town. 

But, it turned into a tragedy when she was found drowned by the villagers. I was not told exactly what happened before the incident, but mom told me that she had already warned them not to get close to river by themselves.

But as a little kid, we all tend to have this curiosity and stubbornness in us. Like you mati mati nak benda tu. So, she went to the waters by herself without my parents knowing. She was probably playing by the shore and slipped into river. We all did not know how it happened. Imagining how helpless she was in the deep waters just breaks my heart into pieces.

All I could remember was the sound of grief and mourns that filled the air one morning. I had a lot to digest and I was too young to understand what is death. It made me unable to shed any tears in front of her dead body. Years and years later, the memories of her came in pieces and that had me in tears most of the time even until the today.

Unknowingly, I lost my very first best friend. She was the one who first thought me about life. She was there to witness my first word and my first walk. Though I was young when she died, I knew I was deeply loved by her. I hope she tells God everyday how much she loves me and misses our family.   

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