Hani Mohsin Hanafi, 41, passed away of a heart attack at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, early this morning. He is remembered by most Malaysians as an actor, and most of all, as the second host of ASTRO’s Roda Impian.
He was my senior by one year at my alma mater, the Malay College. He was active in dramas while still in college, and in 1982, was my platoon commander in the Pasukan Kadet Bersatu Malaysia (I was promoted to replace him the very next year).
In 1996, when Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi wanted to conceptualise his then-soon-to-be-launched TV station, he handpicked several MCKK Old Boys who were involved in arts/dramas/plays/movies/advertisements to help him out, so yours truly was included, because I was involved in stunts for movies, and also for my refusal to watch malay movies produced post-70s. The rest were Azizul Callahan, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Hishamuddin Rais and several others. For a week we were hosted at the Damai Beach Resort in Kuching. We came up with a tentative name for the station: ENTV. This became NTV7 later.
At one point, we were all watching local malay dramas and Effendi saw my point. He then asked if we knew any old boy who is actively involved in drama production. The name Hani Mohsin came up. So we called Mohsin (as he is known to us), and he was with us the next morning. I won’t get into how he lost Jacquelina to Effendi. However, when he was still married to her, he was looking for a house in Bukit Antarabangsa, where I lived for a while when I was single again. So he asked me to help him out. Even after Jacquelina left him, he continued to live there to the end.
I bumped into him on several occassions, mainly at the Malaysian Film Festival, Anugerah Seri Angkasa, and several other functions. I last bumped into him was last year at the Esso station in Desa Pandan, exchanged short notes, and hoped we’d meet again for teh tarik or something.
That never happened. And now he is gone.
So remember to always keep in touch with friends you have made along the way, and especially with your family members. Life is short. You will never know what you may miss.
Rest well, Mohsin. Al-Fathihah.
SeaDemon Says 