T-shirt connection now used for a noble cause
PUTRAJAYA: As an art lover and an architectural student, the late Muhammad Afif Tambi spent a lot of time painting.
After it was made known that Muhammad Afif and five other family members were among the victims of the MH17 tragedy, his relatives went through his artwork collection.
“We found two of his paintings which appeared to have a strange connection to the downed aircraft,” said cousin Anwar Zafran Zamzuri.
One showed a person skydiving while the other artwork appeared to resemble the details of the Malaysia Airlines logo.
“He never told us what the paintings meant but when we saw this, we felt it had a deeper meaning,” said another of Muhammad Afif ’s cousin, Nur Sabrina Irwan.
Three years on since the discovery of the paintings, the two cousins decided to produce the artwork on T-shirts in remembrance of Muhammad Afif.
The T-shirts will be sold to raise funds for a mosque in Kuching, the hometown of Muhammad Afif ’s family.
“We decided to embark on a project to build a mosque as a tribute to our lost ones,” said Anwar.
The T-shirts are priced at between RM69 and RM79, and come in short and long sleeves.
The mosque – Surau Al-Ghazali – is currently being built in Jalan Depo, Samariang. The estimated cost is about RM3mil.
Anwar and Nur Sabrina were among more than 90 family members who attended a memorial service here to mark the third anniversary of the tragedy.
On July 17, 2014, Muhammad Afif was travelling back to Malaysia with his father Tambi Jiee, mother Ariza Gazalee and three siblings Muhammad Afzal, Marsha Azmeena and Muhammad Afruz when the aircraft was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine.