Remembering the good deeds of Hood 40 years on
PONTIAN: It has been 40 years since Nur Balkish Hood’s father died in the MAS Flight 653 crash in Tanjung Kupang, Johor.
Still coping with the loss, Nur Balkish, 48, finds solace in the many good deeds left behind by her father, Hood Fadzil, who was a political secretary to then agriculture minister Datuk Ali Ahmad, who also died in the tragedy.
“I remember it was a Sunday night. My father was supposed to return home from a work trip in Penang.
“The family was living in Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur, at the time. I was only 8, but I remember when we received a call at 8pm asking if my father had arrived.
“It would be hours later when we received confirmation that the plane my father was on had crashed,” said Nur Balkish.
Ninety-seven passengers and seven crew members died in the Dec 4, 1977 crash when hijackers diverted the plane after it departed Penang en route to Kuala Lumpur.
Nur Balkish recently returned to Johor to celebrate the contributions of her father during a school reunion organised by former students and teachers of SMK Telok Kerang in Kukup near here.
Pontian-born Hood was the school’s founding principal for eight years when it was opened in 1965. He left teaching to become an aide to his long-time colleague Ali when the latter became education minister, and then later agriculture minister.
Nur Balkish and her elder sister, Yasmin, accompanied their mother, Asmah Hussein, 79, to the reunion.
Asmah said her late husband was a kind man and a dedicated teacher.
“He would drive me and our daughters everywhere when we lived in Telok Kerang. I never liked to go out alone and I still don’t.
“That’s the thing I remember most about him... how he would drive the girls and I to family outings,” said Asmah, who never remarried and raised Yasmin and Nur Balkish as a single mother.
Retired teacher Arumugam Periasamy, 70, said he would remember Hood’s deeds for the rest of his life.
“He taught me when I was in Form Three, and he was my football coach.
“I will forever be indebted to him as he roped me to become a teacher at SMK Telok Kerang in 1966,” said Arumugam.
Another retired teacher, Ismail Omar, 71, said Hood laid the foundation for a good school which produced exemplary students.
“The school was one of a few that taught the English and Bahasa Melayu medium at that time. It produced prominent ex-students, such as former Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka director-general Datuk Dr Awang Sariyan,” said Ismail, who, together with Hood, were among four teachers who taught the first batch of students at the school.